How the Holy Spirit Began to Work in Me

 

Before I truly had a relationship with God, I did not fully understand who the Holy Spirit was or how He works in a person’s life. I knew about God, but I had never personally experienced His presence, guidance, correction, and power in such a deep and life-changing way.

Everything began to change when God started drawing me closer to Him. Through prayer, the Holy Spirit slowly began working in me. At first, there were many things I could not understand, especially when I first experienced speaking in tongues. Many people around me became confused, worried, and even rejected me because they did not understand what God was doing in my life.

As my relationship with Jesus continued to grow, God slowly opened my spiritual eyes and revealed many things to me about faith, spiritual warfare, deliverance, and the reality of both His Kingdom and the kingdom of darkness. Through every experience, God continued to guide me, teach me, strengthen me, and transform my heart little by little.

This testimony is about how the Holy Spirit began to work in my life and how God changed me through His presence, His Word, and my relationship with Jesus Christ.

At the time when I first spoke in tongues, the news spread throughout my family while I was staying in Tagbilaran City, Philippines. I told them, “The language that came out of my mouth was something I could not understand, but God alone understood its meaning.” It suddenly happened while I was praying, and from that moment on, it continued and never left me.

Because of this, my family became worried and told me that it was not normal and that I was becoming crazy. My family had no knowledge about speaking in tongues. Even I myself had no understanding about this before I had a relationship with God.

One of my brothers was the first person I sent Bible verses to about speaking in tongues. These were the verses:

1 CORINTHIANS 14:2 (NLT)

For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious.

1 CORINTHIANS 14:14 (NLT)

 For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying.

In the Bible, it is written that on the Day of Pentecost, all the believers were gathered together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in different languages.

ACTS 2:1-4 (NLT)

2 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

This fulfilled what Jesus said—that God would send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, as His representative. This was when the believers received the Holy Spirit after Jesus was glorified. So even though Jesus is no longer physically on earth, we can still have a connection with God through the Holy Spirit.

JOHN 14:16-17 (NLT)

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

JOHN 14:26 (NLT)

But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

From my own experience, after I received the gift of speaking in tongues, I was told to return to our hometown. It was there that God slowly began revealing to me that He would speak to me, but since I was still a baby Christian, I was not fully aware of it yet. God slowly began working in my life.

My entire family was shaken because of my faith in God.

That was also the time when I first experienced rejection for talking about God. They even almost threw away my Bible because they said I talked about God too much. But despite everything, God truly continued to work in me.

I started leading Bible studies with my family every night after dinner. Later on, we also began having Bible studies at my uncle’s house so they could join as well.

In our place, there was no church nearby that truly aligned with what was written in the Bible, so God led us to another place. I also had a Christian friend from Alicia whom I met at church back when I was still in Tagbilaran, even before I fully encountered God. Because of her, we were able to attend their church while I was staying in Pilar. We traveled all the way from our barangay in Pilar to Alicia. I brought my family and my uncle’s family with me.

If God is real, then Satan is real too.

There were intense attacks during that time to stop us from drawing closer to God. At that time, I still did not fully understand the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. It was only later, as my relationship with God grew deeper, that I began to understand those things more clearly.

But throughout my journey, I truly saw how God worked in my life, and whenever I remember it, I become deeply emotional and cry.

I came to understand that those who follow Jesus will also experience what He experienced. People may suddenly hate you because of your faith in God. They may reject you and speak hurtful words against you.

JOHN 15:18-20 (NLT)

18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. 20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.

One moment I will never forget was when my father became drunk and started becoming wild. My younger sibling told me to pray for him using my speaking in tongues. So I began praying in tongues while standing in front of my father from a distance.

While I was praying, he suddenly became aggressive. Then I saw his face change into something that no longer seemed like him.

My father himself was not the evil one, but the evil spirits that had entered him began manifesting while I was praying in tongues.

His teeth were grinding, his eyes became wide and terrifying—I truly saw something demonic in him. I became very afraid, especially because I was still a baby Christian at that time. It was the first time I had ever witnessed something like that.

At that moment, God opened my spiritual eyes and reminded me of the Bible verse about “gnashing of teeth.” But since I was still spiritually immature back then, I did not fully understand it yet.

Later, as my relationship with God grew deeper, I finally understood more clearly that what I saw was similar to the description in the Bible about those who are thrown into the lake of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

MATTHEW 13:42 (NLT)

And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That is why when I later watched videos of deliverance, I understood why people’s faces would suddenly change and why they would resist or speak differently. The evil spirits were speaking through them and using the person’s body.

That was exactly what I witnessed in my father during that time.

But because I was still a baby Christian then, I stopped praying because I became afraid.

Later on, as my relationship with God continued to grow, I fully understood how real Satan truly is. That is why we need Jesus in our lives so that we can be healed and set free. Without Jesus, people are often unaware of the evil spirits that may already be influencing their lives.

Many people do not realize how real Satan is.

That is also why drunkenness is warned against, because when a person becomes drunk, they are no longer spiritually aware and become vulnerable to the enemy’s attacks. During those moments, evil spirits can enter, and because of that, people fall deeper into sin.

After God revealed these things to me, I began to understand how people are being controlled, manipulated, oppressed, and spiritually blinded by Satan.

When God made me understand this, I felt deep compassion for people and cried for them. People need salvation, and salvation only comes through Jesus Christ. That is one of the reasons why I share the Word of God—because I want people to be saved.

LUKE 4:18 (NLT)

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free,

JOHN 14:6 (NLT)

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

As I reflect on everything God has done in my life, I realize how patient, faithful, and powerful He truly is. Before, I did not fully understand the work of the Holy Spirit, spiritual warfare, or how deeply God can transform a person’s life through His presence. But through every experience, God slowly opened my spiritual eyes and taught me to depend on Him more and more.

Even during the times when I was afraid, confused, rejected, or spiritually immature, God never abandoned me. Instead, He continued to guide me, teach me, correct me, and strengthen my faith through the Holy Spirit.

The more I walk with God, the more I realize how real both the Kingdom of God and spiritual warfare truly are. That is why we desperately need Jesus Christ in our lives, because only He can truly save, heal, deliver, and transform us.

I thank God because, through the Holy Spirit, He changed my heart, opened my understanding, and allowed me to witness His power, love, mercy, and truth in ways I never could have imagined before.

Hallelujah 🙌🏻 Thank You, Lord, for opening my spiritual eyes and drawing me closer to You.

Oh God, save Your people, Lord. They need Your help. Help them, God, to be freed from the chains of the enemy. Help them to see what You see. Open their ears so they can hear Your words, and soften their hearts so Your words may truly touch them. Show them the path of Your salvation, in Jesus’ Mighty Name!  Amen.