Friday, November 28, 2008

The church without walls

Wednesday night, Eric ministered at Pastor Steve’s church in Danu. The church building was a covered structure, but lacked any walls. The setting of the church was very unique as it stood on a little peninsula, surrounded by water. Eric was very tired after traveling all-day to Accra and back with Pastor Emmanuel and Jake to pick up a package at the post office, purchase some auto parts, buy some musical equipment, and get groceries. Eric felt tired, weak, and unprepared, so he was totally relying on the Lord. Pastor Emmanuel led us in a time of praise and prayer as we drove about 30 minutes to get there. Eric felt the Lord was leading him to share from James chapter 1 about standing up under trials and not running away, so we can grow, handle more, and be more useful to God. Eric said, it would be much easier to deliver a “happier” message, but he felt the Lord saying, if nothing else, the pastor of that church needed to hear it.

Pastor Emmanuel ended up translating for Eric, and they were a dynamic team. About 2/3 of the way through his message, Eric broke away from his notes and began exhorting the people from his heart. Their hearts were open, and they received understanding and took hold of the truth. They clapped and shouted, “Hallelujah and Amen!” They saw the usefulness and purpose of the trials in their lives and were encouraged that God would bring victory. I felt the Holy Spirit come in power. As Eric and Emmanuel prayed over people, many were overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit and were falling back onto those standing behind them. 

Then Pastor Steve took the stage and thanked Eric so sincerely for his ministry. He said that the message was very meaningful to him, personally. He also said that he felt like he was supposed to organize a revival for Eric to preach at his church (but he didn’t know Pastor Emmanuel already has him booked almost every night). Then he began to prophesy that he didn’t know how large Eric’s ministry was, but that he would reach the thousands. Soon, he would look back and see amazing things God had done through him. It was a wonderful reminder that when we are weak, our God is strong!

- Velvet

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