Oh I went to Catholic mass 6 days a week, and I heard about Pentecost. I have lived as a "christian" all my life... as I ventured into all alternative "everythings".... but Sunday I experienced my first Pentecost with real meaning, as a Christ-Follower. As a Disciple. And I was deliberate to find church(es) that are truly Holy Spirit filled. 

AND I DID.

I went to a church with a passionate Christian friend Sunday. The 12:30 service. When I got out of my car, still in the parking lot, I could quite literally feel Spirit, feel the music, feel my joy rise. And I had been sick, wasn't sure I would be able to go, really. (That is why the later service appealed to me.)

A more Black American membership than most other churches I have attended, the people dancing in the aisles, and on the altar wailing and moving with Spirit - it stunned, awakened, delighted my spirit. This is Church. This is the Movement of God through the Holy Spirit through his Hands and Feet there in that room. I can see how watching through a lens this might not appeal, or seem...provoked/faked - oh but IN THE ROOM.. you cannot help be overtaken. I was transported immediately through song and worship right into the arms of the Holy Spirit. My true Comforter. How I fully understood that Name for Him, suddenly.

By the way: HOW I LOVE SUDDENLY!!!    BEREAN STUDY BIBLE ACTS2:2

1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. : 2 Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 

3They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them....

Pentecost was: a once-in-a-lifetime event...  

Pentecost is: the infilling and receivership of the Holy Spirit.

AND - All - His - Gifts.

As The Bible Project says;

On Pentecost Sunday, the Church celebrates that God’s Spirit now lives in the new temple of Jesus’ body, his people. Followers of Jesus can now access God’s power and presence to spread the good news of his upside-down Kingdom

Several altar calls... several healings and prayers... okay so what happened to ME? I have been struggling with my own prayers of healing,  deliverance of spirits of inflammation/pain/arthritis - everything I could name...for over a month with my left hand. And, everything but my poor thumb got really healed. I stand in faith EVERYTIME I claim my inheritance, I claim the power to cast out any lingering spirit of oppression. I still do.  

So for ME: when I went up for prayer to a woman about my thumb, this lingering holdout and test of my faith, yet when out guarded and protected by a hand/thumb brace-stabilizer exactly as this one: the woman I walked up to before anything else said: TAKE THAT OFF and prayed over my hand. No words or story exchanged. She just went straight to God and did not need any of my story or drama or historical data about my work towards it...and... HEALED IT. I have not snapped my fingers for 2 months.

(By the way: I also always always always pray for gentle lessons!! Better a sore thumb as I practice healing and prayer than a life-threatening or painful experience. Thank you Jesus - I love your sense of humor in my life.)

So okay this has been way fun, way more alive, way more me and direct to God than any other kinds of services. These churches that have huge and alive altar calls where you are invited to be healed or help heal, where you are invited to ask for prayer of to offer it, where you are invited to be freed of demons or pray for the room as others are.... Yes, this is God's Church. We are His hands and feet, He acts through us. The Holy Spirit was GIVEN to us on this event. And the Power of the Name of Jesus is still the only real power in my life.

I had lunch with my friend. Her story of traffic and abuse will be another interview and another story - but she is a miracle-mentor for me, a biblical expert who can bring real life into my life understanding where so many others are standing a bit apart, a bit bothered by my direction and excitement answering me with one liners: Jesus was peaceful. Even as He turned over the tables... well I am seeking that knowledge of Peace while I too turn over tables. I want my Church to wake up.I want my Church to wake up America. I want us to want it. I want us to become cognizant that the sleep is more than just the easy-to-swallow no-repentance-necessary church messages..... no, there is an accounting to be had when we face Jesus. I know the fight is not of the flesh and I know His Kingdom is not on earth as it is in Heaven, and I am an Esther here to look at laws that go against His Word and His Kingdom, and to stand against. In love. With the Holy Spirit guiding my words, my direction, my humility, my courage.. and I am still learning. (See posting on More America than Church)

What a gift this service, this lunch, this friendship was for me Sunday. I was so stoked I went on my own to another worship service for the evening. Again danced, wept, sang, prayed and stood in thanks for this God that loves me so.