21 December 2009

Alt-Mariendorf

Albert Einstein is reported to have said that in the form of a mathematical equation all the human brainpower combined is insufficient to comprehend the universe.

Because we cannot disprove what we cannot fully comprehend, we have to leave open the possibility of God’s existence.

The post-modern, perhaps post Christian, society we live in today, argues that truth is relative. But in reality, a believer cannot decide God into existence any more than a non-believer can decide God out of existence.

God exists, or does not exist, despite what we choose to believe. Relativism when it comes to God is . . . unscientific.

+++

On a late weekday morning several years ago, I was walking down the street in Berlin on my way to the city center. Just a few hundred feet from the subway entrance Alt-Mariendorf the Holy Spirit descended on me.

I was not following God at the time, but it felt like my soul was wrapped in love. It was pure, beautiful, and absolute knowledge of God’s existence.

My life was not in crisis, and I was otherwise physically healthy.

I did not then and do not now belong to a Pentecostal or charismatic church where things like this are reported to happen.

The entire experience lasted no longer than a few minutes and ended as quickly as it had begun.

During those moments the Holy Spirit conveyed to me two things.

He said that in the future I would return to God and He had something He wanted me to do.

He also said that someday my faith would be severley tested and that the current experience was a gift, something I could look back on during moments of profound doubt . . . and know God exists.

+++

Two-thousand-and-nine years ago, plus or minus six years, depending on whose calendar you use, God clothed himself in flesh and entered our world. We celebrate that event today as Christmas.

He did it because He loves you and me more dearly than any parent could love his or her own child.

Every emotion you have ever experienced . . . love, rejection, joy, loneliness . . . He experienced as a human, too.

If the purpose of what I experienced fifteen years ago on the street in Berlin is to tell you one thing, it is this: God loves you. The world will not always exist in its current form. Call out to God. He wants to be in a relationship with you.

We are all in need of salvation.

God is real. His love for you is real...

9 comments:

  1. Soemthing like that happened to me in Erfurt, not too far from Berlin. I was interviewing a pastor during a video shoot, and the Spirit descended upon all three of us -- me, the pastor, and the video man. For several minutes, we were overwhelmed. There was no message -- it was like being held in God's hands.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Every emotion you have ever experienced ... love, rejection, joy, loneliness ... He experienced as a human, too.

    In any hour of severe testing or profound doubt, He is Immanuel, "God With Us." He give comfort and strength as our very best Friend, with understanding of His experience as a human—and He knows and understands by experiencing it with us as God the Holy Spirit, right here with us now.

    "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:15-16)

    Our God never leaves us orphans. His goodness never ceases. When we see only one set of footprints, we are being carried. : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. "God is real... His love for you is real..."

    Wow, this is a wonderful way to start my Monday!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow. Incredible testimony!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you. This was, this was. God.

    I remember an experience similar to the ones you speak of also about 15 years ago. I was mowing the lawn, and praying. Suddenly I was enveloped in a cocoon of love. As if the Love of God saturated me. I'll never forget it.

    Merry Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think these messages in today's post are important for all of us. Recently, I've seen several people blogging about similar topics. I think my own posts have had a touch of the same theme--the realness of God. Thank you for sharing your story!!

    I heard a preacher once tell a story of trying to witness to an atheist. The atheist listened to the preacher and then said, "I'm sorry. I do not believe in God." The preacher smiled and said, "That's okay. God believes in YOU."

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you everyone for commenting. Hearing your own stories and thoughts is important to me. Love and blessings...

    ReplyDelete
  8. did you speak in tongues?
    did you hear and feel from inside of you?
    was in in the area of your heart that you felt or over all?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey Nancy,

    It happened while I was walking and I don't remember stopping for very long. I felt it from the inside. When I tried to describe it to my wife, I told her physically I felt warm, tingly, kind of how you feel when you hear a great song, but times ten . . . Cognitively there was absolute knowledge of God's presence. There was no fear. I did not hear a voice, did not speak, in my mind I did ask why this was happening, the messages were just conveyed in my mind.

    Thanks nAncy

    ReplyDelete