Acts of the Holy Spirit

by Major Malcom Herring in JAC online

A Testimony of God’s Goodness and Grace

I’m the middle son of three boys (all of whom are Salvation Army Officers/ pastors) born in Te Aroha New Zealand to wonderful godly parents who brought us up in the ways of God.

At the age of 10, I asked Jesus into my life at a Sunday School meeting led by my father, Alf Herring, a powerful experience that I still remember as if it were yesterday. I have never doubted that very real experience of Jesus becoming my Saviour and friend.

I was called by God to be a Salvation Army officer when I was 18. This was another personal and dramatic event in my life but when I considered telling my father I thought, ‘Are you mad? Why would God call you?’

It seemed ridiculous that God would call me to be a minister of the Gospel. ‘God wouldn’t call you,’ I reasoned. I was nothing special. So I didn’t tell my dad. In fact, I didn’t tell anyone for another 10 years.

I had an insatiable desire to know the God of the Bible better and to have a vibrant and truly alive, daily experience of a relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. I wanted to know how I could be baptised in the Holy Spirit—to be filled to overflowing with the Spirit of God. It seemed to me that the Holy Spirit wasn’t talked about much in those days, something the charismatic revival coming to New Zealand changed substantially.

Read more HERE.