(The Day I Got The Holy Spirit.)
When God Calls you?

Just like in the New Testament, when one gets saved he or she by faith alone accepts Jesus as their savior, and God through the Holy Spirit already draws them. They get to dig into God’s word to see if God really saved them because it seems too easy for them, to think that an Almighty Powerful God would care that much for only one simple person. And so they go on digging for the truth from God’s perspective. So all this must continue to go on, until you get the Holy Spirit. When He comes into your life, you will know that you know. How could you not know, the power that is in you. Some people get it right away they say. Others take a year to get it, like my husband. I remember going to church after I accepted the Lord into my heart, Susana was telling me Anna you are saved. You show fruits. You’re life has changed and you reed your Bible all the time, but I new I wasn’t saved because, I in the depth of my heart, I did not know that I was saved. When you don't know for sure, that means you're not! Anyway I continued to go to church and read my Bible, and all the materials my friend Susana would send my way. So about three months went by, I was in a Bible study when I ask the teacher, how do all of you know you are saved and I don’t, she ask me did you accept Jesus, I said yes, so why don’t  you believed he saved you. I said I just can’t believe God saves you just like that. I feel I must be good to earn that Salvation, so she said to me, and I’ll never forget it because this is when I really got the Holy Spirit. She said suppose I was God the Father, and then she took her keys out of her pocket and said, this is a gift from God, her keys representing Jesus. Now I’m Holding this package – which is a gift from God. She held her keys out in front of me. She said I know you don’t deserve it, you cannot pay for it, but because I love you I want you to have this gift, now what will you do with it, will you take my gift or leave it. At that moment I felt God was telling me all this through her, so I quickly grabbed them with such a force and squeezed them tight not wanting to let them go, as if for the first time I really understood the concept of what it means to be saved. So a light went off. I rejoiced all the way home, my heart was filled with joy. And from there on I had a burning love and appreciation for Him, who saved me just like that. No questions asked not by my will but by His. No effort of my own. He did it out of love for a wretched girl like me. I thought I had to be perfect, I thought I had to be baptized, maybe I had to do good deeds, but none of that was necessary, just faith that if he said it than that settles it. He did all of that for me and all I had to do was to accept His precious gift. God’s beloved Son Jesus paid my debt, my penalty on the cross two thousand years ago. I have broken every commandment, and I deserved death and hell according to God’s Law. But because Jesus kept the whole Law, I go Scott free. All God wants from me and all he asks of me is, to believe in Him, for me to say yes I believe He is giving me His free gift and I accept it with gratitude. And these are the exact words that came out of my mouth, I remember being so excited and surprised I accept it-that means his gift. And God was pleased when He heard me say it, and at that exact moment, He gave me the Holy Spirit. I was a New Creature in Christ. All things have passed away behold, All things have become new. Oh! What a salvation, you talk about being high on drugs; the Holy Spirit beats any drug. The joy, that filled my soul; with praise to God for choosing me, for calling me, for loving me, just as I was. This joy cannot be found by human reasoning. So what do you do with it?  You sing to Adonai, the King of the universe. What comes with this joy, it is amazing. All you want to do is talk about God, but the people around you don’t respond; only the true believers do! Like my friend Susana, who led me to the Lord, because she had felt the same things I was feeling at the moment. So the next week I went to church and Bible study, to my amazement what was once okay, now it wasn’t. I saw everything different than I use to. I saw cold Christians, not on fire as I was, they were talking about how to please their Husbands, and they brought all their problems to the Church. When I was ecstatically happy, floating on cloud nine. I didn’t have a care or problem in the world. I was so let down and disappointed; I wanted to scream WHO CARES! What about God? Does anyone care about His awesomeness? Who cares about us! But I kept the matter to myself. So when I got home I let all my feelings come out. The first thing I started to do was cry for the congregation, and why were they not feeling what I was feeling. I can remember falling on my face many times, thanking him for my salvation. I had a deep burden for all my lost love ones. I constantly pray with fear that He was going to come before they would get save. I witnessed to all my family about what Jesus did for me, and how he could do the same things for them. But most of them ridiculed me. Some of them even mocked God. But I was prepared for it, for the Bible says that a Prophet is without honor by his own household. So whatever punches they threw at me, The Spirit was there to comfort me. I was so exited I just couldn’t shut up! All what the prophet Jeremiah experience I was experiencing with my family, and here it goes; Jeremiah 20:7-11{Then I said, O Lord, you deceived me when you promised me your help. I have to give them your messages because you are stronger than I am, but now I am the laughingstock of the city, mocked by all. You have never once let me speak a word of kindness to them; always it is disaster and horror and destruction. No wonder they scoff and mock and make my name a household joke.
 And I can't quit! For if I say I'll never again mention the Lord--never more speak in his name--then his word in my heart is like fire that burns in my bones, and I can't hold it in any longer. Yet on every side I hear their whispered threats, and am afraid. ``We will report,'' they say. Even those who were my friends are watching me, waiting for a fatal slip. ``He will trap himself,'' they say, ``and then we will get our revenge on him.''  But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior, and before him, the Mighty, Terrible One, they shall stumble. They cannot defeat me; they shall be shamed and thoroughly humiliated, and they shall have a stigma upon them forever.} Yes all this has happen to me. My little brother, walked out on me; saying don’t you ever talked to my wife about God or preach to us. Another one said I was a hypocrite.  The brother I was living with at this time, threw my bible across the floor. My daughter in New Jersey was the one who did hurt me the most; when she said to me! You are not my mother and don’t call me again, all you do is talk about God, I cannot relate to you anymore! Yes and if anyone is in Christ he will suffer persecution, and a man’s own enemies are those of his own household. The word of God is so true and real because all this was happening to me. But with all of this after the tears, came burst of unspeakable joy And so the fruit of the Spirit is true, you sing new songs to the Lord and you make melody in your heart. So I stopped listening to the whole world of entertainment. I burned all my worldly music, all the magazines that had horoscopes. Any evil demonic presence like Indian charms. Little Buda’s, just like they did in the book of  (The Acts of the Apostles.) And I really got into the Word of God. Now all I buy is Christian music. And the most uplifting that I have found to be is Messianic music. To all my readers out there, my prayer for you is just believe and He will do the rest! So faith comes before works, and so it’s not religion or rules set by man, or sacrifices you did before you got saved. It is out of love and appreciation that you want to please God, and nothing else. So it will never be a burden, but a delight on your part. Not by your power but by God’s power. When you get the Holy Spirit it is no longer you, It is Him in you. He will make you do things you never thought you would do, say things you could not say, it is not you speaking. Just like Jeremiah had the promises of God to save his people, so do you and I, when he said in his word. You and youre household shall be saved. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet. I can relate to him. Some days I could not sleep well, for fear that the rapture will come and my family were not saved yet, other times I was so filled with the Holy Ghost that I would praise God so much none stop and I knew this was not of my doing but the Spirit in me and through me. You go through all kinds of stages just as I have, and Jeremiah has. You will at times not want to say it or preach it, but God will do it for you. Like Jeremiah evidence that you have the Holy Spirit is, you just cant shut up the word burns in you it is shut up in your bones. You want to tell the whole wide world about Jesus and how he can save them, you love all the Christians and the sinners. When Jesus healed certain people He told them don’t tell anybody what has happen but they could not hold back such power that is how you know, that you know. If you don’t have the fire, you don’t have the Holy Spirit it is that simple. But don’t give up be stubborn for God said if you seek me with all your heart, you will find me, or I will be found by you. I know he lives in me and so can you. You probrobly ask is this possible! And I say to you yes. All true Christians know that they know. Open your heart and receive His free gift today. And this is the end of my beginning.
 Anastasia Martone