Living in New Spirit Realities
By Lauren Hasson
I love to picture myself in a story. Reading about Jesus and his disciples, I picture what life would have been like two thousand years ago. My imagination sees the people pressing in for a miracle, wondering at how Jesus moved within the demands of his intimate friends and crowds, and then savoring the thought of eating grilled fish with Him by the seaside. I think of the joy of being one of His chosen friends who lived life with Him. Then I think of how, after all this time of intimate friendship, it still took His death and resurrection before His gift of anointing would be made available to His disciples, these chosen friends.
But I promise you this—the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will be filled with power. And you will be my messengers to Jerusalem, throughout Judea, the distant provinces even to the remotest places on earth!”
Acts 1:8
The most intimate friends of Jesus could not know the full measure of His power in a personal and intimate way until the Holy Spirit came upon them!
He loves us in His intimacy. Out of this great friendship, He trusts us to receive His power.
This week He chose to bring us into an encounter with His Holy Spirit. As I prayed, He gave me this very simple instruction, “Let Me come and meet the women. It is time for Me to move in power!”
“Do you want me to guide them in any special way?” I asked.
“No, ask them to open their spirits to My Spirit and I will move among them in ways that are specific to each of them.”
As we received His word about living our lives from the foundation of spirit to Spirit, He showed us how to integrate this eternal part of us with our minds, emotions, will and bodies. Living with Him in a great reality of who we are created to be. And then He came at our request to be with us in an intimate way.
His intimacy looks and feels different for each person.
How did it make you feel? Were there physical sensations like heat, power, a sense of weight? Was there a release of joy and laughter? Did you feel emotional with tears of relief or gratitude? Each of these can happen when the powerful God rests upon us, releasing His love and majesty on His children.
I understand how strange this can be, particularly when it’s the first time you have experienced the presence of God in a powerful way, a literal physical encounter! You might relate to my own journey.
Years ago, I had an unusual season. I came to faith at Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. Every Saturday night they had a concert followed by an “After Glow” as they called it. People prophesied, prayed in the Spirit, received the love of Jesus in profound ways. I loved what I came to understand as a full expression of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Ten years later, I attended a church with my brother who also loved the full expression of the triune God, but at times it looked different than anything I had ever experienced. I would feel the power of God in the room and would see people respond in different ways. One of the most annoying ways to me was to see people who would start to visibly shake, like an intense shivering when its cold outside.
What is that? I would ask in my most-disturbed soul. I questioned my brother and he suggested I ask these varied individuals what was happening during these demonstrative outbursts (as I liked to think of them). In the most positive manner I could muster, I would conduct short interviews with these individuals when the physical manifestation seemed to subside. What was undeniable was their answers that had nothing to do with their outward expression; also, they were always very specific, and dare I say, “sane”?
“I felt the Father’s love covering me and assuring me everything would be alright.”
“I heard Jesus telling me He was healing me of some painful memories of a past relationship.”
“I was experiencing warmth that I felt through my arm and now the pain is gone!”
What they shared was so beautiful, so identifiable, that I couldn’t refute their answers.
God followed up. “What if your theology isn’t big enough to contain the expression of My love to mankind? What if you’re trying to put me in a mold because you feel uncomfortable?”
I was undone by how I wanted to be the one to control how He interacted with people, how He interacted with me. I will never forget when, in the middle of worshipping Him and feeling such abandon, that His love began to manifest on me.... physically! Oh no, I’ve become like THEM!
As my journey progressed, He taught me to focus on Him, to enjoy Him, to learn from Him and to release my small expectations into the great realm of His spirit reality. Allowing Him to be God has opened up realms of intimacy and adventure with Him that I could never have thought possible. Underlying it all has been His tender love, calling me forward to experience Him in deeper ways.
After all.... who better to trust than our Maker!
We would love to hear your experiences, answer your questions, and partner with you in this wonderful journey of intimacy with the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit!
“Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.” Ephesians 3:20