How the Holy Spirit Moved
Posted on July 16, 2011 with 0 comments
On the weekend of July 9-10, I had the awesome privilege of preaching a 2-night Revival at the Grafton Full Gospel Church in Grafton, IL. As was the case last year... it was the Holy Spirit in overdrive!
I am learning to be a bit more bold when the Holy Spirit shows me something or gives me word to speak. Two really cool things happened on the second night of the Revival.
Just before having me come up on the second night, Pastor Williams indicated that the Holy Spirit was moving him to do something he had not planned. He asked everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes and not look around. He asked them to open their hearts to see if the Holy Spirit was calling them deeper into one of the themes from the night before... that of "surrendering totally to Jesus".
Pastor Williams asked them to raise their hand if they were being called to total surrender. He wasn't putting anyone on the spot to come forward in front of everyone, he would be the only one to see any hands going up and he would make himself available to those persons for more indepth prayer later if they so chose.
I, too, had my head bowed and my eyes closed. All of a sudden, in my minds eye, I could see four hands being held high. A moment later, Pastor acknowledged the one hand that was raised and again reiterated that he would be available to that person if he/she wanted additional prayer at the end of the night or on some later date. He then asked us to open our eyes and asked me to come forward to begin the final night of the Revival.
As he handed the evening off to me, I just couldn't get the four hand raised out of my mind. Yet only one hand had been raised. So I stepped up to begin the evening, stopped, and pulled Pastor to the side and whispered to him that I felt there were three more people who wanted to raise their hands but for whatever reason did not. I asked if I could lead a similar prayer/invitation at the end of my presentation if the Holy Spirit led in that direction. He said "Yes".
I gave the presentation with no one in there knowing what I had whispered to Pastor. At the end of my presentation the Holy Spirit did, indeed, lead me to offer a similar prayer/invitation like Pastor had done at the beginning.
I asked Pastor Williams to come forward so that while the rest of us had our heads bowed and eyes closed, myself included, he could see any hands that went up. Pastor again extended his invitation to those with raised hands.
After I led the prayer Pastor Williams told the congregation what I had whispered to him before the start of the presentation and how it was out of obedience that I shared with him... and that this time there were exactly four hands that went up.
During the individual prayer time as anyone who wanted prayer came up and Pastor Williams and the rest of us prayed over them, I could see small angels constantly ascending/descending between the prayer circle and what I preceived to be the direction of Heaven. There were many, many of them, like fireflies coming down and blessing each person.
I later shared this with some of the congregation members and they laughed... because I was about the 100th visitor who had had that same vision and, like many others who had seen it, described it like seeing a multitude of fireflies hovering about... but knowing it was angels ministering.
What an awesome experience!
I am learning to be a bit more bold when the Holy Spirit shows me something or gives me word to speak. Two really cool things happened on the second night of the Revival.
Just before having me come up on the second night, Pastor Williams indicated that the Holy Spirit was moving him to do something he had not planned. He asked everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes and not look around. He asked them to open their hearts to see if the Holy Spirit was calling them deeper into one of the themes from the night before... that of "surrendering totally to Jesus".
Pastor Williams asked them to raise their hand if they were being called to total surrender. He wasn't putting anyone on the spot to come forward in front of everyone, he would be the only one to see any hands going up and he would make himself available to those persons for more indepth prayer later if they so chose.
I, too, had my head bowed and my eyes closed. All of a sudden, in my minds eye, I could see four hands being held high. A moment later, Pastor acknowledged the one hand that was raised and again reiterated that he would be available to that person if he/she wanted additional prayer at the end of the night or on some later date. He then asked us to open our eyes and asked me to come forward to begin the final night of the Revival.
As he handed the evening off to me, I just couldn't get the four hand raised out of my mind. Yet only one hand had been raised. So I stepped up to begin the evening, stopped, and pulled Pastor to the side and whispered to him that I felt there were three more people who wanted to raise their hands but for whatever reason did not. I asked if I could lead a similar prayer/invitation at the end of my presentation if the Holy Spirit led in that direction. He said "Yes".
I gave the presentation with no one in there knowing what I had whispered to Pastor. At the end of my presentation the Holy Spirit did, indeed, lead me to offer a similar prayer/invitation like Pastor had done at the beginning.
I asked Pastor Williams to come forward so that while the rest of us had our heads bowed and eyes closed, myself included, he could see any hands that went up. Pastor again extended his invitation to those with raised hands.
After I led the prayer Pastor Williams told the congregation what I had whispered to him before the start of the presentation and how it was out of obedience that I shared with him... and that this time there were exactly four hands that went up.
During the individual prayer time as anyone who wanted prayer came up and Pastor Williams and the rest of us prayed over them, I could see small angels constantly ascending/descending between the prayer circle and what I preceived to be the direction of Heaven. There were many, many of them, like fireflies coming down and blessing each person.
I later shared this with some of the congregation members and they laughed... because I was about the 100th visitor who had had that same vision and, like many others who had seen it, described it like seeing a multitude of fireflies hovering about... but knowing it was angels ministering.
What an awesome experience!