“You worry about many things, but only one is needed, and that you remain in my presence.”
This was a recurring message the Lord had for me, and later, this message was also the same for a sister I had prayed over.
Anyhow, I believe it was the second week of September when we had our meeting, preparing ourselves for the outpouring session. This is the first time in at least three years that we have run the Choices series, that we are presented with an opportunity to have an intercessory group praying for the participants while the outpouring session was going on.
Those in the Christian Life series would be the ones, interceding for a powerful outpouring over the participants. I knew immediately that I would have to take the lead. And so when Andrew tasked me with this, I agreed. But it was a real challenge because, while I’ve led many intercessory prayers in the past and written out the program, this is the first time I would be leading an ecumenical one. It was far easier to lead prayers through the Catholic perspective, where we could also call on the intercession of Mother Mary.
As I was preparing, and discerning how to prepare. It dawned on me, based on experience, that Taize was always one of the best ways to move in the presence of the Lord. So I decided to incorporate Taize, and then scripture passages came to me, or rather scripture passages on the promises of God for an outpouring. I would incorporate them in the slides. For every Taize that we chant, we would proclaim the word of God and claim His promise. That was the plan.
On the day itself, on the 1st of October, I brought my laptop over to test everything was working fine. I had just incorporated a worship song at the very tail end. On the day itself, because I was discerning what worship song to choose out of all the many that are available, and also wondered if whether we would have time to reach the worship song. In fact, when I came in, the first thing I asked Carlo was, “How long do you think the outpouring session will last?” He said he didn’t know, and we had to play it by ear. I agreed with him. I surrendered and said, “Lord, if this is all yours, however long or however short, we will adjust according to your will.”
I tested the worship song first, and it was playing well through the overhead speakers. It was working fantasticly well. But then I realized my slides somehow were not displaying properly. They were too big, and parts were cut off. I rushed to call Carlo in to help, and we struggled for almost seven minutes or so. That’s quite long considering. We couldn’t get it right. I suggested to him to adjust the settings to a lower dimension for the screen, but still, it didn’t work. It was quite frustrating that I couldn’t get the full bandwidth of the slides. Then I was prompted to try using the projector control. I asked Carlo, “Do you think any part of this projector control we will be able to do the adjustment?” He said, “No, it’s unlikely.” But still, receiving the prompting, I decided to try. I was playing around with the settings using the projector’s control. Lo and behold, we had the perfect size and bandwidth that was needed to project the slides. Praise the Lord. That was one of the many promptings that the Holy Spirit was already working.
My next worry, of course, was time. But I decided, no, I already told the Lord that it was His time, and I had just surrendered to Him.
Then came the time for us to break off and gather together in Cyprus’ room. Again, I was prompted, this time to do a prayer circle. We held hands in a circle and started an opening prayer. Then, I began to lead the Taize chant. I noticed that quite a few were not used to Taize and the chanting. Maybe they weren’t even familiar with the tune. But after the third or fourth slide, I noticed the atmosphere changing. I think the ladies, that is the sisters, caught on faster. The Holy Spirit was starting to stir in them first. Much later, midway or so, I could see that the guys too were getting into it. The presence of the Lord was getting stronger and stronger as we proceeded.
There were promptings from the Holy Spirit that He was present and removing everything not if Him from us. As we were praying for the group, I told out group that while we are interceding for a powerful outpouring for the participants, this outpouring is also meant for us, for our families and our loved ones. As we proceeded, we could feel the atmosphere change.
We managed to reach the end and to the worship song. While we were singing the worship song, which was very new to many of them, the presence of God heightened through the worship song. It was a beautiful way to end the intercessory session.
I didn’t know if we had time, but I offered to pray for anyone who wanted to come forward. I think there were only five or six of us in the room. We just waited, and Sister Suzette was the first one to come up for prayer. Over the years, I’ve noticed that she’s very sensitive to the Holy Spirit, It just takes hold of her, and her emotions are filled up.
As I was praying, the Holy Spirit was just so powerful, and I was in awe of God’s love for each and every one who came up for prayers. In fact, some didn’t want to come up at first, but after a while, nudged or felt the calling and stirring, everyone was prayed over.
I heard God’s messages very clearly for each and every one of them. I will leave it to them if they want to share if the messages resonated with them. But I could tell that every one of them was touched deeply by His love, peace, mercy, and joy. After praying for everyone, I decided that I too would like to be prayed over by this spirit filled sisters and brothers. I just fell at their feet to be prayed over. All of them praying for me was such a surreal and wonderful experience because I felt the Lord’s love and His Holy Spirit descend upon me. While all their prayers were powerful and beautiful, one really stood out for me and that was Suzette because I’ve watched her being transformed over the years from how she first came in during our Zoom meetings when COVID was still on, and then our in-person meetings. I’ve watched her grow in her faith from that timid little person to somebody who could come up and give testimony. Her prayers have changed over the years. They were powerful and beautiful, and I was touched.
As we gathered into Cassia, the main room, after the whole session, it was wonderful to feel the atmosphere. The presence of the Holy Spirit was still so strong in the room. I’m sure many were touched. I looked around and saw the glowing faces, and I also know that some were touched in a profound way but just were not quite ready yet to share.
So this my testimony for then wonderful evening with our Lord, and I encourage each and every one of you to do the same. Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen.
