Learning Who the Clay Is

Flying to Bethel

The love of my life, Connie, and I recently had the opportunity to travel to Redding, California.  Our purpose was to come closer to Abba Father seeking His ways and purpose for our lives.  Although we were there for 2 weeks in seemed more like a few days.  Our dear and close

Sharon, Connie & Me

friend Sharon Tierney was able to be with us the first 5 days and she made the trip even greater.   We left with great expectation and the presence of the Lord was with us.  We can’t report, yet, any great miracles as we don’t have any medical tests to confirm what our bodies are telling us.  I can report though that my strength and endurance have improved and the irregular heart beat that had plagued me has been gone.  There was one particular event that I will call miraculous but not in the physical sense.  It is much more powerful than that.  What follows occurs over a 24 hour period on our last weekend at Bethel Church.

It was getting close to 10 am on Saturday as Connie and I were driving west of 299 headed for Bethel Church.  It was a beautiful sunny day filled with promise.  We were headed to our second and last “Healing Rooms” tingling with anticipation and expectation.  Our prayers were bold, powerful and dynamic.  We knew we were about to encounter the Lord.  I knew this was a day that could change my life forever.  I was pumped.  Arriving at the church we could see that it was more crowded than the week before.  Still buoyant with the promise of healing for my heart, I walked briskly to the church from the crowded parking lot.  As you enter the church, they give you a form to fill out about why you are at the Healing Rooms.  We were in group 31.  Each group has 10 people, so they already had over 300 people come for healing.  

They have a four part system that moves people through the Healing Rooms experience.  The first stop is actually in the hallway.  There in the hallway, four prayer ministers meet everyone and begin the “warm up”.  They talk to you about healing.  Testimonials are given.  The ministers give words of knowledge and seek those that the Lord has put on their heart with a specific ailment.  They walk amongst the group giving healing touch and encouragement.  A few people had at least a partial healing in the hallway.  Physical pain was diminished in some and all were encouraged.

The second step is a waiting room staffed by 6 to 8 prayer ministers.  We were told that there were 70 or 80 prayer ministers ministering that morning.  While in this room, one of the ministers talked about how Jesus heals.  The focus is on the power of healing and who and how Jesus healed.  They again have words of knowledge about health issues.  One of the ministers asked if anyone had a heart issue and I was the only one to stand.  I am usually quite reserved about anything for myself.  For anyone else I can be exuberant but not for myself. Yet this day, my expectations and anticipations were beginning to soar.  The presence of the Lord was tangible.  The ministers walked around the room praying for those that stood after receiving a word of knowledge.  One of them approached me and barely touched me.  I felt very light and I was swaying a little.  I have only had one experience with being slain in the spirit.  Others may fall when touched but not me.  Not only did my heart seem better, more whole and more complete but my hearing was better and the floaters I had in my eyes were gone.  All this and we hadn’t gotten to the prayer room yet.  My belief level for myself had never been this high.  I rarely seek anything for myself so this was a new experience.  A number of people in this room were either healed or better when we moved to the sanctuary to await being called to the prayer room.

Sanctuary

In the sanctuary the praise and worship band was performing and artists were painting.  The chairs are arranged in large circles and you sit and absorb the presence of the Lord while waiting to be called.  You pray quietly and ministers walk around touching people.  It is a very serene and peaceful place.  Shortly though we were called to the prayer room.

The prayer room has 2 rows of chairs on one wall as you enter.  You sit down and wait for the prayer ministers to come to you.  They are in teams of 3 or 4 ministers.  People were getting selected all around me.  I was wondering when it would be my turn.  Finally someone came and got me and I was lifted once again.  Three of the prayer ministers from the waiting room were to pray for me.  They are among the most experienced and anointed.  They all laid hands on me and began to pray.  A deep peace and knowing came over me.  I felt I was being healed, healed from more than the physical.  I sensed that the emotional and spiritual were being touched as well.  It was a sweet and beautiful time for me.  I felt very very close to the Lord.  I knew that I was being healed.  

24 hour Prayer Room

I met Connie over by the chairs after our prayers and she could see the radiance and light upon me.  She was touched by my countenance.  We were among the last to receive prayer and the ministers were gathering in the center to share the miracles of the day with everyone.  We stayed and listened to the many testimonies, some of them quite remarkable.  Then they gathered the guests in the middle of the room, about 30 of us for an impartation from God.  Connie and I stood with this group and watched as one after another of our fellow guests were touched and given an impartation.  Then John Saltekoff entered the center of the group and started laying hands on people.  They would begin to laugh and then they were slain in the spirit falling gently to the floor.  He walked among the crowd and one after another they fell to the floor until just Connie, myself and 2 others were left standing.  The other two had received an impartation but remained standing.  We moved closer to John hoping to get a touch to top off a very remarkable day.  Instead he looked right at me and waved as he left the room.  

In all my years since I accepted the Lord as my Savior I have never been upset or angry with Him, but it ended that day in the Healing Rooms of Bethel.  We had traveled far in obedience to come to Bethel.  Connie had simply wanted a touch, an anointing, an impartation that day.  As I looked around, people were laying all over the floor.  You had to be careful not to step on anyone.  In the sanctuary I believe the Lord gave me two visions for my sweetheart.  Every time I have received a vision of this type they happened quickly and yet these two were unfulfilled.  For over three years God had given me a vision of healing for Connie.  In fact I had always seen her as healed.  The Lord would show me her progress toward real freedom many times.  It was slow but steady.  Here we had traveled so far and on our last time at the Healing Rooms I felt abandoned and rejected.  Out of all the people in the room Connie and me were the only ones not touched.  I was angry and hurt.

For the remainder of Saturday I didn’t want to pray or talk about God.  I felt completely deflated.  The events of the day which had showed such promise simply melted from my memory.  A grumpy man replaced the loving believer I was earlier.  Connie didn’t know what to do with me.  She had never seen me like this.  As the day progressed she was able to minister to me a little and I allowed her to say a short prayer over me.  I was very discouraged and sad.  As we prepared to retire for the night I told her I would take her to church in the morning but I wasn’t certain I would attend the service.

Sunday mornings at Bethel are crowded.  If you want a seat you need to get there 45 minutes before the service.  I dropped Connie at the door so she could get in line for us.  I then went in pursuit of a parking spot and thankfully found one of the last two far from the sanctuary.  I had decided to go to church and see what, if anything, God would do.  At this point I was still hurt and could have easily walked completely away from God.  Shortly after I joined Connie in line, the doors opened and we moved quickly into the sanctuary to get a good seat, we hoped.  As quick as we were, we were still 2/3 of the way back from the stage.  As we were waiting for the service to start, I noticed that John, the man that had waved at me in the prayer room was 4 rows from us.  I had noticed him but he hadn’t seen me.  Just as well he probably wouldn’t have remembered me anyway.  Why would he?

John & Sharon Saltekoff

John arose and proceeded toward the back of the sanctuary coming toward us.  As he got to our row, he stopped and said he woke up at 4 in the morning with our faces on his mind and he prayed for us. He said that when he awoke for the day that we were still on his mind and he continued to pray.  We asked him about the prayer room and John said he could see the anointing on us but that God had said not to come to us or touch us as we were to observe all that was happening.  He told us that the Lord had never left us or left us out.  He had singled us out though – to observe.  Neither Connie nor I quite understood this.  John continued to minister over us for a short while but he had to return to helping people as he is an usher.  

As Connie and I sat down, we looked at each other and smiled.  We gave each other a big hug.  Still uncertain about what had transpired in the prayer room on Saturday, we were not uncertain about what had just happened.  This wonderful gentleman, John, had asked the Lord for the opportunity to see us on Sunday morning and there we were four rows from him.  

The praise and worship was wonderful and the service was a salute to Bill and Beni Johnson for 20 years of ministry at Bethel.  It was a rare opportunity to see this beautiful couple remember the beginning, the challenges, the glories, the victories and the wonder of it all.  The service closed and Connie and I went to the front for more prayer.  We felt like we should get as much as we could before we returned home.  As we turned and walked up the aisle John, our angel in disguise, was waiting.  For the next 20 to 30 minutes he and his wife Sharon, ministered to us and prayed for us.  They gave us their testimony and shared the glory of God with us.  They had prophetic words, mostly for Connie :-), and sweet words of encouragement.  Twenty four hours before we were terribly hurt because we felt abandon and rejected.  Now we stood with the very man that we simply wanted a touch from and he ministered to us for almost 30 minutes.  We got far more from him on Sunday than we would have gotten on Saturday.

Refreshed but still wondering about the events of Saturday visions came to me.  In one I saw a large number of metal flakes.  I then saw a large magnet come and gather them all together and heard the Lord say, “these metal flakes are the hurts of abandonment and rejection that you have felt your entire lives.  Yesterday, you felt the magnitude of these hurts in the prayer room.  Today every binding to them is broken for you have seen that I have never and will never abandon you.  In fact, I prepare a way for you even when you are unaware and not expecting it.  Yesterday you climbed the mighty mountain of faith and belief only to fall into the deep valley of despair and anger.  This morning I took you to the highest peak you have ever attained.  I couldn’t do it with a heart still filled with so much hurt from abandonment and rejection.  So I brought all the hurts together in one moment of horrible sensation, so that your heart would be broken enough for Me to resurrect it.  Mark this day as a day of freedom, freedom from the pain of abandonment and rejection.”

As we were driving down the hill from Bethel, God gave me another vision.  There are many light poles lining the drive.  In the vision He showed me that the light poles cannot stand the force of wind unless they have piers that are very deep.  In fact the light pole can withstand almost any wind if the piers (roots) are deep and strong enough.  He showed me that the events of the past two days have dramatically deepened and strengthened our spiritual roots.  He showed me that as we move more fully into our calling that we would need deep strong roots to stand against the winds of the enemy.

This 24 plus hours was as dramatic as any I have ever experienced with the Lord.  I was so up and high filled with grace, mercy and expectations only to be beaten and thrown into the valley of despair with little desire to leave.  The Lord then gently drew me up and wonderfully and magnificently opened my eyes to His way and His plan.  It was not a plan to tear me up but one to break what needed to be broken so that He could reshape me more into His image.  It can be difficult to remember that we are the clay and not the potter.  True belief is always knowing who the potter is and that from time to time He will need to reshape the clay for a better way, a better time, a more perfect future with Him.