Friday, May 23, 2008

Aplauding the Holy Spirit

10:22 PM by Christi Bowman

I describe my blog as a place where I come to chronicle the happenings of this AMAZING journey I am on. I realize I am recording my journey on a public forum, and some things may make people uncomfortable. This is my journey, it is what is happening to me. This is where I come to process it all.

That being said, I have to clap my hands for the Holy Spirit today. I saw him move in the moment...and I am on fire! I have been learning a lot about the ways God prompts us to minister to others. It has been eye opening.

I have been listening to some sermons from Pastor Andrew Wommack, and he believes that one of the ways the Holy Spirit tells us that He wants to use us to minister to someone is by making us feel a heavy compassion or love for someone in the moment. This could be a person we know or don't know. Have you ever felt a rush of compassion for someone...a heaviness...and not known why?

Today, I was sitting in a room with several people. One of the ladies there began talking, and I was just moved by something she shared. I felt the Holy Spirit tell me that He wanted to heal her, and that I needed to pray over her. I said no. I had a lot of reasons, but bottom line, I said no. Eventually she left, and I felt uncomfortable with the decision I had made. I have been asking the Lord for more of Him. I have asked for more of the Holy Spirit, and I have asked Him to build my faith. Yet there I was rejecting His prompting.

I went home and read my Bible, and poured out my heart to Him. I told Him I was sorry. I confessed that I was scared. He comforted me, and told me to call her and ask if I could come over tonight and pray with her. He wasn't letting it go, and I had just promised Him that if I heard Him again, I would listen. I called her. She said YES. My stomach hurt. I called a friend for some encouragement and support. She told me to read Philippians 4. I did, and I liked these verses:

6-7Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

I prayed over them.

I went to her house, and she told me that, at the very second I had called, she was in a very difficult place emotionally, and my call had given her hope. Later, as we were talking about the Bible, she shared with me that her favorite verse was Philippians 4:6. The very verse I had underlined and prayed over before visiting her. We talked for a long while, and realized that we share a similar story, and our lives have many parallels. Before I left I prayed over her. I prayed for her healing. It was INCREDIBLE. God was all over this!

I'm not used to seeing God work in the moment. I can speak of many times when I have seen Him in hind sight. But, sadly, I can't tell you of a time, before this, where I have heard Him tell me to do something and have done it. Tonight I was able to bless and be blessed, and it was AMAZING.

This is what I mean when I say that Jesus has chosen us, His church, to make Himself known (Eph 1:23 msg). He needs us. He uses us. We are His body. We are the physical manifestation of Jesus to the world today. He wants us to do what He did while He walked the earth. We have to seek Him. We have to listen to Him. We have to trust Him. We have to obey Him. No matter what it costs us. The world NEEDS Jesus, and Jesus NEEDS us, to meet their needs.

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