The personal testimony of a Christian

Prologue
In this article, I present the experience of an individual who spoke in tongues through the Holy Spirit. This individual's experience in November 2005, has been largely left unedited so that it is relatable. More importantly, however, is the purpose of presenting this testimony: it is to encourage those who may be struggling with the experience of speaking in tongues; that they keep on trusting God and one day, it'll happen!


One Sunday evening after?service
Tonight, I was talking to the pastor on the phone regarding Isaiah 53 and what Jesus had done for me. I wanted to believe it. I tried to believe it. I didn't want to take it for granted. I didn't want to be the kind of person who just said casually,
"Well, I believe that He died for me",
but never really understanding what that meant. I didn't want to take it for granted.

I wanted first to know that Jesus personally died for me and that He is real. I knew I had read the bible all my life (more or less) and was familiar with much of scripture, but I really hungered to know who Jesus is: how He had died for me; the pain and suffering He went through to save my soul; the sacrifice and abuse He took to save me;?etc.

What did it really mean? How great was His pain and suffering? I tried to believe. I tried to convince myself that I did believe, but I knew that I had a problem,?... deep down, I wasn't convinced. It didn't matter how many times I went to church to hear the good news,?... I just couldn't believe on my own. I tried,?...I really tried to convince myself and then all of a sudden, I heard a voice say to me,
"You don't believe!"
I was very saddened, and I didn't know what to do. All I knew was that I wanted to believe, and I tried. Then I said,
"You have to help me. You have to help me because I really do want to believe but on my own, I can't. Please help me to believe!"

After that, not doing any more than I could, I went back to reading Isaiah 53 and kept trying to understand what each line meant about Jesus carrying my sorrows and being a man who was acquainted with great grief. Then I went to sleep.


The next day: Monday?evening
This evening I returned home, and I was going to study the passage about the resurrection of the dead. The pastor had done a bible study with me on that topic yesterday, so I wanted to refresh my mind and go over it in more detail, but for some reason, the topic "What does it mean to be born again?" spoke to me. It was as if someone had highlighted that for me to read, so I said,
"Well, I'll study that today."

I turned to John 3:1?8 and it was about Nicodemus having a conversation with Jesus, and Jesus had said,
"I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God." (John 3:3, NLT)
I thought to myself
"Okay, but what does it mean to be born again?"
Then I read Jesus' next response and it spoke to me:
"I assure you; no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit." (John 3:5, NLT)
So, I thought,
"Okay, water and the spirit. Well, I'm going to be baptized on Saturday",
but I didn't think anything about 'the spirit thing'. So, I just started to meditate on these two verses of scripture and how Jesus said,
"I assure you?..."!!!
Well, that spoke to me.
He was saying that there was no other way but this?way. So I thought
"Wow!"

Now during this time, I was preparing dinner for myself,?... baking some fish and boiling some veggies because I was so hungry, and I couldn't wait to eat. All of a sudden, while my dinner was almost done, I heard a voice at the back of my mind:
"You should start fasting today and tomorrow".
So, I thought,
"Well, I'm really hungry but okay."


Mist in my?room
I immediately shut the oven off and decided to go back to reading the scriptures. But before I could sit down, I heard that same voice in the back of my mind telling me to kneel. So I thought,
"Well, I really wouldn't be telling myself to kneel randomly",
so I did it. I put my hands together to pray but did not really know what was going on. I had my eyes opened a little and then all of a sudden, I saw something like a mist entering the kitchen area. It just kept coming in and it was all over the place. I didn't know what was going on and I started to freak out. I opened my eyes all the way and then everything turned normal. The mist disappeared and everything remained as it was. I was confused and scared and did not know what was happening.

So, I knelt again and shut my eyes a bit and then before I knew it, there came the mist again, and then I looked at my hands and noticed that I had steam coming out of my hands. I freaked out and then just opened my eyes completely, and got really scared. I called my pastor and told him the whole thing and then he told me to be calm and not to open my eyes the next time. He had suspected that the Holy Spirit wanted to come to me. So I hung up the phone.


Prayer time
I was very hungry but I decided to put the food away. I ran upstairs and then the voice (the Lord, actually) told me to make sure that I put away anything that would distract me tonight; and that I should get everything I needed to get done quickly. So I quickly brushed my teeth, washed my face, and double-checked that everything was done. I shut my bedroom door and then knelt to pray.

To be honest, I had no idea what was going on and why I was acting this way. I just felt like I had to do it. Then I started praising the Lord and thanking Him for sending me the pastor and his wife; for saving my life from the evil one; for sending me to California; and for just being there for me. This went on for some time and then I noticed that my body started rocking back and forth slowly and my prayer became intense. Then I started shaking a little and I just continued praising the Lord. Before I knew it, I felt something very intense coming upon me to the point where I began shaking uncontrollably.


Something was happening?...
Something was different.
My prayer started changing and I switched to saying,
"Holy Spirit, come to me; Holy Spirit, come to me!"
I just kept praying that over and over and over?again.
Then as if someone had taken hold of my hands and I had no control of it, my hands just started moving... first in a circular motion and then moving back and forth, swaying from one side to the other while I continued to pray,
"Holy Spirit come to me!"
As I was becoming tired, I felt someone helping me and encouraging me. My 'helper' kept saying,
"I know you're hungry and tired, but you have to continue... don't worry... just trust Me... don't be afraid?... just trust Me?...just hold on. We're getting there?... just hold on?..."
So, I kept on praying.

Then as my hands continued to move in different directions, it came to my face and started first rubbing my face and then my head! I was rubbing my face and head uncontrollably. Well, at this point,?... I thought deep down that I was losing my mind. But my 'helper' said to me,
"No, you're not going crazy, just continue what you're doing. We're getting closer?... We're getting closer?...".
Then my hands went to my lips and started rubbing my lips uncontrollably. At this point, I heard my 'helper' say,
"It's coming?... it's coming..."


Alas! Tongues!!!
Now, this whole time, I was still praying,
"Holy Spirit, come to me; Holy Spirit, come to me!"
Then as my hands were still rubbing my lips. My 'helper' was applying more pressure on my lips with ever-increasing intensity. Then after rubbing my lips intensely, He slowed the rubbing, and then He slowly drew my hands away from my lips.
Once my hands were away from my lips, I heard a different sound from my voice. I noticed that I was still speaking but the words that were coming out of my mouth were not comprehensible. I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know what I was saying?...
It was then that I realized that I was speaking in tongues! Hallelujah!

Now I can personally confirm that speaking in tongues is indeed the physical evidence of the coming upon of the Holy Spirit. And then I knew without any doubt that if Jesus were to come tonight, I'd be taken up with Him, for now, I have His seal on me!!!


A conversation with?God
When I was done, I got up, a little confused and surprised, but I felt great. I also received an assurance deep within me that God exists. I was amazed. Then I thought,
"Is He here?",
and a Voice spoke to me and said,
"Yes, I am here..."
Then He said,
"Actually, I've always been here; you're just consciously realizing it now for the first time."
I was indeed amazed!
Then God started telling me to write some things down that He wanted to tell me about myself and what I should stop doing immediately.

Now, I can speak in tongues; I can pray for hours on end; I can sing in tongues! I can do so many things now which I couldn't do before. Now, whenever I am thinking of something that I shouldn't be thinking of, I hear His voice saying,
"STOP it!",
or,
"Is this edifying to the Spirit?"
Before now, when I thought of bad stuff, nothing would happen; but now, it's like I'm being watched all the time and God is actually in me! I can't imagine it. It is too awesome for words!!!

The next thing He told me was to watch what I was eating:
"From now on, you must watch what you eat; you must know exactly where it comes from because your body is the temple of God now and you must treat it so?..."
Just really amazing how different, things are now! Praise God!!!


Epilogue
We thank God for this personal testimony, but different people have different experiences. Mine was quite different, and yours would certainly be different.

You may not see cloven tongues of fire sitting above your head as it happened in Acts 2:1?4, but one thing is clear; when the Holy Spirit does come with the evidence of speaking in tongues, it will be undeniable, and you would rest assured that you have indeed encountered the God of the Universe in a very personal way!
Shalom!

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