Charismatic churches today are often filled with ecstatic worship, people speaking or praying in tongues, prayer lines that leave people lying on the floor under the power of God, and other activities that can leave visitors unfamiliar with such activity scratching their heads. Is this biblical? Is this type of activity OK? Those in the reformed Christian tradition sometimes look at these activities disapprovingly and relegate them to the category of emotionalism or claim they were done away with after the Bible was canonized. The challenge with this argument is that supernatural activity within charismatic churches has been increasing and this segment of Christianity has grown to more than 600 million believers in the past 30 years. These statistics should make every follower of Jesus, especially theologians who intently study these topics, to consider the validity of Holy Spirit activity today. The Bible, of course, is the best place to start.
The Bible is full of supernatural activity. You are undoubtedly aware of the parting of the Red Sea, the multiplication of food, fire falling from heaven to consume a sacrifice, and David surviving a night in a lion’s den. When we search for it, we can find a long list of supernatural activity throughout the Old and New Testaments, and some of it can be correlated to activity still seen today.
Why do people sometimes fall down when receiving prayer? Is this emotionalism, a conditioned response, or something else? We have several biblical examples of this response when God’s tangible presence showed up on the scene. The priests in Solomon’s Temple could not stand when God’s glory filled the temple (1 Kings 8:10-11). Ezekiel fell on his face in the presence of God (Ezek. 1:28) as did John (Rev. 1:17), and even the soldiers and officers fell to the ground when they came to arrest Jesus (John 18:4-6). What does one do in the presence of a king? Bow down. Philippians 2:10-11 reveals that everyone will bow before Jesus. It is not a stretch to say that when enough power comes in contact with a human body it will knock it to the ground. For a body to collapse under the power of God makes perfect sense. And it helps that we have biblical precedents. In fact, we have many supernatural biblical precedents that were first-time events when they happened.
Have you ever thought about what you would do if God appeared to you in an unusual way? Have you wondered what the people of the Bible thought when they had such amazing experiences? Moses’ encounter with the burning bush was the first time anything like that happened (Ex. 3). A donkey spoke to Balaam (Num. 22:30), human fingers appeared in thin air and wrote a phrase on the wall right in front of King Belshazzar (Dan. 5:5), and Ezekiel was picked up by his hair and carried somewhere else (Ezek. 8:1-3). Elijah had several supernatural experiences. He was supernaturally transported to another location (1 Kings 18:12), ran faster than a chariot (1 Kings 18:46), and even survived on one meal for 40 days (1 Kings 19:8)! Flames appeared on people’s heads at the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3), Peter’s shadow healed the sick (Acts 5:15), and people were also healed when they came in contact with one of Paul’s handkerchiefs (Acts 19:12). We also have many different emotional states displayed in the Bible during times of prayer and worship.
Psalm 16:11 declares that there is a fullness of Joy in the presence of God, so we should not be surprised to see the Israelites shouting and weeping at the temple (Ezra 3: 11-13), nor should we be surprised by other emotional states during prayer and worship. Jeremiah described himself as being intoxicated in God’s presence (Jer. 23:9), Eli thought Hannah was drunk while she was praying (1 Sam. 1:12-15), and bystanders in Jerusalem thought the disciples were drunk after they were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:13-15). One does not think someone is drunk unless they are acting in such a way that gives the appearance of a drunken state. What are these signs? Laughing, stumbling, falling down, and not being able to clearly communicate with others have all been witnessed in bars and in churches when the presence of God enters the room. Other manifestations have also been evident.
Flames of fire appeared on the heads of those in the upper room when the Holy Spirit was first given (Acts 2:2-4) and they supernaturally spoke in other human languages (Acts 2:8). Daniel and Peter experienced supernatural trances (Dan. 10:9, Acts 10:10), Stephen’s face changed to the appearance of an angel, likely shining brightly (Acts 6:15), and the list goes on. The Bible is full of supernatural activity occurring in the lives of those who follow God. It is normal and should be expected.
So, should we be so surprised that God operates in a supernatural way? Everything God does cannot be explained or fully understood. He is God. He is the epitome of supernatural. He operates in supernatural ways that do not make sense in a natural world. We call his actions miraculous because there is no other explanation. Fire should not appear on someone’s head in a natural environment. People should not collapse to the floor when a human walks into a room. But with God, all supernatural things are possible when he shows up. Perhaps it is better to expect him to move supernaturally than the opposite. Perhaps we should look to him to move supernaturally in the situations in our lives to bring healing, freedom, increased anointing to represent him on the earth, and everything else we need in life.