Empowered in USA
As missionaries, my husband and I have ministered in many countries around the world and we have often seen God perform miracles and move in supernatural ways. One of the questions that we frequently hear is: “Why aren’t those types of miracles happening in the US?”
In March of 2018, we were living in a small town in Oregon. My husband was discipling a group of teenage boys on a weekly basis. These were normal teenage boys… dealing with normal “stuff”. None of them were especially popular, talented, or otherwise stood out from any typical teenage boy in an American high school.
One boy in particular had been listening and attempting to apply what he was learning in their weekly discipleship group, and recently had the joy of leading two of his classmates to Jesus.
One Saturday morning this boy had text Caleb and asked him to come to a coffee shop so that Caleb could lead his two friends into the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
A line of coffee connoisseurs, weekend vacationers, and die-hard locals had filled this coffee shop to overflowing, and a line waiting to order wrapped halfway around the building. Dozens of people talking and laughing, the purr of the coffee grinders, the hiss of the steamers, and the sweet aroma of coffee created a familiar chaotic orchestra emblematic of the Northwest.
The three boys had already ordered their mochas, got a table, and had started discussing what they thought it might mean to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. After greeting all three boys, Caleb began to explain to them the experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, and along with the student he was discipling, demonstrated the simple process of leading someone into this experience. Then, for training purposes, Caleb had the boy lead his two friends into the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
As they began to pray and invite the Holy Spirit to baptize them, the presence of God settled on them at the table. One of the friends began to laugh with joy, and the other had tears streaming down his face as they encountered the presence of God. They were baptized in the Holy Spirit, and all three of them began to speak in tongues. As this continued, Caleb ordered another round of mochas, and then began to share with them about living life in the Spirit everyday. This encounter was normal, relational, simple, and powerful. All of it happened in the most familiar and ordinary of places; a local coffee shop. Not in a far off country overseas.
We have witnessed hundreds of encounters just like this, where regular people have a radical encounter with God right in the middle of an ordinary place, like the coffee shop. You don’t need to be in a distant land, or a “mission field” in order to see God move in power. He is here and now, right where you are in this moment. With a simple step of faith and obedience, miracles will happen, and God will always glorify Jesus through His Holy Spirit.
I pray that this testimony of three teenagers stepping out into a powerful encounter with God in a very ordinary place, encourages you to step out in your own life, to see God move in whatever circumstances you find yourself in.
