In my last write-up, I shared how I met a lady named Dina who had been a believer for 23 years and had never received a personal word from the Lord. I had promised to prophesy to her when I got back from running an errand to the grocery store. While I was at the store, God had me pick up a night light for Dina that was shaped like a crown and had the word "Princess" on it.
When I got back to the hotel, I stopped by Dina's room on the way to mine. I knocked at the door and another lady answered, wearing a bathing suit and wrapped in a towel. I asked for Dina and this lady invited me into the room. Dina was sitting on a bed. I told her that I was back now, and asked if she wanted to come with me to my room so I could prophesy to her. She asked if her friend could come with her. I said that would be ok. Then her friend said that she'd need about half an hour to shower and get dressed. I said that I would prefer to do this sooner, as I was in a personal retreat with God, and I wanted a block of uninterrupted time with the Lord this afternoon.
They suggested that I give the word in their room right then, but I had a bag of groceries in my hands, and I wanted to put them into my refrigerator. Besides, my gift of discernment was kicking in and there was something in the spiritual atmosphere of their room that bothered me. I did not try to sort out what it was, I just decided that I'd prefer to prophesy to her in my own room where the spiritual atmosphere was more comfortable.
So the other lady decided she'd throw on some shorts and they'd be up to my room in about five or ten minutes. I went back to my room, put the groceries away and used the facilitates. I also decided to move the Kleenex box from the bathroom to where we would sitting, just in case it was needed.
The first thing they said when they arrived was how peaceful my room was. I guess they also noticed the difference in the spiritual atmosphere between our two rooms. In fact, they commented on it several times while they were there. None of the three of us had a tape recorder to record the word, but Dina's friend took rather detailed notes for her.
I knew the gist of what God wanted to say to Dina, but when I began to share it with her, the Lord expanded it quite a bit, and it took about 15 or 20 minutes or so to share the word with her. The Lord included several specific words of knowledge about things in Dina's life, so that she would know it was really from Him. The word touched on some very deep and personal stuff in her life, and brought tears to her eyes. It was a good thing I'd moved the Kleenex box to where we were, because it was definitely needed.
I don't want to share the details of Dina's word, because it was very personal. But it was an incredible word, and I was very impressed with the way the Lord spoke to her. The word broke off some enemy oppression and breathed God's life into her. I love to watch the Lord do this type of thing--He is so good at encouraging His own and setting them back into the fullness of their destiny.
At the end of the word, I told her, "I actually got part of the word, about you being a princess, before I went shopping. But the Lord did not want me to share it with you until after I got back. Then I found out why in the grocery store. The Lord led me to this," (I pulled out the nightlight and held it in my hand. "He told me to get it for you as a reminder of your word. He wants you to remember that you are a princess and He wants you living in the fullness of your inheritance." Then I gave her the night light. She was speechless for a few seconds, but she clearly loved it. (I was blessed at how the Lord had added such a neat touch to His word for her.)
Her friend began to give me feedback on how accurate the word had been for Dina. I smiled. I knew the word had to be accurate because it was from God. But it is always a blessing to get positive feedback.
Then her friend looked at me and said, "Will you prophesy to me too?"
I wanted to say "No." I was really anxious to get back to my God-time. I could see hunger and neediness written all over her face, and compassion rose up in me for her. I knew that if I refused to prophesy to her, it would hurt her feelings and I did not want to hurt her.
So I said "Ok, but my word to you might not be as long as the word for Dina was."
She said that would be fine with her and looked at me eagerly, waiting to hear what God would stay to her.
It turned out that the word the Lord gave her was just as long, detailed and powerful as the one for Dina had been. It was, of course, completely different than Dina's word, but it was a very impactful word. Again, I don't want to go into the details because the word was personal and private. It had a lot to do with her character and calling, how she was more of a warrior and people did not know what to make of her. The Lord was amazing, as usual, and this lady was astonished and blessed at what He said to her. God had affirmed her in a way that she needed to be affirmed, and her face was glowing by the end of it.
We talked for a few minutes after that. Dina had a question about her word and I answered it for her. Once again, both of them commented on how peaceful my room was. I said, "That is because there are some angels in here with us.
As soon as they left, I dived back into my intimacy time with with God. I had enjoyed ministering to them, but I was really eager to spend more time alone with God. Of course, He was just as wonderful and loving as He had been earlier that morning. The phone rang and I almost did not answer it because I was really enjoying my time with God.
But I did answer it, and it was Dina. She said that there was a third lady staying in their room, who was not there when I came by. When she got back they told her about the prophecies I'd given them, she really wanted to get one too. I told her, "I am sorry, but I can't prophesy to your friend right now, because this trip is a personal retreat with God for me, and I really need to spend time with Him right now. She asked if they could make an appointment for me to prophesy to her friend later.
It is hard for me to say no to people who are hungry to hear from the Lord, but this 4-day period was supposed to be my special time with the Lord. Before I came to Lakeland, I had felt very dry and in desperate need of a refreshing. Now I was enjoying incredible intimacy with God and basking in His manifest presence. That was really important and special to me, and I wanted to guard my time with God. I knew that if I wasn't careful, word about my prophesying to people would get out, and I'd be spending the majority of my time ministering instead of being with God.
So I explained that briefly to her. I told her that I was sorry, but I would have to say no. (It was a good thing that she called on the phone, because I know I would never have been able to say no to her friend if I saw her face to face.)
After I got off the phone, I began to feel guilty for "refusing to minister" to someone. So I asked the Lord about it. I asked Him if He wanted me to call Dina back and arrange a time to prophesy to her friend. I knew they were leaving early the next morning, so it had to be today or not at all.
God told me that it was ok for me to guard my time with Him on this trip. He said that He would send someone else to prophesy to this lady at another time. Then God said something interesting. He said that Dina had waited 23 years for a personal word for God, and He really wanted the word she got to be special for her. When she looked back and remembered it, it would feel more special because God had me prophesy just to her (and to the lady she brought with her) and not to anyone else.
The rest of my afternoon time with God was wonderful, but it is private and I am not going to share the details about it in this testimony. After devotions, I went to meeting early, to help clean the tent and straighten chairs for the evening meeting.
I had saved myself a seat on the front row when I came to volunteer, but the Fresh Fire Ministry staff later decided to reserve that row for some special guests. That happened while I was in the volunteer orientation, and my stuff got moved to a much less desirable location. However, Dina and her two friends had an extra seat. They were about half way down the second row, in the section just to the left of the center. They invited me to sit with them, so it did not matter that my stuff had been moved.
The service Fri night was not nearly as good for me as the night before. It was ok, but not great. The regular worship team was back...they were positioned way back on the stages, and they mostly did songs that I didn't know. It was much harder for me to enter in to that place of worship. I started near the platform, but eventually went back to my seat. Dina and her friend (the one I hadn't prophesied to) were in their seats when I returned, and I ended up next to Dina.
There was one song where I felt the Lord's presence very strongly, and I felt like I was supposed to renewal-style pray for Dina. So I put my hand on her forehead and asked the Lord to come and fill her and meet her and reveal more of Himself to her. She ended up getting slain in the spirit, but with a little help from her friend, we got her seated in her chair. She sort of slumped over it. Then I felt led to pray for the friend (the one I hadn't prophesied to) in the same manner. God met her as well--I could feel His power and impartation flowing through me and into her. She got drunk in the spirit.
I caught part of the backlash of His anointing to her, and got a bit drunk in the spirit myself. That moment was actually the "high point" of the Friday night renewal service for me. As I said, it was an ok service, but it did not seem like a very anointed one. Todd preached a long (but very good) sermon on "dynamos" authority, then Todd did impartation. They had everyone in the room get into one of two lines, which lead up to Todd, one on his right and one on his left. He had a bucket with oil in it and a large sponge in each hand. He would dip the sponges in the bucket of oil and use them to anoint people's foreheads as they got to Todd. Some of the ministry team was on the other side of Todd to sort of pull the people forward (e.g., keep them moving) after they were anointed and imparted into. That was necessary so that the lines could keep moving past Todd, so he could pray for everyone in an efficient manner.
(As I said earlier, I was amazed at the logistics and at how well they were able to handle large groups of people. I think someone must have gotten supernatural wisdom from God on how to set up their logistics.)
In this manner, Todd personally laid hands for impartation on each person who attended the meeting, and anointed them with oil--or perhaps I should say he "laid sponge" on each person (smile).
I helped in the "line" behind Todd to pull people quickly away from Todd so the line could keep moving. Personally it seemed like some of people were getting "man-handled a bit" as they were rushed away from Todd. This bothered some of them, but others did not notice at all because they were powerfully impacted when they were anointed.
Some felt the anointing when Todd "prayed" for them, but others felt nothing. Some looked a bit disappointed. The Lord had led me to speak a short blessing over each person as the came through my part of the line. It was only 2 or 3 words, but they were spirit-led words, specific for each person. They were thinks like, "increased impartation" or "healing anointing" or "increased authority" or (for some of the pastors) "explosive church growth". Many of the people seemed to hear and respond favorably to what the Holy Spirit led me to speak over them.
When the lines got really short, they had those of us in the "pull through" line behind Todd were told to go ahead and in line for our impartation. Quite frankly, I was a bit nervous about getting manhandled, but no one touched me. I walked through quickly, and did not pause or cause any sort of line blockage or backup. I wish I could say that I felt something when Todd anointed me, but I did not.
When I asked God about that, He reminded me about when Todd had his healing school in my area. At that time, Todd had anointed each of the attendees with oil at that time, and released a healing impartation. It has been an incredibly powerful experience for me. The Lord recalled that to my memory. The I got a sense that the reason this one wasn't powerful was because I'd already received a healing impartation from Todd at the Healing School a few years ago. Another possibility is that there was a transference of anointing at the Lakeland meeting, but I did not feel it.
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