the Kingdom comes in a Monastery

Monasteries are of course places of prayer - devotion to God. I had no idea what to expect when a Maronite (Lebanese Catholic) monk/priest invited me to come and minister to the monks in his monastery. My friend is also an exorcist - he's got some stories!

This invitation to the monastery actually is a year old - last year, this priest came to meet me for healing prayer. He wanted to know how we prayed for the sick. This guy is so open to learning from other Christian traditions.

I really didn't know if the invitation still stood, but we made arrangements and off we were to a monastery high in the mountains of Lebanon. Almost as soon as we arrived, the Lord started to reveal words of knowledge - one for the abbot (overseer) of another monastery. At lunch, I spoke about the healings we have been seeing (both in Lebanon and the Middle East). I offered to pray for any of the monks who wanted impartation (Rom. 1:11) to move in the healing gifts and to get words of knowledge to meet with me after lunch. I guess I would see who would come (or who would be 'allowed' to come).

Before that however, I was taken into a private meeting with an overseer of another monastery - he wanted to fresh new infilling of the Holy Spirit and had a burden for healing. He wanted to meet with me privately. The Holy Spirit came upon him and he could feel God's presence.

Next we went into a large reception room and to my surprise 15 monks all followed us in and sat around the room. This is when things got exciting - almost immediately God began giving me words of knowledge - I would call them out, a monk would identify with the problem that the Lord revealed, and I would go and pray for the sick/injured monk. Probably like 5 or 6 words came. I was able to share with all of them how I would receive them and it became like a 'mini seminar' on ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I was there with a good Lebanese friend who would basically explain everything in their dialect of Arabic (I speak a different dialect). We were just amazed that God would open such an incredible door.

Then came the time we had gathered them for - a time to pray for impartation - we all held hands in a big circle - 15 or 16 monks and ourselves. We invited the Holy Spirit to come. Some of the monks began to receive their first words of knowledge. One monk, the youngest in the monastery, began to tingle all over his body - and it wouldn't stop. He kept asking us, "what is happening to me"?? We told him the Holy Spirit was coming upon him and imparting a new anointing of the Holy Spirit. Another monk, a former muslim, also began to encounter the Holy Spirit in a powerful way!

The open door got even wider as another abbot (an overseer of another monastery) asked me to come and minister at his monastery too. Why not?!

We also saw the Lord heal a man's knee while at the monastery - he could barely move it and in front of all the monks, we held a "how to pray for healing" clinic and they all saw God heal this man's knee to a considerable degree (it was like 75% healed) - which when you consider where it was when we started, was one of the most dramatic healings I've ever seen!