"On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability." 

Acts 2:1-4

I was 20, a new Christian and new to being around Christians. I honestly found them like discovering a family I never knew I had. Being around this new community was like a homecoming . I felt relaxed and secure rather than anxious and in need of impressing everyone. A genuinely peaceful atmosphere seemed to be drawn out of the relationships and natural conversation.

This relational environment became a foundation of trust that kept me at ease during times of prayer, which were very unfamiliar to me. I grew up in a church context where prayer was a predominantly private and a highly structured affair. Anything else would seem out of my comfort zone.

So, when the leader of a meeting of 20 or so student leaders said “let’s just all pray out at once” and everyone did, I was taken aback! It was like a rushing wind entered the room as my peers burst into prayer. The breath of God in the lungs of man, prayed as one, out loud and in an unknown tongue.

The reality of the scripture was experienced, “Everyone present was filled with Holy Spirit and spoke in other languages.”

I was captivated by the mystery, the energy, the life and passion in the room. I didn’t know this at the time, but God joined with his children, his children partnered with His Spirit to pray their heavenly father’s will on earth as it is in heaven. The prayers lasted a few minutes, but the desire for a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit lasted much longer.

The experience led me to a new prayer “ask, seek and knock” (Matthew 7) in the weeks ahead and the response was dramatic and long lasting. Look out for part two next week about this experience of “asking, seeking and knocking”.

Join us at Firebrands on August 30th-September 2nd as we as trust God to ignite a gathering of students and leaders to be firebrands.