My childhood fascination for the vibrant colours of the rainbow never seems to outgrow and every sighting of it thrills me to the core of my heart. I am in awe of this bedazzling splash of colours, the Creator displays for us time and again.
All for the love of this bow, doing Biblical highlights and often writing my personal prayer notes with my rainbow pencil delights me immensely. It so happened, while doing so, one day, I got a call from my cousin. Engrossed in the chat, I scribbled the words, HOLY SPIRIT in my diary and began to colour it. When the conversation was finally over, I was surprised to see a page of iridescent flowing lines which dressed up the letters in an array of colours. It was then that, I heard a voice, deep within me or in the room I cannot say but I heard it soft and clear.
“Remember the story of Noah and the ark?”
“Of course!” I said immediately. Well, who wouldn’t? Especially if you are a born Christian (wouldn’t like to use that term but you would understand my situation better.) My answer to this voice, seemed almost like an irritated question and it was well perceived.
“What happened after they came out of the Ark?”
I answered sincerely as a student to a teacher. Who is this trying to test me? I thought to myself. However, I hadn’t stopped what I was doing. The words seemed to come alive and looked fiery as my fingers deftly guided the pencil like a skilled artist. As I narrated the part where Noah offers a sacrifice to God, I found myself standing in front of this patriarch. His faith and reverence to God overwhelmed me and I was engulfed in a sweet aroma. it was the sweetest, your receptors could ever sense and it ascended upwards, towards heaven. I was in tears as I saw how God smelled the pleasing aroma of his offering. The voice allowed me to hear what the lord said in His heart.
“I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intentions of man’s heart are evil from his youth, neither will I ever strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.”
GENESIS 8: 21-22
The first covenant God made with man!
I stood in awe, in the presence this great Yahweh, whose heart was filled with compassion for man, whom he had created in his own image. Does man deserve this mercy?
The voice, who now stood like a figure beside me clothed exactly in the vibrant colours that I had created, nudged me and showed me the first rainbow ever.
“Say a word to describe this.“, the voice whispered. “Promise!” I blurted out knowing my scripture well.
“Absolutely! ‘You figured it out!”
That very moment, it dawned to me that this voice whose presence was ever so overpowering yet subtle, was none other than the Holy Spirit! I pinched myself. I wasn’t asleep. I was sitting upright on my bed. Yet in my spirit and with the Holy Spirit, I was on Mount Ararat staring at the sign of the Noahic Covenant. The promise of God!
That very moment, it dawned to me that this voice whose presence was ever so overpowering yet subtle, was none other than the Holy Spirit! I pinched myself. I wasn’t asleep. I was sitting upright on my bed.
“When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and his every living creature of all that is flesh that is on the earth. This is a sign that I have established between me and all flesh that is on earth.
” Genesis 9: 16-17
God seals a covenant with a bow of colours! How artistic can that be! A hint of curiosity and excitement couldn’t be hidden in my expression and I turned my face away from Him. It was a concoction of pride and shame.
“I understand your emotions but you must learn to trust me. Come, you need to see this.” said the gentle Holy Spirit. Holding my pride back I decided to follow Him and behold ‘the peace of God that passeth all understanding’ conquered all the mortal thoughts of my sinful soul.
At that instance, I found myself walking the cobbled streets of Jerusalem and was guided upstairs to the upper room. There, huddled together, I saw anxious and worried faces with questions. However, their faith in their beloved master always overpowered any doubt that crept in. The strain of pain vivid in their teary eyes; the wounds of separation yet to heal. In obedience, they sat there as their master had commanded them, waiting for the promise of the Father.
“And while staying with them he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, you heard from me; for John baptized with water but You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit so many days from now.” ACTS 1: 4-5
Reminiscing the words of the son of God, they waited in anticipation for the inevitable to happen.
“And behold I am sending you the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city till you are clothed with power from on high.” LUKE 24:49
The only question that remained was how they would receive it. This promise, the gift which the great Nazarene had told them of, time and again. Holy and Powerful, the Spirit of God was not to be trifled with, thought the simple disciples who had walked hand in hand with this man from Galilee. In their weakness, He had always been their strength and it tore their hearts apart, to not be able, to witness the power of this great Rabbi who had now ascended into heaven. Thus, they gathered in the upper room waiting...
“And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a rushing wind and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in others tongues as the spirit gave them utterance.” ACTS 2: 2-4
This sudden rushing of wind nearly swept me off my feet and I struggled to maintain my balance. It caught the disciples unaware too. Before they got time to react to the heavenly sound, the tongues of fire rested upon them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Their faces transformed by the Glory of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit changed their lives forever. They were to be the envoy for Christ... the messengers... and thus began their apostolic mission.
This sudden rushing of wind nearly swept me off my feet and I struggled to maintain my balance.
I couldn’t take my eyes off, the promise of God. The more I looked at Him, the more I desired to know Him. This deep desire allowed Him to open my spiritual eyes and I saw what the Holy Spirit wanted me to see through the living Word of God.
What made the Creator regret that he made man even before the flood destroyed them?
“The lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of His heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart.” GENESIS 6: 5-6
Painful to hear that, isn’t it?
Man! Oh, Man! God had to bear the iniquity of man! The heart of man to sin again and again. The flood wasn’t enough; neither the four hundred years of affliction. The painful journey in the wilderness; the captivity in Babylon didn’t soften the hardened hearts of many. God was no longer pleased with the blood of animals. He chose a lamb without blemish to be the sacrificial ‘Lamb of God.’ The Father was compelled to do this for the salvation of mankind.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” JOHN 3:16
The only perdition was the blood of His chosen lamb... his only Son, Jesus Christ. At first, I wept bitterly. The presence of the Holy Spirit allowed me to see Christ with his blood before the mercy seat of God. A spring of tears welled up deep within me. I sobbed uncontrollably, as I saw how much it pained the Father to see his beloved Son’s blood on the throne of Grace - but that was to be. That was the covenant! Their silence spoke and it was done. We were not to be left alone.
At first, I wept bitterly. The presence of the Holy Spirit allowed me to see Christ with his blood before the mercy seat of God.
“And behold, I am with you even till the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
The Holy Spirit was commissioned. Pentecost happened. The sign was the Blood of the Lamb. The gift the Father promised, was the Holy Spirit.
With tears rolling down my cheeks, I embraced this heavenly gift of God.
“Come Holy Spirit,“ I whispered. My voice trembled as I said; “I need you!”
My arms outstretched and my eyes towards heaven, I waited.
There was neither a rushing wind nor tongues of fire but I was entwined in a powerful surge of colours which flowed gently, in and out of me.
It was the anointing. I could feel it! The golden yellow oil that flowed down my head cooled and soothed my anxious thoughts. I saw the fire in my soul, like glowing amber, stirring up passion for Christ within me. Yet it did not burn, like the blazing bush in the desert. Robed in purple and scarlet, He reminded me of my royal priesthood and my inheritance of being a child of God. Crimson blood of the lamb, by the power of the Holy Spirit, washed my sins to a snowy hue.
Crystal pure living waters sprung out of me quenching my thirst for his Word. The everlasting peace of God like the endless blue sky seemed eternal. I completely surrendered myself to this surreal experience... Profound and Supernatural!
What a colourful encounter I had with the Holy Spirit. Perhaps, He knew, I would understand it this way, as the way, I interpret colours. Maybe to car lovers it could be the rush of engines; to a doctor, the experience could be different. Each to his own, as the saying goes. He is just as compatible and He wants us to be so.
“Are you wiling?” said the Holy Spirit. Taking a step of humility, “Yes, I am “, I said in my unworthiness, never wanting to grieve Him and never wanting Him to cast me away from His presence.
What I had experienced today was only a drop in the ocean. I need the anointing of the blessed Holy Spirit continually, to understand the hidden mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven and to be filled with His power to be His trustworthy envoy for the work that Christ entrusted to me.
What about you? Are you willing? “But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” 1 John 2: 27
Archana Rongong Lowden
About the Author
A teacher, a mother, a blogger but above all an ardent lover of God - Archana hails from Darjeeling. She loves enjoying her evenings with a cup of coffee and a book. And yes, she loves collecting diaries and journals!