I was at the apartment of my friend who would eventually be my roommate. It was late at night, and I was praying to God.

I prayed that the Spirit of God would blow like a wind, blowing away the sin and carnality of his church; that he would be like a fire, burning up the chaff, driving out all darkness. I prayed for revival and new life to fill his people.

I prayed fervently and with singleness of heart.

What happened next was totally unexpected. The Lord filled me up with his Spirit.

Now, I was a young believer. I was un-churched (untrained and unrestrained!) and I didn't know that God doesn't do certain things today.

He filled me up.

I didn't speak with tongues, or see flames like fire, or anything else at the time. Those all came later. This event came very early in my walk with Christ and preceded just about ALL the miraculous things that I have written about in prior posts.

This was the precursor to a life of experiencing God's power and close friendship.

God totally took over for several hours, I think.

I was cleaning my roommate's toilet, when I came to myself. What was I doing? What twenty-something young man scrubs down another young man's toilet? I looked at the scrubbing brush in my hands. Then at the clean bathtub and sink. What was I doing?

Then I washed his dishes!

Apparently a servant's heart had been placed inside of me. A change came over me that day which was deep inside of me. Every door of my heart had been opened, and the Lord had walked inside.

When I look back on my life, two days stand out. The date of my salvation and the date of this filling. Before I was saved there was a gray film over my entire life; after my salvation, I had Jesus. Before this filling, I had experienced salvation, but not much else; after this filling, I walked with God easily and saw many miracles.

I have often wondered at Christians struggling to walk with Christ. They say that it's hard. They say that they forget to read their Bibles, etc.

For me, the Spirit of God (on that day of the filling) came into every part of my heart. Since then seeking God has been my heart's desire. Walking with God is easy. He is the first thing that I think about in the morning, the last thing that I think about every night.

He came unexpectedly, and his presence has been a constant in my life ever since.