GLIMPSES OF GLORY
Page Four
Prophesy
========
One of the strangest/funniest things
that ever happened was when I was at a Bible school in Africa.
For a number of reasons, I had gone on an information-gathering visit, but ended
up being expected to teach around 60 students "whatever the Lord lays on my
heart."
(I was also stood on a stage in the town square to preach the gospel, but that
is another story!)
I had spent a certain amount of effort praying about this, knowing the people
that I would teach would probably be hot on miracles and the prosperity gospel,
so I had decided to teach on the armour of God (Ephesians).
In the weeks before I went, I had managed to prepare notes (which were quite useless, as it turned out) on the belt, breastplate, helmet, shoes and shield, but had to get on the airplane with a completely blank page about the sword.
Well, having arrived, I looked at
the culture, looked at my notes, and realised I would have to rewrite virtually
the whole thing. All the anecdotes were out of place, every cultural assumption
was alien to these people. They were so physically poor that the only thing that
I could offer them was the Bible itself. So, I had to re-write, letting
scripture refer to scripture, and the teaching got refined overnight each night
before it had to be delivered the following day. Every time I got stuck, I
prayed in tongues until the next reference in the chain came to me. I slept
maybe 2 hours a night that week, and spent the rest of each night in "cold sweat
prayer".
Each day, the Lord seemed to be speaking through me, and though I had to give
the same material to the first and second years in two separate sessions, it
never came out the same way for the two classes. Working through an interpreter
who was full of the Spirit was a novel experience...whenever I said something
that was "anointed", he translated it with ease. Whenever the flesh took over,
he would look at me patiently and wait for me to find the right words instead(!)
When Thursday morning came around, my host said that the students had asked for
a special afternoon session...but he waited until ten minutes before the morning
session to tell me this! Then, after the morning session, he took me to meet a
prayer partner of his for lunch. The result of this was that I returned to the
Bible school at 2pm, with a blank page, and having had no time whatever to
prepare.
The next session on my agenda was to have been "The sword of the Spirit", and
guess what, I still had a blank page of notes. Here I was having to rely on the
"Rhema" for myself. Embarrassing or what! (I kept the notes, complete with the
blank page, as a reminder...)
Well, the students (who were much closer to God than me anyway) were in worship
when I arrived, and I sought the Lord for what He was saying in the worship
time. Then, for some reason, I took off my shoes, and stood in front of them,
and asked, "What is God saying?" None of them had any idea. They had been too
busy praying, praising, and worshipping to listen. So, I taught (extemporary,
but out of previous study) the basics of personal prophesy and discernment.
Then, we had a practical session, which ended with "body ministry". They were
encouraged to "hear God for themselves, and speak it out for the rest to
discern". Someone at the back then started to sing, a song which resonated
with me so deeply, that I memorised the words and the tune, and wrote them down
to bring back.
Like all African songs, it was
simple, and repeated a lot, but it was also profound...
"Son of man,
Seek the Lord your God,
For the World is full of crying".
(But it sounds better in Swahili.)
Eventually, we got to a place where
anyone who had a specific word for someone else was able to encourage the
individual with the Word of God. As we moved around the room, at one point I
found myself praying with a very large, very black African, and the words came
to me...
"I have made you a strong shepherd, able to go into the dark and dangerous
places and being back my lost sheep."
Needless to say, my mind was busy interpreting this as a calling to evangelism,
which just shows how wrong I can be. Fortunately, I was constrained (as we
should be) to say only what God put on my heart, and not to add my own
interpretation to this. When the session ended, this same man came and asked for
a moment of time at the front. He wanted to testify to the truth of God's word,
and stand in faith.
Why?
Well, it turned out he actually was a shepherd, and his flock, his whole
livelihood, had gone missing a couple of days before. As a student anyway, he
had traveled 100 miles to the Bible school to seek God about this because if he
couldn't get them back, he was destitute. Apparently, when I spoke about the
dark and dangerous places, he realised where his flock had got lost, and was
ever so excited, because he could now go and get them back!
He promised a male and a female sheep to the Bible school as a thank-offering
when he had found them.
A couple of months later, after I returned home, I heard that his sheep had in
fact been found where he had been "shown", and that the children at the infant
school next to the Bible school were now looking forward to having a small flock
of their own to provide them with milk. (Most church activities in this part of
Africa also run infant schools, to assist in obtaining government help.)
I also heard that he is responsible for running an orphanage in the north of the
country which feeds and clothes 150 children under 10, in a barren land. The
orphanage is now being supported by a registered charity run by another group of
people with whom I have some contact.
"We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the all-surpassing
greatness comes from God".
Submitted September 3, 2007
Used with permission
