Conversations With GodSample

When God is ready to move in our lives, revelation unfolds in days—even moments, and we can pass into places of faith and practice that were completely foreign to us before. This is the testimony of this type of spiritual awakening in my life.

It all began when I heard that God’s people are called to have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. I had read about the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, operated a little in His gifts, enjoyed His presence, and produced some of His fruit but I didn’t know Him. How I had missed the relational part of life in the Spirit, I don’t know. I desperately wanted to know the Holy Spirit as God with me. But how could a mother of three young children find time and strength to go deep with God without interruption?

I ended up arranging a nook in the garage with study materials, a chair, and an unused desk, and then set the alarm clock for 4:30 a.m., yes, 4:30 a.m.! I was that spiritually hungry. 

When the belligerent alarm announced it was time to get up, I barked myself a stern mental lecture about the importance of my quest until I was able to throw back the covers. The dreary garage was not a reward for the effort. Inevitably, I found myself sealed inside with a persistent mosquito. My eyes were so bleary that they barely focused. I had arrived, but what next? How does one know the Spirit of the Lord anyway? 

By default I began with singing and reading the Bible aloud as this was the best way to stay awake, but after several months I passed into the joy of the discipline. I learned to depend on the Holy Spirit to reveal the thoughts and intents of my Father and pray into what He revealed. The scriptures came alive with the Holy Spirit to guide me. Prayer took on the boldness—and the Lord answered my prayers. 

In the miserable initial struggle, I was almost tempted to forsake the goal. But when I obeyed the Spirit’s strong, persistent call to come away with Him and know Him for myself, He was able to teach me to love Him as a Person. Now I know from experience that we were created for an intimate love relationship with the Holy Spirit. He initiates all conversational prayer.