Brisbane: J-Club VBS 2011

I know it's been awhile since I've posted something, but Jesus has been keeping me so very busy. It's amazing how He has opened up so many avenues for me to serve Him. One of the many highlights of my time in Brisbane, Australia has been being a part of a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at International City Church. For three days, I was trapped in the belly of a great fish with over 30 kids and a dozen or so leaders. No just kidding! I was trapped but not in the belly of a great fish! :D. No really it was such an amazing time! Eight kids gave their lives to Jesus and the rest were asking to be filled with the Holy Spirit! God is so faithful! I was so blessed to be a part of this work of God in these precious little children's lives. 

"Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there" (Matthew 19:13-15 NIV). 

Thank You Jesus for releasing the grace to me to lead these precious kids into Your Kingdom unhindered and for allowing me to pray for them all as You welcomed them into Your glorious Kingdom! Thank You Jesus for saving those who needed saving and filling all with Your Holy Spirit Who will empower them to walk into God's destiny for their lives, now and forever! Amen.

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 40

What can I say? Today was exciting. Forty days of the Mobile Prayer Station, "it's biblical." Now when I was first starting out forty days of prayer wasn't even on the radar. Personally, I think I was thinking I'd be out more days, but then again what the Lord impressed on my heart throughout this whole adventure was love over obligation. I will write another blog focusing more on reflections and lessons learned throughout the whole of the forty day experience so stay tuned. 

I got to see lots of people today that I've been growing in relationship with from the community which was nice. I've been slowly telling people of my plans of travelling overseas so I've gotten to say some goodbyes. What I've been slowly learning over the years is the importance of saying goodbye. The more I'm able to say goodbye the better I've become at saying hello. I got to do this with quite a few people today which was sad, but also endearing. In saying goodbye I got to reflect and remember just how the other person has impacted my life, how close we've grown and how I will miss them. Saying goodbye has the power to draw us into the depths of our hearts if we allow it. 

There were a few nice surprises today as I got to interpret a dream for Maureen who is the girl I buy my ice coffees from each day. Jose came by to say goodbye and we ended up praying for one another. My dear old friend Glory stopped by whom I haven't seen in like eight years and spent some time together talking and praying. I prayed with a few other friends today from church, as well as, an old childhood friend who just happened to be walking by. So cool! The day ended with Sean, who is a card carrying Coexister who said that he has constructed his own personal religion from lots of other ones. We talked for a bit about faith and life. I ended up praying for him and he started to weep. I told him that he was feeling the presence of God and he agreed. He shared a dream and I asked God to bring interpretation and He did. I love it when God includes me when He draws near to someone. The dream was from God and highly revelatory, I actually saw the lights go on in his eyes as we talked through the interpretation. God is so good!

Lastly, I ended up giving the Mobile Prayer Station sign to my friend Scott Venable who is the pastor of Mosaic Church. We talked and prayed for one another and then He tells me that he will definitely put the sign to use. He shared how he was going to get a street performer permit and continue on with the Mobile Prayer Station. YES! It truly warmed my heart to hear that the vision God gave me has been passed on to someone else who will carry it which is something I've been praying in my heart for over the last few weeks. Thank You Lord! He even said that he was hoping to get some other people in his church to get street performer permits so that they could rotate people through. Wow! Gotta love multiplication. I love the missional focus of what Mosaic Church is doing and have a prophetic feeling that God is going to move mighty through this church to bring spiritual awakening to the area. 

At the end of the day, I know that Jesus used my presence with the Mobile Prayer Station to impact lives both directly and indirectly. I pray that you, who are reading this, were also encouraged and your faith was strengthen as you read how God drew near to people. He loves people and is eager to be in relationship with us. I am definitely looking forward to when I finally get to see Jesus face to face and have Him tell me exactly what He did through the Mobile Prayer Station. Well, this chapter of my life is finished, but there is another one ready to be written/read. I head out to Brisbane, Australia in two days! I've had so much to do in getting ready for this trip and if you continue to read my blog you will discover with me all that God has planned for me while I'm there. Though the future is unknown to me, I find peace in knowing that it is known to God and that my life is in His able, loving, caring Hands. Peace, Gerry.

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 39

The only thing that motivated to be out on the street today was the fact that the only way that I could finish 40 days with the Mobile Prayer Station was to be out today. You see, I am preparing to leave in a few days to spend one year overseas. So today and tomorrow are the only real days left before I travel overseas. But, even so, the Lord is so gracious and though it was a battle to even be out today, the Lord drew near to me as I cried out for His presence and grace. 

What profoundly stood out today was the sense of loneliness in people. As they walked by, the Holy Spirit let me feel their loneliness and then moved me to ask the Lord to draw near to them. I believe one of life's true horrors is the feeling of loneliness because we were created by God for relationship. This is why hopeless gains such a quick foothold in a person's heart and life when loneliness grips them. We were created out of love, for love, to be loved and to give love. One of my favorite bible verses is 1 John 4:16: "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them" (NIV). Really spend a minute to take this verse in. So amazing!

So even though I wanted to go home immediately after I got on the corner, God released grace to me and brought people for me to prayer with. First Jose and Crystal came by on their way to a youth night their church was throwing. I've gotten to talk and pray with Jose on a few occasions so it was nice to see him and pray with him again. But then God gave me a prophetic picture for his cousin Crystal which I shared with her and then prayed into. God has really brought these two through such tremendous trials which only speaks of such favor and incredible destinies on both their lives. God is so good! Next, I got to speak with a woman walking her dog who stopped to ask about dream interpretation (if you're interested on reading about my biblical grounding for dream interpretation read here). She couldn't remember any dreams and was a bit hesitant in receiving formal prayer from me, so I just spoke a blessing prayer over her as we talked. She was appreciative. Yes, I will sneak in a prayer even in conversation. 

One of the highlights of my day was praying for a dad Sergio and his stepdaughter Elisia. He kept his request general and asked for resolution to some issues happening within the family. The Holy Spirit guided my prayers and I respectfully touched on a few prayer points while still honoring the family. Next, I prayed for Elisia that God would bless her creativity and give her the courage to walk into her God given gifts and talents. It's funny, one of the first things Sergio said to me was that they were having a pretty weird day and well why not keep it going by asking me for some prayer. I love it! Rather than getting offended I just ran with the God given opportunity to pray for peace, healing, kindness and grace for this hurting family. Thank You Jesus for Your compassion, love and humility. Only by Your grace Lord!

Lastly, I got to talk and pray with Seneca, who came up to me and said that God had given him a vision sometime in the past of me and my prayer sign and told him he was to have me pray for him. Wow! Are you kidding me? So we held hands and prayed. Right when I started praying Seneca started praying in tongues. I prayed for many things for him from healing to deliverance to revelation. I won't go into too much detail, but I will say this, after Seneca left I literally heard the Lord say to my spirit that one of my prayers was the one He's been waiting for someone to pray. God is so amazing! Here I am not even wanting to be out praying with people and God releases such grace and revelation to me. Talk about a Divine appointment. Before Seneca left, he did pray for and bless me which was a bonus! I love God's amazing grace! 

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 38

I can't believe that this is already day 38, two more days until 40. What an amazing journey this has been. For most of today, I was deep in thought and in prayer for the community. I long for Jesus to encounter people and awaken their hearts to the reality of His Kingdom. If there's one thing that I can't pray enough of it's that God would stir in people Divine curiosity. Because if there's one thing that the world is relentless at, it's dulling people's minds to the reality of a spiritual realm, to the reality of God. 

Maybe I'm reflecting on this today because only one person stopped for prayer today, my friend Jeff.  Jeff has some health issues, specifically his lungs. So, I love praying that God would heal Jeff's lungs. Over the summer I must have prayed for Jeff's lungs to be healed at least four times (if not more). It's funny when I asked if I could pray for his lungs today, Jeff said, "again?" In which I answered, "yes, again." I am believing that every time I pray, God heals Jeff's lungs a little bit more. He did say that his lungs seemed to be getting better, but then again he also says that it's hard to tell unless they get inflamed and irritated which they haven't for a little while. Again, I'm believing God is bringing healing until shown otherwise. Overall, nothing super major today, just a good old fashioned day spent in intercessory prayer for the community which is always good! Thank You Jesus!