My life-changing encounter with God in 2000

Below is a short article that I wrote up a few years ago, about my life-changing power encounter with God in the year 2000, when I was a student at Stanford University. I want to share it as an encouragement to all of us, and for those who don't know God yet, to testify that God is real and that He wants to reveal Himself to each one of us. Read on...

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SUDDENLY, I FELT AN INCREDIBLE SURGE OF POWER channeling into my outstretched hands and traveling down my arms into the rest of my body. I was thrust back into my seat and paralyzed from head to toe. The force that had entered into me was like a wave of fire penetrating my every bone and tissue.

No, this wasn’t a dream or a lightning strike or a freak electricity accident, this was my personal power encounter with GOD.

It happened at a prayer group meeting with my friends at Stanford University on Friday, 2/18/2000. I was a sophomore at Stanford on my way to degrees in Urban Studies and Sociology. As an intellectual person, I had always been skeptical of hyped-up supernatural experiences. But on that night, God showed up supernaturally in a way I could not deny.

I had been raised in a Christian family before that time, and I believed in God growing up. But there were always seeds of doubt in my mind as to whether God was real, whether Jesus was truly the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins, whether the Bible was really true, and whether my faith in Christ was only a byproduct of my family heritage.

Earlier that school year, I was desperate for some real answers in my life. Being away from home and listening to atheist professors had shaken me up a bit. I was mired in a depression and needed help.

I cried out to God. I told God, “If you are truly real, please reveal yourself to me. If you really do love me as you say in the Bible, let me experience your love. I am going to seek you, and your word says that you will answer everyone who seeks you with a sincere heart (Jeremiah 29:13), so you better come.”

As I started praying like that everyday, things began to happen shortly. I hear about a Friday night prayer meeting and began attending it. In those meetings I met some folks who were on-fire for God and were the most radical Christians I’ve ever met. And I began to feel the presence of God for the first time in my life in those weekly meetings. I had been a Christian and received salvation years ago but I had never known the presence of God. As God began to pour out His Holy Spirit into me in huge doses, my depression left and never came back.

The Bible tells us “not to be drunk with wine…but be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) This verse is true wisdom. As I started experiencing the love of God a daily basis, I was enjoying God a whole lot. I’ve come to realize that the taste of God is so much better than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life, in my pursuit of pleasure and happiness. “Taste and see that the LORD is good.” (Psalms 34:8)

It was a couple months after I had begun going to these prayer meetings when God “ruined” me in that unforgettable power encounter. The entire experience lasted for over 2 hours, in which I was so undone by the LORD that I was unable to move or even wiggle one finger. In the initial stages God revealed to me that He is indeed HOLY and ALL-POWERFUL, later on He began to show me my sins and gently asked me to repent of them. As I started repenting I began to feel burdens being lifted from me and I was filled with joy. After that I began to weep and pray out loud to God with such power and passion that I knew my life was never going to be the same again.

Indeed, after that night, my life has shifted gears up to a whole new level. I began to see the world through a God-centered perspective, and I was able hear the voice of God much better. Now I know that I can run into the loving arms of my heavenly Father at anytime. Needless to say, any lingering doubt about the reality of God and the validity of the gospel was completely eliminated. I now know for sure that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)

My lifestyle changed radically. It was the beginning of a whole new dimension of relationship with God. There were still other “issues” in my life, but now I can see God working in me daily to bring about complete healing and transformation of my entire life.

I started joyously telling friends and strangers about what God had done in my life, how He had really saved me from darkness into the light. I was waking up every morning not wanting to get out of bed, dreading the day and the things that I had to do to survive another day. I was stressed-out, self-absorbed, and full of worries all the time. I could not see how life can be any better, it was painful and monotonous with frequent escapes into carnal fantasies. I was spiritually blind to who God really is and the life that He intend for us to live. It is God’s heart to open us to truth, love, and freedom, if we let Him.

Dear reader, if you have not yet given your life wholly to Jesus, if you have never experienced His love and presence, I would strongly urge you to start praying and seek God right now and every day. You don’t need to pray some religious prayers, just be real and honest with God. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, He will forgive you and He is waiting for you with arms wide open. He loves you so much and He wants you to experience Him.