Romans 8:26-27(NIV) 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

Yesterday afternoon Chuck decided to go for a bike ride and being the couch potato that I am I decided to sit down and rest and watch a program on TV that I recorded. Since I am not going to bed these days until 11:30 pm-1 am watching what God is doing by mid afternoon I am ready for a nap.

I can’t even remember now what I was watching, but it did not take but a few minutes and I was snoozing. Suddenly something stirred me and I sat up on the couch. I was sitting there staring at the TV when I became overwhelmed with the feeling that I was about to become a widow. It was not like the usual demonic attack of words coming at your mind. This came as if someone had walked up to my door and told me that Chuck was dead. It did come to my mind that was why God told me to get my house ready to sell, because I was going to be left alone.

The feelings came so strong that I was overwhelmed with emotion. I could not go into warfare or some great intercession. All I could say through the tears was no, no Lord I need him. After a few minutes it lifted and I was left sitting on the edge of the couch.

A short time later Chuck rode his bike onto the patio. He came in and said “that show really must be interesting it has got you on the edge of your seat” and laughed. I did not answer him and he began to fuss about a situation that just happened to him.

As he was riding his bike and was approaching an intersection in Regent Park where we live a group of Spanish landscapers came flying through a stop sign in their truck that was pulling a trailer full of their equipment. Had they done this a few seconds later they would have hit him full force. He was able to slam on his brakes and avoid injury, Praise the Lord.

Once again the Lord intercepted the enemy’s plan to kill, steal and destroy. He protected Chuck and Holy Spirit interceded for him through me and maybe others. It was not through elegant words or powerful warfare. It was through tears, emotion and a few words…no Lord, I need him.

You know we hear all these powerful stories about prayer and intercession and we get intimidated and think we could never pray like that. Well this scripture says that we don’t even know what we ought to pray, but the Holy Spirit will intercede through us. We just have to be a vessel and he will use us to stop the works of the enemy.

Thank you Lord for protecting Chuck and thank you Holy Spirit for interceding for him.

Today I am thinking and praying again about all the stir going on about the Lakeland revival. The word offense started stirring in my mind last evening. Do you think that maybe God specifically choose Todd Bentley because He knew it would cause an offense in many church folk.

Isaiah 8:14-15 and I Peter 2:8 tell us that Jesus was a stumbling block, a rock of offense to many. Most of those offended were of his own people and the “religious leaders” of the day. Their offense caused them to miss their time of visitation. The Lord spoke of this in Luke 19:42-44 “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will bind an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side 44 and level you and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

I don’t know about you but that sounds like a real curse, a generational curse. The Lord was specifically weeping over Jerusalem, but I believe the principle could be applied to any move of God. When God begins to move and it does not look like what we think it should and we allow offense could it blind our eyes to our time of visitation and cause the enemy to be able to bind us, surround us and close us in on every side and level us and our children? That sounds very serious to me, makes me quake.

The Lord reminded me this morning of the time when David the anointed one was bringing the ark of the covenant(the presence of God) back to Jerusalem. He was so excited and so full of the joy of the Lord that he put aside his kingly garments and put on what the priests were wearing, a linen ephod, and danced before the Lord with all his might. His wife Michal watched from a window and was so offended that the scripture says that she despised David in her heart. When David came back home to bless his household she rebuked and criticized him and as a result she lost favor with the king and became barren. There is often barrenness in the life and ministry of the overly critical.

I know that a lot of what is happening in Lakeland is strange and different. It is not First Baptist or First Methodist for sure. However, it may be a lot like the old Methodist camp meetings that are long forgotten. My MawMaw use to tell me that she saw people hauled off from the Methodist camp tent meetings in the back of wagons as if they were logs. The ark of God(his presence)is moving. Will we pull up the tent stakes and move with it or will be offended?

If you have watched the last two nights of the Lakeland outpouring then you know that all the negative words spoken against Todd Bentley and the outpouring has only thrust them into a greater manifestation of the presence of God. I hear God laughing.

It is so wonderful that people are being healed and delivered over the TV and Internet without a man laying hands on them. That has left no doubt that it is the power of God. Many children are being healed while watching with their parents. Night before last a young child who had Tourette’s Syndrome heard over the TV the word of knowledge that tourette’s was being healed and he was instantly healed.

A mother who went to Lakeland took back a prayer cloth to her young daughter who was born with a skin condition on her arms. She took the cloth and rubbed it on her arms and prayed. She now has skin like a new born baby.

Our own family has experienced it and believing for more. My sister was totally blind in one eye from a torn retina. She had a number of surgeries but she still had no return of her sight. As a result she could no longer drive and has had several serious injuries from falls. Every time there came a word of knowledge about sight being restored I would claim it for her and my friend Frances.

I talked to her on Mother’s day and she had a surprise for me. She stood in front of her mirror and realized she could see out of her blind eye. She went to the doctor and he confirmed that she could see and said he had no explanation. Praise the Lord! She can not drive yet, but this will come.

Our friend Cliff went into respiratory arrest last Tuesday and was put on life support. Chuck and I went up to the hospital with a prayer cloth from the Lakeland Outpouring and anointing oil. God made a way for us to get into the ICU unit and Chuck anointed him, his wife placed the cloth around his arm band and we prayed. A lot of people started praying and the next day he came off life support. He has been told he has had a heart attack and may need surgery. However, he does not look like or have symptoms of someone who has had a heart attack. He is to have a heart Cath in the morning and we are expecting they are going to find a new heart.

A couple at church told me this morning that they put the prayer cloths we sent in their pillow case and she was ill when she went to bed and woke up well. He slept all night for the first time in ages. Another friend told me she was having severe pain in her shoulder and put the prayer cloths in her pillow case and the severe pain was gone today. A gentleman that I am a greeter with at the Church told me that when he took his out of the envelope he got goose bumps. Later he went back to where he laid it down and got goose bumps again. God is doing something new and there is an excitement in my spirit like I have not had in some time.

This is just the beginning but thank you Jesus for the new beginning. The day I am looking for is where we live in divine health and miracles are happening continually through us all.

Here are some memories of our visit to Lakeland.

Todd Bentley

Crowd at the Lakeland Center Worshiping

Bobby Conner and his wife, Bonnie and Bob Jones

Reconciliation with First Nation Christians

In April of this year I wrote in my blog that a two stage division in the church would happen. The first stage would be between the house of Saul and the house of David. Today I became keenly aware that the first stage is already happening.

Tonight as I was watching the Florida outpouring, I heard in my spirit,”Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” Those words caused a spirit of jealousy to take over Saul and he ended up with a spirit of murder.

David was the ruddy one who spent all his time with sheep and he probably smelled like it. He was the least likely in man’s eyes, including his own dad, to be considered for king. All of Israel was at a standstill with the Philistine army and this huge giant. Yet this grocery delivery boy was overcome with a holy anger and took on this giant. He did not even own a good suit of armor. He just took his foolish looking sling shot and a few rocks and Oh, and the power of the only living God.

His first victory was good to Saul, but when he became successful at war and the public rallied around him and cheered, oh baby, David suddenly became the enemy. Soon there was a separation and people had to decide which kingdom to follow, the one in the palace or the one in the cave. The choice could not be made with the natural eye because in the natural you would think it was a no brainer. In the natural you would choose the man in the palace over the man on the run who was living in a cave. But one close to God would know that there was a change coming and a new king would be on the throne. If you made your choice with the natural eye you would end up dead along side Saul and Jonathan.

God has never been in the business of choosing people that were acceptable to the religious folk of the day. He says he chooses the foolish things to confound the wise. Moses was an old murderer, Deborah a woman, Hosea was married to a harlot, John the Baptist a desert dwelling locus eater, and the apostles fisherman.

There have been many voices in America to rise up in the last month against Todd Bentley since the Florida Outpouring started. Funny, I have not heard any coming out of other countries. America has been too natural minded and too religious to see many healings, creative miracles and the dead raised. Africa on the other hand where many have no natural resources and have seen supernatural stuff happen as a result of witchcraft have no problem accepting the supernatural workings of God. Nor do they seem to care what the vessel looks like that brings them deliverance. The only ones who object are the witch doctors who have controlled the people with voodoo for centuries and don’t like loosing that control.

Todd is a 32 year old tattooed motorcycle riding ruddy looking Canadian who was deserted by his alcoholic father and raised by a deaf mother. He was deep into alcohol and drugs when the Lord pulled him out in a radical way. He has never known the proper religious way to do things. Wow God, what were you thinking, this guy does not know that there are limits to what you can do today.

Todd is far from perfect since he is human and not God. Jesus is only one who walked this earth in ministry and did not sin. But Todd very much seems to have a heart for God and seeks him for hours on his face which is more than I can say about myself. He is way out on a limb right now and I think pretty vulnerable and in need of much prayer. He is trying to be a vessel that God will use to open the heavens for the miracles, signs and wonders that we say we want.

There are thousands that are flocking down there to get a miracle for themselves or someone they love. Many ministers are coming from all over the world to get an impartation of the anointing. On the other hand there are those in the American church who are screaming heresy and concentrating on his tattoos and his rawness and totally ignoring that the presence of God is there and people are getting healed, saved and delivered.

Mark 9:38 Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. 40 “For he who is not against us is on our side.

Ladies and Gentleman a wind of change has just blown across the church. It is causing a stirring and it has and will blow up some rubbish. Seek revelation and truth and be lead by the Holy Spirit within you and not your natural eye. The day of decision is here.

I found this article this morning on a minister’s blog, Tom Davis. I wanted to spread the word to pray for this family.

May 21, 2008

Please Pray for the Steven Curtis Chapman Family

A terrible tragedy occurred today in the life of my friend, Steven Curtis Chapman. My heart in sharing this with you is to beg for your prayers on behalf of his entire family, I’m weeping for them right now. None of us could ever imaging going through something like this. I was with Steven in China when he met dear little Maria.

The Tennessean
“Steven Curtis Chapman’s youngest child died Wednesday afternoon after being struck by a car driven by her teenage brother in the driveway of the family’s Williamson County home.

Maria, one of the Christian singer’s six children, was taken by LifeFlight to Vanderbilt Hospital, which confirmed the death, according to Laura McPherson, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The 5-year-old was hit by an SUV driven by her teenage brother, she said. Police did not give the driver’s name.

The teen was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser down the driveway of the rural home at about 5:30 p.m. and several children were playing in the area, McPherson said. He did not see Maria in the driveway before the vehicle struck her, she said.

“It appears to be a terrible accident,’’ McPherson said.

No charges are expected, she said. The accident was witnessed by two other children; the entire family was home at the time, McPherson said.

Singer/songwriter Chapman, who recently was inducted into Music City Walk of Fame, is one of contemporary Christian music’s most recognizable and most awarded names.

He and his wife Mary Beth have long been supporters of international adoption, having brought three girls from China into their family. Maria was the youngest.
The couple is so active in the cause that they formed an organization, Shaohannah’s Hope, to aid families wanting to adopt.

With his latest music tour, which came through Nashville in November, Chapman started a campaign called “Change for Orphans”. He asked audience members at each stop to bring spare change to the concert, where it was counted and given to a local family to aid in their adoption process.

“I don’t know of anybody who loves his children more than he does and is so committed to the adoption concept, and to lose one, no matter what the circumstances, is heartbreaking beyond all comprehension,” said John Styll, president of the Nashville-based Gospel Music Association.

“He talks about his kids all the time. That’s his life. His kids are more important to him than music, that’s for sure.”

The tragedy was announced during Wednesday-night services at Harpeth Hills Church of Christ, which the family attends. Maria had just graduated from the church preschool.

And word spread throughout the tight-knit Christian music community on Wednesday evening.

Styll got the news not long after Maria’s death.

“I’m confident I can speak for everyone in the community to say we will do everything we can to support this family, as we would do at any time, but especially at a time like this,” he said.

Most of the Chapman family was at Vanderbilt children’s hospital after the accident and could not be contacted. The long, gravel driveway leading to the home west of Franklin was blocked off by Williamson County sheriff’s deputies.”

I watched some of the 60th Anniversary Of Israel celebration that God TV had in Jerusalem. Wendy Alec gave a serious strong prophetic word that I believe is very significant. About 2 months ago I saw in a vision the hand of God sweep off the main desk of the Knesset. Her prophetic word was a confirmation to me that there was to be a quick change in the governing body in Israel and that it was not my imagination. I did the best I could transcribing it from the recorded show, however, there were some words that I had a hard time understanding with her British accent and some of her personal interjections into the prophetic word.

Here is the word she gave in Jerusalem on May 14, 2008.

“I want to tell you that the Lord says this is not a time for rejoicing. And we have one moment in time, we have but a one moment in time. And the Lord Jesus said that He would be standing there. But you know what I knew tonight, I knew that His countenance was a fierce countenance. And he was not here as the Lamb, but He was here as the Lion of Judah. Satan is trying to preempt and speed up the end times and thrust us into the tribulation before it’s time.

For you see my spirit has heard the conversations in the corridors of the White House and I have heard the conversations in the high secret places of the earth. For I have heard the whispered conversations, and let my voice rise up right there and right and right into the heavens, of the bankers and the traders of the oil and the armaments of the earth. For my spirit has been there among the dark places of mankind and I tell you that their words rise up like a stench to my nostrils against my people Israel.

And you swore allegiance behind closed doors to those nations to whom it was expedient. But you did not consult me, oh man. So I saw you as you made your packs with the representatives of hell itself. And you said it was right and you said that it was good, but it was not right oh man and it was not good oh man.

And I saw as you sold nations, even continents out in the presidential suites and the corridors of power for that which was convenient and expedient and was politically correct. But what was expedient and what was political shall become a wrench around your neck in the coming days. And the Lord from Psalms 83 vs 2-5 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” 5 For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You:”

Wendy then interjected that they had to leave the hotel that they were staying to make way for President Bush but before they left they prayed for a a releasing of angelic visitation and the holy angelic host in the hotel where George Bush. And the hotel they are staying in now, a floor above them, was Tony Blair and they were praying and staying another day.

“For the Lord says they have consulted but they have not consulted of me. And the Lord said, and this is what I saw in the heavens, and the Lord said Road Map and then he said Road Block. And then I saw another banner in the heavens, and the Lord said Divine Injunction. There is a Divine Injunction issued by the holy counsels of heaven. And I did not understand what that meant so I asked Steve ? our legal counsel what it meant and he said that is a legal prohibition by a judge. And this was by the Lord, the Father, the ultimate Judge, the Lord of Host, the God of Israel concerning the things that are happening at this present time.

And the Lord has pushed it through, what the holy counsels of heaven have issued in the spirit realm. But the Lord is saying where is the man, where is the women who is standing in the gap in this moment in time. Then I saw hurricane, I saw the word hurricane. And I said Father I do not understand it, the word hurricane. But I knew somehow in my spirit it meant judgment, it meant the judgment of the God.

And this was what was so amazing, I looked in my Amplified Bible and I had not seen it, right there in Psalm 83…13O my God, make them like whirling dust, like stubble or chaff before the wind 14As fire consumes the forest, and as the flame sets the mountains ablaze, 15So pursue and afflict them with Your tempest and terrify them with Your tornado or hurricane. vs 18That they may know that You, Whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

This is what the Father said and I really believe. There is a shifting in the name of the Lord, there is a shifting, a shaking and a swaying in the government of Israel. He says there is a shifting and a shaking in the ruler-ship of Israel. And the Lord said that even in a moment, there is going to be a shift in the ruler-ship of Israel in the coming days and God is going to put His watchmen on the walls. I believe it will be just in time but we will have to pray. Father said that he was aroused with a holy anger and I come as the Lord God of host with a mighty warring host. And I tell you something I felt- I felt it is not quite time for Michael but I tell you Michael is rising up in this end time. For I heard the Lord say Jerusalem does not belong to the Arabs, it does no even belong to the Jews, it does not belong to United Nations or to the European Union or to the White House. He said Jerusalem is mine says the Lord God of Host, Jerusalem is Mine.

This is a recent update on the young messianic Jewish boy who was a terrorist victim at his home in Israel.

Ami Update
By Leah Ortiz

We checked out of the Schneider Children’s hospital, last week after a six-week stay, 8 days in the ICU and the rest on the children’s floor. Ami received excellent care from the doctors and nurses in that hospital, but in response to prayer from the four corners of the earth Ami has been healing at a rate that is extraordinary. The plastic surgeon that worked on Ami said that in his 15 years of experience he had never seen such extensive wounds. He said he has at least one hundred pieces of shrapnel in his body from his head to his feet which his body is slowly bringing up under the surface of the skin which will come out by themselves.

Thank God Ami was admitted today into a rehabilitation program in Tel HaShomer hospital. It is the hospital where terror attack victims are treated, and also soldiers wounded in battle, so they are very experienced with the multiple injuries Ami has.

In the meantime, we had a week hiatus at home. We enjoyed living a more normal life for at least a week, and readjusting to new realities. I, Leah, have learned to change Ami’s bandages and so I see improvement everyday and I see areas of skin that were wounded before that are completely back to normal. We have much hope and at the same time need much patience, as that is one very big lesson that we are learning through this ordeal. The Lord is very faithful to give His promises. From the very beginning He assured us that there had been a decision made in Heaven that we might not understand now, but that Ami would be fine and that He would use this for His glory. The working out of it has been painful for everyone especially Ami, and we have found that we have need to stand in faith that His promises will come to pass. As it is written in, Joshua 21:45,

Not a word failed of any good thing that the Lord had spoken to the House of Israel. All came to pass.

Prayer Points:

• Please pray for complete restoration of the use of Ami’s hands and arms.
• Please pray for healing of all burns and scars on his body.
• Please pray for continued emotional and spiritual healing for Ami and for the family.
• Please pray for Ami’s siblings that they would all draw closer to the Lord through this experience.
• Please pray for the police investigation and that the one’s responsible for this would be brought to justice.

The state of Israel was established for what I believe the final time before the Lord’s return when I was four. It has done exactly what the scripture says, bloomed from the desert. Who can watch Israel and not know that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is faithful to do that which He said He would do.

Last night at the Lakeland meeting Bob Jones and Bobby Conner, prophets of God, came from North Carolina. Bob proclaimed that what was going on in Lakeland was not revival. Revival has been known to come and go. He declared that this will not stop. He referred to it as a tidal wave that would not end.

One of the first dreams that the Lord gave me was in the early 70’s after receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit was about a huge tidal wave that was as high as I could see. I have been waiting for that move of God now for over 30 years.

Monday night Todd prophesied that this fire would hit the Middle East and had people who had flown in from the Middle East come down for prayer. Before the meeting was finished emails were received from Afghanistan and other Middle eastern countries saying they were watching and wanted the fire.

Last night Bobby Conner proclaimed that it was going to hit the United Kingdom. They called for all those from the UK to come down front and there must have been over a hundred people. Before it was over all of them were on the floor under the power of God. Our pastor is from England and is a third generation pastor. Churches in England are considered successful if they have 40+ members. The Muslims have been prospering there and infiltrated their parliament. Things are about to change. Can you imagine Queen Elizabeth dancing and jumping and praising God? I have been praying for Prince William’s salvation and asking the Lord to make himself real to him. Perhaps before he becomes king he will be set on fire for God. Let it be so Lord.

One of the sweetest things I saw last night was on the floor of the arena just below the stage. I saw a young girl about 6 years old position her older brothers on the floor as they lay on their face before the Lord as Bob Jones set in a chair and shared what the Lord had shown him. As these two boys lay there prostrate she stood over them waving her arms over them and praying. These are children, I am talking young children.

So I stand corrected. There is no revival in Florida, there is fire that is intensifying and spreading and the beginning of a tidal wave of His Glory.