Well, yet again we have many amazing stories to catch you all up on. Since our last post, our weeks have been full of much work for the Lord, speaking to many people in a whole range of circumstances – either believers in Jesus but not yet filled with the power of the Holy Spirit (some not yet even water baptized), or those who have already been born again of water and Spirit but needing someone to “expound the Word of God unto them more perfectly,” expecially needing some encouragement to pray in tongues every day.
So, here’s a new list of people to keep in your prayers:
1) Julie & Katie: We met these Australian sisters in a bakery while on a road trip. We got chatting about Australia first, but soon we were talking about the Lord as they both had a strong Catholic background. After a long discussion (standing right there in the middle of the busy bakery!), one of the sisters was eager for us to pray with her. So, we moved to a quiet seating area behind the building. Katie received the Holy Spirit very quickly, speaking in tongues fluently. She was very pleased. She had to get back to her sister (who was not “into” praying with us at the time – everyone is at a different stage in terms of receptiveness to God’s Word) as they had plans to get somewhere that day, but we did have a chance to encourage Katie regarding the need for baptsim by full immersion in water and also living a righteous life. This kind of scriptural direction is very important to share with everyone you pray with – especially if they’re not yet married.
2) A born-again friend of ours introduced us to a business associate of his. They both came around for lunch one day and we found out that she had been a believer in Jesus for many years. She was very interested to learn about the necessity for water baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit in order to enter into the Kingdom of God (John 3:5). At the end of the afternoon and much Biblical discussion, she received the Holy Spirit during prayer. Last week they both came back again for another lunch and the water baptism. We had a great day together and she’s very excited about her new walk with the Lord – she texted us a picture of the Bible she bought the very next day!
3) We were driving home into our community and there was a golf cart in front of us traveling quite quickly. We thought we’d try to pass them, but we decided against. Suddenly, the cart screeched to a halt. We stopped to see if they were okay. We all laughed when they declared that they thought we had been following them. We chatted to them for a while, glad to meet new people in our area. We ended up inviting them into our home for a cold drink (non-alcoholic!). We enjoyed getting to know them and we were even more surprised to learn about the wife’s path with the Lord over the years. Receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues was new to her, so she was excited to learn. We ended up praying with both her and her husband and they were both filled with the Holy Spirit very quickly. They enjoyed hearing themselves pray in tongues for the first time and asked some more questions. It was a very unexpected evening for everyone!
4) My husband and our boys went to a movie together and ended up chatting with a lady sitting next to them as the credits were rolling. She had a very cute dog with her that had been surprisingly perfectly behaved the whole time. They chatted about dogs for a while and then the lady (Kit) said something subtle that got them on to the topic of God. (This is the way most of our work for the Lord begins.) They gave Kit our website address and encouraged her to be in touch.
We never heard from Kit, but then my husband ran into her again as he entered a shopping mall. He asked her if she had considered things some more and she mentioned some struggles she was having at a church she had been attending. After encouraging her some more, Kit said she was keen to pray for the Holy Spirit, so they both went to where my husband was parked and they prayed in the car. Kit received the Holy Spirit – speaking in tongues as proof – very quickly. A few days later she came to our place to get baptized and we enjoyed some time together chatting about various scriptures.
Kit has been keeping in touch with us and it’s a joy to hear the many things she mentions about now being filled with the Holy Spirit. She says it has had a profound affect on her life, praise God!
5) We were doing some shopping in the 99cent store when our daughter spied a man with kittens in a carry bag. We chatted with the man (Daven) for quite some time as our daughter petted the kittens. We discovered that Daven was suffering with many health issues and had experienced many negative and quite destructive things in various church fellowships over the years. We comforted him with various scriptures and asked him if he had received the Holy Spirit since he had believed (in Jesus) – as per Acts 19.
Though Daven had been water baptized with a clear understanding of his commitment to God at the time, he hadn’t yet received the Holy Spirit anointing. He had witnessed speaking in tongues many times, but he had never personally had the experience. We confirmed that because of this he could know that he didn’t yet have the Spirit dwelling within him, but we could pray for him. Daven was excited to pray with us that very night, so after we had both purchased our groceries, we all headed outside to a quiet area along the sidewalk. We laid hands on Daven and he was filled with the Spirit after a couple of minutes of seeking God together. He was in tears from the experience.
We caught up again with Daven this last weekend and enjoyed talking about God’s Word, and sharing stories and experiences. He’s keen to keep in touch and learn more. Praise God!
6) We were on an outing when we spied a gorgeous German Shepherd with his owner. His owner was just being seated in an outdoor patio area at a sushi restaurant. Being dog lovers, we beelined for them and started chatting. We discovered we had lots to talk about, so we ended up joining her at her table as we shared stories on mutually interesting topics.
It wasn’t very long before we turned to the subject of God. We discovered her interest in the Lord, making way for us to share our own testimonies and amazing experiences. After much discussion, we ended up inviting her to pray with us to receive the Holy Spirit anointing. We also emphasized the importance of baptism.
She was totally fine with us coming back to her place to baptize her. It all made sense to her and she wanted to be obedient to God’s instruction for salvation (John 3:5). She also received the Holy Spirit almost immediately after coming up out of the waters of baptism as one of us laid hands on her and prayed. We also had some more prayer after she dried off, so she could get even more comfortable with praying in tongues seeing that it’s so important for born again believers to pray in the Spirit every day.
7) Please also pray for Mandy. We met her when we attended a local festival. As soon as we entered the gates, we were approached by a guy who was part of an outreach group. The group was quite large and they had tables set up with Biblical information. The guy asked us a few questions which we eagerly answered and then we asked him some of our own – particularly, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed (in Jesus)” (Acts 19:2). Although he wasn’t interested in discussing the Scripture, Mandy (who had wandered over to join the conversation) was willing to stay and listen. In the end, she said she’d be willing to keep an open mind and go and study what we referenced in the Word. That was many weeks ago. Then…
One night we happened to pop in to a local coffee shop that we hadn’t been to for a very long time. We ordered our frappuccinos and sat down. Soon, Mandy and a couple of her fellow church members walked past us and into the store. We weren’t quite sure if they were the same people we’d met at the festival, but they recognized us and stopped by our table on their way out to say “Hi.” We chatted briefly and talked about “God-incidences” and how He was the one who made us connect again.
Despite this, I still felt disappointed (after we parted ways) that I didn’t take more opportunity to talk to Mandy personally. So, I prayed that the Lord would cause me to run into her again somewhere. The very next day, I decided I wanted to take our daughter to join up at our new library. As soon as we walked in the door, I spied Mandy behind the registration desk! She works there! I excitedly told her about my prayer and reminded her that God still has a message for her that He wants her to regard.
I look forward to being able to reach out to Mandy over time as we visit the library. Please join me in praying that one day she will take me up on my offer to pray with her to receive the Holy Spirit anointing.