So, after getting back from Brazil I got up in church and shared a couple testimonies from my trip. I think it probably made a few people uncomfortable, but others approached me and told me how much it encouraged them. Many didn't know God was doing things like that!
After church every Sunday, some of us go to the local jail and share Christ. This has always been the highlight of my week, as over 100 people have come to Christ through this ministry, and I've already seen the Holy Spirt moving there. For the women's session, normally we have 7-10 women. That particular Sunday only four women walked in. As they came in, I was asking the Lord to give me a word of knowledge. The phrase "urinary tract infection" popped into my head. They sat down and I began to speak. I spent the entire time sharing testimony after testimony about how the Lord moved and healed in Brazil. Each of the four women responded differently. One women cried with joy through my entire talk (it was about an hour). Another woman had a big smile on her face, and you could tell that she had no idea God did such wonderful things (she was a fairly new believer). Another woman looked slightly uncomfortable, and the last woman sat back with her arms crossed the entire time. It was clear that she didn't buy any of it.
As I finished talking, I admitted to them that the Lord had possibly given me a word of knowledge, but that I was still working on discerning my voice from His, but that I couldn't leave without trying it out. So I asked them if anyone had a urinary tract infection. No one said anything. I was just about to apologize to them, when the woman who'd had her arms crossed asked, "Is that when you try to go pee and can't go?" I told yes. She instantly burst into tears. We all gathered around her and I asked if we could pray for her. She told us that she also had metal in her knee and couldn't bend it.
We laid hands on her and began to pray. Immediately I began to twitch. After a moment I asked her if she was feeling anything. She said she felt searig heat in her abdomen and a sensation like something was leaving through the top of her head. We prayed for healing in her knee and asked for the metal to disappear. She got up and tried to bend it, but didn't see much improvement. We prayed again and she tried to bend it. This time I heard the other girls gasp. They said that was way more than she could bend it before. I asked her how much she was healed and she said 80%. That was where it topped off. She was balling the whole time. I asked her if she had received Christ as her Lord and Savior. She shook her head and said, "My sister's always tryin to get me to do that!" I asked her if she thought she was ready to do that, and she said yes. So we prayed right there and she gave her life to the Lord. God is so much fun!!
I repeated the same thing for the men's session (only to a much larger audience). I got another word of knowledge as they came in- hepatitis. I knew, however, that there was a good chance no one would admit to that one. Out of obedience, I gave the group the word at the end. No one responded. I waited for a long time, and no one ever came forward. I prayed for them anyway. They began to walk out of the room at the end of the session and a young kid approached me. He told me that as soon as I said the word "hepatitis" he felt electricity shoot through his body. I asked him if he had hepatitis. "I don't know..." he said. I laughed and said, "Well if you did, you don't anymore!"
A few Sundays later, at my pastor's request, the jail bought a horse trough and we baptized over 20 people.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Plane Ride #2
So let me begin by mentioning that after the 1st plane ride, I got an awesome 24 hour layover in Chile at a 5 star hotel with free meals (isn't God fun?!). In the airport in Miami I had a ten hour layover, where I slept and killed time. The entire time I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. I had a huge smile on my face and basically felt like I had a really good secret that I couldn't wait to share. A Mormon guy sat next to me for awhile and I got to tell him about the miracles in Brazil and have another theological discussion.
On this plane I sat next to an older married couple. I was hoping to have another discussion with them, so I asked them why they were in Miami and they told me all about their trip. They asked me the same question and I told them I was actually traveling from Brazil. They responded with, "That's neat," and politely put in their headphones.
I had nothing to do on this flight, as the in-flight movie was horrible and my ipod had died. I was freezing cold, but I kept praising God and thanking Him for my expereinces. His presence was still so tangible. About an hour later I began to get a burning pain in my left shoulder and neck. I quickly realized that it might be a word of knowledge for someone around me. However, the woman was still listening to music and the guy was sleeping. So I prayed that God would give me more information. I got a word that started with "car_ _ ". I didn't know what it was, only that it started with the sound "car..." I got the impression that it might be their last name or the name of a business that they owned, so I wrote it down. Underneathe it I wrote michael and son, as an example of how the "car" word could end. For example, it might be Carmichael or Carson.
At some point when he was awake and she pulled out her headphones we struck up a conversation. I said to them, "This might sound weird, but do either of you have a shoulder problem or a shoulder injury?" As I asked them this, I indicated the place on my left shoulder and neck. Very quickly she asked in a skeptical voice, "Why...?" I said, "Call it sympathy pains. My shoulder is killing me for no reason and I thought it might be for one of you two." She then explained to me that she was in a car accident 15 years prior and her shoulder had never quite healed completely. It still hurt her after all that time.
I told them all about Brazil and how God had healed so many people and how the pain had gotten was really a word of knowledge. I asked if I could pray for her shoulder and she said yes. So I put my hand on her shoulder and began to pray. The instant I began to pray I got so hot that I felt like I had a fever. The whole plane ride I had been freezing, and suddenly I had to begin peeling off the layers of blankets and sweaters I had on. She said after finished that her shoulder felt like it was on fire. I asked her to try to do something to see if it had been healed and she tried rolling her shoulder. Instantly she freaked out. She was so excited and said that it was 100% better. I wanted to ask about the other information, but didn't see the need, as she had already been healed. However, I was curious to see if they were right. I asked them their names and it turned out their last name was nowhere close. I asked them what they did for a living and she was a legal secretary or something, and he said he owned a bakery. I asked him what the name of his bakery was, and he said, "Karsch's." I got really excited and pulled out my journal to show them where I had written it down.
She looked over my shoulder and shouted (and I do mean shouted), "OH MY GOD SHE GOT MICHAEL!!! THAT'S MY SON RIGHT BEHIND US!!!" At this point she turned around and announced to Michael that I got his name, and the poor guy was so confused. I didn't realize it when I had written it down, but I wrote Michael and Son together under the word "car". I got to pray for the whole family. I asked them if they went to church and she said they were Catholic but never went to church except on holidays. I told them how I had prayed for God to sit me next to people He wanted to encounter, and that I believed they would be blessed by going to church. They just happen to live close to my good friend Justine's church (which is rockin' in the Spirit I might add). I'm not sure her husband was very into it, but it was obvious to me that the Lord had made a major impact on her.
I know that the Lord blessed these people, but again, I know it blessed me just as much if not more. God is such a wonderful multi-tasker...
On this plane I sat next to an older married couple. I was hoping to have another discussion with them, so I asked them why they were in Miami and they told me all about their trip. They asked me the same question and I told them I was actually traveling from Brazil. They responded with, "That's neat," and politely put in their headphones.
I had nothing to do on this flight, as the in-flight movie was horrible and my ipod had died. I was freezing cold, but I kept praising God and thanking Him for my expereinces. His presence was still so tangible. About an hour later I began to get a burning pain in my left shoulder and neck. I quickly realized that it might be a word of knowledge for someone around me. However, the woman was still listening to music and the guy was sleeping. So I prayed that God would give me more information. I got a word that started with "car_ _ ". I didn't know what it was, only that it started with the sound "car..." I got the impression that it might be their last name or the name of a business that they owned, so I wrote it down. Underneathe it I wrote michael and son, as an example of how the "car" word could end. For example, it might be Carmichael or Carson.
At some point when he was awake and she pulled out her headphones we struck up a conversation. I said to them, "This might sound weird, but do either of you have a shoulder problem or a shoulder injury?" As I asked them this, I indicated the place on my left shoulder and neck. Very quickly she asked in a skeptical voice, "Why...?" I said, "Call it sympathy pains. My shoulder is killing me for no reason and I thought it might be for one of you two." She then explained to me that she was in a car accident 15 years prior and her shoulder had never quite healed completely. It still hurt her after all that time.
I told them all about Brazil and how God had healed so many people and how the pain had gotten was really a word of knowledge. I asked if I could pray for her shoulder and she said yes. So I put my hand on her shoulder and began to pray. The instant I began to pray I got so hot that I felt like I had a fever. The whole plane ride I had been freezing, and suddenly I had to begin peeling off the layers of blankets and sweaters I had on. She said after finished that her shoulder felt like it was on fire. I asked her to try to do something to see if it had been healed and she tried rolling her shoulder. Instantly she freaked out. She was so excited and said that it was 100% better. I wanted to ask about the other information, but didn't see the need, as she had already been healed. However, I was curious to see if they were right. I asked them their names and it turned out their last name was nowhere close. I asked them what they did for a living and she was a legal secretary or something, and he said he owned a bakery. I asked him what the name of his bakery was, and he said, "Karsch's." I got really excited and pulled out my journal to show them where I had written it down.
She looked over my shoulder and shouted (and I do mean shouted), "OH MY GOD SHE GOT MICHAEL!!! THAT'S MY SON RIGHT BEHIND US!!!" At this point she turned around and announced to Michael that I got his name, and the poor guy was so confused. I didn't realize it when I had written it down, but I wrote Michael and Son together under the word "car". I got to pray for the whole family. I asked them if they went to church and she said they were Catholic but never went to church except on holidays. I told them how I had prayed for God to sit me next to people He wanted to encounter, and that I believed they would be blessed by going to church. They just happen to live close to my good friend Justine's church (which is rockin' in the Spirit I might add). I'm not sure her husband was very into it, but it was obvious to me that the Lord had made a major impact on her.
I know that the Lord blessed these people, but again, I know it blessed me just as much if not more. God is such a wonderful multi-tasker...
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Since YPI...
Ok, I realize I'm doing this blog out of order, but I am more anxious to write about what has happened since Youth Power Invasion (Curitiba, Brazil) than I am even about the things that took place while I was there. I had no idea that God was as interesting/amazing/fun as I have recently discovered. To give you some background incase you are reading this, and have no idea what YPI is all about, I went on a 2-week trip with over 200 Americans/Europeans to Brazil to connect with what the Holy Spirit is doing there. There is a revival happening there like no where else in the world. For the first week, we were trained in healing, prophecy, words of knowledge, impartation, and intercession. We also went with the speakers in groups to four different churches on four different nights. We saw all kinds of healings, manifestations, and miracles.
As amazing as it was, I was adamant in prayer that I needed to be able to bring it back with me to Parker, AZ. In fact, I told God that I wanted to see Him move on the plane. I told Him I wanted to get words of knowledge and see healing even on the plane. I had no idea when I asked for this, how much God was willing to bless that desire.
In my flight out of Sao Paulo to Santiago, Chile, I sat next to a man who was returning home to Chile. He didn't speak much English, but I speak Spanish well enough to get by, so we made small talk about what he had been doing in Brazil for awhile. Then he asked me why I was in Brazil. I smiled and began to tell him about YPI and all of the wonderful miracles and healings God did through me and around me. He waited for me to finish, and he said, "I don't believe that." I insisted that it was true, and began to explain more stories about words of knowledge and how God had shown me things about people I had never met. He sat back, crossed his arms and said, "Ok, show me what you've got." As you can imagine, I began to panic inside and stuttered and stammered as I tried to explain that I was new to all of this, and that I still didn't know exactly how it worked etc. He just sat back and waited. So I said, "Um, I think I need a minute to pray..." This is where I pulled out that secret prophet's prayer that Will Hart told us about, that goes something like this:
"Help me Jesus, help me Jesus, help me Jesus, help me Jesus, help me Jesus..."
I'd love to be able to tell you that I clearly heard the Lord speak to me about this man. However, I didn't hear anything or see anything. I could imagine things about him, but who wants to risk God's reputation on that? I could imagine that his wife was pregnant, that he is a hypochondriac but couldn't be sure that was from God. So I turned and explained to him that I was still working on telling the Lord's voice from my own, and I asked him to forgive me if any of the information was wrong. I remember wincing as I asked him if he was a hypochondriac, to which he responded with a surprised expression and a simple, "Actually, yes." I totally freaked out. "What???? Really????? Oh my gosh!!!!" Then I suddenly remembered that when I sat down next to him I got a sharp pain in my stomach. Ordinarily I never would have said anything and would have passed it off as hunger pains, however, I was feeling a little more bold at this point. So I asked him if he had a stomach problem. Again, he looked surprised as he told me he had gastritis. "Oh thank God!" I said, and then quickly added, "Not that you have gastritis, just that I was right."
I looked down at my journal where I had jotted down all of these things, and decided that the rest was too bold for me. Why ruin the good streak? Unbeknownst to me, he had been looking over my shoulder and pointed to something on my page. "What's THAT?" he asked. I began to hem and haw thinking that I had already blown it, when he added, "How did you know my wife is pregnant??" By this point I was totally freaking out and so excited I think I may have woken people up on the plane with my celebrating. Now I really had his attention. However, that wasn't all. "How did you know her name was Patricia?" he asked, freaking out himself at this point. Now I was confused more than excited. "What?" I asked. He pointed to my paper where, at the top of the page, just before getting on the plane, I had written down the name Patricia King. Someone I had been traveling with suggested I check out this speaker named Patricia King. It was the only other thing written on that page, and I had written 'wife pregnant' just underneath it. He started asking me questions like, "Is everything ok with my wife's pregnancy?" I'm like, "I don't know, I'm not a psychic, it's the Holy Spirit!"
So I asked if I could pray for his gastritis and hypochondria, and he of course said yes. He didn't feel any heat or tingling like others had expereinced, but as I prayed for him my right hand began to shake and my body began to twitch. He couldn't test out the healing on the plane, unfortunately, because he had taken medicine, but he assured me he would test it out when he got home. Come to find out, he believed in a god, but he thought all religions were the same. He began to ask me theological questions, and for the rest of the plane ride we went through the Bible and talked about all kinds of things. It seemed like he had more doubts than I could answer, but as the plane landed, he said, "You know, there's a pentacostal church in my city. Maybe I'll go and check it out."
I was so blessed by this plane ride. More than he'll ever know. It would have been awesome if that was all that happened on the way home. But it wasn't.
As amazing as it was, I was adamant in prayer that I needed to be able to bring it back with me to Parker, AZ. In fact, I told God that I wanted to see Him move on the plane. I told Him I wanted to get words of knowledge and see healing even on the plane. I had no idea when I asked for this, how much God was willing to bless that desire.
In my flight out of Sao Paulo to Santiago, Chile, I sat next to a man who was returning home to Chile. He didn't speak much English, but I speak Spanish well enough to get by, so we made small talk about what he had been doing in Brazil for awhile. Then he asked me why I was in Brazil. I smiled and began to tell him about YPI and all of the wonderful miracles and healings God did through me and around me. He waited for me to finish, and he said, "I don't believe that." I insisted that it was true, and began to explain more stories about words of knowledge and how God had shown me things about people I had never met. He sat back, crossed his arms and said, "Ok, show me what you've got." As you can imagine, I began to panic inside and stuttered and stammered as I tried to explain that I was new to all of this, and that I still didn't know exactly how it worked etc. He just sat back and waited. So I said, "Um, I think I need a minute to pray..." This is where I pulled out that secret prophet's prayer that Will Hart told us about, that goes something like this:
"Help me Jesus, help me Jesus, help me Jesus, help me Jesus, help me Jesus..."
I'd love to be able to tell you that I clearly heard the Lord speak to me about this man. However, I didn't hear anything or see anything. I could imagine things about him, but who wants to risk God's reputation on that? I could imagine that his wife was pregnant, that he is a hypochondriac but couldn't be sure that was from God. So I turned and explained to him that I was still working on telling the Lord's voice from my own, and I asked him to forgive me if any of the information was wrong. I remember wincing as I asked him if he was a hypochondriac, to which he responded with a surprised expression and a simple, "Actually, yes." I totally freaked out. "What???? Really????? Oh my gosh!!!!" Then I suddenly remembered that when I sat down next to him I got a sharp pain in my stomach. Ordinarily I never would have said anything and would have passed it off as hunger pains, however, I was feeling a little more bold at this point. So I asked him if he had a stomach problem. Again, he looked surprised as he told me he had gastritis. "Oh thank God!" I said, and then quickly added, "Not that you have gastritis, just that I was right."
I looked down at my journal where I had jotted down all of these things, and decided that the rest was too bold for me. Why ruin the good streak? Unbeknownst to me, he had been looking over my shoulder and pointed to something on my page. "What's THAT?" he asked. I began to hem and haw thinking that I had already blown it, when he added, "How did you know my wife is pregnant??" By this point I was totally freaking out and so excited I think I may have woken people up on the plane with my celebrating. Now I really had his attention. However, that wasn't all. "How did you know her name was Patricia?" he asked, freaking out himself at this point. Now I was confused more than excited. "What?" I asked. He pointed to my paper where, at the top of the page, just before getting on the plane, I had written down the name Patricia King. Someone I had been traveling with suggested I check out this speaker named Patricia King. It was the only other thing written on that page, and I had written 'wife pregnant' just underneath it. He started asking me questions like, "Is everything ok with my wife's pregnancy?" I'm like, "I don't know, I'm not a psychic, it's the Holy Spirit!"
So I asked if I could pray for his gastritis and hypochondria, and he of course said yes. He didn't feel any heat or tingling like others had expereinced, but as I prayed for him my right hand began to shake and my body began to twitch. He couldn't test out the healing on the plane, unfortunately, because he had taken medicine, but he assured me he would test it out when he got home. Come to find out, he believed in a god, but he thought all religions were the same. He began to ask me theological questions, and for the rest of the plane ride we went through the Bible and talked about all kinds of things. It seemed like he had more doubts than I could answer, but as the plane landed, he said, "You know, there's a pentacostal church in my city. Maybe I'll go and check it out."
I was so blessed by this plane ride. More than he'll ever know. It would have been awesome if that was all that happened on the way home. But it wasn't.
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