Experiences with The Holy Spirit

I'm very interested in hearing about people's experiences with The Holy Spirit. First times it came into you, circumstances of it happening, what it felt like, what and who you saw or heard, was Jesus involved, was it the typical born again thing for you or something else.

I've had a number of varying experiences myself which I am unsure of, although one, at the time of happening, I was certain it was the real deal. But due to reasons I don't think I can go into here (involvement of a certain substance) there is doubt.

And please, to all members, I respectfully ask that we leave any debate of whether this or that does or doesn't exist out of this thread. Also please no chipping in with other interpretations of people experiences. My intention for starting this thread is solely to hear about people's own personal view on their own experiences without it getting bogged down with conflicting opinions, debate or arguments.

Thank you.

My mother drug me to a small Pentecostal Church in Alabama when I was much younger when she was trying to find something other than Southern Baptist which we were raised in. This was my first exposure to the Holy Spirit.

I didn't have the experience myself but the Pastor and like 2/3rds of the congregation were all having their experiences when the Pastor decided to open a door to the side of the church from the pulpit area and was REALLY into this Holy Spirit thing and was running over to the door screaming he was kicking the devil out and about the 3rd time he did, he slipped and fell out the door breaking his leg in the process. All of a sudden, nobody had the Holy Spirit. It was a marvel to see.

a reply to: Ruiner1978

I am not a believer but I had my own version of a "wow" moment.

I once dreamed I lived an entire life. After which I died, but not before growing old and endure the bitterness, the nostalgia, the humility which Time yields with the passing of the ages.

Now although I am young I have an old soul, a soul which lived lives after lives. I now know that time, and love, are the most precious things in the entire universe. I don't know God, but that doesn't stop me from trying to be a good man - to be the best man in the World.

Want it or not we all lose - there is no such thing as "forever", not even the universe, not even Heaven, not even Hell. So if I am to lose the war against Fate, then I shall win the battles against Darkness.

a reply to: Ruiner1978

The Holy Spirit, I honestly feel, is available upon request to guide you to the Answers you seek. You must be sincere and have honorable motives, and it may be a journey requiring time, effort and might lead you to places you never dreamed of. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (attributing the Works of the Holy Spirit to the prince of demons, specifically) is the only sin for which there is no forgiveness available to the sinner.

I think that unique aspect of the Holy Spirit makes him the first and superior of the Holy Trinity.

It's because the Holy Spirits the revealer of Truth and pure good.

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a bad idea.

a reply to: Ruiner1978


I reluctantly attended an AOG luncheon get-together and the speaker, Jean, gave a talk on the Holy Spirit. None of which I can remember, although I am sure I was listening at the time.

Then she got everyone to stand in a semi-circle of people, and as she went around and spoke a few words to each of them, they were going over backwards; I thought to myself ‘They’re faking it!’ but when she came to me, she asked if I wanted to be baptised in the Holy Spirit and I reluctantly agreed. Then she said, ‘He’s coming, he’s coming, he’s here’ and with that I went over backwards.

All I did was lay on the floor, saying the Lord’s Prayer over and over again, as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world! It was! They saw my lips moving and at one stage were prodding me, asking me to speak louder, to see if I was talking in tongues. I wasn’t.

So a couple of weeks later in church, Pastor Wally had everyone who hadn’t spoken in tongues to come up front and had a church member for each of us, praying over us.

Apparently there was a huge lack of people speaking in tongues and there were a number of us standing up there. Pastor stressed that we weren’t to speak in English or Afrikaans because, as he joked, you could only speak one language at a time.

Heila was praying over me and eventually she said, ‘Don’t you want to say anything?’ and I said ‘I do, but in English’ so she told me to go ahead. As I got to asking ‘for the remission of my sins’, I burst into a foreign tongue. Now I’m useless with languages and term myself ‘linguistically dyslexic’ and I don’t know what I was saying but I could feel my mouth and tongue having trouble with the new movements.

I didn’t actually feel any different at the time but with hindsight I can see that I had a new-found love and compassion for my fellowman. My heart literally ached for them and I didn’t see them as I do when I’m in the ‘natural’; as Joyce Meyer would phrase it.

I was only water-baptised sometime after this but in the meantime, I found reading the Bible a delight. Before the Bible had been a closed book to me, I’d tried reading it but it simply didn’t make any sense to me and I’d given up.

For about the next six to nine months I was on a spiritual high; constantly reading my Bible and finding new gems of information. Work was an annoying distraction and I found that I couldn’t concentrate on TV long enough to see a whole movie because it was all so fictitious.

I was getting so much from the Bible and from the spiritual world that I felt like a puppy running amok in a beautifully manicured garden - and I stripped everything that I was getting down to the bare minimum essentials to pass it on.

The Kingdom of God is here, now and all around us – and we CAN enter in! I never did fancy the common cartoon-idea of sitting on a cloud and playing a harp as being a worthwhile spiritual future in heaven. Now I understand that spiritual ecstasy is even better than (dare I say it?) the comparatively fleeting experience of good sex! (Hey, God made both and they’re good!)

It was around this time that I had the experience of God saying that the name of His Son was NOT Jesus. As soon as I got home that afternoon I checked in the dictionary – fortunately it’s a good quality dictionary that also gives the roots of names and words – and there it was;

‘Jesus (jē’zes) 4? B.C. – A.D.29? 1. Son of Mary; founder of Christianity; regarded by Christians as the son of God and the Messiah. Also, in various contexts, “Jesus Christ,” “Christ,” “Christ Jesus,” or “Jesus of Nazareth.” 2. Christian Science. “The highest human corporeal concept of the divine idea” (Mary Baker Eddy). [Late Latin Jēsūs, from Greek Iēsous, from Hebrew yēshūa’, from Yēhōshūa’, Joshua.] [Emphasis mine.]

Only years later did I find absolute confirmation of this at: www.nehemiaswall.com...

Ruiner 1978, you KNOW in your gut when you've had a truly religious epiphany, although that feeling fades with time as you get used to the idea or experience, it does not in any way diminish the truth of what was revealed or what happened to you - so hold to that!

a reply to: Ruiner1978
I had experiences in the distant past, but not currently.
I became a Christian at a time when the modern charismatic movement was just getting up speed. Of course I was then lent the popular books like "Nine o'clock in the morning" to encourage me to move on to the "next stage". I duly prayed, as advised, but nothing happened on the first occasion.
When I did begin "speaking in tongues", it rather took me by surprise. It was late at night. I had poured out a glass of diluted lime juice cordial, which was becoming my summer refresher of choice. Once the episode stopped, I went to bed, and discovered the forgotten lime juice still sitting on the table the following morning.
In these episodes, the "tongue" was not being "forced", at least not by anything in my conscious mind.
It seemed to flow quite naturally. To me, as a layman, it appeared to have the kind of structure and rhythms that a normal language would have had.
I did notice one interesting thing, several times; the end of the "speech" was signalled by the repetition, four or five times, of the word "mana", as a kind of conclusion.

I think it lapsed, in the end, because I allowed it to lapse. Perhaps an example of "neglect". In sheer self-defence, I'm obliged to assume that it's not absolutely necessary for Christian life, but I would not try to assert that it never comes from God.

Depends on what you mean by the holy spirit.

I can say that energetic body states exists where energy fluctuations within the body can be felt like heat/vibration and cool. These fluctuations that change in real time in the body can be thought of like a flame within or in the case of the vibration spiritual cooler water flowing thru the body.

I was an atheist when encountered the spiritual realm so my outlook do not need for any faith in any human created view/religion. I do not buy the whole someone else dying for my sins. I will take responsibility myself and will clean up any mess I make. I have read Yeshua, Nanak, Buddha and Rumi after this. To me their core message do not deviate from each other. On meta spiritual level they are from the same source.

To me Muhammad and Paul deviate from them and are very dualistic in nature creating one team against another thinking.

I've always wondered if the sensation of being filled with the holy spirit might have something to do with the ASMR effect. Tingling, feelings of euphoria... of course, that doesn't explain people speaking in tongues or gyrating on the floor, but those sorts of spiritual outbursts aren't unusual even for African and Central american tribes, hell some voodoo practitioners go into trances or gyrate randomly on the floor after encountering voodoo spirits.

In all likelyhood the sensation of the holy spirit is something non-relateable, like asking someone what the color blue looks like.

a reply to: Ruiner1978

Experiences with the Holy Spirit can be unique to each individual. God loves us, corrects us, and builds us up. But we cannot possibly understand everything God does and we cannot put God in a box. Because your experience may be different from anyone else's, doesn't mean that it didn't happen.

I went to a church that didn't believe in miracles, so when I had my experiences I had no idea what was going on, except that God visited me.

I had been going through a tough time in my life, I kept praying feverently. (To God the Father in Jesus name )
I went to sleep, I woke up in the middle of the night, I felt a presence, different from any I've felt in my life! This immense love started washing over me, a peace surrounded me, it was pure bliss! I put my hands up and started praising God. Then something from inside me started rising up to my head, I heard noises getting louder and louder. They were so loud, l got scared, and I told God I was scared and everything instantly stopped. I wish I didn't.

After much research I realized I was supposed to speak in tongues. Like I said, the church I went to, well, they didn't do that stuff. So how was I supposed to know?

On your note, it's good to learn to discern God's voice( the Holy Spirit). Try fasting and prayer. God let me see in the spirit realm before, it was amazing. There's more than our eyes can see. It's also good to have a trusted spiritual friend that is mature in they're walk to help you.

a reply to: Azzezza
Muhammad is a person who gives himself rights to do things he tell other people not to do.

I have read the Quran myself and I have pondered every word and weighed it the subjective bias is questioned again and again to make sure no illogical conclusion arrive. These logical tools are used to remove subjective bias since they weigh every word on a logical non emotional scale. And when something do not pass the tests and fail logically it is clearly shown. Paul and Muhammad both fail the test.

If I was subjective biased then why did I when I read Rumi at the same time as the Quran think Rumi was a blessing on humanity and Muhammad a false prophet? Would I not think both was bad if I based my assessment on cultural bias?

This is what Muhammad should have preached.


This is what Muhammad preached so that he could kill whoever he wanted by making up a corruption that fits his will.

Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors.

With logic these 2 verses can be tested against the golden rule and the first measure up while the other does not since it give an ambiguous out for genocide by the person defining corruption.

originally posted by: Slanter
I've always wondered if the sensation of being filled with the holy spirit might have something to do with the ASMR effect. Tingling, feelings of euphoria... of course, that doesn't explain people speaking in tongues or gyrating on the floor, but those sorts of spiritual outbursts aren't unusual even for African and Central american tribes, hell some voodoo practitioners go into trances or gyrate randomly on the floor after encountering voodoo spirits.

In all likelyhood the sensation of the holy spirit is something non-relateable, like asking someone what the color blue looks like.

From a logical point of view the speaking of tongue/singing in tunes can be thought of as an over creative ability that comes naturally when the brain becomes energized. Some people can sit for hours creating music tunes that shift never being the same without the conscious being the creative master of what is created.

How it is really manifested in the brain could be measured if you look at the brain on a quantum level and then you would have a measuring tool to know how energized a body really is and how it fluctuates during the day and depending on what the soul is doing. Knowing thru science/awareness an objective measurement on how "the spiritual" world connects to this 3D+1T.

originally posted by: Azzezza
a reply to: Ruiner1978

The Holy Spirit, I honestly feel, is available upon request to guide you to the Answers you seek. You must be sincere and have honorable motives, and it may be a journey requiring time, effort and might lead you to places you never dreamed of. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (attributing the Works of the Holy Spirit to the prince of demons, specifically) is the only sin for which there is no forgiveness available to the sinner.

I think that unique aspect of the Holy Spirit makes him the first and superior of the Holy Trinity.

It's because the Holy Spirits the revealer of Truth and pure good.

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a bad idea.

I agree with you about it being there on request for those who call on it with sincerity. That was part of my experience.

Could you elaborate on the blasphemy of The Holy Spirit a bit for me? I've read that passage and not been able to get my head round it. What is meant by attributing it's works to the devil? How does someone do that? Could you give me a short narrative as an example? And why is it so unforgivable?
Sorry, it's just I really want to understand this properly.

originally posted by: Maigret
a reply to: Ruiner1978


I reluctantly attended an AOG luncheon get-together and the speaker, Jean, gave a talk on the Holy Spirit. None of which I can remember, although I am sure I was listening at the time.

Then she got everyone to stand in a semi-circle of people, and as she went around and spoke a few words to each of them, they were going over backwards; I thought to myself ‘They’re faking it!’ but when she came to me, she asked if I wanted to be baptised in the Holy Spirit and I reluctantly agreed. Then she said, ‘He’s coming, he’s coming, he’s here’ and with that I went over backwards.

All I did was lay on the floor, saying the Lord’s Prayer over and over again, as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world! It was! They saw my lips moving and at one stage were prodding me, asking me to speak louder, to see if I was talking in tongues. I wasn’t.

So a couple of weeks later in church, Pastor Wally had everyone who hadn’t spoken in tongues to come up front and had a church member for each of us, praying over us.

Apparently there was a huge lack of people speaking in tongues and there were a number of us standing up there. Pastor stressed that we weren’t to speak in English or Afrikaans because, as he joked, you could only speak one language at a time.

Heila was praying over me and eventually she said, ‘Don’t you want to say anything?’ and I said ‘I do, but in English’ so she told me to go ahead. As I got to asking ‘for the remission of my sins’, I burst into a foreign tongue. Now I’m useless with languages and term myself ‘linguistically dyslexic’ and I don’t know what I was saying but I could feel my mouth and tongue having trouble with the new movements.

I didn’t actually feel any different at the time but with hindsight I can see that I had a new-found love and compassion for my fellowman. My heart literally ached for them and I didn’t see them as I do when I’m in the ‘natural’; as Joyce Meyer would phrase it.

I was only water-baptised sometime after this but in the meantime, I found reading the Bible a delight. Before the Bible had been a closed book to me, I’d tried reading it but it simply didn’t make any sense to me and I’d given up.

For about the next six to nine months I was on a spiritual high; constantly reading my Bible and finding new gems of information. Work was an annoying distraction and I found that I couldn’t concentrate on TV long enough to see a whole movie because it was all so fictitious.

I was getting so much from the Bible and from the spiritual world that I felt like a puppy running amok in a beautifully manicured garden - and I stripped everything that I was getting down to the bare minimum essentials to pass it on.

The Kingdom of God is here, now and all around us – and we CAN enter in! I never did fancy the common cartoon-idea of sitting on a cloud and playing a harp as being a worthwhile spiritual future in heaven. Now I understand that spiritual ecstasy is even better than (dare I say it?) the comparatively fleeting experience of good sex! (Hey, God made both and they’re good!)

It was around this time that I had the experience of God saying that the name of His Son was NOT Jesus. As soon as I got home that afternoon I checked in the dictionary – fortunately it’s a good quality dictionary that also gives the roots of names and words – and there it was;

‘Jesus (jē’zes) 4? B.C. – A.D.29? 1. Son of Mary; founder of Christianity; regarded by Christians as the son of God and the Messiah. Also, in various contexts, “Jesus Christ,” “Christ,” “Christ Jesus,” or “Jesus of Nazareth.” 2. Christian Science. “The highest human corporeal concept of the divine idea” (Mary Baker Eddy). [Late Latin Jēsūs, from Greek Iēsous, from Hebrew yēshūa’, from Yēhōshūa’, Joshua.] [Emphasis mine.]

Only years later did I find absolute confirmation of this at: www.nehemiaswall.com...

Ruiner 1978, you KNOW in your gut when you've had a truly religious epiphany, although that feeling fades with time as you get used to the idea or experience, it does not in any way diminish the truth of what was revealed or what happened to you - so hold to that!

Interesting read, thanks.
I spoke in tongues one morning. But again, it was the morning after being up for two days on certain substances.

Yes I know that gut feeling. Thing is though, I've been sure almost every time, at the time. But, and this is hard to explain, it's been different every time. Do you know what I mean?
Does The Holy Spirit come to you in different guises after being shrugged off as just a product of a mind under the influence, lack of sleep or just imagination?

I've had what I believed at the times direct contact with God, or understandings of a Creator (drugs weren't involved every time). But every time he has been different. What would you make of that?

originally posted by: Ruiner1978
Could you elaborate on the blasphemy of The Holy Spirit a bit for me? I've read that passage and not been able to get my head round it. What is meant by attributing it's works to the devil? How does someone do that? Could you give me a short narrative as an example? And why is it so unforgivable?

Azzezza is not going to reply to this, because he's just been banned (he keeps getting banned and coming back, and he's not really a sound guide on Christian matters).
The point of the gospel passage is that God was doing something right in front of their eyes, working through Jesus, and the Pharisees suggested that Beelzebub was doing it. So they were looking at God at work, and calling God evil. That's what made it an extreme offence.

I recently extracted this passage from an old author, for use in a future thread;

And I think this is it which is called the sin against the Holy Ghost, when men will not be convinced by miracles, that Jesus is the Christ…
The sense of the place (which the whole context will show you, if you view it deliberately, will show you) seems to me to be this: as if Christ had said; while you believed not the testimony of the prophets, yet there was hope; the testimony of John the Baptist might have convinced you; yea, when you believed not John, you might have been convinced by my own doctrine; yea though you did not believe my doctrine, yet there was hope you might have been convinced by my miracles.
But when you accuse them to be the works of Beelzebub, and ascribe the work of the divine power, or Spirit, to the prince of devils, what more hope?...
I will after my ascension send the Holy Ghost upon my disciples, that they may work miracles to convince the world; but if you sin against the Holy Ghost (that is, they will not believe for all these miracles)… there is no other more convincing testimony left, and so their sin of unbelief is incurable, and consequently unpardonable.

Richard Baxter, “The Saints’ Everlasting Rest” (1650), Second Part, ch4.

originally posted by: LittleByLittle
Depends on what you mean by the holy spirit.

Not sure what I mean by The Holy Spirit to be honest. Lol
I guess I'm just interested in what others mean by The Holy Spirit, and how others understandings might relate to my experiences.

originally posted by: DISRAELI

originally posted by: Ruiner1978
Could you elaborate on the blasphemy of The Holy Spirit a bit for me? I've read that passage and not been able to get my head round it. What is meant by attributing it's works to the devil? How does someone do that? Could you give me a short narrative as an example? And why is it so unforgivable?

Azzezza is not going to reply to this, because he's just been banned (he keeps getting banned and coming back, and he's not really a sound guide on Christian matters).
The point of the gospel passage is that God was doing something right in front of their eyes, working through Jesus, and the Pharisees suggested that Beelzebub was doing it. So they were looking at God at work, and calling God evil. That's what made it an extreme offence.

I recently extracted this passage from an old author, for use in a future thread;

And I think this is it which is called the sin against the Holy Ghost, when men will not be convinced by miracles, that Jesus is the Christ…
The sense of the place (which the whole context will show you, if you view it deliberately, will show you) seems to me to be this: as if Christ had said; while you believed not the testimony of the prophets, yet there was hope; the testimony of John the Baptist might have convinced you; yea, when you believed not John, you might have been convinced by my own doctrine; yea though you did not believe my doctrine, yet there was hope you might have been convinced by my miracles.
But when you accuse them to be the works of Beelzebub, and ascribe the work of the divine power, or Spirit, to the prince of devils, what more hope?...
I will after my ascension send the Holy Ghost upon my disciples, that they may work miracles to convince the world; but if you sin against the Holy Ghost (that is, they will not believe for all these miracles)… there is no other more convincing testimony left, and so their sin of unbelief is incurable, and consequently unpardonable.

Richard Baxter, “The Saints’ Everlasting Rest” (1650), Second Part, ch4.

Ah I think I understand.
So if I was actually touched by The Holy Spirit, and the next day I dismiss it as being whacked out on MDA, or think it was just dark entities posing as The Holy Spirit, and it really was The Holy Spirit, would I be guilty of the unforgivable sin?

a reply to: Ruiner1978

Well if they need to prove a point to make sure you know without a doubt what is happening they can always send one of the telepathic ones telling you what will happen before it happens.

Or make you experience things on such a level of improbability that your view change on how fate works. And those experiences make you start to understand the nature of synchronicity.

a reply to: Ruiner1978
I'm not sure, but possibly not.
The point may be that they were seeing God at work in Jesus and knew, in their heart of hearts, that it was really God, so that their denial was more wilful.
I think you probably have to be in downright hostility to God's work, as they were, before you can be charged with that sin.

a reply to: Ruiner1978

From my point of view. Just follow the golden rule and you will be fine.

If a being is objectively good and want a Mutualistic relationship (a relationship that benefit you both) with you then it will try again later when you might be more ready.

If a dog does this to connect to a boy. Do you think a blessed ONE(spiritual close to perfect being) will do any less?