Red Baron angel

Stories to Inspire – #54

Heaven and earth are merging!

“that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in ONE, all things in Christ, BOTH which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” – Eph 1:10

 And the activity of Heavenly beings in getting more common.  Listen to the narratives of churches and conferences these days.  I hear more mention of angels and angel activity than at any other time in my life.  And interestingly, not only are people more interested in angelic interaction, but I believe angels are delighted to engage with the saints. In fact our Bibles say angels have desire to look into our Gospel.

“… preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.” – I Pet 1:12

We’re on an exciting track to learn the ways of the Heavenly places… and literally make known the manifold wisdom of God to the Heavenly powers.

“to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places” – Eph 3:10

Well, this next story tells of a powerful Sunday morning when a very unexpected holy roar erupted up out of the people as we were visited and helped by angels.
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Red Baron angel

One Sunday I was asked to share in a beloved church that I pastored many years before.  I didn’t know what I was going to share that morning.  God hadn’t given me anything.  But this situation wasn’t my ‘first rodeo’, so I wasn’t concerned.  That just meant that God had other plans.  Those plans were on a ‘need-to-know’ basis… and I didn’t need to know… yet.

The worship time was pretty stiff that morning.  The worship leader tried several times to get the people to move into spontaneous free worship, but it just wasn’t going to happen.  The people were ‘locked up’.  

Well, I felt impressed to activate my angels to unlock the people’s hearts.  So, standing on the front row facing forward, I raised my hands and turned my palms backwards and made several assertive declarations of soliciting partnership with a couple of my favorite angels who help in this type of ‘mission’.

As the worship leader was nearly ready to close the time of worship, she ended a song without any encouragement for free worship.  Even the instruments were nearly quiet at that time.  But a phenomenon begin to happen!  The people – on their own – began worshiping gently at first… then it built to full blown sound that was unusual by anyone’s measure.  It continued without ANY encouragement from any leader.  And when it began to subside, the people began to speak blessings and prayers over each other from across the room.  VERY UNUSUAL for any congregation, but especially this one!  It was authentic and completely un-orchestrated. 

Well, the leadership was prompted at that time to facilitate personal ministry for a few individuals at the front and copious tears flowed by those being prayed for and by some in the room.  There was an amazing sense of His Presence over everything. 

When this God-flow began to subside, one of the lead elders stepped up and said that he had a vision earlier when the holy eruption occurred.  He saw a ‘Red Baron angel zoom from the Throne’ and come to visit the gathering.  That blessed my heart because earlier I had engaged my angels to unlock the people’s hearts for worship.

When this holy flow finally settled down, they handed me the microphone at quarter till noon… with only 15 minutes to share.  I took the mic and told them how God knew I would not need a message to speak today.  We all laughed together, at how amazing God is.  He just wanted me and others, to be willing spontaneous participants in His grand plan.  I affirmed the people’s freedom that they had experienced and blessed them like a ‘grandfather’ would.

After the meeting, I asked several people if they had ever heard this congregation worship with abandon like that before?  They all said, “No!”  In fact, when I asked, several people described it as sounding like a “ROAR” in the room.  During my nearly 2 years of pastoring them I had never heard such an outbreak.  It was a WOW moment for all of us.

Thank you angels of God.  We love your partnership.  Thank you for ministering to those who inherit salvation!  You are so good at fulfilling Father’s desire!

–MLH

ALC video channel version here