I knew that the dates that Keisha and I were going to the revival were significant. Last night Todd talked about this being a shift of the second wind of the Spirit in this revival. I can’t even describe what happened last night. It was amazing. Todd announced the #14 and #15 resurrection from the dead that has happened since the beginning of this revival.
Also last night I felt that Jesus was really given precedent above everything else. Above the signs and wonders and above the emotion, Jesus was in that room and enjoying the adoration that we were giving Him. The whole night was about Him. I also felt this infusion of longing for holiness and purity of heart. In the beginning of the service I saw Jesus walking around with a big syringe and sticking it in the chests of various people. The he came up to me and stuck the syringe into my chest and shot this dark, silvery liquid into my heart. I felt that this was grace to live holy before the Lord. It turned out that the rest of worship the worship leader and Todd both were prophetically speaking about maturity and walking in holiness. I felt like I was sitting on the cusp of an extremely important moment in history.
Filed under: IHOP Operations, Life in General, Manifestations of the Spirit, Revival
Tomorrow I’m heading to Lakeland Florida to participate in a crazy healing revival. I will first fly out to Nashville, where another girlfriend will be coming from Kentucky to pick me up in which we will then drive the next 10 hours down there. It will be a week of the manifest presence of Jesus. There couldn’t possibly be a better vacation than that. However, things got a little tricky after this morning. I was informed that instead of returning to KC on the the 3rd that I must stay in Lakeland, as a bookstore manager and help Eddie James with his merch table until the 11th. This vacation has now morphed into not one but two weeks of the presence of Jesus… while being surrounded constantly by people.
Just a little peek into my personality. I truly do love people, however, I also love being by myself and openly proclaim that I am peculiarly a classic introvert. There are two things that only the closest people to me know provoke me to insanity and absolute crankiness and this is A. lack of food and B. lack of alone time.
This might get interesting.
Friday night I had sushi with pals Rebecca, Aaron, Lisa and Ann in which Rebecca, Lisa, and I gathered again to see Prince Caspian. Saturday Aaron and James helped me move and then Lisa arrived with a beautiful bouquet of electric blue delphinium and we sat and talked for some time. The rest of the afternoon and all of Sunday I was able to spend completely alone. While I probably would have preferred several more days of complete isolation in order to contain myself for the next couple of weeks, I’m hoping that one and a half days might suffice.
Either way… I’m not sure if I will be posting again for the next couple of weeks so bonjour!
Filed under: Revival
I am flying down to Nashville on May 27th and will be meeting my friend Keisha who is going to pick me up there where we will head down to Lakeland Florida for the biggest move of God I will see yet (though it will only intensify from there on, I’m sure). I cannot wait to be under a manifest presence of God like that and see miraculous signs and wonders night after night. I’m anticipating this trip to be life-changing. Woo hoo!
1 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Matthew 11:1-5
Many have been questioning the authenticity of the revival that is happening in Lakeland but how can we really know if Jesus is in the midst of it? In the above passage Jesus is explaining to John’s disciples that signs and wonders are a sure sign that it is the Messiah at work. Satan isn’t doing the healing because Satan is a liar, a thief and wants every creature of God to be destroyed. It is out of God’s love for humankind that He is manifesting Himself to heal, restore, and bring the lost to Himself (Isaiah 61).
I can see a theme working in this whole movement and it is this: He is offending our minds to reveal our hearts because this isn’t from ourselves but from Him. Who can understand the mind of God? I have read outrageous statements from Christian leaders saying that this whole thing is driven by emotion and not God. They go on to explain that ‘true revival’ is when we are all reading our 5 chapters a day. Are you kidding me? Not that reading 5 chapters a day is bad. I actually read more than that but if that is revival than I am highly disappointed.
Jesus came to do these things? He didn’t just heal broken bodies, end at that, and then go up to heaven and twiddle his thumbs until He’s ready to come back down to earth. He told us that we will do greater things than these! He has His very spirit living inside of us and we are suppose to be preforming miracles that were even more creative and extravagant than His!
11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. John 14:11-3
If you believed that the resurrection happened and Jesus rose up from the ground with a new body than you should believe in the power that still exists to do that very thing… raise the dead. Why must you think that Jesus wants us to suffer through sickness and death when we are here on earth. He loves us! Of course He doesn’t want that! That is one of the reasons He sent His Holy Spirit!
If you don’t believe these occurances are for today, I encourage you to ask the Spirit of Truth, Himself. Ask Him if they are from Him and if you believe in having a personal relationship with Jesus, then you should believe that He will answer you.
It feels like I’ve been praying the same things over and over since childhood. These are the same prayers and requests I make to God on my bed each night, even still, as an Intercessory Missionary. Prayers for the salvation of my brother, for revival… personal requests. In almost 28 years I’ve never seen any of these requests answered. Not the big ones anyway. I guess I’ve been feeling like giving up. In my stubborness, I’ve had to force myself to remember that this isn’t about me and my list of wants. He wants me to know Him first. It’s been difficult lately trying to talk to Him when I don’t understand, when nothing seems rational… when I can’t even behave like a rational person myself.
Have you ever had those times when you just don’t want to talk to Him and you’re doing something totally random, not thinking about Him at all and He just shows up and won’t leave you alone? Lately, with me, I’ll be reading Anna Karenina or something and my heart will start burning and I will just sort of wish He would stop. Finally, tonight, with me being stuck in the house all day due to snow, He is showing Himself relentless as usual. He doesn’t give up, which amazes me every day. So I put my down my book and I just sat there. Not knowing what to do and I heard Him say I miss you.
I said to Him… I don’t understand. Won’t you please just answer one of these big requests… just one to keep me going? I just need to know that what I say to You each day is actually doing something out there. I feel powerless.
And then I heard Him say, Isaiah 62:6.
You would think I would know that reference by now but I didn’t. I flipped open and this is what I read… it’s definately a familiar one on the base:
6On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen;
All day and all night they will never keep silent
You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves;
7And give Him no rest until He establishes
And makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
I knew this was an alarm being sounded. I’ve been giving myself a lot of “rest” but it’s not a time for retirement. It’s so easy to sit back when you don’t see a single prayer answered. It’s so easy to give up when you feel like you’re wasting your time.
God… why do you run your kingdom like this?
Because this is how I get to spend time with you.
Filed under: IHOP Operations, Life in General, Literature, Missions, Revival
1. I was an English major, however, I took almost no interest in grammatical studies. I love to read and write (though I can’t say I write well) and that is precisely why I studied English… not to figure out sentence structure but to read and study fantastic literature. In fact, the authors I enjoyed the most were Faulkner and Joyce, both known to be the most spastic, nonsense, stream of consciousness writers in existence. Faulkner is thought to have over 350 spelling and grammatical errors in The Sound and the Fury but I love his writing because it is compelling, thought-provoking and you have to actually THINK when you read his stuff… not to mention the extreme intensity of his stories that are always likeable to extremely intense people like myself.
Anyway, to get to the point I am finally taking time to not only read some good literature (aside from all of the Bill Johnson, Art Katz writings) like Anna Karenina but have also decided to brush up on some grammar, having actually purchased a college grammar text book. I hope this helps because I have become intensely lazy about my usage, sentence structure… heck even my spelling. I need to become un-lazy.
Back to Tolstoy. He is a Russian genious not to mention he became a follower of Jesus later on in his life and later dedicated many short stories to the Lord… many of them analogies for the sermon on the mount (I own a big chunk of the collection).
2. This morning Elizabeth and I were both blow-drying our hair at the same time in two seperate rooms. For a brief moment I thought “I wonder what would happen if we blew a fuse.” Of course, seconds afterward we actually did blow a fuse and neither of us knew where the fuse box was. Suprisingly, after scrambling around the house trying to find a working outlet, I was actually 10 minutes early to work.
3. I think I may have a chance to go to New York in December/January… not sure yet but this is a huge possibility. I have always wanted to visit NY since I was a little girl. My parents lived there for awhile before I was born and they absolutely loved it. I use to read all kinds of stories like The Cross and the Switchblade (about the supernatural beginnings of Teen Challenge –an organization my dad worked for which is basically a spirit-filled rehab center with an 86% success rate of recovery), Run Baby, Run and Jesus Doesn’t Live in Brooklyn. Lately, the Lord has been really stirring things in my heart about New York. When I was in London, I actually received a prophetic word about New York and a week after I got back, Julie Meyer gave a prophetic word about the city.
The truth is I have a heart for people in general. Mostly people who’s hearts are hard toward the gospel. When large cities like London, New York, and Paris get hit with massive out-breaks of the Spirit, it’s just inevitable that the rest of the world will follow. Yes, getting touched by the presence of God is amazing but I want to see people fall in love with Jesus. I want to see countenances changed and hope restored in the lives of broken people. Okay… before I go more on a tangent…
4. Yesterday, I was helping Laura and Erin in receiving and as we were working, Erin popped in a DVD with Heidi Baker speaking. I thought… hmmm… this is far different from my last job where witches would come up to me asking me where the occult section is (I worked at Half-Price Books in Dallas). I love the fact that I work at a job where we can stop for a moment and worship Jesus. I guess I am becoming less and less bitter about being away from my friends. God is really doing things. I’m encouraged.
Filed under: Biblical love, Family, Friendship, House of Prayer, Intercession, Missions, Revival, The Church
Polzeath is much slower paced than London but in a good way. As the Combrinks suggested, I was “gallavanting all over London”. I loved to take the tube (or subway) all over the city and walked from street to street observing the people and history yet at the same time being in solitude and keeping to myself. I am an explorer at heart and am secretly, intensely spontaneous and maybe a bit of an enigma.
But here in Polzeath it’s much different. The scenery is the complete opposite. The surfers and villagers are more of the “chill” type, far different from the fast-paced and often uptight lives of the city folk. And here it seems that I am much more surrounded by people. It is wonderful feeling like I am a part of a family again… that I am connected to a group of people. I’m finding it surprising that I can’t think of anyone that I have been so connected to at IHOP that I actually miss them. The Farnham’s are such an inclusive, loving family. The kids are hilarious and I wish that I could post some of the silly pictures we’ve taken together. It’s been actually quite healing for me being around people that I know accept me and care about what goes on in my life. I have to say that this is one thing about IHOP that often disappoints me.
Yesterday, Paul, Shirley and I climbed the moors that overlook the ocean. It was the most beautiful scenery that I have ever viewed before. We climbed to the highest height in Cornish country and prayed over the land. I can’t even describe in words how lovely it was. We even spied some wild ponies that were grazing on the side of the hill.
Later last evening we joined with a couple named Chris and Ness who came for dinner. They are surfers who run the Tubestation church here in Polzeath and are an amazing couple. It was really exciting for all of us to really share our burden for harp and bowl here in Cornwall and the transformation that is really possible because of corporate prayer but ENJOYABLE prayer (something that I don’t think many people understand around here).
Filed under: Communing with the Holy Spirit, Maturity, Missions, Prophecy, Revival
This is definately a season of challenge, of stretching, of taking me out of my comfort zone and the Lord is using all of these avenues to teach me some unique things. I’ve been reading a lot of Bill Johnson and I love him because he teaches that without risk and without screwing up once-in-awhile we will never gain all that we ask for… without scary expectation and even occasionally some mistaken foolishness, God won’t be able to move in supernatural ways… which means that revival won’t happen.
As far as my trip goes… I’m leaving in two weeks and the Lord is continuing to speak to me and confirm that this whole thing is from Him. I love how He wants to be involved in every little thing.
What’s daunting to me right now is the fact that Paul has actually booked speaking engagements for me in Cornwall. At first I panicked when I found out I would be speaking at churches but the Farnham’s reminded me that it is “so much fun” when we let the Holy Spirit get involved. In fact, this Saturday I received a word from someone in leadership that God was going to be stretching me and challenging me and that I would be speaking prophetically into people’s lives and unearthing uncomfortable things but that the Lord was wanting me to be obedient. This man did not know that I was going to be speaking there and that I was TERRIFIED about it. He just chuckled when I told him the news. I’m almost more excited about going to Polzeath than London. Though London will be exciting and urban, I think the Lord is going to really do some interesting things in the Southwest.
Filed under: Fasting, Purity, Revival, Sin, Spirit of the Age, Spiritual Warfare, The Church
In the book The Prophetic Whisper, Richard Gazowsky shares the significance of a 40-day fast that the Lord gave him:
My wife and I had gone to Carmel, California for a time of extended prayer. On the third day, while we were praying at the beach, a swarm of flies ascended from the ocean surface as if orchestrated by an invisible conductor and swept like a blanket across the water and onto the beach. I ran over to the place where Sandy was praying to see if she was alright.
“Richard it is so strange,” she said. “While I was praying, I brought up the name of a pastor’s wife whom I knew had been tempted to commit adultery, intending to intercede for her. As soon as I mentioned her name, these flies rose up off the ocean.”
No sooner had she finished, then the Lord quickened my spirit and said, “I am going to show you a secret vulnerability in Satan’s kingdom.” His weakness is in the flies. Later that day, we went to the Carmel public library and looked up the word fly. I discovered the meaning of Beelzebub, and found one of the names of Satan is “Lord of the Flies.” Scientists have discovered that flies have a reproductive period from 4 hours to 40 days depending upon the species. When pest controllers go to eradicate flies in a certain area, they spray pesticides everyday for a 40-day period. If they destroy the reproductive cycles of presently existing flies, they can kill off a whole generation of future flies. I then saw what God was trying to show me. Satan can’t fight for long periods. If a Christian will pray consistently for a 40-day period, he will be able to conquer most satanic strongholds in his life.
On this 40th anniversary of the 1967 landmark of the sexual revolution called the “Summer of Love,” we are calling for a 40-day fast beginning on the evening of May 28 through TheCall Nashville on 7-7-07. Our purpose is to call two generations to a 40-day season of fasting from food (the more intense the better) and from the media to cleanse ourselves of the affects of the spirit that seduces our nation into sexual immorality, greed, entertainment, dependency and spiritual malaise. Let us cry out, “God, break the pornographic plague off of the church and the homosexuality that is invading a young generation!” Let us cry out for deliverance from the spell of Jezebel, witchcraft, suicidal thoughts, drug addictions and eating disorders. Let parents pray daily for their children’s freedom. Pray for 40 days that the prodigals come home. Let a generation cry, “No toleration of Jezebel! No toleration!” And watch Christ break the power of Beelzebub, the lord of the flies, and once again the shout will be heard, “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty I am free at last!” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Lou Engle
