I would like to address the phenomenon of being "slain in the spirit". I am not attacking this custom which is almost sacred to many charismatics but I feel I have some insight on this subject. You probably have seen a prayer line where the man of God lays hands on each person in the line and prays for them. Many times they fall over backwards and someone is there behind to catch them and ease them down to the floor. First, why do people fall down? It's because they cannot stand up. And that ought to be the only reason.
5 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: 6 His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. 7 And I Daniel alone saw the vision: ... and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. 9 Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. (Daniel 10)
Daniel saw this great vision and ended up on his face completely without strength. While it would have been proper to bow before the majesty of this Being (who was, no doubt, a pre-incarnate manifestation of the Son of God), what happened to Daniel was involuntary. There was nothing he could to do to remain standing. To prostrate himself would have been correct. And to find himself on the floor was beyond his control. This is being truly "slain" by the power of God. However, today there exists the custom of falling backwards (Oh, oh!) when being touched or personally ministered to by someone of reputation. I believe in the power of God being manifest by a person loosing all physical strength but I want to give a warning: It must be real. We dare not fake it for sake of the reputation of the minister or for our own religious appearance. This can open a door to a spirit we do not want.
I was involved in a special season of God's power in a village in Mexico. God was meeting the people's hunger in a powerful way with unusual manifestations. There was quite a bit of falling under the power of the Spirit. During a meeting inside a small house a young woman fell backwards and hit her head on a solid wooden bedpost. The noise was awful. It sounded like a coconut being split open by a sledge hammer. However, when she "came to" there was no swelling, no blood, no brains on the floor, etc. She did not even recall having hit anything and had no pain at all. A week or so later we were meeting outside. The missionary in charge had several of us hold hands and pray for God's power to be present in the work. The presence of the Lord was heavy. I felt my strength leaving me. I believe I could have remained standing if I had wanted to. The events of the past few weeks became very influential and I gave in a little bit to the sense of falling out. I went over forward and landed in the dust. Instantly I heard a clear, firm Voice which said,
"THIS DOES NOT HONOR ME."
It was not really a rebuke but He was serious. I believe it was the Lord's voice. I think there is a serious danger in falling out under the power if it is we ourselves who are doing it. I have had hands laid on me by famous ministers with absolutely no sense of faintness whatsoever. There have been a few others who I am sure hit me in the forehead with a baseball bat, it seemed, because the power was so strong. And then...there is that gray area I think many of us are familiar with. You can sense the definite power and presence of the Lord - YET - it is not totally overpowering. This is a crossroads. You can remain standing and enjoy the presence of the Lord OR you can pretend you are receiving more than you really are. This, I believe, is fakery and spiritually dangerous. Why? It is similar to the Ananias and Sapphira incident (Acts 5). For certain personal motives they wanted to appear to be on a greater spiritual plane than they really were. I realize today many give in to the sense of power in order to "help" God along and force themselves to receive the desired answer to a need. However, if it is not real, we do not want it, do we? Do we really want to have pretend manifestations? Doesn't our hunger insist that we find God as He really is? Do we want anything less that the fullness of the Spirit? I believe we can give permission to some powerful spirits of delusion by KNOWINGLY yielding to that which we know is not true. This can then affect the minister and even the entire meeting or movement. We must be true and we must have a pure heart before the Lord and before others.
It seems that, Biblically, it is the enemies of the Lord who fall backward. When the troops and officers came to arrest Jesus in the garden they said they were looking for Jesus of Nazareth.
"... Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground." (John 18:5,6)
Both Daniel and John the apostle fell forward when overcome by the presence of the Lord.
Another problem of falling, when it is not the true work of the Holy Spirit, is that we can short-circuit the working of God. Let's say a prophet is giving a word to someone and they fall on the floor. What is the prophet going to say? "Well, there he goes...." He probably will not continue with the word. You have just stopped the work of God in your life that you so desperately wanted. It would be better to remain standing (or sitting in a chair if you are tired or weak) and soak up all that Lord has for you.
Let it be God. Let it be real. Let's not create manifestations. I believe in unusual demonstrations of the Spirit of God The Holy Spirit is powerful enough to do great and mighty things if we will allow Him.