I know a fellow believer who recently had a visitation
from the Lord. Over dinner with a group
of friends, he shared his experience
with God. Normally this man doesn't
speak much or socialize often; but he had a story to tell. Before I share it with you let me back up and
tell you about an encounter I had with the Spirit of God prior to this meeting. Just a few days before, I was reading a
devotional and as I was meditating on the message of the writer, I heard the
Lord clearly ask me a question.
"How long will you let your kingdom stand?" I was shocked! What? I don't have a kingdom. I am careful to give Him all the glory. What was God referring to? I asked Him.
His response shook me. I felt God
say that most believers have some remnant of their kingdom still standing. Of course, I asked again what He meant. Let me summarize and say that basically when
we have anything that we cling to with or without regard to the Lord's will, it
is our little kingdom. Some of us say we
will go into to some countries and people groups and not into certain others. For others, we will not move out in ministry
until our children are grown or we have a certain amount of money or
possessions paid off. Other little
kingdoms include our appetites for food, things, power and influence. For each person it is different; but until
our little kingdoms are destroyed, we will never be able to move in the
fullness of the authority, power and love of the Kingdom. These things are in
the way of us being one with Christ and fulfilling the desires of His
heart. Needless to say, I stayed in
prayer for quite a while tearing down my little Kingdom.
Now back to my friend's encounter with God. He was in prayer meeting a few other
intercessors. From the perspective of
the other intercessors at dinner with us, all of a sudden, this man fell to the
floor and started praying in tongues loudly.
This was not only atypical for him, but the length of time that it went
on was curious. He didn't remember
falling or praying loudly. He remembered
opening his eyes and seeing Jesus. He
knew it was Jesus, but was surprised because he looked different than any image
of Him he'd ever seen. Of course, he
could feel the overwhelming love and acceptance of God. At some point Jesus opened his eyes to see
the lost souls in the earth. As the man
relayed the encounter to us, he would cry and say, "the souls, the souls,
the souls." He would be emotionally transported back to the visitation and
he would weep. The weeping was
frustrating for him because now he was prone to cry at any time in any
place. I was amazed. This quiet, almost shy man was completely
changed in the presence of the Savior. I
was also encouraged that in this hour in the earth, Jesus could have spoke to
this man about many things, but He didn't.
He didn't speak about the upcoming elections in America, the state of
the various nations of the earth or the personal wants and desires of this
man. The overriding take away from this
encounter was the God's heart for souls.
Jesus cares about the lost, the broken, the captive, the blind and the
hurting. That is His heart.
One question:
Are you in sync with His heart?
Does your conversations, social media postings, emails, preaching and
teaching reflect God's heart for souls or the wants and desires of your little
mini Kingdom?
...the souls, the souls, the souls
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