I am Apostolic, not because of religion, but because of experience.
This was what I received out of a message preached at Chesapeake Pentecostal Church a short while ago. I have been thinking a lot about this lately and how it affects my life. I was taught long before I could read that the Bible is true and that it is God's word and His message to me and to the rest of the world. I was taught that God cared enough for me that He would put His spiritual realm into a flesh body and come to earth to die for me. He died for my sins so I would not have to worry about the problems of my own sin and my own misdoings.
I was taught long ago that God wanted us to follow Him and that He gave us a special plan for how to start following Him. God spoke to the people of the earth through a special follow of His named Peter. Peter was given a special gift from God in that God wanted to live in Peter and not just around Peter in a spiritual world. God wanted to move into Peter's life and set up a residence so God's power could be shown through every aspect of Peter's life. God entered into Peter's life by a third form called the Holy Ghost (1st, God-all seeing, all powerful, 2nd, Jesus- the human form that cared so much that He died for us, 3rd, Holy Ghost- spirit that can now live in the heart, soul, mind and body of a man.)
When I heard the story of Peter and how Peter had this great gift from God, I wanted to have it just like Peter. I was told that Peter though this gift was so awesome that everyone should have it. He told everyone around him that the special gift of the Holy Ghost was not just for him, but for everyone. He went on to tell everyone just how to receive this Gift. Peter said "Repent, and baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
His instructions were simple. If you wanted to have God, the healer, the most powerful, the prince of peace, the comforter living in your life, all you had to do was to say you were sorry for your actions that were unpleasing to God and harmful to others, and to have your physical body submerged in water while the name of God was proclaimed over you. He said that this was it, that was the hard part, the last step to receiving this gift was to simply receive it. When you have put away your flesh and human thoughts and focused entirely on God, then God will give you a special gift like the one He gave Peter. The gift would be peace, knowledge, wisdom, mercy, love, joy, long suffering, faithfulness and more. You would know you had this gift when your prayer and devotion became one with God and you started to speak a language that was different than the one you knew. You would have different pray conversations with God since you would have a direct a link to God and only He could tell what your words meant.
I decided that I wanted this gift. Since it was a gift, it was free. I followed the directions and I Experienced the most awesome experience of my life. God and I had a connection, I could feel Him. I could hear Him. I had a direct line with God Almighty and He loved me. I did not have to wonder if He was real or if He was listening, because He was now part of me. He had moved into my life and became a part of me.
Since this experience, my life has changed more then I ever thought possible. Physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, I am greatly different. Over the years I have at times felt my life drift from the will of God and start to push Him out of my life. He has never left me, but I have often left Him out my life. He has always been a strong place for me to go and feel safe even when I did not have room for Him in my heart.
I have prayed and asked God to strengthen me and to help my will become the Will of God. He is helping me with this daily. He is always pointing me in the way I should go even if I don't always listen.
I know that my life is the way it is today because of the choice I made to follow Christ and be filled with the Holy Ghost. I also know that things would be much different if I had just listened more often to the leading of God and allowed God, now living inside me as part of my life, to take charge and lead things differently than I would lead.
Often times I have sat in my pew after a service and said to myself, I will go pray if someone else goes, or if I go up now, the church will think I have sinned and I don't want that. I have often said that the message was not for me, but I wanted to go pray, I stayed in my seat because I did not want to be the first one up, or even worse, when I told myself that my "duties" (choir, sign choir, offering, special song, or other) might get disrupted if I get out of my seat and go take of my "little thing" that God wanted me to pray about. How would my life be different if I would have just listened to the God living inside me.
Would my first few steps be the start of a new ministry? Would God reveal to me His plans for my life, if I just stepped forward? Was there someone else waiting to be the second person to the alter? How many times would someone else have stepped up to the alter if they had just seen me go up first? I know that I did not get anything from the message, but God may have just wanted to talk.
How would my life be different if would just let God lead?
I cannot count the times I have been asked to do something on Sunday or Wednesday and I just said I was busy. How would my life be different if I had just told the person(s) that I was going to Church and asked if they wanted to go with me. Would they have said yes? Would there now be more people filled with this same Holy Ghost that I have inside me? Would more people have power?
I have lots of friends and even more acquaintances. When I eat at a good restaurant, I don't hesitate to recommend it my friends or post it on Facebook or even send out a tweet while checking in on Foursquare. I have an easy time letting people know what is good for them physically even if it cost them lots of money. If a person I have never met asked me where to go to vacation, I have no problem making a list of places that would cost thousands of dollars to go visit.Why is it that I seem to have such a hard time telling people about something that is free and will change their life? Isn't the gift of the Holy Ghost much more important then the good restaurant or the expensive vacation? How would my life be different if I had just started spreading the good news to more people when I had the chance instead of making small talk and avoiding the conversation?
How would my life be different if I decided to make a change today?
Today, I want to start letting my Holy Ghost lead more. God will tell me what to say when it is needed.
Today, I want to start going to the alter even when I don't want to go. This could be the day, God reveals to me His plan for my life.
Today, I want to let God live in my life and soul instead of just be a guest. I want Him to be the lead force for my life, after all, He paid for it.
How will my life be different now that I am living because of experience and not because of religion?
