A TESTIMONY OF THE EXPERIENCE OF THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
I can personally testify of the experience of the outpouring of the Spirit. Once when I began to minister, I had no particular feeling. However, after I began to minister, I had the sense that a cloud came down upon me to encompass, encircle, and cover me. At that point my ministering changed very much. To have that kind of realization was a unique experience in my whole life. To be sure, that was not my imagination; it was something real.
In another church meeting, I ministered the message in an ordinary way without any special feeling. The next day, however, a brother told me that his high-school-age son saw a man standing by me in a very brilliant robe while I was ministering, making the same gestures I made. This went on for twenty minutes, after which the man left. This was an experience of the liberty, anointing, release, power, and even authority of the Word. This happened more than once.
On another occasion, a brother came into the Lord’s Day meeting after my ministering had begun. When he looked at the platform, he was very surprised, wondering how many persons were there. He saw clearly that while I was ministering, another person was standing by me for a long time. This was not a dream, his light talk, or a joke. The brother who saw this was a soberminded brother over fifty years old. Several times people have told me that they saw the same thing. On one occasion, a brother told me that on the Lord’s Day before my ministering began, as I was praying on the platform, he saw three persons there, me and two other persons with me.
I do not wish to attract you to pay attention to this kind of experience. Rather, I must testify to you that there is no need to have a feeling. We simply must deal with the Lord in the right way and stand on the right position, saying, “Lord, I am redeemed by You and now I am Yours. There is nothing between You and me, so I have the right, the position, to claim what is mine.” This is sufficient. We simply realize our need, and claim and take it. Then the Lord will make it real. There is no need for us to feel or sense anything. According to my experiences, the Lord sometimes grants us to sense something, such as the cloud that came down upon me. However, many times I did not feel anything. I simply had the release, the freedom, the liberty, to minister. It seemed very ordinary to me, but something special was there. There are many different ways the Holy Spirit comes to work with us if we are in the right position.
I cannot exhaust all the stories of what I have experienced while preaching the gospel from the platform. In my preaching of the living word there was something of the power of the Holy Spirit. Once when we preached the gospel, I gave a call to the audience, asking them to respond by standing up. I gave them a hymn to sing and told them that anyone who was moved by the Holy Spirit should stand during the singing of the hymn. Our main hall was filled with people, so we had opened another room. Many people in the main hall stood up, but no one in the second room stood, although there were many people there. Suddenly I had the feeling to speak something. I turned in a certain direction and said, “There is someone like a devil keeping people from standing up.” After I said this, many people stood up, beginning with a mother and her daughter. Later I found out that when I spoke that word about a devil, that daughter was struggling to keep her mother from standing up. The mother wished to stand, but the daughter struggled to keep her sitting down. While they were struggling, I turned in their direction and said, “There is someone like a devil keeping people from standing up.” That daughter became frightened and began to tremble. Then the mother stood up, followed by the daughter, and all the rest of the people. To be sure, this was something of the power of the Holy Spirit.
Do not pay attention to the manifestation or the feelings. We should forget about them. Rather, we must realize that the Holy Spirit is a gift given to us. He is ours; He is our portion already. Then we must realize our need, consecrate ourselves, be obedient, and deal with the Lord until there is no struggle between us and the Lord. Then we simply receive. The Spirit is ours, and whenever there is a need, we receive Him. Then we will see how prevailing and powerful we will be. Many times we will not have the conscious sense, but we will have the Spirit. This is the right way. In these days we need to see the infilling and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
I can give many more stories from my experience, such as stories of dreams under the power and moving of the Holy Spirit. However, we should forget about the manifestation and the feeling. We leave this matter to the Lord. We simply must deal with the above matters in a proper way. Day by day we apply the work of the cross to our natural life with the passions and desires related to the flesh. We also always realize that we need the Holy Spirit as power, so we consecrate ourselves to the Lord and deal with Him until there is no struggle between us and Him. Then we receive the Holy Spirit. He is ours.
(The Work of the Holy Spirit, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
