Baptized in the Holy Spirit while I was Sleeping


Somewhere around a year after having received Jesus as my personal Saviour, I was in a church service one night on about the third row of the Church. At one point in the service they began praying for people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I saw one of the teenagers, who was a little older than me, being called up to be prayed for. Immediately when they had laid hands on him he fell out under the power of God. I instantly felt the desire of wanting to be prayed for and receive as well….the Bible says "covet the best gifts" … I went up to be prayed for and many people gathered around praying for me in tongues and in English … I was not feeling anything so I thought I would mumble something … thinking I might be able to instigate the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, however it only served to excite those who were praying for me all the more and disappoint me when there was no perceivable effect. I felt nothing.

To keep from being viewed by what I thought others would think which was that I was "one of those on the outside," I pretended to fall out under the power of the presence of the Holy Spirit. They moved me over to the side and I laid there for what I guessed was an appropriate time and then open my eyes and looked to my side only to find my friend completely out under the presence of God.

Around midnight we were preparing to go to bed and I was still sulking when my grandmother told me I should go on to bed. We had had a crowd at church and some of them were staying over that night at her house so she had made me a palette on the floor next to her bed for me to sleep on.

As I walked back to the palette I was crying, careful not to let anyone see me and I told God (not out loud) that He cared about everybody else, but me.

When I woke up the next morning, I stood up and took two or three steps and stopped. Something was different, but I had no idea what it could be. I had forgotten all about the night before including my secret little broken prayer to the Lord. Nevertheless I could tell something had changed. It was like starting over in life again.

All my emotions, hurts, distrust, fears, etc… it was as if they were dirtied by all the bad things I had taken to heart, the hurtful statement here and the hateful action there and then, overnight it had all been washed clean and made new again. I stood there in a moment of self realization and concluded that whatever this was that I was experiencing would surely not last very long and that I would make the most of it.

I suppose about three months went by while I was living on cloud nine for lack of a better way of putting it. One day my grandmother recalled that night to my memory and questioned me about it. I told her I did not remember anything about it, which at the time I didn't…it was all very much an after thought. She then told me that I had spoken in tongues for about half an hour in my sleep that night and that both her and my grandfather had heard it.

Not immediately, but not too long after that everything became clear. What I had experienced that was so wonderful was actually the baptism of the Holy Spirit and I had experienced it in a truly special way. It was and is to me a truly undeniable experience where God made Himself known to me and met me in my need for Him.

- From David in Texas