Many of you know about my supernatural experiences. Today, I would like to tell you about my friend Bill from college. What I witnessed happen to him by the power of the Holy Spirit was amazing and I am really glad I get to tell you all about it! We are the Lord’s witnesses of the many amazing things He does and we are to tell the world. So, pull up a cozy chair and let me tell you about the time the Holy Spirit washed over my friend Bill.
Bill and I roomed together our Junior year in college in 1998-99. He was from the Western slope of Colorado and he was a country boy. He had the jeans and cowboy boots to match. He drove a big truck and he came from a family of hunters. He was a cool guy and he was one of the calmest guys I’ve ever met.
Bill believed in God and he loved the Lord, but at that point in his life he was really struggling with some deep philosophical questions and he was frustrated. He wrestled with God over many things and we had many conversations. I was a leader in Campus Crusade for Christ at the time giving sermons almost every Friday night and leading a weekly Bible study, so he would talk to me a lot. Plus we were good friends and we liked hanging out.
Every year Campus Crusade would do the Junior/Senior Weekend Retreat up in the mountains at the YMCA of Estes Park. I had just worked there that summer of ’98. That is the same summer I had the two angel encounters in Denver. 1998 was a big year!
It was some time in the fall of ’98 when we did the retreat up to Estes Park. Bill and I roomed together during the trip too and it was a blast. There were conferences and concerts and bonfires and we all had a great time enjoying the wild wilderness of the Colorado Rockies! I loved living up there that summer! Great town and great people!
Saturday afternoon we were in the dining hall. The whole place was packed with Christian college students. Bill and I ended up sitting at a big round table with four elderly folks (two married couples) in the far corner of the dining hall. That decision changed Bill’s life, and it ended up being one more amazing thing I witnessed in 1998!
We introduced ourselves and started chatting. We let them know about the trip we were on from Campus Crusade and they let us know they were a group of Christian healers that traveled the country helping people. These folks loved the Lord so much and you could see the Holy Spirit power on them. It was really cool meeting them!
As we talked and ate lunch, Bill got into a deep conversation with one of the men. I could tell the man had deep concern for Bill and all of his attention was on him. The other man was quiet as the two ladies talked with me. They were very sweet and I was enjoying having lunch with them all.
The table was so big that I couldn’t hear what Bill and the man were talking about on their side of it. As they wrapped up their conversation Bill and the man stood up and walked to the side of the table. I remember thinking, “what is going on?” The other man got up and stood behind Bill. At this point I looked at the ladies and they looked at me and we just stayed quiet and watched.
The man who was talking with Bill started praying and it was not in English. It sounded like Hebrew and it was beautiful. He was speaking in some kind of tongue and I’m pretty sure it was Hebrew. Once he started praying, the two women got up and they started praying in the language too. I just sat there quiet. I had just had two angel encounters a couple months earlier that summer, so I was ready for the Lord to do anything.
It was funny because nobody in the whole dining hall was paying attention to us. There must have been over a hundred people in there, but it was like our little corner table of fellowship was hidden. As the man prayed he started walking forward towards Bill. Bill looked over at me with the funniest look and his little smirk like, “what is this guy doing?”
When the man was a few feet away from Bill he stretched out his right hand towards Bill and at that very moment Bill’s eye’s closed, he had a huge smile on his face, his arms went straight out to the sides, and he fell straight back into the arms of the other man who was standing behind him. The man who was praying never hit him in the forehead like the phony preachers do. The man never touched Bill. The power of the Holy Spirit was released in a healing way through that man and the Holy Spirit washed over Bill in power!
I sat there stunned and filled with joy at seeing the sight of it! When the man caught Bill, he just gently laid him on the floor and that is where Bill stayed for a little while. His eyes stayed closed and his smile was so big! It was like all the worry and strife had been completely wiped away from his mind and heart! It was beautiful!
After a few minutes, Bill started to open his eyes and they helped him to his feet. When he stood up he was still smiling and the look on his face was like he had just had the best rest in his life! The people let us know what had happened and they said words of blessing over us. They were so kind and Bill was a new man.
We had to get to a conference after lunch and as we were walking over to the next building, Bill could not stop looking up to Heaven and raising his hands in the air. He was completely filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing! He couldn’t even talk about it yet. He just kept raising his hands with this look of wonder and relief on his face. It was great and it still makes me laugh with joy to this day!
Bill didn’t have trouble with wrestling God after that. He was at peace and he was one of the strongest brothers in Christ I knew. God is amazing folks and He can do anything! So many people had been praying for Bill and many of them were afraid he would turn from the faith. After his encounter with the Holy Spirit, Bill was a new man! The refreshing he received from the Lord was a miracle and a great blessing and I hope the knowledge of it blesses you too!
Nothing is impossible for God! Grace and peace to you all!
