God is such fun...
My son and I drove from California to Virginia as he will be going to Grad school there. He is going to Regent University going into Government and Law, he wants to be a constitutional lawyer. Thank you Jesus that he graduated Summa Cum Laude (all my son’s fault- he did great!) from College and is now moving forward with his life.
Well we drove across all the US - 3000 miles and very hot most of the way. We went from CA, to AZ (110 degrees) to NM, through TX (as fast as possible) and instead of going south as we used to for FL. we continued through OK and AR and into VA. We got to see some of the real garden spots of OK and AR. Places like “Toad Suck, OK”, I kid you not. We went by the “Toad Suck Harley Davidson”….classy. My personal favorite was “Buck Snort” Arkansas. How does a person with a straight face tell someone “I’m from Buck Snort, Arkansas.” No offense meant BTW.
As we went on the way we had a great time talking a great deal about the Lord, the Holy Spirit, how to hear his leading, feeling the compassion and the conviction of the Spirit towards others, the differences in various doctrines, dedicating your life to God’s service in and outside of ministry, living in His presence, and many other things. We laughed a lot, he has an excellent sense of humor and a dry wit.
As things worked out as we proceeded through Virginia we had the opportunity to go through Appomattox, Va., the place where the document ending the Civil War was signed. I always thought it was signed in the courthouse there. Turns out it was actually signed in the parlor of a man’s home, Mr. McLean. He and I walked in to the large house, positioned high above ground with a series of large steps leading to the front door. To the left is open arch to the parlor with plastic across it to prevent people from going all the way in. It is furnished with the same actual furniture used that day. We were alone when we entered and it stayed that way for several minutes. He went and looked elsewhere through the house but I stayed and just closed my eyes to feel the place, the time, that which was left behind of that moment. It was a moving experience.
While in Virginia my wife and I stayed at the hotel at the Christian Broadcasting Network and Regent site.-The Founders Inn. There are large pictures of the first four presidents on the walls and it is all in colonial style, very nice and hence the name. Very reasonably priced as well, I was surprised.
CBN offered to its guests, and we accepted, an opportunity to sit in on a video taping of the 700 Club and got to meet Pat Robertson and his co-host Terri. It was a fun experience. Pat is a vivacious person and in between segments kept everybody on set laughing. Pat and Terri moved from set to set for different pieces and we really enjoyed being able to see that. After the show they offered the audience vouchers for a reduced rate at the Founder’s Inn restaurant the Swan Terrace, which we decided to do.
We had an interesting experience at the Swan. It was the following…
At the restaurant, the Swan Terrace, as we walked in and sat down we passed three Arab women at their table talking. Two were very fashionably dressed. The moment we sat down, immediately and I mean as soon as I sat in the chair the Lord gave me a word for one of them, then all three of them. There was a very strong sense of his presence and the words that came. This is funny too because the head waiter was going to seat us at a table away from them but we asked to move so we could be near a window with a view of the garden, which was right near them. The Spirit began to describe them to me as God saw them and he was speaking strongly into the work they were going to do. At this point we didn’t even know if they knew the Lord.
So after my wife and I discussed it…I went over and introduced my wife and myself. I told them I had a prophetic ministry and felt that the Lord had given me something to say to them. One woman, who had no fear to speak up and was very much in command said, “please go ahead we do not want to stop the flow of the Spirit.”
For the first woman, the woman I just mentioned, the message was something like this.,, (BTW- for me often the first sentence of the “word” to be given is a declaration of how God views the person or a description of their character. )
So for the first woman the Spirit called her a “Lioness of Righteousness", the he had "put a sword in her hand and her mouth and that she was going to speak deliverance to many”…etc. pretty much in that manner after that.
For the second he started by giving me the phrase, very strong, “You are a Cedar of Lebanon…you stand tall for integrity and you never lie. You shine forth the truth of whom I am and honor me”….etc.
For the third he said, “You are a Tigress of Comfort. The wounded and hurting are deep in your heart and you seek to bring comfort to them, your heart reaches out to them”….etc. I then ended and said thank you.
After I was done the second woman said, “This is interesting. How did you know I was from Lebanon?”
Wo! Praise God and thank you Jesus, John 4 is for everybody….
I told her that the Holy spirit had indicated that to me through that phase about the Cedars...I love it when God confirms his word. Word of Knowledge is a just one way God demonstrates in our day his reality and care.
We ended up talking with them before they left. The rest of the story is….
The second lady is in broad casting and had a TV show that broadcasts to the middle east. It is a show about Muslim women being brought out of Islam into a relationship with Jesus Christ. These women’s ministry is to bring the Gospel to women hurt and damaged by Islam and the abuses it brings to women. The first lady, who was from Egypt was going to speak as a guest on that show the next day, giving the Gospel powerfully I'm sure. This kind of ministry is also very dear to my wife’s heart particularly and mine. My wife and I said we would pray for the next day’s broadcast in particular when the Egyptian woman was to speak.
It was a privilege to be of use that way. (And it's fun) It was a real word of encouragement to them to continue what they were doing. How wonderful is God’s economy, we went 3,000 miles to do something for our family and God did something for three of His daughters in His family….
Praise God!
So we ended up rejoicing, thanking and praising God a lot during our time there.
