SUNDAY EVENING
It was 4:30 PM when we got back to the bible college property where I was staying. Sharath was doing a baptism service (1 person was being baptized, the bible college student man who God had touched a few days before when we did that obedience covenant. Baptism is a very big step for people in the State of Andhra Predesh. When a person takes baptism, they loose a lot of rights with the government. Whatever "cast" they are in, they loose that cast and are considered in the "Christian cast," which is the lowest of all possible casts. When they get baptized it is not just a nice little ceremony, their public profession of their faith effects them for the rest of their life.) The baptisms are done outdoors, usually in a nearby lake. Sharath had to hurry off to the baptism service, because it gets dark at 5 PM. They had been waiting for him to return so they could start the service.
A little later that evening, an elderly woman came with a young man. She wanted prayer for her son, who had "terrible stomach pain." I assumed the young man with her was her son, and stated to lay hands on him. But she stopped me and explained (with Sharath interpreting) that this was her grandson and her son was at home, too sick to come. My thinking was that not much would happen since the person was not here to lay hands on. I also did not think that a stomach ache was all that serious of an ailment. However, Sharath suggested I lead an intercession prayer for the man and he'd translate. That sounded like a good idea to me, so that is what we did.
At first my prayer was a bit tentative because I don't have much faith for healing a person who is not there when I am praying for them. But then the Spirit came on me and I found myself rebuking the sickness with great authority and commanding it to leave. I was praying just like I would pray if the sick person was right there in front of me. As I prayed, the mother agreed fervently. She had that "no nonsense" look about her, like she would not be satisfied with anything less than a complete healing. God responded to the prayer.. I think because of the mother's great faith and fervency in prayer.
I was later told the full story. They had not adequately communicated to me how sick the man was. He was doubled over from stomach pain that was so intense it caused him to constantly scream in pain. This mother had hired a taxi and brought him to a hospital, a long drive away. (I don't think they have any ambulances in the rural parts of India.) The doctors looked at him and ran some tests and said they could not treat it. They sent him home, probably to die. The mother was not satisfied with that diagnosis, so she took him from that hospital to another hospital that was over an hour's drive away. Unfortunately that hospital sent him home as well. She had spent the whole day taking her son to these two hospitals and he was in incredible agony. Then she left him at home and rushed over to the church where we were. It was already 7 PM by now.
After we prayed, Sharath accompanied her home, expecting to pray some more for this sick man, who was a member of his congregation. But when Sharath got there, they found the man sitting up on the edge of his bed, totally recovered. God had healed him as we prayed and interceded on his behalf!
When I heard that story, I was reminded of the times that Jesus healed people without going to them. There was the Samaritan lady's daughter, the Centurion's servant, etc. I realized that I had to change my opinion to expand my understanding of physical healing to include God healing people who are not physically present to be prayed for with laying on of hands.
That night we had a late dinner, about 9:30 PM. Sharath talked to me at dinner and shared various things he was seeking the Lord for. He wanted to tell me that evening so I could seek God on them and get back to him with an answer the next day. His requests were very specific and detailed and many of them had to do with how he would run his ministry, what to do in three specific geographic areas and how to handle some important relationships, etc. He wanted to hear prophetically from God on these issues. As I listened to his request, I thought to myself, "I don't want to prophesy into these areas, they are too directive and too specific." But I told him that I'd inquire of God on his behalf and get back to him with whatever God said to me. In truth, I did not really expect to say much on them, they were things I thought Sharath would need to hear directly from God on.
After dinner, the bible college student who had been baptized that day came to me for prayer. I ended up praying over him and prophesying to him. Then about 6 of his friends who were with him also wanted prophecies, but asked for prayer. Sharath was "tired" and did not want to interpret. He said that they understand some English, so just go ahead and pray for them. I began to pray. The prayers were very prophetic in nature and after the 4th person was done, I asked Sharath to translate and then summarized the prophecy to him. Then I asked if they had gotten the prophecies I'd released in the prayers for the first three? They told me that I just prayed and did not prophesy. That was not correct, I'd prophesied to each of the bible college students. I could not remember what I'd prophesied to each one and neither could Sharath. So the prophecies were lost, and I found that very frustrating. I asked Sharath to translate as I prayed for the remaining two men, because I wanted to make sure that no more prophecies were lost.
When I went to bed that night, I dutifully brought Sharath's inquiries to the Lord. He did not say anything to me about them. I really did not expect Him to, because the inquiries were so detailed and specific. So I just went to sleep.
MONDAY
God woke me up about 1:30 AM and told me to get paper and start writing. So I did. He began to speak to me in specific detail about Sharath's inquires. God said that there is an overall strategy/structure that is missing and that is part of why these specific questions are coming up. Then God spelled out the strategy for Sharath and explained how each of these situations fit into it. Much of what God said was so incredibly wise that it astonished me. It took 4 or 5 pages to write out everything that God gave me for Sharath. It was detailed, precise, coherent and very smart. I knew that stuff could not be coming from me because I was not smart enough to come up with that.
God was so strongly present in the room that it "felt" like He was standing next to me and talking to me. I don't know how to describe it, but His presence was so tangible as He spoke to me -- it was a very incredible experience for me as I received that word for Sharath. I could drink in God's nearness as He spoke to me, and my heart was filled with worship. At one point I got so caught up in His presence that I put down my pen and started to worship Him. In fact, I "got lost" in worship and forgot what we had been doing. God received my worship for a bit, then He told me to start writing again. He had to repeat some of what He'd told me just before I started to worship because I hadn't written it down.
I did not see a vision or hear an audible voice or have an angel speak to me or anything like that. But God's presence felt so strong and so close and so tangible that it was hard to function. I was very aware of His holiness and in awe of Him. I kept getting lost in Him and forgetting what we were doing. He had to instruct me to keep writing on more than one occasion.
After we finished the prophecy (which took a couple of hours), God reminded me of the prophecy He'd released Saturday night about revival and giving the nation of India to them. He told me to call a prayer meeting to intercede and pray into that promise. "Lord," I said, "They are so worn out from all those meetings. I don't know if anyone will come. They are so worn out from all those meetings we had the past four days."
"They must pray, Teresa. The degree to which they respond to this prayer meeting and follow subsequent promptings to intercede will determine how much of a role they are given in ushering in this revival." God went on to tell me that I must tell Sharath that God directed us to call a prayer meeting for revival for Monday night. Then I must not push or pressure him in how he carries out that directive, because He wants to see Sharath's response. God told me that Sharath's response would effect how much of the revival power he would personally see in his own ministry. But I was not allowed to tell him that.
At breakfast, I told Sharath that God told us to call a prayer meeting to intercede for the revival He promised in Saturday night's prophecy. He said that he'd arrange the prayer meeting. I expected him to call a church-wide prayer meeting and I thought the big question would be how many of them would respond. But a little before the scheduled meeting (7:30 PM), Sharath told me the meeting would only be the 15 bible college students and a few of the intercessors from the church. That was all he had invited.
I was so disappointed when I heard that, so I asked God how He felt about it. God told me that He was watching two things. One was how Sharath responded personally and the other was how the church responded to the call to prayer. Regarding Sharath, he has a heart to obey but he only obeyed partially. He did not invite the church members because he felt they would be too tired to come to yet another meeting. God said that Sharath's decision was based on what he perceives the wants and expectations of the people to be. In regard to the Church's response -- Since only a small subset of the church had been invited to this first meeting, God would evaluate the church's response by how that subset responded. He again reminded me not to tell Sharath about the test.
It took all of my willpower to keep quiet. I wanted so badly to urge him to get on the phone and invite everyone in the church to the meeting. But it occurred to me that if God was evaluating Sharath to see how he responded to God's commands, God was probably evaluating me as well. So I better do exactly what He told me to do, and not say anything to Sharath about how to schedule the prayer meeting. God also told me the meeting would go differently than I expected, but it would be a good meeting and He would show up at it. That turned out to be a very true statement.
When we first started, there were only the 15 bible college students, Sharath, both Shantis and myself. Another five intercessors came in one at a time over the next 30 minutes or so. I am guessing their late arrival had something to do with the bus schedule. There ended up being 23 of us present.
We opened with one short worship chorus. Then Sharath asked me if I wanted to say anything. I gave them a very brief exhortation to pray for revival. I read Acts 1:8, which says "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." I suggested that as a prayer model, that we first pray for our Jerusalem, which is Razole and our city, for our own neighborhoods and for our unsaved relatives and the unsaved relatives of others in the Church. Then I suggested we pray for "Judea", which is the region Razole is in, the East Godivi district and the state of Andhra Predesh. Pray for the politicians to pass godly laws for the state, for the officials and school teachers to be converted, for men and women in this district to come to know the Lord, etc. Then for the "end of the earth," pray for revival to come to the rest of the nation of India and of all the areas (Gulf States, etc) where India was sending missionaries to. My instructions were very brief and took less than 10 minutes, including time for interpretation. I suggested we start by praying for our "Jerusalem -- Razole and our own household salvation."
They all began to pray, very intently. They did not understand that I wanted to divide the prayer time into three separate segments, to focus first locally, then statewide and finally nationally. So they began praying for all of those things together. One person would pray intently for a few minutes, and the others would come into agreement with what he was saying. Then another would take the lead in prayer and the others would agree. I don't speak Telegu and the prayers were not translated, so I only had a vague idea of what they were praying. I heard a few words I recognized like "Madras" and "Andhra Predesh" to realize they were praying for all the categories at once instead of just locally.
I let that go on for some time because there was much intensity in their prayers. When things calmed down a bit, I asked them to begin crying out to God for household salvation in their own households, for their unsaved relatives to be converted and for the unsaved families of other church members to be converted. Suddenly an intensity hit them like never before. I think God made it "real" to them that they might see their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters receiving Christ. It got very chaotic for a while. Everybody prayed intently and at the top of their lungs for a while, calling out to God to save their unsaved loved ones. The spirit fell on some people as they prayed and a few where shaking under the power, slain in the spirit, etc.
Then the prayer began to get focused again, with one praying at a time and the others agreeing. At times the Holy Spirit would just fall on the group as they prayed.. and it would be like a mini Pentecost -- then it would go back to prayer and intercession for revival, household salvation, salvation of the political leaders, revival, release of signs and wonders, etc.
At one point an angel's voice joined audibly in our prayers. We were crying out to God at that time about how magnificent He was and asking that His name be lifted up and glorified in India. The angel's voice was female, and it spoke in Telegu, so I don't know what it said. The sound system was not turned on and we were not using it. But the voice sounded like it was coming amplified through a sound system and it seemed to be coming from above our heads. I am not positive what happened, but I think that an angel joined us in magnifying God's name.
It is hard to describe the power and sense of the presence of the Lord that came into the room as we prayed. God was definitely in our midst and He liked that we were praying for revival.
[ Testimony Index Page ] [ Previous Article ] [ Next Article ]