Wooster Church of the Nazarene

Tonight I went to Wooster Church of the Nazarene for a worship and prayer time. It was truly amazing!

Within minutes of entering the doors to the sanctuary, I could feel the Holy Spirit’s presence so strong in the room. By the time we found our seats, my right hand began to shake. It continued to shake as I began to worship God. For those that know me, I am not the type to do much moving or anything during a church service. I have always felt that there is a certain way to act during church, or in any public place. But tonight I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to leave all of that behind. So hands held high, I made my way to the front of the church where they had cleared a place for dancing and praying. I began to dance, the whole while my hand was shaking.

This whole time, I was praying with a boldness I had never prayed with before. I was crying out to God, begging Him to give me the power to interpret tongues, since we have so many people in our prayer group that speak in tongues, but no one who can interpret. I cried out to God and said, “God, You are speaking through these people but we do not know what they are saying. God, help me to know what they are saying. We need to know what you are saying. Give me this power, God. Please, God.” The songs seemed to hit me hard, too. It seemed like they were all about hearing God’s voice and saying the things that He says and doing the things that He does. As my hand was shaking and I could feel the Holy Spirit’s presence, I knew that what I prayed for would be answered if I continued to pray earnestly.

After a short while, I fell to my knees, then onto my stomach where I laid facedown and prayed. I prayed, “God, Jacob wrestled You all night to get Your blessing, and I will lay here on my stomach praying all night if that’s what it takes for You to give me this gift that the group needs. We are incomplete without it, and we need it to be completely effective. I will not leave until you bless me!” I prayed words like these over and over, along with saying, “God, I believe, help my unbelief. Give me more faith. I need more faith. You said that faith the size of a mustard seed could move mountains, and I have that much faith. But I need even more faith, God.” All the while I was on the ground crying and praying to God.

I told God I would not move from that place until I knew He had blessed me. Even when I started to feel a lot of pain in my body from staying in that position, I did not sit up. I did not stand. When people around me were all dancing and clapping and praising God, I stayed on my stomach amidst it all and cried out to God. I told God, “God, I don’t want to be here like this. I want to be up dancing and praising you with everyone else. But it’s Your will that I get this, so I will stay here and suffer this pain until you bless me. I will look like a fool on the ground waiting for You, but this is where You want me.”

Soon, the music calmed down again, and I felt my body get really cold. Then, I was covered in water. I felt as if I was in the middle of a river, with the cold water rushing around me. The speaker began to talk about the Living Water. I knew that the Holy Spirit’s presence was surrounding me, and I felt overwhelmed. My body was shaking uncontrollably, something that I had been a little skeptical about when I first started viewing IHOP (When the Spirit hits someone, sometimes their body jerks and shakes in uncontrollable ways. This was something I was uncomfortable with.). But as I was there, I kept praying, “God, okay, I believe. I’m sorry I ever doubted that this was You. I’m sorry I kept thinking that You had to be a certain way. Help me to break down all of these walls.”

After a while, my body began to hurt so badly that I wondered if I could get up if I tried. I began to cry out to God, “God, I’m weak! I’m weak! Help me! Fill me with Your Spirit because I am not strong enough to do anything! Give me Your Spirit so that I can interpret tongues. You can use me, God!” My body was fighting the pain, but then the verse Exodus 14:14 came to mind: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” So for the next several minutes, I held as still as I could, facedown on the ground. I continued to pray to God.

After a little while longer, I began to sing softly a few lines from a song, “If You can use anything, Lord, You can use me. If You can use anything, Lord, You can use me. Take my hands, Lord, and my feet, everything, Lord, speak through me. If You can use anything, Lord, You can use me.”

Then, finally, a little after that I felt at peace, even though God had not affirmed that I would get the gift in the way that I thought (or any way at all at this point). I sat up and continued to pray a little more. I prayed more for the gift to interpret tongues, then got up and went to my seat, where I began to cry. After Elizabeth and I went to the restroom, we came back and I had this feeling that I needed to check my phone. I got a text from my friend with a Bible verse in it. I scrolled down and all I saw was “Corinthians 12:9-10,” and I just assumed she meant 1 Corinthians. So I turned in the Bible to that passage, which speaks about spiritual gifts, and says, “to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking different kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.” As I read this, I began to laugh out loud. I showed Aaron the passage and explained what I had been praying for, then showed him the text. That’s when I noticed that when I scrolled up, there was actually a 2 in front of Corinthians. God kept me from seeing it the first time!

But Aaron said to look at the other passage, since it could also have something for me concerning my prayers for the night. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” When I read this, I was even more amazed. This passage talked about how my weakness is covered by God’s strength, which is something that I spent a lot of the time praying about.

I was content to keep this as my affirmation that God was giving me the power to interpret tongues. But as we were walking out of the sanctuary, a woman came and stopped me and said, “God wanted me to talk to you and tell you that you were given a key tonight. I don’t know if that means anything to you; it doesn’t make much sense to me.” My eyes got wide and I hugged the woman and thanked her. I told her it meant so much to me, and it does. God has given me the spiritual gift to interpret tongues. So after three hours of praying facedown on the floor, I now know that God has given me that gift. I will not waste what He has given me!