Over
the last couple of years, I have been asking Papa God how Philip got “snatched”
up by the Spirit of the Lord and carried away to the city of Ashdod. This is recounted
in Acts 8:39:
“When they came up out of the water,
Philip was suddenly snatched up by the Spirit of the Lord and instantly carried
away to the city of Ashdod where he reappeared, preaching the gospel in that
city. The man never saw Philip again. He returned to Ethiopia full of great
joy. Philip, however, traveled on to all of the towns of that region, bringing
them the good news, until he arrived a Caesarea.”
Isn’t
that interesting! Philip had just been explaining a portion of scripture from
the Book of Isaiah to the Ethiopian. Holy Spirit had said to Philip, “Go and
walk alongside the chariot.” So, Philip caught up and walked alongside. He then
casually asked the Ethiopian man if he understood what he had been
reading. The man responded that he could
not unless someone explained it to him. Philip was then invited up into the
chariot to explain about the “lamb that was offered”, which of course was
Jesus.
At that point, the Ethiopian man wanted to be baptized immediately. He suggested a
pool of water that was present. He stopped the chariot. They went down and
Philip baptized him. Here is where it gets interesting.
“When
they came up out of the water, Philip was suddenly snatched up by the Spirit of
the Lord and instantly carried away to the city of Ashdod, where he reappeared,
preaching the gospel in that city.”
After
that he continued telling people about Jesus.
Now,
because I am such a curious person, I have wondered how that happened. No pat answers for this girl. I do see a
pattern. Someone had a need. The Ethiopian
man was probably wishing he had someone to explain that passage in Isaiah.
Probably he was scratching his head because he was so flummoxed. I think I
would have been as well!
I
also, see that Philip was available. So the Holy Spirit gave him the go-ahead that
led into the conversation.
I
see the response of the Ethiopian man.
He saw the truth because he was digging for the answer. Thus, he was
ripe for Holy Spirit’s revelation to his spirit.
I
see the response for baptism. The desire the Ethiopian man had to be counted as
a believer and follower of the Anointed One. And Philip’s obedience to baptize
him.
Once
all of that was finished. The immediate need was completed. Philip was released
and then taken to a totally different city in the region via the spirit
transporting him.
I
have known that my spirit man travels all the time, especially when I am
sleeping. I give my spirit man permission to learn from the Seven Spirits of
God and to be available for whatever the need may be that Jesus would want me
to do for the Kingdom. I tell my soul to
rest but be receptive to what my spirit man is doing. I tell my body to sleep
and be restored.
I
have done this for at least two full years fairly consistently. In doing so, my spirit man has gone and done
a lot of different things in many different places. I remember waking up, after
about a week of doing this, thinking I had dreamt of being somewhere in a jungle.
I was helping someone find their way back to a village because they were being
hunted down for some reason. I just knew I had to help them get to the
village. Of course, I have no idea where
this village is, nor did I speak their language, but we communicated. I remember tripping on a branch or vine of
some sort and falling. I hurt my knee, but we kept forging through the forest
area. Once I got her to the village, I
left.
What
a fantastical dream I thought. Then I
got out of bed. I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth then take a shower.
My knee hurt. I didn’t think much of it until I was in the shower and the hot
water got on it. Ouch! I looked down and I had a scraped knee! I stood there in the shower for a good 5
minutes wondering how I got that scraped knee.
Then it occurred to me that in my dream I had tripped and fell and
scraped my knee. What the…? Oh My
Gosh! I went somewhere. I never noticed
what I was wearing in my “dream”. I just knew I was there to help someone.
So,
whether you believe it or not, it doesn’t matter. I was available. There was a
need. I helped out. When the task was completed, I left. Just like Philip.
A most recent experience was about a week ago, only this time it was different. I got up on Sunday morning and got
ready for church service. Jim got ready and then he said the strangest thing: “Where
were you last night? You weren’t in bed. Your side was like all made.” I looked
at him and said, “I was sound asleep next to you until I woke up this morning.”
“No, you weren’t”. I checked. You weren’t in the apartment.”
My
head spun. I knew that I had gone to bed. I did my nighttime declarations. I
fell asleep and awoke in the morning. I realized that my sleep seemed really deep and I was feeling pretty fresh. But I didn’t have any recollection of going
anywhere or doing anything. Apparently, my whole person went somewhere. (No, I
don’t sleepwalk.) I have been asking
Papa what went on but I have not received any answer. I just trust He will tell
me if I need to know.
Why
am I sharing this? Mostly because people
need to know this is happening and not to be scared of it. The deeper I delve
into my relationship with Jesus I believe the more “off the grid” stuff is
going to happen. Am I ready for it? I
think I am. So where to next, Papa?
