Beloved Intercessors,
I Will Visit!
Loving greetings from Interstate 40 in Arkansas. By the time you receive this, Philip and I will be in our home in Engeltal (hallelujah!), after a little more than two weeks on the road. As you may recall, our last prayer letter was at the beginning of our trip going to Campbellsville University for Ignite America. Although we could only stay for a couple of meetings, it was truly a delight to participate in this event for college students to help them become strongly grounded in their faith, learning to depend on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God for their guidance.
We had wonderful meetings with the Washington, DC Branch and God Pleasers Family Church prior to our time at Calvary Campground. Then we ministered in Columbia, South Carolina and in our Branch in Atlanta, Georgia. The Holy Spirit moved in a powerful way in all the meetings and lives were impacted and changed to the glory of the Lord!
We also spent the weekend in Augusta, Georgia under the ministry of Dr. Sandra Kennedy and Whole Life Ministries. We enjoyed visiting with our former staff member, Doreen Shurley, who works there.
All Ages
End-Time Handmaidens and Servants International is a ministry for the family—all of it, from babies to great-great grandparents! In recent years, the Lord has put it on my heart to minister to the children each morning during the World Convention. It is so important that they know from a young age how important they are to God and to us. We want to see them grow and learn in a safe and loving environment so that they will have a good foundation of loving obedience to God to fulfill His purposes for their lives.
During this year‘s World Convention, Dutch Sheets was talking about how God is shifting his ministry somewhat to include more mentoring of younger ministers. Before he spoke the second time, I felt to have those in the assembly who were 90 years of age plus to come and lay hands on him and impart to him the vision for continuing in the strength of the Lord for many, many years. Six or seven came forward and ministered to him. Then I felt to call the children to come up and lay hands on him and pray for him, indicating that these represented the young ministers whom he would be mentoring when he reached the age of these ladies in their 90s.
That prophetic act gave us such a beautiful picture of the cross generational vision of this ministry. At each stage of life, we have value in the body of Christ! During this trip, we had the privilege of being with at least three people who are in their 90s. One of our ETH, Claudia Gay, with whom we stayed on our journey home, continues to be a chaplain at a local hospital, driving herself there each Monday morning. She is a passionate evangelist, using Charles and Frances Hunter’s soul-winning method, “There Are Two Kinds Of.” As the Holy Spirit leads her, if for instance, she is in a restaurant, she would say, “There are two kinds of waitresses in the world: those that are saved and those that are about to be saved. Which one are you?“ if the waitress responds, “I’m about to be,” Claudia leads her in a prayer and makes sure that she knows that Jesus is now in her heart. Hallelujah!
I Will Visit You!
Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit* you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.”
Of course we understand that this Scripture refers to God promising that He would bring the children of Israel back out of captivity in Babylon before they even went into captivity. It was this scripture that caused Daniel to go into intercession, repenting for the sins of his forefathers who had brought curses upon the land, causing their exile.
But we have always used verse 11 to encourage ourselves personally regarding God’s thoughts and intentions toward us to give us hope for the future. And we have always used verses 13-14 with the understanding that the Lord can be found of us if we will seek for Him with all our hearts.
As I was studying this passage this morning, I discovered a beautiful word that is full of meaning for us. It is the word translated “visit” in verse 10. The Hebrew word is paqad (Strong’s #6485). The Lexical Aids to the Old Testament in the Hebrew Greek Key Study Bible gives us this definition: “to visit, inspect, review; to muster, number; to care for; look after;… The first occurrence of paqad is Genesis 21:1 where the Lord intervened on behalf of Sarah in a miraculous way, so that she could conceive at an advanced age. A strong undercurrent of the meaning of paqad is a positive action by a superior in relation to his subordinates. Bible translators have a difficult time translating this verb because there is such a broad spectrum of meanings.… by far, the most prevalent meaning (110 times) was that of drawing of troops for marching or for a battle.…Paqad is translated as visit 57 times. This is a misleading term. The true meaning is an action on the part of God which produces a beneficial result for his people…“
Now let’s consider this word in the context of the scripture with reference to 70 years. I am just a decade away from being 70 years old, and many of our End-Time Handmaidens and Servants have already passed that milestone. I believe that we are coming into the season when we can expect a visitation of God in our senior years, where He will inspect and give us review, and muster an army of powerful praying people with the wisdom and experience to succeed in end-time battles like never before. I believe we can also expect God to
intervene as He did with Sarah to restore and extend life to bring forth a new generation. He is looking for those on whose behalf He may act for their benefit and perform His promises for restoration.
2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of [them] whose heart [is] perfect toward him…”
Vision
Someone just sent me the following vision that was given some years ago to a man of God who had a heart after Him.
“Seeing a huge piercing blue eye that seemed bigger than all the heavenlies caused [the man of God] to ask the Lord what it was. He said, ‘This is the Eye of the Lord watching o’er all the earth, searching for those whose hearts are perfect towards Me.’ Then he saw a man on his left silhouetted on the earth, who intermittently kneeled to pray for a short time and then became always busy in work. [He] asked the Lord who it was. The Lord said, ‘These are My ministries. They are not aware of their darkness, their irregular praying habits, their excessive busyness that is causing their darkness to remain.’ [The man] saw golden light, (like Morse code; dit dot dit, etc.), coming from the center of the blue eye. [He] asked the Lord what it was. He said, ‘This is My truth, My Spirit light portions, which they only allow Me to give them in spasmodic, …inconsistent portions.’ There were many hit and miss spaces in the shaft of light. The Lord said, ‘My ministers have no continuity, no intimate connection, no uninterrupted Union through prayer with Me. Therefore they are more ineffective than effective. They are trying to do My Works in the power of their own strength and ingenuity.’ He could feel the man’s frustrations, who gradually became aware of his own need to get ahold of God. As he kneeled and continued to pray unrelentingly, uninterruptedly, the blank spaces in the light shaft got increasingly luminous until finally the silhouetted darkness became a being filled with light and went to do the work of God with a power that was not his. As he again neglected his prayer life the shaft of light began to disintegrate, falling in bits to the ground and going out. When the man began again to earnestly pray the light bits that went out on the ground ascended into the shaft again, building until it was luminous again. The man finally learned that his habitual, consistent prayer life was more important than any other work of the Lord. Then the works of God gradually increased through him until he and the Lord were One Spirit in power. Luke11:34; 1Th 5:17; Is. 62:1-7; Ps 16:11; 2Cor 3:18; John 6:40; 1John 3:2.
“Then the Lord referred him to a previous message the Holy Spirit had given him that pertained to the vision. ‘Even My ministries who are praying, are not praying. They are still living too much of their lives in the conscious realms of the natural mind, being absorbed by daily problems. They need to persist in seeking Me until their spirits penetrate through the principalities of the air and into My Holy Presence, realms of light and life.’”
Let’s Press In!
Beloved, we must press in to the Presence of God! Nothing is more important!!! As we press in, no matter what our age, I believe we will have a mighty visitation of restoration and strengthening that will bring us into the fullness of His purposes for our lives and for the furtherance of His Kingdom!
Thank you for standing with us as we press in!
Your handmaiden and servant,
Sharon and Philip