Recent Meetings
I’m going to tell the highlights of two recent meetings I have ministered in – a soaking meeting where I played and sang prophetically about a week and a half ago, and a FGBMFI meeting in Tulare CA where I spoke this weekend. But I’m also going to share about what goes on between meetings – for this is as much a part of ministry as anything else.
The soaking meeting seemed a bit subdued. It may have been because we had a few new people who didn’t know what soaking is, and I had to pause at times to explain what was going on at various points as I sang prophetically. This will probably be a feature of the monthly soaking meetings from now on.
The music flowed as it did the month before: several times I found myself exploring a lyrical theme I would not have anticipated. At the end, people began coming forward for prayer. One by one as they made their requests known, I realized I had already sung into their needs. The prayers often echoed a theme I had sung a few moments before.
I see it as a fulfillment of Zephaniah 3:17:
Then this weekend I made the three hour drive to speak at the FGBMFI dinner at Tulare CA. I shared about the online school and passed the assignment on to them. We were on a tight schedule, so there was no time for personal ministry.
But I shared with them about hearing God’s voice: quiet your heart, focus on Jesus, and look for a spontaneous flow of words. A man named Edward was sitting in the front; I walked through the steps as I prayed over him. I pointed out that what I had prayed had been generalities, something I could have spoken over everybody in the room.
Then I took a risk: I asked if the word had meant anything to him beyond generalities. He nodded and said it had been very specific; he said it was all he could to to keep from breaking down and sobbing.
It was a risk because I never know how personal and specific a word will prove to be. If I minister to ten people, it will always be more profound for some than for others.
But this is where the online school helps me. I find it easy to minister in meetings. I’ve been doing it for decades. But I also find it a little too easy to get caught up in the bustle of ministerial activities and to miss the divine appointments that happen between meetings.
The parable of the good Samaritan addresses this. The priest and the Levite each passed the battered man and left him alone. No doubt they were running late for an appointment; they were too busy with their ministries to find time for the man.
I haven’t found or made many ministry opportunities between meetings this month.
I want to be like Jesus, not like the priest and the Levite. And how did Jesus live? He was interruptible. He took time to cross town to minister to Jairus’s daughter – He allowed Himself to be interrupted by the woman with the issue of blood. In or out of a meeting, He was ready to serve and bless.