There is much discussion about the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

If I might ask those of you who believe in this inspiration some
questions.

PLEASE, NO BIBLE VERSES. It is not meant to be that kind of topic.
What I would like is your personal opinion, either by your experience
of, or by thought, but not using any bible verses. Also, because I
have asked these personal questions, I WOULD ASK FOR COMPLETE RESPECT
FROM EVERYONE. Thank-you all!

When you felt the Holy Spirit inspired you, how did it happen?
Did you hear a voice, have a dream, read some obsure signs that would
have been missed were it not for this inspiration? Did you feel led or
compelled to do something, Or do you just believe you were under holy
inspiration because what you chose to do ended up good for you?

How do you KNOW it was devine inspiration, is it just faith tht leads
you to believe?

Well, I really can't give you the example I want to give without using
Bible verses. Basically, it was a scripture that almost caused me to
lose my faith, because I believed a false interpretation. Without help
from the Holy Spirit at the right time, I wouldn't be a Christian right
now.

Spider my situation is similar except for it was a group of people and
their church beliefs that almost caused me to miss God's message. They
emphasized certain things more so than the gospel of Christ like...

speaking in tongues
water baptism itself, alone will save you rather than Christ's
sacrifice.

If it weren't for my spiritual guide, which is the Holy Spirit I would
have been lost!

Mrs. Red:

It's hard to explain, but I guess that the Holy spirit shows up when I'm
falling apart overcomre by all the preasures in my daily life. And
suddenly i feel revitalized, and I keep going just like energizer.

TLW

The Legend of the Dreamcatcher


"A spider was quietly spinning his web in his own space. It was beside
the sleeping space of Nokomis, the grandmother.

Each day, Nokomis watched the spider at work, quietly spinning away.
One day as she was watching him, her grandson came in. "Nokomis-iya!"
he shouted, glancing at the spider. He stomped over to the spider,
picked up a shoe and went to hit it.

"No-keegwa," the old lady whispered, "don't hurt him."

"Nokomis, why do you protect the spider?" asked the little boy. The old
lady smiled, but did not answer.

When the boy left, the spider went to the old woman and thanked her for
saving his life. He said to her, "For many days you have watched me
spin and weave my web. You have admired my work. In return for saving
my life, I will give you a gift."

He smiled his special spider smile and moved away, spinning as he went.
Soon the moon glistened on a magical silvery web moving gently in the
window. "See how I spin?" he said. "See and learn, for each web will
snare bad dreams. Only good dreams will go through the small hole.
This is my gift to you. Use it so that only good dreams will be
remembered. The bad dreams will become hopelessly entangled in the
web."

That's a true story, Nokomis and me go way back.

Ok, thanks, I appreciate your trying. But you seem to be saying that
the Holy Spirit led you to certain Christian beliefs, how do you know,
that. Did you just suddenly feel it was right. Also, I was of the
understanding, from another thread, that one had to be saved before the
H.S. could lead them. So now I'm confused.

More please.

The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
based on the legends of the Ojibway Indians.

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

Redykeulous,

To get saved, one needs to seek the truth. If one seeks the truth with
zeal and a true and open desire to know the truth, God will reveal the
truth and himself to them. Once one accepts Jesus as their savior,
then they receive the Holy Spirit.

This incident occured after I was saved, but when I was still a baby in
Christ. I encountered a doctrine known as Calvinism and someone who was
well versed in the their doctrine. He showed me a scripture that was
too hard for me to understand and what he taught made sense. I reject
the whole idea of Calvinism, so I thought "If he's right, I can't be a
Christian". So I prayed and laid it out before God and the
understanding came to me almost instantly.

Mrs. Red:
I don't think u need to be saved so u can feel the HS.
The HS it's an universal force, as Abra describes it, which makes human
beings move towards God, and overcome hard times.

TLW

Discernment of spirits" is listed as a gift of the Holy Spirit The use
of the plural "spirits" here raises a question: Are we seeking to
discern one Spirit or to distinguish between many different spirits?
Whether we talk about spirit (singular) or spirits (plural) may also
indicate the difference between a philosophical approach and popular
religion. Furthermore, the language of “spirits” may be used with widely
differing reference. However, it may be useful to think that, in the
course of mission, we encounter many diverse spirits and powers in the
world, whether we regard these as supernatural entities or natural
forces, or simply use this language as a metaphor for socio-economic
powers. We need the Holy Spirit to discern these spirits. We need the
Spirit of wisdom to distinguish good from evil, and to know with whom to
work and what to fight against. We can have confidence that, however
powerful and threatening they may be, all "thrones", "dominions",
"rulers", and "powers" are only creatures of God and, at the end, will
be reconciled in Christ On the other hand, it may be that those who are
not against us are for us. At the very least, we may need give them the
benefit of the doubt, and perhaps even cooperate with them for specific
purposes. In showing hospitality to strangers, we may be entertaining
angels without knowing it. There are good as well as bad forces at work.
A mission theology of the Holy Spirit should allow us to appreciate
creativity and love wherever it is found and affirm whatever is true,
honorable, just, pure, pleasing, and commendable.

The Holy spirit entered into my life through an illness, then through my
heart. Teaching me rights from wrongs. Teaching me to love and making it
impossible to hate. There became a wanting to do good, and be right
among my fellows. My life gave way to a calmness and a yearning for
knowledge of that which I cannot see or hear, but do feel. There came a
path of light for me, an understanding of something I knew nothing
about. An awareness to which I now know as Gods work in me.

I am focussing on the Spirit’s role as healer and reconciler. Both these
encourage a comprehensive understanding of the Holy Spirit. For many
"spiritual" has to do with meditation, contemplation, and other
religious practices and techniques. For others, the Spirit primarily
drives action for social transformation and development. In Christian
healing, we learn to hold both these aspects of the Spirit’s work –
presence and activity – together. Moreover, in reconciliation work, we
balance truth-telling with listening, justice with peace because the
Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and also the Spirit of love. In practice,
healing and reconciliation each link the creative and redemptive roles
of the Spirit together, as we see God at work by the Spirit to bring
well-being and joy in our hearts, in our minds,in the church, and in the
world.

Kat

When you felt the Holy Spirit inspired you, how did it happen?
I had been on a pink cloud while being in the halfway house. I had
detoxed physically from mind-altering chemicals but still had trouble
saying that I am Roy and I am an addict and an alcoholic. I was still in
denial though and I mumbled it out.
Did you hear a voice, have a dream, read some obsure signs that would
have been missed were it not for this inspiration?
It was a memory of an obscure sign that helped me to get past the
relapse. I remembered the picture of the skull and crossbones in the
Metro AA group in Wichita, Kansas. I remembered how depressed the man
looked holding the glass and the picture portrayed utter hopelessness to
me. From an old bottle of poison I had encountered the same skull and
crossbones.
Did you feel led or compelled to do something, Or do you just believe
you were under holy inspiration because what you chose to do ended up
good for you?
As soon as my mind made the connection that the glass in my hands had
poison in it I immediatedly through it to concrete shattering the glass
and contents. The same friend who offered me the beer before and who
knew I was an addict and alcoholic had given me the glass of whiskey. My
mind raced. This was not my friend. I ran away from him as fast as I
could.
How do you KNOW it was devine inspiration, is it just faith that leads
you to believe?
I know it because friends don't treat you like that. As my sponsor told
me, "Let us be friendly with our friends." Belief didn't have to have
anything to do with it.

Well when I first came to Frederick Md. to get my book published.
I was homeless and in the word more than I am now.
Well I went to the newspaper here to get a review of the book
that was being published.
The woman reporter told me that she loved my poems, that I was very
talented.
She wanted to help me to have a place to live.
Maybe have a sponser to help me out.
So I was tested 2 weeks by this guy whom first of he wanted to help me
sell my foodstamps.
then there were several other things that were not on the up and up.
Each time I pray to God to do something because I did not want to get
into it with the guy, yet I did not want to do anything wrong either.
Each time something happen so that I got out of the situration without a
agrument, the Holy Spirit gave me peace too.
The test were pass and the article about me was powerful one.
Thanks to Jesus forever being faithful one.
She basisally put my testimony in a newspaper of a city over 100
thousand people.

These are stories of very human quality. These stories define the
people behind the words. What's more, telling these stories validates
you, your life and affects, events in your life had, to make you - you.

I like this kind of 'getting to know you' interaction. I'd like to hear
from others who regularly post to this forum too. Near the end, perhaps
I'll share one of my experiences, though I wouldn't want to end a great
chat by leaving any ambiguity. So I'll think about it.

To me it happened in early childhood when being out in the woods,
a sense of completeness, of belonging and being a part of it, even
though it is only a very small part.

you r full of wisdom andrea

Thank you Miguel, but I don't think it's wisdom.

I do believe that as children, unfettered by religion or other
influences, we are far more open to these feelings, and the younger we
are then, the deeper the feeling goes.
And it is something you can hold on to.

Ok, this is far enough down on the list, think I'll enter my story here
now.

I was taken to church, to Sunday school from the time I was 4 and
finally at 11 confirmation classes, I was confirmed at 13.

I had qustions that no one seemed to be able to answer logically or
completely enough for me - so:

I bagan questioning all the different Christian religions by age 10.
Churches, Saturday and Sunday schools, Bible studies, whoever would take
me, who ever would talk with me, whatever I could learn.

All these experiences left me with one big problem. I seemed to be the
only one who didn't get it. I seemed to be the only one who never
'heard from God'. While others all around me for years told me the
kinds of stories presented here, I never once felt what they said they
felt. I never once felt 'connected' as they say they did, and I never
had any feeling telling me that any of the doctines I was being told or
taught was that light bulb going on.

Now during these years there was a lot going on in my life which was
part of the reason I felt this need to find the one true religion. It
seemed every part of my life was becoming one frustration after another.
I continued to pray, continued to read the Bible and continued my
reseach.

About the age of 16 I began this nightly ritual. I was always a night
owl, never needed a lot of sleep. So I lay awake and prayed. All I
asked for was to be allowed to serve God, to be made pliable to be
shaped and molded to God's will and to know the joy and peace that
everyone always talked about.

Finally after about 2 years I stopped praying. I had learned so much.
My studies crossed over Christianity to many other religions and into
history. I became an agnostic, so I thought.

Being agnostic was just exchanging one yoke for another. I could never
find peace. Could not understand why I could never feel what others
related to me.

And then one day a conversation with my mother. Innocent mother,
daughter chat. We were in the car, I was driving, I was about 23.
Couldn't tell you how it got brought it up as my mother and I rarely
ever discussed religion, but there we were.

I think I meantioned some doctrine a friend followed. My mom, said,
well that's not what you were taught. AND SUDDENLY there was this light
that felt warm inside me. Suddenly there was this clarity of thoughts,
a meeting of the mind and spirit, as you seem to call it.

I was smiling when I told my mom, I don't believe what I was taught. I
don't believe Jesus is the messiah, I don't even believe there is a God.
AND THERE IT WAS THE TRUTH AT LAST.
I suddenly felt relieved of this horrible burden. This thing, just one
of the many things I had always perceived as making me different, this
never ending search suddenly had an answer.

My mom said, Of course you believe, and for goodness sake, what would it
hurt you to believe? After all, what if its all true?

That was it, that was the hypocracy I had been holding onto for so long.
That is what was the cause of so much of my frustration, my
disappointment in myself.

That day, I HONESTLY, believe I felt, I understood, what it was that
others felt, when they gained their believe for the first time. A
burden was definately lifted from my shoulders that day and I have never
returned to that dark place of confusion, frustration, inadequecy and
incompetance again. There was nothing wrong with me, except that others
had stifled my most powerful attribute, the awareness of my creative and
logical powers, to create, me.

Hi Red!

I dont think there is such a thing as the "holy spirit". To me, if the
will of God is in motion, I might recognize *that* as a "holy spirit",
but, for me, it doesnt work.

-Mike

My first experiance with something other than normal.

I was a child. I was sick. I could not go to school as the other
children my age were doing. For a year I had no companions except one.

When I found out I was sick I went walked out to my favorite place in my
desert (we had miles and miles of desert in front of my house) and there
I promised God I would do his will if he would make me better.

A man came to me and talked to me out there. For those of you that
believe only in science according to a phycologists he was a projection
of my own mind caused by loneliness (what crock I was never lonely just
sick). When he came to me there was allways a feeling as if a breeze
was blowing but no wind was present and the smell of jasmine and honey.

He was my teacher for a whole year. My state did provide me with a home
teacher but she came in a motor home twice a week and taught the things
of man (i.e reading writing and math). He taught me other things.
Things that I needed to do. I am doing them.

After that I was well enough to go to school with the other children and
have never seen him since. But the breeze is still with me.