A Testimony from Lakeland, Florida!!

I was absolutely thrilled to receive the following email from a new friend of mine - Amanda - who has been able to visit Lakeland, Florida. It absolutely speaks for itself so I don't need to add anything to it! Before I get on to Amanda's wonderful testimony, something occured to me today. I brought a book that was in the bargain bin at Wesley Owen a few months ago. It was called; "Releasing the Prophetic Destiny of a Nation" by Dutch Sheets and Chuck D Pierce. For those who haven't read it, the book is a compendium of prayer, intercession and prophecies about the different states in the United States of America. Out of interest I flicked to see what it said about Florida. Bear in mind this book was published in 2005.

"You have been halted between two opinions. But the halt has ended this night. Will My people rise up and move forward to the next level of conflict? I have come with a sword to break the religious war over this state.

THERE IS A SHAKING IN LAKELAND. A NEW ANOINTING IS ABOUT TO COME ... WATCH NOW I AM DOING A NEW THING. IN THE MIDST OF LAKELAND, MY WATERS WILL SPREAD ACROSS THIS STATE!"

(Prophesied by Chuck Pierce - pp171-172).

So let me repeat what Rob Rufus has to say about testimonies - read what Amanda testifies with FAITH!!

"Testimony" comes from the word; "To do it again". When you share a testimony of what God has done in a miracle in your life - that testimony is a sharing of a prophecy and it carries with it a power to duplicate what you are testifying happened to you".

I had a wonderful conversation with my dear friend Pete today and we agreed that in the light of these testimonies (and of those who are benefitting from Rob's ministry in Hong Kong) we are no longer struggling to reconcile they have been blessed and we have not yet been! No - we are in a new atmosphere of the glory. We may not be seeing the signs and wonders and miracles, gold dust, feathers and heavenly manna ... yet - but we are pursuing His Presence!

Here is Amanda (I haven't edited it at all aside from highlighting a few things that I saw):

"Dan -

Got back from Lakeland Sunday night, after attending the mtgs there Wed thro Saturday. As you can imagine, since you've been watching some of it live, it was mind-bending and I have lots of processing yet to do but OH MY GOSH!! It was so amazing to be there, in that environment of people from all over the world seeking God and watching Him move. OH MY GOSH! [Did I already say that?....] You've been seeing many of the miracles so I won't even address those except to say it was glorious to see.

Todd's unconventional look and style of ministry took only a blink of an eye to get past before you began to see what appeared to me to be a heart fixed on Jesus, a child-like excitement at what God was doing and a tenderness toward both the people and the Lord. He is crazy and bold but sensitive to the Spirit and as hungry as any of us for more of the Glory of the Lord to be revealed. I came away convinced he is for real. I was thinking how very young he is to be the center and face of a move of this magnitude and knowing we must cover him with prayer. Thankfully I think he has a lot of support and connection to older men of real stature in the Body, like Bob Jones, Bill Johnson, and others who love him and can help him walk through this. And across the board support, I think, from the fathers of the previous waves. That is so important and so great. They have all blessed him and been excited with him about what God is doing now -which hasn't been the attitude sometimes in the past. And he has been so honoring of them too. Great humility on both sides.

I will tell you that our last night there, from the moment the band came on stage to start the worship, the atmosphere was electric - the people truly on fire. Before it even started! As if they/we all came already in worship mode. People danced and jumped and shouted and sang -seeing all ages and all colors from everywhere worship like that together was so great. As they were finishing the last song of the worship time I was thinking to myself "good luck shutting this down, mr worship leader. These people are on fire!" And I was right. When the music was over and the announcer was approaching the podium to share some testimonies and whatever else, the people just began to cry out to God, worshipping Him with no need of a leader or music or anything but hungry hearts.

The Presence was so tangible and so heavy.....and it went on and on with everyone shouting and praying and worshipping the King. At one point I opened my eyes and the worship leader was on his face under the keybd, the announcer guy was on his face several feet behind the podium, other ministers on the platform were out of their seats on their knees, Todd was on the floor behind a chair. It was the most awesome thing I have ever been part of . 4000 people of all ages from all over the world in worship together in one place. It must have gone on like that for 45 minutes. Totally spontaneous, no one leading except the burning hearts of the people in His presence. I will never forget that. As I worshiped I saw in my spirit walls crumbling around nations, with worshippers flooding over the walls into the cities bringing the Fire and the Glory. It was almost impossible to stand up in the room during that. Impossible not to be forever ruined and wrecked by the level of worship and interaction between the Lord and His church in those moments. The atmosphere shifted from shouting and crying out chanting "JESUS JESUS" to a hushed sense of awe at His holiness and awesome glory filling the room. Dead religion just can't stand in the face of that. If this truly does break out globally I just don't know what will become of a lot of what calls itself the church.

And there was a real emphasis on not just coming and experiencing this revival but catching it and taking it home to give away. Of the directive of the Lord to His whole Body to spread the gospel of the Kingdom, including doing the works of Jesus and seeing people saved healed and delivered -not just getting their "eternal fire insurance". Oh pray that we as the Church will truly grasp that. Grasp that He's made us to be carriers of the Glory, carriers of the fragrance of Jesus, knowing our position in Him is as sons, not slaves, seated with Him in heavenly places able to see with His eyes and do what we see Him doing, say what we hear Him saying. Not just depend on a few 'ordained ministers' to do a bit of that and be satisfied. Well, I could go on much longer but I'll spare you. I would hope you and many others who are longing for His presence will be able to go, if it doesn't come to you first, Praise God! ha I hope that wave you had the vision of last summer will hit you broadside in the UK!!

Blessings to you and all the 'burning ones' who connect thro your blog. Thanks for your faithfulness to write and for displaying your hunger with every post. It's contagious. I stumbled onto it myself last summer just before the Brighton conference, then discovered the people there like Terry Virgo, David Holden, and our beloved Rob & Glenda thro your posts on that conference. Rob stays on my ipod, along with Bill Johnson and others that help keep me growing and burning! Don't know why I suddenly felt I had to write a comment except I knew you and the other 'regulars' would want to know about the revival to see what it might become and help pray it through. Please feel free to use any or none of this email on your blog. I didn't mean to go on so long but you know how it is.....thanks for listening!

His,
Amanda".

Thank you so much again Amanda! May God's Spirit continue to burn upon you so fiercely with the knowledge of His manifest Presence!