ravindran

The power of devil goes as far as we believe his lies and deceptions. He can say anything he wants. What matters is whether you are going to fall for those lies or not. Even if he really cursed it, all curses are broken at the Cross.

As others have pointed out, fruits of the Spirit are different from gifts of the Spirit. Fruits are byproducts of abiding in Him. The more we empty ourselves and allow Lord to fill with His Spirit, the more fruits we will produce. I think it would be a slow, gradual process that comes with exercising faith on a daily basis. Lot of time on Scripture, lot of time in prayers, lot of time listening in Christian fellowship and so on. Just like how slowly a fruit comes out. Needs lots of nurturing, water, nutrients, etc. The most important thing is abiding in Him. A branch cut off from the vine will not produce fruit. A person cut off from Christ will not produce fruits. There is no secret formula for this I guess. Just patiently seeking God in everything on a daily basis!

A person does not go to hell for listening to a song. Going to hell or heaven is not in the hands of rappers. A person would go to hell only is he/she did not believe in Jesus Christ, the Cross (that He died for our sins) and resurrection. Any person who believes all this WILL go to heaven. No rapper can stop that. John 3:16 New International Version (NIV) 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

A very well written and balanced view on this! Appreciate you taking time to write about you. I have highlighted a specific portion and I am in complete agreement with this. Based on my study of scripture, I believe this empowerment is for things such as ministry and being a witness for His name. I don't believe this empowerment would mean spiritual transformation. That takes time. Reading Scripture, prayers, etc are much needed for those. The empowerment would act as a catalyst and prompt a person to seek the transformation more. But that is not the primary driver. This is what I believe based on my study of Scripture.

Just pray to God and be bold. Do not be afraid to share your testimony. At the same time, remember you are only sharing your experience. Don't try to make them believe you. That's not going to help. Just convey what you have to and leave it there

I appreciate your concern! (and I truly mean that). The experience is new for me and not the subject. This is something I have studied for so many years. Of course, studied through Scripture

Someone explained to me in terms of driving car. Jesus is Savior means allowing Jesus inside the car and still holding on to the car. We will eventually reach destination because Jesus is there to give directions. But we would make lot of wrong turns and mistakes still car is under our control. Jesus is Lord means giving Him the steering wheel. And allowing Him to steer the car in whatever direction He wants and trusting Him in everything.

Great question! One of the key explanation for the term worship is 'adoration'. For me worship involves many and some of them are - reading Word of God, praising Him in prayers and songs, following His commands, giving testimony of His goodness to others, giving my time to Lord (helping others or helping at Church), financial givings.

yes, I was not disturbing the entire Church service by speaking out loud. I was speaking in tongues privately during worship service without distracting anyone else.

This is what pastors told me when I explained my experience. It makes sense. I think belly is the closest word. But it is not literal belly. It is like from the core of the body. Innermost and central part of body. Probably belly explains that literally in closest way.

It is completely false to say that a person is not saved if they don't speak in tongues. that's completely false. The common AG belief is that Baptism of Holy Spirit is something that is separate from regeneration. For some it could all happen together. And speaking in tongues is the outward sign of being baptised in HS. It is nothing to do with salvation

What are your answers to these questions? I will leave out the general questions. Because you can search through the forum and find lot of answers on those. As I said before, I did not start this thread to debate on this topic So, how has this new experience changed or increased your walk with the Lord? - It has been just a week. One thing I do feel in my personal prayers is more devoted praise and worship. I am not distracted much. I am enjoying praying and not just going through the motions. What have you learned? Are you different? Closer to God? - When I speak in tongues, I do feel closer to God and connected to God. Was the experience a feeling? Mental or physical? - It's hard to say. It is not like I have lost senses. I am well aware of everything going on. Yesterday I was raising hands in worship. But still not distracted by anything going around. What is different when you get 'baptized' with/in the spirit? - I explained how I felt in my OP. Are you feeling better equipped to deal with your life now? - I don't know Do you have an interpreter when you speak in tongues? - No, it was not in a Church. And on both occasions, it was just me praying and not declaring any prophecy/ Does the interpreter give the same meaning that you had when speaking? - No

I have read this story before and can keep reading it again and again. My wife had miscarriage few years back. I had lot of questions and went to Church. Heard this song and broke down completely! It was amazing that God reminded me He is always with me and it was well with my soul. And a couple of months back my wife had another miscarriage. Same questions came and even more. The same song was played during Sunday service. I broke down again! God reminded me and gave me the same answer. Lord has blessed me with 3 beautiful children. God used this song to minister to me in the midst of storm.

So, we have moved to a new house and a week back we had invited one of the pastors we know to our house. Just to spend some time us and bless the new house. He stayed overnight and we were planning to do some prayer in the evening. He is such a humble and wonderful person full of wisdom! He is a pentecostal Pastor and always encourages me and my wife to seek Baptism of Holy Spirit. I have held different positions about speaking in tongues. Generally I have always believed speaking in tongues is for today. But my position was that it was not "essential". I never prayed for it too much. In my Church, a series on Spirit Empowered Life has been going on from beginning of the year (and this week they started a new series). Wonder about the timing!! The Pastor was actually fasting that day and wanted to pray with us for us to receive baptism of HS. He talked about it for a while and we started praying. I prayed. Then I slowly set aside my doubts and prayed to God that He would simply touch me and fill me. If that means speaking in tongues, then let it happen. This went on for a while. Then I thought Pastor would stop and stay keep asking the Lord and some other day it would happen. Nope, he would not stop! We kept on praying and finally my wife started speaking in tongues. That's when my prayers became serious!! I was in tears, just praising God and asking Him to fill me. Then the Pastor was moved by HS and he layed his hands on my head. On that instant, I felt like something gushing out of me. I started crying and speaking in tongues. It felt liberating. It felt like water breaking out of dam. It felt like everything came out of the core of the body or close to belly. That's the best way I can describe! I was speaking in tongues for a while and eventually we stopped. Yesterday during worship service at Church, once again I spoke in tongues for a while. May be for 1 or 2 songs. It is amazing! Clearly I could feel connected to God than normal praise and worship. It feels like there is zero distraction. No other thoughts in mind. And there is a calmness and peace at that time. And plenty of crying! I am so thankful and grateful to Lord that He would chose a sinner like me to show His goodness. I am not posting this up for debate on whether tongues is for today or question my experience. I am sharing this more as a testimony. As for my position about Baptism of Holy Spirit, I can personally testify that speaking in tongues is for today. Is Baptism of Holy Spirit is a second experience after being saved? This is the case for me. May be that's the way it is or may be that's the way it was for me because of my unbelief and not seeking it before. I don't know. If you are in my boat, set aside your doubts and seek Him. Just seek Him.

I think this is pretty true. Friends definitely influence our spiritual lives. Bad friendship could suck time out which could be better spent. I think this is also very important when you have little kids. Kids easily get influenced. While we cannot control who they develop friendship with, we should try to put them in situation of good influence as much as possible.

There is nothing like a spiritual job. Serving God is different from doing work for living. Actually you can work in media department of some ministry. And they will pay you salary. It is not serving God. You could be doing the same thing for a secular organization. They are both jobs paying you money. As long as the job is not something morally against God's standards, it is okay. Jesus was carpenter. Paul made tents for living. Luke was doctor. These are not spiritual jobs. Just jobs done by unbelievers as well. They probably dealt with many unbelievers. Means nothing. Spreading Gospel, helping others in need, etc have nothing to do with you job. Be thankful that God has blessed you with a job and seek Him to understand what He wants to do for Him outside of your job

Bible does not make any distinction between joy and happiness. I know lot of people say joy is permanent, happiness is temporary and on and on. But Bible simply does not teach that. And personally I don't think a person can be joyful and be not happy! May be there is a slightly different meaning to the words. But I think they co-exist.

This might be foreign to western culture. But Bible talks about unequally yoked w.r.t marriage. And not relationship or living together. Just seeing each other or living together is not counted as anything in Bible. If you both are not married, then you are not a couple in God's eyes. You can very well leave him and pray for God to show guidance. If you are already married, then Bible does not say that you should leave your spouse just because he/she is not a believer. It only talks about "before marriage" situation

Sounds like they want to explain "Sin" as biological and come up with solutions which will never work. Below is from their website. Can't believe people will fall for this. People understand human depravity. And they don't want to call that sin. And they want to come up with their own solutions when Jesus paid it all for in the Cross. What’s the solution? ONLY the redeeming, reconciling and transforming biological explanation of our troubled human condition can save us. And it is precisely that understanding, and its now desperately needed transformation of our lives, that the World Transformation Movement presents in biologist Jeremy Griffith’s book FREEDOM.

We will attend Church on Friday and then on Sunday. No Easter eggs here. I don't mind if something is organized at Church and kids join that. They do it with good intentions. I see no connection with resurrection of Jesus. We will probably do some family devotions on what it means personally for us on resurrection of Jesus.

One of the things I always asked myself in this topic is - what exactly works mean? I understand it means good deeds. There are lot of unbelievers who do amazing charity work. Amazing deeds. I personally know many unbelievers who do deeds much better than me. Below verse from Hebrews is key to understand this. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Without faith, good deeds are not going to be pleasing to God. When we talk about good deeds, there is an external and internal thing. Externally they comply with God's will and may look to please God. But only God knows what's going on in their heart. Is that being done to bring glory to God? When a person is saved, this should come automatically. A person should do things to bring glory to God and please God. If not, there is something in saying that the person is saved. Works come after saving faith. I think Bible is very clear. What James says in chapter 2 is that faith does not come alone. Faith should always be followed by works. If faith is that a person has with no works, then that is not true saving faith. Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

While you certainly you need to pray for this situation and read Bible, you should also seek medical assistance. It sounds more like something that could be addressed medically. This is a sensitive topic and I understand that. By studying entire Bible and all demonic encounters, we get a good idea on how to differentiate demonic activity vs mental issues. I see this thread is not a place to debate on that. So I would rather keep quiet on that and just encourage you to seek medical assistance. And find believers who are willing to pray with you and be with you on this journey. Do not be discourage. If you have confessed your sins and accepted as Jesus as Lord and Savior, no demon or devil can have absolute power over you. You are a child of God. Your life is in God's hand. No demon can take that away from you.

I am not sure if I understand the intent of your post. I still do not see whether you addressed the question on why Jesus came, when He came.

I think this is very cultural as well. I come from India. And now I live in US. What is normal marital age is totally different in these 2 countries! But doctors do suggest better childbearing age. I believe it's late 20's to early 30's. Assuming a person would be interested in having children after marriage, may be that's a good benchmark to consider? All said, an ideal age for marriage is when God brings the person the right partner!

Interesting question. Bible does say that Jesus came in "fullness of time". Per God, it was the most appropriate time. I think lot of people explain it from a perspective that the world was better connected. Travel was easy. Roman empire was so vast and large that pretty much they were under total control. Spiritually Israel expected their Messiah anytime. We can come up with many factors. But there is no decisive answer. Scripture is silent. What we know is, it was indeed the perfect time. Because God choose it!