Two weeks after Parakletos, the testimonies continue. Lives have been changed, restored, men and women equipped, mobilized to pray and call into existence what does not exist; all these people touched, transformed, write, they call, and we are delighted; but our primary cause of joy is the simplest. Our deepest pleasure, what amazes us, surprises us, and fills us with joy, is that God had come. His presence was palpable and real and transformed lives.
It must be said that we were not lacking in ambition; it seemed to us that it was necessary to do more than see people fall under the power of God, to see them 'touched', 'blessed'; we wanted a prayer army. We wanted God to take hold of our lives, to change our perspective, to mobilize us to pray as never before, to make prayer desirable and enjoyable, to break our passivity, and to allow us to see that the future of this continent will be determined by these men and women who bend the knee and pray. And that is what He did.
The room echoed with the cry of 'Europe will be saved'. And Little by little, everyone has become aware that it is up to him or her, that it is up to our generation to cry out to God for the transformation of our societies and that if we do it, He will do it. God can do it through us if we are willing and today we are. More than ever we have understood our role as a house of prayer for the nations, we have grasped God's heart for the nations, the anointing has been communicated, we have been renewed, we have heard and responded to the call.
The teaching was powerful. We learned how to pray, how to avoid exhaustion and weariness in prayer, and how to persevere until we achieve a breakthrough. Jean Tanefofou sparked our passion for missions as he shared testimony after testimony of signs and wonders, of wonders of God experienced in missions following prayer for the nations; Suzette Hattingh led us from the porch to the altar in prayer, explaining how to obtain miracles in prayer and release them in victory, how to live in a divine intimacy by which we are constantly renewed; Freddy de Coster led us through the different pillars of intercession.
I focused on the Christian's call to be a house of prayer for the nations, on the need and means of living and praying in the fullness of God; Roselen Boerner Faccio taught on the biblical principles underlying the prayer of conversion and shared the extraordinary testimony of his church; Boris Grisenko, with humor, regaled us with the testimony of his ministry among the Messianic Jews born of his obedience and an extraordinary encounter with Jesus and made us aware of the importance of prayer for the Jewish people.
Praise and prayer were not left out. What a joy to see pastors and leaders dancing and freely celebrating the Lord, to see young people letting themselves go in the presence of God, to see people of different backgrounds come together and recognize that this earth is common to us and its future concerns us all. As is customary at Parakletos, there was great freedom in the Spirit. God honored us with His presence. In addition to the Parakletos team, we were graced to welcome a Dutch praise team, true intercessors.
After receiving so much, one could hardly leave without making commitments. I understood from the Lord that this was essential. We had to stand up and say, like Isaiah, 'Here I am, send me,' stand up and say, 'Lord, You can count on me.' And that, more than anything, attracts the help of the Holy Spirit. So when the music is over, the preaching is over, when you are alone and challenges are coming, you know that He is there to help you because you have positioned yourself correctly in Him.
The icing on the cake was a prophetic image. We had talked a lot about the intercessor who must constantly renew himself in the presence of God. In one of my messages, I mentioned the passage from Isaiah 56 where God announces joy for those who will come to His house of prayer; and then, just as I was about to conclude the meeting, this time relying on the verse from Isaiah 6, I was seized by the joy of the Holy Spirit and I began to laugh, drunk with His presence. Unable to stand, I finished sharing the last word of the conference on my knees, exhorting everyone to live in the joy of God by serving Him.
It is the image of the intercessor who plows but who continually finds resources in His presence, in His arms of love, who lives and prays in the fullness of God. My dignity has suffered, but I believe that the message has been conveyed. The intercessor is a man and a woman of joy because he is in close contact with the one who is the author of joy. God has a sense of humor and He knew that a picture is worth a thousand words. Thus, at the fall of the curtain, renewed, re-energized and 'energized' men and women have enrolled in the army of prayer, the one through which God's plans will be manifested on this continent. Mission accomplished; see you in 2011.
Shalom.
