In 2016, I was privileged to speak to hundreds of students in Pasadena, California. As I flew from California to Orlando, I began to think about God’s calling on my life. There’s no doubt that the Lord has entrusted me with the message of Jesus. I understand the weight and responsibility of stewarding a message that Heaven loves. I also know that sacred message has come directly from the heart of the Father through Jesus by the Spirit to my heart. But Jesus must be more to us than a topic, a historical figure, or a name on the pages of our Bible. He has to be more than the title of a sermon that we preach. As I began to contemplate my assignment, I realized that it was very simple: to preach Jesus and to lead people to a genuine encounter with the reality of His presence. The reality of His presence on earth is the Holy Spirit. I believe in my heart that I am nothing more than a follower of Jesus who leads people into a great and loving collision with the person of Jesus Himself.
I must say, it deeply saddens me when I hear leaders say that it doesn’t matter what you feel and that we don’t need God to touch us, we only need to believe the Bible. The problem with that thought process is that it is through the Bible that God wants to touch us. Did you know that the Bible is not about the Bible? Did you know that Scriptures are not about Scriptures? Did you know that church is not about the Bible? Did you know that God did not so love the world that He sent a Bible? You’re probably experiencing a bit of a shock right now as you read this, but before you cast your opinion, let me say that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. The Bible is the heartbeat of God on paper. The Scriptures are alive. The Scriptures are the revealed will of God, and the living Scriptures plus the presence of the Spirit equal a revelation of Jesus, who is the face of the Father.
I would say I read my Bible as much or more than anyone I know. I love the Scriptures, and I love my physical copy of the Bible. It’s been with me for years, and I’ve cried while reading it. To me, the Bible is much more than a book. It’s an experience. Did you know that the church fathers called the Holy Scriptures “the book of experience”? But they were after something more. They were after the Person of the Bible. God did not give us the Bible to bring us back to the Bible. He gave us the Bible to bring us to Himself. And so, the Scriptures should lead us to the One who wrote them. After all, they do reveal His heart and His mind to us. Let me remind you, the Bible did not die on a cross, descend into hell, and get raised from the dead. Jesus did. Again, the Scriptures are one hundred percent divine and true from Genesis to Revelation. I am only making the point that there are many who own and read their Bibles who do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. The bottom line is this: God gave us the Holy Scriptures so that we would meet Him.
Have you ever met someone? Of course you have. Did you shake their hand? Did you hug them? Perhaps you’re from my part of the world, the eastern Mediterranean. Did you kiss them on both cheeks? How about when you got closer with them? Were hugs more consistent? Let me ask you, when you met your spouse, did you just speak to them from a distance forever? Were you content with chatting on a computer or sending text messages from across the country? Did you marry them before you met them? Of course not. Genuine relationships require proximity, conversation, and yes, even touch. How much more does our loving Bridegroom, by the Holy Spirit, long to touch us? God wants you to feel His presence. God wants to touch you, and He wants you to touch Him back. You might say, “I’m not qualified to minister to the Lord or to touch Him.” Was Thomas qualified while he doubted that Jesus had been raised from the dead? How did the Lord deal with him? He showed Thomas Himself—showed him His sounds and, ultimately, the feel of His holy body. The Holy Spirit wants to touch you.
I grew up in a realm of presence that I have yet to see today. I have stood on some of the world’s greatest platforms. Some of the world’s greatest churches and ministries have allowed me to minister. I’ve sat in on the meetings of incredible men and women. But I have yet to feel and experience the touch of the Holy Spirit like I did as a boy. It was like growing up in a greenhouse of glory. My heart would race at the opening song. I’d sprint into the church just to find a seat. I’d read my Bible with tears flowing, highlighting every single verse in front of me. I shook under the power of God so many times. I’d feel the wind blow over me in those days at the Orlando Christian Center. I remember the worship lifting to such a level that it felt like we had been taken straight to Heaven. I’ve been set on fire. I’ve been chilled with living water. I’ve felt the river of God flow in me, around me, and through me. I’ve felt tangible wind. I’ve felt the air vibrate and the ground under me shake while preaching. I’ve seen more than I ever thought I would, and I’ve been touched by the actual person of the Lord. My literal body, and heart, and mind have collided with the literal person of the Spirit.
If there is anything I would want you to experience and understand while reading this book, it would be this: how literal and real the person of the Holy Spirit is. No, He’s not a concept. He’s a real person. When you met your husband or your wife, you longed to get closer with time. He wants the same. He’s not interested in a long-distance relationship that is merely full of lifeless information or historical facts regarding theology. He wants to touch you. Just as husband and wife kiss in the marriage ceremony, so the Lord is looking to get face to face with you and kiss you. “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth…” (Song of Sol. 1:2). This shows the posture of heart that we should all have. We want God to kiss us. We don’t want just one kiss; we want kisses. What does it take to be kissed by God? Well, it means to be face to face with Him. It means to stare into His eyes of fire—and that fire is the Holy Spirit Himself. Jesus has eyes of fire because He’s full of the Spirit. And as we look into those eyes, we become Spirit and truth as His wonderful fire cleanses us and fills us with His love. We are mouth to mouth, where there is a literal breath exchange. Adam breathed in the Lord’s breath, and we do the same as we look at Jesus and worship Him. This is impossible from far away, and it is equally impossible without touch.
Jesus knew the touch of God. Do you remember what happened while Jesus was on His way to raise that dead girl, the daughter of Jairus? As He was walking through the village, a woman with the issue of blood, weak and broken, crawled through the crowd just to get to Jesus. She had spent all her money on doctors. She was looked at by the entire community as being unclean. This poor woman, who some think was named Lydia, could not worship with the rest of her community or leave her home. She was rejected by society and completely broken, and her only hope came walking down the street. When she got to Jesus, she touched Him. Instantly, Jesus stopped in His tracks. He said, “Who touched Me?”
A disciple said, “Lord, what do You mean who touched You? Everyone’s touching You.”
He said, “No, someone touched Me. I felt power leave Me. I felt virtue leave Me.” And He looked down and saw that woman, and she was healed (see Luke 8:43-48). Jesus was so sensitive to the activity of the Holy Spirit in His life that He could literally feel the power of God leave Him. Life in the Spirit is incredibly touch oriented. Have you ever asked yourself why God would give you such a beautiful spirit, soul, and body that is full of sensory receptors if He did not want you to be sensitive to Him?
Listen to the words of Micah the prophet: “But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord…” (Micah 3:8). Jeremiah said, “I have fire shut up in my bones” (see Jer. 20:9). When Daniel was touched by the Holy Spirit, He could hear his bones shaking (see Dan. 10:11). David said in Psalm 23:5: “…my cup runneth over” (KJV). All these verses have a very specific and clear language of relationship and intimacy. It is impossible to have intimacy with God and not hear Him, sense Him, see what He’s doing, and feel His touch. Imagine if you wanted intimacy with your spouse but never wanted communication or touch.
I’m often asked, “Michael, how can I walk in the Spirit so that I can love Jesus?” What do you do when you pray? Tell me what your quiet time looks like. “I want to be closer with God.” Well, I can’t tell you exactly how you should commune with the Lord. I can offer you in the simplest way possible a description of how I spend time with God. Again, we all have our own walk with the Lord, and He deals differently with each of us. Yet the Scriptures do tell us that there are general and beautiful ways by which we all can enjoy His presence.
It’s usually early in the morning before the sun is up. Before I open my eyes, I feel a pull deep within my heart. The pull is constant, strong, but not overly aggressive. It’s heavy, but not burdensome. It seems to have hooks deep within my heart. Those hooks are attached to cords, as described in the following Scripture: “He draws me with cords of love” (see Hos. 11:4). This pull has a voice. The voice is very loving, and it’s simple too. It says, “Michael, I’m here. Get up; I want to be with you. It’s time to spend time together.” Usually, a few minutes goes by until I can muster the strength to get up out of my bed, but I notice that before I’m fully awake, He’s already tugging. So, I sit up and roll out of the bed as quietly as possible so that I don’t wake up my wife. I grab a quick coffee to wake up, and I head to my prayer room. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, “When you pray, close the door,” and so I simply obey (see Matt. 6:6). I close the door, grab my Bible, and usually just take a seat.
Before I begin to speak or say anything, I simply sit there. You say, “What do you do when you sit there?” Nothing… I take a deep breath, clear my mind. There are mornings where I’ll whisper words of love and adoration to the Lord. It might sound something like this: “Jesus, You’re beautiful. You’re awesome. You’re loving. You’re kind. I love You. Thank You for waking me up this morning. Here I am. I worship You.” And then, I wait some more. Why am I waiting? I’m not necessarily waiting for God to come, but I am waiting in His presence to be quickened by Him. You see, Saint Augustine said that he spent years looking for God without, while the entire time God was within. As I become still and release the cares of the world and just do nothing because I am fully dependent on Him, I will eventually sense the quickening of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I physically feel it on my body. Sometimes I sense an instant connection with the activity of the Spirit. Sometimes He becomes very real and faith is born. Regardless, I do nothing until He quickens me. It’s in that moment that I begin to praise Him.
David said, “Be still, and know that I am God…” (Ps. 46:10). The knowledge of God comes in this deep stillness as we wait upon the Lord. Knowledge of God means to know God, not to know about Him. It’s in this place of waiting upon Him that you discover His person, His qualities, His likes, and His dislikes. So, I wait. How long? It just depends. I’m not waiting on the clock. I am waiting on the Person. Once I feel that quickening, I then begin to open my mouth and praise the Lord. I give Him glory because He’s amazing. I might say something like, “Jesus, You’re God Almighty. You’ve been crucified and raised, and you’re seated on the throne. You are the Victorious One. You’ve defeated death. You’re amazing.” Sometimes I’ll go through His works and His acts in the Scriptures, and when I begin to praise the Lord, I’ll sense the reality of His Kingdom in the moment. What do I mean by that? His presence—the presence of the Spirit—begins to rule over me. It overshadows my senses. It overshadows my weakness. It overshadows my fallen desires. And the Kingdom that is within me begins to rule and reign. From then on, I just follow His lead. I’ve learned to let the Holy Spirit be my teacher in my quiet time. He might say, “Open your Bible.” He might say, “Wait again.” He might say, “Sing to Me in the Spirit. Sing to Me an old hymn.” Whatever He says, I lovingly obey. I’ve found that it’s in that moment that my desires become one with His. So, what I desire, I simply yield to. If I desire to read the Scriptures, I follow that. If I desire to do nothing, I follow that.
There comes a time, when I’m with the Lord, when every desire but a desire for Him dies. That can usually take a while. Once I get to the place where I have one desire, and that is Jesus, I know I’m entering a deep place in the Holy Spirit. It is in this place that your body literally cries out for the presence of God to fill and touch it.
Let’s have a look at the great man of prayer, King David.
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, for You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life to destroy it, will go into the depths of the earth. They will be delivered over to the power of the sword; they will be a prey for foxes. But the king will rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him will glory, For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped (Psalm 63:1-11 NASB).
Notice David says in verse 1: “…my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is” (Ps. 63:1 KJV). I do not believe that we are called to live in dryness. Jesus paid a price for our continual fellowship with the Lord. If we ever do suffer distance from the Lord, it’s never the Lord’s fault. But David here wanted more, and he came to the place where he wanted his body to experience the life-giving water of the Spirit.
It’s in these times of prayer that I feel completely overwhelmed with His presence. But the language does not become complicated; in fact, it becomes simpler. In that moment, I am not a preacher. I am not an evangelist. I am simply a child of God. And so, my language becomes more singular, more childlike, more basic. You might hear something like this: “Jesus, I love You. Jesus, I need You. You are beautiful.” Or you might hear, “Holy Spirit, fill me.” Sometimes my heart cries, “I just want You.” Then I wait some more and enjoy His beautiful presence. It seems to come like wave after wave after wave. There are spikes, there are peaks, and there are valleys. And so, in the valleys, I wait for Him to sweep through again. In the peaks, I enjoy Him. Once He quickens me, I can share intimate, loving language that ministers back to Him. At the end of the day, I want Him to smile.
Even our prayer time ends with His joy. He receives joy when we receive His joy, but in my heart I want Him to be full of joy when our time is through. You might ask, “When do you stop?” The Scriptures explain this beautifully. In Song of Solomon 8:4, the Bible says, “…Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.” I wait until the Lord is through with me, and when I feel that release, I am done. I must say as a comical side note, He’s yet to kick me out of the secret place because He’s through with me. If I were to spend three hours there, it would seem like He wanted four. If I were to spend eight, it would seem like He wanted nine. If I were to spend my entire day, it would seem like He wanted another. That is how He keeps us coming.