Guiding Me in Prayer
To fully appreciate this story, you would need to have already read my story on The Baptism of The Holy Spirit. So, please kindly read that story first before reading this.
I had been walking on air since the baptism of the Holy Spirit happened to me on Thursday 14th November 2013. The effect of the Holy Spirit baptism left me wanting to do nothing but good. I felt on fire for God, and His commands seemed to be much easier to do than ever before, and I wanted to do them, I wanted to please Him, and I certainly did not want to grieve the Holy Spirit. I was so IN LOVE with Him!
The next day, Friday, I had planned not to do my monthly Night Prayer (praying throughout the night) because I had been ill, but after the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, I just wanted to do it anyway. So, that's just what I did. As I started my night prayer around midnight, I asked the Holy Spirit to be with me, and to my surprise I smelled His scent so strongly in the room. I screamed with joy,
"Hah, He's with me, He's with me!!'
I thanked Him, I told Him just how much I love Him, and I did not want Him to ever leave me! Then, as I began to pray for the people on my list, I was amazed to smell the scent of the Holy Spirit again and again, repeatedly. Depending on who I was praying for, the scent was often quite strong. It was almost as if God was saying,
"Yes, this one is a very important prayer!"
I was praying for a Muslim family, and the scent during that prayer was just overwhelming.
Normally, I struggle through my Night Prayer (especially when I pray on my own), but this night, it was so easy. I smelled the Holy Spirit scent all night; He was with me all night! I watched the sun rose up through my window, and there the scent was yet again present beside me. It was as if He was watching the sunrise with me. It was so romantic. I am so crazily in love with Him, I tell you. It's the most wonderful relationship ever!
Helping Me to Discern
The scent lingered consistently, especially during my daily devotional, but I have also smelled Him as I went about my daily routine. For example:
I was asked to distribute leaflets about Bible Study to the houses in my neighbourhood. I had a few hundred in my hand. As I jogged to every house to post the leaflet, nothing unusual happened - however for certain houses, I could smell the scent of the Holy Spirit. I would look around, and there would be no flowers nearby, just green grass and bushes. Yet, when I had posted to houses where there were flowers in the garden, I had not smelled the scent of the Holy Spirit at all. So, it was as if God was telling me which houses would be interested in the leaflet, and which ones would not.
I was typing an email to my mother in-law about adoption. I had written a few paragraphs about it, but at the end of that email I wrote about my baptism stone - how I still believe in the promises that God had inscribed on that stone. Just as I was writing that paragraph (about the stone), the scent of the Holy Spirit came so suddenly, and so strongly that it interrupted my typing. It was as if God was saying He was pleased with me still having faith in the stone/in Him, when everyone else had given up.
Helping to Build Relationships
A few other things have also happened:
I spoke to a friend of mine on the telephone. After I finished, the Holy Spirit highlighted to me that I had said something wrong to her. I hadn't realised it, but as it was highlighted to me, I was so grieved at what I had done. The very next morning, I called her to apologise. The amazing thing was that - this would have been a very difficult thing for me to do in the past, but this time it was so easy. I just wanted to make it right with her ,and with God. I just wanted to do good!
When I was shopping at the local supermarket, I had smelled the Holy Spirit scent with me. As I loaded the car up with shopping, an old man walked towards me. I had a strong urge just to say "Good morning" to him and smiled; normally I wouldn't have bothered. He looked at me, smiled back, and started chatting. In fact, he wanted my cart trolley (even though there were many others just a yard or two away). So, he waited until I finished emptying the cart trolley (which took a while because I had a lot in it). I couldn't help but feel, he wanted to be with me for as long as possible because of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
My friend had just been in a traumatic car accident; a head-on collision, but God spared his life with only minor injuries. So, I had been visiting him, and been praying for him, but not in the last two or three weeks. So, I made time one afternoon to call him to see how he was. To my surprise, 30 seconds into the phone conversation, he asked me if I knew anything about Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I was so shocked, it was the last question that I thought he would ever ask. It appeared that God had been talking to him about it, too. So I shared my testimony with him, and he was so excited about it. He longed for his own baptism of the Holy Spirit which God will give him in due time.
I now see people with new eyes. In the past, I would see or look for their shortcomings, but now I just want to love them, regardless. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a really important event for a Christian. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live a life pleasing to God; and I feel it, I no longer rely on my own strength, but on His. It's so wonderful. I can't describe it. I urge you to ask God for a Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is be the best thing that can happen to a Christian. Lives will be changed!
2 Corinthians 3: 17-18
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
What an absolutely wonderful scripture - every word TRUE!
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