Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Power and Love Conference

Jennifer and I attended a "power and love" conference this past week. A grueling 4 days x 14 hours a day, it was an intense experience for us. The teaching was so well balanced, but what was so life changing was the opportunities we had to "practice" what we were learning. At each lunch and dinner break, we were to go out in 2's (or 4's) and strike up conversations with strangers in our paths and/or pray for people we came across. The goal was to "demonstrate the love of God."

This was the first paradigm shift for me. I thought the goal was to heal people. I learned that the goal was to show people's God's love...and healing was just one of many ways to do that. One experience pointed this out to me: We were at Denny's and before we ate our dinner, I asked the waitress if she had a family member who might need prayer. She immediately teared up and said her sister (who had cancer). Then she thanked us for caring enough to ask. It was at this moment I realized the truth of what our teachers had told us. It wasn't about us healing folks. It was about God's presence permeating a situation and demonstrating His tangible love and concern for people.

We had countless other encounters with folks, and heard incredible testimonies from others who were amazed that God would use them so easily. The lessons learned?

1. Pick the longest line at the store, and strike up conversations with people to discover their needs. Then ask if you can pray with them...and bring God's love and power to bear in the encounter.
2. It's not about me.
3. The power of God is often restricted by our lack of faith that is motivated by LOVE.

UNO: Convoy of Hope

For months we have been a part of a movement called U.N.O., (Unity in Northeast Ohio) of churches who have been praying for a move of God to revive and make His Presence known in our area. Then, a few weeks ago, we finally did Convoy of Hope at the Lake County Fairgrounds...1500 volunteers from 58 churches got involved...from health clinics, hair cuts, free shoes, to kids zones and food tents. All free.

Jennifer and I chose to work in the prayer tent. It got pretty hectic, because everyone who wanted to leave, left through the prayer tent. At one point, a family with an elderly grandmother came through and she hobbled to our prayer circle. We found out she had a bad knee...very painful and ligaments were all bad, and cartilage was all gone. So we prayed for her knee, which she described as an "8" out of 10 on the pain scale. As we prayed, she began to tell us her knee was getting hot inside and that it felt like something was moving around in her leg. We asked her to tell us what her pain level was...it was a 2. We prayed again. After that she touched her knee and said, "thats wierd, its cool to the touch but burning hot inside." And all the pain was gone. She stood up and didn't wobble. She was careful and amazed. She didn't believe in this "stuff" before. God had showed His love to her.

The very next family was a family from our church. Their daughter was wearing a knee brace because at her softball game last week, a kid hit her knee with an aluminum bat...and it hurt terribly. She couldn't even bend it. We prayed for her. Within seconds, the pain was gone, and she stood up, took off her brace and bent her knee back to its full back position...and laughed! God had healed her!

Funny thing, for the past 2 months, I had had severe knee pain. That day it vanished from me as well. I didn't even know when it stopped, except when we were leaving I noticed my knee no longer ached.

One more thing. A couple got saved. That's the best part of all. Actually, 150 people got saved. We had the privilege of leading 2 people (a couple) into the Kingdom of God. They were among the very last people in the Fairgrounds at the event to leave. Without sharing details, I can simply say "wow God." They were so hungry and broken...and ready to give their lives to Jesus.