Not what I had in mind

I was in the mountains of northern Idaho, God's beauty everywhere. We saw bear, moose, white tail deer and mule deer , but I was elk hunting and it seemed they had moved out of the mountains to live somewhere else. A drought in the mountains made them leave their usual spots and we just couldnt find them. By Thursday, I was getting pretty disappointed for I had planned this trip for 9 months. When I came out of the mountains on Friday, it seemed that I had a barrage of negative thoughts and spiritual attack. The battle seemed to increase over the next few days. What's going on??? This isn't what I hoped for or what I anticipated. Here we are in the middle of an encounter with the Holy Spirit and I run into a mess of junk from the outside and the inside. The only voice that seemed clear was the murmuring spirits that love to sink me into the pits. I prayed but couldn't break through the junk. Finally, I asked the right question. "Lord, why do I fall into this same pit?" What is the access point for the enemy that is in my life? I asked the Holy Spirit to release the gift of discernment of spirits and show me the access point. What he showed me was a root of fear and pride that I was unaware of, but had symptoms of for some time. As I wrote down what the dark voice said to me, it was so obvious that I did not believe it or want to defend it. Part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to help us discern the dark spiritual activity that is around, among and in us. He shows us to free us not to condemn us. After talking with a trusted friend, we prayed together for freedom and an uprooting of all the negative things I had heard and agreed with.

Sometimes, our journey takes us into territory that we do not expect or even like to venture into. Yet our confidence is that the God who loves us has sent us His Spirit to be with us and make us into the likeness of His firstborn Son. Our trust is in the Lord that He will do a good work in us. This is how the Spirit has worked in me in this past week. What is the Spirit of God doing, working, teaching, forming and revealing within you??

Prophetic words releasing joy, faith and freedom

Ramona and I were to minister at a worship conference in Illinosis and found out just a few days before that the pastor had resigned for a moral failure. The church was in crisis and I wanted no part of the mess. We were thinking that it would be nice if the host church canceled the event. In honesty, I was dreading the weekend. Then came Thursday. One day before we were to leave for Illinosis, we went to our usual prayer meeting that involved area pastors and prayer leaders. Toward the end of our morning prayer time, the small group began to pray for our ministry that weekend to this church in turmoil. As they prayed, prophetic words of encouragement with understanding of God's assignment and timing for this ministry were spoken. After around 10 minutes, our entire attitudes were radically different. We had a strong sense that we were to go and release life and praise into the atmosphere. We were to go and rally the praise army for the battle that was on their doorstep.

So we went and were able to do just that. The transition from Friday night to Sunday morning with this group of worshippers was marvelous. By Sunday, they had the church strapped to their backs and were carrying everyone into hope, greater trust and victory in spite of sorrow. God had empowered us with the prophetic word and we were able to empower others. How good it is. Do you have a word of encouragement from the Holy Spirit on your heart for someone? If so, share it with them. Their victory and the victory of many others may rest upon the difference your words make. The tongue holds the ability to share life giving energy or they can suck the very life out of a person. Words motivated from the Holy Spirit have great power. Prophetic words bring great joy, stir faith and release freedom.

How natural can supernatural be?

Ramona and I met a dear friend and her children at Wendy's for a hamburger and some time together. Since one of the kids is two, sitting for very long became a torture for him and therefore for us. Being the wise old pa pa that I am, I figured " hey it is time to go outside and play". After playing with a nurf-ball for a few minutes in the yard outside of Wendy's, we progressed further into a kids world and began to catch grasshoppers together.

As we were immersed in this great hunting trip, a man in a wheelchair was being pushed in the parking lot. No big deal, but the old bearded man in the wheelchair had a woman on his lap with a cast from foot to knee. So the three of them, one driver and two riders rolled by the two of us on our knees as we examined one of our grasshopper captives. We greeted one another as they rolled by. As they passed, I had a sudden rush of compassion for the trio. I found myself shouting out, "Hey, how about some hamburgers?" They were totally thrilled with the idea as they told me that they were homeless and out looking for food. I realized later that they were headed for the dumpster toward the back of the property when my invitation interrupted them. At one point they asked me why I was helping them, I told them they ran into someone who loved Jesus.

As we later sat in Wendy's together while they ate their treats, I decided I would move on and so I said my goodbyes. The "driver" of the wheelchair followed me outside and said that he wanted the "spirit that was on me". I told him that spirit was the Holy Spirit and he could have Him if He asked Jesus to save him and give him that same Spirit. He prayed a beautiful prayer part of which really touched me as he said, "Lord Jesus, can you take this broken life and make it whole? Please save this broken man." As he prayed, many big tears hit the pavement below his bowed head. Afterwards, I prayed for him with his hand on his heart and asked the Holy Spirit to seal his prayer. Afterwards, I asked what the Holy Spirit was doing in him at that moment. He replied, "peace, I feel peace in my heart". I had felt that same peace as I prayed for him. I love the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I left there with a joy and a heart of thankfulness that the Spirit of Jesus in and upon my life bore witness to this man and brought him to conviction without me hardly saying anything. I have never had that happen before to my knowledge. I also realized that the small token of kindness opened up this opportunity. That is my WOW for this week. Lord, I am excited to see what you will do tomorrow. John Wilson