Still playing a bit of catch up.  In so much I am writing this post because it is so significant.

This post will cover Monday, September 14th.  It has to do with again with the sovereignty of God.  Now, as I have indicated in my last post, I will spend some time in upcoming posts teaching what I have learned on the subject of God’s sovereignty.  But, for those who are like me, you may want a sneak peak.

The definition of the word “Sovereign” – “A monarch; a king, a queen, or other supreme ruler. A person who has supreme power or authority.”  Sovereignty can be further defined as having supreme authority, control, and power over all that has happened, is happening, and will happen in the future in all times across all history.  Our God is in control of everything.

So, I have started to realize that nothing is by chance and everything including every circumstance is in the control of our sovereign God.  I really want to camp out here, but this understanding and further teaching on this subject will have to wait.  In the context of what happened last Monday, I wanted to lay a very firm foundation regarding God’s sovereignty.

The day – Monday, September 14th (Tip of the Spear)

Pete and I had agreed to meet for lunch again in North Branch to pray over the city on this Monday.  That day started early as I met Glen Myers for breakfast at 7:00 am.  We generally meet the first Monday of the month, but due to the Labor day weekend we moved it to today.  Glen is one of my mentors who prays for me.  I can’t say enough about the value of such relationships.  I have a number of them like this and recommend them whenever I get the chance.

Anyway, after my breakfast meeting I drove North and called Pete.  We agreed to meet next to the Dairy Queen in North Branch and when I arrived, Pete jumped into my car.  Before departing, we prayed that God would lead us to where He wanted us to go. We drove East and pulled into the parking lot of Main Street Church.  Here we got out and laid hands on and prayed over this building.  Being that it was a Monday, we didn’t figure to see to many people at any of the Churches we visited to pray and this Church was no exception.  We walked around the Church property praying as well.  From there we went up the block to Living Branch Lutheran Church and laid hands on the front doors and prayed.  As we were walking around the building we saw a man in the garage next store.  Pete being Pete, got the man’s attention and we walked over to chat with him.  His name was Roger, he was friendly and informed us that he and his wife moved to Florida but they were here to sell the house.  Roger owns the Ace Hardware in North Branch.  His wife, Cindy Lou drove up about 15 minutes into our conversation and we talked with the both of them for another 15 minutes.  Turns out she spends hours every day writing encouraging Christian posts on Facebook.

From there we drove to a restaurant for lunch. Pete had been in 2 Kings and wanted to talk about that.  So we read, and as we were talking Pete began to draw a picture.  It was a picture of the top of a spear.  As I looked at it, I sensed urgency.  I said to Pete, let’s go and find this spear.  I knew that it was significant because I felt the Holy Spirit come upon me in the sense of urgency.  God used this to help me understand a few  very important principles:

1. When I sense urgency it is generally when the Holy Spirit comes upon me.
2. Pay attention, there may be more to what the Holy Spirit is revealing.
3. Just because I feel this sense of urgency, I still need be patient.
4. Don’t set an expectation – God will surprise you.

Our entire life including every moment is a God thing.  When we start to recognize through the understanding of God’s sovereignty, we can begin the journey of partnering with God in every moment.  And in those moments when we have slowed down long enough to experience what God is doing – our spirits leap.  Those are “ah-ha” moments we begin to crave the more they occur.  To me, the Kingdom of God is like various levels of revelation.  It will grow according to the level of risk we are willing to take regarding that for which we hope for.  This is graduation into level one revelations.  These are moments when you start to hear the voice of God but question if it is God.  The only way to graduate to another level of revelation is to practice hearing the voice of God and then having the faith necessary to obey.  It is through many repetitions of obeying and then experiencing that we begin to trust enough to risk something that matters.  I really want to camp out here for a while as God has given me so much on this topic, but that will be for another time.

So, Pete and I started searching.  It was like a treasure hunt and we were excited!  Here is were God starts to teach me that I need to pay attention longer.  Seriously, we are like a couple of little kids who find a quarter and pick it up and run to the candy store.  If we would have only stopped long enough to look around, we would have seen an endless supply of quarters.  So, this is where God also starts to teach me patience.  When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, our spirits leap – and we get excited.  We want to go but, wisdom teaches us to wait upon the Lord for further instruction through prayer.  You see, I have hindsight to look back and recognize my over exuberance now, that I didn’t at the time.  We all have that luxury and should use it often.  This is called reflection.  But guess what?  We serve a sovereign God who is in control of everything.  He will use every moment of our life to accomplish His purpose through us, even our over exuberance!  Translation – we drove around for three hours before we found what we were looking for.  And even then, it was not what I was expecting.

Don’t get me wrong – It was worth it.  As a matter of fact, through my time of reflecting on this I have honestly come to realize that it was much better than what I was expecting.  The vision I have received regarding this is that when we set out with an intention to follow God, we are setting out to find gold.  He will always lead us to the gold, but it is up to us regarding just how much we take.  With God, the amount of gold is endless.  I find more gold during my reflection time with God than I can write about.  It’s like a river flowing with it – if I only slow down to reflect.

Pete and I spent three hours driving around from Church to Church praying over them.  God used that time to help us understand the lay of the land we are preparing to enter.  The last Church we visited was outside the city limits.  The setting of this Swedish Lutheran Church is right out of Heaven.  It sits on top of a hill overlooking a small lake and woods with the parking lot and cemetery across the winding road.  I pulled into the parking lot and as I was parking, Pastor George Marin from Albert Lea called.  He and his wife Jill were driving to Chicago to hear Bishop Tudor Bismark speak.  This was the first time in 11 years he had the privilege of seeing him in person and they were excited.  They were traveling just outside of Rockford when he called.  A side note – Pastor George or “G” as we call him is one of the most anointed men I have ever met.  When he preaches, he preaches with power and authority like few I have ever heard.  He is our ministry partner and the spiritual overseer of the Southern region of Minnesota.  So, G calls and while we are sitting in the parking lot he starts prophesying over us.  During this time, one of the things he says is that “each follower of Jesus is like an arrow in God’s quiver.”  He said that “Pete and I are each a powerful arrow and God is pulling us out of the quiver right now for such a time as this.  Together, the three of us are the “Tip of the spear” that God will use to destroy the powers and principalities over this Northern region.”  What?  Pete slaps my arm and points to the picture.  Did he just say “Tip of the spear?”.  Bam!  We are slammed by the Holy Spirit and in utter disbelief.

What are the odds?  It just so happens that we have been intentionally looking for this object for three hours.  There was an expectation that we would find the object.  I was looking to find an actual spear but God surprised us by giving us what we were looking for through prophecy.  The mysterious ways of the Lord never cease.

Incidentally, after over an hour with G on the phone we did go up and pray over this particular Church.  We met the grounds keeper and prayed with him as well.  I am sure there is more to this story, but we will just have to wait to see how it concludes.  We then went back to North Branch and I dropped Pete off.  What happens next scared me.

My next post will be about “A Familiar Spirit” – This spirit is powerful over this region in particular and has effected all three of us since September 3rd.