the agony of defeat, AND the thrill of victory (note: I rename it below)
Randy Clark has a classic message - "The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat" (which came from the old ABC "Wide World of Sports" where he talks about the realities of supernatural ministry - namely the successes and the defeats. I entitled this blog post as such (reversing the order in the title) because it seemed that the defeats this past weekend outnumbered the victories.
Isaac of Ninevah and I were traveling again, and overall I felt like my attempts to minister to people in public didn't go that well. I "missed" alot of words for people - i.e. "Do you have pain in your _______"? "No, why?" seemed to be the common response!
However, whereas I need to be honest about the discouragement, the fact is that God gave us a couple of powerful encounters with people. So, enough about the defeats, here were the victories:
On our first night, I approached a Gulf Arab family after getting a word of knowledge about a problem in the arm below the elbow. I asked and explained that God wanted to heal. They initially said "no" and I proceeded to the food court to pick up some food. On my way back, they called me over to their table and told me that their father in fact had a problem in his arm in that very same spot. I gave them my card and told them that I was willing to meet with him and that God would heal him. They haven't called yet.
The next day at a gas station, I got a word of knowledge for another arm problem - I asked two guys initially but it wasn't for them. While I was paying, I the Lord highlighted another Gulf Arab man to me (oftentimes the person that the Lord "highlights" in some way is the person who the word is for). I asked him if he had that problem - he did. I told him that I would meet him outside. A minute later, he came and I explained that I was a Christian and that God wanted to heal his arm. He let me pray and the power of God came - I felt strong tingling coming through my hand. When I asked him if he felt that, he said yes. I told him that the Lord was healing his arm. I gave him my card and told him to contact me if he had any more questions. Hasn't called back yet, but I know he will!
Finally, in a large shopping mall while waiting for a friend to arrive, Isaac and I began to minister prophetically to several different people. I know he will be blogging about that, so I won't share his stories. Something happened however that was really powerful. We were ministering prophetically to a woman from the Ukraine (an Orthodox Christian). The Lord showed me that she had a gift and a calling to work with children. The Lord also was showing Isaac things about her life. She was now intently listening as these things were accurate and meaningful to her. During our time with her, the Lord gave me a word of knowledge about a heart condition. I didn't sense it was for her, but asked who close to her had a heart condition. It was her father. As I began telling her that the Lord wanted to heal him, she just began to cry. It was so precious. I was just so touched how the Lord's voice and his gifts are such powerful tools, as Jack Deere teaches, "to express God's love". We basically gave her a quick training on how she could pray for him over the phone. We were able to connect her to a local Church in that city.
At that same time, a co-worker of this woman from Syria came up - she was muslim. The Lord began revealing to us things about her life as well. He showed me that she was living in a totally different way than she wanted to be living - she confirmed that. I told her that she was going to need to make some new friends - she agreed. God had her attention. We scheduled a ministry time to pray for her later - but unfortunately she had to leave before we came back. She has our contact info as well as her Ukrainian co-worker to direct her to Jesus.
In hindsight, I realize the victories were actually more than I remembered. The fact is that my attempts on the the last day of our trip didn't go well - but the attempts on the first two days actually went really well. Interesting how the enemy gets us to focus on the failures and forget the things God has done.
Renamed blogpost: The thrill of victorIES OVERIDE the agony of a few defeats"
Isaac of Ninevah and I were traveling again, and overall I felt like my attempts to minister to people in public didn't go that well. I "missed" alot of words for people - i.e. "Do you have pain in your _______"? "No, why?" seemed to be the common response!
However, whereas I need to be honest about the discouragement, the fact is that God gave us a couple of powerful encounters with people. So, enough about the defeats, here were the victories:
On our first night, I approached a Gulf Arab family after getting a word of knowledge about a problem in the arm below the elbow. I asked and explained that God wanted to heal. They initially said "no" and I proceeded to the food court to pick up some food. On my way back, they called me over to their table and told me that their father in fact had a problem in his arm in that very same spot. I gave them my card and told them that I was willing to meet with him and that God would heal him. They haven't called yet.
The next day at a gas station, I got a word of knowledge for another arm problem - I asked two guys initially but it wasn't for them. While I was paying, I the Lord highlighted another Gulf Arab man to me (oftentimes the person that the Lord "highlights" in some way is the person who the word is for). I asked him if he had that problem - he did. I told him that I would meet him outside. A minute later, he came and I explained that I was a Christian and that God wanted to heal his arm. He let me pray and the power of God came - I felt strong tingling coming through my hand. When I asked him if he felt that, he said yes. I told him that the Lord was healing his arm. I gave him my card and told him to contact me if he had any more questions. Hasn't called back yet, but I know he will!
Finally, in a large shopping mall while waiting for a friend to arrive, Isaac and I began to minister prophetically to several different people. I know he will be blogging about that, so I won't share his stories. Something happened however that was really powerful. We were ministering prophetically to a woman from the Ukraine (an Orthodox Christian). The Lord showed me that she had a gift and a calling to work with children. The Lord also was showing Isaac things about her life. She was now intently listening as these things were accurate and meaningful to her. During our time with her, the Lord gave me a word of knowledge about a heart condition. I didn't sense it was for her, but asked who close to her had a heart condition. It was her father. As I began telling her that the Lord wanted to heal him, she just began to cry. It was so precious. I was just so touched how the Lord's voice and his gifts are such powerful tools, as Jack Deere teaches, "to express God's love". We basically gave her a quick training on how she could pray for him over the phone. We were able to connect her to a local Church in that city.
At that same time, a co-worker of this woman from Syria came up - she was muslim. The Lord began revealing to us things about her life as well. He showed me that she was living in a totally different way than she wanted to be living - she confirmed that. I told her that she was going to need to make some new friends - she agreed. God had her attention. We scheduled a ministry time to pray for her later - but unfortunately she had to leave before we came back. She has our contact info as well as her Ukrainian co-worker to direct her to Jesus.
In hindsight, I realize the victories were actually more than I remembered. The fact is that my attempts on the the last day of our trip didn't go well - but the attempts on the first two days actually went really well. Interesting how the enemy gets us to focus on the failures and forget the things God has done.
Renamed blogpost: The thrill of victorIES OVERIDE the agony of a few defeats"
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