Feeling God's presence, getting healed, having prayers answered—these supernatural experiences are nothing new as far as Christians in the United Kingdom are concerned.
In a new study, two-thirds of British Christians say they have experienced the supernatural, with one out of four saying they had such experience within the past seven days, according Premiere.org.
The study conducted by Christian Research found that only 5 percent of people in the U.K. do not believe in the supernatural, while two-thirds believe in supernatural forces—both the divine and dark kinds.
The respondents say their encounter with the supernatural include a feeling of God's presence during prayer at communion and mass, or through miracles. Such experiences also involved answered prayer and healing, they say.
The results of the study were released ahead of the launching of "Everyday Supernatural," a book written by Mike Pilivachi, the leader of the Christian movement Soul Survivor.
Speaking at Premier Christian Radio's Inspirational Breakfast on Wednesday, Pilavachi said supernatural experiences, including miracles, are much easier to understand by non-Christians.
"I think for us Christians we try and explain all the time, we try and demythologise, we try to make a point of not hyping anything," he said.
Pilavachi cautioned that Christians should not exaggerate when they feel like they had experienced the presence of God.
"I think sometimes when we make claims... that are very exaggerated, that just sound a little bit ridiculous, that can bring us into disrepute. I think we need to have integrity and honesty," he said.
Pilavachi recalled his own supernatural experience.
He said he once received a divine intuition telling him to go to the airport to pick up and talk to a pastor from Kenya. He followed his intuition and found the pastor at the airport.
"So we went up to him and I said, 'Look, we're ever so sorry but we're Christians and we think maybe that Jesus has said to us you need some encouragement right now, and we could pray for you, would that be okay?" he recalled telling the pastor.
The pastor greeted him with a look of amazement, saying that he was just waiting for two elders from a church to pick him up.
"I've been standing here and I've been saying, 'Lord before they come can you just give me some encouragement this is the right thing?" the pastor said.
