Off To A Good Start: (Tuesday, July 11, 1995)

Talk about quick answers to prayer! The previous Friday's renewal service had been a tough one for me. I had not really felt the Lord's presence/touch during the ministry team pre-service prayer. When ministry time started, I prayed for three people and not much seemed to happen with any of them. I got the impression that God was not doing anything through me, so I stopped praying and got some prayer instead. I was laying out under the power telling God how I felt like I had no anointing left and wished He'd send me back to Toronto. On Saturday (the very next day) I was offered a free airline ticket to Toronto. I pick the ticket up Sunday and I flew Monday night, arriving in Toronto on Tuesday morning.

I was given an early check-in and went to my room. I sat down to pray, telling the Lord that I really wanted to do serious business with Him this trip. I thought that maybe we could get started right then. But God told me that He had other plans and wanted me to rest that afternoon. So I took a nap and watched part of a movie on TV. Around 12:30, I decided to walk over to the TAV for some lunch. I knew the Pastors/leaders meeting would be ending around 1:00 PM. The walk over there took just under 20 minutes, so my timing was excellent. They were serving lasagna and it was very good -- and I was very hungry as they'd not fed me on the plane. Then back to the Hotel for more rest and a few phone calls. It was a very relaxing afternoon.

Later that afternoon, the Lord pointed out the pictures that were hanging on the hotel room wall. He told me that they were prophetic. I thought they were just modern art, (watercolors) so I did not pay any attention to them. The first was of a road winding and twisting out of a dry dessert. It then twisted through some farmland where crops were just starting to grow. Then it came along side of a lake. After a while, there was a fruit stand and then the road was submerged by the lake on the other side of the fruit stand. On the other side of the submerged road were some very fertile fields, just about ripe for the harvest. The road eventually comes out of the water and went up a short hill until it come to a stop sign. That stop sign was at a T-intersection and led to a main highway, which stretched wide open in both directions. God said that He's been leading His Church out of the dessert and planting a good crop in them. Then He brought them to the water -- the renewal. At first, we just ran along side of the water and it was very refreshing after being in that dry dessert. Even being near the water caused us to start bearing fruit. Then God increased the anointing and we've become submerged in His Spirit and saturated with Him. Meanwhile, the fields of evangelism are almost ripe for harvest. God is getting us ready and causing us to bare the fruit of the Spirit so that we will be equipped for the harvest. Then the road comes out of the water and goes uphill. That is the Church coming "up" closer to God through increased intimacy with Him and increased holiness. Then, once we're fully prepared, He will bring us to the main road of His plans and purposes and turn us loose for His glory.

I was impressed that the Lord could show me so much about the renewal from secular art.

The second painting hung on the opposite wall. It was a water color of Venice Italy. Instead of a street, there was a river between the blocks, with lots of boats on it. The boats were heading every which direction, most of them pointing in towards shore. One boat had some passengers on it and was trying to go straight down the river and was almost blocked by the other boats. "This represents the section of road which is submerged," the Lord said. "It also represents my current renewal outpouring here and around the world. See how so many of the boats are angling towards shore. They want to stay here in the familiar. They don't want to follow the river of my anointing out of their familiar surroundings. Many of them will end up washed on shore and stuck and will not be able to follow me where I am trying to take them. But I want you to go down the river of my anointing, even if you don't know where it leads you. Trust Me and continue boldly on the path I have set you on. Don't hang on to the familiar and the comfortable, or you will wash up on shore and not be able to go with Me where I am taking you."