Sid: My guest Tommy Almonte from Grand Rapids, Michigan has had an experience with the Holy Spirit that is provoking me to jealousy and I want to share the wealth; I want him to provoke you to jealousy. He was born in the Dominion Republic; his mother was an Assistant Pastor at and AG Church. They went to church morning, noon and night; he saw miracles and major miracles and at age nine he had a dream in which he saw the future details of each members of his family. And then at age 10 they moved to the United States to Michigan and a very close friend when he was a teenager that he knew from the Dominican Republic who had moved to the states committed suicide. And he went into such a tail spin when his friend committed suicide that he backslid from God but he was in two worlds. He didn’t want to be in the world he was in which was a backslider and he didn’t want to be with God so he struck up a deal. He says “God if you can get rid of this bad feeling that I have within me and he knew God couldn’t do that I will serve you.” I’m going to draw close to You and he felt like the Holy Spirit said “I want you to take one full day and spend it with me one day a week.” Now did the Holy Spirit pick Saturday or did you pick Saturday Tommy?
Tommy: He chose Saturday and I believe he chose Saturday because it was maybe the only day I had available to do it.
Sid: Well, it could have been another reason but however what He told you to do doesn’t make sense to me. “Don’t pray?” Exactly what did He want you to do if you’re not going to pray that whole day that I had available to do it.
Sid: Well, it could have been another reason however what he told you to do doesn’t make sense to me; don’t pray. Exactly what did He want you to do if you’re not going to pray that whole day.
Tommy: Well, and that was my question “What am I going to do a whole day just…what am I going to do?” And He said “All you have to do is bring the Bible; bring the Bible with you is all you have to bring.” And so I did and what took place is that slowly He took me from Genesis all the way through the end of the Bible through Revelations. And He just showed me who He was in the Old Testament and how He moved and how He decided to have a relationship with men. And slowly I went from being an angry person to being one that know Him and being enticed to know Him. So He was pursuing me and then I felt like I was the one pursing Him. And I couldn’t get enough; I mean I couldn’t wait for Saturday to come so I could go in there and spend time with Him. And those days and those days and those times that we had together is where I came to know the God that I know today. He’s the God…He created you and I. You know Sid I used to think and I used to pursue God based on the knowledge of all I have to do is accept Jesus Christ. And yes the Bible says that to be saved salvation you only have to do is accept Jesus Christ. However you and I were created for relationship you know and not until God revealed that to me that we were not created for salvation; salvation was a provision that was made. You and I were created from the beginning of time for relationship with God to have intimacy with Him. And you know He showed me in Genesis how He would come and walk with Adam and Eve and how He just…and that was His heart and that’s what He wanted. Then He took me through Genesis and He shared with me the story of Abraham and Sarah. It’s really interesting you know prior to God revealing to me that not only He came to me to fulfill a promise if we read the Bible in Genesis chapter 15 God gave a promise to Abraham. And then if you keep reading Genesis and Chapter 18 the Bible says that Jesus came back to fulfill that promise. And Abraham was outside in the heat of the day and he saw Jesus coming and he bowed down to Him and he said “Can I make something for You to eat?” And He said “Sure, you know and we read that Jesus said “Next year you will have a son.” So that’s why Jesus came to see Abraham in Chapter 18 it was to fulfill that promise that He gave previous in Chapter 15. But something that I never saw before and God said “I want you to listen and watch.” As He was about to leave the Bible said that Jesus turned to the other other two men that came with Him and He said to them “Should I hide this from Abraham?” And He said “This is what intimacy is all about is being open.” I want people to come to a level ntimacy that I’m willing and I’m expected to share even things that I have that have not happened. And He shared with Abraham something that…it was not a reason why He came to see Abraham but the Bible says that He asked that question He answered that question Himself He didn’t even wait for the answer. He said “Yes, I’m going to share this with him. And that is perfect illustration of the place where God wants you and I to be. You know when God revealed that to me I realized that this is a God that is willing to to (If I might say) play by the rules of relationship; which is the longer that you are in intimacy intimate relationship the more open you will be with that person you know. I’m married and I have a spouse and there are things that I share with my spouse today than 6 years ago; it wouldn’t have even crossed my mind to share that with her. But the intimacy that’s in place I’m expected to share those things with my spouse and I feel a joy by doing that because I’m drawn by that intimacy that is in place.
Sid: Now Tommy, you were studying the Bible the Holy Spirit was leading you in this study; you got to a point that you really enjoyed your day with the Holy Spirit every Saturday. At what point did He become intimate with you? What was the first thing that you could remember?
Tommy: You know as any body else engaged in a relationship with God I was expecting Him to do a miracle and maybe in a matter of weeks and months to come to a place where I could walk into His presence and have intimate moments with Him. And He was really gentle with me to remind me that intimacy takes time and He used my own relationship with my spouse to say to me you know “To be intimate if you meet someone today and tomorrow you cannot expect intimacy to be in place.” And I remember I would walk and I would go into that room every Saturday expecting a miracle would take place and I would find myself in His presence. And He took time, I even became frustrated with God because I would walk into the room and I would fall asleep most of the time and
Sid: And then you probably go into condemnation.
Tommy: Yeah, I was feeling condemned and I one day He woke me up and He said “It’s time to go in there.” And I really didn’t want to go in there because I knew that I would go to sleep and He knew my heart and I knew better not to hide it from Him but sometimes we just do that. And I walked in there and I was feeling really really condemned and I knew that most likely I would just go to sleep. But He said something to me He said and normally when God speaks to me He uses illustration of the Bible because then I can relate to that. And He used an illustration that is found in Genesis and He said “When I was creating life out of Adam He, the Bible said he went into a deep sleep and when he was sleeping and then life was being created.” And He said “Sometimes in order to remove all these garbage in our mind and in us sometimes He has to put us to sleep so He can recreate life and life that our mind would not opposed and say “This is not accurate, this is not true.” And once He revealed that to me even though I was in His presence and would go to sleep that He was not sleeping that He was creating life out of me and changing things inside of me that were hindering the things of God. And that went on for about maybe about 1 or 2 months where I was sleeping in His presence and eventually I found myself going in there and not going to sleep but my mind was not in the way and I didn’t find myself…
Sid: So He did some sort of surgery while you were asleep.
Tommy: He did in a way just like He did with Adam He literally open his side and He created life. Especially He was doing the same He was creating and changing and renewing things in my mind to the point that I would walk in there and when I would hear His voice I wouldn’t question His voice.
Sid: How long did it take before He would say “Good morning Tommy, when you walk in?”
Tommy: You know I have to be honest the first day that He said that to me He said “Good morning Tommy,” I literally felt I was going insane I for a second thought “Maybe I’m losing my mind.” And it was at such that I didn’t say anything to anyone because I was afraid.”
Sid: Now did it sound just like someone was in the room talking to you?”
Tommy: Like someone was in the room.
Sid: You know Tommy, we’re out of time right now…
