Entry 7, Bravery and prophecy

After a day like yesterday, where John and I had both had over 12 hours of meeitngs, we had decided we would try and relax a little today, so had come to the conclusion that we would only go to the evening meeting, so that we could ensure we got the most from it, and didn't tire ourselves out.

so late morning came, and John wanted to go hunting for wild aligators. It would be bfair to say that I was more than a little nervous about this, not sure if it was the fact of not being able to see what would eat me, or the fact of being beaten alive scared me more, but I decided to go for it, even though the fear never left me.

the first reserve we went too, there was nothing, thank God, and we even met some lads who told John where to go and find som gators, bless them, why did god bring them into my life.

They told us that they had handled a gator that had bitten them, and it had been about 3 feet long, questions of sanity were rushing like wild fire through my head, but the questions got worse.

As we walked back to the car, John got excited about being bitten by a gator. Yes its true he actually wanted to be bitten by a gator, I have real concerns about this man of God, and lack of sanity.

As we arrived at the next nature reserve I was all for staying in the car, but something told me that I needed to go and do this, I think it was the fear of being called a woos by my wife.

this reseve was deffinitely more wilderness, and far out from any road, and i really felt that we were totally abandoned to the elemnts, and all that existed in them.

When you are surrounded by all sorts of noises in the wilderness, and can't see, it really does do wonders for your prayer life, believe me, I hope that john didn't think I was being rude, but talking was not a high priority when there were a whole load of noises that needed to be listened too.

Part way round, jhohn stopped, he asked if I was ok? I said yes, he didn't really move, I guessed he was looking at the surroundings as he had done before, but how wrong could I have been.

He told me about 5 minutes later that he had stopped because of a snake on the path, great, a snake, that helps relieve the fear, not.

I asked him, about the snake and he told me that it was a safe one, but I late found out that this was a lie, but a lie I was happy to accept.

the snake that john saw, was one of the four most deadly in the area, boy was I glad he ahdn't told me that when we had stopped.

I completed the trail, and believe me this completion was a real achievement, as I don't think I had let go of my fear of that place all the way round.

A quick bite to eat, and a quicker shower, and then it was off to the evening meeting at the tent.

We had a discussion with Kevin about the fact that God tv had stopped showing the meetings, and it really did strike me again, that with all the things leveled at this outpouring, god tv with their decision, have done nothing to put to rest the challenges, and in some respects it could be seen that they have confirmed them. especially now tha tI know that god tv, aren't showing other programmes, they are just showing other previous meetings, what's the point? If people were to ask me, I think I would suggest they supported FreshFire rather than god tv at the moment, because everything I am seeng from fresh fire, speaks of Jesus, but yet the stopping of the programmes on tv, does not say the same thing from God tv.

The evening meeting was a strange one for me, my feet were already sore from a lot of walking, so standing for the worship was not comfortable. But yet, I still stood at various points, and you could really feel the presence of God again, even though I didn't necessarily know many of the songs.

One song struck me a lot, as a different reaction was given to it tonight than on previous nights.

the first line goes "the enemy has been defeated,", and this is fine, but when it started last night, there was a great cheer.

The question that went thorugh me, was whether or not people just liked the song, or whether they were cheering in the triumph of what Jesus had accomplished on the cross.

So on Saturday night there was a great cheer, tonight there wasn't, which indicated to me that they were excited and cheering about what Jesus had done rather than the song itself.

The guy who spoke, spoke a lot of prphecies, most of which I won't relay here, but one he said for the uk, was that the uk was going to blaze, for 90 days. Let me just point out this blaze was with the fire of God rather than any other fire.

His style of speaking was one that I had to work on, because it wasn't comfortable for me, but he never at any time, as far as I was concerned, tried to hype up the congregation.

Although a couple of things struck me:

1: A couple of the prophecies he gave were for specific well known Christians who weren't there. I questioned this with John afterwards, and suggested that he would have been better giving those prophecies to the people in question. John pointed out to me, that himn saying it on the stage gave him a level of accountability, and something sat more comfortably in me with this, although I still wish the people had been there.

2: He in no way hyped up the congregation, but many of the people there tonight just shouted at everything he said, and clearly weren't listening to what he was syaing.

I would suggest that this says more about some of the poeple there rather than him as the speaker.

I just wish when prophecies are given, especially powerful ones, and he had many of those, that people would listen, yes get excited, but shut up and listen to what is being said, and then get excited.

It was interesting when he called those who lived in England forward for prayer, that as soon as we got to the front, the lights went out, and also unknown to me there was some strange flashing going on around the roof of the tent.

I can accept totally that this could suggest the current darkness spiritually over England, and the sparks and fire that God wants to ignite in the uk.

I have had to challenge myself a bit over the last couple of nights, because there is some triumpalism in the worship. But for me now, the triumphalism is totally justified.

god pointed out to me, the triumpalism I was prepared to shout about and cry about when Man united won the doubel this season, so why shouldn't Christians get triumphal abot what Jesus has done.

After all, this is the greatest victory of anyting ever, and it is for me, and for you, so we should be excited about this.

excitement and triumphalism are fine for me, if the people are focussed on Jesus, and accknowleding what he has done for them, becuase that really is something worth celebrating.

And I have to say, that thorughout the worship and the teaching here, it is totally %100 about Jesus, and about us having that deeper relationship with him.

So I know that this is a complete move of God, and i totally embrace it, and RolltheRock does as well, even if god tv only want to show Todd bently, But god has lots to say through prophets, and we need to lsiten, and maybe even allow ourselves to be used as prophets, and God wants to heal, and we should open ourselves and our churches up to helaings, and god wants to touch his people, and this also shoudl be encouraged.

Intemacy with god is the greatest thing that could be experienced, and intemacy could and should never be controlled or contrived, and there is certainly no controlling or contriving taking place here in florida.