Hello ,

Day #5 - The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Yesterday I told you about the long talk that I had with my Christian friend Jon about my past.  He shared Romans 8:1 with me on a that cold November night so long ago.  Let me refresh your memory with that text, because it plays a pivotal role in my conversion experience.  
 

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1

As I read this verse of scripture out loud the night that I called my friend, I could feel a wave of peace and assurance washing over me in a way that I couldn't have previously imagined.  I felt a weight lifting off of my burdened shoulders, and for the first time in my life I knew in my heart that Jesus could and would save me.  

I can't properly describe it, but I felt like a new person as I hung up the phone after that conversation with my friend.  I slept peacefully that night for the first time in a long time, and I was looking forward to attending church the next day with my wife Roberta and our daughter Taylor.
 

I awoke the next morning with a terrible feeling of dread and foreboding.  A thought entered my mind, "What if God doesn't REALLY forgive me?  What if my conversation with Jon was just that...a conversation?

My family headed towards church, but that old "lost" feeling had returned...and this time it was even stronger.  I simply couldn't shake it.  

And then something amazing happened!

My little girl Taylor was about 9 months old, and she was making noise before the church service even began.  I didn't want to stay in the sanctuary with her.  She was being noisy, and besides, I felt pretty despondent anyway. I took her to a room near the sanctuary where she could play, and where I could crack the door open and at least listen to our pastor preaching his message for that morning.

The congregation sang the opening song, a prayer was said, and the pastor approached the pulpit to begin his sermon.  What he said next just about knocked me out of my chair.  
 

"Good morning friends...as we begin our time together this morning, let's turn to the book of Romans chapter 8, verse 1."  

He preached a message about getting past your past, and it felt like someone had come down into my life and read my soul.  A new thought entered my mind, "Mike, what you talked about with your friend Jonathon last night is true.  I didn't come to condemn you, I came to save you."  

 

It was as if the Creator of the Universe had come down into that room and met me in a way that was almost too amazing to believe or conceive...but I know that it happened...and my life has never been the same since that day!

After the sermon I approached the pastor, and I told him about the phone call that I made to my friend, and about the verse that my friend had shared with me.  I told him about my struggle, and about the way that his sermon had touched my heart.  
 

What the pastor revealed next to me caused my heart to tremble.  

"Mike, when were you speaking with your friend on the phone last night?" the pastor asked.  I shared with him, that I had been talking with Jon at around 8 p.m. the night before.  "You're not going to believe this Mike, but there's something I've got to tell you. I was going to be preaching a different sermon this morning, but last night at around 8 p.m. I was struck with the thought that I needed to preach on Romans 8:1. The thought was so strong that I couldn't shake it, and the Holy Spirit made it so clear to me that I had to do it."

I have never forgotten that experience, nor have I forgotten how God came down to reach out with an amazing offer to a lost person who was desperate to find peace...and how he used another man to help cement the fact that I am loved beyond comprehension.
 

 "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever..." John 14:16

I'm convinced that the Holy Spirit is a gift from God to comfort us, to aid us, and to bring reassurance into our lives.  I'm awed by this gift, and even more amazed at the way that God can send the Holy Spirit just when our need is the greatest.

Have a great day and God bless!

Pastor Mike / The Open Word