When the Holy Spirit becomes your friend and a conversation begins between you and Him, He will literally blow your mind. You will discover that He never stops working, He never stops speaking. He is constantly inviting us to be with Him. He loves to nudge us and ask us to do something to reveal the love of Jesus in the lives of others. I have found that He has an incredible sense of humor, and He will also shock us at times. One thing I’m learning as I walk with Him more closely is that He does not compartmentalize our lives. I believe the day of ministers touching people’s lives on the platform alone are coming to an end. The Holy Spirit does not have an off switch, and He does not turn off when we leave a pulpit or a platform. His heart still burns for people. I would venture to say that the coming wave of evangelism that will sweep the nations of the earth will not be dominated by public ministry but by everyday people like you and me who are simply listening to the Holy Spirit as we get close to Him and obey Him.
I remember about six years ago, my good friend Eric Gilmour and I were driving to a bookstore to purchase some books written by some of the old spiritual writers of the past. We were just leaving Christ for all Nations, where we were doing some media. The car we were driving needed gas. So we pulled over into a gas station in a pretty rough neighborhood. Eric, as he always used to in those days, had a video camera with him. He would turn it on out of nowhere and point it directly into my face and ask me what God was telling me. At first, it was annoying, but then I learned to appreciate Eric’s hunger for the things of God. So, there I was pumping gas, and sure enough, Eric whipped out his camera, placed it on a tripod, and put it in my face. He said, “What’s God been speaking to you?” I had nothing spiritual on my mind at the time, and I thought it was funny. Instantly, out of the corner of my eye, across the parking lot of this gas station in this horrible neighborhood I saw a man walking with a shopping cart. He was clearly homeless and walked with a noticeable limp. The moment he caught my eye, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Go and lay hands on him and pray for his ailment.”
So, I left the gas nozzle in my car and immediately left my car unattended and walked over to the man who clearly had a very, very injured leg. Once we introduced ourselves, he gave us his name, which I’ll never forget. It was Jack. Initially, he was very scared. He thought we were going to hurt him. Then a car full of young people from the neighborhood drove up and said, “What are you going to do to the man? Are you going to hurt him?”
We said, “No, no, we’re not going to hurt him,” and we chuckled to ourselves because we knew God was going to do the exact opposite of that. As we talked to him about Jesus, I put my hand on the man’s hip, right there in the middle of the parking lot. As I did that, I felt something on me. Now I know it was the presence of the Spirit. I took his shopping cart and pushed it away from him. He panicked.
He said, “You don’t understand—I can’t walk without that cart.” The man was so poor he did not have money for a walker or a cane, so that cart had become his personal mobility assistance device. Led of the Spirit, I took the cart and pushed it away from him. Now he had no cart at all. He said, “I can’t walk without it.”
I said, “Well, you’re going to have to. Today is your day.” I grabbed his hand and began to walk with him through the parking lot. And after the first few steps, I saw a tear running down his face.
He said, “You don’t understand—I couldn’t do this before.” And then we started to walk more, and more, and more, and more, until his pace increased and the Lord had touched and healed him. His eyes were full of tears, and they streamed down his face. Then Eric sat down with him and shared the Gospel with him. I’ll never forget that day, not because it was the greatest miracle I’ve ever seen. To be honest, I hate to rate miracles because all of them require the blood and stripes of Jesus. Since everything is valued by what somebody is willing to pay for it, every miracle is valuable because Jesus is valuable. Was it the grandest miracle I’ve ever seen? No. It sticks out to me because of the way that the Holy Spirit orchestrated the whole thing. We were leaving a major ministry simply to go to a bookstore and go deeper with Jesus. The car was low on gas, and the Lord knew that we would have to stop. The last place I thought I’d see miracles is at the gas pump, but the beauty of the will of the Spirit is like nothing we’ve ever known.
Another time, my wife and I went to downtown Orlando to grab some lunch. I believe we got a hamburger together. As I was driving through the downtown area, which is very busy with traffic, on our way home, I saw a man in a wheelchair wheeling himself down the sidewalk. I passed him and kept driving. Instantly, I felt a check in my spirit and heard the voice of the Holy Spirit. He said, “Go pray for that man.” I thought to myself, “How inconvenient. I’m downtown, where there’s traffic. You want me to turn around, Lord? Where will I park the car? What will I do with Jess?” The Lord said, “Just turn the car around.”
So, I turned the car around and went to find him. Sure enough, he was wheeling himself down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. I crossed the street in the car and found a parking space. I parallel parked the car, looked at my wife, and said, “Jess, I’ll be right back.”
She said, “What are you doing?”
I said, “I’m going to pray for that man.”
She said, “Okay.”
I said, “You wait here in the car.” So, Jessica stayed with the car. I jumped out. Between the car and the man for whom I was going to pray was a group of cars. For all my wife knew, I had just jumped out. She would have no way of knowing what the Lord would do. I walked up to the man. I said, “Sir, my name’s Michael. I’m in the ministry, and I live in this area. As I was driving by you, I heard the Holy Spirit say, ‘Go pray for that man.’” He started crying. I said, “Sir, why are you crying?”
He said, “I was a Baptist minister, and I failed. I had a moral failure, and I was kicked out of the ministry.” It was clear this man had some addictions and many other issues in his life that God needed to heal.
So, I said, “I believe the Lord sent me to you so that He would heal you today and you would see His power and His love.” As he continued to cry, I put my hand on him. I said, “Lord, I thank You for Your healing power that flows through this man. In the name of Jesus, be healed.” And so, I stood him up, and he began to walk. I asked him, “When is the last time you were able to walk like this?”
He said, “It’s been years.” He added, “I’m not paralyzed. I have been able to stand up, but I’ve not been able to do what I’m doing right now for years.” He continued to cry. It was a full-blown healing right there on the street.
Now, Jessica was still in the car. She had been on a phone call while I was out praying for the man. Once I got in the car, I put the car in drive, and we drove off. Because she was on the phone I couldn’t share the testimony with her right away. So, we took a right at the stop sign and began to drive home. Jessica looked to her right, and instead of seeing a man wheeling himself down the road, she saw the same man walking all by himself. She got off the phone and said, “Oh my, wait! Is that the man? Wait—is that the man in the wheelchair? He’s walking.”
I looked at her and smiled. I could sense the pleasure and humor of the Lord. This is what the Holy Spirit does. This is His way. He is the master of these types of situations.
A friend of mine named Dave Popovici, who is now a missionary in northern Iraq, invited me to preach at his church in Chicago. When I went to the church, I began to teach on the presence of Jesus. I could sense the power of God as I was speaking. The people were hungry; they were gripped. There was a strong group of young people there who were part of the FIRE School of Ministry. I sensed a deep connection with the hearts in this church and movement. When I was through preaching, as I usually do I went back into worship. As we began to worship the Lord, I felt His power come upon me. There is no denying the power of the Holy Spirit when it begins to flow. Sometimes I feel tingling all over my body. Sometimes I feel electricity flowing through my hands. Sometimes my hands feel like they each weigh twenty pounds. Sometimes my entire body is flooded with life and joy.
A young girl grabbed my attention. She was standing there with her mother, and she was about five years old at the time. I noticed she had huge Coke-bottle glasses on. She was a precious little girl with a very sweet spirit. I walked up to her, took off her glasses, and I prayed for her eyes. The power of God hit her, and I walked away to pray for others. It was an awesome meeting, but I never got a testimony from the little girl or her mother.
Five years later, I was preaching across the country near Sacramento, California, in a conference that our friend Erica Mahea was hosting. As I began to minister, that same power began to flow again. This time, people were healed of multiple issues, and they began to fall under the power of God. It really was a glorious meeting. I noticed a young mother with a daughter who seemed to be twelve or thirteen years old. They walked up to me, but while they looked a bit familiar, I could not place their faces. The mother said, “I have a testimony to share with you and this whole church.” So, I gave her the microphone. She said, “Five years ago, Michael came to my church in Chicago. He walked up to my daughter, put his hand on her, and prayed that God would give her her vision back. The power of God swept through my daughter, and that night her eyes were completely healed. In fact, when she put her Coke-bottle glasses on, everything was blurry and she could not see. I just want to share this testimony with all of you so that you can see what God did in that meeting with Michael.” I was shocked to my core. Maybe you’re asking, “Well, should you be shocked? Shouldn’t you expect miracles?” Yes, we should expect them, but they still shock us. They’re incredible. We’re to be like little children, enjoying the Father’s love and power and being blown away by His wonder.
You have to understand, I’m the first to realize that I do not deserve to see these things. When I do see them, I am in awe of God. The lady continued to share the testimony of her daughter—that she had been completely healed and made whole and that since that day, she had begun to encounter God in a beautiful way. The Holy Spirit is the master healer, and you can trust Him to use your life in the same way.
You’ll notice I’m sharing stories with you. It’s important we understand that life in the Holy Spirit is not a concept but a lived experience. He’s not a topic, but a person. He’s not a subject, but an individual who longs to live with us, and among us, and in us.
Our family loves to visit Winter Park, Florida. It’s about twenty minutes from our home. It’s a beautiful downtown district with cobblestone streets and stunning aged oak trees. The buildings are classical. The shopping is great, and so is the food. One day, we went down to Winter Park with our family to have some lunch and get the kids dessert. They love ice cream. When we were through at the ice cream shop, I walked outside the store and looked to my left. There was an elderly woman sitting on a bench. I grabbed my kids and said, “Guys, come watch this.” You see, I want my children to know how simple it is to walk with the Holy Spirit and how He brings the love of Jesus much more clearly and beautifully than we ever could in our own strength. I also want them to see the fruit of obedience. Some of us believe that if we don’t see the miracle, we failed. No, we have to teach our children to celebrate taking risks. So, I walked up to this woman, sat down on the bench next to her with my children and my brother-in-law Josh, and I said, “Ma’am, my name is Michael. I’m a minister here in the area. The Lord sent me to you.”
She said, “Really?”
I said, “Yes, He did. Do you have any pain in your body?”
“I do, actually,” she replied.
I asked, “Do you mind if I lay hands on you and pray for you?”
She said, “No, I don’t mind. Please do.”
So, I put my hand on her, and I told my children, “Guys, come over here. You pray for her too.” And so, they began to pray for this dear woman, and she became very emotional. I said, “Ma’am, has the pain left your body?”
“It has! It has!” She exclaimed, “Who are you?”
I just said, “Just somebody who is following Jesus.” My kids were blown away that God would use them in that way. I remember my brother-in-law asking, “Dude, does that happen everywhere you go?” How I wish it did! But it is happening more and more and more as I learn to listen to and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit.
One evening, we were in a large crusade with my father-in-law. In those days, I would learn the voice of the Spirit by walking through the crowd and asking Him who He was healing. I learned it was more effective to join what God was doing and agree with the people that He was already touching in the crowd. That is not the only way to see miracles, but since we were under a time restraint, the Holy Spirit began to show me this way of seeing breakthrough for those who are suffering. As I walked through the crowd, I noticed that my wife was speaking to a lady. There were people gathered around her in a huge circle, not to mention an entire section of people above her looking down. It was quite a scene. Jessica saw me and called me over to her.
She said, “My husband can open your ears.” And I thought to myself, “What? What kind of pressure is this? Besides, I’m not the healer. I can’t open any ears on my best day.” Well, I knew what Jess meant, but it still put a lot of pressure on me and at the time was something for which I was not ready. There was a huge crowd standing around us in a circle with a deaf person standing in the middle. Beyond that, as I said, an entire section of the church was above us looking down. I prayed for the woman. I put my finger in her ear and commanded her ears to open. I was very nervous. Nothing happened when I prayed.
I asked, “Can you hear?”
“No,” she replied.
I tried again. Nothing happened. At this point, I was so embarrassed. Here I was, called out and in a stadium with people watching. I’m in the ministry, and I can’t get these ears to open. So, I tried again— nothing happened. For some reason, something deep in my soul said, “Just don’t give up. Keep going.” I tried a fourth time. I said, “Ma’am, can you hear?”
“No,” she said.
I tried a fifth time. “Open, in Jesus’ name!” Nothing.
A sixth time—nothing happened. It was the seventh time, I believe, that I just stayed with it and said, “In Jesus’ name, open!”
I will never forget the look on this woman’s face when my mouth uttered the word “open.” Her eyes got huge. The smile was all consuming. Excitement was beaming out of her face, and she began to scream, “They’re open! I can hear! I can hear!”
Can you imagine the first thing you can hear being a stadium full of people worshiping Jesus? Well, I was as emotional as she was. For the life of me, I couldn’t believe it. What a lesson the Holy Spirit taught me—that He empowers us when we step out. He empowers those who take risks. He energizes the moments of those who put their reputations aside and are willing to look foolish for His glory.
Life with the Holy Spirit might be many things, but, my friend, I can assure you that it is far from boring. Yes, He will challenge you. Yes, He will take you to the end of yourself with His spoken word, wanting you to obey. But He always has something up His sleeve that we can’t see. He always has something better than we can ever imagine waiting for us on the other end. The Scripture says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind conceived what God has in store for those who love Him” (see 1 Cor. 2:9). The stories I just shared with you are only a few of the many I have seen around the world and at home. I’d like to share another one with you, if that’s okay, because many people believe that these miracles only happen overseas or in stadiums.
One evening, in Baldwin Park, Florida, where my brother Theo was pastoring at the time, I was asked to lead a Bible study in a very young church plant that he and his wife, Rachel, were orchestrating. It was a very small group of maybe eight people. We sat in a circle with our Bibles open, and I began to teach the Scriptures. A woman walked in off the street. It was pretty clear that she did not know the Lord and she was searching for help. She came in and said, “I just left the ER, where my daughter is because she tried to kill herself by taking pills. She did not die, but she almost did.” It was clear that the mother was very distraught and sad. So, she came seeking help and peace. As she began to share the horrific details of what she and her daughter were going through, she also shared with me that her husband had left her. Now she was all alone with a daughter trying to commit suicide. She was on her way back to her house, which was just across the street from where we were hosting the Bible study, and she decided to come in.
As she sat there crying, some would say, “This is not a Bible study. This woman has interrupted our ‘discipleship’ time.” It’s important we understand that Jesus never called us to disciple out of His presence. In our Western theory, we believe that discipleship belongs in a classroom with a dry erase board, but when Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple, He said, “Come and follow Me” (see Matt. 4:19). To the Lord, discipleship is living with Him, being around Him, hearing His voice, us speaking to Him, Him answering our questions, and Him throwing us into situations where His life has to pour through us.
The woman began to share her pain. She looked at me and said, “I have this huge goiter—this growth on my neck. Do you think God could heal it? Would you pray for me?” Very simply, by faith, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, and I put my hand on her neck. I would say it was about the size of a tangerine. Until the day I die, I will never forget what I felt under my hand when we simply obeyed the Holy Spirit and spoke the name of Jesus. I felt a pop, and I felt something under my hand change. It was like something disappeared. When I looked for the growth again, it was completely gone. I was blown away—so was she, and so were the people sitting around us. You talk about disciple-ship! This was the best stuff. She began to touch her neck over and over again. “Where is it? Oh my gosh, it’s gone. Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? It’s gone!” We all began to celebrate God’s goodness, and I’ll never forget driving home that night. I saw her walking to her house, and she was still feeling for the growth that was gone.
I want to challenge you today: Give God permission to shock you. Give God permission to mess up your schedule. Between point A and point B today, give God permission to ask you to stop for somebody. When He speaks, simply obey like a little child, and remember that you’re not the healer; Jesus is. God is not looking for you to work a great miracle. He simply is looking for you to obey Him and to leave the rest to Him. I hope you’ll enjoy the Holy Spirit today like you never have before.