My understanding of the Holy Spirit was limited. Growing up I learned, “When we become baptized by our confession of faith, the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us.” The end. We are now “good to go” – forgiven, redeemed, and saved for eternity. Carry on.
But I wondered….
Why does He live in us? Is it to make sure we are grateful that we get to go to heaven? What about the power and miracles? How do my children see that? Why do they even care?
When I became a mom, I decided to stay home with my children. I read the Bible to them daily. They knew I loved it. But did they? Why would they?
I remember sitting there, after reading the Bible to them one morning, pondering. I prayed, “Father, how do I show them how worthy You are of our love and adoration?” To my children it seemed just stories – a confusing blend of incredible mercy and seeming cruelty.
Thankfully Father led me to teachers who taught about the power of the Holy Spirit. I dared to believe I could experience a miracle in my life. I felt a little naughty for even asking for more. After all, Jesus saved me – what more could I want!
But I did. I wanted to experience “the presence of God in the land of the living” (Ps 27:13) . I wanted the boldness, conviction, and miracles the followers of Jesus in the Bible had. How did the power lessen over the years? And why? Nowhere in scripture does it say there will be no more healing or miracles.
The most obvious sign God gave me was during the birth of my third child.
During my first child’s birth, I spent 26 hours in painful contractions before receiving the “failure to progress” diagnosis. This resulted in an unwanted C-section.
With my second, I was determined to have a normal birth. Although she was large and facing backwards, I labored hard and painfully, but I got her out. Praise the Lord! Certainly faith and prayers were a huge part of both births.
Reading God’s Word and desiring more of Him became a bigger part of my life. When labor began a third time, I found myself singing hymns and songs I had sung to my little ones all night long. I wanted my Bible during labor. It was very odd. No one had suggested that to me. It was the Holy Spirit!
When I read the words out loud, the pain stopped. The contractions continued, but they were more like a workout contraction.
As labor sped up, there were moments I could no longer hold my Bible and read. I asked my husband to read outloud from anywhere in the Bible. When he spoke God’s Word, the pain stopped!
Daniel was pain-lessly born into a room full of worship and God’s Word. And I was shown first hand the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in us.
And even better than that….this is the kind of life our God is for everyone who believes!