HOLY SPIRIT FALLS ON TEENS

By Ken Simmons

Many years ago I was asked to speak to a group of teenagers at a cottage south of Lakeland, Florida. I could never imagine what was about to happen.

This was a small group of about 25-30 teens at this meeting and their leader was a tall young man named Ronny. This was supposed to be a prayer meeting, but I soon realized it was more of a social gathering that had little to do with prayer and more to do with young people simply getting together for fun and relaxation. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that – at all.

However, it soon became evident that many of these kids, most of them high school age, had no idea about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

And yet as it happened so often before, when we gathered together and I began to speak, everyone there could sense the very real presence of the Holy Spirit. And it was happening again – the sense of the very presence of God.

This sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit was quite similar to when I spoke to a group of young adults from Rev. Robert Schuller’s Church in Garden Grove a few years earlier when the Spirit of God’s presence seemed so tangible that everyone in the room was in a sense of awe. During that meeting, I first encountered someone who was demon-possessed, something that before that day, I simply did not believe existed.

At some point, I realized that I was the only one there even slightly prepared to cast that demon out, and it was quite an ugly scene. This young man began howling like a wolf at the top of his lungs, and the demon then spoke in a deep, guttural voice, saying "He's mine. I've been in here 16 years, and I'm not coming out."

Everyone's eyes were as wide as saucers and a sense of fear gripped the room. At first I was terrified, but soon a sense of power and authority came over me like a warm blanket, and I approached the young man and cast the demon out, but not before he flailed around on the floor for a few minutes howling and screaming. This was something I'd always hoped to avoid, but it soon became necessary to deal with it.

Several years later, this time in south Lakeland, it seemed as though a pattern was developing. I told the group of teens,

“This is no coincidence that you’re all here tonight. God saved me and filled me with His Spirit . . . for this moment in your lives. To let you know that He is here, and He loves you. Many of you have never sensed His presence before, but you’re beginning to sense it now, and He’s here to touch you, to touch you, and to bathe you in His love.”

Soon one of the young ladies began to weep. At first, this was a loud, wailing, and pitiful weeping, and I sensed it was the Holy Spirit who was convicting her and bringing her to repentance for some past transgression.

I went over to her and told her this was nothing to fear, and that it was actually something beautiful. I gently placed my hand on her head and began to pray with her, showing her how to ask Jesus to come into her life, and then her weeping began to gradually change to a sense of overwhelming joy. She was feeling real joy, possibly for the first time in her life, and the tears ran down her cheeks. She was receiving Christ in a very personal way.

Soon, others in the group began to weep and surrender to Christ, asking Him to save and forgive them. Several times I noticed that some of these teens would go over to a friend to ask them to forgive them for something they’d done, and then they would pray together. It was wonderful, and it was all God. I simply stepped back and watched it happen. The Holy Spirit was in control, and it was truly beautiful. Next, they were leading one another to the Lord!

Several times I witnessed one of them approaching one of their friends and saying something like, “Let’s get saved together,” And then they’d pray with each other to receive Jesus. Wow!

I never expected what was about to happen next. Completely without any direction or orchestration on my part, these young people began praising God – virtually every one of them had an experience with Jesus that night, and without any instruction from me, they began lifting their hands and praising God. This was not a typical sight in a Presbyterian group. It was spontaneous and completely natural and beautiful, and it was an amazing sight to see with their hands raised, tears pouring down, praising God. It was literally beyond description – all unscripted, by me, or anyone else. It was God moving in their lives.

I had not mentioned anything about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but soon many began raising their hands and singing in a heavenly language. It was as though the choirs of heaven had opened up as they were singing in the Spirit. This was completely natural and beautiful.

Occasionally I would glance over at young Ronny, their leader, hoping to get a sense of his reaction to all of this, and it was clear that he was not receiving it well . . . at all!

I got the impression he didn’t think this was how Presbyterian young people were expected to act, and I could also sense he was very uncomfortable with all this praising God, raising hands in worship, and singing in heavenly languages stuff.

About that time someone asked me to pray with someone in another room, and after about ten minutes or so I came back into the main room and I saw something truly surreal. Ronnie was standing in the middle of the room with his hands stretched straight up. It was as though he had two 2x4 boards for arms, and his arms were stiff, reaching for the ceiling.

At first, I wondered if he was doing this to mock the young people who had their hands raised, praising God, but when I approached him I noticed tears had welled up in his eyes and a frightened look was on his face. As I got closer I began to ask him about it, but he said, “My arms are stuck. They’re stuck, and I can’t get them down.”

At that point, I said to Ronnie, “God wants you to get down on your knees – now!” He briefly gave me a puzzled look but then dropped to his knees, and when his knees hit the floor his arms came down, hitting the floor with a loud thud.

This quiet, reserved, and unemotional Presbyterian Sunday School teacher began to weep loudly, and then he was shouting, “Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus.” Within seconds the Holy Spirit fell on him, and he began to worship in the Spirit, praising God. His joy could not be contained. The next thing I knew, he stood to his feet and began jumping up and down, and shouting . . .

“Thank you Jesus! Thank you Jesus!” He reminded me of a kid on Christmas morning who’d just gotten a new bicycle, only this time his present was from the Holy Spirit, and it was life in Jesus!

Now, I’ve been to a real Holy Roller church before, but this was a Presbyterian group, and I witnessed something I’d never seen and probably will never see again. Ronnie then burst out of the room, knocking the screen door off its hinges as it fell flat on the porch. He then ran outside and began running around the cottage, shouting and praising God. When I drove off I remember seeing him, still running around the cottage and praising God.

Ronnie later became a vital member of our Youth Challenge ministry, serving on our board of directors as both our bookkeeper and treasurer, and now, decades later, he is raising a family, and he’s still serving the Lord.

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