We slept in until 6:15 AM today. But I awoke with a Word, "today is the day to be cautious". We are almost at the half way point of our mission and we have had many victories in the Lord. But we must be cautious not to get ahead of God.
I shared a paragraph from the book "Final Quest" by Rick Joyner. "We cannot let our new shining armor blind us from seeing the attack coming. We must cover our shining armor with a drab shroud of humility, so that we will not be blinded by our armor to the ensuing battle. "
At breakfast Jennifer told us that she woke up to find that she was covered in red bumps, maybe bed bugs. She took it in stride, joking about it, yet we could see her concern. And it occurs to me that today in my spirit I was warned, "you will be attacked when you share or openly acknowledge your fears". Jennifer has been sharing about her trip to Africa and Asia where she dealt with a rat in her hair at night, ring worm on her neck and malaria pills that gave her bad dreams. Edyth, who has expressed her fear of cats and dogs and most animals was bitten by a cat today and when we arrived at Pastor Ilya's home at the end of the day she found out that they own a big beautiful dog named buddy. Edyth also had a bee locked in a car with her this week.
The devil gives us the spirit of fear, BUT he does not know what we fear until we expose it to him.
Our first stop was at a Teen Challenge for homeless in Kuibeshevo. We drove about 30 minutes to an old farm house. This wonderful place is very close to my vision for a center in Massachusetts. It is home to about 14 men, 8 cows, many rabbits and a few cats. It is a rural farm where they grow all there own vegetables and raise livestock.
We met with about 5 of the men because the others have a day job off the farm. Their day has a very tight schedule with much of it being studies. We shared testimonies and a powerful time prayer.
Second Stop - Kiselevsk, a Teen Challenge for men.
We were greeted by barking dogs. The men that called this place home held back the dogs and invited us in. Edyth did her best not to show fear.
The building was an old school that housed about 15 men. We gathered in a small room and the service began with a young man leading worship with his guitar. It was easy to see why the men enjoyed worship. I was asked to bring a word and God had me share John 14, God's promises of " I will" which is centered on the Holy Spirit. After the message, my alter call was for those who wanted to know the power of the Holy Spirit. For some reason when I invited the men to come forward I also invited them to their knees. Five men gathered in the center of the room. After about 30 minutes of very powerful prayer the room became electric with the with the power of God.
Then I realized why I called the men to kneel. One of the men that came forward was crippled and unable to easily stand on his own. God had us focus on him and so we laid hands and prayed according to scripture. The man began to straighten and stand. He raised his hands and glowed with the glory of God. Most of us in the room were crying as we believed God for this man's healing and that the Holy Spirit would touch all who asked. Again we lost complete track of time. The worship leader began to play "Awesome God" and sang it from our hearts in Russian and English." Then we sang an "alleluia" chorus for a long time and the intensity of the Spirit of God continued to increase. The anointing was so thick in the room and the peace so intense that we did not know how to end....frankly no one wanted to stop. So we sang some more, gathered for a picture and left.
Next we were headed for a church and Teen Challenge in another drug district. Pastors Andre's church and property have been under constant attack. Smashed windows and spray painted cars and walls were the communities way of welcoming this church into the neighborhood.
By the end of the day we were exhausted and overwhelmed by how God was using us. We concluded our day with a wonderful meal at the home of Pastor Ilya and his wife Janet.
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