Christian Living
I was raised in church. In fact, my dad was a preacher, so I was in church for every service unless I was sick. And I had to be extremely sick to be able to miss! But being raised to believe in God and having a personal relationship with God are two very different things. Oh, I believed in God, don’t get me wrong. I even prayed…especially before going to sleep at night. I had the head knowledge, but not the heart knowledge. I even managed to play the part of a good little preacher’s daughter. After all, I had spent many years perfecting my act.
When I was eighteen years old, I left home to go to a Christian college. Not that I was a Christian, but I went there just to make my parents happy about me leaving home. I even lied on my application to get in because I had to write an essay about how I became a Christian. But I had to get away from home, yet didn’t want to hurt my parents. So Christian college it had to be.
Just after school started, there was an All-School Retreat up in the mountains. I had already made several friends, and knew the weekend in the mountains was going to be a blast. I had no idea. My new friends...were Christians. True Christians. They believed in the power of God. They believed He could heal. They took, quite literally, Matthew 18:19-20 where Jesus says, "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." So they planned to meet before every chapel service to pray for the service, each other, and just about everything they could think of.
Well, guess what. They thought I needed to join them. Whether they somehow knew that I was running from God in my heart, I may never know. But God used the fact that I had lied about being a Christian to get me right smack dab in the middle of a very enthusiastic group of young Christian women. God knew what He was doing. My friends expected me to be there. They expected me to join them in sincere prayer. They expected me to believe with them for the things they were praying about. I couldn’t tell them “no.” I couldn’t tell them at this point that I wasn’t the Christian I said that I was. I couldn’t let them see through my façade. So I joined them.
We prayed for everything! We named off every person we could think of, and then added the extras of which we didn’t know their names. We prayed for the moving of the Spirit in the services and in each of our lives. And somewhere in those prayers, God got through to my heart, and to my head. Somewhere during those prayers, the Holy Spirit moved in my soul, and I quit running…began to surrender to God’s will. Then I began to see the miracles.
One of the girls in our group had been on a certain medication most of her life, and according to doctors would have to be on it for the rest of her life. She hated taking this medication. She didn’t want to have to rely on this medication to keep her functioning. So we prayed. We gathered around this friend in the middle of the amphitheater, laid hands on her, and prayed for her healing from this major medical problem and deliverance from the dependency on this medication. God heard our prayers. God answered. Last I heard, she never had to go back to that medication. God had completely healed her. My feeling was that God had listened to ‘my prayer.’ I didn’t understand why He would listen to me, but He had. And He had healed my friend.
If you think that got us excited, you are absolutely correct! After that, we met every chance we had to pray. Our prayers became more intense, more fervent. We meant to get to the heart of God. We each knew of needs and we prayed for them. We prayed more diligently for the lives of each person attending that retreat. We were bound as one in our desire to see God move in those mountains.
When Saturday afternoon came and we met once again in the amphitheater to pray for the next service, the presence of God was real. He spoke to each one of us with the same urging to go into the chapel and anoint the chairs, the instruments, the altar, and even the doors with oil. So we moved together to fulfill that urging of the Spirit.
Once in the chapel, we got the oil and again prayed together for God’s leading. Then we dispersed as we felt led to go and anoint different areas of the chapel. Some started anointing the chairs. Others began with the podium and instruments. At least one anointed the door frame and door handle, praying for each soul that entered, and rebuking satan in the process.
Most of the others had finished the anointing, and were on their knees in various places, pouring their hearts our to God. I was walking at the back of the chapel, heading toward the doors, my head down, my eyes closed. I was still about fifteen to twenty feet from the tall, white double doors when I felt and heard the urging to look up at the doors. The sight I beheld stopped me in my tracks. I saw two angels, one on each side of the double doors. They were more beautiful than mere words can begin to express. They were taller than the doors and their robes were a brighter white than I had ever seen. Their hair seemed to be a cross between golden and brilliant white. I was not able to make out their facial features, only the glow. A glow so intense it was almost blinding. They held long swords crossed in front of the doors. I heard the Lord speak softly to me, “No evil shall enter here. My children are safe.” My reaction? Simply, “WHOA!” Then the vision disappeared. I dropped to my knees and surrendered everything to my Lord.
What lasted only seconds has remained burned in my memory for many years. My life was forever changed that weekend. I surrendered, and God showed me His glory. Do I still have struggles? Of course I do! Jesus said in John 16:33 that in this world we will have trouble. But I hold to what I saw that September evening. For I believe that God’s message to my spirit was not merely speaking of that chapel, nor just that night. I believe He was speaking of my life…of your life. He has given His angels charge over us. We are His children. So when I am troubled…when you are troubled…remember the words God spoke. “No evil shall enter here. My children are safe.”
Let God move in your mountains!
© 2003 by Phyllis D. Jolliff
All Rights Reserved
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What a tremendous testimony! "God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you" every day, as He did on that eventful September day you tell of in this article. Keep writing.
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