Brenda and I arrived at the church around 6:00 p.m. Soon after I made my way to the prayer room to get focused for the evening. I quieted my soul in God's presence and drank in the silence and the solitude. I reiterated prayers prayed all day long. I read the text again to let it sink into my mind and heart.
I walked out a quarter to seven to get the microphone. To my surprise Herb and Sonja Rios walked through the doors. We labored along side them in Seminole. They experienced the revival there. Not longer afterward, Mark and Trisha Beaty came in with a friend in tow. They too were in Seminole. Both families have since relocated and came to visit. What a blessing. They have tasted real revival.
A young man named Marshall caught my attention. He talked with me in the office telling me God prompted him to give his testimony. We set it up for tonight. Marshall gave a powerful testimony. He got saved at an early age and then experienced something that should never happen in any church anywhere at anytime. He got bullied in the church. Ridiculed. Humiliated. It happened so frequently he grew to hate the church and eventually turned away from the Jesus who saved Him. He did his own thing for many years. Then he ended up in a hospital fighting for his life. God used a nurse to get his attention back on Jesus. Six months ago Marshall married Sherman's and Tammy's daughter Brooke.
One song in particular moved me. I never heard it before. I cannot even remember all the words, but two lines moved me to tears. The song emphasized being in the presence of Jesus. Here are the two lines that spoke to me. I want to stay longer and I want to gaze deeper. I want to know You. Those words could have been taken right out of my prayer journal. How God has filled our hearts during the worship. We have not been in a hurry. We have tarried to praise the King. We have stayed longer and gazed deeper.
The message revolved around Jacob wrestling with God from Genesis 32:24-31. Specifically when Jacob said, "I will not let You go until You bless me." I honestly cannot tell you what happened during the first part of the invitation. I went to the altar to get hold of God and ask Him to bless the people in attendance and those watching at home. I pleaded for God to pour out His blessing.
When I returned to my seat, one of the deacon's wife came and sat next to me. She commented joyfully, "For the first time I lifted my hands tonight in worship. My hands are usually cold but tonight they are warm." I could not keep from smiling.
I felt a burden to go pray for someone when she left. I could see people doubled over in their pew praying. I see some backs heaving up and down as some wept. Others were caught up in worship again. Some went to the altar and ministry also took place out in the pews.
Toward the end, I sat in the back pew to take it all in. I prayed for the visitors from other towns and from sister churches in town. May the flames of revival spread to those places. A message settled in my mind that everything is on schedule during these meetings. I will testify they have started slowly.
Mark Beaty reminded the same thing happened in Seminole. He commented, "If we had stopped at the normal four day revival on Wednesday we would have missed God working. It started slowly and really picked up at the end of the week." God used those words to reassure we are on the right path. With that day two is in the books.
It already feels like we have met so much more than just two days. There is much more to come. I ask for more Lord, I ask You to do it again Lord.
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