"Spirit-Slain" & Other Personal Experiences

[hungrypossum]

Note From Jennifer:
Seeing Possum's post, I thought a thread detailing personal experiences of miracles, spiritual deliverance, and other similar things would be cool to have.

The one stipulation: You must have been present. No "hear say" stories, this isn't what this is for. The miracle, delivery, spirit experience need not have happened to you... but you must have been an observer or witness to it yourself. ('kay?)

Thats awful guys. Look, I touched God before (i just had to i'm those kinda people who gotta feel to believe)

it happened on a day after service at my church Planetshakers and everyone was dropping on the ground like flies

i was like OOOH COOL! i ran up to the speaker, then he tapped me on the head and down I went!

my legs couldn't feel a thing

you can read my blog post if you want about being slain in the spirit:

Reflect, said the RMIT lecturers.

 

[Totenkindly]

"Ha ha ha, we all fall down"

The experience I'll mention here happened when I was in college (back, oh, in the stone age).

I was at a worship session for a training conference for campus small group leaders, and my best friend and I were standing in a circle with others holding hands.

He couldn't sing worth a darn, but he was sure loud. He also had a "charismatic" background (as opposed to me, a mangy Lutheran/Methodist/Baptist mutt of some sort). He did not have experiences like most charismatics (none of the weekly "Spirit mania" things), but he was open to it.

As I held his hand, I felt what seemed to be an electric current flowing from him to me, it was one of the oddest things I think I've ever felt. I had no clue what to make of it, I just being puzzled -- "What's THIS?" I thought to myself.

And about five seconds later, he just fell on the ground.

Somehow I kept a grip on his hand, although it was a stretch.

He started to laugh quietly. Not an insane titter, nothing weird, just one of those full, good, completely healthy and honest, gently joyous laughs. He kept laughing to himself, a huge beautific smile on his face.

I was a little freaked. I'd never been at ground zero before with these things, and part of me was like, "Is he okay?" and part of me was like, "Is this all fake?" and part of me is like, "Whoa, what IS this?" I kept a good grip on his hand, though, trying to pick up what vibes I could. It was crazy.

A few of the leaders (adults) were concerned. One lady came over and knelt next to him, they were trying to figure out what to do with him... and at one point she said, "You need to stop it, you're scaring people."

If I had been the "me" I am now, I would have snapped at her for that... since he wasn't actually making much fuss, and it was clear he wasn't choosing consciously to do it, and who was she to try to box up what was happening?

But back then, I just kept my thoughts to myself... and a good grip on his hand. I had no idea what was going on, but I wasn't about to let him go into it alone.

He finally was able to get up after 5-10 minutes, but he was as loose and shaky as if he had spent an hour in a hot tub. And he was very very peaceful and happy.

He didn't know how to explain it either... and he might have only ever had one or two other similar experiences in his whole life. (So it's not like he was one to make this happen to himself every week. If it happened, it happened TO him or on some subconscious level... not because he consciously was making it happen.)

 

[hungrypossum]

lol cool. yea. every Christian who receives the Holy spirit will sorta feel different to one extent or the other the next day. on the day i rededicated my life to Christ my friend prayed that "though my sins are as red as blood, i will be restored and be as white as snow". felt like everything wrong in the world was cast off me. felt like i could float!

i was a teenager with many many problems, (drinking, bad boyfriends, involved in a cheating scam, bad relationship with my parents etc) but i felt like a big light switch in me was turned on

problem is alot of us either dont know we have it, cos we supposed to reach out for God rather than vice versa. God wont touch you if you dont want him to

difference between God and other spiritual force: when God touches you you will feel the kind of joy you felt as a kid when you woke up and got your Christmas presents. except you dont need to be given anything, the joy is just there. other spiritual forces are anti-God and hence will cause great fear, panic, despair etc.

its a personal experience only you can feel. the outsider will just be like ??? uh what was that all about.

i have alot of stories about my experience with God. just a few of those are on my blog

 

[hungrypossum]

(oh i thought it was still that west-something church thread)

just an interesting note: im the GIRL on the right in my avatar. on my left is my pal Jaime. Jaime got healed by God during the youth camp at church in Aug last year. Hehe hope he won't kill me but here's his myspace. He was born without a sense of smell and he used to ask everyone all the time if he smelled bad.

But he hasn't gotten slain in the spirit yet ;p its the most kickass experience ever, hope it happens to me again

MySpace.com - ...JiMeNEY...HEALED! - 21 - Male - Melbourne, Victoria - www.myspace.com/soi7der77

and if you wanna ask i'm from Planetshakers, its a pretty famous church, something like Hillsong. Planetshakers

 

[INTJMom]

Several years ago, my husband was laid off from his job for a year, and he ended up doing manual labor and working 70-80 hrs/week to keep the bills paid. I had a part-time job, too, which was paying for the groceries. Our health insurance ran out after 6 months. I was a little uncomfortable going without health insurance but we couldn't afford to buy it, so we had to just trust God that He would keep us healthy and safe.

During the 6 months without coverage, I started developing stress pain while I was sleeping. The pain started in my trapezius, radiated up my back to my shoulder, then ran down my left arm to my elbow. It only hurt in certain positions. I was unable to toss a basketball to the hoop anymore. The pain was excruciating if I tried. I finally gave in and called the chiropractor to find out how much a couple of visits would cost because I was pretty sure the sound wave therapy they do would clear it up. [I had had similar pain in my other shoulder and it took 3 visits and a couple of months to heal.] It was expensive and I felt bad about spending that much money on myself, so I waited.

The Sunday following the call to the doctor, we were in a Southern Baptist type church. During worship, I had glorious private communion with God. I felt His love and closeness in a special way, out of the ordinary for a typical Sunday. I think I remember wishing God would heal me, but not even having enough faith to ask Him. I didn't know it right then, but a couple of days later, I realized I didn't have the pain anymore! My back, shoulder and arm were completely healed! I was able to throw a basketball without pain! There was no logical explanation for it. It was a miracle.

 

[sassafrassquatch]

 

[Totenkindly]

I'd request again for positive anecdotes of spiritual nature, and to keep the debate away from whether or not they seem believable.

Their validity can be questioned in a different thread, if you'd like (and please feel free), but that's not the purpose of this thread.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

This may not really count, because they're dreams. But they're VIVID dreams. Ever since I was ten or so, I've had nightmares about religious iconography. Statues and crucifixes coming to life and walking around in church. The most vivid parts are always the gasps from the congregation. I think it's significant that these are nightmares and not happy dreams...they are most definitely terrifying. I usually have three or four of these dreams a year.

I was raised a typical Irish Catholic and now I guess I'd be most accurately described as a mishmash of Catholic, deist, and Quaker. I've always wondered what it was in my psychology that causes these dreams, but I have no answers.

 

[Jae Rae]

Like INTJ Mom, there was a time when money was very tight; my husband was on strike wages and I was the only one working. We decided to go to a little seaside town near us for a Pumpkin Festival. We passed a bakery with wonderful smelling pies; they cost eight dollars, but we'd spent our money for the day on a pumpkin and lunch.

I said out loud to my husband "I wish we had money for a pie." I heard a slight swish, then looked down. At my feet was a small wad of bills - exactly eight dollars. I picked up the money, looked at it in amazement, then quickly went into the bakery and bought a pie, which cheered us up enormously.

I've told this story a few times and have never come up with a better explanation than Divine Intervention.

Jae Rae