Physical reactions during prayer?

[AJ]

Has anyone experienced any physical "reactions" during prayer?

I am still fairly new in my walk with Christ... I was saved about 2 years ago now. Prayer since then has always been in a more conversational tone. I tend to float into and out of prayer at various times during the day. For example, while driving to work each morning I will spend time in prayer..... that sometimes continues as I arrive at work and then throughout the morning...

Praying out loud in the presense of others (even just my wife) has been a real struggle for me. I have just been very uncomfortable. We have been studying prayer during our connection group at the church and we all had the opportunity to pray as part of the group. During my brief prayer my eyes began twitching, nearly uncontrolably. It continued for a couple of minutes after I finished my prayer, while other were praying. If felt ENERGIZED by the experience... I attributed the twitching to my nerves. Since then I have experienced my eyes twitching twice... during prayer alone and silently. Both time I really felt the Spirit upon me... My breathing was fast and it was an energizing experience. I have never had anything like this happen before...

[SumTinWong]

So are you saying instead of speaking in tongues you are speaking in lashes? :) I could not resist, sorry.

No I cannot say I have anything like that, but I know of people who have felt that way after tongues and such...

[AJ]

:D Hmmm... I guess that IS what I am saying! LOL *shrugs* :)

I have never spoken in tongues, though...

[SumTinWong]

I have spoken in tongues, but only one time. I think it was a sign for an unbeliever. I have in the middle of the night had an experience with God while sleeping. I heard a voice in my head tell me clear as a bell "you know you don't need that anymore", and I woke up out of sound sleep knowing what it was I did not need and I threw it out.

[AJ]

Not long after I accepted Jesus as my Savior, I was attending a non-demonitional church here in the local area... And had the opportunity to take an A.L.P.H.A. class, which I throughly enjoyed! It is a 10-12 week (can remember) class that meets once a week and is just a really good introduction to Christianity... It started in England and seemed to be Episcopal in nature. Anyhow... The class was very enlightening and well done.

At the mid-way point everyone (35 or so attendees) went to a local church camp for a weekend. While there we experienced wonderful worship and had a really good time of fellowship. The last day we were there the leaders of the class spoke fairly extensively on being filled with the Spirit... And even began speaking in tongues. I have to be honest, it made me very uncomfortable... I am not exactly sure why... but it did.

The weekend was very powerful... I did walk away from the experience feeling as though it had truely touched me.

Growing up in the Episcopal church (as a young child) and then attending periodically (Easter and Christmas church-goer) I had never experienced anything like this before. Then again... I had never really experienced Salvation before... I am still trying to form a solid position on the topic of speaking in tongues... I do believe that it still occurs, but also believe that it isn't a gift that everyone has... nor should it be used in any form of public worship. It confuses people... and honestly, freaks some out. I was a little freaked out....

Bibically I have heard the arguement that the scripture says something to the effect of speaking in tongues being a spiritual gift of the past... But I don't have my Bible here with me at work... and even know where to look.

Anyhow... I digress... :) Thanks for the reply! :thumbsup:

[SumTinWong]

One thing I have learned it is harder than anything to argue with anyone that has experienced something. One could argue that speaking in tongues is of the past, but how would someone argue about batting of the eyelids, when that wasn't mentioned. To you it was very powerful and enriching, and yet there will be some who think you are daft. Not me.

[AJ]

daft http://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/JPG/pron.jpg (https://secure.reference.com/premium/login.html?rd=2&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.reference.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Ddaft) ( P ) Pronunciation Key (http://dictionary.reference.com/help/ahd4/pronkey.html) (dhttp://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/GIF/abreve.gifft)
adj. daft·er, daft·est


Mad; crazy.
Foolish; stupid.
Scots. Frolicsome
Hmmmm.... :D *tries not to look crazy* hehe

[rural_preacher]

One thing I have learned it is harder than anything to argue with anyone that has experienced something.
Very true!

One could argue that speaking in tongues is of the past, but how would someone argue about batting of the eyelids, when that wasn't mentioned. To you it was very powerful and enriching, and yet there will be some who think you are daft. Not me.
AMEN

[Crazy Liz]

Tears are a more common physical manifestation of the type you are describing.

[@@Paul@@]

Has anyone experienced any physical "reactions" during prayer?

I am still fairly new in my walk with Christ... I was saved about 2 years ago now. Prayer since then has always been in a more conversational tone. I tend to float into and out of prayer at various times during the day. For example, while driving to work each morning I will spend time in prayer..... that sometimes continues as I arrive at work and then throughout the morning...

Praying out loud in the presense of others (even just my wife) has been a real struggle for me. I have just been very uncomfortable. We have been studying prayer during our connection group at the church and we all had the opportunity to pray as part of the group. During my brief prayer my eyes began twitching, nearly uncontrolably. It continued for a couple of minutes after I finished my prayer, while other were praying. If felt ENERGIZED by the experience... I attributed the twitching to my nerves. Since then I have experienced my eyes twitching twice... during prayer alone and silently. Both time I really felt the Spirit upon me... My breathing was fast and it was an energizing experience. I have never had anything like this happen before...
Hi TxAdam, quick question, what kind of "connection group"? Is your church charismatic at all?

[mesue]

I laugh, I cry, I get goose bumps when I pray. But mostly I just talk to God. :)

[AJ]

Hi TxAdam, quick question, what kind of "connection group"? Is your church charismatic at all?
Hey Paul!

No... My church isn't charismatic. We attend a contemporary worship service on Saturday nights (because I generally work on Sunday mornings)... Being Saturday night, they named the small group "Connection Groups" instead of Saturday School... Since our group doesn't meet on Sunday. :)

As a group we are studying from the "Master Works" series that are books from Lifeway, I am pretty sure.

When this happened, I didn't tell anyone... In fact, other than mentioning to Aimee, my wife, that my eye was twitching... I haven't said a word about it happening to anyone.

I wouldn't hold it in the same light as speaking in tongues... But there was definately something different all 3 times that I experienced it... I was just curious if anyone else had such experiences, beyond crying, etc... I have of course experienced that as well.

AJ

[@@Paul@@]

Hey Paul!

No... My church isn't charismatic. We attend a contemporary worship service on Saturday nights (because I generally work on Sunday mornings)... Being Saturday night, they named the small group "Connection Groups" instead of Saturday School... Since our group doesn't meet on Sunday. :)

As a group we are studying from the "Master Works" series that are books from Lifeway, I am pretty sure.

When this happened, I didn't tell anyone... In fact, other than mentioning to Aimee, my wife, that my eye was twitching... I haven't said a word about it happening to anyone.

I wouldn't hold it in the same light as speaking in tongues... But there was definately something different all 3 times that I experienced it... I was just curious if anyone else had such experiences, beyond crying, etc... I have of course experienced that as well.

AJ
ah.. I've had both BAD and GOOD experiences while praying. :)

The bad was something like this. My heart began beating REALLY fast, almost to the point where i felt like i was having an anxiety attack. I was restless and could hear my heart beat as an echo (if that makes any sense) in side my head…

This happened at a charismatic “prayer” meeting, while others were praying out loud – I won’t get into the specifics (may not be relevant here)

Pray is such a powerful thing, on both sides of the fence. I look back now and think that was my “spidey sense” telling me something was wrong.

And then the Good… A while back I was in a really in-depth study of Ephesians. So much so that is changed my life!! I remember at one point, pondering on these verses:
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
(Eph 3:14-21 KJV)
…and wondering WHY would Paul need to pray for the Ephesian saints to have “Christ dwell in their hearts by faith” and for them to “know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” that they “ might be filled with all the fulness of God”.

Anyway… what happened was really odd, and it’s hard to describe… Have you ever driven in a car with the sunroof down and all the windows up? It kind of “reverbs” and “quakes” within your ears because of the pressure… That happened, I don’t recall any twitching, but it was all seemed to be in my ears…

This also happened once as I awoke from a dream… And I believe one other time while praying…

I believe does reveal Himself to us today, but it may be different to each person …We must always remember; we walk by FAITH. There are lot’s of other spiritual beings capable of producing these “experiences”…

[AJ]

Thanks for the great post, Paul.

[ZiSunka]

Sometimes we have those "manifestations" when we get very emotional, like you described your fear of praying in public to be. And because we want to have some feeling of being connected to the Holy Spirit when we pray, we attribute those manifestations to the Spirit. I'm not saying that's what happened to you, just that it does happen. For me, it's often a rushing of blood into my head, but I have discovered that I can feel that when I have any intense emotional experience, whether it is "religious" in nature or "secular." The thing to always ask yourself before you attribute a feeling to the Spirit is, "Why would the Spirit manifest himself to me this way? Why would the Spirit be using eyelash twitching to connect with me?" God never does anything for no reason.

The Shakers were a Christian group that HAD to have a physical manifestation before they would say they had really worshiped. They would get themselves into such a frenzy that they would fall down and shake, thus the name Shakers. Many of the Charismatic groups insist on physical movements to prove to them that the Spirit was present. It is the way that they understand the Spirit to work in human lives. Is it correct? I don't know.

I do know that I sometimes cry when I am in the Spirit, and sometimes I get goosebumps, and most of the time I don't "feel" anything at all, even though I know He is here. I don't require physical manifestations, and I don't believe that a physical manifestation is necessarily proof of the Spirit.

Only when such feelings are affirming something the Bible already has said to me to I consider them to be manifestations of the Spirit.

[aReformedPatriot]

The other day as I was posting in CF, I looked at my clock and said "10 minutes and i'll go pray" but right then the Lord spoke to me, I heard it loud and clear "Come to Me" my first reaction was Maybe I should pray, but i looked at the clock again and wanted to continue in the CF discussion. But again it came "Come to Me" so I went and I prayed! It was totally great!!!!

[AJ]

Sometimes we have those "manifestations" when we get very emotional, like you described your fear of praying in public to be. And because we want to have some feeling of being connected to the Holy Spirit when we pray, we attribute those manifestations to the Spirit. I'm not saying that's what happened to you, just that it does happen. For me, it's often a rushing of blood into my head, but I have discovered that I can feel that when I have any intense emotional experience, whether it is "religious" in nature or "secular." The thing to always ask yourself before you attribute a feeling to the Spirit is, "Why would the Spirit manifest himself to me this way? Why would the Spirit be using eyelash twitching to connect with me?" God never does anything for no reason.

The Shakers were a Christian group that HAD to have a physical manifestation before they would say they had really worshiped. They would get themselves into such a frenzy that they would fall down and shake, thus the name Shakers. Many of the Charismatic groups insist on physical movements to prove to them that the Spirit was present. It is the way that they understand the Spirit to work in human lives. Is it correct? I don't know.

I do know that I sometimes cry when I am in the Spirit, and sometimes I get goosebumps, and most of the time I don't "feel" anything at all, even though I know He is here. I don't require physical manifestations, and I don't believe that a physical manifestation is necessarily proof of the Spirit.

Only when such feelings are affirming something the Bible already has said to me to I consider them to be manifestations of the Spirit.Thank you so much for the reply. :) I appreciate what you say about asking Why the Spirit would manifest this way. I also agree that no matter what feeling or "experience", the spirit is always present. I believe that I am just going to chalk this up to my nerves... And the anxiety about praying in "public" (which, btw I am becoming more comfortable with).

The Vineyard Church that I was attending a year ago seems to put quite a bit of emphasis on the "physical" manifestations of the spirit... I guess that is where I was getting my question from... I had never experienced anything like this while I was there.... But I was also never pushing out of my personal comfort zone there either.

I really believe that this was just my nerves, in this case... And that as a result of my anxiety maybe I was a bit more hypersensative to everything, making the experience more intense. That intensity most likely carried over into the next couple of times of prayer that I had.

I am just thankful that we have a God that will let us come to Him anytime in prayer! There is so much reassurrance and power in that... Learning more about prayer through this study has been a real blessing. It has enriched my prayer life quite a bit!

God is Good!

[AJ]

The other day as I was posting in CF, I looked at my clock and said "10 minutes and i'll go pray" but right then the Lord spoke to me, I heard it loud and clear "Come to Me" my first reaction was Maybe I should pray, but i looked at the clock again and wanted to continue in the CF discussion. But again it came "Come to Me" so I went and I prayed! It was totally great!!!!
:) That is just awesome!

[rural_preacher]

I am just thankful that we have a God that will let us come to Him anytime in prayer! There is so much reassurrance and power in that... Learning more about prayer through this study has been a real blessing. It has enriched my prayer life quite a bit!

God is Good!
:amen: :clap:





------------------------

[SumTinWong]

I don't want to be in the position where I doubt anything that happens between a person and God during prayer and at the same time I pray that I do not search for those things myself, but to search for God alone. Does that make sense?

[AJ]

I don't want to be in the position where I doubt anything that happens between a person and God during prayer and at the same time I pray that I do not search for those things myself, but to search for God alone. Does that make sense?
Absolutely... It makes perfect sense.

[ZiSunka]

The other day as I was posting in CF, I looked at my clock and said "10 minutes and i'll go pray" but right then the Lord spoke to me, I heard it loud and clear "Come to Me" my first reaction was Maybe I should pray, but i looked at the clock again and wanted to continue in the CF discussion. But again it came "Come to Me" so I went and I prayed! It was totally great!!!!
Yep, that's the way he does it sometimes. Once he woke me out of a sound sleep to pray for Eric Clapton. I don't know Eric Clapton and I don't know why I was called to pray for him, but I tried to ignore it and the Spirit kept making the song, Tears in Heaven play through my head. It wouldn't go away and was keeping me awake, so I got up and realized I hadn't put the car in the garage and the weather report was calling for snow. I got in the car and Tears in Heaven was playing on the radio. I changed the station and Geoff Moore's Dear Mr Clapton was playing on that station. I went in the house and got on my knees for about half an hour and then I felt the urgency go away and I went back to sleep. Sometimes He calls us to pray. And he keeps insisting until we do it!

[AJ]

Yep, that's the way he does it sometimes. Once he woke me out of a sound sleep to pray for Eric Clapton. I don't know Eric Clapton and I don't know why I was called to pray for him, but I tried to ignore it and the Spirit kept making the song, Tears in Heaven play through my head. It wouldn't go away and was keeping me awake, so I got up and realized I hadn't put the car in the garage and the weather report was calling for snow. I got in the car and Tears in Heaven was playing on the radio. I changed the station and Geoff Moore's Dear Mr Clapton was playing on that station. I went in the house and got on my knees for about half an hour and then I felt the urgency go away and I went back to sleep. Sometimes He calls us to pray. And he keeps insisting until we do it!
Powerful!