The
Bible calls it falling under the power of God but among Charismatics today it
is called being slain in the Spirit
(see scriptures). I’m sure a more profound description can be given by Biblical
scholars; however, I will just tell you of my
experience.
The
first two times I was slain by the
power of God was during two Evangelistic meetings in Gautier, Mississippi.
A guest Evangelist, David Alsobrook from Brentwood, TN spoke at our church in February
1992, just prior to my family moving to Japan in June. I had listened to his
cassette tapes and read his books and monthly newsletter for years. When his
schedule brought him to south Mississippi,
I asked my pastor if we could invite him to speak at our church and Brother
Tolar graciously gave him four nights. We were packed out with visitors, as
several other churches announced his meetings.
Attending
Charismatic services throughout my years as a Christian, I had witnessed
several believers being slain in the
Spirit so it was not foreign to me. I, however, had never been touched in that
way and had already accepted the fact that it probably would never happen to
me.
The
first night’s altar call was for a specific purpose I felt didn’t apply and so
I did not go forward but stayed in the back of the church. Those who did go up
were on the floor in a short time. Then David gave a general call for prayer. Since
my sixteen-year-old niece had just been injured in a head-on collision, I
decided I would ask him to pray for her. I had rehearsed in my mind how I would
explain her injuries and how he would pray an eloquent prayer and then move on
to the next person.
David
began stepping over bodies and started walking up the aisle toward me. I wasn’t
prepared for what happened next. As I opened my mouth to tell him about my
niece, he didn’t even listen! He just touched
my forehead and I went down like a rock! Evidently, you don’t have to tell anyone the details of a prayer need . .
. God knows already! I don’t know how long I lay in the aisle and I assume
people were stepping over me as well.
The
second and third nights of David’s messages were also met with many people being
touched by God. That doesn’t mean everyone present is slain in the Spirit, but it does mean that the Spirit’s presence,
if allowed, will definitely change some lives.
When it was known my family was moving to
Japan, I had received many “words” from
well-meaning friends who said I would have a ministry to the Japanese people. So,
on the fourth night, when David gave an altar call for those who wanted to step
out in their ministry, I went forward. I couldn’t imagine what kind of “ministry” I might have because up until
this time I had been a behind-the-scenes
worker, just quietly doing my job. I didn’t necessarily want or need to be seen
by anyone.
Several
of us went up for prayer and David went down the line praying for each one. When
he got to me, although he had already heard I was going to Japan, he said, “I
see you ministering to Americans.”
Then he touched my forehead and moved on without another word. I fell backward and
couldn’t move. It was February and I remember thinking, “It’s awfully hot in
here. I wish I had taken off this sweater!”
When
David came back down the line, he pointed at me and said, “God is all over
you!” I believed him because I knew then that the heat I was feeling was the
Holy Spirit’s fire and it was coming from the inside out. It would have been so
easy for David to tell me my ministry was to the Japanese people; however, I
don’t credit him for knowing anything except that he listened to the Holy Spirit and spoke as this word of knowledge was given to him. Yes, my ministry was to Americans!
Although
I witnessed to a few Japanese people in the five years we lived in Japan and I
also taught a few English classes, my ministry was mainly to the Navy wives
whose husbands were stationed in Sasebo, Japan. I taught a Bible study for four
years, led Praise and Worship for the Charismatic service at the base chapel,
and even preached a few times from the pulpit.
I coordinated the Harvest Party (Halloween) for three years and in
general just did whatever came up. So, in essence, I did have a ministry to Americans!
Now
fast forward a few years to 1994 . . .
Aaron,
my youngest, was now a very difficult thirteen-year-old having many problems in
school; especially with his P. E. teacher. Ron and I had received numerous
phone calls about his behavior and we were all strongly warned what would
happen if he didn’t correct his attitude. Ron threatened him and I cajoled him
to behave himself and clean up his act.
So-o-o . . . the last time I was slain in the Spirit was during a Sunday
night Charismatic service. We had several sailors who attended when their ship
was in port and one of them, John Reed, arrived to say God was giving him one
word he strongly felt was meant for someone in the service. The word
was “struggle!”
Our Chaplain
said if anyone felt this word was for them, they should come
up for prayer. I knew with every fiber of my being that it was for me so I jumped
up and ran to the front. Chaplain stood before me and his wife stood behind me.
As he began to pray, it felt as if my body was being lifted off
the floor and the only part of me that touched earth was my toes. I
fell under the power of God and when I opened my eyes, I saw a vision of the
word, struggle, blinking like a neon light. Then a wave of water
washed over it and every time it blinked it faded more and more until it was
washed away completely. Then all I saw was the bottom of a folding chair. I
don’t know how I got under there without hurting myself but I know I didn’t hit
my head.
I
left the service floating on air and continued to float throughout the week. All
the “struggles”
I was experiencing with Aaron seemed to be under my feet and I was in the
clouds. By Thursday, Aaron was suspended from school . . . and I was still floating. God knew what I would be
facing and He prepared me to rise above the circumstances and keep my eyes on
Him.
I’d
like to point out that I’ve experienced being slain in the Spirit only three
times this intensely in my years as a Christian. God can get our attention this
way; however, He also can get our attention with His “still, small voice.” (1 Kings 19:12)
There
might be some skeptics who would view this as exaggerated or melodramatic but no one can tell me it didn’t happen because I encountered the presence of God
myself and HE IS AWESOME!
It has been
said, “A man with an argument
is no match for a man with
an experience.” --Unknown
“And it came about when the priests came
from the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the
priests could not stand to minister
because of the cloud, for the glory of
the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” (1 Kings 8:10-11)
“...when the trumpeters and the singers
were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the Lord,
and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by trumpets
and cymbals and instruments of music,
and when they praised the Lord saying, ‘He indeed is good for His
lovingkindness is everlasting,’ then the house, the house of the Lord, was
filled with a cloud, so that the priest could not stand to minister because of
the cloud, for the glory of the Lord
filled the house of God.” (2
Chron 5:14 NAS)
“And it came about that as he [Saul] journeyed, he was approaching Damascus, and
suddenly a light from heaven flashed
around him; and he fell to the ground...”
(Acts 9:3-4 NAS)
“I
[John] was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day...And when I saw Him [Jesus], I fell at His feet as a dead man.” (Rev 1:10, 17 NAS)
June 2007, Postscript"
As I
wrote in my story, “...it felt as if my body was being lifted off
the floor and the only part of me that touched earth was my toes.” I
wondered if the reader would actually believe me or would they consider this an
overstatement as I was caught up in the drama of the moment. I had a hard time
believing it myself . . . until I found the following account written in a book
I was reading in September 2008:
Rapture
of any sort has about it an element of transport. It is as moving as it is
resplendent, but its resplendence cannot be defined.
No
dictionary can make this real to us; it is too experiential to be defined. Things real but indefinable we call mystery,
and mystery lies at the heart of rapture.
Those who have known it attest to its reality by their failure to define
it. Dumb before its power, they confess, “The greatest meaning that may be
known is buried in a mystery so deep that I cannot express its reality to fit
within the mind of another.” Still, it
is a state to be praised, for its sweetness lingers in the heart and leaves all
those who have experienced it with the need to experience it again and again .
. .
At
such a moment—at the peak of rapture—we not only are at a loss to define it, we
also can no longer explain it to those who witness our captivity to its spell. We
know only that to be lost in the joy of knowing God is, in itself, a kind of
elation. If we are spiritually healthy, we never get addicted to the elation,
but to the Savior. And we find rapture an immense aid in carrying
us over the rough and painful places of our lives.
I
once visited a cave in Spain
where Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross became so lost in the
rapture of their prayers, that they
levitated—at least, this is what the natives say. Whether they actually
levitated may be questioned, but surely they experienced a buoyancy in their joy.*
I was
so happy to find this actually written down. It confirmed that my deep
experience with God has also been experienced by others. It also defined what God was doing at the
time . . . “carrying [me] over the rough and painful places” with Aaron.
* Loving God Up Close – Rekindling Your Relationship
with the Holy Spirit
Calvin Miller, 2004, pages 144 and 145.
