Don't miss the prayer meeting!

Ah, God is good.

It has been a long day of hard work, but there is a satisfaction of being able to relax after working hard. My back is a little stiff after 9 hours of working, but the first thing I did as I got in my car to drive home was to thank God for giving me that job. Being able to admire God's creation while I work and on the drive to and from work doesn't hurt either.

Well, I'll back up to last night. I went to soak before pre-service prayer and God's presence was thick! When I went over to the church I was one of the first ones there and started to get whacked a little bit before anyone else was really there. Did I mention that God is good and that I am having so much fun? Pretty soon more people arrived and God kept coming as well. At one point I was about to fall backwards when a guy that I normally walk around with came out of nowhere (which is funny because he walks really slowly like I do while there) and caught me. The rest of prayer kept getting better as our group of 3-5 people with arms around eachother's shoulders started, stopped, spun around completely (I'm still not sure how we pulled that one off!), almost fell over a few times, laughed a lot, and fell over a few times. Then we had a bonfire at the end and sure enough me and my "dancing partner" (lol, that guy I just mentioned) fell over and almost took a few people with us.

Worship was so much fun! There has not been a worship set during a meeting in the past 3 weeks that I haven't loved. That is good! It isn't because the music was always the greatest, although it usually was, but rather because I have decided to worship whether I felt like it or not.

Eric Johnson spoke, which doesn't happen often on a Sunday. This is the first time I have heard him other than at school or one time at a Friday night service. He was great. He talked a lot about what I have been thinking about recently, just in a slightly different context. He talked about our spiritual inheritance and not trying to pay for what we have been given for free. I found myself realizing that I am still trying to pave my own way instead of building upon those who have gone before me. If they already have breakthrough in it and it is my inheritance then why am I still trying to get it on my own? After having a good ole time in the fire tunnel I went to the grocery store to pick up some lunch making supplies for work. While there I prayed for a few people. It was quite refreshing after many awkward attempts while down in Sacramento of Saturday. Nothing happened that the people noticed which I happily say to show that I am not just trying to share healings. It is a growing process for me right now as earlier yesterday I went to Costco and didn't pray for the people whose paths I crossed who could use a healing or two.

Finally, on a very random note, I wanted to share about something that just happened. I bought a pair of shoes less than two weeks ago since the pair I had been wearing were really falling apart. Really! So as soon as I bought them I started to wear them sinc my old shoes were now in such bad condition. Since the only way to return shoes is if you don't wear them outside your house I didn't see any value in keeping my receipt. Especially since I got them right before I moved I was trying to get rid of things I didn't need. I think the thought went through my mind about something happening to my shoes so I decided to keep the receipt and I put it in my checkbook. Today when I got home from work I was taking off my shoes right before going into the apartment when the loop that holds the shoelace in place broke. So I called up the store where I bought them and explained what happened and they are going to let me replace them because I have the receipt and the box (I can't remember the last shoe box I got rid of unless it was really old). It could just be an unusual coincidence, but I think it was the Holy Spirit telling me to keep the receipt!

Somebody get happy!

So I finally got smart last night and put my laptop in its normal spot next to my bed so that I could write down my dreams when I wake up in the middle of the night. Sure enough, I had a dream, woke up, and wrote it down. One person that was in this dream had never been in any of my dreams until the past two nights. Anyway, I woke up early to get some time in with the Lord. It was fitting that Pastor Kris talked about how something only has value when it costs us something. Well, I have loved my time with God in the mornings and this morning was no different. I think it was probably my favorite time of praying in the Spirit ever. Of my goals that I wrote about a few days ago I have been doing very well on the praying, soaking, and reading the bible, all of which I do in the morning. I have not been as consistent in spending an hour reading other books, but have been reading a few pages each day.

Church was super cool. I was digging worship as I have learned again how to enter in when it isn't my choice of music. Eric Johnson, Pastor Bill's son, shared this amazing story about an 8-year-old that learned not to be afraid of snakes (the devil). I am not doing the illustration justice right now, but he made several great points about how we need to put the devil in his proper place of being small and only having the authority that we hand over to him. Pastor Kris told a story that I have heard many times, but after he told and just began to talk was amazing! When I went up to pray for people I felt an impression on my right knee, so I turned to Banning and asked him if it was hurting, which it wasn't. Ten seconds later he went to go pray for a man. Fifteen seconds after that he tells me to get over there and explains how not only did this man ask for me to pray for him, but also that it was his right knee that he came up to get healing for! So Banning and I just declared healing in a second over him, without praying, and told him to go walk and test it out. He reported very much the same as I did with my knee problem from a month ago in that, it didn't feel nearly as weak when he was walking and that he felt more stable. Praise God!

Fast forward to the evening and I showed up to pre-service prayer a few minutes early. Since I have been having such a good time praying in tongues the past few days, I didn't hesitate to start walking around the room even though there was no music on yet and I was the only one doing it. Sure enough I could feel God's presence almost immediately and was then getting touched by some angels and the Holy Spirit. Later I was with several other people and was starting to get a little bit drunk in the Holy Spirit. I was laughing so much that now my throat is just a tiny bit sore from it. I kept falling over and laughing. Ah, being happy is so much fun! I now have the feeling that the summer is going to be a blast!

So, I don't think that I have ever had quite the experience that I had during worship tonight. It was amazing. I have had other experiences that were incredible, but I think this one tops them all. I thought I felt that something special was happening (which normally does not happen) and after just the third song Pastor Kris gets up to share that he feels such a special anointing in the room that he hasn't felt anything that strong since the Jesus Movement 40 years ago! WOAH! I was already going crazy, but that just kicked it up another notch. It was fantastic. On top of that, a good friend of mine that I have been constantly praying for was finally back from her surgery a month ago. I didn't realize just how special this is until now, but I had been praying that she wouldn't need any more rods put in her back because she would be healed, and guess what, she didn't need any rods! She still needs to be completely healed though. While praying for her I got a couple words of knowledge, one for pain in the left ear, which left completely, and another for headaches which lessened. Also, pain in her knee went away while I was praying for her feet. God is so awesome!!!! I can't believe how faithful He is! Oh and while I was praying for my friend, she was praying with one or two other people for a woman with a large tumor. After the second time of prayer the woman had an astonished look on her face and could not find the tumor!!!! JESUS!!!!!

I almost forget to mention what got released during this time of worship before I prayed for my friend. In addition to the healing anointing, Pastor Kris also said that there was an anointing to break cycles, not only including bad addictions, but also including bad thought patterns of fear or loss of hope. He explained how many lose hope when things they are praying for don't get answered. I totally felt that I had lost hope and it was also fitting that Kim Walker sang prophetically about dreams that were forgotten due to lost hope or bad memory would be restored. Well, I have dreams of people getting out of wheelchairs among other things that I have definitely lost hope on in a very general sense. Actually, I think it would be more accurate to say that I don't carry those dreams with the same level of faith that I once did.

Nearly two hours into the service Danny Silk finally got up to preach. I sat with some friends who were susceptible to getting drunk in the Holy Spirit on purpose just because I know God is giving me some freedom and joy. I was not dissappointed. After Josephs and Marys were called forward to be released we ended with a big fire tunnel. Much later I got to pray with an awesome guy, Scott, for a woman with cancer. You can tell that Scott has been around Pastor Bill by the authority that he prays with. Not a gift of faith, loud authority, but rather a soft-spoken, rock-solid healing theology authority. He got a clear word about her not being able to sleep and the whole time we were praying I could feel the fire coming off of my fingertips. She is gonna be healed.

Somebody get happy! God is good!