IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

Our conservative Bible Church has been in a teaching series emphasizing the power of the Holy Spirit. So I thought I would share some of my own experiences where the Holy Spirit gave me supernatural power to complete the work that God orchestrated for me to do to glorify Him.

First, for much of the last decade my wife Jennifer and I have come to expect the Holy Spirit to work supernaturally through our lives and especially through my work and global travels. When it happens in undeniable ways, we just laugh and say, “what’d you expect.” 

In December 2018, I arrived in Dubai to speak at an 8 nation conference for project managers. To this day, I don’t know why the government of Dubai invited me and paid over $15,000 for me to travel there to speak. I arrived the night before I was to speak after 23 hours of travel. I was tired. I knew the only way I would make it through my speech was if the Holy Spirit supernaturally gave me strength. He did and I had a wonderful time speaking to and meeting people from 8 countries. 

I learned a year later why God orchestrated that event. The young man from Dubai who handled my travel arrangements turned out to be the son of a Christian preacher. The young man had fallen away from his father’s faith. When I learned this, I let him know that I was convinced God orchestrated our meeting for me to help him find his way back to God.

So I asked the Holy Spirit to speak to him through me as I composed an email to him. He said he read my letter explaining how much God loved him and wanted him back. He said he actually read it several times and solemnly contemplated the words. No one had ever said those kinds of things to him before. He could tell I was a man who loved God. He wasn’t ready to jump back into the Fathers arms. But, I’m convinced God isn’t through using me to speak to him. 

A few months later, I landed in Pune India after a 28 hour flight. Not even 8 hours later, I was being introduced as the instructor and agile coach to a group of Indian technical professionals. That morning, I was so exhausted from flying I almost couldn’t walk. I was so tired I was having trouble remembering the material I would be teaching. As I was being introduced I silently stood by praying for the Holy Spirit to give me power to teach and to love my students through my teaching.

Immediately, I got a rush of energy and began teaching with more enthusiasm than ever. When it was time for me to tell the class how I would coach them over the next few weeks, the words that came out were, “over the next few weeks, I’m going to love you through this transformation.” I’m sure the Indian folks didn’t know what to think because they are used to arrogant Americans treating them like they are indentured servants. 

The Holy Sport did take over and I taught several classes and about 120 people over the next 36 hours.

After the first night the vice president of operations for the Indian group informed the people in the United States who hired me that they had received the best training they’ve ever had. Over the next 6 weeks, I got to know some special new friends in India and shared Jesus with six young Hindu men. 

Last Friday, I had a similar experience while teaching here in Kansas City. I was scheduled to teach Friday morning. For some reason, I woke up at 2:00 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. When I arrived at the door of the company where I was to teach, I was so tired, I had to prop myself up while waiting for someone to unlock the door. So I prayed to the Holy Spirit and said, “your going to need to teach today. How about you love these people the way you loved those people in India.”

A few minutes later, the guy who hired me to teach let me in the door and sat me down to brief me before I started to teach. He said, “I got to tell you these people are not anxious to be in training and hear what you have to say.” 

But, he didn’t know I came equipped will an unfair advantage. As followers of Jesus, we have an unfair advantage. We are indwelled with the Holy Spirit of God whose purpose is to counsel us and empower us to live beyond our natural self to glorify God.

The Holy Spirit gave me another supernatural training session. At the end of the day, the students said they didn’t expect to be convinced to try the methods I taught them. But I had convinced them that these new ways could work for them. The Spirit of God gave me confident humility to teach them in a way that won them over. I taught with confidence and humility. It was exhilarating.

One final example of the Holy Spirit’s immediate power taking action while I was training came while I was teaching in Dublin Ireland. In the middle of my training, while the students were working on an exercise, I started having a massive leg cramp and could not walk. I texted my wife who was in the United States and asked her for immediate prayer. She lifted me up in prayer on the other side of the globe and responded to my text. Within seconds, my leg cramp went away and I was able to resume my teaching even better than before the uncomfortable experience began.

I don’t know how unbelievers can deny the Spirit of God. I don’t know why followers of Jesus quench the Holy Spirit. There is so much power available for us to go beyond ourselves when we embrace the Spirit of God living inside of a true follower of Jesus. I encourage all followers of Jesus to make it their life’s mission to harness the power of God and live supernaturally through him to bring glory to God the Father through the power of God the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus the Son of God.