Todd taught on the "deaf and dumb spirit" (e.g., unbelief) and did some ministry time related to that. While he was teaching, some feathers dropped from the ceiling to the stage. I watched one fall and I remembered how "my" feather had been taken away from me the night before. So I prayed and asked God to please drop a feather by me. He did not do so, but a few others continued to drop on the stage. I watched them fall and I asked God to please give me one. (I was not sure why I wanted one, but I did.) He told me "If you want a feather, go up on the stage during the break and get one." That made total sense to me and I decided to do that as soon as they took a break.
I began to ask God what the feathers were all about. Several people had said that they were angel feathers, but that did not feel right to me. It was not clear to me that the type of angels ministering in the meeting had wings, and if they did, I did not think they would be "shedding" their feathers. So I asked God what the feathers meant. His answer made a lot of sense to me. "Teresa, they are symbolic of the Holy Spirit's presence in the meeting. Do you remember what form He took when He ascended on Jesus?"
"A dove." I answered.
"Yes, a dove. And sometimes when the Holy Spirit's presence is very strong in a meeting, I have my angels release dove feathers over the meeting. They are symbolic of the Holy Spirit's presence."
When they announced the 15 minute break, I beelined for the stage and grabbed the feather I had watched float down when God told me to go get it if I wanted it. A few others came up on stage and began collecting feathers. I was about to leave the stage when I thought, I should get one for Elvi. So I picked up one for Elvi. Then I felt prompted to pick up another one, that God wanted me to give it to someone. So I began praying about who He would want me to give it to. I decided to hang on to it until He showed me who it was for. But I gave Elvi her feather right away.
After the break, Todd taught on the power of the Holy Spirit, which He calls "Dunamis Power." After the teaching, Todd said he would lay hands on each of us for an impartation of the Dunamis power. But he wanted us to think about why we wanted this power before we received it. The only right motive is for missions and evangelism, to bring unsaved people to the Lord, to advance God's kingdom. If we want it for selfish reasons (to become a "big name" ministry, to have people look up to us, etc) then God is not going to impart it to us. I wanted it because God has called me to the nations to advance His kingdom and I want to go in His power and anointing.
After the admonition, Todd turned over the meeting to his staff, who would give us directions on the logistics of the prayer line. Then Todd plopped down on the stage in a receive position and a few of his staff laid hands on him and prayed for him. He was, apparently, going before God to receive an anointing to impart into us. The staff members instructed us to line up in two lines. One was a front row line that stretched across the front of the altar and the other was a line that started behind it, but continued up the side of the room and into the foyer. There was enough space between the two lines for people in the first row to lay on the ground after they'd been prayed for.
It took about 5 or 10 minutes to get us all lined up where they wanted us. Elvi and I ended up next to each other in the front line. We were on the right side of the room, but nearer the center than the end of the line. I don't know how I knew it, but I knew that God was going to touch me in a significant way. I think Todd stayed down a little while after we lined up, but I was not paying a lot of attention to him. I had my eyes closed and my hands up and I felt God's presence and power all over me. It was very powerful and I wanted to respond to him. I wasn't really thinking much about Todd praying for us, as God was already touching me so strongly. I began crunching and it was all I could do to remain standing on my feet.
After a while, I became aware of Todd. He was on his feet and apparently he was very drunk in the spirit. He was walking across the front of the platform, trying to decide which side of the line to start on -- left or right. I could feel waves of power when he walked near me. I knew it was not Todd, it was the Holy Spirit. I knew God was going to do some awesome things during this impartation time.
I had my "list" of what I wanted from God. I wanted to move with Him in a higher level of the "Dynamite" power that Todd talked about. Todd had told us that he had a special authority/anointing for deaf ears and for tumors. (When a meeting was not going powerfully, he could draw on that to either heal all of the deaf people in the meeting or dissolve all of the tumors. That would stir people's faith and change the climate of the meeting so that people would be open to whatever healing miracles God wanted to do.) So I asked God to please impart both of those to me -- opening deaf ears and dissolving tumors. In addition to that, I wanted as much of His power and anointing as He was willing to let me move in.
Todd finally began praying down the line, starting on the right side. It did not take him very long to reach where I was standing. His prayer consisted of quickly touching our forehead and saying something like "fill" or "receive" or "impart." I don't remember what he said, but it was definitely a one-word prayer. He was able to pray down the entire line of about 400 people in about 15 minutes.
When Todd prayed for me, I felt this explosion of power and I found myself being strongly knocked backwards. I had an awareness of a few things going on around me as that happened. I heard myself scream as the power hit me. I felt myself being knocked backwards and someone catching me. As soon as the catcher made physical contact with me, the power of God hit him as well, and he cried out and began shaking and almost dropped me. I had a sense of him falling to the ground after he got me down, but I am not 100% positive of that. Needless to say, there was a lot of the power of God.
Once I was down, my body began shaking violently. I saw a documentary once where someone was electrocuted (they did not die from it) and their whole body was convulsing as the current went through it. My body was convulsing like that documentary I saw -- not just one part here or there, but every part of me. It did not hurt, it was not physically painful, but it was overwhelming. I was aware that this was happening to me, but I was not concentrating on it.. because I had a vision at the same time.
There was a sea of flames all around me and all I could see was the fire. I was exceptionally hot, but it was the heat you feel when the fire of God is on you. There was not any heat coming from the vision of flames, it was a picture vision only. All I could see was this wall of fire surrounding me. I watched the flames for about three or four minutes and then I asked God why He was showing this to me. I felt the intensity of His presence as He answered me.
"Teresa, it is not an accident that I am called the Holy Spirit. I am holy." I watched the flames a bit longer as I contemplated His holiness. The flames began to remind me of the refiner's fire we so often sing about. And then I was reminded of the burning coal from God's altar that touched Isaiah's mouth to purify him. Then the Holy Spirit continued, and said, "I am Holy. You must become more holy if you want to work closely with me."
Oh, did I desire that! My constant prayer and the cry of my heart had been for Him to give me real kingdom work to do with Him. I wanted to work more closely with Him, to have His power and authority flow through me as I did with Him what the Father is doing. That was something I have been begging God for and I have been asking for a long time. So His answer did not feel at all like a rebuke. It was a surge of encouragement to me. God was going to let me work more closely with Him -- yes!!!! At the same time, He was requiring a higher standard of holiness from me.. that made sense. I knew there was no way I could work up that type of holiness from my own strength or merit, so I simply relaxed into the Holy Spirit and trusted Him to transform me.
Then the vision changed. The flames of fire melted into a translucent film surrounding me. And on this film there were all sorts of eyes looking at me. They were not pairs of eyes like you expect to find on a person. They were a bunch of individual eyes. Some were vertical, some were horizontal and some were at an angle. I did not understand what I was seeing, so I asked God, "Lord, why are you showing me all these eyes?" God did not answer me per sae, but I was suddenly reminded of Ezekiel's description of the Cherubim from Ezekiel 10:12, which says, "Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels." And I had a sense of being under a Cherubim's wings. I don't know if that was the Lord answering my question or my own mind trying to make sense of my experience.
After a while, the power of God subsided. His presence was still around me, but it was less intense. I became aware of some of what was going on around me. Todd was on the stage, praying for those who acted as catchers. Some people were already "up" from having been prayed for, and were watching and laughing as Todd prayed for his catchers. I caught a glimpse of it and one of the catchers was staggering around the stage and then collapsed in a heap. I am guessing that the others looked humorous (a good humorous) as Todd prayed for them.
Two ladies were standing by my head and they were talking to each other in loud voices. At first they commented on the people being prayed for on the stage, but soon their conversation drifted to carnal things that had nothing to do with the meeting. They were sort of loud. I remember thinking it was disrespectful to those who God is touching to have a loud conversation in the ministry area. I began to get annoyed with them and then I realized that the devil would just love to distract me out of receiving all God had for me.
I had a sense that if I stayed down and invited God to send another wave of His presence over me, He would love to oblige. So I did. The ladies and their voices were distracting at first, so I asked God to either move them to another location (they were standing right next to my head) or make me unaware of them. His presence began to surround me again and soon I was unaware of the talkative ladies.
The Holy Spirit began to speak to me. I asked Him to teach me more of Himself, because I desired to work more closely with Him in ministry. I asked Him to teach me His ways and how He would like me to interact with Him. Then He told me that He was going to take me into a "module" where He would work directly with me for a long time and teach me more about how to best cooperate with Him. (God sometimes takes me into "modules" on one theme or another. Sometimes I report to one member of the Trinity during a module and I am supposed to direct my prayers to that Person of the Trinity. Other times I am free to pray to whoever I want in the Trinity as we work through a module.) This module would be one where I would report directly to the Holy Spirit and where I was to pray primarily to Him. However, He told me that there would be times when He would direct me to pray to the Father or to Jesus. I loved the sound of this module and found myself getting very excited about it. I asked Him how long this module would last and He told me, "I will let you know when it is over."
The intensity of His presence began to lessen again. I became more aware of my surroundings. Most people had gotten up from being prayed for now, and apparently Todd had left the room. I did not really care about any of that, I just wanted MORE of Him. "Oh Lord," I prayed, "Please don't stop now. I want more of You. Please send another wave."
I waited for maybe five minutes. He was not meeting me with any intensity, but I knew that if I waited on Him, He would come again. So I began to cry out to Him. Since I was now in a module with the Holy Spirit, I directed my prayers to Him. I asked to be drawn closer to Him. Then I heard Him ask me, "Teresa, what do you want from Me in terms of ministry." That was an easy question, I knew the answer instantly. "I want to be allowed to move with You in Your dynamite explosive power. Please give Me real kingdom work to do with you and then please empower me to do it!" Right then, I was reminded of Matt 7:11 where Jesus told us, "Ask and you shall receive." So I asked! And then I asked again. I called out to the Lord for this for some time.
After a while, the intensity began to leave me again. This time I heard the Lord tell me, "We're done, you can sit up now." So I sat up and looked around. There were only a few people on the ground near me. Elvi had already gone back to her seat. I felt like God had more for her, so I motioned her over to me and asked her if I could pray for her. I also instructed her about God's waves and not getting up as soon as you feel the power leave you -- instead stay down and ask God for another wave. There was a lot of power when I prayed for her. That was neat. I soaked her for a bit, then I stood up. I tried to walk, and suddenly I was very drunk in the spirit. I could still feel God's sweetness around me and it began to get very hot again, which I associate with the fire of God.
I stood there for a minute and then I tried to walk and I discovered that my feet were glued to the floor and I could not move them. The rest of my body worked just fine, but my feet were literally glued to the ground. I was still drunk in the spirit, so I was not alarmed at all. I had a sense that God wanted to send different people to me to pray for. A few minutes later, a lady wandered over to me for prayer. The power of God seemed to explode as I prayed for her. I have had all sorts of training and experience in praying for people and ministering to them. But that all "went out the door" and I found myself laying one hand on her stomach and the other on the small of her back and yelling "Fire! Fire! Fire!" While it was not an elegant prayer, God seemed more than happy with it. The Holy Spirit hit her, knocking her off of her feet. I could not move around to catch her because my feet were still glued to the floor. But God had it under control. She sort of did a perioet and fell into me, where I was able to catch her and help her to the floor... all with my feet remaining glued to the floor.
There were multiple other people who came to me for prayer while my feet were frozen to the ground in front of the altar. God seemed to come explosively on each one I prayed for. My "prayer training" remained "on hold" and I found myself praying for people by yelling "fill!" or "Fire!" I tended to repeat the word three times and then the Holy Spirit was all over them and there was no more need to pray. A few got up and reported healings to me. That was nice, but I had nothing to do with it. I had not even realized they needed physical healing. I was having a blast watching the Holy Spirit move through me with explosive power. I was also drunk in the spirit when this was happening.
There was a lady in a wheelchair who I'd sort of made friends with on the second day of the conference. She called for me to "come here" and I responded, "I can't, my feet are glued to the floor." So she rolled her wheel chair over to me. I prayed with her for filling -- she is hungry for God to use her in explosive power just like I am. (Of course, she also wants to be physically healed, but that was not her focus at that moment.) She was interested in receiving an impartation, just like the rest of us.
Anyhow, when I prayed for her, the power of God hit her and she was slain in the spirit in her wheelchair. When she came to a bit later, I felt prompted to pray for her hands. She was unable to use most of her fingers, they were partially or completely paralyzed. I was reminded of a lady who God healed in Brazil who had a similar problem. So I began praying for her fingers and the dexterity came back to all but one of them. You could seen frozen joints unfreeze and begin responding to her. That was neat. (While I would have loved to see her get out of the wheelchair that night, God had told me that He was healing her gradually over a period of time and it would take about a year until she was totally healed.) Still, it was exciting to watch the movement and dexterity come back to her fingers!
My feet unfroze while I was praying for her hands. When I moved my foot, I noticed something interesting. There was this very deep impression in the carpet where I'd been standing, as if I weighted hundreds and hundreds of pounds. It was as if some great weight had been pressing me into the floor. I noticed that no one else had deep imprints like that.. not even people who weighted a whole bunch more than I do!
It was quite an evening. I felt so filled and met by God. It was truly wonderful! As I was leaving, God told me to give that extra feather to the lady in the wheelchair, so I did. She was very excited to have a feather. She had watched them fall and knew that she could not go get them because of her paralyzed body. She was so delighted that God had someone get one for her and give it to her. Her excitement and delight at receiving the feather was a nice way to end the evening.
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