Kuala Lumpur 2015 "Friday Morning Prayer Group"
01/06/15 03:47
When it comes to visions, prophetic words or words of knowledge I do not consider these to be among my 'gifts'. On a Friday morning we would hold a prayer and worship session with one of my wife's friends of many years. After singing we would start praying for whatever was on our hearts and often they would sense the presence of our Lord whilst I would sit concentrating on my senses of hearing or feeling and getting a little frustrated that there was nothing physical there. To see then weighed down by his presence, sometimes laughing uncontrollably or maybe wincing from the pleasure of their experience left me somewhat frustrated. That didn't make me think that God wasn't in our midst or in someway they were making it up, I just assumed the Lord saw that I wasn't yet ready for such an experience. I marveled in what others had got and wondered when or whether one day it would be my turn.
Now when others are experiencing things that you are not there is a danger that you start to invent your own stories and feelings. For me it was more important not to lie about what I was sensing than to find favour amongst my colleagues with words of encouragement that had more to do with my human emotions than any external influence on my thinking. Occasionally something would come into my mind that was relevant and I would explore it whilst others were praying out loud. Was that a word from God? Often it came to me through a reference to a Bible quotation but then that made me wary of accepting it. As I would read a couple of chapters of the Bible most days my mind contained words and phrases from that that would be applicable in most circumstances. I became wary of using quotations that I had read that morning lest they be in my mind only because I had read them that day! Nevertheless, there was at least one occasion where the appropriateness of what I had to say made me subsequently wonder whether I had been directed to read those words that day for the situation others were praying into.
After we had completed those prayer and worship sessions my wife would often say to me “Did you feel anything?” or “Did the Lord speak to you?”. Well it was obvious to me that she had felt or experienced something whilst I had not and I told her the truth.
Now when others are experiencing things that you are not there is a danger that you start to invent your own stories and feelings. For me it was more important not to lie about what I was sensing than to find favour amongst my colleagues with words of encouragement that had more to do with my human emotions than any external influence on my thinking. Occasionally something would come into my mind that was relevant and I would explore it whilst others were praying out loud. Was that a word from God? Often it came to me through a reference to a Bible quotation but then that made me wary of accepting it. As I would read a couple of chapters of the Bible most days my mind contained words and phrases from that that would be applicable in most circumstances. I became wary of using quotations that I had read that morning lest they be in my mind only because I had read them that day! Nevertheless, there was at least one occasion where the appropriateness of what I had to say made me subsequently wonder whether I had been directed to read those words that day for the situation others were praying into.
After we had completed those prayer and worship sessions my wife would often say to me “Did you feel anything?” or “Did the Lord speak to you?”. Well it was obvious to me that she had felt or experienced something whilst I had not and I told her the truth.