Zapped (ATP)
Why are some people “zapped” when hands are laid on them and some don’t feel anything at all?
This is a good question and one that I myself used to have. For the sake of those who may read this without understanding or having had experience in this, this is referring to the fact that sometimes when people have hands laid on them there can be a feeling almost like electricity flowing through them. It doesn’t hurt but blesses those who experience it.
First of all, when we are talking about any experience with God there are some key things we have to remember. First, God is a perfect gentleman, He will not force Himself on anyone. Second, He knows what we need.
Let’s deal with the first. God is adamant about not forcing Himself on people. He doesn’t want to scare anyone (He has not given a spirit of fear), and He longs that His children desire to come to Him, up to even allowing a person to go to hell if they don’t want Him. A good way of understanding this is found in 1 Corinthians 14:32-33 which says, “And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” Even in ministry we see here that God allows the person to be in control. Even under the power of God, we retain some control. Amazing! If you will notice the devil has many counterfeits and this includes the effects of the Spirit. Most adults are familiar with the devil’s counterfeits, being drunk or high or the exhilaration that can come in the moment of sinning. The key difference is the devil’s counterfeits alway leads a person to a lack of self control. Generally, God wants us to always have the choice. Now I know what your thinking, “Those people don’t look in control!”
This leads to some other very interesting points. We are all learning aren’t we? Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God divides between the soul (mind, will, and emotions) and the spirit (of man). We are born in the flesh into a natural world. Although God is present and He can be seen in everything, we naturally have more experience with our flesh. We need to learn to divide between them. Is this feeling an emotional feeling or is it a spiritual one? For newborn babes, that’s a difficult prospect so, they must learn. The reason I say that is because sometimes, good-hearted and well meaning people can act out of their flesh and not the spirit.
This will lead to my next point, God knows what we need. For the first five years that I came to Family Church, I was very leery of all this laying on of hands and shaken under the power business. I was resistant for sure and God wasn’t going to force any feeling on me. I watched and even criticized the “move of God” though I was connected to my church. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe God but I wasn’t sure how it all worked. The beautiful thing is, God never forced me. He let me watch and learn to desire. That is until one day I was at the church watering flowers after a midweek service. A brother in the faith that I was close to came out of the church and sat down near me. He had just had hands laid on him and he was hooched! He looked like he had just spent the last hour and a half on a barstool not church pew!
I was hooked! I wanted that!!! I got to thinking in the coming days and weeks some important and life changing things. “I’ve been in this church for five years and I’ve resisted these things. I’ve gotten to know my pastor and I know he isn’t a man who puts on falsehood. He get zapped when hands are laid on him, and my friend does when hands are laid on him! I am not going to resist this anymore! The next time it happens to me, I am going to just receive it whether I feel it or not!
That decision changed my life forever! From then on I became the biggest Holy Ghost lush in the church! Notice the difference, when I decided not to resist but flow with what God wanted to do, I started to experience the power. Like everything with our God, if we refuse to receive, we don’t receive! I’ve learned a whole heap since that time and I’m still learning. Not every time I have hands laid on me do I shake or tremble or dance or anything. Sometimes, even now, I feel great power and sometimes nothing at all. However, every time I decide to allow a man or woman of God to lay hands on me I know I receive. See, God doesn’t just want it to be about experience with us, but that sometimes we get it through faith.
He knows what we need. He gives us time and sometimes He shows up in full force because we need to see to believe but regardless we have the Word of God to stand on. There are many examples of people falling under the power of God and there’s also examples of them not. This we know, there is impartation through the laying on of hands all through scripture. So I say this, just receive what He has when He has it and you will be blessed. Whether you fall and shake or stand and smile, if you will receive by faith, your life will never be the same!
Be Blessed,
Pastor Jeff
