Re Joyce – It’s a good report ❤️
What a glorious couple of hours we had in the Derby town centre yesterday. Thank you Heavenly Father for ordering my steps.
I woke yesterday morning with a rumble in my tummy and it looked like rain, but I was mindful to go as directed ‘to seek and save that which is lost’.
My plan was to settle in a new spot and without my PA system. I would take simply what was in my hands and heart. As I marched down from St Marys to the centre of town , the Lord gave me his word and his direction. It was to sing and to surrender……Simply put.
I had planned to meet with two other sisters who I have prayed and ministered with before, but it was a while before I saw them.
I had no fear or trepidation rather a sense of responsibility to do of his good pleasure. I felt his presence.
As I waited, I stood in the shop window and found a prayer developing, so I prayed (as led) and as the people walked on by.
It was a somber moment in my spirit as I saw the people milling to and fro – some clearly oblivious of the times we ‘as the sons of Issachar’ have come to realize.
I remember a good 6 months before Covid whilst returning from church driving past the Intu centre and looking up , the Lord had given me a vision and the word about the Valley of Decision (see Joel 3:14). I did not share it. But I had picked up in my spirit that a day of darkness was approaching and that this merchandising and buying and selling would soon be curtailed. I had felt the eeriness of the word and have since recalled that foretelling and foreboding in this Covid period. I sensed it today in the town centre, but also a glimmer of hope , that a wind is blowing and that Father is in control.
One author put it like this ‘between a challenge and response, is a space – it is the valley of decision’ and all of us have to choose eg both those of us inside and outside, must decide what we do in this space.
Yesterday, we sang. We praised. I hadn’t even shared the Lord’s instruction with the rest of the team , but we were on the same page. We lifted up our Lord Jesus Christ and we saw and felt the changes in the atmosphere particularly when we worshipped.
There were three hands on deck and of course our blessed Holy Spirit. Where we could, we ministered to the hungry and also the lame and broken hearted. We laid hands on the sick and we prayed fo their recovery. The most important being the recovery of their minds, soul and spirit. We gave out tracts and leaflets and advised about online church and ministry. Like Schindler, we could have done so much more.
I spent a good part of my time ministering to a young man sitting on a bench who had been sleeping in the car park for a while due to (he said) the many closures of facilities brought on my Covid. He spent a lot of time positing his plight on our Lord and I tried (with love) to show him the spiritual reality and who is actually in control of death, disease and disaster. I ministered about a sovereign God but one of principle. I spoke about Satan having a time-slot which was quickly coming to an end. I talked about the lateness of the hour, the signs of the times and the fact the son of man is soon to reappear. I told him the two destinations at the end of time and what he needed to do if he wanted to inherit eternal life.
When I sensed it was no use carrying on with the spiritual food, I sensed he hadn’t eaten so asked him if he wanted something . He said yes. The queues in the shops were very long (again because of Covid) but I waited with one eye on the team who sensed anyway what I was about and had provided me with cash.
I recall as I write that Jesus, fed the people then he taught them and healed them. there is a lesson for us here all especially in this winter season. People need food and shelter. It is not always the ‘big preach’ (as I often say) but the little things we do to and for that person along the way. I felt blessed to be able to give just this basic provision to this troubled soul. It was good to be working as a team be in sync on so many levels – each carrying out his role.
We ended with fellowship and much sharing – comparing spiritual with spiritual , in a local cafe and birthing new ideas for ministry. It is perhaps the first time since Covid that i have had an in person fellowship and belly laughter and it felt so good.
In recall of the many troubled faces I saw and the young lady with one leg, I remember the saying ‘there but for the grace of God go we’. If it was not for the Lord who was on our side……
I want to say this. I am called as an evangelist. He called me and told me my office. My desire is to simply step into it. It is God who calls and he qualifies the call – we don’t have to work it up. Whatever we have been destined to do we will do it if we are obedient. The Bible says if we are willing and obedient , we will eat the good of the land. We don’t have to struggle or strive for greatness. There is also no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
We remember that ‘whosoever want to become great among us must first be a servant and whosoever wants to be first must be slave of all. We live to serve and to give our all, our time and our talents, as a ransom, to bring many souls back to Father when and where we can. As individuals, people and nations jostle for juxtaposition and prominence, we simply go in the Name of the Lord with what is in our hands. We go in confidence knowing that we are the called and chosen of God , that his Kingdom has come , his will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.
We thank God for our Savior who made himself of no reputation but took the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:7) May we continue to seek to save and serve the lost. May we become more and more like him, so we can touch the lives of others.
Yours in His Name
Evangelist Linda J
1/10/2020