Ministry Time From Pastors/Leader's Meeting

I lost track of time, but it did not seem like very long (maybe 3 or 4 minutes) before someone came to pray for me. I peeked to see who it was, and it was the man from last night who'd prayed so powerfully for me. I could feel the Lord's power surging through me again as he prayed. This time he prayed for the Lord's power in my life. Oh, did that power come. It literally felt like someone had attached a live wire to my stomach. My whole body began shaking and convulsing and I was no longer able to stand. There was so much power that it almost scared me. I could feel my hands moving rapidly and rhythmically in a chopping motion and had a sense that someone I was breaking through something. The Lord continued to be all over me. When it started to calm down a little, that man was back and asked God to come with more power. Again I was overwhelmed with the Lord's power shooting through me. I have heard testimonies of people who said that the intensity was so great they could not bear it any more and begged God to stop least they die. I felt like I might be approaching this, but was not really at that point. Instead I found myself praying, "Lord give me all I can take and help me to take all You care to give."

Suddenly I became aware of the worship. Ron was just finishing a popular chorus and moving into a prophetic song. "Listen to the words," the Lord said. So I started listening. Ron when into a song where he was singing about unlimited power, unlimited authority -- God was saying that He was giving them to us. I was so startled that I looked around the room to see other people's reactions. No one seemed to be reacting. I wondered if I'd heard right. Almost as in confirmation Ron repeated the words to that prophetic song that God was giving us unlimited authority. "Ok Lord," I said out loud, "I'll take it." I was wondering why the room was not going wild with what God was offering, so I asked Him.

God replied, "It's because they're not listening to the words right now." That made me all the more intentional to listen carefully to the words. It seemed God was speaking directly and personally to me -- I bet He was simultaneously speaking directly and personally to others too. But that does not negate what God was doing with me. At one point someone started talking fairly loud near me and I could not hear the words. I complained silently to the Lord about it. He replied, "That's OK, I'm not speaking to you right now. You don't need to hear this part."

A little later I could hear again. God was inviting us to come to His table and take whatever we wanted form it. We could combine things any way we wanted to. I remember a phrase about it being OK to have milk and meat -- that there were not rules about we took -- just take whatever we wanted. I felt like I was glowing as I thought about this invitation. I told the Lord that I hoped He really meant it because I wanted to move in prophesy, I wanted to move in signs and wonders and the miraculous, I wanted to heal the sick and raise the dead and lead many people to the Lord. I wanted to see masses of homosexuals saved and healed of AIDS and taking their place in the army of God. I wanted to see power encounters where New Age people turned in droves to the Lord. I wanted to see cancer fall off of people and pass harmlessly out of their system. I wanted to see the whole Church (not just me) moving in His miraculous power.

Maybe an hour or so later, the intensity passed and I stood up. I wandered around the front of the stage area a little, feeling somewhat disoriented. I finally parked myself in front of the stage, but way over to the right side. I felt like God was NOT done with me yet but I wasn't sure what all He wanted to do. So I sort of hovered around waiting for Him to take the next step.

A little later, one of the ministry team regulars came over to me and stood near me. I have seen him on every trip out and think that he might be one of the pastors. He is very anointed and prays very powerfully for people. He is one of the few who seems to manifest when he prays for people. He often groans and jerks from the midsection. God's power seems to be on him all of the time. I've talked to people who he's prayed for and they've said that an incredible empowerment has occurred when he's prayed for them. Now I know better than looking to a specific person to pray for me. But many times in the past I've wished that he would pray for me but he never had. And now he was standing right near me. I could feel the Lord's presence and power radiating from him. "Nah," I thought to myself, "he won't pray for me."

I was actually surprised when he did start praying for me. It was so powerful that I don't even know if I could describe it. He started praying for a release of the prophetic in me. I have moved in the prophetic (especially in word of knowledge) to some degree, but feel like God is taking me to the next level -- whatever that is. His power started surging through me. My body responded by doing a crunching sort of motion -- I was jerking from my midsection, bowing down from my waste and bending my knees at the same time, until I was almost a ball on the floor -- then I'd stand up and rhythmically repeat the process. While this was going on, my hands were making quick chopping motions. I had very much a sense of the Lord's majesty and felt that I was bowing down before Him. It seemed like I was standing before His throne and He was looking at me. I had a very strong sense of the Lord turning His attention to me and nodding. There was approval in that nod, there was blessing in that nod, there was a release of authority and power in that nod. Then I found that I could not stand up any longer. I was on the ground and they were continuing to pray for me. My body was still going every which direction with an intensity that was beyond what I've experienced before. I started getting very hot and very tired, but could not seem to stop. I began to wonder if I'd survive this. They were saying "More Lord!" and I was saying, "No, please! No more! I can't take this any more. Please stop." I was not able to speak out loud, this is what I was praying silently. A couple of times, I tried to say something and only a deep yell (that sounded a lot like a roar) would could out. There was an intensity on me like I've never experienced before. I really was not sure if I was going to survive this. In one way, it was scary. But in another way, I was surrounded very much by the Lord's presence -- He was all over me and I had a deep confidence in Him.

After a while, the people praying for me left. The intensity stayed on me for a while after they left and then lifted. I lay there exhausted, unable to move and just trying to catch my breath. I felt like the Lord was telling me, "I'm letting you rest a little." After a while, the intensity came back and I found myself shaking and jerking and chopping again. But this time it was not so overwhelming that I thought I might die.

At one point, I felt something being placed in both of my hands. I could literally feel the weight and shape of it. It felt a lot like the remote control for the automatic gate at our house. Someone had placed something that reminded me of this remote control in both of my hands. I remember being surprised that someone would put something in my hands while I was down under the power. It seemed sort of inappropriate. So I cracked open my eyes to see who had done it. No one was around me. So I decided to look at what was in each of my hands. I raised my hands until I could see them -- there was nothing in them. Yet I could still feel the weight and shape of the object. Then I realized that this must be something that the Lord put in my hands. I closed my eyes and asked Him what it was. God did not answer directly, but I got the sense that it was a remote control. I hadn't a clue why God had given it to me or what He wanted me to do with it. I tried to push the control button a few times, but nothing significant happened. Then the Lord's presence overcame me again and I was unaware of anything else but Him.

Eventually, God finished and I was able to get up. I think think it was about 2:30 or 3:00 PM. I looked around the altar area, and only a few people were still down. Ron Taylor was starting to pack up his guitar and Sigrid was already off of the stage.

As I got up and walked away from the alter area, the Lord spoke to me. He told me that He'd finished what He brought me to Toronto for this trip. I felt sort of disappointed -- after all, there was still one more meeting to go. Don't worry, He said, I'll bless you tonight. But I've already accomplished what I wanted to do in you.

Maybe 45 minutes or an hour later Ron and Sigrid Taylor and Walter and I all headed out to dinner together. We had a fantastic time of fellowship. It was tons of fun.