Have you discovered yet that there is another person living in your body?
I was a baby Christian, basking in newborn fellowship of the Holy Spirit. I woke up one morning only to discover I was singing a new song. I had never sung this song before, but it was clear I had been singing it while asleep and continued singing it now awake. How do you sing a song you never knew before? How do you come to know the words? That is kingdom dynamics.
The anointing
One of the friends of Job says God gives us songs in the night. But this was not about a bible character, this was about me. I decided to consult a Pentecostal hymnbook. I checked the index and found the song there: “When the Spirit of the Lord is Upon My Soul.” I opened the book to the page of the song and discovered that I had been singing the song word-for-word. The song says: “When the Spirit of the Lord is upon my soul, I will dance like David danced.” The refrain is quite straightforward. It simply says: “I will d-a-n-c-e; I will d-a-n-c-e.”
I was perplexed. So God can teach a man a song he does not know word-for-word, and he just sings it supernaturally? I spent the entire morning singing the song, dancing all over the house. From the shower, to my dressing-room, to my breakfast: I sang and hummed and danced. I was a complete nuisance.
My wife and Femi Kevin stared at me and looked at one another knowingly. It was a Sunday morning, so we were going to church. At the time, our preferred church was some thirty minutes from our house. So I continued singing in the car at the top of my voice. I left no one in doubt that the Spirit of the Lord was indeed upon my soul.
Confirmation
When we got to the church, something strange happened. Young Femi Kevin was the first to get out of the car and go into the church. What he saw was so amazing to him that he immediately rushed out to tell us. “Daddy, Daddy,” he shouted, his eyes getting bigger, and a smile of incredulity on his lips. “They are singing the same song.”
We walked into the church to find it in something of a Holy Ghost uproar. People were jumping up and down. Some were clapping their hands with great fervour. Others were dancing aggressively. Everyone was singing the same song that the Lord had just taught me: “When the Spirit of the Lord is upon my soul, I will dance like David danced.” David says of the Lord: “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” That glorious Sunday morning, God put a new song in my mouth.
The atonement
Have you discovered yet that there is another person living in your body? Have you noticed that there is somebody seeing through your eyes and listening through your ears? Are you aware of the fact that even your thoughts are bugged? Have you ever overheard someone singing a praise song within you? Have you ever found yourself suddenly crying without understanding why? This consciousness comes when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
The Holy Spirit has been, without a doubt, the most dramatic and overwhelming part of my Christian life. He has completely radicalised my life. Today, I cannot imagine life without him. I cannot even recall what my life must have been like all those years without him. But the fellowship of the Holy Spirit has been as devastating as it has been wonderful. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is as life-shattering as it is life-affirming. Put succinctly, in the process of giving me a new life, the Holy Spirit has completely destroyed my life. Jesus says: “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:24).
The fact that we have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is one of those privileges that separate Christianity from every other faith. Therefore, I am amazed when I meet Christians who say they have never heard from God. God wants to communicate with us. If he didn’t, he would not have come down in human form as Jesus Christ. If he didn’t, he would not have given us the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is a firm assurance that God loves us. It is through the Holy Spirit that the love of God is poured out into our hearts.
Intimacy with God
The Holy Spirit also provides the believer with infallible proofs that God is not a figment of our imagination. Day-in day-out, he demonstrates that God is a living God. Your experience may be different from mine. Sometimes, the Lord even wraps himself completely around me. It started with him just holding on to my legs. Gradually, it developed to him enclosing me all over with some kind of warm blanket. On those occasions, he would say nothing at all. I would have to be completely still. If I moved, he would immediately withdraw.
But before I wax lyrical about my intimacies with God, it is important to point out that the atonement is also a killer. It spells death. Death to self: death to personal agenda. The process can be exacting. The Holy Spirit is a different kind of companion. He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24) He never leaves you alone. He goes with you to the toilet. He reads all your mail and letters. He even eavesdrops on all your thoughts. There is no hiding place from him, and there is no escape from him.
The Holy Spirit is like a jealous wife who wants our total attention. You better not be caught looking at another woman. Very early in the relationship, I rebelled. I felt that it was becoming insufferable. I felt it was becoming too claustrophobic. He wanted all of me, but I wanted to retain some of me for myself. I wanted my life back. So I jumped down from the cross.
The result was disastrous. I went into a deep inexplicable depression. I couldn’t put a finger on it. Nobody offended me. No calamity occurred. But a dark cloud descended on me and I knew that I had grieved the Holy Spirit. I had to seek the intercession of my wife to pray for my forgiveness.
Don’t give up
In the film, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Randle McMurphy had a native American friend called Chief who was deaf and dumb. Nevertheless, he spent a lot of time talking to him. Others told him he was wasting his time. “The man can’t hear you,” they said. McMurphy told them to mind their business and continued talking to Chief. One day, he gave Chief a chewing-gum and he said: “thank you.” Astonished, he gave him another one and Chief read aloud the label: “Juicy Fruit.” Suddenly McMurphy discovered that Chief was not deaf and dumb at all.
Keep speaking to the Holy Spirit. You will be surprised one day when he suddenly answers you. (Concluded).
