About three or four weeks ago, I had my last [to date - I trust there will be more!] experience in moving in a word of knowledge.
It was in one of our Sunday-morning meetings again. I got a similar stirring as the previous two times - and this time I recognised it for what it was! So I was pretty confident that I had heard from God. What I sensed was that someone had a pain in their throat and down the sides of their neck. I could almost feel the pain, and it felt like when you have a sore throat and swollen glands.
While I was waiting for an opportune moment to share the word, I looked around the room. I couldn't help but wonder who it was. I saw some of the ladies with scarves round their necks, and someone else blowing into a hanky. Maybe it was one of these that the Lord wanted to heal. I also wondered why God would chose to heal a virus that is usually short-lived anyway - but I figured that it was to show us that he wanted us to live in perfect health and that nothing is too big or small for him.
The opportunity came, as it did the previous times, when the preacher had finished his message and there was a time of ministry. I went forward and shared that there was someone with a pain in their throat and sides of their neck, and even though it was caused by a virus that would go away in due course, God wanted to heal them now to demonstrate his abundant goodness and grace.
I waited at the front, during the whole ministry time. [Prayed for someone else then went back to waiting for the person to come forward.] The ministry time ended; the meeting concluded, but still no one came. Now I wasn't phased by this - I was still confident I had heard God, and I knew that people can be reluctant to come forward, especially if they are visitors, when everyone is watching. So I stayed my ground, and hung around at the front.
Sure enough, as soon as people started getting out of their chairs and milling around, a young girl, one of the visiting students that morning, made a path straight towards me. She explained that it wasn't caused by a virus, but she had the same pain in her throat and sides of her neck that I had described, but caused by strain. I prayed for her, and asked if the pain had gone. She said, "Yes, it's better."
Now this may not seem like a dramatic healing. And I don't have any follow up information like with the other two cases to confirm that a lasting healing took place, but I'm confident that God did a work. And again, what really struck me, is that he did it. I messed up! I confused and muddled up what God had told me with what I deduced must be the case as a result. I got the bit about the virus completely wrong... yet God still moved. Despite my failings and my mistakes, he still spoke and he still healed. Thank you, Jesus. He is so full of grace.
Some people are of the opinion that to move in the Holy Spirit you have to be 100% right 100% of the time. Some may be of the opinion that this makes me a false prophet who should have been dragged out of the room and stoned for daring to speak presumptuous words on behalf of the Lord. Some may see this as further evidence that modern day manifestations are not up to the apostolic standard in the New Testament.
But do you know what? When I read the New Testament, I've noticed something: the apostles got it wrong all the time! In fact the apostle who seemed to make the most mistakes (Peter) also seemed to be the one who was most used by God in the supernatural. What it shows to me is this: God is bigger than our mistakes! If you want to step out in the Holy Spirit you have to be prepared to make mistakes and to look foolish. God is not concerned with our reputation but with his. The gifts of the Spirit are there to make him look good not us. They are there to prove what a gracious heavenly father we have, not to demonstrate how accurately we can hear God.
I made a decision some time ago, that I would rather get it wrong and look foolish than to miss an opportunity to see God move in power. What this event showed me is that, in the abundant grace of God, getting it wrong an seeing God move are not incompatible!
4 comments:
We have to move on faith not sight. The inspiration of the Holy Ghost, as perhaps nothing else we experience as Christians, requires faith rather than sight. We have to be committed to move on what we think is God's voice; otherwise, we freeze in analysis paralysis, human wisdom being operative rather than Spirit inspiration. Pride (fear of failure, looking bad, etc.) always gets in the way. God can instruct the open and obedient and help them get things right, but He's frozen out from doing anything with the closed off and unbelieving. The old "try to steer a parked car" illustration is germane.
So, you did well in being willing to move on what you thought was God, even if correction had to follow. I think the posts in this series have be excellent (quite vulnerable) and I'm sure will help some readers move into the Spirit. God bless, my brother.
Chris,
Keep going with these blogs. Its good (or perhaps I should say bad) for my doubting...
;o)
Ricky
Hi
Not trying to be funny, but I find your website very boring. I have been on it afew times and it's very deep and not very interesting. I'm not trying to be funny or nasty just hopefully helpful. My wife is a new christian and if I showed it to her or her friends they would not have a clue.
I know what you mean about the deductive side; it's too easy to go into Sherlock Homes style cold reading to try to fill out a prophesy or word of knowledge, which is obviously a terrible idea, as every faker does that.
If we instead couple our actual limited understanding with the power of God, we show something far more amazing. If you can take a torchered analogy, we don't try to fancy up the jar in case that makes it impractical to open, instead we make sure we know how to get the lid off fast, so God's power can shine out of us!
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