Over the past
weeks I’ve thought and prayed about this story many times, I wasn’t sure I even
wanted to write it, but after hearing Carole Lee speak on Dreams, Visions and
Prophecy I knew the story had to be told.
As always it’s with the help of the Holy Spirit I write this.
Please believe
that I’m not telling this story to exalt myself in any way because I am so
humbled that my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ entrusted me with such a
gift. I just pray I do not fall short
and grieve the Holy Spirit in any way.
This story begins
in the early 1980’s when I was invited to the home of Judy Green to hear Irene
Farley teach and minister using her gifts of prophecy, words of knowledge, and
wisdom. She would laughing say, “I am
preparing you girls in the School of Hard Knocks to use what God has gifted you
with.”
Spiritual gifts
are special abilities given by God to each believer for ministry. The Lord expects me to use my gift for the
benefit of the church body.
Scripture states in
1 Corinthians 12: 4-11
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines.
Prophecy for those
who do not know is a divine prediction of a future event as told by a person
who is lead along by the Holy Spirit. Words
of Knowledge are messages of special knowledge and encouragement spoken to an
individual directly from the Holy Spirit.
We should never
use our spiritual gifts to tear others down, but use them to encourage and build
up.
I did not know
Irene at the time but grew to love and respect her over the next few years. Irene was in her late sixty’s when we meet. She was a kind and humble woman that loved God
with all her heart until the day she passed away to go home to her Savior.
As I walked
through the door of Judy’s home and found a seat there were only a few people
there I knew, most of them were from Community Church. It
was always difficult for me to attend functions alone but this time I was meant
to be there.
Irene and her
group were introduced by Judy. Her group
meaning, two ladies that traveled with her to help with the ministry. Nancy, Irene’s friend began to sing and lead out
with songs of praise, the anointing of the Holy Spirit was there as we all began
to feel the presence of the Lord.
Suddenly Irene
walked directly over to me and with purpose in her expression, and as the music
softened she began to pray in the Spirit and soon said to me, “honey I don’t
know you but the Lord does and he has a word for you today. The Lord wants you to know that he loves you
very much and he has gifted you with healing in your hands. As you reach out and lay hands on the sick,
and pray for them they will recover.”
Well I was
astonished; I had never been spoken to in that manner before. Neither had I seen anyone move in the gifts
as she did. Oh I knew about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and even heard some
messages in tongues and interpretation but that is all I knew.
Being somewhat of
a new Christian I was eager to learn everything I could. With new Christians, God puts a hunger in our
heart for His Word, because the enemy the Devil will quickly come and try to
steal away what God is teaching you.
Believe me I’ve seen it happen on many occasions; thank God it did not
happen to me.
I began to attend
her meeting regularly, and soon the meetings grew too large to continue on at
Judy’s home. Community Church on 16th Street was offered to house the group on
Wednesday mornings.
I was very naïve
and believed if I had the gift as Irene said I was going to use it. I prayed for folks but never saw anyone
healed, at least anyone I knew of. I’m
sure God was smiling at me and saying, let’s take a little time and learn a few
things before I turn you lose on humanity.
Over these many
years I held on to the word God gave me through Irene, and I tell you now I can
almost hear her talking to me with that sweet humble smile she always had when
she knew she had a word for someone from the Lord.
It took many trips
around the block before I learned to be the woman God designed me to be even
before the creation of the world. I look
back and have to laugh at myself because pride was the biggest obstacle I had
to overcome. Now wait a minute, it might
be for you too if you had just been given such an awesome gift at such a young
Christian age.
But now at this
writing I am just overcome with humility, maybe the same humility I saw in
Irene’s eyes as she spoke to me, and with tears in my eyes I thank Him for His
patience with me and His teaching me to be the woman He can look at and say, you go girl, you’re ready.
It was just an
ordinary Friday night March 9th, 2012. Lovell and I don’t usually plan anything
on this night because we are tired from work.
But this was not going to be an ordinary night, because God had another
message to give me. In the early morning
hours I began to dream. How many of you know God sometimes speaks to you in
your dreams?
Well in this dream
I found myself in a room, and as I looked up I saw a woman walk through a
door. As she approached me she said she
had a gift for me, but she did not have time to wrap it. The gift was lying across her arm as she
passed it on to me.
She moved away from me and as I looked up the
door opened again. I did not see anyone
but I felt a presence enter the room. As
the presence approached me I could feel fear and pressure around my neck. The pressure became so tight I could hardly
breathe, and all I could say was,” Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. In the name of Jesus turn me loose.” The pressure began to release and I could
breathe again.
Then, as I turned
around I saw two black ladies sitting at a table. I could hear God say to me go and pray for
the one I lead you to. He told me she
had pain in her left shoulder and He wanted to heal her. I went over to her and said, “God wants to
heal your left shoulder, and as I laid my hands on her shoulder she was
healed. I didn’t even pray. She was just healed.
I woke up and knew
that was no ordinary dream. Lovell was already
awake and sitting in the living room with his coffee, I filled my cup with
coffee and sat down beside him and told him what I just experienced in a dream. After we talked for a while I went to my desk
and began to write down everything about the dream while it was still fresh on
my mind.
The entire weekend
I pondered the meaning of the dream, I asked God what it meant but nothing came
to mind. On Monday night Carol Lee from Crosby, TX was ministering at Community Church on 16th Street. She is also gifted in prophecy and
ministers much the same way Irene Farley did many years ago.
I walked in and
took a seat, as I looked around the room I saw the black woman in my
dream. My heart began to pound, and I
asked, “Lord what does this mean.” In my
dream I went over to pray for her healing.
I knew I had to do the same thing here in real time. After the ministry time was over I went to
her and asked her if she needed healing?”
She said, “no I don’t think so, but come to think of it my left shoulder
does give me pain at night, but I just pray it down and it goes away.”
My heart began to
pound even more as I told her what God showed me in a dream that He wanted to
heal her left shoulder. I asked if I
could pray for her and she said yes please.
After I prayed we exchanged a few words and I walked away not really
knowing if God had healed her.
Later I asked God
what was that all about, He begin to let me know the gift of healing Irene told
me about many years ago was ready to be used.
You see, in my dream an angel brought it to me, and the enemy the Devil
came to me to take it away, maybe even to kill me. But as I cried out in the name of Jesus, he
had to turn me loose.
I told this story
to my friend Robert, a man of God that moves in the gift of healing, and he
agreed with me about the calling God has given me. God doesn’t work the same
with everybody, but I do know looking back those many years ago God wanted me
to know there was something special he wanted me to do, but there was much
preparation to be made.
A few weeks later
I went back to the meeting on 16th Street and the same lady was there. I asked if God had healed her that night and
she said she has not hurt since.
God knew that in
such a time as this He would need me to work in the harvest. I know in my heart and from what I have
learned in the Word of God that these are the last days we are living in, and I
am honored that God chose me, and worked with me over the years to become who He
wanted me to be while we are here on earth living in the kingdom doing his will
as He instructs.
I hear his voice
as He directs and instructs me to reach out and pray for those around me.
As scripture
states in John 10:27
“My sheep listen to my voice; I
know them, and they follow me.”
I know when He leads me to an individual and
tells me to pray, something is going to happen.
I also hear the voice of our Pastor, Daniel Rose as he has instructed us
saying, “take the goodness of God out to our community.”
With God’s help
and guidance I will go where He tells me and do what he instructs me to do,
because for me that is what I am here to do in such a time as this.
We all have
stories to tell and someone needs to hear them.
I do not know everyone that reads my stories, but the one who reads this
one was led here by the Holy Spirit. You
may be struggling with a gift you think God has given you, if so don’t give up. Hold on to the word you have received, talk
to God about it because He has a plan, and just like me there may be
preparation to be made before you are ready to actually receive.
God works
differently with everyone, but this is how He worked with me.
Bless you in your
ministry,
Jackie
