How Satan Stops Our Prayers

Hi all,

I have been missing again; I have been spending too much time on frivolous things. Will resume blogging when the 2014 starts!

Anyways, would like to share the following account with you guys:

COMBAT IN THE HEAVENLY REALM      
by John Mulinde,  Obsteig (Austria) Nov.  2000 Full Version

I want to share with you from a testimony of someone who was saved, someone who had been serving the devil.  And when that man gave his testimony, it so challenged me, I did not want to believe it.  I had to go ten days before the Lord in fasting, asking Him, "Lord, is this true?" And it was at that time the Lord began to teach me what happens in the spiritual realm when we pray. 

This man was born after his parents dedicated themselves to lucifer.  When he was still in the womb, they made so many rituals dedicating him to serve lucifer.  When he was four years old, he began to exercise his spiritual power.  And his parents began fearing him.  When he was six years, his father surrendered him to the witches to go and be trained.  And by ten years, he was doing great things in the kingdom of the devil.  He was feared by the normal witches. 

He was still a young boy, but he was so terrible in the things he did.  He grew up to be a young man in his twenties with so much bloodshed on his hands.  Killed at will.  He had the ability to go out of his body through transcendental meditation.  And he could levitate.  Sometimes his body would lift off the ground and stay in the air.  And sometimes he could go into a trance, and come out of his body; his body would remain behind, and he would go out into the world, this is called astro-travelling.  And this guy was used by satan to destroy so many churches, to break down so many churches and to destroy so many pastors. 

One day, he was assigned to destroy a church that was so full of prayer.  There were so many divisions in this church, and many confusions.  And he began to work on this church.  But at that time, the pastor called a fast for the whole church.  As the church began to fast, there was a lot of repentance and a lot of reconciliation.  And the people came together, and they began to pray for the work of the Lord in their midst.  And they continued interceding and crying to God to have mercy and intervene in their lives.  And as they days went by, this man was coming again and again with demon spirits against this church.  But there was a word of prophecy that came telling the Christians to rise up and to wage warfare against the powers of darkness that were attacking the church. 

So one day, this man leaves his body in his room and goes astro-travelling.  He leads a mighty force of demonic spirits against this church.  Now this is his testimony.  His spirit was moving in the air over the church and trying to attack it, but there was a covering of light over the church.  And suddenly, there was an army of angels that attacked them and there was fighting in the air, and all the demons fled, but he was arrested by these angels.

Yes, arrested by the angels! He saw himself being held by about six angels, and they brought him through the roof right before the church altar.  There he was, and the people were praying.  They were deep in prayer in spiritual warfare, binding and breaking and casting out.  The pastor was on the platform leading the prayers and the warfare.  The Spirit of the Lord spoke to the pastor, "The yoke has been broken, and the victim is there before you.  Help him through deliverance." As the pastor opened his eyes, he saw this young man collapsed there.  His body was with him, he was in his body.  The young man says he doesn't know how his body joined him; he had left it in his house.  But there he was in his body, he didn't know how he had entered in except the angel had carried him through the roof. 

Now these things are difficult to believe, but the pastor silenced the church and told the church what the Lord had told him and asked the young man, "Who are you?" The young man was trembling as the demons began coming out of him.  So they prayed for deliverance, and afterwards he began to share his life.  This young man has now come to the Lord and is an evangelist, preaching the Gospel.  He is being used by the Lord mightily in setting other people free by deliverance.

 One night, I (John Mulinde) went to a dinner.  The sole reason I went is that someone told me about this young man, and I was so curious to see him, and see if his story was true.  So I sat at that dinner and in the evening, this man was given the chance to give his testimony.  He talked about so many things.  Sometimes he cried because of the things he did.  As he finished, he made an appeal. 

There were many pastors in that room.  And he said, "I appeal to you, pastors.  Please teach the people how to pray." The people who don't pray, can be taken in anything, in anything by the devil, and there are ways that the enemy exploits their lives and their prayers.  The enemy knows even how to exploit their prayers of those people who don't know how to pray.  "Teach the people how to use the spiritual armor that God provides."

Then he shared how he lead expositions into the air.  He would go with other satanic agents and lots of demon spirits into the air.  It was like a shift, you've got to go and work your shift.  So regularly he had a time he had to go and wage war in the heavenlies.  And he said that in the heavenlies, in the spiritual realm, if the land is covered under the blanket of darkness, that blanket is so thick, it is like a rock.  And it covers the whole area.  And these spirits are able to go on top of this as well as below this blanket.  And from that level, they influence the events on earth. 

When the evil spirits and human satanic agents leave their shifts, they go down on earth at the points of covenant, even waters or on the land at the points of covenant for refreshing of their spirit.  And how do they refresh their spirit? By the sacrifices that people give at these altars.  They could be sacrifices in open witchcraft, sacrifices in bloodshed of all types including abortion, including warfare and human sacrifices and animal sacrifices.  They could be sacrifices of sexual immorality where people go into sexual perversions and all kinds of promiscuity.  And that act services the strength of these powers.  And many are the different types of sacrifices. 

He said that when satanic agents are up in the heavenly realm, and the Christians begin to pray on earth, the prayers of the Christians appear to them in three forms.  All prayers appear like smoke that is rising up into the heavens. 

Some prayers appear like smoke, and it goes drifting along and disappears in the air.  These prayers come from people who have sin in their lives and they are not willing to deal with it.  Their prayers are so weak they are blown away and disappear in the air. 

The other type of prayer is also like smoke that rises up until it reaches this rock, but it does not break through the rock.  These are usually people who try to purify themselves, but they lack the faith in what they are doing as they pray.  They usually ignore the other important aspects that are needed when someone prays.

The third type of prayer is like smoke that is filled with fire.  As it rises up, it is so hot that when it reaches the rock, the rock begins to melt like wax.  It pierces the rock and goes through.

Many times, as people begin to pray, their prayers look like the first type, but as they continue praying, their prayers change and become like the second prayer.  And as they continue praying, suddenly it ignites into fire.  And their prayers become so powerful, they pierce through the rock. 

Many times evil agents would notice that prayers were changing and coming very close to the state of fire, then these agents would communicate to other spirits on earth and they tell them, "Distract that person from prayer.  Stop them praying.  Pull them out."

Many times Christians yield to these distractions.  They are pressing through, they are repenting, they are allowing the Word to check their spirit up, Faith has been building up.  Their prayers are becoming more focused.  Then the devil sees their prayers are gaining strength and the distractions begin.  Telephones ring.  Sometimes we, in the middle of very, very intense prayer, the telephone rings and you think you can go to answer the phone and then come back and continue praying.  When you come back, you go back to the beginning.  And that's what the devil wants. 

Other kinds of distractions come your way, even if it means touching your body and bringing some pain somewhere.  Even if it means making you hungry and you want to go to the kitchen and fix something to eat.  As long as they can get you out of that place, they have defeated you.  And he will say to the pastors, "Teach people.  Set aside some time.  Not for just some casual kind of praying.  They can do that the rest of the day.  Once in a day, they should have a time when they are focusing wholeheartedly on God, nothing distracting them. 

And if people persist in this kind of prayer and allow themselves to be inspired in the spirit and keep going and keep going, something happens in the spirit.  The fire touches that rock, and it melts.  And this man said, when the melting begins, it is so hot, no demon spirit can stand it.  No human spirit can stand it.  They all flee.  They all run away. 

There comes an opening in the spiritual realm.  And as soon as this comes, all this trouble in prayer stops.  The person who is praying on the ground just feels like prayer is suddenly so smooth, so enjoyable, so powerful and intense.  And I've discovered at that moment, we normally lose conscience of time and other things.  Not that we become disorderly.  God takes care of our time.  But it is like you lay down everything, and you hook up with God.  And this man said that when the prayers go through, from that moment there can be no resistance at all, and the person praying will continue as long as he wants.  There is no resistance that can stop him. 

And then he said, after he finishes praying, the hole remains open, and he said that people, when they rise out of their place of prayer, and they walk out, this open hole moves along with them.  They are no longer operating under the blanket.  They are operating under open heavens.  And he said in that state, the devil cannot do what he wants against them.  And the presence of the Lord is like a pillar from heaven resting on their lives.  They are protected, and there is so much power inside that pillar that as they move around, that presence touches other people.  It discerns what the enemy has done in other people.  And as they talk to people and those people are standing with them, they come inside this pillar.  And as long as they stay inside that pillar, all the bondages of the enemy weaken. 

So when these people who have this spiritual break-through share Jesus Christ with the sinners, their resistance is low.  It is so easy to bring them through.  When they pray for the sick or pray about things, the presence which is there makes all the difference.  And this man said the devil hates such people.  And it said if there are places where prayer is regularly being prayed through like that, the presence comes upon that place and does not leave.  So even the people who don't know God, when they come into this place suddenly all the bondages are weakened. 

And if someone cared to just minister to them patiently and with love, they can easily be pulled through, not by power nor by might but by the Spirit of God, who is present.  And he said, if no one bothers about these people, they come into his presence, they feel convicted, they begin to debate whether to yield or not, but if they are not pulled through, when they walk away from this place, bondages get stronger.  And the devil tries his best not to allow them to come back into such an environment. 

You can imagine we were all seated looking at this man.  He was telling us the things he used to do and what he used to see.  Then he told us what they would do to people who have broken through in prayer.  He said they marked such people; they studied such people.  They dug up everything they could find about such people.  So they knew their weaknesses, and when someone overcomes them in prayer and breaks through, they communicate with other spirits and say, "Target him with this and with this and with this.  These are his weaknesses." So when this person walks out of the prayer closet, the spirit of prayer is upon him, the presence is upon him, his spirits are high, the joy of the Lord is his strength.  As he moves the enemy tries to bring those things that can distract him from focusing on the Lord. 

If his weakness is in the area of temper, then the enemy is going to cause people to do things which can make him really angry.  And if he is not sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and he allows himself to go into the temper, he takes his eyes off the Lord.  He gets angry, he feels so furious, and after a few minutes later, he wants to put that behind him and move along in the joy of the Lord, but he doesn't feel it anymore.  He tries to feel good again; he doesn't feel any good again.  Why? As he yielded to the temptation, they worked hard to close the door upstairs.  And once they restore the rock, the presence is cut off.  The person does not cease being a child of God.  But that extra anointing that goes on his life, that presence that could do things without his manipulating anything, it's just cut off.  They seek out where the weaknesses are. 

If it is in the temptation to sexuality, the enemy will prepare people, events, something that will suddenly draw out that passion to go towards that temptation.  And if that man yields to this temptation and opens up his mind to receive these thoughts, entertains them, when he is through with everything and wants to move again in the anointing, he just discovers it is no longer there.  Maybe you say, "That's not fair." Just remember what the Bible says, "Put on the helmet of salvation.  Put on the breastplate of righteousness." We normally do not see the position, the place of these weapons of warfare.  But remember what Jesus told us to pray towards the end of the Lord's prayer, "Take us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

Every time you have a breakthrough in prayer, as you come to the end, remember you are still a weak human being.  Remember you have not yet been perfected.  Ask the Lord, say "Lord, I've enjoyed this time of prayer, but when I walk out into this world, lead me not into temptation.  Don't allow me to walk into the devil's trap.  I know the enemy is setting a trap out there.  I don't know what form it is going to take.  And I know I am still weak in certain areas.  If I am just put in the right place, I will yield to that.  Protect me, Lord.  When you see me turning that corner where the trap is, just cause me to turn to the other side.  Intervene, O Lord.  Don't allow me to move by just my own strength and ability.  Deliver me from the evil one."

God is able to do that.  He is able.  That is why sometimes things happen, all you need to say is, "Thank you, Jesus." That's why Apostle Paul wrote in the book of Thessalonians and said, "Thank God in everything for that is the will of God in Christ for you." Some things are not good.  They are painful, and we wonder why God would allow it.  But if only we knew what He is saving us from, we would thank Him.  When we learn to trust the Lord, we just thank Him in everything. 

Beloved, I don't know whether to go deeper because I do not want to start something I cannot finish.  Let me just try to take one step forward.  And this man said that when prayer breaks through like that, the answer will always come.  He said he does not know a case where prayer broke through and the answer did not come.  He said the answer always came, but in most cases, it would never get to the person who asked.  Why? Battle in the heavenlies.  He says as long as they succeed in cutting off the open heavens and the rock is restored, they watch this person, they are waiting because they know the answer is definitely coming. 

And then this man spoke something that really shook my faith.  It is because of the next part he shared that I went into fasting ten days to say, Lord, is this true? Can you prove it to me? This man said that every Christian has got an angel serving that Christian.  Now we know the Bible says angels are ministering spirits to us.  He said that when people pray, the answer comes in the hands of the angel.  The angel brings the answer like we can read it in the book of Daniel.  Then he said something really tough; if the one who prays knows the spiritual armors and is clothed with them, the answer comes by an angel who is also clothed in full armor. 

If the one who prays doesn't care about spiritual armory, their angels come without spiritual armor.  Christians who don't care about what kind of thoughts come into their minds.  They don't fight the battle of their minds.  Their angels come without the helmet.  Whatever spiritual weapon you ignore on earth, the angel doesn't have it as he serves you.  In other words, our spiritual armor is not protecting our physical bodies; it's protecting our spiritual exploits. 

This man said, when the angel is coming, they would focus and look at him and notice the areas which are not covered, and those are the areas they would attack.  If he has no helmet, they would shoot at his head.  If he has no breastplate, they would shoot at his chest.  If he has no shoes, they would make a fire that he is walking in the fire.  Now I am just repeating what this man said.  Actually, we asked him, "Can angels feel fire?" And you know what he said to us? Remember this is a spiritual realm.  These are spirits dealing with spirits.  The battle is intensive, and when they overpower an angel of God, the first thing they target is the answer he is carrying, and they get that from him, that is what they give through the cults, the witchcraft, and people say, "I got this because of witchcraft."

Remember what the Bible says in the book of James? All good things come from God.  So where does the devil get the things he gives to his people? Some people who cannot have children, they go to witch doctors and satanists, and they get pregnant! Who gave them that baby? Is satan a creator? NO! He steals from those who don't pray to the end.  Jesus said, "Pray without ceasing." And then He said, "But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith?" Will He find you still there waiting? Or will you have given up and the enemy would steal what you have prayed for?

Then this man said that they are not satisfied with just stealing the answer.  They are also interested in detaining the angel.  And they start fighting him.  And he said sometimes they succeed in holding and binding the angel.  And he says, when that happens, the Christian is a victim on earth.  They can do anything with that Christian because he is totally left without ministry in the Spirit. 

I said to him, "Do you mean an angel can be held in captivity by demonic forces?" This man did not even know the scriptures by the time he was saying all this.  He did not know very many scriptures.  He was just sharing his experiences.  And he said, they wouldn't hold the angel too long because as other Christians prayed elsewhere, reinforcement would come, and the angels would go free.  If the Christian responsible did not pray through, he remains a captive.  Then the enemy sends his own angel as an angel of light to this person, and that is where the deceptions come in.  False visions and false prophecies.  False leadership, I mean leading, guidance in the spirit, making wrong decisions of all types.  And many times this person is open to all kinds of attack and bondages. 

And I asked the Lord.  I left that dinner so troubled, so troubled.  I said, "Lord, I don't want even to try and believe this." It removes all my confidence, my security.  When I went to seek the Lord, it was ten days, the Lord did two things.  He did not only confirm the things I had heard, he opened my mind to see a lot more that this man could not tell us of what happens in the spiritual realm.  And two, he led me to see what we are supposed to do as the things are happening so that we are not overcome but that we can overcome.  And we need to know three things and really come to terms with these three things. 

One: how to operate with the weapons of our warfare.  The Bible calls them the armor of God.  It is not our armor; it is God's armor.  When we use it, we allow God to fight on our behalf.  Two: understand the relationship of the ministering spirits-the angels-to our spiritual lives.  And to be sensitive to what is happening in our hearts as a leading to what needs to be happening in the spirit concerning us.  That brings us to the third thing: that is the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit is not supposed to come as our servant, serving us and bringing things to us.  He does not run to and fro to the Father to tell Him what we need.  That is the work of angels.  But He stands by our side.  Doing what? Guiding us, teaching us, leading us, helping us to pray the right way.  And when these things are happening in the spiritual realm, He tells us, sometimes He wakes you up in the night and says, "Pray." You say, "No! My time is not yet come." And He says, "Pray now!" Why? He sees what is happening in the spirit.  Sometimes He says, "Tomorrow-fasting!" You say, "Oh, no, I'll start on Monday!"

But He understands what is happening in the spiritual realm.  We should learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  He guides us in the paths of righteousness.  Beloved we've got to stop here.  Maybe tomorrow morning, we can talk about how we can pray through, knowing the battles in the spirit and how we can break through.  How we can maintain our breakthrough once we have scored it.  And once we learn this, it becomes enjoyable.  Then we learn one thing: the battle is not ours; the battle is of the Lord! Hallelujah!

Let's just stand up.  Look someone in the eye, and just think about how many times that person could have missed what God had for him.  But join your hands if you can, two or three people, and just tell each other, "There's no need for more defeat! We can overcome! There is enough power to overcome! Jesus has already done the whole work." Pray for each other that the Lord will help us to overcome.  We should not lose.  There is enough grace, enough power for victory. 

Thank you, Jesus.

Shekinah Glory Dust Miracle - A Personal Testimony (Part 2)

Okay, I have finally uploaded videos of God’s gold dust manifestation on my hands.

Please expand vid and change quality to 720p (HD) for best viewing.

Please expand vid and change quality to 360p for best viewing.

I last checked on 22 November 2012 and the gold dust was still there. My parents-in-law, a godly couple who are church leaders in KL, were in town then and I showed them. I was pleasantly surprised that the layer of gold dust was unusually thick when I was testifying about it.

Actually, the layer of gold dust seems to be much thicker whenever I am ministering to people, worshipping God or testifying about it. At other times, only a very thin layer can be seen.  

I have had the daily privilege of experiencing this manifestation since 10 October 2012. Read here for my initial account of it. I never thought that it would last this long! But I thank God for His amazing grace and love towards me each day.

O Lord, Reignite the Fire in Me

A little spiritual flatness has set in, hence the 3-week silence.

I am afraid that bounce in my steps is slowly fading away.

But I will not allow this spiritual dullness to pervade my entire being. I have tasted the goodness of being in God’s presence and I refuse to let go of that.

Today, I am supposed to be fasting for the gift of discerning of spirits but I found myself telling God that I am fasting for the reigniting of my passion for Him. I am pressing in no matter how I feel – lethargic, grumpy, irritable, etc.

My strategy is to do everything that is in the opposite of what I feel. If I don’t feel like worshipping God, I am going to sing louder; if I don’t feel like fasting, I am going to fast anyway; if I feel like just idling my time away by watching TV or sleeping, I will make sure I pick up a Christian book to read. I am going to add as much fuel as I can and wait for God to reignite that fire in me.

I want to be ablaze with passion for God once again.

Our First Soaking Session

Unable to get enough of worshipping God together with my fellow brothers and sisters, I organised a soaking session for the church last Saturday. But in the end, I think it was more of a worship session. I don’t think we persevered long enough to quieten our flesh to allow our spirit-man to emerge. Nevertheless, God saw our hunger and allowed us to experience His mighty presence through worship.

God’s Joy Filled the Room

Many received visions/mental pictures, many danced and sang prophetically. On two different occasions, when I was seated down worshipping, I felt water rise up to my nose level. Do you know the floating feeling you usually get after swimming? You feel as though you are still in the water although you are already out of it? Well, it was exactly like that. In one of those occasions, Jenn saw the water and was trying to make eye contact with me to confirm but unfortunately I was too immersed in the new experience to notice! In a separate experience, I felt very light drizzle on my hand as we called for the Holy Spirit to rain down.

Others danced with so much joy in their movements. They were completely stripped of all shyness and just danced for that audience of one. I honestly have never seen them so free and uninhibited. The joy of the Lord is just so amazing!

God-Planned

You know, I really cannot thank God enough for sending Charles B to our first attempt at soaking. He is a missionary Pastor from West Timor currently studying theology here in Singapore and an amazing amazing musician/worship leader. The church had invited him as a guest speaker in late February this year to share about his passion for and experience in the mission field. Not only did he share, he led in worship too! He played the guitar and we worshipped non stop. That night was the night I received my first physical healing and I believe Charles B’s worship anointing had ushered in the healing I needed.

When I first had the idea of organising a soaking session, his name popped into my head the same night. I ignored it. The next day it happened again and again I waved it off. A few days later it came back so I decided to take that leap of faith to invite him. He had already promised to attend a birthday party but asked us to pray for God to make a way for him to come. I was a little crushed, just because I had thought it was God nudging me to invite him. That was Tuesday.

On Friday, I got a message from him saying that he would be able to attend! I found out later that he and his family decided not to attend the aforementioned birthday party because one of his daughters was coughing and so needed rest. So it was indeed God’s will for him to come and I believe the daughter’s coughing must be gone by now.

We were able to have such wonderful and anointed music because of him. I had only prepared four songs for him and other guitarists to play. I know, how silly right? But to be fair, I did prepare another four songs for the pianist to play (didn’t happen cause having Charles B playing was sufficient). He just played other songs as the spirit led. I didn’t even have to prompt him. He was so in tune with the Spirit that whatever he played was apt every moment.

Encouragement for the Night

Me, worship anointing? Charles B back told me that in the car, whilst we were sending him home. I knew I could sing prophetically but having the worship anointing? Wow….

 Towards the end of the soaking session, he turned to me and strummed a tune and asked whether I knew how to sing that song (Jon was playing back-up, so the rest of the church was still busy dancing away). I told him it was only very vaguely familiar so not to rely on me to lead. And then he turned back and started strumming. And rather automatically I burst into a melody. No words just plenty of pum pum pum, pah dap pah dap, pum pum pum…. I have no idea what technique this is called. It was absolutely lovely! It surely wasn’t me, so I am not boasting in myself; I am not so creative. In the past, I could try as hard as I might to harmonise with others or fill up parts of songs where vocals are absent but they would always turn out DISASTROUS. So all praise goes to the Holy Spirit!

What I found out at the end of the session was that he was playing to my melody. And there I was thinking it was the other way round. I thought it was the song he had strummed earlier on. So, apparently there was a partnership between us in the spirit realm – he would anticipate my next line of melody and on my end, I would anticipate what he would play next. Somehow his music and my singing just clicked and we flowed so well. He told me to sing with words next time. Haha I’ll definitely try to listen more closely to the Holy Spirit for the words!

But it isn’t only that. Now, whenever I sing, the Holy Spirit will have a tune for me to either harmonise with or sing alongside the melody. It’s just such amazing gift. It is such an honour to be able to sing such beautiful tunes to the Lord. But it is so humbling at the same time. If by my own might, it is totally not possible. Praise God for the gift.

I have lots more to share about this new gift of mine. Wait for it in the next few posts.

Conclusion

It was a successful worship session. I thank God for His mercy and grace. It’s just so wonderful to be able to bask in God’s love and glory.

God, You are so lovely…

Dancing with Jesus and Angels (Part 2)

Continuation of my account of last Thursday night...

My Unbelief

I assume some of you may be thinking that my church’s seer-in-training has a very active imagination. To be extremely frank, there were fleeting moments where I had my doubts too. But God dealt with my unbelief, no matter how brief those thoughts were.

After service, we went into a short prayer. And as I started praying in the spirit, I asked the Lord what I should be praying for and I saw stage curtains being drawn open. I didn’t exactly know how to interpret that mental image so I just kept praying.

Jenn interrupted us midway to convey what she saw in the spirit for another church member, YY, who was not seen in her earlier vision (see previous post). I won’t dwell much on the vision here since it wasn’t meant for me. All I will say is that it was a beautiful vision that showed how much Jesus loved YY. So, back to Jenn’s vision. The last thing she saw was stage curtains being drawn close! It clicked! I saw the prelude and she saw the body and the ending.

There, no more unbelief!

Thank You, Jesus for being ever so gentle in rebuking my negative thoughts.

Leading a Choir of Angels

Back to when we were still praying. I had progressed into singing in the spirit after a while. I noticed I was singing to a new tune with short intervals between “lines”. Then I saw myself standing some distance from God’s throne, clouds at my feet. Golden hues of light illuminated the background. What I saw was so beautifully captivating.

As I continued singing, I saw hundreds of thousands of angels appearing some distance behind me. They echoed every line I sang with their magnificent choir-like singing. It was so glorious! I then understood why there were unavoidable pauses when I sang. It was for the angels to follow after me. I was leading angels in worship before the throne of God!

I have never been a true worshipper. Praise and worship before service was mostly done out of obedience and routine. I would go through the motions of weekly worship service with boredom in my heart. I sometimes would feel guilty that I was giving half-hearted praises to God. I knew this had to stop because I couldn’t truly love and experience God if I was doing it drudgingly. So, in March during my first prophetic activation workshop in KK, I asked God to make me a true worshipper. And I am glad I can say that I love worshipping Him now!

Yippee, soaking session this Saturday! Can’t wait to experience God in deeper ways!!

Dancing with Jesus and Angels (Part 1)

My little house church took place on Thursday in view of the Hari Raya Haji holiday on Friday. It was a small group that night, only four of us when we started, with Jessie joining us later on. The rest were travelling during that long weekend.

As a relatively young church, we don’t exactly know the art of pressing into deep worship and I have never been interested to do so until now. Like I have mentioned before in my previous posts, I believe I have recently started walking closer to God.

It was last Tuesday (read here) that I first experienced being transported to the heavenly realms and to stand before the throne of God during praise and worship. So, being the worship leader that night, I was determined to advance the group a little higher up the holy worship mountain of God.

I didn’t feel any spiritual breakthrough in worship until the third and last song. Even then, the beginning was a little bit flat, but I persevered. And it wasn’t long before I felt it, that release. I sang my heart out and in the spirit, releasing whatever sound or words that came from my spirit-man. The experience was a little bit different from the one on Tuesday, though. I don’t think we went on long enough to be brought before God’s throne but I could definitely feel God’s glory being present. It was such a wonderful time, at least for me, to be singing praises unto the Lord.

Something noteworthy: As I sang, I felt both my hands becoming numb. Nothing I did with my hands was numbness-inducing. Sure, I lifted my hands to God but not for long periods of time. Furthermore, they weren’t only intensely numb, they were also extraordinarily heavy. I felt that shortly on Tuesday too. In both cases, I just dismissed them.

Now, here comes the interesting part. We have a seer-in-training in our church, Jenn. She’s extremely sensitive to the spirit realm and is able to see Jesus, angels and even demons. After worship, I asked her whether she saw anything. She didn’t during the first two songs but during the third song, she saw Jesus in the living room. In the spirit, she saw herself running over to hug Him. He then told her that a leader would emerge to lead the church forward and also that some members would be reluctant follow suit. But Jesus also comforted her by saying that they will eventually be influenced or magnetised by the rest to move forward. Just like atoms, when one vibrates, the rest in the atomic structure will do so too. (I have underlined words that she heard Jesus speak)

After that, she saw a black hooded figure standing before Jesus who then cast it out. According to her, there were other dark figures in the periphery but they were warded off by angels. She then saw me holding hands with Jesus (to my left) and an angel (to my right). She herself was on Jesus’ left. Together with other angels (not as big as the one written here) we all formed a circle that covered the entire living room. She described my attire to be white with a golden sash at my waist and my hair was let down. All these she saw with her eyes closed, but she felt that angels were dancing around me.

So with all that, I conclude that the numbness and heaviness I felt in my hands were because I was holding on to Jesus and an angel! The sensation only left after she concluded her seer account. Praise God for new experiences every time we press in harder.

There’s more to the night. Will update again…

We’ll Be Blessed Because We Came!

Tuesday was the second time I attended the weekly Shalom Prayer Fellowship at Metropolitan YMCA. I was initially reluctant to go because I was sleepy and had a very sore back. But I knew I had to because I was starting to lose focus on God and I wanted to be disciplined in this respect. And boy, am I glad I attended!

Here were some of my experiences:

Deeper Level of Worship

Rivers of praise and worship flowed from deep within my inner man resulting in beautiful sounds that could only originate from God’s spirit living in me. Like I mentioned here, I could not sing in the spirit at all before. And just a mere seven months later, I am able to sing such glorious and spontaneous tunes.  It didn’t come immediately, though. The first 3-4 songs were unfamiliar to me and the height of the experience only came towards the end of the last song. We were all spending some time just worshipping the Lord in our own words and suddenly from deep within me gushed forth songs of the Spirit. I felt like I was being transported to another realm of deeper worship. I just left all my inhibitions aside and sang as the Spirit led. Gosh, the experience was just so awesome! I must add that it helped to have an award-winning concert pianist playing the keyboard! She really helped usher in God’s presence.

At one point, I felt my knees buckling. My body was summoning me to bow down before God’s throne. But at the same time, I could sense that the worship session was ending so I resisted. And it did end soon after. If only the worship leader knew that deeper worship had only just begun!

Physical Sensing

We had a prophetic activity where people were supposed to pray and ask God for a word of knowledge to bless the people in attendance. I asked God to give me a word via physical sensation just because I have never really felt it before. Okay I have felt joy, loneliness and other emotions but nothing concretely physical. And soon after, I started to burn neck-up. You know when you drink alcohol and you get hot flushes?

I asked Mark to feel my neck and he was taken aback by how hot it was. Okay, I chickened out and didn’t share my “word of knowledge”. No one looked like they had fever and I wasn’t even sure it meant fever. For a moment there, I was more focused on the manifestation rather than asking God what it meant and who it was for. Bad, I know. It lasted about 5 minutes before the heat subsided back to normal.

Second Healing Experience

I had been suffering from a sore back since a week ago and have been nagging Mark to accompany me for a massage (nag because Mark dislikes massages as he gets ticklish). The pain intensified so much that even lying down incurred pain. So Mark prayed for me before we slept. Lo and behold, I woke up healed!

I must add that he did pray for healing to happen a few nights before but with no effect. I think God allowed healing to take place specifically after the prayer meeting because our hearts were focused on Him, because we sought Him out. And I think the anointing from the prayer meeting just stuck on to Mark. Or maybe he has the gift of healing? I sure hope so!

God is just so awesome, isn't He?

Cultivate Excellence in Serving God

New Creation Church was the first church I attended on a consistent basis. It was there that I had my first taste serving in ministry. Many people perceive ushering to be a simple and menial job, but New Creation ushers will tell you otherwise. As one of the Royal Stewards, I took great pride in my duties, even if it were cleaning toilets. We were required to report for duty at 1pm to prepare the room for 5pm service and often stayed later than 9pm to clean up. Furthermore, there were strategies involved in greeting the congregation and getting them to fill up the seats promptly and efficiently. Lead ushers even used high-tech communications systems to ensure good and orderly flow. It was in New Creation that I learnt excellence in serving.

Many do not realise that we Christians have the best reason for pursuing excellence because whatever we do, we do unto the Lord. What more church leaders? Unfortunately, the pursuit of excellence is missing in many churches.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  (Colossians 3:17)

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

I am against mediocrity when it comes to serving in ministries. We must eliminate this “as long as it’s good enough to get by, it’s fine with us” mentality. What frustrates me is tardiness and half-heartedness coming from servers. Being volunteers doesn’t give us a free pass to serve with that kind of attitude. In fact, as volunteers in the local church we ought to show double the dedication and commitment because we are God’s representatives there! 

We don’t do it for our pride’s sake, but we do it because we serve a God who deserves nothing but our best. And there is a side benefit to serving God with excellence – people notice excellence. We can draw people in because of the excellence we exude for God and in so doing, we draw them to God.

I acknowledge I am not perfect. But I try my darndest when it comes to fulfilling my promised duties as a church leader. I pray that every church leader in my church, including myself, and in every other church will rise up and humbly serve with excellence to bring glory to God.

Don't Let the Devil Deceive You

If you have been following my past several weeks’ blog posts, you would know that God has blessed me with so many great and real encounters with Him. Because I know full well that I used to be a proud person, I am always fearful that I may allow those blessings go to my head and thus become puffed up. And in many ways, I did. I permitted disappointment to seep in when more and more people from my church received the same glory dust manifestation and at one brief point I even reasoned that they were experiencing it because of me. And when the personal prophecies I spoke forth were accurate, I had urges to broadcast just that.

It is important that we serve God for the right reasons and with the right motives. If it is for our glory, then we are liable to be tempted into manipulation and deceit by the devil. He will unquestionably manipulate us and destroy our destiny. Whatever area of the believer’s life he is unwilling to turn over to the Lord is where the devil is most likely to attack. He will exploit our old passions, nature and weaknesses. Although he cannot touch the believer’s will, he can (and will) influence it, if the believer allows him to do so.

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us, we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11)

“Awake! Be on the alert because your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, eager to devour you.” (1 Peter 5:8)

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." (Ephesians 2:1-2)

An undisciplined mind is an opening for the devil. Therefore, we must choose which thoughts we entertain. Our thoughts influence and change us and, they can make or break us. Do not let any ungodly thought fester. If we allow a single thought to develop into a train of thoughts, it will ultimately affect our reasoning and become part of our belief system. Subsequently, ungodly speech and action will follow. The devil gets us to act by our own free will on his suggestions! He is man’s “tempter” and then he becomes man’s “accuser”.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7, NKJV).

“You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Matthew 12:34)

 

Strongholds such as pride, fear, worry, bitterness, anger, shame, control, etc. need to be removed and replaced by Christ’s thoughts. God has made us guardians of our own mind. We decide which thoughts are allowed entry and which ones refusal of admittance. Resisting the devil is not automatic; it requires conscientious efforts.

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24)

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind.” (Romans 12:2)

“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.” (1 Peter 1:13)

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and His mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:10-17)

“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

If we fall, be quick to seek God’s forgiveness and repent of those thoughts, like I always try to do. As we repent, God will refine us.  

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)