I RECEIVED A PRAYER LANGUAGE!

One of the most amazing experiences took place last night on Tuesday November 30th, 2010.

One night, at the end of a church service, the pastor walked off the stage and told the congregation that God spoke to him and that He wanted him to start praying over people to receive the Holy Spirit. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I sat in my chair and watched as a few people trickled up to the front. The pastor began speaking in his prayer language and I was in udder amazement.

After the service I started asking my friends a million questions as to what the heck had just happened moments ago. They nonchalantly told me that he was speaking in tongues, one of the gifts from the Holy Spirit. They told me that they were all baptized in the Holy Spirit and had the ability to speak in a prayer language as well. I told them that I wanted to speak in another language too! My buddy said in order to receive it, you first need to understand what it is, along with the other gifts and than you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

So what exactly is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jesus. The fruit of The Spirit consist of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. You also receive spiritual gifts through the Holy Spirit. They include prophesy, serving, teaching, speaking in tongues, encouraging, giving, leading and showing mercy. People who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit have been given messages of wisdom, messages of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, prophesy, speaking in tongues, miraculous gifts, and interpretation of tongues.

He told me to start reading a Bible study guide, called The Purple Book, so I did. The book is broken down into chapters by various topics and it's supposed to be an easier way to understand the Bible. I asked the leader of my small group to go through the book with me, so we met up at Starbucks on campus several days a week. I anxiously awaited until I got to chapter four,  entitled 'The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts'.

After I finished going through chapter four and praying about it, I told my roommate that I was ready to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and receive my prayer language. I was still skeptical. On the following night of our campus ministry, we got there an hour and a half early. Six of us met in a hallway right next to the room where we lead worship. We started by praying and than my friends Benton, Kelsey and Samita stood around me and laid their hands on me. I stood there and felt very awkward, but I prayed for God to allow the Holy Spirit to fill me and baptize me. More and more people began entering this small room and began placing their hands on the person in front of them. People began speaking in tongues and I just felt like I was in a dream. About fifteen minutes into it, my mind was filled with an orange light and I felt weightless.

I opened my eyes and the entire hallway was filled with a sea of people praying for me. It looked like a spider web of people and I was directly in the center. I continued to pray and my throat began to tingle. It felt like someone was holding a lighter really close to my throat. My ears were in shock as they were no longer hearing English coming out of my mouth. It was an instantaneous switch and from that moment on, I've been able to speak in tongues.

Everyone released their hands and began praying to themselves. I just stood there completely overwhelmed by emotions. I didn’t know whether to cry, scream for joy, laugh, smile, hug someone...I was in a daze. I had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and it was the most powerful energy I have ever felt run through me.

God proved his existence to me that night and I will never doubt him another day in my life.

After everyone went back into the main room, my friends stayed behind and gave me hugs and smiles! I guess chocolate is the way to celebrate receiving the Holy Spirit, because Betnton gave me a Reese's (he knows me well haha) and Kelsey handed me a dove chocolate candy. Inside, the message read Be Fearless.

Faith over Fear. Always.