Experiences in Ghana – continued

( Thursday 4/3/08 )

Today we headed to the Catholic prayer park with a beautiful waterfall!  What an experience.  We prayed with several Pastors and worshipped God together.  It was amazing.  After we prayed together we separated and had time alone with God.  The waterfall was so amazing that the environment itself brought you into the presence of God.  I could have sat their all day long.

God spoke several things to me while I was sitting there.  Many of them personal, so I won’t share those, but one was for our group.  He gave me the scripture of Matthew 28:16….but he didn’t talk to me about the typical mission trip stuff (Go into all of the world….etc.).  What he showed me was it says in verse 16 “Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. v 17 – When they saw him, they worshiped him – but some of them still doubted!”

God began to share with me how there were some of us on our trip that believed they were suppose to be there, but they doubted how God could use THEM.  Just like the disciples, they were obedient to go to Ghana, they worshipped God, but they still had some doubt.  I felt like God was telling me that he wanted me to encourage each of the team members and let them know that God had a plan for each one of them on this trip and that he was going to use their personal gifts and talents to minister to different people in different ways. 

After I shared this with the team, I had one of the members start questioning me about how I knew it was God who was speaking to me.  He didn’t believe that God spoke to people personally.  I shared how God normally speaks to me.  Typically when I am praying, God will give me a scripture reference.  He doesn’t tell me what it says; I have to look it up myself.  I read it and it is normally exactly what I have been praying about.  Then God takes that scripture and starts unfolding it to me and sharing how it relates to what I am praying about.  Sometimes it isn’t for me at all, but for me to encourage someone else.  After sharing this with my team mate, he looked at me and said that God had given him a scripture while we were at the waterfall.  He didn’t have his Bible with him, but once he looked it up it was about what he was praying about.  He never knew that it was God speaking to him before.  He was so excited to know that he really did hear God’s voice.

That was a very special moment on the trip for me.  To have the opportunity to help someone recognize the voice of God.  I will probably never forget that moment.