Testimony Tuesday - Prayer Can Move Mountains

Prayer Can Move Mountains

Okay. That's not exactly how the scripture goes. More like, faith can move mountains. But as we learned from Pastor Mark's message, prayer builds our faith. Alrighty, testimony over! That just about sums it up, but If you desire more details, keep reading.
  

I grew up in Texas, in the Bible belt. Practically born in church. I was raised in a non-denominational church where I attended a service at least 3 times a week. They followed a Baptist doctrinal regarding gifts of the spirit. Basically, the church of Acts was for that time not for the present.

That was 20 years of my life. Then God gave me a husband! A husband with an open mind. We moved 2,500 miles away from home right after the honeymoon to an island. So... maybe I have an open mind too. Les (the husband), was already living on the island for a few months before the wedding  and picked our church home for us. One of two options. This is how he put it to me when discussing the two churches, "small and hip? old and bland?" Hmm... not much of a decision there... I bet you can guess where we ended up. After a few weeks of Les attending he dropped a bomb... "They speak in tongues sometimes". "Wozzers...But you've told me all the people are normal and you could see us all being best friends, lifelong friends. They must have you brain washed already! " was my reply. But being married to that open minded kinda guy I was convinced to check the church out myself once we were both living on the island. Can you say UNCOMFORTABLE!

Like Les promised, after moving to the island I fell in love with the people of that small, hip church instantly!  They WERE normal! I just had to ignore the tongues thing. Besides, in Sunday service it was pretty rare to ever hear it or at least not very loud and I would convince myself that maybe they were praying in Latin or Chinese. Better to ignore it.

Being a part of this small and hip church blending in, slipping out right after service was not an option.  Being responsible young people with tons of free time who loved the Lord we got roped in to volunteer for several ministries inside the church pretty fast.  Les was first to volunteer his time and talent with the worship band which required them praying after Sunday morning practice and before service started. Shortly after I volunteered with the media team and was also required to join in on the time of prayer.  Boom! Then it hit me! ALL of the leadership spoke in tongues! And really loud,  fired up loud! But it didn't scare me. I could see their passion, fire and love for the Lord coming from their mouths in words I couldn't understand. I HAD to know more!

Through membership class we learned that there was a difference between a gift of the spirit and a prayer language. A prayer language being a result of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Where a gift of tongues is one of many spiritual gifts God can give you, and when used there would be an interpreter. The gift is meant to edify the body and the prayer language is meant to edify you.  I felt like a whole new level of my relationship with Christ was within reach something I was now yearning for.  

A women's prayer group was started at the church at an ungodly hour... 6:00am! I went. I will say nothing of my teeth being brushed or not.  So many woman of the church spoke in their own prayer languages. I could feel the power of the Holy Spirit in that room every week that I attended. Yes, it was loud, yes, it could be distracting when trying to pray silently in English, yes, it could feel uncomfortable when you think you're the only one that can't pray in the spirit. I don't know a ton of people who can pray in English for a whole hour and keep the flow. But I have seen the average person pray in English and tongues and easily pass an hour. I needed this tool in my spiritual tool bag.  

Through discussions with my church peeps I started asking how they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. It's the safe way to ask, "how in the world can I get that mysterious language to flow out of my mouth?"  One of my friends was baptized in the Spirit at a rock concert (a non-Christian one) and she would go back and minister to young people at concerts in her youth. She said that it's the most awesome tool to use when you don't know what to pray for someone or you run out of words. Who would be more equipped to pray on your behalf? The Holy Spirit interceding for us to the Father. How could you ever come up with a better prayer yourself? I HAD to get baptized!

On a Saturday night I was talking to our landlord, Fran, while she was cleaning her bathroom, who lived above us, who was the Senior Pastor's mom, about how she was baptized in the spirit. She was in a garden, alone. Not in a church. Not by any man's doing. I sure wasn't convinced that I could do it on my own. She sensed my hesitation. She reminded me that we were having some retired missionaries as guest speakers at church the next day. Lou and Marian. Well, that was all well and good, but my shot was completely lost. I had to teach Children's Church! Oh, well! Maybe next year or maybe I could muster up the courage to have the senior pastors pray over me sometime.





About 5 minutes before my class would be in total chaos from church running so late, Fran came into the classroom and told me I had to get to the sanctuary immediately! Lou and Marian's invitation was to get baptized in the Holy Spirit! Goose bump city! What a coinkydink! I entered the sanctuary and stopped cold. Lou and Marian had their hands on Les. He was going to get it and not me... In the midst of having such thoughts another wise woman and dear friend basically pushed me into the threesome circle and said, "This is his wife".  After seconds of observing I could see that Les was getting it! Was I too late? Was I called out just to support him? Without skipping a beat, Marian turned her attention on me. She was praying in the spirit with her hands on me and kept telling me to pray.... "not in English" she would say over and over again. Tears were running down my face, I was shaking and concentrating.


Then, God gave me the picture of Peter on the boat when Jesus called him onto the water. I looked down and saw my foot coming out of the boat. It was me. God was calling me in that moment to have faith like no other time in my life. "Don't think about it. Let go" they were telling me. Les was already sharing his testimony with me from minutes before on how he was able to get to the point of letting go. I thought he must have gotten it because he's the one with the "open mind", not me.  The moment I was "out-of-my-mind" and let go of all logic it happened for me too. I remember feeling like I was stepping out of the boat and was free falling for just a split second and then I landed on solid ground (or maybe water). Funny words came out of my mouth. It sounded like only two funny words over and over again, but I didn't care! I knew without a doubt that they were not two of my words or made up words.  I could feel the power of the Holy Ghost on me. I felt completely saturated in the Holy Spirit. We were released that day and told to pray in our prayer language daily, together, at meals, alone in the car. It's like any language. Your vocabulary grows, but it takes practice.

The woman's 6:00am prayer group was like fresh water to me now. A safe place to pray in tongues with my mentors and friends. I was able to grow my prayer language where I felt like a part of the team who was bringing the power of the Holy Spirit into the room.  Prayer walks were taken to a new level! Prayer Chain jumped to epic status.  

My friend and 23 year old coworker was diagnosed with Leukemia. What a great time to have my newest spiritual tool. The day she got the diagnosis I organized a 24 hour prayer, two people deep. Meaning, there was at least two people praying for her healing for over 24 hours.  I was lead to do this, not because I planned on praying for her myself for 24 hours straight, but because I had now physically felt the power of prayer. How prayer increased my faith. And I knew that it would take faith to move a mountain.

Praying in tongues, singing in tongues, is an integral part of my life.  No, it's not salvation. It will not get me to heaven. But It does bring comfort and calms anxiety. It has made my walk with Christ richer. My faith stronger. I desire for everyone to feel the fullness that I feel because of it. That is why I share my testimony.

I encourage you, if you have been baptized in the Spirit and as a result have a prayer language that has been dormant, bust it out! Practice even when you feel silly! The enemy does not want to hear it. He knows there is power in it. He will make you feel silly. Rise above Satan! Use it for the Lord, daily! Use it to pursue Him! To invite His presence right into your car as you're driving! One of my favorite verses that my husband quotes often. "He doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called."