search the site...
the magazine
archives: october 2011
reality...
archives: october 2011
learning to be naturally supernatural
by chris lane
I grew up in a church that didn’t talk very much about the Holy Spirit. When I was 13 I went to a meeting where I’d been told everyone would speak in tongues, shout a lot and hug each other. As a card-carrying Conservative Evangelical, I was terrified. When I arrived, I found a little card on each table explaining what might happen during the meeting. It was intended to reassure people like me but it only scared me more.
There were cartoon images of people ‘speaking in tongues’, ‘shaking’ and, worst of all, a picture of someone falling on the floor with the caption ‘being slain in the Spirit’. Was I about to die?! I was tempted to leg it but was strangely fascinated too and watched as middle-aged men rolled around the floor laughing at my feet, with strange languages bubbling from their lips. I’m sure I heard someone shout ‘shabba’ at one point. Needless to say, I was a little freaked out.
But the really odd thing was, after that day, I had a real longing to meet God in a deeper way and to experience his power for myself. I began to realise that to receive this power I didn’t have to become a loud, slightly overweight middle-aged man who hugged everyone and did weird things in meetings. God wanted to fill me with his Spirit. But that thought scared me.
What if I lost control? Or became weird? Or fell over? I had to decide whether to trust God or not. I was a Christian who loved Jesus and I knew God was living in me from the moment I gave my life to him but I also knew he had more for me. Would I give him control of my life? Would I allow Jesus to breathe the Holy Spirit into me like he’d done to his disciples at Pentecost?
It was such an encouragement to me when I met a bunch of people, many connected with Soul Survivor, who were seeing the power of the Holy Spirit at work in amazing and sometimes strange ways, but they remained normal. I would go up for prayer, hungry for more of God and confident that this was a safe place to receive.
Gradually I was changed. I began to step out in the gifts God was offering me – hearing him speak to me and speaking a language to God that I didn’t understand but God did.
Sometimes I’d look at people around me who were responding to God in more physical ways (like shaking, falling down or laughing), and feel a bit envious: ‘why doesn’t God do that to me?’
I imagined these poor people coming to me and getting worse. In my darkest thoughts I thought: ‘people could die!’ And no one wants that to happen, not outside Greggs the Bakers.
But then I realised that God deals with all of us according to our personalities – some are more physical than others, some are louder than others. I don’t tend to show any outward signs of God filling me, but I might feel tears come to my eyes for no apparent reason, or feel peaceful. But whatever I feel, I know that when I ask God to fill me with the Holy Spirit, he does. Every time. He gives me just what I need for that moment. I can be myself, I can be natural, but at the same time, see the supernatural at work in and through me.
One evening my wife Esther had a bit of earache and I thought it might be a good chance for a miracle. It didn’t seem that big of a problem so, feeling pretty confident, I prayed for her. In the morning Esther woke up with a severe ear infection in both ears! Imagine how nervous I felt after that when some mates and I thought God wanted us to go out on Salford Precinct and pray for people who were sick! With my track record, I imagined these poor people coming to me and getting worse. In my darkest thoughts I thought: ‘people could die!’ And no one wants that to happen, not outside Greggs the Bakers.
So with one hand on my mobile ready to dial 999, we took to the streets one Saturday afternoon. There were eight of us, we took a few chairs and stood strategically close to Boots the Chemist and invited people to sit down and be prayed for.
One lady came and said she was suffering from migraines, a bad back and she had a lump in her throat she was worried about. As we prayed for her, she asked why she felt so tingly all over her body.
A month later we were out again, and the same lady came to find us. She was bubbling with excitement as she explained how the lump had disappeared, and she had not suffered any back pain or migraines since we had prayed for her! No one was more surprised than me!
Over the next few months, we saw God heal a number of others as we prayed for them, and each time I was stunned that God would allow us to be a part of this stuff. I thought this kind of thing only happened in Africa or America yet here it was happening in Salford Precinct near Boots. And God doesn’t just use the famous Christians – he uses you and me, in fact anyone who is crazy enough to believe that God loves people and wants to bless them.
The beauty of it all is that God comes to us in the mess of our lives, and we see the miraculous in the mundane, we see ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and we see our lives becoming naturally supernatural.
about the writer
Chris is the leader of Langworthy Community Church as well as a trustee of Soul Survivor. From 27th – 29th October Chris is hosting Naturally Supernatural Salford – a conference to look at how we experience more of God’s power in our lives. He’ll be joined by Mike and Jeannie Morgan so get along if you can; it’s gonna be an exciting few days! Find out more at www.langworthycommunitychurch.com
Soul Survivor is a Christian charity that puts on events for young people. Our registered charity no. is 1080720. We are also a company limited by guarantee in England & Wales. Our company registered number is 03991111, which is nice. Thanks for caring.
e. info@soulsurvivor.com | t. 0303 333 1 333
Soul Survivor | Unit 2 Paramount Industrial Estate | Sandown Road | Watford | Herts. | UK