Lately, I feel I am so full of God's love that I sometimes feel I could burst. I want so much to share it with others, with everyone. It is hard to explain. I feel that I am filled with His grace and blessed with the real understanding of His word, His will, of Him, and I wish I could give the same understanding to others. I feel I have so much to give. You know, God is truly, truly wonderful. And He is always there looking over us, with His arms open wide, waiting to hold us in His loving embrace and keep us safe from all harm forever. James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." He is waiting for you. He truly loves us. How can we ever comprehend the love He has for us? How can we ever repay His patient endurance, His long waiting, His yearning for us? His love is perfect, without comparison, and beyond human comprehension. I know of His love because I received the Holy Spirit. When I was praying for the Holy Spirit, I simply shut everything else out—worldly cares, fear, everything. A church brother had told me to pray out loud—something I did not want to do before since I felt others would be listening, that they would hear what I said. But then I did it without thinking about this. I was just determined to do it, and I confessed to Him aloud. It seemed so right. There was God and I, no one else was in the conversation—a personal line between Him and myself. The funny thing is no one heard anything I said; I don't think they even noticed I was praying aloud. It was truly a prayer that only God heard. After my confession, I could feel my hands moving up and down. I prayed, "Oh, please give me your Holy Spirit" and I began to speak in tongues. I cannot possibly tell you how happy I was. It happened during the prayer before a sermon. It was quite difficult to stop praying. I don't think my mind was on the sermon at all after the prayer. Then, as the sermon was coming to a close, I was getting a little worried that when I prayed again, the Holy Spirit would no longer be there. I was so nervous. But as I knelt down for the second prayer, hardly had I got the words out, "Hallelujah, in the name..." I was speaking in tongues again. I felt so happy, so joyous, like nothing could possibly bring me down, and yet so peaceful, oh so peaceful—true spiritual joy and peace. It was really a wonderful feeling. When I went home, I prayed again just before dinner. Apparently I prayed for an hour. To my amazement, everyone had finished eating by the time I stopped. "An hour?" I thought, "No way!" It passed so quickly! I really thank God from the bottom of my heart that He answered my prayer so quickly. I truly know that He is there, always waiting for us to ask Him for the Holy Spirit. If we just believe in His Word, He will give it to those who ask for it. If we ask with a truly repentant and humble heart, He hears us. He refuses no one. It is His promise.
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