Does God still speak and act to encourage His people today? Read the following and decide for yourself.

In 1991, when the Lord first spoke to Pauline and I concerning the challenge to go overseas as short-term missionaries with WEC, He used the verse in Ephesians 5:14 'Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’. At that point in time I had only been a believer for 18 months, and had no idea what the Lord was leading us into … but nonetheless the challenge came to me – Was I willing to wake up? To rise from my religious comfort and slumber and let the Lord be ‘Lord’ over my life, what I do, where I go etc etc? There was much I did not understand but what I did understand was that – above all else – I wanted His blessing to be poured out on me, and that waking up to His claims upon my life, and following His lead was a key to this. Thankfully the Lord gave us the grace to be obedient and 6 weeks later we were in Senegal with WEC!

A few years later in 2005, after we had joined WEC as long-term workers and had returned from our second spell in Senegal in 2005, we were praying and asking the Lord to mobilise His Church in the same way as we had experienced … when the Lord gave Pauline a very clear image that has stayed with us since. That of the a sleeping giant, tied down by many small ties, akin to Gulliver’s travels when he visited the Lilliputians!

We took this as an encouragement, to see the unrealised potential that exists in the Church in the UK and to trust for the wind of the Spirit to speak and release His people into His purposes …. In other words that we all might indeed ‘Seek FIRST the Kingdom…’

This Sunday evening, whilst preparing to speak at the GO2010 missions festival here at Bulstrode, we were reminded of this ‘picture’. Subsequently I was praying again, and asking the Lord to awaken His Church, and I felt the Lord say that this is happening, and to confirm this He would give me a sign!

At the same time George Verwer has been speaking here at the GO2010 festival … now George has been used mightily of the Lord to mobilise many hundreds of thousands of people to engage with the Lord and His purposes. One thing that George is well known for is his jacket (see the photo) …

So, back to the sign … I felt the Lord speak clearly to me saying that ‘I have heard your prayers and am going to answer them, and as a sign to encourage you I will ask George to give you his jacket as a part of the meeting!’

So, George gets up to speak to the assembled masses, and almost as soon as he starts to talks, he shared a testimony related to his jacket …. Then I felt ‘Here it comes’ - and at that moment George shared how he felt prompted to give me his jacket! So I went up on the platform to receive it. At the time, I am sure that for all except me this was an amusing if somewhat strange thing, unaware that it in fact represented an amazing fulfilment of a prophetic word.

Thankfully, I had the opportunity later in the meeting to explain!

So, what does this mean?

I take this as an encouragement to all … not just me! The Lord speaks to His people, the Lord has heard the cries of our hearts and the Lord is in the process of mobilising His Church … So be encouraged, keep praying, keep working … the Lord is at work.

Press on!