Why does it seem like there is less feeling/emotion in more subdued vs. more charismatic denominations?
I use to attend a church where it was the normal thing in a service for at least one person to be slain in the Spirit, dance in the Spirit, speak in tongues, etc. I fell away for many years. I am now in a different region and was invited to the Church my daughter attends. I was trying to stay subdued as that was the atmosphere that was there, but all of a sudden I felt His presence, raised my hands in worship and yelled out in tongues. When I became quiet the Pastor said and I quote " It's ok if you want to praise that way". I have not been back, as I am not sure if I have done something wrong. Is there scripture that deals with this situation or not?
1 Corinthians 14:1 - 40
ESV - 1 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.
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Asked October 29 2014
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Marcia Hickam
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For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Danny Hickman
I believe the pastor made that statement because it wasn't really cool for you to do what you did...
What you did describes an involuntary reaction to the Spirit of God, if you didn't decide on your own to speak out the way you did. If it was the Spirit acknowledging Himself in the presence of the people, the people were blessed in a mighty way.. And from what you said, they had no idea that the Spirit was letting them know they were being acknowledged. Even the pastor didn't acknowledge the Spirit; the pastor addressed you, and you only.
Was it you worshipping when you spoke out, or was it the Spirit of God making His presence known? It seems that the pastor didn't think it was the latter. Sounds normal!
God spoke from heaven in John 12, the people heard Him and said that it had thundered...
Jesus was praying and asked the Father to glorify His name. The Father spoke and said He had glorified His name and would do it again. There was a crowd of people there. Some said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to Him. (Jn 12:29)
The only difference is that the Spirit of God spoke through you instead of "from above," if as I said above, it was involuntary on your part. If you decided you wanted to "worship that way," then disregard all I've said.
But there's no way for the pastor to have known which version was true, you speaking, or the Spirit. The pastor is like the people in John 12; any explanation except God's presence. Sounds normal!!
Danny Hickman
A further note: it was said to you that we "can control our emotions." Okay, maybe we can, I won't get tangled up in that.
Is the manifestation of the Spirit of God an exercise of our emotions? No! The wind blows where it wishes and you hear it, but don't know where it comes from and where it's going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:8). In other words, the Spirit of God does as He pleases, when He pleases, to or for whom He chooses.
To many, many, many of us God never actually does anything to acknowledge His presence in our midst. There's always another explanation.
Did you not go again to the worship services at that location because you were afraid the same thing might happen again, or was it you were regretful of what you'd done of your own volition? Only you can answer that.
There are congregations that will never welcome what happened with you, whether it was of your own volition or whether the Spirit of God manifested Himself. They just want a traditional normal worship experience. The unexplainable is too complicated.
Then there are congregations that thrive on the paranormal; worship service that could qualify to be featured on the Ed Sullivan Show... Each act is a challenge to the previous one. "A really big show," is the way Mr. Sullivan labeled it. Somebody knows what I'm talking about!!
What's the answer? It is that God is gonna be God, and we might as well get used to it!!