“You’re the loneliest person I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
I had only been at college a week when a girl on a campus bus turned around and said those words to me.
“What?” I shook my head in disbelief. “How would you know that?” She simply replied, “God told me.” With the most disrespectful tone I could muster, I said, “Oh yeah! What else did He tell you?” Her eyes softened. The words that followed—about something very personal in my life—both pierced me and made me wonder. There was no way she could’ve known that, I thought.
She went on to explain that if I accepted Jesus into my heart, I wouldn’t be lonely anymore. I didn’t know how to respond. After an awkward silence, she simply turned back around in her seat.
One evening about a week later, I experienced acute loneliness as I adjusted to college life. Suddenly, I remembered the words of the girl on the bus. It was then that I asked Jesus into my heart. I felt a warmth pour over me, and I fell asleep. The next morning, everything seemed different. I woke up with a feeling of hope. Something within me had definitely changed.
That same day, I saw the girl from the bus and told her what had happened. After she introduced herself, Corrine said, “You’ve been born again.” She then invited me up to her dorm room where she gave me a Bible. After explaining a few things about my “new life,” Corrine asked to pray for me to be filled with the Holy Spirit. She said, “You’re going to hear a new language inside. When you do, that is the Holy Spirit speaking. Just say what you hear Him say.”
Corrine laid her hand on my head and began to speak in another language. I may have imitated her at first, but soon I realized that the words coming out of my mouth sounded quite different from hers. She said, “That’s it! That’s tongues.”
Over the weeks that followed, Corinne and I spent a lot of time together until she left school to marry her boyfriend. I felt like my guide was gone, but really He wasn’t. Corrine had accomplished her assignment: I was born again, received my first Bible, and was filled with the Holy Spirit. I had everything I needed for the journey in front of me.
In Andrew’s new teaching, The Present-Day Ministry of the Holy Spirit, he describes how Paul didn’t want his readers to be ignorant of the person of the Holy Spirit or His gifts (1 Cor. 12:1). Understanding the ministry of the Holy Spirit is not an issue of eternal salvation. However, knowing Him allows you to call on His help and ability. Without His help, most of what you do will be tied to self-effort. As Andrew says,
He’s not a force… He’s a person.
He’s a gift.
If you want to experience the Holy Spirit’s ministry in your life, you’ll want to hear Andrew’s full teaching.
