When I was around nine or ten, I remember riding with my family from Indiantown, Florida, to Stuart, Florida.   Along the way, my dad pulled over and picked up three hitchhiking young people: two girls and one boy.  The boy had a strange-sounding cough.  I still remember that after my dad let them out, he commented how they must be on dope.  He said that the boy’s cough wasn’t a sick cough but rather a cough someone develops when they are smoking dope.  He also deduced that their behavior and language were that of young people smoking pot.  He never asked them if they were on drugs or smoking pot. He just assumed so based on what he had observed about them.

I remember one time responding to an emergency involving my mother.  She was staggering around and saying things that made her come across as being delusional.  Her neighbors were accusing her of drinking too much and being drunk.  Once I got her to the hospital, she was diagnosed as being severely dehydrated and low on sodium.  They immediately put her on an I.V. within a couple of hours, she was normal again.  The assumptions of her neighbors based on the behavior they witnessed could not have been more wrong.  She had not been drinking.

The wrong assumption issue has been around for a long time.  The first disciples of Jesus experienced it on the day of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit came as promised by Jesus at the appointed time and had manifested to them, on them, and in them.  After all John the Baptist had declared clearly that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire.  One of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit that day was cloven tongues of fire resting on each one of their heads.  The second manifestation was them praising God in other tongues, which I believe were heavenly tongues.

Acts 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

At this time, people from many other regions and places were present in the area, and they heard the praises of God being spoken in their native tongue.  This, to me, was the Holy Spirit gifting them with the interpretation of tongues.  When that happens, a heavenly language is heard as if it were your native language.  But what I find interesting here is what some said mocking this event.

Acts 2:13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

There’s that common occurrence of blaming drunk.  Sometimes, when there is a manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit, people behave differently than they normally would.  Have you ever been so happy it made you giddy?  Have you ever seen a child get the giggles just because they were experiencing a happy moment that overwhelmed them?  We refer to these manifestations as uncommon behavior.  This often occurs when the Holy Spirit fills and overflows a believer in Jesus.  I call it being overwhelmed with the joy of the Lord and saturated with the oil of gladness.  They are not drunk but could easily be accused of being so simply because they act differently than they normally would, and with good reason.  When the Holy Spirit comes upon us in overwhelming measure, we powerfully experience the goodness of God and often receive revelations concerning Him that spark gladness and rejoicing within and without.  It often unveils the love of Jesus to us in a tangible manner.

I’ve had such experiences in my journey with Christ, and I can testify that I have sometimes felt so at ease, so carefree, so at peace, and so full of joy. I sometimes found it hard not to feel weak in my knees and just laugh and giggle and rejoice in Jesus.  I wasn’t drunk on an alcoholic beverage and was not on a drug.  But I am sure someone who does not know any better might assume I was.  Drunk?  Not as one might suppose, overwhelmed with goodness and power?  Absolutely!  I will never want to be afraid of being overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, as each time I have experienced it, I have come away from that encounter transformed by a revelation of Christ I did not before possess.  I want to be being filled always!