A few years ago, about year 2000 to be precise, I got admitted to a pre-degree program at the Lagos State University Epe Campus, I was fresh out of home and out of secondary school, my parents were Baptist and I had a zeal for God, all I knew however was what I was taught at the Baptist church (this write up is not an attack on the Baptist church). When I got into the campus I was posted to a room with other predegree boys like me, it was not too long we all discovered that our orientation was different, they wanted to smoke, drink and have girls, I was more interested in attending church and things of that manner. Somewhere along the line a friend of theirs came to our hostel flat and asked that I exchange with him, according to him, those in the flat where he was posted were like me, they were church people and he found them boring, I quickly jumped at the offer.
While in that room I found the baptist student fellowship, the baptist student fellowship at the school was a lot different from what I had at home, coupled with my room mates who had a charismatic view of the bible, I started to see the need to seek God for the baptism in the HolySpirit, together with speaking in tongues. As a young baptist boy, I had argued this reality with my cousin who attended a charismatic church, however in school I was quickly shown Mark 16:17 ‘And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues’, I quickly began my quest for the infilling of the Holyghost.
One day, I sat at the pavement by the soccer field and I heard a voice asking me to go on a 3 day fast, the voice sounded real yet there was obviously nobody with me, I quickly realized that God has spoken to me for the first time, that evening when we attended the fellowship the prayer leader mentioned that they were planning an anointing service on a certain date and everyone was to go on a 3day fast in preparation for the day, as a teenager, I was ecstatic, I told everybody that cared to hear that God spoke to me and it was confirmed the same day at the evening fellowship by the fellowship leaders. I knew that the anointing service would be where I would receive the baptism in the Holyghost that I had been waiting for all along.
The day came and the meeting was awesome, though this was a Baptist student fellowship, the experience was something I had never seen all my life as a Baptist boy, the prayer leader preached the word and started to pray, people ‘fell under the power’ there were people praying in tongues and prophesying, he also started laying hands on everybody present, when he got to my turn, I made sure I stood real rigid so I would not fall, and I did not. After that service however, I knew I had received, I did not pray in tongues, I did not fall nothing spectacular, just the simple reason that God spoke to me earlier about the need to fast which culminated in that meeting, I changed my prayer point and started thanking God for answers to prayers using Mark 16:17-18, I would say father I thank you because I cast out devils, I speak with new tongues, I lay hands on the sick and they recover, I take up serpents and scorpions and it does not hurt me e.t.c
2 weeks later, we went home from school, I was sitting outside with my siblings and cousins and we were singing Christian songs, all of a sudden I felt an urge to speak in an unknown language and I started to do so, I quickly caught myself and thought I was faking it, so I stopped. The next day, I was in the sitting room, I was hitting a golf ball against my younger sisters room door with my legs and singing Christian songs while at it, my cousin was watching the television, all of a sudden I busted out in tongues (unknown language), I felt both embarrassed and happy at the same time, I ran into my room and could not control when it stopped or when it started, it will take about a minute between the time I wanted to stop and the time it stopped, and when I would say thank you Jesus the tongues came out again, my cousin ran to the room to meet me and said to me ”you have gotten something ”, this uncontrollable burst of tongues will continue for about a month, when I got to school I spoke to older Christians about it and they assured me that with time, I will be able to control it, and that is what has happened till this day.
I chose to share this amongst many miraculous encounters I have had to say that every Christian needs to have an encounter with the supernatural, Paul writing to the Corinthian Church said “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” 1 Cor 2:4-5.
There is a generation where the baptism in the Holyspirit can be done without the Holyspirit, I have always wondered why this is so, people are taught to open their mouths and whatever comes out of it is ‘tongues’, they say the spirit gives utterance but you have to speak it out, my disagreement with this is that it does not really align with other parts of scripture, for example in Acts 10 at the house of Cornelius Peter was only preaching when the Holyghost fell on the gentiles, they had no knowledge that would happen, they knew the Holyghost fell on them because Acts 10:46 says ‘For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God’, this experience would later be Peters argument when he had to contend with Jewish believers in Acts 11, he told them how that the Holyghost fell on the gentiles, in other words the Holyghost fully approved the mission, if Peter had led the people to the Baptism in the holyghost like we are made to believe today that wouldn’t have been a valid proof. In Acts 8:9-23, a story is shared of how Philip was preaching in Samaria and had many converts, these converts were water baptised but were not baptised in the holyspirit, the bible says when the Apostles at Jerusalem saw that Philip had so many converts they sent Peter and John to them, Peter and John laid hands on them and they received the Holyghost, it was such a spiritual experience that Simon the Socerer tried to buy it with money, another thing to note here is that Philip the evangelist did not lead them in the infilling of the Holyghost until Peter and John arrived, this shows how spiritual the experience is. This spiritual experience and encounter that many believers should have, has been taken out by the God gives utterance while you speak teaching. Every believer needs to have an encounter with the supernatural.
Christianity in itself cannot be explained with human wisdom, the moment you subscribe to being a Christian, you have subscribed to believing that a virgin gave birth to a son, you have subscribed to believe that the red sea once parted and so many things in the bible that can only be believed by faith. Miracles are God’s way of showing that there is a world beyond here, it is God’s way of validating his word Heb 2:3-4 ”how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, dwhich at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was econfirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 fGod also bearing witness gboth with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and hgifts 3of the Holy Spirit, iaccording to His own will?” . Many believers only believe by head affirmation, they have no experience to substantiate what they believe, it’s like having a school without laboratory, you are taught the theories but have not seen anything practically, when deep challenges come you can easily be swayed, because all you have is head affirmation.
The author of the book of Hebrew writes ”It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holyghost and have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them unto repentance; Heb 6:4-6, notice how he categorizes these believers, these are not believers that have just theories, they have also had supernatural encounters, these are the believers that have it difficult falling away and when they do they have it difficult coming back, because they have seen and experienced all the proof of a living God and a resurrected Christ.
Miracles substantiate our faith, it is the only way we can prove to a critical and scientific world that the bible is real every other way would not work because the bible cannot be logically explained.
Miracles and divine encounters strengthen the faith of the believer, he is able to think back and see supernatural acts and his faith is strengthened to believe in not just a God he read in a book but one that is alive and active.
While in that room I found the baptist student fellowship, the baptist student fellowship at the school was a lot different from what I had at home, coupled with my room mates who had a charismatic view of the bible, I started to see the need to seek God for the baptism in the HolySpirit, together with speaking in tongues. As a young baptist boy, I had argued this reality with my cousin who attended a charismatic church, however in school I was quickly shown Mark 16:17 ‘And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues’, I quickly began my quest for the infilling of the Holyghost.
One day, I sat at the pavement by the soccer field and I heard a voice asking me to go on a 3 day fast, the voice sounded real yet there was obviously nobody with me, I quickly realized that God has spoken to me for the first time, that evening when we attended the fellowship the prayer leader mentioned that they were planning an anointing service on a certain date and everyone was to go on a 3day fast in preparation for the day, as a teenager, I was ecstatic, I told everybody that cared to hear that God spoke to me and it was confirmed the same day at the evening fellowship by the fellowship leaders. I knew that the anointing service would be where I would receive the baptism in the Holyghost that I had been waiting for all along.
The day came and the meeting was awesome, though this was a Baptist student fellowship, the experience was something I had never seen all my life as a Baptist boy, the prayer leader preached the word and started to pray, people ‘fell under the power’ there were people praying in tongues and prophesying, he also started laying hands on everybody present, when he got to my turn, I made sure I stood real rigid so I would not fall, and I did not. After that service however, I knew I had received, I did not pray in tongues, I did not fall nothing spectacular, just the simple reason that God spoke to me earlier about the need to fast which culminated in that meeting, I changed my prayer point and started thanking God for answers to prayers using Mark 16:17-18, I would say father I thank you because I cast out devils, I speak with new tongues, I lay hands on the sick and they recover, I take up serpents and scorpions and it does not hurt me e.t.c
2 weeks later, we went home from school, I was sitting outside with my siblings and cousins and we were singing Christian songs, all of a sudden I felt an urge to speak in an unknown language and I started to do so, I quickly caught myself and thought I was faking it, so I stopped. The next day, I was in the sitting room, I was hitting a golf ball against my younger sisters room door with my legs and singing Christian songs while at it, my cousin was watching the television, all of a sudden I busted out in tongues (unknown language), I felt both embarrassed and happy at the same time, I ran into my room and could not control when it stopped or when it started, it will take about a minute between the time I wanted to stop and the time it stopped, and when I would say thank you Jesus the tongues came out again, my cousin ran to the room to meet me and said to me ”you have gotten something ”, this uncontrollable burst of tongues will continue for about a month, when I got to school I spoke to older Christians about it and they assured me that with time, I will be able to control it, and that is what has happened till this day.
I chose to share this amongst many miraculous encounters I have had to say that every Christian needs to have an encounter with the supernatural, Paul writing to the Corinthian Church said “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” 1 Cor 2:4-5.
There is a generation where the baptism in the Holyspirit can be done without the Holyspirit, I have always wondered why this is so, people are taught to open their mouths and whatever comes out of it is ‘tongues’, they say the spirit gives utterance but you have to speak it out, my disagreement with this is that it does not really align with other parts of scripture, for example in Acts 10 at the house of Cornelius Peter was only preaching when the Holyghost fell on the gentiles, they had no knowledge that would happen, they knew the Holyghost fell on them because Acts 10:46 says ‘For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God’, this experience would later be Peters argument when he had to contend with Jewish believers in Acts 11, he told them how that the Holyghost fell on the gentiles, in other words the Holyghost fully approved the mission, if Peter had led the people to the Baptism in the holyghost like we are made to believe today that wouldn’t have been a valid proof. In Acts 8:9-23, a story is shared of how Philip was preaching in Samaria and had many converts, these converts were water baptised but were not baptised in the holyspirit, the bible says when the Apostles at Jerusalem saw that Philip had so many converts they sent Peter and John to them, Peter and John laid hands on them and they received the Holyghost, it was such a spiritual experience that Simon the Socerer tried to buy it with money, another thing to note here is that Philip the evangelist did not lead them in the infilling of the Holyghost until Peter and John arrived, this shows how spiritual the experience is. This spiritual experience and encounter that many believers should have, has been taken out by the God gives utterance while you speak teaching. Every believer needs to have an encounter with the supernatural.
Christianity in itself cannot be explained with human wisdom, the moment you subscribe to being a Christian, you have subscribed to believing that a virgin gave birth to a son, you have subscribed to believe that the red sea once parted and so many things in the bible that can only be believed by faith. Miracles are God’s way of showing that there is a world beyond here, it is God’s way of validating his word Heb 2:3-4 ”how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, dwhich at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was econfirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 fGod also bearing witness gboth with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and hgifts 3of the Holy Spirit, iaccording to His own will?” . Many believers only believe by head affirmation, they have no experience to substantiate what they believe, it’s like having a school without laboratory, you are taught the theories but have not seen anything practically, when deep challenges come you can easily be swayed, because all you have is head affirmation.
The author of the book of Hebrew writes ”It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holyghost and have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them unto repentance; Heb 6:4-6, notice how he categorizes these believers, these are not believers that have just theories, they have also had supernatural encounters, these are the believers that have it difficult falling away and when they do they have it difficult coming back, because they have seen and experienced all the proof of a living God and a resurrected Christ.
Miracles substantiate our faith, it is the only way we can prove to a critical and scientific world that the bible is real every other way would not work because the bible cannot be logically explained.
Miracles and divine encounters strengthen the faith of the believer, he is able to think back and see supernatural acts and his faith is strengthened to believe in not just a God he read in a book but one that is alive and active.
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