Many Know About the Holy Spirit. But Have They Experienced Him?

Touching God 

Dr. Chauncey Crandall's Touching God: Understanding and Experiencing the Holy Spirit is a practical, Pentecostal-oriented guide to living a Spirit-filled Christian life. Drawing on his decades as a cardiologist, missionary, and pastor, Crandall argues that many Christians know about the Holy Spirit doctrinally but have never experienced His daily power. The book seeks to move believers beyond intellectual faith into a vibrant relationship with the Holy Spirit marked by prayer, healing, spiritual gifts, holiness, and bold witness. The central message of Touching God is that the Holy Spirit is not merely a theological concept but God's active presence living within every believer. Crandall contends that many Christians settle for what he calls a "powerless Christianity" because they fail to understand or receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit's ministry. His goal is to show that the supernatural life described in the New Testament remains available today. Rather than presenting a purely academic study of the Holy Spirit, Crandall combines biblical teaching with stories from his medical career and ministry. Having witnessed dramatic recoveries, answered prayers, and lives transformed through faith, he believes God still heals, delivers, and empowers His people just as He did in the early church. Throughout the book he repeatedly emphasizes that God's miracles are not intended to glorify individuals but to point people to Jesus Christ. 

The Holy Spirit as a Person

One of the book's foundational themes is that believers should know the Holy Spirit personally rather than merely study Him intellectually. Crandall explains that the Holy Spirit is fully God—equal with the Father and the Son—and desires an intimate relationship with every Christian. He serves as Comforter, Teacher, Counselor, Convicter, Guide, and Empowerer. According to Crandall, spiritual growth begins when believers recognize the Spirit as someone with whom they can speak, listen, and cooperate daily. Christianity becomes far more than following rules; it becomes walking moment by moment with God's presence.

Salvation and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

A major emphasis in the book is Crandall's distinction between salvation and what he describes as the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He teaches that every believer receives the Holy Spirit at conversion but that Scripture also describes an empowering experience beyond salvation for ministry and witness. He points to events in the book of Acts where believers who already trusted Christ later experienced a fresh infilling of the Spirit that produced boldness, joy, and supernatural ministry. Crandall encourages readers to seek this empowering work of the Spirit through faith and prayer rather than fear or emotional striving. He presents this experience as available to every Christian who sincerely desires a deeper walk with God. 

Prayer and Speaking in Tongues

One of the book's most distinctive sections concerns prayer in the Spirit. Writing from a Pentecostal perspective, Crandall argues that speaking in tongues is a biblical gift that strengthens believers spiritually and deepens their prayer lives. He carefully distinguishes between public messages in tongues—which require interpretation—and private devotional prayer, which he describes as a heavenly prayer language.

He suggests that praying in the Spirit: Builds personal faith, helps believers pray when words fail, increases spiritual sensitivity, strengthens intimacy with God, and enables more effective intercession. While acknowledging that Christians hold differing views, Crandall presents speaking in tongues as a gift God desires to make available to His people today. 

Spiritual Gifts for Ministry

Crandall devotes considerable attention to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Rather than viewing these gifts as extraordinary abilities reserved for a few gifted individuals, he describes them as tools God gives ordinary believers to serve others. Among the gifts he discusses are: healing, miracles, prophecy, words of knowledge, 
discernment, faith, tongues, and interpretation His medical background gives these chapters a distinctive flavor. He recounts experiences in hospitals where he believes prayer, combined with medical treatment, resulted in remarkable recoveries. He repeatedly reminds readers that Christians should never manipulate spiritual gifts or seek personal recognition. Instead, gifts exist to demonstrate God's compassion and draw people to Christ. 

Healing and Miracles

Healing occupies a significant place in Crandall's theology.  As a practicing cardiologist, he has spent decades caring for critically ill patients. This combination of medical expertise and Christian faith shapes his conviction that God still intervenes supernaturally. He encourages believers to pray boldly for healing while also respecting physicians, medicine, and scientific treatment. In his view, faith and medicine are partners rather than enemies.
Throughout the book he emphasizes that: God remains sovereign, not every prayer receives the answer people hope for, Christians should continue praying with expectancy, and miracles always point back to Christ rather than the individual praying. This balanced perspective reflects lessons Crandall has learned through both remarkable recoveries and seasons of unanswered prayer.

Spiritual Warfare

Another important theme is spiritual warfare. Crandall teaches that Christians live in a real spiritual conflict against Satan and demonic forces. However, he emphasizes that believers need not fear because Christ has already secured victory through His death and resurrection. The believer's spiritual authority, he says, comes through: The name of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit, Scripture, prayer, faith, and obedience. Rather than focusing on fear or sensationalism, Crandall urges readers to remain grounded in Christ's victory and to resist evil through faithful dependence on God.

The Fruit of the Spirit

While spiritual gifts receive much attention, Crandall repeatedly reminds readers that character matters even more. He argues that miraculous gifts without Christlike character can become dangerous. Therefore, believers should seek the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. According to Crandall, these qualities demonstrate genuine spiritual maturity more consistently than dramatic supernatural experiences.

The Mission Field 

Crandall writes that in places like Haiti and Africa, modern medical technology is often unavailable. As a physician, he still uses every medical skill he possesses, but he explains that there are many situations in which medicine alone cannot meet the need. He describes these experiences as lessons in learning to rely on: the guidance of the Holy Spirit, persistent prayer, God's compassion for suffering people, and God's supernatural intervention when human resources are exhausted. He argues that Christians in affluent nations often place their confidence in systems and technology, while believers in developing nations naturally learn to trust God more completely. 

To learn more about Dr. Chauncey Crandall, click the LINK! 

CREDITS

Best-selling author, latest, Touching God, Destiny Image, 2026) / Dir., Preventive Medicine at the Palm Beach Cardiovascular Clinic and Chief of Interventional Cardiology at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Palm Beach, FL / Editor of popular medical newsletter, Dr. Crandall’s Heart Health Report / Serves on Board of Trustees for Regent University / Chairman of the non-profit Chadwick Foundation (established in memory of his son, Chad) provides missionary based medicine and education in the Caribbean, Africa, South America, Europe, and Haiti / Education: BS, Anthropology, Virginia Commonwealth University / MD, Post-doctoral work, Yale University School of Medicine, three years research in the Cardiovascular Surgery Div., Mt. Sinai School of Medicine / Married to Deborah, Sons: Christian & Chad (who died in 2004 at age 15)