Did you know that sometimes when God comes upon you or the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you may start laughing?
It’s like a tickle!
And sometimes it starts as a little tickle and then sometimes that thing can erupt into something totally different.
Like, I don’t remember the first time I ever experienced joy like I do now.
But I wanna talk to you about why sometimes, a lot of times when I pray for people, why I become overcome with joy.
This is another article of the You, me, and Jesus, Hearing God series!
Today we are talking about why it is that when I pray, I end up laughing uncontrollably.
And so I’ll preface this with, I don’t have all the answers.
I do not have all the answers.
And the whole purpose of this article is to share with you my experiences with God.
Growing into the colon that God has in my life and all the things.
I just know what is happening to me, or what has started happening to me as a result of just going through the journey with God.
So let’s talk about joy in the Bible in general.
I pulled up a scripture, and the scripture we pulled up is Galatians 5:22.
So the NIV version says, “but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness”.
And here’s the message translation.
“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard – things like affection for others, exuberance about life serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the hearts, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We found ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely”.
In the New Living Translation said, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness”
And so back in probably 2017, I decided to go to Victory School of Supernatural Ministry.
Where they were teaching us, all about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
They’re teaching us a lot about the prophetic and just really helping us to understand all the different things that God is saying in the Bible.
And one of the things that started to happen very often in the school was the display of the fruits of the spirit.
And one of those fruits of the spirit was joy.
I’ll be honest.
The first time I ever heard people laughing, I didn’t understand why they were laughing.
“I was like, they’re interrupting the service”.
Like, won’t they be quiet?
Why are they trying to make this thing happen?
And it wasn’t until it started to happen to me and I started realizing, there’s actually something going on here.
God is touching people and when he touches people, sometimes, “laughter”.
One thing in the Bible, let me find a scripture.
Proverb 17: 22 – A joyful heart is a good medicine. But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
The more that I was in this school and started watching the main pastor, Pastor Sally, there were so many days that I would watch her just break out in joy.
Like she just was laughing and laughing and she could not contain it.
And one day we were in school and we were doing what they call “soaking”.
We were just laying on the ground and we were just being in God’s presence.
And one day she came.
Well, before that, I was so sad about my divorce and I didn’t realize how sad I was.
Until one day they said, if you need joy in your life, come to the altar.
And so I remember going to the altar and they laid hands on me and it was like a bunch of people.
And they were all praying for me.
And trying to release joy into my life, and I just did not have it.
I was crying and I just could not laugh.
And they were just praying and praying and trying to help me get free from all the pain that I was feeling
Still was not joyful, but they just went and they just did all of what they could in that time.
And I remember going home and I had this little notebook.
This little notebook, it’s called “My Hard Questions for God”.
And I said, God, can you help me with joy because I don’t have any?
That’s exactly what I wrote in that book.
And fast forward now years later, people always go.
You’re just so joyful! You’re just so full of joy!
But anyways, one day I’m at school and we’re “soaking” and I’m laying on the ground and I feel
Pastor Sally comes over to me and she just lays hands on me and starts to release joy.
And initially I didn’t feel anything, but eventually I started to laugh and I cannot stop laughing.
And then the room, everybody is laughing and it’s just over and over again.
And so I had these moments where I’m just like, “Is it me trying to make myself laugh?”
But I actually knowing that, “No, this thing is happening and I don’t even know why I’m laughing”.
I can’t even stop it.
Even if I put my hands over my mouth, I’m still laughing and I’m trying not to laugh so much.
There was this one time I remember I went to Bethel before I had moved there and I was just in church and they were ministering worship.
Something was going on and I just could feel the Holy Spirit coming on me.
And I just started to laugh and I’m like, I don’t know how they operate here and I’m just trying to hold it in and I hold it in as best as I can.
But it wasn’t until I went to a class that Haley Brown was teaching once I actually moved to Bethel.
It was like a revival, I can’t actually remember what it was called.
And during the middle part of the class, she was like, “Okay, everybody is gonna pray for each other. So getting groups of three or whatever it was and you guys are gonna pray for each”
And so one girl starts praying for a lady.
And then I have my hands on both of them, and I start to feel the Holy Spirit come upon me.
And so I’m like praying for the lady, and then suddenly my laughter, it just gets louder and louder and it’s like uncontrollable.
And it’s like rumbling in me and I can’t even stop it.
I’m just coming and coming and so I just keep keeping my hands on the lady.
And next thing you know, boom! She went down.
But what happened in that moment was like the laugh went from level 9 to level 20.
It just went “wow”. And then “boom”, she went down and I was just like, I did not know what had happened.
I was just like, I don’t know what is going on here.
And so I sat down and I just didn’t understand.
And I remember when class was over with, she came, she got up and was just like, “you know, I needed that”
But here I was, I felt ashamed because I’m so loud.
I’m like all the way in the front.
Everybody’s looking at me.
But it wasn’t until a lady who I did not pray for her. She came up to me and she said, I just want you to know that when you let out that last note, that last laughter, “something broke and I felt something break over me”
And I was just like, “so you’re telling me that crazy loud laugh that I have had my entire life. That God is on that and He is making all these things happen?”
And God is just like, “Yeah”
You know, it doesn’t make sense to me.
But I’m also like, “some of the Bible doesn’t make sense to me”.
It doesn’t make sense that Mary got pregnant by an angel and then she gave birth to Jesus.
None of that makes “sense”.
I don’t exactly understand all of what is going on, but here is what I do know.
Oftentimes when I am touching people, the joy of the Lord, which I think it is, is upon me, the fruit of the spirit, and that when I’m touching people, that joy is also released to them.
And so sometimes when I lay hands and I’m laughing, they will start laughing and they can’t stop.
I think it was a Sunday ago, I was in the back of the church cause I was serving as a host, and a greeter.
Church was started and we were doing worship and all that.
I’m just back there worshiping with everybody and I see a lady at the back wall.
And she’s waving over this boy. And I said, I think that’s her son.
He seemed like he was caught up in some stuff and he just came to church that day.
And I just see her waving over him and I’m thinking to myself, “leave him alone”.
God’s got him.
He’s in church.
But I didn’t say anything.
And then suddenly I see a man walk up to the boy and the boy stands up and the guy starts prophesying over him.
It was at least five minutes that the guy was prophesying and praying over him.
And I just felt like going back to her and I just said, “Hey, is that your son?”
She goes, “Yeah”
And I knew God was just like, “give her a hug”
And oftentimes what happens for me when I hug people, whatever it is that’s going on with them, whatever they’re feeling, I can feel it.
But I also feel like I have one, a shield.
One of those is like glowing shields.
Where it’s like no matter how many bullets are thrown, that person has a force field up.
You can’t get beyond that.
But if you bounce up against it, you will bounce off of it or whatever.
And so I hug her and whatever they’re feeling, I initially feel it.
And then it’s like a force field where it doesn’t penetrate me.
But then, All the joy and all that’s on me starts to get off on them.
And so I just started with her.
I wasn’t even praying.
I was just laughing.
And I couldn’t stop laughing and I’m just laughing and laughing.
And she starts to shake and she’s laughing, and then eventually the laughter stops and I let her go, and I’m like, “I don’t know what happened there”
And she was just like, “Oh my God, I needed that so much”
And then I was able to encourage her.
I was like, “Hey, listen, leave your son alone. Like God’s got him. The fact that he is here, the Holy Spirit is talking to him. Just celebrate that, God’s got him”
She’s like, “he’s caught up in” and I’m like, “Yeah, I know, but God loves him”
We’re just encouraging her and all that type of stuff.
It just happened.
I think it was right after that I saw somebody and it just happened.
It’s just what God does with me.
And so what I’m realizing is that the joy that I asked God for when I was so hurt and I was so broken.
And He’s given it to me and now he comes upon me to give it to other people.
So if you’re ever in a ministerial type environment with me and you’re like, “what is going on with her”?
Just know I’m not trying to make it happen, that it’s on me.
And I’m just like, it’s so loud.
But it’s so beautiful for those that understand what’s going on and they just want some of it.
I prayed for a guy last Sunday and when church was over with, he said, “Hey, you come here”
And I was like, “what’s up”
He was like, “touch her, give her some joy”.
And I was, “what”
He was like, you pray for me. Touch her!
And so I just started, I touched her and then she started shaking and laughing.
I was like, well, that’s amazing.
Another, I just joined a prayer team. My first time will be this Sunday.
But I wasn’t even on the prayer team.
And lay looking at me she said, “Hey, you come here”
And I was, “are you sure?”
She goes, “Yeah”
And she goes, “release joy to the athletics ladies at the altar”
She’s crying and my friends are praying for her.
And I just started releasing joy as best as I could, and that’s it.
You know what I mean?
It’s not like I have “something special”.
This is what God gives us.
And it’s a good medicine.
It’s good medicine to us, and it’s good medicine to other people.
I know sometimes I’ll lay hands on people and they will get delivered through joy and through laughter.
But if I release joy to them, and they need joy for good medicine.
And then it’s like, “Okay, I lay hands on you for joy”
I feel it too.
You can get set free so you can live the best life, then let’s go.
So that’s kind of what happens to me when I lay hands on people and why I start laughing and I know this maybe seems so foreign to you.
But if you attend like a non-denominational evangelical type environment, like a Bethel or a Jesus culture or like a real prophetic environment
That all the fruits of the spirit and operation, you’ll experience this stuff.
When I moved to San San Diego, I needed a church like this because I don’t wanna be the “weird” one.
I wanna be in an environment that accepts this and teaches this, that can help me grow in this.
The fact that I don’t fully understand what’s going on.
I wanna grow in this and like, “Am I understanding of it so I can teach it and all that”
And so being in Jesus culture, there’s a lot more people like me there. And so I’m so honored to be there.
There you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading this article about “Why I Laugh when Praying for People”
In addition, going on a journey with God can prove to be one of the most amazing experiences of your life, but it can also prove to be a little confusing.
And I want to walk alongside you and help you to not only fall more in love with Jesus than you are today, but truly discover all that lies within you.
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