We are encouraged and excited to hear the reports and to have personally experienced first hand the fire of revival and the power of God as it increases throughout our land. There is a sense and a stirring among many that there is another wave of God’s presence coming upon us.
It is upon our hearts even more to draw closer to God and to be alert to the enemy’s schemes. It is good to be reminded that His word never changes even though the morals of our society are becoming worse with each passing day. May we be steadfast in recognizing and activating the importance of Godly character and in living our lives as His vessels in a world caught up in an identity crisis. Many do not recognize our amazing Father’s love and have never experienced the joy of salvation. May we as His church be made ready and renewed and set on fire for His will to be done in these last days.
In February I ( Lois ) was worshipping and I heard clearly within my spirit “Things are going to change quickly! Are you ready?” I said “Yes Lord – make me ready, you know all things and I am yours.” I am still not sure of what all this means but I know that He is our good, good Father and that He knows the days and times that are appointed for us. It is important for us to say “Yes! And to prepare our hearts” for what He has for our lives knowing that He is always the faithful one. He will be with us in every season of our life and we, as His beloved sons or daughters, belong to Him. The truth is when we say “yes” to Him we are trusting that He knows far beyond what we can think or imagine what is best for us.
In the days since then, I have experienced on several occasions the tangible increase of His presence within and on my physical body and my hand has begun to shake as the Holy Spirit has come upon me in the midst of meetings in ways in which I have not felt for some time.
In mid April, we were asked to come and minister at the Revival Scene Community Church in Lynchburg, Virginia where our friends, Pastors Jeff and JoAnna Struss are contending for and seeing the beginnings of a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their midst. This was the fifth week of continual meetings, held from Wednesday through Sunday each week, and witnessed by an increase in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
Testimonies from within the Fire
During the first night, as a very powerful time of worship was ending, I glanced over and saw the pastor sitting with their beautiful eight year old daughter. I noticed that she was squirming around in obvious discomfort. I hurried over to ask what was happening and her mother said she was feeling something touching her back and that she could not stop the squirming. As the discomfort continued they decided to take her to the back of the sanctuary. Within a short time I (Lois) was asked to come back to pray for her. As I prayed for the Holy Spirit to come and minister to her the discomfort increased and she said it felt like hands in her back. As the agitation increased I prayed for her and asked her mother if this had happened before and she said that she had been diagnosed with scoliosis about two years previously. When I heard this
I began to pray as the Holy Spirit gave me words and specific things to pray and I also directed her to speak out loud the name of Jesus and to ask Him to help her. When she did this the squirming stopped immediately and she suddenly lay completely limp and unmoving. She barely showed signs of breathing but lay in such a peace that I left her and went back to the front of the sanctuary.
But this is not the end of the story. For around a half hour she lay perfectly still as if in a catatonic like state when suddenly she sat up like someone coming out from being under water and said “I saw Him! I saw Him and He said my name, He comforted me. It was so bright that all I could see was Jesus. He was so beautiful!” And He told me “Everything is going to be alright!” Not only was the discomfort totally gone that she was experiencing in her back but she had an incredible vision of Jesus coming and calling her name and speaking to her! She also said that Jesus showed her times when she had been with her friends when she had been thinking only about herself. Pictures came to her that showed when she was not good to her friends and she wept and told the Lord she was sorry and now she sees how He feels about her friends and that she will change. The pain she had in her neck from the scoliosis is completely gone and her shoulders that were twisted and in pain are straight now and the pain has left. Even the next day she said she could feel that God was still healing her back. Praise God for touching and healing His beloved eight year old daughter!
Later, after Rex’s message, her 9 year old brother was also touched by the Lord in a profound and powerful encounter with His love. As I (Rex) was praying for people at the end of the service he came up for prayer. I didn’t know that he was the Pastor’s son but I could tell that he wasn’t exactly excited about coming forward for prayer. Later I learned that he had been watching a movie when his dad came and directed him toward the front for prayer and he said he came so he could get it over with and get back to the movie.
I remember laying my hands on each side of his head and asking the Holy Spirit to come and after five minutes or so he began to bend over at the waist and his knees became bent and I left him in that strange position. He soon was laying on the floor and he said he felt like he had blacked out and laid in that position for close to an hour before he got up. He said he did not want to get up, he just wanted to remain on the floor in that state. Before, all he wanted to do is play video games, to be constantly busy, but now he didn’t care to do that. He said, “It was like everything has shifted in my life and what was important to me before has changed. This has had a major impact on my life and I don’t think I will ever be the same again.” He told his dad that he was touched by God and that before, playing video games was like a ‘twenty’ to him, on a scale of one to twenty, and now it was only like a ’five’ in importance to him, in fact he now found himself praying and wanting to go outside. He testified that he thinks he will never be the same and he likes it.
During the message that Rex gave a young woman was laying prone on the left of the sanctuary and she began to laugh so loudly that we could hardly hear Rex speak. When we questioned the pastor about it later we were told that she had never laughed like that before and this was a new experience for her. We tell about the noise level from past revival meetings we were in and as I was sitting there trying to hear Rex speak I began to remember those times.
Our prayer for each of you is that this fresh fire will capture your hearts and minds and that you will be consumed with His presence and unfathomable love. Again we say, ‘More Lord!’
Kingdom Life Ministry 