"If someone truly repents, he will not escape the path of intercession" - St. Silouan the Athonite
I just got back from working a weekend spiritual retreat for men called an Emmaus Walk. This is a kind of God loves on you greatly through the church. If one remembers the biblical account, there is a conversation on a road by two of Jesus disciples with the resurrected Lord. They did not know who they were talking to at first but think if they did. A conversation in the middle of nowhere with a dead man! I would put that in the category of a miracle. Here are some miracles I witnesses at this Emmaus men's walk.
1. God would not leave me alone about bringing the NF music video "Wake Up." I knew they would not show it but God would not leave me alone so I brought two copies of it. They did not show it but one leader took the second copy and said it was exactly what he was looking for in showing to a group of people. Who would of known? I sure did not. I am waking up to God's love. I am waking up to the prophetic as I heard God speak through others this weekend. I am waking up to the miraculous as I saw several people experience healing both emotional and physical, including myself.
2. We will miss miracles if we are not paying close attention to what God is doing. We will miss both miracles of faith and prophesies of truth without even knowing or realizing it. It was wonderful on a overcast and cloudy day to sing the song, "Unclouded." God's Spirit was so heavy in the room that I knew even though it looked like the sun was not even going to shine that day, that we were singing a song of prophesy. The sky would become completely clear and the sun would come out. Actually, later in the day their was not a cloud in the sky. We were experiencing and witnessing an unclouded day.
3. Speak words that come from heaven and don't just speak your own words. Heavenly words break open hearts and set captives free. Heavenly words open blind eyes and removes veils of darkness. Heavenly words lead to prayers of confession and changed lives. We kept on speaking heavenly words throughout this weekend and I saw a closet alcoholic set free from addiction. I saw a father set free from sloth as he confessed his weaknesses and vowed to be a spiritual leader to his wife and children. I saw God shake the heavens and answer prayers.
4. Emmaus is all about partaking of holy communion every day during this retreat. It is about entering into the Eucharist life where Christ is present and represented over and over to one another. This Eucharist life overflows into incarnational living of dying to self and discovering new life in Christ where one experiences heaven on earth.
5. I waited in a prayer chapel not knowing why I was still there. A desperate hurting man came in and ask for prayer. He was in immense pain. I prayed for his ankles and knees while another brother came in prayed for his upper body and his headache. When we were done praying, he was noticeably better. What I did not realize was as I called for God's fire from heaven to come down and heal this man's knees, God was healing my knees which have been messed up for six months. I am such a mess but God continues to heal me in my mess.
6. There was the atmosphere of the miraculous all weekend long. Why, because there were people praying not stop in the prayer chapel. There were people who had signed up that were praying twenty-four hours a day for this entire retreat. There was a kind of electricity in the air as God spoke to us all in holy moments.
7. Lastly, when the retreat was over, everybody simply goes home. This Emmaus walk ended differently this year. We all took a long hike up a hill to a lake to see one of the men be baptized into Christ. He was so full of the Spirit that after he was baptized, he could barely stand. God was doing a profound work in this man's life and all those who were there were bearing witness to it.
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