For those who have been filled,overcame or slain in the spirit.

ky55 said:

Sorry, it went right over my head.

I guess I never learned to find any humor in the subject of human sacrifice or terrifying innocent children with the image of he11.

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JimD said:

I grew up in an Assembly of God church in PA. Specifically, it was the CCNA, which was created by Italians who converted from Catholicism. Many in my family were and are ministers. Speaking in tongues was pretty common in this kind of church and it was pretty loud as far as the preaching and worship. Every summer we would go to the church camp that was maybe 45 minutes from home. It was in the country with not much else around. Every evening there was of course a church service and each service always had an alter call. I started going to camp when I was about 10 or 11 and went till about 13, when we went to another church.

I had heard people speaking in tongues my whole life but never believed it. Maybe the second year at camp during the alter call it happened to me. All I can tell you is that the spirit of God took over and a bunch of words I didn't know how to say came out of my mouth. There was no way to stop it or control it and it ran it's course and ended. The next year I believe, a man was touching people and essentially knocking​ them over by a little touch and a couple guys would catch you until just like during the speaking in tongues, it played itself out. Once again , I did t believe it and went up there to prove it was fake. Well let me tell you, it is real. I got knocked over and could do absolutely nothing to stop it, nothing. Once it ran it's course then you could get up. Now let say this, both of those experiences were the most wonderful, amazing things I have ever experienced in my life. There was nothing scary about it and words really can't express it. You cry uncontrollably, but it joy not sadness, maybe like you cry seeing a baby born or a loved one doing something great. You can't control it and you don't want it to end. It doesn't end quickly but you ki d of ease out of it. Afterwards you feel better than you have ever felt in your life and at the same time are tired like after an adrenaline dump. It is the best feeling to this day I have ever had. The sad thing is, after going through my twenties and drinking, partying and sleeping with lots of women, shooting big bucks, etc., nothing in this world compares to that feeling. I wish I would have been wise enough to realize that at a young age, but we all have a path we take and as the Bible says, if you are raised right, you return to the right path.

A couple other things I can speak about as well. I was driving back to college one night when I was 19. My dad and good friend were asleep in the car. I fell asleep, and felt a hand smack my chest and knock me back in my seat. I woke up started expecting it to be one of them but they were asleep. We do have guardian angles guys, trust me. I've had many other smaller things happen , too many to count.

I am only writing this to give Glory to God and for no other reason. I cant say why those things above happened or many other times God or his angels saved me or protected me, as I am no one special. I screw up every day of my life and have broken quite a few of the 10 commandments, so Lord knows I don't deserve it. Anyway, I hope this helps in some way as to what you were looking to hear.

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Artfuldodger said:

My experiences of having Spirit felt moments have been closer when I'm around Pentecostals than Baptist. I'm not sure why it happens this way.

Perhaps like Gordon's account of the anointed visiting preacher and his smell of lavender.

Maybe being around others who believe this is possible makes the Spirit filling process more likely.

So do most folks who have had this experience feel it is different than the dwelling of the Spirit that is part of our salvation? I believe I have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that came at conversion and I get these other experiences depending on when the Spirit needs to make me aware of his indwelling.

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JimD said:

I grew up in an Assembly of God church in PA. Specifically, it was the CCNA, which was created by Italians who converted from Catholicism. Many in my family were and are ministers. Speaking in tongues was pretty common in this kind of church and it was pretty loud as far as the preaching and worship. Every summer we would go to the church camp that was maybe 45 minutes from home. It was in the country with not much else around. Every evening there was of course a church service and each service always had an alter call. I started going to camp when I was about 10 or 11 and went till about 13, when we went to another church.

I had heard people speaking in tongues my whole life but never believed it. Maybe the second year at camp during the alter call it happened to me. All I can tell you is that the spirit of God took over and a bunch of words I didn't know how to say came out of my mouth. There was no way to stop it or control it and it ran it's course and ended. The next year I believe, a man was touching people and essentially knocking​ them over by a little touch and a couple guys would catch you until just like during the speaking in tongues, it played itself out. Once again , I did t believe it and went up there to prove it was fake. Well let me tell you, it is real. I got knocked over and could do absolutely nothing to stop it, nothing. Once it ran it's course then you could get up. Now let say this, both of those experiences were the most wonderful, amazing things I have ever experienced in my life. There was nothing scary about it and words really can't express it. You cry uncontrollably, but it joy not sadness, maybe like you cry seeing a baby born or a loved one doing something great. You can't control it and you don't want it to end. It doesn't end quickly but you ki d of ease out of it. Afterwards you feel better than you have ever felt in your life and at the same time are tired like after an adrenaline dump. It is the best feeling to this day I have ever had. The sad thing is, after going through my twenties and drinking, partying and sleeping with lots of women, shooting big bucks, etc., nothing in this world compares to that feeling. I wish I would have been wise enough to realize that at a young age, but we all have a path we take and as the Bible says, if you are raised right, you return to the right path.

A couple other things I can speak about as well. I was driving back to college one night when I was 19. My dad and good friend were asleep in the car. I fell asleep, and felt a hand smack my chest and knock me back in my seat. I woke up started expecting it to be one of them but they were asleep. We do have guardian angles guys, trust me. I've had many other smaller things happen , too many to count.

I am only writing this to give Glory to God and for no other reason. I cant say why those things above happened or many other times God or his angels saved me or protected me, as I am no one special. I screw up every day of my life and have broken quite a few of the 10 commandments, so Lord knows I don't deserve it. Anyway, I hope this helps in some way as to what you were looking to hear.

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gordon 2 said:

When I was in my early thirties I decided to get personally responsible for my spiritual life. I was a christian and knew many things about Christians, Jesus, the apostles, Moses, Jonah, Genesis, Exodus... but something was missing in my spiritual makeup and life was more difficult than I had expected when I had started out as a "mature" adult a decade or so earlier.

In a period of 10 yrs my first wife had left me. My second wife had had cancer when our two children were 3 and 4 yrs old. It was thyroid cancer and a good part of her energy was zapped after they removed her thyroid to save her life.

Financially we were paycheck to paycheck. I had to remortgage the house. I was not feeling well physically-- and later found out I had an form of fibromyalgia-- long and short of it I was in a wash of pain all the time.

Nevertheless... I knew that I needed to get my spiritual life in order... not unlike putting one's finances in order...etc... in that it was my responsibility-- no one was going to do it for me.


For a year or two I studied with close reading all the major world religions. I studied what the spiritual experience was, what it did in people's lives. At the end of this I noticed that most of the sages, the wise and saints of the world religions were on a road to attaining enlightenment, awakenings, nirvana, spiritual levels, in short "a place". And the rare few seemed to talk from some form of personal knowledge of this place, if not the place itself, then tremendously valued notions of it. I concluded that "this place" was of great importance to a robust spiritual life and I did not have it.

I had however by now exhausted world religions. I could talk Shinto, Zen, Hindu to my self---and knew of their places but did not know my own. It was then a little voice in my being said " Gordon, maybe since you have "traveled" around the world for spiritual gain it may be time to visit your home church again to see what they might have in the same line you've been searching. So I listened to the voice and did as commanded.

It so happened that my church community ( Catholic) had organized a bible study. It was in the form of 101 classes on scripture. The course was given every Wednesday night, students chose two courses. The courses were thought by the priests of several local churches. One gave a course on Matthew, another on John, another on Luke, Genesis, etc... Some traveled 25 miles to teach.

I chose Matthew and the Exodus. Both teachers were excellent on their subjects and especially my Exodus teacher. The courses were given over a 2-3 month period.

The short of it for me was that Matthew was about the Kingdom and Moses about the rest. And somehow Matthew and Moses tag teamed on me and I walked into our Kingdom--and I walked into that place! I had no idea or knowledge that I was going to find our place! my place! my home!

And perhaps unlike what I had learned from other religious traditions of efforts to attain a place or a religious state-- I had never made a conscious effort to grasp at this place, and did not expect it, but it was what I would call today "as given to me". It was given to me not for my efforts to attain it deliberately, but it was a consequence of earnestly listening to the word of God via Christian tradition.

In other words I traveled all over the world to find love and understanding -- which I could not find--, and I found it five miles from my home.

I remember it well when our Kingdom became a real spiritual place that I spiritually walked into. I was sitting in a chair with other students. I don't recall if it was Matthew or Moses, but think Moses put the boot to my butt the most and booted me in the most. The hair raised on my neck when what was happening got obvious... which was obvious in a matter of a few minutes.

I was home! I found my rest! I was to the Kingdom!

I now knew why and from where the saints said what they had said. I no longer worried to understand...that I might never understand. I had a home that no one, no thing, nothing was going to take away from me. And in this our place, many were to it. And in our Kingdom there was a Lord, a King and He was Jesus! And the Kingdom had rules of the road like any other Kingdom or sovereign territory-- except in this case the motivator was plain to all: God's love as God sees it, witnessed to via the Holy Spirit.

This experience has changed my life and is my anchor in a world that is sometimes up, sometimes down... like a boat adrift on the oceans, an ark with many Noahs... The Kingdom is my platform, my solid ground, it is for now my-our real home.

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