My Prophecy Experience

I wish to share the details of a profound prophecy experience I recieved from Jesus shortly after being saved. For those of you who know me, I hope that my character as you know it is sufficient testimony to the fact that I would not invent a story such as this and pass it off falsely as something from God. For those of you who do not know me, but are believers I hope that you will discern His voice and His work in this story in the same way as it is written that the sheep recognize His voice. For those of you who do not know me, and are not believers I hope you will inherently recognize the trueth in this post and begin to become curious in the great things the Lord has to offer all of us. I pray that all those who read this post and believe will be blessed and prosper richly in the Lord!

My purpose in conveying this prophecy is not to relay the actual prophecy itself as it most likely does not apply directly to you. Rest assured that the one person who needed to hear this profecy has heard it and accepted it as from God. I have requested a fleece from the Lord in order to relay the profecy to the rest of those who would need to hear this profecy. I am confident that my fleece will be fulfilled when and if the time is right.

And now the story...

Perhaps a month after being saved, my girlfriend and I went to a church some miles south of Peachtree City (Atlanta, GA area) with some friends in order to attend their Friday night service. I don't remember the name of the church or what small town it was in, but that is immaterial at this point. The church itself was Pentacostal in denomination if I remember correctly.

The night before we were to go, I was praying that the night at the church might be something special .. in that I might recieve some special supernatural experience from the Lord. This is the type of church where they really worship - they dance and sing and really get into their worship. To tell you the trueth, I feel really uncomfortable in a church setting during the worship service. For whatever reason, I don't feel comfortable signing and danceing to worship songs. Please don't misunderstand me, I don't disapprove of such things by any degree. I applaud those who would freely express their love and excitement for the Lord through public worship. Anyway, recognizing that as one of my faults and something I needed to get over, I told the Lord that I was going to go to that service and try my best to worship him amonst all the strangers there.

So as I went to sleep that night something very interesting and special happened. As I was on the verge of falling asleep, I felt a strange wave of something "splash" up through my body. The feeling itself was similar to the feeling I described in the "I'm Saved" post on this same blog - only MUCH more intense this time. The feeling was of wet warm water splashing up through my feet, through my legs, and into my chest. Only it didn't feel wet or warm exactly. It was "intense" in the sense that I really truely felt it throughout my body. But it wasn't "intense" in the sense of feeling painful or riveting my body to where I was "freaked out". No, this was a very gentle experience - not even enough to wake me up. Since I felt that sort of thing before and knowing it was from God, I didn't worry about. And since I was already half asleep, I just drifted back to sleep.

The next morning I got up, went to work and the day progressed as did any normal Friday night. In the evening we went to the church and met our friends there. The worship part of the service had already started and our friends were in the front row. As we were walking into the church I remembered the promise I had made to God about trying to worship Him. I walked up to the church feeling confident that I would make at least a small amount of progress over my "issue". When we walked into the church doors, every one (and I mean EVERYONE) was on their feet signing and dancing and having a great time. We found our friends in the front row now less! They were signing and danceing and having a hoot too! So immediately, my girlfriend put down her things and started joining in. Sadly, for me, I quickly started to feel VERY unconfortable. This was a small church and being in the front row you are eyeball to eyeball with the performers. Well, the longer I stood there the more uncomfortable I felt. I think I lasted about one song (sort of half-heartedly joining in) before I couldn't take it anymore and walked out.

After about an hour of so, my girlfiend came out to check on me. We talked and I told her that I did not feel comfortable in that church. So she stayed with me for a while and we proceeded to talk (not really getting anywhere). She asked if I wanted to go back home and I said no. I didn't want to ruin the experience for her or our friends. But every fiber of my being did not want to stay at that church. At the time I was remembering an excellent conversation I had with my brother some weeks back concerning religion. In the conversation, he gave me some great advice. He said, look if you feel like someone is telling you something that you don't think is right or pushing you to do something that doesn't feel right to you, then you have the right to step back and say 'hold up, I don't really feel comfortable doing this". He said, the harder someone tries to convince you of something, the more they are doubting what they say in their own mind. My brother's words really struck a cord with me. And it was because of that conversation that I had with him, that I felt justified in sticking to my guns about not wanting to stay in that church.

And so I felt pulled in two directions - serving myself by not staying in the service, and serving my girlfriend by not going back home and allowing her to stay in the service. So after much prompting by me, she returned to the service and I stayed outside. (I should also mention that our friends - her's more than mine really - did come out to check on us and offer words of encouragement.) And so I stayed outside that church for another two hours or so until the service ended.

By the time the service ended, I had been waiting for them for about 3 hours. Can you guess what kind of a mood I was in when she came out at the end of the service? Darn right!! The evening temperature was about 70-something, but the atmosphere inside that car on the ride home was pretty fridged indeed. After sometime had passed, we began to talk. Although my blood was still pretty hot, I tried to atleast speak in a civilized manner. It wasn't easy.

We talked about various things including what happened at church. The more I talked the better I started to feel, but I was still pretty upset and angry about having to wait outside for three hours. Then I started to relay to her, something that I felt God telling me earlier in the week in regards to her future. As I started to speak, I felt the hairs stand up all over my body and I remember stopping in mid-sentense and saying, "He's here.". So I continued telling her the words God spoke to me and after I got 2 or 3 words of the profecy out of my mouth, I felt this tremendous release througout my entire body. It was like a bomb went off! This was the booming, thunderous voice of God you hear about from the Old Testament! I felt like a tidlewave had just sprung up in my body and washed over me. It was the most intense, supernatural experience I had ever felt. But again, it wasn't painful or disruptive in a bad sense. But it was humbling to be sure. I finished relaying the profecy to her in the midst of tears and (I think) sweat. All I could say afterwards, was "Thank-you Jesus, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you". I felt like I was His puppet. That He was in charge and He could do anything He wanted! And it felt wonderful!

Again, as with every blessing from Him there were many lessons to be learned:
1. Be kind and graceful even in the midst of your anger, as He is.
Even though I wasn't pleased with my girlfriend, I was still trying to at least be civil. And even though I didn't feel comfortable at that church and I was starting to form some poor oppinions of them, I remember saying at one point, "God bless them" in the mist of my anger.
2. Pray for and ask for spiritual gifts and experiences and they will be given to you. e.g. prayer payes off.
3. He is in charge.
4. He can and will do anything He wants to.
5. Prophecy is real!
6. He humiliated Himself so that you don't have to.
Jesus allowed Himself to be humiliated at the hands of the Pharasis and the Romans immediately before his crusifiction. I believe He did this not only to save us from death and give us eternal life, but also so we could enjoy our lives without having to conform strictly to the Law as presented by the Pharasis, or even other Christians who would say to you, "worship like I do", "pray like I do", or "put God in the same box that I have placed him in". Worship is important to be sure, but He wants to walk with you in your whole life, not just at your church service. Don't judge, and don't let others judge you either.
7. God does not confine Himself to the walls of ANY church.
He is BIGGER than the church, He is BIGGER than me!
8. He loves me!

Later on, I realized the full scope of what had happened. Whatever it was that I received the night before in bed was released by His touch during the car ride home.

As I said before, I "fleeced" this prophecy to God. What that means is that I asked Him to arranged a meeting between me and the others that this prophecy pertains to. If the meeting occurs, I'll take that as the sign that the prophecy should be conveyed to others. And I will dutifully relay His message. I fleeced this prophecy because a.) I want to serve God and His purpose accoding to His will and not run off half cocked on my own claiming to be acting in accordance with God (I want to make sure I don't to anything to mess up His plan), and b.) the information conveyed in the prophecy leads me to believe that God wants to see and test out the actions of those who the prophecy applies to. In other words, I believe He wants them to change their hearts on their own without my intercession - yet.

... End of story ..

I hope I've awakened some interest in what our Savior is capable of. Please be aware that I have conveyed this testimony to you in trueth. I share these personal experiences with you not because I wish to boast, not because I wish to beat anyone up for lack of faith or lack of compassion for non-believers. Instead, I write these things so that you can see what another fellow human being is feeling and has experience at the hands of God. I share a glimpse of my personality and my heart with you at my own risk, so that those who do not believe may feel comforted in the fact that God loves us all .. even those of us who are not perfect. I also wish to encourage the believers who struggle. I make no claim what so ever as being a great prophet, apostle, or disciple. I do not say that I am above anyone in the eyes of the Lord, but we are all loved equally and He will be generous to all of us.

May God let his love be made known to you.

Amen.

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Self-deprecating Jesus

I want share a story with you that I experienced about a month ago. Driving back home on day after work I was in a horrible mood. Things had gone poorly at work, and everyone on the road was making me angry. I was pretty much ticked off at everything and everybody. About half way home I was in the height of my anger after having sufficient time to reflect on how much everyone has mistreated me.

At that time I remembered the words of Jesus that went something like, "cast your cares on me". Which I took to mean, "tell me what's bothering you.". So as I was driving I started to pray. Well, actually it was more of a temper-tantrum before the Lord than a prayer. Then as I was really getting into my temper-tantrum, I small pick-up truck passed by me with a bumper sticker in the back window that read: "Jesus is coming soon". Now normally, I'm not the type to go from being in a fit of anger to laughing out loud hysterically, but when I saw that bumper sticker I started laughing so hard I almost had to pull over. I tell you, I laughed all the way back home and for most of the rest of the night too!

It may seem like coincidence to you, but I took that as a sign from God saying: "Derek, just lighten up already!". I think that was His way of saying that things weren't that bad, that He understood, but that He wanted me to just get over it. It also showed me that He is willing to make good humor of himself at times too. And that we also should be able to laugh at ourselves from time to time.

That event is a constant reminder to me how powerful humor can be. Particularly, a well timed joke. I've been reading a lot of books about how to use the Word to break down strongholds of the Enemy and how to pray what's on God's own heart. Lots of these books talk about and explain what I'll call "extreme praying" where the prayer warrior either cries intensely for another, or shouts out a prayer in a loud voice. I've even read about pastors being prompted by God to pray in such a way as to ORDER God to do something. Sadly, these books do not hit on humor that much. Humor can be an extemely powerful weapon at times too. God's joke that he shared with me stopped my anger dead in its tracks. Its was a correction from Him to be sure, but He did it in a way that did not turn me away from Him. He didn't rebuke me like you read Jesus doing to the Pharasis and even Hiw own deciples, but instead His correction of my thinking and behavior was done *in a loving way* .. in a way that pulled me closer to Him.

Often times I think how cool it would be to be like Moses who acted under the Authority and protection of God and walked up to kings and told them to obey. But I think the next time a tense situation arises between me and another person, I'm going to be listening to God for a good joke or a bit of wit to share instead.

Working for Jesus

Its important for all of us to realize how terrible sin is in the eyes of God. Its important to realize that no matter how hard we try, we cannot make up for our sins. There is *nothing* we can do to payback to God what we have taken. That's why it is so important that we believe in Jesus, in His atonement for our sins, and His resurrection.

That having been said, I urge everyone reading this blog to no only accept Jesus and invite Him into your life but I also urge you not to stop there. I urge you to serve Him each day as if your salvation depended on it.

I am not one who believes in "once saved, always saved". I believe you can drift away from the Lord, and in doing so you risk you own salvation by turning away from Jesus.

I liken my pursuit of Jesus to that of pursuing someone of the opposite sex in courtship. When you first start dating someone, the flowers and gifts (e.g. sacrifices) and complements (e.g. praise) flow pretty freely. Then all too quickly the fire dies down and the relationship slows down. If the fire dies down too much, you risk splitting up. So it is with the Lord. When I was first saved, I was totally on fire. I mean, I was excited for what the Lord was going to do in my life – I could hardly wait! Then I noticed that there were times when it felt like things where slowing down - that I didn’t feel the same passion for God. So I began to ask Jesus about it. An answer quickly came: “Prayer is the bellows that stokes the fire.” I believe what He was saying is that I wasn’t praying enough. Looking back on it now, I can see He was right. I still prayed in the morning and the evening as I did when I was first saved, but it wasn’t as passionate as before and I allowed distractions to cut my time with the Lord short. Its important to “pray through” your prayers. That is keep praying on something until you feel like your prayers have been answered. I’ve noticed God will give you a release once you have prayed enough for Him to answer your prayers (see Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets for a through explanation of this topic).

My bet is that we all go through times in our life where we feel our relationship with God has gone stale. I think we just have to remember that we have an obligation to Him to keep the relationship strong.

Battefield of the Mind

I am reading "Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyer right now and I have to say its been a great book so far. I'm on page 100 and just came across this paragraph. Its been the best so far in the entire book:

"Reasoning is one of the 'busy activities' in which the mind engages that prevents discernment and revelation knowledge. There is a big difference in head knowledge and revelation knowledge."

Right on!