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Anointed Power of Holy Spirit
by BILL HUNT "Would you like to join us in a weekly prayer meeting?" The elderly Catholic pastor and a young Baptist pastor prayed with us. Pentecostals and Catholics and Christian brothers and sisters from other denominations all over town joined us. Pete Wasco, a Pentecostal farmer who lost one arm in a farm accident, was one prayer warrior. He repaired lawn mowers with his good arm. We arranged chairs in a circle and prayed with our interfaith group on Monday nights. Together, we grew in Christ. "The wind blows wherever it pleases. "You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit" (John 3:8 NIV). We learned how willing the Holy Spirit wants to flow among the different denominations! Mary and I held a deep appreciation for the Holy Spirit's unlimited love among the different churches. Because of Him, we felt free to respond to ministry wherever we were invited. You can't put God in a box. I can not express how beautifully Mary played anointed music on the available piano or organ. Or she sang with her auto harp and led worship in the Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, or Methodist churches and in neighborhood prayer meetings. She played the modern charismatic songs and the traditional hymns of Christianity. Through her anointing, the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit immediately flowed over us in worship. We assisted the local Full Gospel Businessmen's meeting. Mary designed a huge red and white wall banner of the Last Supper to hang behind their head table. We also prayed with our dear friends Abe and Naomi, Charismatic Mennonites, at Grace Chapel. Beautiful it is, to watch the Holy Spirit work in his Love. Mary remembers one special night as the Holy Spirit spilled over in to our home. I offered to pray for her heartfelt concerns. At first she resisted, feeling a hesitancy with our husband-wife relationship. "So I asked you to lay hands on me and pray over me," Mary said. "I told God: 'Okay, just because Bill's my husband, I'm not going to resist his gift. Whatever you want to do, that's fine'. As you placed hands on my head, the anointing of God immediately came over me so powerfully I collapsed to the floor. "For sure I was out. I lay on the living room rug for some forty-five minutes. When I fell backwards, the Holy Spirit told me to stop resisting him and to yield. As I lay there, I saw myself looking up at Jesus on the cross. I felt his blood from the cross dripping on my forehead. The Holy Spirit gave me a scripture. 'I have been crucified with Christ... "and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20 NIV). "I just knew the experience of Jesus being the sacrifice for my sins. Then in the Spirit, I was lifted up onto the cross. I was on the cross with him, like in Jesus on the cross. I experienced what Jesus experienced when the Father looked away from him. It was the moment when Jesus took sin for me. And I felt forsaken, the darkness, the emptiness there, when Jesus died. "At the same time, I can't tell you how this is. In my spirit I experienced the dynamite light explosion of the Resurrection, that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. That blackness felt like death, but then I experienced the light explosion! "I experienced his Resurrection. That's all I can say. "It was an identification with Christ on the cross, of his blood covering me, of what Christ really did when he died for me. He took my sin upon his cross. He experienced death so I wouldn't have to. He did it for me. The power of the Holy Spirit that raised Christ up, raised me up. I felt that." "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you" (Rom 8:11 NIV). Mary fell to the rug-covered floor under the anointing. She rose with the experience of the overwhelming power of the Holy Spirit. She rose with an understanding of Christ's sacrifice on his blood-soaked cross for her. She rose with an understanding of the light of his Resurrection Victory for the World. Bill Hunt dedicated his marriage to discovering God's 100 million miracles in life. As a Christian Writer, administrator, and career educator, he writes true miracle stories and Christian teachings on FaithWriters and CornerRetreat.blogspot.com. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |