Over the past several months, we have seen the Holy Spirit moving in Universities across the US, with thousands of young people being saved and water baptized.
But there is something else happening as well. The Holy Spirit is moving in local churches.
I have noticed it in the church that my wife and I attend, as we are sensing the Holy Spirit’s presence in our worship times, in a way we haven’t seen before.
Over the past few months, I have even started doing something I have never done before during worship. I found myself singing along in tongues. Now I sing in tongues to myself, so as not to disrupt others (1 Corinthians 14:28).
While this was very unusual for me, it seems that it was standard practice in the early church.
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us that praying in the spirit, is the same thing as speaking in tongues, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive. What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also;” (1 Corinthians 14:14-15 NASV)
But he doesn’t stop there, he then goes on to say, “I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the mind also” (I Corinthians 14:15b NASV).
If praying in the spirit is speaking in tongues, then singing with the Spirit is obviously a reference to singing in tongues.
Paul worshiped God in tongues and though I had read this passage before, the singing in tongues part never clicked until I started to do it.
Some songs are more suited to singing with my mind, but there were others where I felt the urge to sing in tongues and the more I sang in tongues, the more I wanted to.
Was this an indicator that the Holy Spirit was moving in our services, or was it just my imagination?
A week ago, my wife invited a few women from our church to our home for a morning breakfast prayer and sharing time. This included one woman who just started attending our church three months ago.
The woman shared that during the first service that she and her husband attended, she noticed that the Holy Spirit was moving during the service and would go on to mention the Holy Spirit several times during the sharing time.
It wasn’t our imagination, others were noticing as well.
But it is not just our church, congregations on the other side of the world are sensing the Holy Spirit’s presence in a new way.
In a recent article on Premier Christianity, Mark Sayers, who leads Red Church in Melbourne, Australia, says over the past 18 months, he has noticed that the Holy Spirit moving in his church and other churches around the world.
He says prayer has become important.
“In London, the US, New Zealand, God is on the move. We began to notice a hunger in our services,” Mark writes. “Our prayer meetings grew. We built a prayer room in the middle of our church and people began to pray through the night. Young people who, five or six years ago would struggle to get to a prayer meeting, wanted to pray at 3am!“
But along with an increased desire for prayer, Mark noticed an increased presence of the Holy Spirit during their worship services.
“A year ago, during one of our services, we were two songs in and just about to take communion when we just felt the presence of God in such a profound and transformative way,” Mark added. “That began to happen more often. A few weeks ago, at the end of the service, people didn’t want to stop. They just kept worshipping for an hour and a half – and we’re not normally one of those churches!”
“I’m hearing it across the spectrum – from Baptists to Presbyterians. Coptic Egyptians are having an awakening among their young people in Australia. We’re seeing something,” Mark continued.
“Is it massive?” Mark asks. “No. But is it unlike anything I’ve seen in my ministry life? Yes.“
OpentheWord.org 
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