This stage of my life lasted for approximately nine months. I kept praying and seeking the Lord to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. I knew it was the Holy Spirit I needed but I couldn’t seem to find Him for myself. I kept on asking and asking to be filled with the Spirit and also to have the gift of tongues which I saw then as a key part of life in the Spirit.
It was after this time that the Lord spoke to me from
Luke 11:9-13.
“So, I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
Or, if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Immediately I found faith in my heart! I had asked. I had kept on asking, knocking, seeking!
I knew that God was a true Father and because I had asked, He would give me the Spirit. Straight away I was aware that He had come. I had been on my knees alone in my bedroom and without any dramatic accompanists I had an inward awareness of His presence that was unlike anything I had experienced before. It was a new awareness of God.
About a week later, again, all alone in my bedroom, I began to speak in tongues. I found this to be a wonderful release, as I was able to worship the Lord in an altogether different level of experience. Speaking in tongues – a language unknown to the speaker – arises in the spirit of a person and because it is not understood in the mind it enables one to experience a deeper level of communion and liberty in prayer and love.
Similar experiences had been had by my friend Nigel Prentice and a few others. We used to go up into country, often on Sunday afternoon to pray and worship and move in tongues together. It was a wonderful albeit it short period in my life.
There was also a meeting held in Eastbourne in the home of Barrie and Gretel Guy, who owned a hotel on the sea front. I used to go there on my little Vesper, a small motorbike given to me by my Uncle Alan. These too were wonderful meetings as we had such expectancy discovering new things of God.