God's fire is beginning to fall!
Dear family and friends,
We are so excited to share with you some wonderful things that the Lord
has been doing on Long Island since our last newsletter.
Over the years, we have been given words from the Lord again and again.
These words have been delivered by different people who have visited the
island. They have all spoken of the fire of God, and waves of glory. So we
have had a growing sense of expectancy in this.
Now something is stirring.
God has been inspiring a prayer movement like nothing we have
ever seen before. The Lord caused Pastor Jimmy and I to begin to pray
together in the mornings, and this prayer time grew and grew to the point
where we are meeting nearly every day for prayer. Deb and I were empowered
to rise early for prayer and the word. We have been empowered to add
more personal time of prayer. God also brought new people to the
island who are consumed by a drive to pray. They meet on Tuesday nights
for powerful prayer times. We joined in with them, and they joined in with
our prayer meeting on Wednesday nights. Our lives have become one
continual prayer meeting! We see from history that revivals always seem to
be preceded with a mighty prayer movement. Could we be entering into the
prophesied waves of God's Glory?
Well, It appears that we are. Manifestations of God's Glory have been
occurring, and they have been increasing. People are getting dramatically
saved. Baptisms are happening on a very frequent basis ( 70 for the year),
and often in the face of great opposition. Our own two daughters Rachel
and Stella were among some of these very beautiful baptisms.
First Assembly is growing—it is nearly full every Sunday. The presence
of God is beginning to manifest in every gathering—Sunday mornings,
Tuesday evenings, Wednesday evenings, Friday youth meetings... Dozens of
people are touched by the Holy Spirit, they are weeping with joy, falling
out under the power of God, and receiving spiritual gifts. There have been
a number of healings—some of them quite dramatic. Even the littlest
ones, as old as four or five, are worshiping for hours with hands raised.
They too are falling out under the anointing, seeing visions, and engaging
in ministry to their peers. It is starting to look just like the book of
Acts, and it is so lovely!
Youth night has completely changed. We stopped running the buses,
because, as we prayed, the Spirit told us to stop for now. He told us to
rest in Him and make Youth Night for the young people and children that
were faithfully coming to the church. As we came to this decision, we
observed that there were a LOT of kids that were already coming to church.
Now on Friday nights, there is very little program, and a lot less
preparation--other than prayer that is. The Spirit does all the hard work.
Last week we had over 70 kids, and there have been more coming each week.
They manage to find their own ways to get there. These youth are serious
about the things of God. They are respectful, they listen and give
themselves completely in worship. The meetings now often last until after
10 PM, and even then people are reluctant to leave! There has been
great repentance among a core of high-school-aged youth who have given up
the music, games, and anything else of the world that was compromising. Of
their own initiative, they have started meeting daily for prayer on their
campus. They have even been fasting and praying on Fridays in preparation
for their youth meeting.
The order of the day is to stop striving, and make every effort to
enter into the “Sabbath Rest of God”. To cease from our own works and
walk in the “good works that God has prepared ahead of time” for us.
There is so much more going on that I could not begin to tell it all. I
hope to write again soon and tell of other things. We would appreciate if
you would continue to pray earnestly for us.
