October 2006 Monthly Letter

It just keeps happening! That is, God's surprises!

The session for the Seasoned Saints always ends with a special time of prayer. Each Saint brings a family photo. Each is given a lit candle and instructed to hold up the photo in one hand and the candle in the other.

The room lights are dimmed; I model a creative form of praying Scriptures by placing the flame of the candle in front of each individual family member pictured. Then with my eyes purposely opened, I pray out loud for each, sometimes placing the flame on the head, the heart, or the body of each individual. The modeling is to demonstrate focusing our prayers on each individual family member's need, as led by the Holy Spirit.

For example, with the candle flame centered on the head, I may pray, "Father, John needs to make an important decision, enlighten his mind by "teaching and instructing him in the way he should choose." Psalms 32:8). Or I may place the flame on a heart and pray, "Father, my daughter Sue has drifted away from You. By Your Spirit that caused the prodigal son "to come to his senses" (Luke 15:17) so cause Sue to return to You."

Or with the flame on a body, "O Great Physician, my husband, Scott, is afflicted with back pain, please release Your healing power to flow through his body. Give him Your "peace that passes understanding" (Philippians 4:7) and Your "joy in the midst of this physical trial" (James 1:2). Or again on the body, "O Creator, I focus my prayer on my daughter Deborah's womb. Thank You for Your process of "forming and knitting together the inward parts of this child in her womb." (Psalms 139:13)

Before I began I needed a family photo! On the table containing the various items I use there was a photocopied church directory. It contains 287 photos; 24 individual single sided sheets of black and white photos, 12 per page. I quickly sorted through them, selected a family photo of 3, cut it out, and held it up with a lit candle to demonstrate the above procedure.

Remember, this is how we close the session. It was running over time. As I finished demonstrating, who do you suppose walked into the room at that moment? Yes, the same family of 3, a dad, mom, and 8th grade daughter who were coming early for the Family Night! Yes! Go figure the odds!

The Saints were ready to go marching out, when the Spirit came marching in! All of us were struck! I proceeded to call out each of this family's names! They were amazed and asked, "Who are you?" And "How did you know our names?" I introduced myself and told them this story. This is how the Spirit started the Weekend. You can only imagine what else occurred. Perhaps in a future letter I will share some other great divine appointments the Holy Spirit had with many other people, including this family of 3. God is answering your prayers for this Ministry!