Since coming back from training camp, I have really been wrestling with the things God is doing in my heart and my life. STUFF happened at training camp that has completely changed my life! And for the last week and a half, I have been afraid to share about it, because I was afraid those around me would think I was “loco”. But through prayer, being in the Word, and spending time just thinking about it all…I have realized that I need to renounce the fear that is keeping me from sharing. I need to humbly accept these GIFTS the Lord has GRACIOUSLY bestowed upon me and just receive them and allow the Lord to do with them whatever He pleases.
That being said:
During training camp, the Holy Spirit moved in my life in a way I have NEVER experienced before. I experienced people worshipping, praying and just meeting with the Lord in new and somewhat overwhelming ways. (People falling down being “faint with the Spirit”, speaking in tongues, LOTS of people ALL praying at the same time, the list could go on and on.) Before, I sometimes pictured these things as “fake”, but I experienced first hand that week that that is NOT true at all. When people earnestly call on the Name of the Lord, and desperately ask for more of His Holy Spirit….those things just happen and I promise you, there is NOTHING fake about it!!!!
At camp, SEVERAL different people prophecyed over my life. Before our surrender hike, Kate prayed over me. And she said to me, “Bev, I feel like the Lord wants me to tell you that He is proud of you. He is proud of you for walking in obedience. And I feel like you have something right here (she motions towards where my heart is) that God has given you…that is getting ready to blossom.” These things were insane for me to hear, because I then told her that I felt like God was maybe giving me the gift of intercession…that over the last several months I have been waking up in the middle of the night just completely overwhelmingly burdened for someone…for NO reason…as if something horrible had happened to them, and all I could do was PRAY…sometimes I didn’t even know what to say, so I just told the Lord, “You have given me this gift, but I have NO CLUE how to use it…You are gonna have to help me Jesus!”
At another point during camp another lady came up to pray for me during one of our evening worship services…I don’t even remember who it was. All I remember is that she laid her hand on my stomach and started praying over me. And she said to me, “Fire is going to come from your belly” That is all she said to me, and at the time, I was like, “What on earth is that supposed to mean?” NOW, almost 2 weeks later, I KNOW. God has and continues to give me such a BURNING passion for his BELOVED SONS and DAUGHTERS that are bound by chains of lies, deceit, and hopelessness. The more I hear about things people are dealing with or struggling with, I am just CONSUMED by a fire that burns deep within me…a fire that says, IM TIRED of GOD’s BELOVED CHILDREN living in Chains! IM TIRED of being complacent and not FIGHTING for them!
And finally on our last day at camp, during our “Ask The Lord” ministry time….I found myself in a hospital room with 3 of my teammates praying for someone I didn’t even know. The whole event was orchestrated SO perfectly by the Lord himself…that I just can’t find enough words to describe it. Long story short, we went and we prayed over this man, and the Lord showed up and ended up prophecying over the 3 of us in crazy, incredible ways!!! (I will blog about this event soon seperately…and I encourage the other 2 to do the same…) That day, I was told that I was a prophet. More than once. For 7 days I was told to pray, “Lord, open my spiritual eyes, and my spiritual ears, so that I can see and hear everything You see and hear, Lord don’t leave ANYTHING out.” I was told that when my teammate was preaching, I was going to have to hold him up because He would become “So drunk with the Holy Spirit while he preaches that I would physically have to support him”. I was challenged to stare into the intense gaze of the man prophecying over me and just receive the fire that was there…the FIRE that I realized I was SO incredibly thirsty for…I couldn’t get enough. Healing was prayed over my eyes…and I was told that one day, I would put on my glasses, and they would be blurry, and my sight would be fully restored. And I believe all those things. Even now they are coming to fruition.
Now I understand why sometimes I just get burdened to tell someone something….for NO reason. (Kelly…do you remember that night you were on your mission trip with your youth group…and I called you and told you the Lord just told me to tell you that you needed to worship Him no matter the situation?…) Now I understand why I have been having some crazy dreams that seem scary and that I don’t really understand. Now I understand why I can SEE spiritual warfare around me…I can sense it’s presence. Now I understand more of God’s heart, because He is giving it to me. My eyes and ears are being opened, and my heart BROKEN like HIS….now I notice the mother yelling at her child at the checkout counter at Walmart. I NOTICE the man sitting in the parking lot with Sadness and HOPELESSNESS pouring from his eyes. I NOTICE the homeless man that I used to ignore every day, and I see JOY in his eyes as I say hello to him.
God has bestowed on me the gift of prophecy and intercession. I receive them. I receive them in Jesus Name. “Lord, do anything You want to do in me, that you might do everything you want to do through me.”
1 Corinthians 14:1-5
“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I would like everyone of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophecy. He who prophecies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.”
This is part 1. More blogs to follow.
