#TheHolySpiritChallenge Entry 31 by Ebun Segun

From the day I rededicated my life to Christ, the Holy Spirit has been a very important part of my daily life. I grew up listening to my mother say things like "I don't do anything without asking the Holy Spirit". I didn't fully understand it until I took my walk with God seriously. The Holy Spirit literally holds my hand every day and guides me.

For the past 3 weeks, the Holy Spirit has been teaching me on fear and what it does. Being the person I am, I get scared about EVERYTHING easily.  He taught me that confessions of faith should be what I turn to at the sight of any problem or fear. He made me realize that He should be my first option, not an alternative when it comes to seeking solutions to problems.

In my life, the Holy Spirit usually reveals important things to me through dreams and interprets them to me later on. During my morning devotion, I prayed to God to give me a dream (since I didn't get one in a while) that would show me something. I woke up then next day completely disregarding everything I had dreamt about but somehow, the scenes kept flashing in my head. While I was at church, the scenes of my dream came to my mind again and it was there that the Holy Spirit told me: "when you allow the enemy to sense the fear in you, you make him think he is stronger " . This was the icing on the cake for me!
From this day, there is no fear in me. The enemy may come and try to shake me, but I know what I know!
(The picture attached is from a play I took part in, but it perfectly illustrates how fear holds one hostage)

#TheHolySpiritChallenge Entry 30 By Zainab Adewusi

I have decided to participate in this challenge because I believe that the Holy Spirit dwells in me. There are different ways the Holy Spirit speaks to me but most especially is through people! Whenever I start contemplating what I'm going through, someone around me always has a word which encourages me most of the time. Another way the Holy Spirit speaks to me is coming across what I have prayed about everywhere and I mean everywhere ( Facebook, Instagram and even Tumblr!) . For example I am scared about life he sends a word to me and I know it's not a coincidence!!! The main thing I have realised through this journey is to trust God in whatever you're going through. 

#TheHolySpiritChallenge Entry 29 by Marie Oke

I was born into a Christian family and that's all I've known my whole life the normal thing for one born into a Christian family is to just follow your parents to church and join them in prayer you never really understand why or have a personal encounter. As I advanced in age I gradually started finding interest in God and seeing him work in my life 
But it’s always been Jesus, Jesus. 
I never really thought about the Holy Spirit. All I knew was that he was peaceful and calm and serene 
He isn't violent he instructs calmly
But I never really had an experience with him
It was only recently that I realized how amazing he is 
He started showing himself to me in ways that are so clear that its him 
Whenever I want to do something or go somewhere I would just be like 
"Holy spirit if you don't want me to do it let me know' and something affecting what I'm supposed to do will happen, among other things he is a friend, a solace, the best comforter, He's always there 
But you have to want him for you to feel his presence 
He's made me realize the importance of Gods will in my life 
And the need to put ones full trust in God and being in the continual presence of God no matter what you do.

The Holy Spirit is the best friend there is.

#TheHolySpiritChallenge Entry 28 by Esther Olatunde

The Holy Spirit speaks to us and with us in the most random ways even when you're least expecting it, from watching tv to reading a book, you might just hear Him, always looking out for us and always there whenever we need to just vent or to gist randomly.

 An instance when I heard him really clear was when I was being lazy and procrastinating. I was behind on reading my bible so much, so this particular day I had decided to read the bible, I gathered my journal, highlighter and what not thinking ' Yessss the devil is in trouble today, i am reading this bible whether he likes it or not', only for me to say let me just rest my head for 5 minutes and i slept off. As I as tossing and turning, i just heard that voice and it said 'I can easily replace you, do you want me to replace you'. Best believe I woke up and started reading that bible. I felt terrible, i had been slacking so bad that the Holy Spirit had to ask me that question. Recently in the book i use for my morning devotion, Discipline and Priority was the topic, and instantly my mind zoomed in on this situation, if i had been disciplined enough and knew how to prioritze well, He wouldn't have had to ask me that question, I would have read my bible when i was supposed to and not procrastinate.

Another time was when i was washing the dishes, i had washed this cup and was about to dry it but it fell back in amidst the dirty ones, immediately i picked it up and washed it again, and He said "Esther, did you notice how you instantly picked that cup back and washed again, that is how you should pick yourself back up when you stumble in your walk with me, don't waste time wallowing in self pity or guilt, I'll always be available for you" 

I just pray always to the Lord not to take his Spirit from me else i'll be ultimately lost.

#TheHolySpiritChallenge Entry 27 by Vanessa Mbelede

The beautiful thing about reading the word is how you can understand the same verse in so many different ways each time you re read. To me the Holy Spirit is my Helper; He helps me to understand the word and to remember (John 14:26) which is why I invite Him before I read my bible. (So you know when you're like wow when reading the bible or when those random verses pop in your head during the day? Yes that's Him) But after reading your other posts I began to understand something, the presence of the Holy Spirit is also a reminder that God is with us and never leaves us, the same way Jesus promised his disciples that he wouldn't leave them because the Holy Spirit would be with them. One Sunday In church I was worshipping and trying my best to keep my spirits high because honestly I had been feeling the complete opposite, I was feeling alone and I just wasn't sure that I was being heard by God or even the people around me, like I didn't matter So the preacher was healing and prophesying to people and I closed my eyes and asked God to direct her to me, I need to know that you can hear me was what I kept saying. That didn't happen and her time was up, but then she asked for an extra ten minutes and called me out to pray with me, she said exactly what I had told God to tell her to say to me and even added fisi lol  Needless to say I was feeling very important after that. What I'm trying to say is God is always there, he won't leave you, but God is spirit and those who worship Him should do so in spirit and truth. So find a way to invite the Holy Spirit and let God speak to you. For me it's mainly through worship.

#TheHolySpiritChallenge Entry 26 by Gloria Imevbore

One of the reasons why I am comfortable as an introvert is because I have a best friend who I can talk to anytime. The Holy Spirit is my best friend.

The Holy Spirit speaks to me in many ways but most especially through the Bible/Word. The Holy Spirit is God and the Bible/Word is God’s Word. Like, the Bible is what God is saying. You get? For example, I got into big trouble at work on a Friday so was dreading going back on Monday. A scripture pops in my heart, John 15 v 7; 

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you”. 

 I seriously held on to that Word, repeating out loud and in my mind (even though I did not really believe it at the beginning) what I wanted to happen. (I asked that the trouble will be reduced to one that I could handle. By Sunday, I believed it and I was relaxed.

I went to work on Monday; the whole issue had been solved. I didn’t have to answer for anything.  EVERYTHING was dropped. Another worker had cleared up my mess for me.

Another way He speaks to me is just speaking to my spirit in plain English. It comes like a thought. A good way to know it’s the Holy Spirit speaking is when you get a totally random thought pop in your head. For example, I was in NYSC camp some months back and I was laying my bed in the morning. You know how everything goes fast in camp and you are mostly always busy. This was around past 8am and I was worrying that I won’t have enough time to run to “Mammy Market” to get something to eat then secure a seat in the hall for the lecture. As I was analyzing and contemplating here and there, I heard very clearly “Check on this person and ask her to send her bank details. Send her some money” I was so concerned about my own food I let the thought slide. I’m thinking, why am I thinking about this person, she’s in school, she’s doing fine. I’m in NYSC camp, I’m suffering! Lol

After camp, this person comes to visit me in my house and she goes,” I was so broke at one period I barely had anything to eat”. I backtracked to the period she mentioned and it was the exact same time the Holy Spirit had told me to send her money.

Also the Holy Spirit speaks to me by disrupting my flow of peace or joy. I will explain this on my blog.

There are SO many ways the Holy Spirit speaks to us and like Ugo says, how He speaks to me can be different from how He speaks to you. Ask God to speak to you how you can understand and you’re sorted 

#TheHolySpiritChallenge Entry 25 by Ataisi Tony-Adiari

Reading every other person’s post has inspired me to write this, because I thought there is really no breathtaking way that the Holy spirit has spoken to me; like he was sitting right there beside me speaking, and he was loud and clear. But He speaks to me in every way, through reading the bible, in church, through other people and in my thoughts and the way I feel towards something.

For instance, my mind has been a bit conflicted about what kind of music I listen to, especially regarding soca music. Sometimes the things said in the songs do not glorify God one bit. So something I would usually dance to without giving any second thoughts, became so uncomfortable, and I felt like I didn’t know how to dance to the songs any more without feeling inappropriate. Also while scrolling through facebook I saw a video talking about secular entertainment, by Simply, Feli, and that just made things clearer and gave me a better understanding as to why it was not okay

While on facebook, I had seen a random post, well it is not totally random, because there is nothing like coincidence with God. I remember sending it to a friend, “Take the limits off of God. Don’t think of all the reasons something is not going to work. In the natural it may not look like it, but remember, we serve a supernatural God. He wouldn’t have given you the dream unless He already had a way to bring it to pass.”- Joel Osteen. And I went through it this morning and like a light bulb in my head, it just gave me a confirmation that the vision I was working towards was definitely going to be a possibility, even though everything else does not seem to be order.

I think it’s rather amazing how subtle the Holy Spirit can be, because it’s in the little things we tend to find a deeper meaning. So if you feel you don’t know how the Holy Spirit speaks, speak to Him to reveal His words to you in a way you alone understand. One thing I’ve learnt is using another person’s experience to determine yours can sometimes bring frustrating results.