As a born-again believer, have you ever tried to explain your experience with YHVH to a non-believer? Have you been met with doubt and misunderstanding or even ridicule? We can tell others of our experience, but we cannot transfer our experience to another person. No one else can truly experience what another has experienced. They can hear and try to put themselves into the other person’s place, but it isn’t the same thing. They will not truly understand what Yeshua has done for them until they experience His love, forgiveness, and presence for themselves.
At the time I asked forgiveness for my sins and invited Yeshua to be Lord of my life, I was only vaguely aware that I needed Him. It was only after I experienced Him personally that I began to get a glimpse of just how much I needed Him. Through an ongoing relationship with Yeshua for the past 30+ years, I have realized on ever deeper levels just how much I need Him and how much He has done for me. I have learned to love, appreciate, respect, adore, obey and trust my beloved Shepherd. There have been changes in my behavior and attitude that may be perceived by others, but the actual work inside my heart is invisible to others.
When I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, there were outward signs of speaking in tongues and other gifts of the Holy Spirit. The inside work, however, was much more significant. The Holy Spirit worked with me to show me areas where I needed to change and grow, so that I would not be merely a noisy gong as I used the precious gifts I had received. Also, the Spirit emboldened me to step out in faith and take risks in order to work in YHVH’s harvest.
If you have experienced baptism in the Holy Spirit, then you probably understand how difficult it is to convey to others how important it is that they take this step. Many people are satisfied with salvation in Yeshua and are content to have a foot in the door to the Kingdom of Heaven. We are empowered and equipped by the Holy Spirit in order to develop into harvest workers and soldiers in YHVH’s kingdom. It is not enough to remain spiritual babies any more than we should expect to be human babies forever.
Those of us who have experienced baptism in the Holy Spirit understand what a wonderful gift we have been given, but how do we convey that wonder to others? We cannot convince others by speaking to the intellect. We must speak to the heart and challenge the person to try it for themselves.
The greatest difficulty I have faced is convincing born-again believers of their need for deliverance. Many believe that once they have been saved, they do not have to worry too much about the enemy. It is true that Satan had hold of me before I became a born-again believer. He lost control in some areas of my heart after I accepted salvation, but he still had a foothold in areas that I had not yet yielded to YHVH. When I went through prophetic deliverance, I became aware of just how much influence demons still had on me. For one thing, they had clouded my perception of truth. I am now able to see more clearly how demons operate to influence and manipulate us. Now that I better understand how the enemy functions, I have been able to incorporate more effective combat strategies into my spiritual warfare. The greatest discovery for me has been insight into distinguishing the precious person YHVH created from the demon(s) who are working within the person to steal, kill, and destroy in many ways. However, these experiences and insights are particularly difficult to explain to others.
The best way I can describe it is to ask you to imagine that someone dear to you is being used and manipulated by another person. Wouldn’t you do everything you could to assist that person in getting free? What if the person rejected your every effort and refused to believe that you might have a solution to the problem? What if that person accused you of judging them or criticizing them for getting themselves into such a situation? I experience the same anguish and frustration when I see a demon holding someone I love in bondage. I see the torment that person endures while unwittingly cooperating with the enemy.
If you have not yet repented of your sins and asked Yeshua to be Lord of your life, then I challenge you to try it for yourself. If you have not yet sought the baptism that only Yeshua can offer, then I challenge you to ask Yeshua for this precious gift. If you have not yet sought deliverance so that you can be free from any remaining bondage to Satan, then I challenge you to ask Yeshua to guide you. Yeshua came to set the captives free. The Hebrew name Yeshua means both salvation and deliverance. We need everything that Yeshua offers to us. Don’t take my word for it. Try it for yourself.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezek. 36:26-27 NIV).
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