My born again experience (Part 1)

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8

As I returned to church in 2010, I attended a conservative church without emphasis on the Holy Spirit. As a result, I felt uncomfortable and resistant when I tried to join any spirit-filled gatherings, and I remember I hung up the phone with someone who spoke in tongues over me. 

During my first three years as a new believer, I attended Sundays every day and served in the ministry. I had a double life because I was involved in ungodly relationships and fascinated by the occult like the new age and Chinese fortune telling. I wondered why I was even more oppressed and messy after attending church? Obviously, I had a superficial church life, I was religious and active in ministry and mission trips so that I looked good to others. There was no real change in my heart, and I only had outward behavior and dead work. 

Then one night in 2013, one of my sisters invited me to a Chinese fellowship. They invited a Taiwanese American pastor as a guest speaker and I had no idea what to expect. It was a young looking pastor, but he spoke calmly and repeated, "I am sending you the Holy Spirit to fill you up, until you can't contain it any more." Suddenly an outburst of spirit broke out with people standing up and speaking in tongues. I had no time to freak out but I saw a white bright light and then an intense heat over my body, my hands shaking uncontrollably and I cried out “more and more” as I felt the outpouring of the Holy Spirit fill me up and I just immersed in the surreal feelings, it was peaceful but yet sensational, like an out of body experience. 

In that very moment, I received the gift of tongues and felt so close to God that I just didn't want it to end. As everyone calmed down and sat down, the pastor began preaching, while I was still standing up and shaking to enjoy the “moment ”. On that same night, I received a small feather on the street that was exactly the same feather my sister got when she received the gift of tongues.

I will always remember this pivotal moment of my born again experience. It opens up for me how the Holy Spirit can empower us with constant spiritual renewal and transformation. We are given supernatural power as well as the power to overcome sin. As in the key verse today, “We shall receive power from the Holy Spirit”, “power” is Greek for “dunamis”, meaning explosions. I will explain further in Part 2 how being born again has transformed my life and empowered me.

Blessing prayer: We desire renewal and transformation. May we be renewed by the Holy Spirit, and be empowered by the spirit to live a life of victory. In Jesus’ name, Amen