Wednesday, January 27th, 2016 Revive FLORIDA
This morning I was up and out the door early -- excited about what God had in store for me -- for us. Already He has done so many GREAT things!
Each day is an adventure
of the extraordinary kind.
Before I forget, I submitted my application to Revive yesterday. When the LORD speaks to me so clearly like that, I immediately put His request to the top of my list and get it done before I have a chance to talk myself out of it.
Sometimes we wonder, "Is this God?" "Did I hear the Spirit correctly?" "Am I going in the direction God desires?" "Does He really want me to do that?" It's inevitable that there will be times of uncertainty. When that happens, I keep praying -- asking God for clarity -- asking God for Scriptural confirmation. Often it's a timing issue or there's a detail or two I'm missing that I have to wait for.
So when I know for sure God has spoken, I go for it!
I do whatever He asks, as soon as possible.
Yesterday was my day off from Revive. Even still, I found myself praying with my server at a restaurant, giving her the Revive bracelet and leading her in the prayer of salvation. A couple friends of mine, who frequent that restaurant, know her and have agreed to follow up with her.
I've come to realize that Revive isn't an event,
It's a lifestyle!
You never really have a day off. Before you know it, it becomes part of who you are. You don't hesitate to ask people how you can pray for them. If the LORD opens the door, you share the Gospel with them. I love that!
Sharing the Gospel with people should be like breathing --
something we do naturally,
without having to think about it.
This morning my group headed out, after prayer, to a local Baptist church only to find the parking lot almost completely empty. It looked abandoned except for a van. We got out of the car, regardless, and moved towards what looked like the door to the church office. As we passed by that one van, I noticed a young man, about 30 years old, maneuvering some things inside. At first, I just inquired if he could direct us to the church office. We immediately struck up a conversation and discovered that the man was preparing to go north to a city in Massachusetts "to get his life back on track!"
"You're not by chance going to Brockton Teen Challenge?" I blurted out boldly.
"Yes I am!" he responded, looking at me in the most quizzical way.
"How do you know that?" he inquired.
"I just had a feeling that was where you were going." I responded with a chuckle.
"I was just talking the other night to one of my best friends and her husband oversees that ministry."
That totally opened the door for us to get to the heart of the matter with this guy.
He welcomed group prayer -- specifically asking for deliverance from his addiction.
As we stood in a circle, all holding hands, I looked right into the young man's eyes. They were yellow. Who has yellow eyes? Not only that, the pupils were dark and piercing -- like daggers!
Suddenly, in my mind, I remembered hearing that eyes are the windows to soul. An old pentecostal mama once told me,
"If someone has a devil in them,
you can see it in their eyes."
Where did that thought come from? It was the Holy Spirit shedding light -- divine knowledge -- on the situation. You might think that it's just a coincidence. No! The Holy Spirit does that all the time with me. A coincidence is something that happens by chance. If it happens ALL the time, by definition it can't be a coincidence. I've learned, over the years, that when God speaks to me like this, it's important to follow through. It's all part of partnering with God. He'll show Himself true.
I started to go through the bracelet and Bible with the young man and noticed him staring right at me with those eyes of his. Normally, one would easily be intimidated, but I stared right back at him. In fact, when he looked away, I called back his attention stating,
"Stay with me. I want you to look in my eyes."
The man responded by giving me his full attention. The Spirit of God came upon me and I spoke Words of Encouragement and Instruction to him.
God placed the right things to say
on my lips and I spoke them.
There's a Scripture verse that says just that:
"For the Holy Spirit will teach you
in that very hour what you ought to say."
Luke 12:12
I got through the entire Gospel message. Our entire team was so sure that he was going to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior, but that's not what happened. He looked right at me with those yellow eyes of his and responded, "I just can't say those words."
I realized right at that moment that a demon had him bound. Not because he wasn't interested -- quite the contrary -- everything about him screamed for a Savior. It was his tongue -- it was tied.
I could see the demon in his eyes
glaring right at me.
Why I didn't shut that demon down right there and then, I don't know. Maybe it was just a teaching lesson this time. Perhaps the Holy Spirit just wanted me to recognize what Satan's grip looks like on an individual.
As the sweat of withdrawal poured down his brow, I instructed him to call out to Christ when things got really bad and that Christ would save him.
"No matter what!" I proclaimed,
"Get yourself to Teen Challenge!
It's your escape route to a better life."
Like a family, the team encouraged the young man with hugs, handshakes and last minute Words of Victory, by faith. Realizing the church was closed, we were about to go home when the man informed us that his grandmother was inside, cleaning the church. He beckoned us to follow and led us to the woman.
Ahhhhhh! Bea -- a faithful woman of prayer -- the only one still believing in the young man -- ready to drive him to the airport in the morning.
What a time we had with Bea. She was mopping the bathroom floor when we arrived, but she stopped what she was doing to greet us. The young man left us and we proceeded to pray with this tired woman of God. Each member of the team poured out Words of Strength and Hope -- perhaps praying the prayers she was too weary to speak out anymore. Before leaving, I hugged this sweet sister close. She responded by embracing my neck like she would never let go. I looked at her tear filled eyes.
"Thank You!" she whispered with gratitude.
"This was so wonderful to me!"
It was hard to leave our sister, but she needed to get back to work. We blessed her and returned to our car.
I couldn't quite shake this meeting with Beauty (Grandma) and the Beast (the demoniac). I knew how important it was for the young man to get to that program. Would he make it? Something told me that he was in for a battle. I knew how easy it would be during this time of withdrawal to just take off, score some drugs and hit the streets again -- lost forever.
I couldn't quite shake this meeting with Beauty (Grandma) and the Beast (the demoniac). I knew how important it was for the young man to get to that program. Would he make it? Something told me that he was in for a battle. I knew how easy it would be during this time of withdrawal to just take off, score some drugs and hit the streets again -- lost forever.
It was time to call in reinforcements!
The team gathered together in unity. We prayed for him again -- proclaiming freedom over him in Jesus' Name. I took my phone and texted The Sarasota House of Prayer with our urgent request. I texted everyone I knew who would hit the floor -- on their knees -- and boldly petition God for this young man's freedom. I even contacted my ministry friend up north to pray and watch for his arrival. Throughout the day and right before I went to sleep, I continued to intercede myself, finally realizing He was in God's hands now.
Oh! that he would find freedom!
Another day with Revive,
Gail
No comments:
Post a Comment