Holy Spirit Experience

My mother recently directed me to an excelent article in the Adventist Review. It actually inspried me to fire off an email to the editors. Click the link to read the article. Don't skip it; you really should read it first. Now, here's my letter:

Editor:

In "No Going Back" Pastor Russell addressed a major weakness in our denomination when he wrote: "As a church, We are most comfortable in teaching the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and not the experience of the Holy Spirit." Amen! But we need more than one article on this important subject.

Pastor Russell, don't be a tease. We need to learn what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is and isn't. We need to know whether the gift of prophecy is limited to Ellen White, and how to test prophets if that isn't the case. And we need more articles in the Review that describe the experience of the Holy Spirit, not just the theory.

"No Going Back" has driven me back to my Bible for answers. I hope I'm not going to be the only one studying And I hope the editors of the Review will bring us more wise guidance on this topic.

Two experiences have piqued my interest in the work of the Holy Spirit. At the anneversary celebration of a Menonite church my town, one of the pastors related how a member had recieved a "vision" of land they were supposed to purchase. When they found land that matched what she saw, the church bought the property and have thrived on it. It reminded me of the Adventist church's experiences with Ellen White.

At a another celebration, this time a building dedication at a Pentecostal church, there was a guest speaker who did faith healings through "words of knowledge" during prayer time (e.g. "I feel a pain in my lower back.") I had read earlier about an Adventist pastor who spoke of having the same spiritual gifts, but I had never seen it in action. As I sat with my head bowed I prayed, "Lord, help me to know if this is from you."

I am indeed in need of wise guidance on this topic. I plan to do a study on the tests of a prophet and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But what we need more than individual study is to come together and share what we've learned from our study and experienced as a result. I believe that when we come together in submission to the Holy Spirit and learn from Him through a study of the Word, we can experience revival.