"I needed the Holy Spirit's annointing in and over my life."
The summer after I graduated from high school, I was flying to Australia with my friends Derrick Scott and Chris Birch to go to the Hillsong Conference. I will admit, I was mainly going to see Australia and be led in worship by Hillsong Church! I wasn’t sure what else I was going to get out of the conference, after all, the worship was only a small part of it. But each session was filled with amazing worship and teaching from leaders from all over the world. Each breakout session was about spiritual leadership and worship leading, and I was quickly being filled to the brim spiritually and intellectually from all of these amazing leaders.
Even still, I was feeling this sense of emptiness and ambiguity about my future and calling for my life.
As I said earlier, I had just graduated high school. I felt behind all of my friends who seemingly had their lives planned out and knew what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives, and I wanted to catch up. I knew I was going to UNF, but I felt like an outcast because I had no intended major. So my daily prayer for 2 weeks while in Australia was to ask God for an answer to my calling/purpose for my life.
Suddenly it was the last night of Hillsong Conference; we had been in Australia for 2 long weeks and I still had no sense of knowing what my calling was going to be when I returned home. I felt like I was doing everything “right” by giving my whole future to God and laying it at His feet, but still… nothing. The last speaker for the conference was Reinhard Bonnke; Founder and President of Christ for All Nations and the title of his message was Releasing the Fire Within. He had a very strong accent which made him semi-difficult to understand, but you could tell he spoke with passion and that “fire within” (pun intended).
This sermon, oddly enough, was about the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) and preaching the gospel with the fire within us. He spoke about how we are all created by God, the Creator, and our flames are unique and bear our name and no one else’s. This message was hitting me hard. This is exactly what I had been praying for; that I would find my way in Christ and not worry about what everybody else was doing around me. I needed the Holy Spirit’s anointing in and over my life.
During the closing prayer and song I stayed seated in a posture of prayer, and I prayed for the Holy Spirit fire to rise up within me and anoint me and send me out to do the work of the Lord. In that prayer is when I heard the voice of the Spirit say, “Youth Ministry!” I listened to that voice, and that Youth Ministry calling has led me to today, as I begin my thirteenth year of youth ministry. Not only have I continued to hear God speak to me, I have had the opportunity to help students learn and hear God’s voice for themselves. I am so grateful and humbled to be used by the Spirit each and every day of my life, and that I get to continue this calling at CrossRoad Church.
Questions to dig deeper:
Have you asked for the Holy Spirit to anoint you in a certain area of your life?
Do you believe that the Holy Spirit can speak through you? Why or why not?
Would you pray this prayer: “Holy Spirit come. Rise up within me and send me out to do the work that you have called me to. Give me fresh compassion for those around me, so that I might help them learn and hear Your voice for themselves. Thank you for inviting me to be part of Your plan for reconciliation. Amen”
