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What Does the Bible Say About..Dancing in the Spirit?

I was penecostal for about 2 years. I received the holy ghost. My question is, I danced in the spirit; it was the best feeling ever, but my husband doesnt believe me. Where in the bible can I show him that it is real?

Answer

I am the wrong person to be asking where in the Bible it talks about "dancing in the spirit" because, although the Bible teaches that Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit (the word of God), I believe it also teaches that the gifts of the spirit-such as speaking in tongues, healing, prophecy, etc.-ended soon after the Bible was completed. Whether that includes dancing in the spirit or not I am not sure because I have never witnessed such a phenomenon. If it means that you were so happy to have the Spirit in you that you had to dance, that is something that was under your control and the scriptures say nothing about it either way. If it means that the Holy Spirit controlled you and you couldn't help dancing, then the Bible clearly teaches that that is not the way the Holy Spirit works. "And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." (1 Corinthians 14:32) Paul taught the Corinthians that they controlled the working of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, not the other way around.

Thanks for you answer, but I would like to clarify something, when I say dancing in the spirit, I do not mean I was actually dancing. This is how it goes. The love of and within the spirit moving is the best feeling in the world. And if you have never experienced the spirit moving you by surrounding you then I really feel for you; and if you think that it ended when the Bible was finished, shame on you, because if you truly ever received the Holy Spirit then you would know how silly you sound when you state that it does not happen any longer. His spirit is on earth and can do anything and everything, only after the rapture and during tribulation will his spirit be gone from earth. My husband believes the way you do and I used to believe that way as well, but I have experienced his spirt move me and change my life completely, and as a preacher you should already know this.

Let me assure you that I believe the Holy Spirit is still actively working in the world. He is an important part of my life and that of every Christian. I make a distinction, however, between the "gift of the Holy Spirit" which is promised to every Christian (Acts 2:38), and the "gifts of the spirit" described particularly in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Not everyone was promised, or received, the gifts of the spirit. The only way, according to Acts 8:14-25 (particularly verse 18), that those gifts were passed on was through the laying on of the apostles hands. Those, such as Philip, on whom they had laid their hands could not further pass on those gifts; otherwise the apostles would not have had to go to Samaria in that chapter. Since the apostles have been dead for hundreds of years then those gifts (prophecy, healing, the less important speaking in human languages not previously learned, and the others listed in 1 Corinthians 12) can no longer be passed on to people.

The word of God (the Holy Spirit) has other functions besides those gifts which lost their importance with the completion of the Bible. He is important in expressing our prayers to God (Romans 8:27-28), in being God's deposit on our salvation (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; 5:5), and especially in conversion (1 Peter 1:23-25). These functions are still important in our lives every day.

As to a feeling of the Spirit moving you by surrounding you, I have felt that, though possibly not in the way you mean. I have had a keen awareness of God working in my life. I am always wary of overwhelming feelings, however, because there is no way of knowing their source. Additionally, the way you describe it sounds very much like the Spirit overwhelming and controlling you, which Paul says (1 Corinthians 14:26-33) he can not do.

The Holy Spirit is on earth and will remain until Jesus comes again in the final judgement. Whether there will be a "rapture" (not found in scripture) and tribulation is another matter entirely and for another time to discuss.