When the Holy Spirit Catches Us Off-Guard
By Jessica Brodie
Have you ever been transformed by a powerful vision right in the middle of your prayer time?
That was my experience last weekend. I didn’t ask for the vision, but suddenly it was all I could see, this revelation washing over me as I sat in the crowded auditorium praying for the woman beside me.
I was at a Christian writers conference, and we’d been asked by our keynote speaker to reach out our hand, place it on the shoulder of the person to our right, and pray the Lord unleash boundless creative energy within them so they could do whatever it was He needed.
As I prayed for the woman next to me, my eyes closed and lips murmuring, sunshine began to radiate within my mind’s eye. My heart stretched as I lifted her to the Lord, and the more I focused, it was as if I was somehow connecting with her soul, Holy Spirit to Holy Spirit. I sensed her full essence in that moment, awash in radiant streaks of gold like the sun itself, so bright and vivid I was speechless. The moment was so beautiful I wanted to cry and sing simultaneously.
We finished our prayer, and I sat back, my body thrumming with the movement of the Spirit within me.
But it wasn’t over. Then the speaker asked us to turn to the person on our left and do the same thing. I reached my hand across the aisle toward the man sitting near me, closed my eyes, and began to pray. In that moment the same thing happened, as if my soul got a visual picture of his. However, for him I didn’t see sunshine and radiance. Rather, his was a softly lit wooded creek, leaves gently tumbling to the mossy floor as a trail of water gushed below. I knew within me it was the substance of his soul, as vast and deep and tender as a Sunday afternoon rain—completely different from hers yet just as beautiful. As before, Holy Spirit connected with Holy Spirit, a precious and perfect moment apart from time itself.
My heart beat hard in my chest when the prayer was done. This was not my normal prayer experience. Sometimes I feel a buzz or a shimmer when the Spirit moves within me during worship or prayer. Sometimes God sends me visual pictures, symbols I’m certain He wants me to recognize so I can understand with simplicity something far too complex for my human mind.
But visions? While praying for others? This was new.
I know the Holy Spirit is always alive within me, as He is within the hearts of all Christian believers. The Spirit within us is a gift God gave us when Jesus ascended to heaven, meant to be a guide and a comfort as we who are believers live our lives awaiting His return.
I also know the Spirit can do magnificent and powerful things. We’re told in the Book of Acts that the first day the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, a mighty wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they had gathered. As Acts 2:3-4 tells us, “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (NIV).
The Bible contains numerous examples of the Spirit at work in the world through God’s people, from the explosive growth of the early church to the Jesus-powered miracles performed to the bold testimony offered by God’s own (Acts 2:41, 3:6-7, 7:55).
When the Holy Spirit moves powerfully today, sometimes we seem surprised, as if this only happened during the days of old.
But make no mistake: The Holy Spirit is alive today and gloriously active within all of us who claim Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. And when we surrender to the Spirit, let go of all restraints and let Him soar with free rein within our hearts, minds, and souls, God moves in astounding ways. There’s no limit to what He can do if He chooses, and when we shove our own will aside to let Him take over, look out, world. Miracles can happen.
We humans can be so particular when it comes to prayer. Sometimes we think, for prayer to “work right,” we have to be alone with our eyes squeezed shut and our heads bowed in a perfect prayer posture. Sometimes we think we need just the right words or God won’t fully understand.
But the deepest prayers often come when we forget about ourselves entirely, when we let our souls be consumed by a focus on the Lord.
My prayer vision was a powerful time of surrender and connection to the Holy Spirit, and I can’t wait to experience this again.
How about you—have you experienced a prayer vision? How did you react?
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