Today our ministry was driving an hour from where we were staying to facilitate a worship session with the pastors of a local church. This month, we have been learning the power of prayer and worship and practicing it as often as we can.
We show up at this cute little church on the edge of the mountain. It’s a sunny, beautiful day. I remember praying on my bus ride to this church that God would do something special. I had this feeling in my stomach that today is going to one for the books.
The pastor asks us to begin worship, so we do. We sing songs to Jesus, and then begin to pray for the pastor and the city of Bangalore, where we were. One of my teammates, Klansey, jumps up randomly and says she felt the Lord asking us to do listening prayer for on another. Basically, this is opening a time of prayer for you to hear what the Lord wants to tell you.
When our time of listening prayer is over, my teammate Abby says she has something she wants to share with the pastor. She got a vision of rain, and in the rain, there were people dancing, and people mourning. She said that the rain represented trial. And encouraged the pastor to stay joyful in trials, because the rain is what waters the seeds that you plant. Trials are what strengthen you, and God works in them for His good.
As soon as she finished telling the Pastor these things, a loud thundering began. We were all taken back because it was just so sunny, and all the sudden storm clouds came rolling in. Within a couple minutes’ rain started to fall right on us.
Everybody was completely blown away, and quickly we ran outside to continue worship in the rain, and just thank God for this little miracle.
It was such a good reminder that God is always close, and to trust what He tells you. A lot of time, we hear Gods voice in a “Go talk to that person who’s hurting”, or “Give to that homeless person”, but we shrug away the voice and continue. And I think the reason we do is because we don’t really believe these things are from God. But if we completely trusted His voice, and believed that He would be with us in our obedience to Him, would we be more willing to step out?
To take a chance, do something that makes you feel a little uncomfortable, and lean completely on God, for His will to be done.
Who knows, if Klansey didn’t share her word from God to do the listening prayer, maybe Abby wouldn’t have gotten her vision. And If Abby didn’t share her vision with the church, maybe we wouldn’t have been able to dance in the rain.
