Hey Fam! I hope you’re staying strong in the Lord!
What an intense time it is. Never would I have thought that the first news I would see when I got up on Saturday morning would be that Israel was at war. All week long I’ve been listening to updates, and it is SO sad to hear about what has happened. If you’ve never tuned in to “The Watchman” with Erik Stakelbek, I encourage you to check it out. It is among others, a great vehicle for staying tuned in to the latest news from on the ground. The IDF also shares updates on twitter almost daily, which is also a great way to keep up, if you’re interested.
This past Monday I shared a message at The Front about the prophetic implications of the war. As you may or may not know, Hamas is calling this war the “Al Aqsa flood” because they are publicly stating that this war is a retaliation for Jews praying on the Temple Mount and in the Al Aqsa Mosque.
To give you a little history on the subject, ever since the Jews reclaimed Jerusalem in 1967, the Jordanians have remained in control of the “religious activities” that take place atop the Temple Mount. As expected, ever since 1967, they have strictly forbidden Jews from praying there. Despite this religious control, the Israeli’s have been in charge of providing security on the Temple Mount and have strictly enforced those rules on their own people for decades.
However, back in 2019, Israeli’s began to allow small pockets of prayer on the Temple Mount, which has led to several retaliatory conflicts. The worst prior to Saturday was the 11-day war with Hamas back in 2021.
When Jews have been asked why they want to pray atop the Temple Mount despite the threats, they’ve stated that it is to hasten the coming of the Messiah. Here’s one screenshot of an article written about this in 2019.
The Lord has told me very clearly that this war is satan’s way of trying to prevent his inevitable demise. The closer we get to the temple being rebuilt, the closer we get tio the return of Jesus and the closer he gets to the lake of fire.
God also told me that He would use this war as a trumpet blast to wake up His people to the urgency of the hour and the need to go all in for Him and His Kingdom.
Also very timely and prophetic was that just a few hours before this invasion, the Lord called home Loren Cunningham, the founder of the largest mission’s organization in history. Loren’s organization- YWAM, has over 2000 missions bases in over 200 countries and they have sent over 5 million missionaries across the world. Loren is also the only person in history to preach the gospel in every nation on earth.
I believe the Lord wants to inspire us through Loren’s legacy and let us know that in these upcoming days, months and years, that we should live as Loren did- to be all about the advancement of the gospel, so that we can (as John the Baptist did the first time around) help prepare the way for the coming King. I also believe it to be a sign that there is a new mantle for evangelism coming to this generation, so I encourage you to ask the Lord for that.
Here’s a link to the entire message if you want to hear it:
What an exciting time to be alive!
As for the weekend, a few highlights were-
On Friday, one cool Divine appointment was with a woman from Chicago who came with her son and her mom. They had just come from Lido Beach where they saw our friend Monte’s cross. She thought it was a huge sign from God since the parking spot she found was right in front and the cross was right next to the spot. When she came to Bayfront, she again found a spot right in front, and she again saw a cross right next to the spot. She was moved. She asked me to pray for her family and she left SO encouraged, like God was really in control of her life. It was such a sovereign move of God.
There was also a woman who was very lukewarm in her faith, who got lit back up as Laney ministered to her for over 30 minutes. Total Divine appointment. Miguel from the drum circle also came and hung out with us for a while which was cool. Throughout the night there were a lot of people at the park, so I’m guessing that well over a hundred were touched by presence and the Word of God.
BIG thanks to Augast, Amber, Gino, Nicole, Abagail, Thom, Mike M, Karson, Jeff, Michelle, Deb and Laney for coming out. Great work!
On Saturday, Sofiya and I ministered at the retirement home again and it was great. It was so funny what happened though. When we got there, we discovered that they had forgot to put it on the schedule, so nobody was there. I then called the woman who found us at Riverwalk and connected us with the place, and she was so shocked when I told her that we were there. She immediately said that she would go door to door and try to get people to come, and sure enough, she did! She got about 7/8 people, and they all came down within about 20 minutes. Some were there before, and some were new, and all of them got so touched by the Lord. I think mostly because they had been praying for this for so many months and they are so grateful to God for providing.
One of the ladies even told me that I had prophesied over her friend the last time we were there that reconciliation was about to happen between her and her daughter. I sort of remember that but not really that clearly. She said that the same day I spoke that over her, her daughter called her for the first time in 2 and a half years. I think the Lord wanted to use this testimony to stir faith in the residents to jump in the river. Let’s see what else He does!
These women are HUNGRY, and they really want us to come back as much as possible, so if you want to be part of that, let me know. We could especially use help with the worship, since ministering there and at Riverwalk in the same day is a lot for mama right now.
We had a great time at Riverwalk that day too. The highlight for me was seeing these two 8/9-year-old boys come that I had prayed for a few weeks earlier. They were so excited to see me, and they brought two friends with them. I spoke to all of them for a while and God really stirred their hearts. They ended up evangelizing with me in the park by going up to people and giving them gifts and tracts. I even asked them to pray over a few people that we had met, and they all did it! It was SO cool!
Here’s a picture of them handing stuff out:
I also got word that a young girl prayed to receive the Lord at the gift table and that many others were prayed over and encouraged. There were also many people listening throughout the night, and we probably reached over 300 in some way. Definitely a good night.
BIG thanks to Debbie, Chuck, Jackson, Mike V, Jeff, Lauren, Nina, Chris and Stefany for coming out to serve! Great job!
Sunday was full of awesome moments. The first Divine appointment that I had was at the unloading zone with a young man who stopped by to talk. He said that he had talked to us a while back and that out of the blue, that morning, he woke up and felt like he HAD to go to church. He hadn’t been in years, but that morning he went. After he shared this with me, I got to talk to him about the Lord and what it means to follow Jesus. I also talked to him about the urgency of the hour and how God is waking people up to prepare them. He was so open and hungry. He then helped us bring some stuff to the beach and then we prayed. Such a cool way to start the afternoon!
Later, I met a man named Steve, who was raised Jewish but who had been feeling for several years that he should seek out more knowledge about Jesus. I talked to him for over 30 minutes about prophecy about Jesus’ first and second coming, the Holy Spirit, salvation and much more. Afterwards, He prayed to receive revelation from Jesus and then he took tracts, a bible and a Gods Promises book. It was so cool to see a Jew that hungry and open. He also told me that he was one of the early drum circle founders and that he had actually been part of it since the 80’s! I definitely took this meeting as a sign of what the Lord is doing in the spirit to change the drum circle. Here’s us afterwards:
Then, a little bit later, a young girl named Lilly came over and she ended up surrendering her life to Jesus and asking to be baptized. While Laney was talking to her about what that meant, a young man named Ethan came over while I was preaching, and he prayed the salvation prayer with me as I said it on the microphone. We talked a little bit and he decided to get baptized too.
We went to the water and announced it to everyone, and probably 30-40 people came to watch. It was awesome! Sean is the only one who got videos and he put them together into a little movie before he sent it to me:
Then when I came back, we started breaking things down and a young man named Corey came over and started pouring his heart out to me. He was full of godly sorrow, and he was expressing tremendous remorse for his sins. He was even crying. He ended up staying with us until after the prayer circle, and he asked Jesus to come into his life in a new way. Throughout the night, there were also a number of people that received ministry at the gift table too and overall, we probably reached 3-400 at least.
BIG thanks to Sean, Angel, Mike M, Paul, Laney, Rene and Maria for coming out to serve. Great job!
All weekend, it felt like God was REALLY working supernaturally to bring people to Himself and I have to believe that part of it is due to us praying and declaring His Word so much more. On that note, I want to invite you to join us Thursday’s for prayer at our home from 7:30-10pm, and on Tuesday’s for prayer at The Sarasota House of Prayer from 10-11am. Contact me if you need details.
“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him….Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”
2 Timothy 2:3-4, 10
Love you! See you soon! Keep that fire burning!
Chris