Saturday, November 8, 2008

7th November 2008, Mngwangwa

When you wake up in the morning, you never know that this day holds a miracle that I will be a part of. We are all pieces of the puzzle that reflects the glory of God and there are days when the reflection is right where you are and so this was for me today. Having spent the week looking for a word, praying, being silent…nada, zinch, zero. So there we were, on our way with nothing to say. Felix had made an invitation to the zone leaders for anyone wanting to join us on our way to Mngwangwa and they showed up and then some. We ended up picking 16 people from different points who wanted to come with us to hear the teaching. The vehicle was beyond packed, sardines have better breathing space because we had stuff to deliver in Mngwangwa too along with Diamond’s bike. Anyhow, we made it.

We arrived amidst singing and praising God and still. We joined in the worship already taking place in the room after getting the youth to join us, which was the only thing I felt led to do. Little did I know that it was all God needed…He took over. The worship was awesome with people leading from everywhere leading. For a while I thought perhaps this was all we were meant to do today until….

Midway through, the Spirit of the Lord nudges me and takes my hand and leads me. We keep standing and I begin talking to the youth about the Holy Spirit, about being empowered to be. We begin by speaking about the youth that are the NOW church and yet are sitting in the bandstands watching the older run the race as they cheer and never take up the baton and run themselves. Out of the entire group, none are baptised in the Spirit. So we go through John 20:22, Acts 1:6-8, Acts 8, Acts 10, Acts 19 giving the youth the opportunity to see in the word this subject that is often debated. We speak about the difference between witnessing and being a witness. We speak of power – His power and I reminisce about the time I was baptised in the Spirit. I tell them about how God touched me and changed me forever when He empowered me to BE that witness. I step out in faith and declare that God is going to do it with them. All we need to do is believe and open our mouths so the Spirit of God can give us words. An interesting analogy pops up. We are like megaphones. The megaphone gives voice to the speaker, like our mouths give voice to the Holy Spirit in us speaking things to the Father. But a megaphone has a button that has to be pressed down in order for the sound to be heard. That is our choice. We can cooperate with Him and thus hear Him out of our mouths or we can choose never to depress that button and never hear. We talk about how this is not a church issue or a denominational issue but a God issue.

We invite those who want to be baptised in the Holy Spirit and 31 people come forward. I have the faith to believe but what God does goes beyond me. In a matter of minutes 29 people begin speaking in a language from above, 29 people! I stood in wonder as part of me prayed and laid hands… I stood in wonder. Today when I woke up, I never knew I would be witness to a miracle. What is frustrating is trying to articulate the atmosphere and the energy and the awe and wonder that filled us as we saw God lay His hand on the hunger of the young people for more of Him. It was amazing. Even now, I am writing and yet I sit in wonder and stare….

We did a little exercise after with eyes open and each person individually spoke in tongues so that the fear of shame and embarrassment would flee, so the devil would not come in with his lies and deter them. Earlier I had asked them to repeat after me…’procrastinate’ and they did. I asked them if the understood what they had just said. They said no. I asked them if they were embarrassed to have said it and they said no. ‘So, why are we embarrassed to speak what the Spirit is uttering in our spirit?’ that had them thinking and slowly the mindsets had broken to make way for the liberty that is found where the Spirit of God is. 29 people. What almost brought me to tears and it does so now as I write is one of the faithful grannies who always comes, she was baptised in the Spirit and she spoke with other tongues… in her eighties! It was overwhelming. God will do anything with anyone so long as we are willing to believe. It was incredible to hear her speak in a heavenly tongue. I was touched and so were all who heard her as they applauded God.

It was hard to say goodbye. There was so much expectation in the air. We had stood for two hours and 15 minutes from the start of worship until the end and it only proved what God had said. There are things we can only do when we are empowered by Him to do them.

I witnessed a miracle today and for a while got to see God move and touch people around me. I witnessed a miracle today in that the prayers I have prayed all year were fulfilled in that moment. I witnessed a miracle today and what a privilege to have the Spirit of God lead us by the hand and invite us into His workings. There was so much joy, so much excitement and we sang all the way home, giving glory to God who, rightfully, had blown our minds, expanded our expectation of Him and stretched our faith to believe that anything can happen when you believe!

1 comment:

Pals4T said...

WOW WOW WOW!! Praise God Keta! That is so very wonderful that 29!!! people were filled with the Holy Spirit!

God is on the move and you are in the middle of it!