Once again a team of prayer warriors and me supported a yearly Christmas event presented by a local church we have ties to. The event is in service of many homeless folks who are bussed in from many surrounding counties, they are served a hot meal and are entertained by many talented and beautiful children. (For more details on this event, last year I blogged concerning it and titled it The Christmas Story and Betting Your “Donkey”.)

This year we arrived just as the men and women were being served there meal. Our team was mostly strangers to this church so there was a little bit of awkwardness in the air as we arrived, but soon the Holy Spirit let us know that we were welcomed. We touched base with our contact and popped in to the room where the event was going on. Then we marched with purpose to the chapel of the church where we cut on a light and began to intercede.

The next hour was spent praying passionately and mysteriously insightfully about the ins and outs of the event. After we released all of the prayers that God had placed on our hearts and minds we gleefully and expectantly walked back down to the room where the excitement level was high and where the attention and focus of the guests was supernatural. The presence of the Lord was so rich you could reach out and feel Him in the air. This is why this event is so close to my heart. Because it is so close to the heart of God.

For the next couple of hours we watched as kids and adults a like presented there gifts to these men and women who had been down on there luck. Every song or dance was cheered. Every word spoken to evangelize was powerful and penetrating. This event is like no other in that way, The Lord seems to cup His hand and preserve the activity of this event.

As we expected the event climaxes towards the end with a sober and bold invitation for those who desire can receive prayer. This is where my people and I go to work… Hands were raised and petitions were made. God seems to honor our willingness to receive help from Him. In fact I believe that that is the difference between those who walk closely with God and the others. Our neediness.

I prayed for a few men with raised hands then I began looking for eyes that showed me that they wanted prayer. Those are the ones who help me to know that God is very present. One man was visibly broken for the rest of the evening after our encounter with God. But that was not the best part of my night.

The best part was as I was walking around the people prayerfully watching and waiting for God to reveal whom He was calling me to. A couple of ladies got my attention and one pointed to a young child sitting in her lap. As she began to explain what she wanted prayer for, that the little boy’s mom had just went to the emergency room, the little boy who told me his name was Joe-Joe reached out his hands for me to pick him up. So I picked him up and set him in my lap. He was okay with being with me and just as I felt led I began to bless that 2 year old tiny boy. I prayed that he would be a man of God and that He would grow to know Jesus Christ as Lord, I prayer that he would be strong, and that he would grow up and take care of his mother. Then Joe-Joe and I prayed for his mother together as he was very much engaged in our prayers and in his blessing. After those few moments, I handed him back to the women and stumbled away dumfounded by the opportunity to minister to such beautiful people.

With the same expectancy I had prior to stepping on to the church campus last night, I expect to one day be informed of how Joe-Joe grows up to be a man of God who will help make the World a better place for me and you. Call it ignorance or hope but I call it faith and it’s not faith in myself or in my prayers, it is in the God who put the powerful words in my mouth to pray. To God be the Glory for using such simple people to perform such mighty deeds. May the simple continue to dumbfound the wise.

Amen