Sorry the volume's really low on this one .. this is New Joy Church: praying for a sprained ankle.
This may not be the most amazing video, but I love it.
The childlike faith in her is so beautiful—you can see it in her eyes. God is good! :)
Jenny
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
July 2014—The street one
Transcript of a testimony from the Richmond Night Market (recorded July 20, 2014):
—Is it recording?
—Yep.
—Ok. ... So I just texted him, like, hey, do you want to go to the night market tonight? Let's just see what we can see, see what the Spirit's gonna do
—Yeah yeah
—So he's like oh yeah, sure, but Kathy's really hungry, so
—Where is this?
—Well, we hadn't decided on a place, so we said well, let's go to the night market, so it was Kathy, Leona ...
—Leona?
—their baby .. and Dave and I, we all went to the night market together. And we asked for words, that God would show us a specific person to minister to, and then we went in there to find them. So, I got a pretty specific word, I saw a guy with a green shirt and a baseball cap, and I got the word 'armor'.
—Ok
—So, I went in there, and we were walking around, and I walked by one area and I saw a guy, green shirt, baseball cap, just like the word, and I felt the Holy Spirit drawing me to look closely at what was written on his cap, and ... 'under armor' was written on it. So I just went up to talk to him and just said, "hey," you know, tried to enter into conversation, but he obviously had difficulty, there was a language barrier and everything, so, I just kept on going, and I thought, maybe we'll be able to connect with him later. But as I was going around, I found Dave, and he said had a word as well and found his guy but was unable to connect with him, so then I clued in to what I thought the Holy Spirit was doing, which was just showing us that we were on the right path, and that we just needed to pursue him, and see the something else he had for us, we were just in the right place at the right time. So as we were walking around I noticed a woman with a cane. And I asked Kathy if she could approach her, and with Leona it was just very easy for her to make that connection
—Yeah yeah
—and it just so happened that the woman was at an eyelash booth, so Dave was like, "yeah, you should approach her, tell her you have fake eyelashes too!"
—Ha ha!
—So she went over there and started to talk with her, and in my mind I thought, this is never gonna work, she's not gonna be able to break this open for us, but suddenly she turned around and she motioned us over to pray, she was open for prayer! So what we discovered was there were three women in this family, and they were mostly nominal Catholic, first nations
—Yeah
—but they were open to receiving prayer. It was the woman and her aunt, I think, and her cousin that were all there. So we start praying for the woman's knee, and she gets completely healed right there on the spot,
—Wow.
—there's like a little crowd that's gathering around us by this time
—Wow, yeah.
—and so the other woman in the family, the cousin, she says, "me too, me too! I want prayer too!" she had a similar condition in her knee,
—Oh wow, yeah.
—So we started praying for her, and with the first woman I could just feel the presence of God just descend on that place, the second woman, nothing. I didn't feel anything at all. But, it doesn't matter what I feel, so I asked her how she was doing, and she was like, "no, nothing's happening, I don't feel anything at all." And then someone got a word—it might have even been me—it was about breaking off unforgiveness or something like that, so we just prayed into some unforgiveness she had from her past, she forgave whoever it was, and then, the healing just flowed. It flowed so powerfully it went—and she got healed ... this is the craaazy part—the other woman that was with them, the aunt
—Uh huh
—we were just praying for the cousin's knee, the aunt got her feet healed at that very moment, and her back, she had like a condition with her back and spine, that got instantly healed, just standing near where we were! It was so craaaaaaazy! I mean I just heard about it later and I'm like, what the heck? That's so wild!
—Yeah yeah yeah, just overflow
—Yeah, yeah! She was like, she wasn't even, she was like ... there was this woman, and then the other woman, and she was like way on the other side ...
—Did she know right away, like she felt that healing?
—Yeah! Yeah, she felt it right at that moment! And there was that whole crowd around us, we just started shouting praises to Jesus, giving him glory to him for the healings, and the ladies shouted and prayed with us, making deeper commitments to him in their lives!
—Wow
—So then we were going around and I was like ok, I kind of started playing a little game, like racking up points and thinking, this is one for Kathy, so now I want one for Dave, and so I was like ok what's next, Dave? He said, "I think we're supposed to buy some DVDs." I was like ok ... so he goes to buy some DVDs, and we start to talk a little bit, and just say hi to the guy, we buy some DVDs, and then Dave leaves! And I'm like, "Come on man ... this is what we were going to do, just buy DVDs?? Let's go back and bless the guy with a word." So we go back, and we both walk up to the guy with the exact same picture, the exact same word for him, it has to do with his relationship with his son and where he's headed in his life, and it was just like the perfect connection with the guy,
—Wow
—he was pretty much like the stereotypical stoic Asian, but you could tell that he was touched that we were speaking something into the destiny of his family. So we keep going and I'm like ok, one for Kathy, one for Dave, now I want one.
—Yeah yeah yeah
—So, we're going out, and I'm like, let's just go, like we can walk out and then we'll see what we see on the way out. So I'm walking by and there's those two women there selling mops, you know, and they're really aggressive, they're like "try the mops! try the mops!", so I'm like, "ok, we'll try your mops, if you try what we have!"
—Ok ha ha
—Ha ha, I don't know, those words just came out of my mouth, I honestly didn't know how I was going to follow them up!
—Interesting, yeah
—And so they were like, "whoa, what do you have?" like, "where is it?" and I was like, "it's right here, in our hands" ... I don't know ... I was just like speaking out of my butt, haha .. so then they started to give us the mops to try but then they pulled them back and they're like "but first we wanna see what you have", so I was like, "ok, hold out your hands", and the one woman just held out her hands, and I just put my hands on her, and just prayed the Father's heart and that the Holy Spirit would just fall on her ... and ... yeah so I didn't know if anything was going to happen, but she felt His Presence, she just felt like power surging through her, and she just felt a huge wave of God's love, and then the other girl, again, is like "me too!", so we prayed for her and she felt the same thing, again I didn't expect anything to happen, even at that point, but she received stuff as well, and then we were walking away, and Dave nudged me and said, "you gotta give them a New Joy card!" so I just got out a New Joy card and wrote a little note, like "God bless you, and have a great night", I gave it to the first mop lady and then she said, "oh, thanks for this!" and then she said, "I'm going to treasure this for the rest of my life!"
—Wow
—and I'm like come on, you're just messing with me, like what are you trying to say, and then she's like, "no, seriously, my husband and I are looking for a church, and this could be the church that we check out, so"
—Oh ha ha wow!
—So I'm like oh, that's awesome! And that's the story, yeah!
—Wow, one after another! Praise God!!
[Update from months later: I visited the night market again, and the DVD seller was still there. He totally remembered our prayer ... his relationship with his son had taken a turn for the better, and we gave glory to God for what he was doing in his life!
The first mop lady that we prayed for was still there, and she not only remembered me but was so excited to see me, she thanked me once again for the prayer, and then said the most amazing thing: "do you know what," she said, "it's crazy, but I can still feel that presence from when you prayed! It's been on me, and hasn't left me this whole time ... it's so good!"
Wow, all glory to God! More of you Jesus, I ask for your love and power to overflow, both in our city, and in whoever might be inspired by this testimony! Cheers!]
—Is it recording?
—Yep.
—Ok. ... So I just texted him, like, hey, do you want to go to the night market tonight? Let's just see what we can see, see what the Spirit's gonna do
—Yeah yeah
—So he's like oh yeah, sure, but Kathy's really hungry, so
—Where is this?
—Well, we hadn't decided on a place, so we said well, let's go to the night market, so it was Kathy, Leona ...
—Leona?
—their baby .. and Dave and I, we all went to the night market together. And we asked for words, that God would show us a specific person to minister to, and then we went in there to find them. So, I got a pretty specific word, I saw a guy with a green shirt and a baseball cap, and I got the word 'armor'.
—Ok
—So, I went in there, and we were walking around, and I walked by one area and I saw a guy, green shirt, baseball cap, just like the word, and I felt the Holy Spirit drawing me to look closely at what was written on his cap, and ... 'under armor' was written on it. So I just went up to talk to him and just said, "hey," you know, tried to enter into conversation, but he obviously had difficulty, there was a language barrier and everything, so, I just kept on going, and I thought, maybe we'll be able to connect with him later. But as I was going around, I found Dave, and he said had a word as well and found his guy but was unable to connect with him, so then I clued in to what I thought the Holy Spirit was doing, which was just showing us that we were on the right path, and that we just needed to pursue him, and see the something else he had for us, we were just in the right place at the right time. So as we were walking around I noticed a woman with a cane. And I asked Kathy if she could approach her, and with Leona it was just very easy for her to make that connection
—Yeah yeah
—and it just so happened that the woman was at an eyelash booth, so Dave was like, "yeah, you should approach her, tell her you have fake eyelashes too!"
—Ha ha!
—So she went over there and started to talk with her, and in my mind I thought, this is never gonna work, she's not gonna be able to break this open for us, but suddenly she turned around and she motioned us over to pray, she was open for prayer! So what we discovered was there were three women in this family, and they were mostly nominal Catholic, first nations
—Yeah
—but they were open to receiving prayer. It was the woman and her aunt, I think, and her cousin that were all there. So we start praying for the woman's knee, and she gets completely healed right there on the spot,
—Wow.
—there's like a little crowd that's gathering around us by this time
—Wow, yeah.
—and so the other woman in the family, the cousin, she says, "me too, me too! I want prayer too!" she had a similar condition in her knee,
—Oh wow, yeah.
—So we started praying for her, and with the first woman I could just feel the presence of God just descend on that place, the second woman, nothing. I didn't feel anything at all. But, it doesn't matter what I feel, so I asked her how she was doing, and she was like, "no, nothing's happening, I don't feel anything at all." And then someone got a word—it might have even been me—it was about breaking off unforgiveness or something like that, so we just prayed into some unforgiveness she had from her past, she forgave whoever it was, and then, the healing just flowed. It flowed so powerfully it went—and she got healed ... this is the craaazy part—the other woman that was with them, the aunt
—Uh huh
—we were just praying for the cousin's knee, the aunt got her feet healed at that very moment, and her back, she had like a condition with her back and spine, that got instantly healed, just standing near where we were! It was so craaaaaaazy! I mean I just heard about it later and I'm like, what the heck? That's so wild!
—Yeah yeah yeah, just overflow
—Yeah, yeah! She was like, she wasn't even, she was like ... there was this woman, and then the other woman, and she was like way on the other side ...
—Did she know right away, like she felt that healing?
—Yeah! Yeah, she felt it right at that moment! And there was that whole crowd around us, we just started shouting praises to Jesus, giving him glory to him for the healings, and the ladies shouted and prayed with us, making deeper commitments to him in their lives!
—Wow
—So then we were going around and I was like ok, I kind of started playing a little game, like racking up points and thinking, this is one for Kathy, so now I want one for Dave, and so I was like ok what's next, Dave? He said, "I think we're supposed to buy some DVDs." I was like ok ... so he goes to buy some DVDs, and we start to talk a little bit, and just say hi to the guy, we buy some DVDs, and then Dave leaves! And I'm like, "Come on man ... this is what we were going to do, just buy DVDs?? Let's go back and bless the guy with a word." So we go back, and we both walk up to the guy with the exact same picture, the exact same word for him, it has to do with his relationship with his son and where he's headed in his life, and it was just like the perfect connection with the guy,
—Wow
—he was pretty much like the stereotypical stoic Asian, but you could tell that he was touched that we were speaking something into the destiny of his family. So we keep going and I'm like ok, one for Kathy, one for Dave, now I want one.
—Yeah yeah yeah
—So, we're going out, and I'm like, let's just go, like we can walk out and then we'll see what we see on the way out. So I'm walking by and there's those two women there selling mops, you know, and they're really aggressive, they're like "try the mops! try the mops!", so I'm like, "ok, we'll try your mops, if you try what we have!"
—Ok ha ha
—Ha ha, I don't know, those words just came out of my mouth, I honestly didn't know how I was going to follow them up!
—Interesting, yeah
—And so they were like, "whoa, what do you have?" like, "where is it?" and I was like, "it's right here, in our hands" ... I don't know ... I was just like speaking out of my butt, haha .. so then they started to give us the mops to try but then they pulled them back and they're like "but first we wanna see what you have", so I was like, "ok, hold out your hands", and the one woman just held out her hands, and I just put my hands on her, and just prayed the Father's heart and that the Holy Spirit would just fall on her ... and ... yeah so I didn't know if anything was going to happen, but she felt His Presence, she just felt like power surging through her, and she just felt a huge wave of God's love, and then the other girl, again, is like "me too!", so we prayed for her and she felt the same thing, again I didn't expect anything to happen, even at that point, but she received stuff as well, and then we were walking away, and Dave nudged me and said, "you gotta give them a New Joy card!" so I just got out a New Joy card and wrote a little note, like "God bless you, and have a great night", I gave it to the first mop lady and then she said, "oh, thanks for this!" and then she said, "I'm going to treasure this for the rest of my life!"
—Wow
—and I'm like come on, you're just messing with me, like what are you trying to say, and then she's like, "no, seriously, my husband and I are looking for a church, and this could be the church that we check out, so"
—Oh ha ha wow!
—So I'm like oh, that's awesome! And that's the story, yeah!
—Wow, one after another! Praise God!!
[Update from months later: I visited the night market again, and the DVD seller was still there. He totally remembered our prayer ... his relationship with his son had taken a turn for the better, and we gave glory to God for what he was doing in his life!
The first mop lady that we prayed for was still there, and she not only remembered me but was so excited to see me, she thanked me once again for the prayer, and then said the most amazing thing: "do you know what," she said, "it's crazy, but I can still feel that presence from when you prayed! It's been on me, and hasn't left me this whole time ... it's so good!"
Wow, all glory to God! More of you Jesus, I ask for your love and power to overflow, both in our city, and in whoever might be inspired by this testimony! Cheers!]
2013-2015—And part 2 and yeah ... all the rest.
So, yeah. And then a lot of stuff happened. A lot. I was going to write about it all, but ... yeahhhhhh ...there's really too much. ... Treasure hunting, praying for people at work, at church, you get the idea! I'll keep it to three more stories: one from the street, one from work, and one from church, and then we really gotta move on, ok? Alright!—Let's do it!
Monday, February 23, 2015
June 28, 2014—Summer treasure hunts, part 1
Today's treasure map:
- Minoru Chapel
- Black guy
- Shorts
- Red baseball cap
- Black raincoat
And here is one of our treasures—
Friday, January 11, 2013
Sunday, Jan 6, 2013—Jesus, no distractions
Richmond, B.C.
After church
With friends at Tapioca Express
As we are praying I share what I am seeing, L is entering into heaven, I see a door, I see her going through it, I see her meeting the Father. Later she says that everything I spoke was happened right before I said it.
After church
With friends at Tapioca Express
L is with us
She has pain in her neck from a recent skiing
accident, and would like prayer.
Her head snapped forward and her neck got hurt,
but miraculously she’s ok, she has a lot of pain around her neck though, some
problems with mobility. W and I (both of us on the healing team) sit on either side of L and began to
pray.
As we pray, the pain begins to leave, and demonic
spirits begin to manifest themselves in her mind. She sees a spirit that had been waiting by her
and causing a lot of the accidents in the past—this spirit comes closer and stares at
her right in her face, it was there when she had her most recent accident
too—it is the spirit of death.
We invite the Holy Spirit to come and fill the
place, bind and cast out this spirit, and continue to worship and invite the
Holy Spirit, contending for an open heaven around us and the entire restaurant.
As we are praying I share what I am seeing, L is entering into heaven, I see a door, I see her going through it, I see her meeting the Father. Later she says that everything I spoke was happened right before I said it.
By her estimate she is 80% healed by this time.
W and I continue to pray, and by this time the
spirit of death has fled. L sees
two angels with their wings spread over her. I see W and I with our arms
around her.
We are up to 90%, 95%, now 100% healing!
We have a group hug and I gave L a hand
slap. I think we were finished but in
that hand slap L sees little spirits shooting out of her. So I keep slapping her hand, kind of
playfully, but excited God seems to still be doing something. Every time I slap her hand it
seems like more of God’s glory comes in, and more of the little spirits fly
out. But then she says .. “uh oh.”
There is a big spirit, she says, really huge, and
she doesn’t know what to do. What is it
she wonders … So we begin to pray again, just inviting the Holy Spirit to come
and fill her and the Father to walk beside her.
But instead of the Father walking with her she feels alone and confused,
wondering what this spirit is and feeling like a little girl lost in
the woods. The way she described the
spirit seems really serious to me so I text H for advice as we continue to pray.
Texts with H:
Texts with H:
—Hey H! Can you stand in prayer as we’re praying for L … she’s had a
dramatic healing so far .. many spirits have left her including a spirit of
death that’s been plaguing her for three years … she was taken up into the
throne room but she says there is a huge spirit still in her … what would you
recommend?
—No
need to go any further … just pray for peace .. can you explain a bit more in
detail? It’s very vague and hard for me
to put together, can you explain how this all started?
—She wanted prayer for her neck …
—How did she manifest, did she have
control of who she was?
—Ok it’s not manifest like taking
control
—Ok good
—But it seems like every time we
invite the Holy Spirit more stuff comes to the surface
—Does she know what this huge
spirit is?
—No, but it’s big .. and she saw
“shame” and “control”
—Ic … just bind them up, hard to
say what to do next, sounds like God is moving though so it’s great news!
—Ok big one is bound, Holy Spirit
working
—Is neck issue resolved?
—Yep, that’s long gone
—Ok great, no need for any
more deliverance
—Got it, thanks .. really
appreciate it …
First testimony from L, from
my notebook:
Daddy’s awesome! Daddy loves me, daddy cherishes me! I went up into heaven and into a mysterious
room. He said “it’s yours.” This room was really dark, I sensed that it
was something more than healing, I had full access to the room … I don’t care
about that too much but I saw Daddy and I was happy, but the love that came
down was the best, I was just like a sponge filled with love. Now my mind is completely clear and I feel
perfect, like the accident never happened.
Something changed, something shifted in my life, and it has something to
do with ungodly beliefs, lies that were cast out, delivered. Daddy was showing me grace even though I
wasn’t good … self-inflicted pain, “but I’m still going to pour out my blessing
on you and even give you so much more, this is just the beginning” and now I
have access to more rooms, now I’m seeing myself holding a bunch of keys to all
these rooms in heaven, the first was a white door, the colors of the keys match
the colors of the doors, I need to sort them out and explore these different
rooms, and there are different colors of horses in heaven, they all belong to
me [she said the horses represented resources available to her], open to
different parts of heaven I can bring down to earth, full access, full
authority, physically all the pain has disappeared, it was weird, like the pain flew
out, I could see the spirits of pain like pssw pssw, a bunch of them, spirits
flying out, and I received divine healing [healing we didn’t pray for] in the butt as well! But there was a giant spirit …
Second testimony from L,
transcribed from an iphone recording:
So what happened was I thought that
I was dealing with a spirit, because the spirit was really big, so I asked
daddy, show me, what is this spirit? If there’s something unclean, if there’s anything in my life that’s not of
you, I want to get rid of it, I want to be radically clean and obedient, I
don’t want anything to hold me back, but if there is a spirit that is stuck in
me, yank it out, I don’t care, I’m not embarrassed, whatever it takes, I’m doing
it.
And then as I was saying that, I just saw a vision, and this time around I was in the same place [walking through the woods], but I was not alone any more, I became like a little girl, with ponytails, like I was a kid, I was very little, probably about five or six, and I was wearing my favorite dress as a kid … it was white and red and it has like a strawberry in the middle, and that was the dress that I really wanted from my dad when I was a kid ... so I was wearing it and Father in heaven was holding my hand and it was on the same path, it was really dark and he was holding my hand, and we were just walking, and then the next thing I knew I went up to heaven with daddy …
And then in heaven I saw this range of clothes and dresses, and I was looking through them but I couldn’t find something that I liked … I just couldn’t find it, there was like a huge wardrobe in heaven there were all these dresses in front of me but nothing caught my eye, but finally I knew what I was looking for, I was looking for a specific dress.
And then, out of the blue, I wasn’t a little kid anymore, I was all grown up, and I saw myself, and the next thing I knew I was clothed with a gold dress, it was all gold and it was beautiful, and I was like hmm, gold is not even my favorite color but it looks so good on me, the design, the fitting, everything was perfect, and my face was just glowing, and my hair was tied up, everything about me was done up, when I saw myself I was like … I look perfect!
And then as I was saying that, I just saw a vision, and this time around I was in the same place [walking through the woods], but I was not alone any more, I became like a little girl, with ponytails, like I was a kid, I was very little, probably about five or six, and I was wearing my favorite dress as a kid … it was white and red and it has like a strawberry in the middle, and that was the dress that I really wanted from my dad when I was a kid ... so I was wearing it and Father in heaven was holding my hand and it was on the same path, it was really dark and he was holding my hand, and we were just walking, and then the next thing I knew I went up to heaven with daddy …
And then in heaven I saw this range of clothes and dresses, and I was looking through them but I couldn’t find something that I liked … I just couldn’t find it, there was like a huge wardrobe in heaven there were all these dresses in front of me but nothing caught my eye, but finally I knew what I was looking for, I was looking for a specific dress.
And then, out of the blue, I wasn’t a little kid anymore, I was all grown up, and I saw myself, and the next thing I knew I was clothed with a gold dress, it was all gold and it was beautiful, and I was like hmm, gold is not even my favorite color but it looks so good on me, the design, the fitting, everything was perfect, and my face was just glowing, and my hair was tied up, everything about me was done up, when I saw myself I was like … I look perfect!
I was like hmm, I actually look
good! I wasn’t even wearing any make-up
or anything but my skin was perfect, and I realized this was exactly what I was
looking for.
And then the next thing I knew I was in a wedding ceremony, I was still in heaven, and all the dresses and everything was gone, and here I am walking down the aisle and then I saw the groom just staring at me, like he has never seen anything more beautiful, and I could feel it, all eyes were one me, and then the next thing I knew I just couldn’t take my eyes off the groom, but the intensity he looked at me was like you are perfect, and I felt perfect, I felt whole, he was staring at me with an intensity to the point where was I was almost feeling a bit embarrassed, but when I looked at him I thought he is more perfect than me, like flawless
and then next thing I knew as I was walking slowing to him, the dress began to change from gold to white, it was almost like a wedding dress, but it was the most most beautiful wedding dress I had ever seen and it fit me to a T, but I saw the transformation as I was walking closer and closer to him, and with every step I took the dress became whiter and whiter and pure, love that is so pure, like nothing that we’ve got on earth, and I felt so loved, so pure, pure love, so pure,and then as I walked to the front of the aisle, the dress I was wearing was just pure white, and with little flower patterns and stuff, little laces, and some gold sparkles, everything was just perfect, and then I saw you guys and you guys were just sitting there, and then you started playing the song [some of the others in the group were playing worship music as we prayed], and it was just at the right time when the song started playing and you were singing and cheering me on, and I thought I have never felt such love ..
the groom was looking at me, you guys were cheering me on, that I have been made perfect … and then I asked daddy—so random—like, what’s that spirit? I still want to get it out, and daddy was like that was a distraction, you’re perfect, there is nothing that is unclean in you, there’s no spirit that does not belong, it was in you, you are clean and you’re perfect, you’re pure ... and then I’m like ok, I’m getting married here, I’m perfect, who’s this groom, who are you …? [long pause, her mouth hangs open for 30 seconds ..]
he is Jesus! I am the bride of Christ, I was made perfect, every step that I took closer to him I became more perfect, it was nothing that I have done, all I did was walk down the aisle, and even the dresses were all prepared for me, he handpicked all the dresses, he basically prepared everything for me, and then he said you are my bride, my chosen one, you are perfect, you are beautiful, and then the next thing I knew you guys were singing and I was like yeah yeah it is done, it’s complete, it’s finished, I was just overwhelmed with love from you guys and Jesus my groom, my lover, that prepared the entire wedding procession and you guys with me, and I was like, "Can I just stay here?"
And then the next thing I knew I was in a wedding ceremony, I was still in heaven, and all the dresses and everything was gone, and here I am walking down the aisle and then I saw the groom just staring at me, like he has never seen anything more beautiful, and I could feel it, all eyes were one me, and then the next thing I knew I just couldn’t take my eyes off the groom, but the intensity he looked at me was like you are perfect, and I felt perfect, I felt whole, he was staring at me with an intensity to the point where was I was almost feeling a bit embarrassed, but when I looked at him I thought he is more perfect than me, like flawless
and then next thing I knew as I was walking slowing to him, the dress began to change from gold to white, it was almost like a wedding dress, but it was the most most beautiful wedding dress I had ever seen and it fit me to a T, but I saw the transformation as I was walking closer and closer to him, and with every step I took the dress became whiter and whiter and pure, love that is so pure, like nothing that we’ve got on earth, and I felt so loved, so pure, pure love, so pure,and then as I walked to the front of the aisle, the dress I was wearing was just pure white, and with little flower patterns and stuff, little laces, and some gold sparkles, everything was just perfect, and then I saw you guys and you guys were just sitting there, and then you started playing the song [some of the others in the group were playing worship music as we prayed], and it was just at the right time when the song started playing and you were singing and cheering me on, and I thought I have never felt such love ..
the groom was looking at me, you guys were cheering me on, that I have been made perfect … and then I asked daddy—so random—like, what’s that spirit? I still want to get it out, and daddy was like that was a distraction, you’re perfect, there is nothing that is unclean in you, there’s no spirit that does not belong, it was in you, you are clean and you’re perfect, you’re pure ... and then I’m like ok, I’m getting married here, I’m perfect, who’s this groom, who are you …? [long pause, her mouth hangs open for 30 seconds ..]
he is Jesus! I am the bride of Christ, I was made perfect, every step that I took closer to him I became more perfect, it was nothing that I have done, all I did was walk down the aisle, and even the dresses were all prepared for me, he handpicked all the dresses, he basically prepared everything for me, and then he said you are my bride, my chosen one, you are perfect, you are beautiful, and then the next thing I knew you guys were singing and I was like yeah yeah it is done, it’s complete, it’s finished, I was just overwhelmed with love from you guys and Jesus my groom, my lover, that prepared the entire wedding procession and you guys with me, and I was like, "Can I just stay here?"
And I was like you know what, maybe
I should just stay here … I don’t want to go anywhere else, and I don’t need
anything, all I want is to lock eyes with him, just lock eyes with him for
the rest of my life and I’ll be content, I don’t have to do anything for him to
love me more, all I have to do is take a step closer and closer to him, and he
has prepared the perfect dress, shoes, and hair ...
oh! and then I saw the ring, and the gemstone was pink, and I was like that’s the gemstone that I want, and Jesus, my groom, was like "I knew you’d like it," and then he asked, "Will you be my bride?" and I said "Yes yes yes yes yes!" I just kept saying "yes", I didn’t know what else to say, everything was just so perfect—I got married in heaven!
And there were like blue birds flying and then the angels were playing music, songs, its almost like you guys were like the angels that were making things happen … I was—I am—perfect, there are no other spirits, just the spirit of God, in me. And I'm pure, and God loves me, he is my lover, the lover of my soul, my husband, who has chosen me to be his bride.
oh! and then I saw the ring, and the gemstone was pink, and I was like that’s the gemstone that I want, and Jesus, my groom, was like "I knew you’d like it," and then he asked, "Will you be my bride?" and I said "Yes yes yes yes yes!" I just kept saying "yes", I didn’t know what else to say, everything was just so perfect—I got married in heaven!
And there were like blue birds flying and then the angels were playing music, songs, its almost like you guys were like the angels that were making things happen … I was—I am—perfect, there are no other spirits, just the spirit of God, in me. And I'm pure, and God loves me, he is my lover, the lover of my soul, my husband, who has chosen me to be his bride.
And then I'm like "I want to stay
here," and Jesus was like, "Do you want to bring this down on earth?" and he asked
me and I was like "I do, I want to bring this down on earth, I want to share
this with everyone, I don’t want this to just be for myself, I want to share
it with everyone else." ... family ... family .... the perfect family of heaven to bring down ... family that is from heaven to earth .... to have a taste of what it is like to be the bride of Christ, to to bring down
the most perfect family from heaven to earth.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Love by the wall, "hot chocolate have I none ..."
Nightshift tonight
Miranda, Andrew, and Brit are here.
Starting off
So much joy in our group I can't stop laughing
Hanging out with skatepark guys for a bit, Ethan, Braden
Past the old Nightshift building, up the street, on our way to the Front Room
Wall people, lined up just like a few weeks ago
Miranda is praying for a woman in a fold up chair ...
Just got out of the hospital, suffering from asthma, in a lot of pain, doctors couldn't help her.
Kelly.
—Would you like to pray too?
—Do you mind if he prays?
—No.
What does she mean? With all the pain in that answer ... can she really not mind?
She wants prayer.
Asthma go, lungs clear, release, love of the Father for Kelly.
Suddenly her grip tightens around mine.
—How are you feeling?
—Everything feels good, peace, calm, rest
Lots of love here, I see God sitting in a folding chair beside her
—I can breathe now.
—How much more needs to be healed?
—There's still pain, but I can breathe now.
—Would you like more prayer?
—Yes, but I have to go to the bathroom, can you wait two minutes?
Miranda and I: Of course. Good conversation with Bill and others around about what God's been doing in lives here.
She's back, more prayer, pain go, prayer in silence for a while, a picture of an anchor keeps coming back to me
—That's who God is to you during this time, you can trust in him, he will hold you tightly no matter what is thrown at you
After prayer
—The pain is gone
Long good bye
—Unfortunately I will still be here next week
—Well, then we'll just have to see you again I guess ...
Smiles
It's after 9 already. Past the Front Room, on our way back.
As we turn the corner to head back to the Nightshift building, a woman with a cast on her wrist ..
"Jackie"?
We offer her hot chocolate, but I'm all out .. suddenly a thought comes to mind, and I say it ..
—I don't have any hot chocolate, but what I have I'll give to you!
—What's that?
—Your hand ... healing for your hand
—I broke my wrist punching someone the other day
—Can I pray for it right now?
She's ok with it.
—Bones knit together, pain go ...
After a bit ...
—How does it feel?
—Haha well there was no pain to begin with, sorry
—Is there any other indications, any other way you could test it to see if it were healed?
—Well, I can't move my fingers at all, I ... Oh wow ... hey look at that, I can move them now ... I couldn't do that before
—Aha there you go!
Fellowship, prayer, and fun back at the Nightshift building
—During Katie's pregnancy, we got prayer from the deliverance ministry ...
—And they delivered it?? Ha!
Beautiful night ... as always
Miranda, Andrew, and Brit are here.
Starting off
So much joy in our group I can't stop laughing
Hanging out with skatepark guys for a bit, Ethan, Braden
Past the old Nightshift building, up the street, on our way to the Front Room
Wall people, lined up just like a few weeks ago
Miranda is praying for a woman in a fold up chair ...
Just got out of the hospital, suffering from asthma, in a lot of pain, doctors couldn't help her.
Kelly.
—Would you like to pray too?
—Do you mind if he prays?
—No.
What does she mean? With all the pain in that answer ... can she really not mind?
She wants prayer.
Asthma go, lungs clear, release, love of the Father for Kelly.
Suddenly her grip tightens around mine.
—How are you feeling?
—Everything feels good, peace, calm, rest
Lots of love here, I see God sitting in a folding chair beside her
—I can breathe now.
—How much more needs to be healed?
—There's still pain, but I can breathe now.
—Would you like more prayer?
—Yes, but I have to go to the bathroom, can you wait two minutes?
Miranda and I: Of course. Good conversation with Bill and others around about what God's been doing in lives here.
She's back, more prayer, pain go, prayer in silence for a while, a picture of an anchor keeps coming back to me
—That's who God is to you during this time, you can trust in him, he will hold you tightly no matter what is thrown at you
After prayer
—The pain is gone
Long good bye
—Unfortunately I will still be here next week
—Well, then we'll just have to see you again I guess ...
Smiles
It's after 9 already. Past the Front Room, on our way back.
As we turn the corner to head back to the Nightshift building, a woman with a cast on her wrist ..
"Jackie"?
We offer her hot chocolate, but I'm all out .. suddenly a thought comes to mind, and I say it ..
—I don't have any hot chocolate, but what I have I'll give to you!
—What's that?
—Your hand ... healing for your hand
—I broke my wrist punching someone the other day
—Can I pray for it right now?
She's ok with it.
—Bones knit together, pain go ...
After a bit ...
—How does it feel?
—Haha well there was no pain to begin with, sorry
—Is there any other indications, any other way you could test it to see if it were healed?
—Well, I can't move my fingers at all, I ... Oh wow ... hey look at that, I can move them now ... I couldn't do that before
—Aha there you go!
Fellowship, prayer, and fun back at the Nightshift building
—During Katie's pregnancy, we got prayer from the deliverance ministry ...
—And they delivered it?? Ha!
Beautiful night ... as always
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Fun on Friday night
July 20, 2012. Richmond, B.C.
"Tonight .. we are young. So let's set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun."
I'm guessing by now most of you either know this song, or have at least heard it somewhere before. But look at the lyrics again for a second—this time with the eyes of a child who believes a loving, all-powerful God is just waiting to do amazing things through them.
Could these be words to a worship song? Sung in response to who God is and what he's doing through us? Normally we don't sing songs like this in Sunday services, but recently we sang just these lyrics during worship in my church in Richmond. So now everyone in our church knows them, from the oldest down to the youngest. This is a story about some of the youngest, and how these lyrics are true for them.
We were in Richmond Centre mall last night when this song began to play. There were three kids with us: Kristen (12), Peter (11), and Nathan (?). Lisa, Elsie, and I were leading. We were on a treasure hunt—an ultimate treasure hunt, that is—if you haven't read Kevin Dedmon's book on the subject, basically we were following specific clues God had given us—our 'treasure map'—to find someone God wanted us to minister to—the 'treasure'!
Kristen and Peter both had treasure maps and Nathan was there to watch. Up to this point we had been following a trail of location clues around, from a jewelry store to a popcorn stand, and finally to the cosmetics section of The Bay, which was the only place we could think of to connect with the word Peter got, "Dolce & Gabbana".
We had begun our hunt full of expectation and excitement, but at this point we had to admit we were beginning to doubt whether would ever find our treasure. It would end soon. We were only allowed 25 minutes, and then we had to report back to the rest of the group.
So, with not much time, we headed into The Bay, when "We Are Young" began to play. "It's that song!" I heard Kristen say. The three of us were walking quickly ahead of the group as Lisa gave me directions—turn right, then left, to get to the cosmetics section. I had no idea whether anything was going to happen, but suddenly as the song began to play I felt the expectation build again.
"Are you ready?" I asked Kristen.
"Ready for what?"
"To burn brighter than the sun!"
But at first the scene looked much the same as before. We weren't sure if God was highlighting anyone there, and we thought about our treasure maps once again—we were looking for a caucasian (a rare find in Richmond, actually, which is mainly Chinese), pink shirt, white shoes, a bit heavy-set ... suddenly I saw two women that had passed by us earlier. At the time it seemed God was highlighting them, but they had moved past too quickly for us to talk to them, and we were still getting our bearings then. But here they were again, in a totally different section of the mall. I mentioned them to Kristen, and she agreed we should give it a try.
So Kristen, Peter, and I went over, and Elsie soon joined us as well. I explained that we were on a treasure hunt, and I asked the shorter woman if her name was Wendy ... no ... ok, well there was only one other name on our list: Mary. The taller woman's eyes lit up—"Mary is my name" she said. Then suddenly all the pieces fit together, and we realized it was her: caucasian, pink shirt, white shoes—she was our treasure! So we asked if she had any of the conditions on the sheet we were here to pray for, including knee or leg pain. She said yes, that she had been struggling with arthritis and that it was very painful to walk, but right now she was having trouble with pain in her back. So I told her we'd like to pray for her, asked if it was ok, and then told Kristen to go for it.
She did. She prayed the Father's love over Mary and prayed for her back. As she prayed, the power of God covered our little group so powerfully that the air around us seemed thick with it. It was beautiful. Kristen had asked Mary if it was ok to lay hands on her during prayer, and Mary said sure, but Kristen never actually did, she just called out the condition, commanding the back to be healed. I have to say I didn't have quite that much faith at the time, so I put my hand on Mary's knee, because that was the word on our treasure map, but Kristen prayed right where she was.
After the prayer, Mary (who turned out to be Catholic), told us how blessed she felt to meet us and receive our prayers, and told us she would pray for us. She said she was so encouraged to see children taking their faith seriously, and actually doing the stuff God was calling them to do. And of course we were encouraged and emboldened as well—for Kristen and Peter, it was the first time they had seen, let alone done, anything like this—it's quite an act of courage to pray for a complete stranger!
Oh, before we said our goodbyes Kristen asked Mary how her back was feeling—yes, the pain was gone!
"Tonight .. we are young. So let's set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun."
I'm guessing by now most of you either know this song, or have at least heard it somewhere before. But look at the lyrics again for a second—this time with the eyes of a child who believes a loving, all-powerful God is just waiting to do amazing things through them.
Could these be words to a worship song? Sung in response to who God is and what he's doing through us? Normally we don't sing songs like this in Sunday services, but recently we sang just these lyrics during worship in my church in Richmond. So now everyone in our church knows them, from the oldest down to the youngest. This is a story about some of the youngest, and how these lyrics are true for them.
We were in Richmond Centre mall last night when this song began to play. There were three kids with us: Kristen (12), Peter (11), and Nathan (?). Lisa, Elsie, and I were leading. We were on a treasure hunt—an ultimate treasure hunt, that is—if you haven't read Kevin Dedmon's book on the subject, basically we were following specific clues God had given us—our 'treasure map'—to find someone God wanted us to minister to—the 'treasure'!
Kristen and Peter both had treasure maps and Nathan was there to watch. Up to this point we had been following a trail of location clues around, from a jewelry store to a popcorn stand, and finally to the cosmetics section of The Bay, which was the only place we could think of to connect with the word Peter got, "Dolce & Gabbana".
We had begun our hunt full of expectation and excitement, but at this point we had to admit we were beginning to doubt whether would ever find our treasure. It would end soon. We were only allowed 25 minutes, and then we had to report back to the rest of the group.
So, with not much time, we headed into The Bay, when "We Are Young" began to play. "It's that song!" I heard Kristen say. The three of us were walking quickly ahead of the group as Lisa gave me directions—turn right, then left, to get to the cosmetics section. I had no idea whether anything was going to happen, but suddenly as the song began to play I felt the expectation build again.
"Are you ready?" I asked Kristen.
"Ready for what?"
"To burn brighter than the sun!"
But at first the scene looked much the same as before. We weren't sure if God was highlighting anyone there, and we thought about our treasure maps once again—we were looking for a caucasian (a rare find in Richmond, actually, which is mainly Chinese), pink shirt, white shoes, a bit heavy-set ... suddenly I saw two women that had passed by us earlier. At the time it seemed God was highlighting them, but they had moved past too quickly for us to talk to them, and we were still getting our bearings then. But here they were again, in a totally different section of the mall. I mentioned them to Kristen, and she agreed we should give it a try.
So Kristen, Peter, and I went over, and Elsie soon joined us as well. I explained that we were on a treasure hunt, and I asked the shorter woman if her name was Wendy ... no ... ok, well there was only one other name on our list: Mary. The taller woman's eyes lit up—"Mary is my name" she said. Then suddenly all the pieces fit together, and we realized it was her: caucasian, pink shirt, white shoes—she was our treasure! So we asked if she had any of the conditions on the sheet we were here to pray for, including knee or leg pain. She said yes, that she had been struggling with arthritis and that it was very painful to walk, but right now she was having trouble with pain in her back. So I told her we'd like to pray for her, asked if it was ok, and then told Kristen to go for it.
She did. She prayed the Father's love over Mary and prayed for her back. As she prayed, the power of God covered our little group so powerfully that the air around us seemed thick with it. It was beautiful. Kristen had asked Mary if it was ok to lay hands on her during prayer, and Mary said sure, but Kristen never actually did, she just called out the condition, commanding the back to be healed. I have to say I didn't have quite that much faith at the time, so I put my hand on Mary's knee, because that was the word on our treasure map, but Kristen prayed right where she was.
After the prayer, Mary (who turned out to be Catholic), told us how blessed she felt to meet us and receive our prayers, and told us she would pray for us. She said she was so encouraged to see children taking their faith seriously, and actually doing the stuff God was calling them to do. And of course we were encouraged and emboldened as well—for Kristen and Peter, it was the first time they had seen, let alone done, anything like this—it's quite an act of courage to pray for a complete stranger!
Oh, before we said our goodbyes Kristen asked Mary how her back was feeling—yes, the pain was gone!
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