FAME

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The Spirit and Me

Tami McKinney

I grew up in a church that my grandfather started in his mother’s living room where we sang hymns acapella, along with a CD, or with the piano. My Grandpa would teach us stories from the BIble and then us kids would be excused to go play outside in the hot summer sand. Eventually, in our town of 1,500 or so, we grew large enough to need a building and pretty much packed it with every family member and old friend we had.  I learned so much from my grandparents (aka the Pastors of my hometown church) and am so incredibly thankful for the faith they have brought to our family. My husband and I and our three kids moved to San Diego in 2015 - that’s when we started attending City Church. The prayer, worship and relationship with the Holy Spirit was a new experience for me. I hadn’t ever heard of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. It challenged me and to be honest, I was confused, maybe even a little fearful. I talked to several of our pastors and I would double check every single scripture and reference that was mentioned. And when I would read it myself, there it was plain as day. Ha. I asked God, “If this is really real… then give it to me.”Up until that point, I saw (and still in ways see) the Holy Spirit more like the colors of the wind from Pocahontas, the ocean in Moana, and Rafiki in the Lion King. (That might seem funny to some of you, but a friend once told me that if God can use a burning bush He could use a Disney movie too. But that’s a story for another day...) And so I wanted to know the Holy Spirit as a person. I wanted a relationship with Him. Through a series of events, I decided to start attending our church’s bible college: San Diego Christian Leadership College. The doctrinal classes were literally everything that I was wanting and so desperate for. I had verses, the theology ideas, great discussion, and just time to soak in the words. One night, we were learning the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Out of the 20 pages of notes there was one section that talked about the common symbols of the Holy Spirit: the dove, fire, oil, water, wine, and wind. I loved this part so much because it reminded me of those Disney movies I connected with or maybe because I am an Enneagram Type 4 and love the beauty of trees… but I realized that the Holy Spirit had been working in my life so much… and those “feelings” and “coincidences” and “moments” were REAL. A little later, we went over how Jesus was born of the spirit (Mt. 1:20), then baptized in the Spirit (Mt. 3:16), and then filled with the Spirit (Luke 4:1). Even the Apostles had been born of the Spirit (John 20:22), baptized in the Spirit (Acts 1:5; 2:4), and then filled with the Spirit (Acts 4:23-31). When the class ended I was speechless - I really wanted to process what I had just learned. Right after class it was time for some worship and prayer. While we were singing, I physically felt so different. I couldn’t tell if I was sick, needed to get some water, or needed to dance. I had such an energy in my body. It was time to pray and this time we were praying out loud, in front of everyone, some of our personal prayer requests.  It was my turn to pray and immediately 3 of my friends put their hands on my shoulders and started to pray in tongues. At that time, the future of my marriage was on my heart… and I knew my friends were loving on me. I felt afraid to ask God to give my marriage a future. I kept my eyes closed and cried because something about this moment was so different. My voice shook as I prayed and thanked God that my marriage would be healed and healthy, that my kids would be happy, and that this was going to be a powerful testimony for them too. After prayer I didn’t linger because I wanted to come home and immediately lie down. I felt lightheaded and dizzy. Was I drunk in the Holy Spirit? Was this the wine? I didn’t even make it to my bedroom and laid down on the couch. I wasn’t sick. I wasn’t feeling ill. I just laid there and felt like I was buzzing. I laid there not wanting even to walk down the hall to my bedroom, and was about to drift off to sleep and out of nowhere God told me, “I am giving this to you, in this state, so you won’t fight it.” All of a sudden my tongue felt like pop rocks were on it and I felt like I needed to sing. As I laid there, I opened my mouth and out came something like the opening scene of the Lion King, “‘Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba Sithi uhm ingonyama.” Haha, I am laughing now… but I tell you the truth: I was singing in tongues. With the largest smile on my face, I continued to sing in tongues, until I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I spent time reading my Bible going over the verses and lesson I learned the night before. Everything seemed so clear. God was so REAL to me. As I mentioned, there were a lot of things going on in my life that I needed clear direction on. I now knew, with all of my being, that all the coincidences that I had experienced were actually the Holy Spirit. He had signs for me, He was talking to me, and I no longer had to question every moment. I started walking with boldness, having confidence in my Godly wisdom, and it was time to move forward with my life. I knew God in a way I had never experienced before. So, on and off for the next few days, I sang in my new personal prayer language. I couldn’t even help but sing. My heart, my soul, my everything was singing. I am so thankful that I dug in, learned so much, and that our church and Pastors had so many resources available to me. It’s changed my life forever. 

If you are like me and need “proof” then I encourage you to sign up for one of our theology classes this fall. Or come talk with our Pastors who are available to us to teach us about the Bible, build our faith, and more. I will include a small list of verses here at the end (and there are so many more than this) that you can dig into, so that you can pray and ask the Holy Spirit to give you this experience RIGHT NOW. Just like me, you should have a relationship with the Holy Spirit because He is who draws the unbeliever to God (I Cor. 12:3), is the administrator of the promises of God (John 16:14-15), is the one who dwells within the spirit of the believer (I Cor. 6:19), is the one who empowers the believer for service (Acts 1:8), is the one who anoints our ministry (Acts 10:38; I John 2:27), and is the one who sanctifies us (Rom. 15:16).
Now for some fun... If you have a verse that relates to your own life and journey with the Holy Spirit, can you share it with us below in the comments? I'd love to know how the Holy Spirit reveals and works in your life. You never know, someone reading about your own experience can plant a very important seed.  With all the joy, Kayla DickensP.S. I used some of my notes from the Holy Spirit lesson. I knew you wouldn't mind. ;)
There are about fifty names and titles given to the Holy Spirit in the Bible and all of them emphasize some unique aspect of the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Some of these include the following:
  • The Spirit of God (I Cor. 3:16).
  • The Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13) or the Spirit of Holiness (Rom. 1:4).
  • The Spirit of the Father (Mt. 10:20).
  • The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead (Rom. 1:4; 8:11; I Pet. 3:18).
  • The Power of the Highest (Luke 1:35).
  • The Breath of the Almighty (Job 33:4; 32:8).
  • The Spirit of Grace (Heb. 10:29).
  • The Spirit of Burning (Is. 4:4).
  • The Comforter (John 14:16).
  • The Spirit of Truth (John 14:17).
  • The Spirit of Life (Rom. 8:2).
  • The Spirit of Adoption (Rom. 8:15).
  • The Spirit of Promise (Eph. 1:13-14).
  • The Spirit of Glory (I Pet. 4:14).
  • The Spirit of Love (II Tim. 1:17).
  • The Finger of God (Luke 11:20).