A group of churches have been holding a weekly renewal meeting in Ithaca NY. On Wednesday, while still in London, Ontario, Kathy Eickwort, an Episcopal Priest, invited us to stop by on the way home from Canada, and minister Sunday and Monday night at an impromtu meeting hosted by Jane and Andy Fitz-Gibbon. We confirmed and they got the word out by Thursday. They rented a hotel auditorium and Sunday night we had over 250 people present. There was a lot of hunger for the touch of God and many spent a good hour or more on the floor under the power of God. A man with a mohawk haircut, did not know what was going on. I asked him if he knew Jesus and he said no. So I led him in the prayer of salvation and then prayed for the power of the Holy Spirit to touch him. He got a surprised look on his face and reported that he felt dizzy then began to stagger under the anointing. What a great way to meet Jesus.
We prayed for a whole family who had just come to the Lord a week before. The young daughter about 9, just started laughing uncontrolably, while her older sister began crying uncontrolably. What a contrast, as the Holy Spirit began to minister to them. After about an hour, she sat up. I prayed for the joy and she then began to laugh uncontrolably. Many others got touched. The auditorium looked like a battle ground. The door to the room was left open all night and people in the Hotel foyer kept looking into the room with great interest. What an interesting night. When we left the hotel at about 11:15pm, there were still a number of people on the floor. Jilleen sang "Go and sin no more" and someone in the bar next door wanted to know who had sung such a wonderful song. Aparantly, they could hear every word sung and spoken. What a testimony.
Monday night saw about 270 people present. I preached on "The Rivers of God" and showed how God was causing streams in various places to become rivers running strong and overflowing their banks. Many people got touched. At a restaurant earlier that day, we prayed for a lady and invited her to the meeting. She brought her Baptist bible study group to the meeting and all six of them ended up on the floor, drunk in the Holy Ghost. There was a strong presence of the Holy Spirit in the meeting. The young lady who had got touched mightly the night before was back again and re-dedicated her life to God and again was filled with incredible joy. Only time will tell what God has done in her life.
I love the "Suddenlies" of the Holy Spirit. Those moments when He directs our paths and we find ourselves in the middle of the perfect will of God.