I don't really know what to talk about because so much has happened. We had a homecoming dance here and that was excellent fun. I think our group needed to just dance the night away because we were done with finals. Yeah, we finished school last week and have now begun the service site aspect of our journey. I, along with 7 others, are serving at a place called Walk in the Light ministries. We have only been there two days but it is already incredible. The only thing we have done is paint the inside of a house, walk around the nearby township, Haniville, and enjoy a sr. youth service. It's incredible. I knew from the first time we visited the place a few weeks ago, I would be there. The man in charge, Bruce, has been trying to get a new building started on top of a hill overlooking the township. When we were there the first time he was sharing what he felt the Lord had begun to work in that place, with the new building and all. At that moment the Father allowed me to see a vision of the future and what it would look. I saw the dead fields full of beautiful flowers and lush trees/foliage. And I heard the verse in Matthew 5:14 echo in my head, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill which cannot be hidden."
I shared this with Bruce and he said the same thing had been prophesied years before and it was huge confirmation for what they wanted to do there. This place is to be a refuge for the community to come and attend church, be in the library, be cared for in a clinic and simply rest. Exciting.
The Lord has been growing and maturing me like never before. I cannot explain all of the things that have happened but I will mention a few. Before the start of this past summer the Lord told me that the summer would be a time of growth, and it sure was. That was such a difficult season in my life of perseverance. And then going in to this semester, the Lord revealed to me that this semester was going to be a time of extended growth and maturity...and my oh my, has it ever been.
My spiritual gifts have been solidified. I am a warrior with a very specific and huge calling in life, to speak truth to men and fight the strongholds that the enemy has in men's lives (pornography, masturbation) and fight what the world and media say a man should be. The Father speaks to me a lot through visions and has given me the gift of discernment. The Father has given me a heavenly language to speak his praises during times I am alone or when the Sprit is moving powerfully. He allows me to see/sense the spiritual realm when it is important to see what is going on. He has gifted me with a strong leadership gifting and ability to dictate the Lord's word to groups of people. (the leadership thing I have not fully embraced because I don't necessarily like it and have been sick of taking initiative, but have started to embrace it more since the Lord has allowed interpretation of my dreams lately. That's a cool thing, God speaks to almost every person on campus here in their dreams. He has provided prophetic dreams as well. Anyway, one of my professors interpreted a dream I had and it meant that I needed to continue to practice my leadership and embrace it)
At d-group this tuesday I was feeling strangely hard hearted so the rest of the people in my group prayed for me. (Mind you, all the past week I had been getting really annoyed with people for some reason and had begun to have an identity crisis, meaning I have begun to realize I don't know who I am) So after they prayed for me the first time I told them I was not accepting any of their prayers and felt really angry for whatever reason. Seriously, I felt something had hardened my heart and I did not know what. They prayed for me again and this time one of my friends had a word from the Lord for me saying that I am God's favourite. This confused me at the time but now I understand that we are all God's favourite. I disagreed with him completely during the prayer and instantly the Lord gave another person a vision for the moment which I can't explain because this would just go on forever. But then we finished and I got up to leave and instantly saw/sensed two demons waiting at the door. I knew that they were sent to pester and bug me.
I was leaning up against a pool table and then one of my good friends came up to me and said, "God knows who you are." This didn't make sense at the time but I understand now. But as soon as I went outside the two demons went straight behind me and began to follow me. One of my friends said he was going to the prayer chapel so I told him I would meet him there. Then, as I was walking back to my chalet I decided to get my guitar from a friend who was borrowing it and noticed Byron and Zach, both guys from my d-group walking towards my chalet. When I came back with my guitar, they were standing right outside my chalet and I just smiled and realized that the Lord had sent them specifically to protect me against the two demons that were sent for me.
So I told them this and we walked to the prayer chapel with Byron and Zach on either side of me. I felt very safe and noticed that the demons could not even come anywhere close to us. We got in the prayer chapel and began to worship. The Lord gave me a vision for Zach and I saw a war hammer above his head. I told him and he said the Lord had given him his life verse about 3 years earlier which comes from Jeremiah 1:9-10 "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." He is a warrior commissioned to tear down strongholds but also to build up and encourage/help others. He had been sent to help me with my identity struggle. The Lord gave Zach a dream the night before about this exact situation, which I will not explain as it would take up too much space. Adam Bailey was reading scripture while Byron was praying. Then Zach realized that this is what a Christian community ought to be doing, worshipping, reading scripture, and praying.
Earlier that day Byron and I had talked a lot about marriage and my struggle with thinking about marriage and my wife, because it has been a plague on my mind and a massive annoyance. It was revealed to me that Byron has been sent to help me with that specific struggle. I have also realized since then that the two demons that were sent to pester me are the two things with which I have been struggling the most, my identity and my marriage/wife. But the Lord has sent Byron and Zach to help me out with those. It is also interesting that before any of this ever happend, all three of us had signed up to do the same service site.
Then Calvin walked in and began to pray and worship with us as well. So now all 5 of the guys in our d-group were in the prayer chapel together and I was just loving it. When I looked outside the window I saw tons of angels and demons having this massive battle. And I just laughed because God is victorious and it is funny to me that the enemy even tries to thwart His plan. Now it is difficult to describe the things I see because there are not human words to describe them. So when I say I see things it is more of a see and sense combined. I seense them. Not physically like one sees another human being. But in the spiritual realm.
So we ended up all sleeping over together in the same chalet. When our d-group met again two days later, yesterday, the we told the girls in our group and it turns out that each person had a different vantage point to that night and the things that happened. Zach had a dream about him and I overcoming a huge obstacle and working together, Rachel had a dream about Byron and I praying for my wife, Joanie had a vision about the confusion in my head, the Lord to calvin to come to the prayer chapel, both Caitlin and Emily spontaneously, at the same time, were urged to pray for my wife a few weeks ago when we were at church and the Lord has all brought us together!! I have told these things with great generalness because if I were to give every detail of every thing that happened this would take you 5 hours to read. The purpose of this is just to give an example of the kind of things that are happening here.
Seriously, this kind of stuff happens every single week. And God is faithful. If you want to talk about this or get more clarity, let's skype!! My username is awengro. I love the Lord so much and He has been growing me and every one else like sooo soo much!!
It will be hard going back to the states and being with people who have not experienced these things. I think I will have a difficult time. Pray for my room mates back at school, Micah, Chris, Adam, Jeff, Andrew and I forget the other guy. I don't know him that well but I think he is like 27 and is one of micah's friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment