| October 2009 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Greetings all who wrestle for the Kingdom,
Obayga!
Obayga. Let the word roll off your tongue and rattle around in your head.
Obayga.
We had a good friend stop by last Saturday and he related a story that has to be told. Our friend Lincoln grew up in Africa and came to school at Kuyper College around ten years ago. He met his wife here in West Michigan and they now have two children. His son Nyanti is his youngest child and he will be two in a few months. While going into Walmart with his mother he said out of the blue “Mama, obayga!”
Michelle did not know what he was trying to say so she asked him what he meant and he repeated “obayga!”
Michelle had been praying about a situation and asking God for direction and here it came from her son. When she asked again what he meant he said “Obay ga. Obay ga!” Then it hit her what he was saying. Obey God. Obey God. Simple, to the point, profound and just what she needed to hear.
Obayga!
As Claudia and I taught and ministered at the Bridge Street House of Prayer community last night the Lord reminded me of a story. A single Mom was driving home and the Spirit directed her (at 11PM at night) to drive into a condo complex where she did not know anyone. She obeyed and then asked God “what am I doing here?” She heard in her spirit ‘go to the home with the red door’. She then followed the Spirit’s direction to the back of the complex and parked in front of a condo unit with a red door. She struggled for a while with going up to the door since it was so late at night and finally got up the courage to obey and went and knocked on the door. A woman answered and a man behind her was obviously agitated and the woman asked “can I help you?” Our obedient missionary explained why she had come and asked if there was anything she could pray for them. The couple had been having a fight and were discussing whether or not they should even stay together. The peace of God filled the house as she prayed and the couple thanked our friend for coming. It was just what they needed. It would not have happened if she had not been willing to obayga.
Obayga!
As we go about in our lives we need to pay attention to the small voices God is sending to encourage and instruct. It might be a nudge in our spirit, or a random person we may have dismissed in the past, or it might be a child reminding us all to Obayga.
Father, give us all hearts to understand, ears to hear and eyes to see where You are at work so we can join in.
Thank God with us for these reports from people who are trying to obayga in all areas of their lives …
REPORTS • A woman who came to the conf. last month was born with a defect in her hip structure. She had a knob on the top of the leg bone that went into the socket of her hip. It would click when she walked and would freeze up from time to time requiring that she dislocate her hip to unlock it. She was in constant pain with the onset of Arthritis and would begin her day by crawling away from her bed to work through the pain of initiating movement again. She was prayed for at the conference but there was no change. She was mad that it did not happen but began listening to the Healing Series CD’s and came to the “W” for more prayer. Still no change. She listened to more of the CD’s and heard one of the testimonies relating to self-hate being at the root of some physical ailment. She realized that she had some of that going on in her heart so she prayed with her husband repenting of all self-hate. Still no change. She came back to the “W” and was prayed for again and this time felt God move in her heart in a deep cleansing but the other symptoms remained. She prayed that night thanking God for the sweet release in her spirit and blessing Him for the healing in her heart. When she got up the next day she walked four steps toward the bathroom before she realized that the pain was gone and there was no clicking sound. She woke up completely healed. Now that is what I call a faithful God. He heals the heart and the body in His time. • A man who has been coming to the “W” for a little over a month had begun to see answers to prayers in his family. He is separated and fighting a possible divorce so he gets his children every other weekend. As he was driving home with his two children (ages 3 and 5) he told them they would have to do something quiet that night since he had a headache and was feeling very ill. His 5 year old son said “I know what to do” and laid his hand on his father’s head from the back seat and began to pray for healing. As his son prayed the headache and illness left his body. He thanked his son and told him that he had been healed and his son exclaimed “I am the King prayer!” Lord, may we all learn the faith of a child and become King Prayers indeed. A follow up email gave this story; If you'd like to mention this as well, as part of the time of testimony: on Thursday, my 6-yr-old daughter missed school because of a cold and upset stomach; my 5-yr-old and I prayed over her that night, and she very excitedly told me the next day that her cold and stomach cramps were completely gone. No more runny nose, no more sore throat, no more hacking cough - gone. God is amazing. Indeed. • A woman who came to the Conf. was suffering from Shingles and a fractured Femur. There was a great deal of discomfort and she could not stand for any length of time without pain. She was prayed for and the pain left. A few days later she visited her doctor who took fresh X-rays and came out with two sets and asked her if she could read X-rays? The doctor then proceeded to show her the fracture from the X-rays a few weeks ago and the new X-rays that showed the leg was completely healed. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. • A Pastor who is part of the WWT wrote to tell us “yesterday a lady came to early service who's been suffering with cancer and chemo. In fact, she reacted so badly the 6th (of 6) chemo was cancelled. We've been in fervent prayer for/with her. Anyway, when she came in yesterday a couple of us went right to her and asked how she was doing. She started to weep and said "I'm cancer free!" So begins, I pray, a new day at this church when we see miracles and believe they happened because God is who God claims to be. On another note, a family new to the church has a little girl named Grace. Grace hands in prayer requests (which we pray through at the same service they are handed in at) and she would write things like: bless my babysitter; help my puppy to be trained; bring my cat home; bless my brother and mom and dad; etc. I also prayed them because they are the faith of a child and God loves it! Her mom asked me one day if it was OK to keep letting Grace hand them in. Of course I told her yes! Last week the mom came up to me and said "I have to tell you something. The cat came home!" I just laughed and said that was our God. Julie (the mom) said "you don't understand. That cat is 15 years old and not well. It was gone for 2 months and we thought it went off to die, but we couldn't tell Grace that." Hallelujah!” Hallelujah indeed. • A woman who came to the conf. asked for prayer for her son who was having severe self image issues. The son was at a scouting event with his Dad while she was at the conf. Here is what she wrote us when they got home “Sunday morning I went to church as usual, and my husband and Luke got home while I was at church. The first thing Luke said to me when we saw each other is this "I am the best of the best!". WOW. He thinks that is what he learned over the week end, but I saw that as MY confirmation of his healing!!! I just hugged him and said, "Yes, you are!!" God, You are good. • A woman was praying protection for her family and her son came home from work and showed her where a board with a nail in it had fallen with great force and pierced his shoe with the nail going right between his toes without any harm to him. Protection indeed. • A woman asked for prayer at the conf. regarding her sight. She could not drive at night because of issues with her eyes but felt compelled to come and was concerned about the drive home. Her eyes were healed and she drove home without any problems. The issues came back within days and so she came to the “W”. During prayer there were demonic manifestations that were dealt with and she was once again freed from the physical issues. Father, greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. • A woman was having vicious shooting pains in her cheek and face. While in Claudia’s session at the conf. she was prayed for and the pain left her face immediately and it has not returned. Blessings to Your name healing Lord. • A story came in via Facebook where a man who has been coming to the “W” for a few months was having breakfast with a friend who complained of pain in his knee and with a tooth that had just been worked on. The man asked if he could pray for him and the friend agreed. As the intercessor began to pray the pain left both the knee and the tooth. Father, Your Word is true and we thank You. • A man who has been coming to the “W” for years reported how his young children are now praying for each other and God is healing them as they pray believing. Lord, what a legacy You are building in our homes as we follow You. • A woman put a request for her 14 year old daughter in the box at the “W”. The daughter had been withdrawn, depressed and moody due to abuse in her past. When the woman got home her daughter came up and talked to her openly for the first time in 10 years and confessed things she was involved in and asked for forgiveness and help and had questions about God and how to follow him. Lord, may Your light shine in our darkness and make it flee. • A woman was prayed for via the “box” who had stage four cancer that had metastasized and they had little hope for her. The report now came back that the fast acting cancer is under control and that God has a different plan!!! The intercessor wrote “Like you have said the world's facts don't have the last word. Yippee!!!!” I believe Yippee qualifies as appropriate praise in this case. • An email came in from a woman from IL who was at the conf.; If you don't mind I would like to share a couple of things from the conference …First I would like to share with you about the swarm. When we did the swarm on Friday night you told us to listen to the Spirit and put something on the paper to pray for healing for. At first, I for some reason thought that we going to pray for healing of one of the people in the wheelchairs up front. Don't know why I thought that but I never did a swarm before. I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to put down bitterness. (You had not finished giving your full instructions yet.) Then when I understood it was about me, I still heard bitterness. I could not understand why but I <wrote> it down. Saturday when we did the swarm again I heard bitterness. I <wrote> it down again. When I had my quiet time with the Lord on Sunday He revealed to me that I was bitter at my father and sister from something that happened in my childhood. I really thought I was over it for we all get along now. The Holy Spirit was right. I broke down and confessed my bitterness and it was a wonderful healing that I needed that I was unaware of. Praise God! A wonderful couple from your "W" prayed with me after the conference for healing of my back, hips, and arm.( I had to stand in the back for the last part of Saturday for I could not sit any longer and then drive 5 hours home.) After they prayer my back was very warm. I have not had any pain in my back since. I have done some things <this week> that usually would aggravate it (like leaning over for a period of time) and have not gotten any pain from it! Answered prayer again!!! My hip hurt really bad for about a week and hasn’t hurt since. Our God is good! Yeah …. Our God really is good. • An intercessor that is a part of the WWT sent us an email regarding a prayer time at his Reformed church; “This is a follow-up email on the guy John and I prayed for in church Sunday. Carl, a friend of <ours> from our days in Erie PA, has had neck pain for months, scans show a cyst that doctors hope to leave alone, and he's been living on pain killers and chiropractor visits. Here is the note …God rocks my world!. “Hi you two!! Thank you for everything! We really enjoyed ourselves!!! You two are the bestest!!!!! Well, Update!!! We got back in plenty of time for <the husband’s> appt. We walked in and told him what happened at church and about the pop in his neck and the burning in his arm!! The Dr. said "must be God put things back where they belong!” Then he checked him out and no adjustment. Praise be to God!!! <The husband> said tonight that all he has is a sore neck!!!! Thank you. Thank you Jesus Thank you Thank you JESUS!!!!!! In God's time ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!!!!” All things indeed • A woman emailed us with some “box” reports; Subject: God is AWESOME!!!!!! I wanted to let you know that I got my mortgage modified. It went from $2400.00 to $1232! If I pay on time for Nov, Dec, & Jan it will be changed permanently. …. Thank you for being there for me. I love God so much. I have so much emotion I don't have words to describe it! The next amazing thing that God has done is (the owner of the <place> that I work at) was gifted $20,000 yesterday by a friend that was woke up in the middle of the night and told to bless <her> with this money! We've been praying for her at the "W" ! WOW WOW WOW Wow indeed Lord. • Another email; Also wanted to share an answer Wed night at the W. One of the ladies we prayed with has arthritis due to Lyme's disease. She's been seeking healing 3 years! We prayed for her and as we were leaving she came to us very excited. <A woman>, (another lady in our group taking care of the kids of the musicians) was talking with her and said she had Lyme disease and saw a holistic Dr. in Big Rapids who did some sort of test, gave her a drink and she hasn't had any symptoms since. The lady was very excited about this connection as she has been traveling to Tennessee and paying lots of money. Also, God had to work overtime to make the connection because <the other woman> had to get up and chase after one of the kids while we were praying for and didn't get the full story until she talked to <the lady> again after we were done in our circle! What an awesome God we serve! Father, we are so glad that You are awesome. • A woman asked for prayer last month regarding a situation with two girls her daughter was trying to adopt from Africa. There had been a positive TB test that fouled up the plans to bring them in. Here is the email update; <Our daughter> got word today that the girls passed their TB test. They leave Sat to get the girls and return the following Saturday. Praise God! Praise and praise again for these new additions to the family. • A man was having back pain and he called for prayer and it got worse. He was praying alone later and God revealed an area of his life that he needed to repent of and so he did. Later, he had the sense that he was supposed to stretch a certain way on his bed and push on his knee. He did and heard a pop and his back was immediately better. He called his boss and told him that he was good to come back to work and the boss told him to go to a Chiropractor and have his back checked just to be sure everything was in order. When he got to the Doctor’s office the man did some checking and then performed the exact maneuver that the Holy Spirit had shown him the day before. We bless you Healing Lord, You show us the way if we will listen. • A story came in of a Mother who had been ill for months and she was prayed for via the “box” and suddenly, without explanation, she is well. Father, You get the glory again and we say thanks. • A worship leader was outside the church bent over from stomach pain and one of the WWT members laid hands on him and spoke to the pain commanding it to leave and the man stood up pain free and walked into the church and led the worship service without any further issues. That is cool. • A man who is in a difficult divorce situation was prayed for at the “W” and got to spend time with his kids for the first time in a year. Thank You Father for loving this father well. • A woman was prayed for at the “W” and all her ear pain left and she is off all Med’s. Yes & amen. • A man put his Dad in the “box” for healing from Cancer but also that God would heal his heart and allow him to begin eating again. The next week his Dad had a softening in the relationship and could suddenly keep food down. We are praying now for the Cancer to go as well. God, You complete it. • A woman with Lyme disease came to the “W” for prayer and ended up sitting right next to a woman who had been healed of that ailment quickly and easily via a Doctor in St. Johns MI. Another ‘chance’ happening in God’s economy. • A family had moved to Holland to join a ministry team and were looking for a place to live and were given a house on Lake MI for two months while they settle in. Father, sounds like above and beyond what we could ask or think to me. • A young man Crohn’s symptoms and digestive issues was struck during a church service that he needed to repent of a situation so he did. He then spoke to the stomach and intestines and commanded them to line up with the Word after his repentance. A test for Glutton intolerance came back with no issues a day later and he is eating everything he wants without restriction. You are faithful and just to cleanse us Lord. Here are some additional things to be aware of as WT members; |
