Boston: More Than A Feeling...

Some brief glimpses of my time in Boston during the first week of April:

On the way, the bus I was on broke down about an hour into the trip. Those of us on the bus, as well as the other buses, prayed for some time, really pressing in & coming to a conclusion of confidence that the Lord had an assignment for us & that the enemy was not going to remain at bay about it. This really brought clarity & unity between all of us going, allowing us to remain in the place of prayer with focused hearts the rest of the trip. We had times of prophecy & teaching on the bus as well, which really encouraged me & set forth a vision.
The first day of evangelism was met with a tough exterior. The 400 of us were divided up into groups for the week to hit the streets, subways, & local areas to awaken Boston to the Lord. I went off with a group to the medical center & only spoke with a few people. Most people were uninterested. They were in a hurry with a schedule & an agenda to maintain. I encouraged a few believers, but mostly left frustrated by what seemed to be a very uneventful afternoon on my behalf. As we came back to the church, testimonies were shared from numerous people of what happened with them. I was tempted to be offended by all of the testimonies, wondering, "Why God? Why does it seem like you never use me & only use other people? Why do I never see the miracles, but only hear about them from others?" Instead I chose to use these testimonies to fuel my prayers for God to use me, & it set my heart in a place of determination, rather than offense.
The following day, we went out to minister again. My group was going to go to Harvard or Berklee, but we got pulled to a local park instead. We spoke with a very cynical lady for a good 1/2 hour. She was hard-hearted to everything we were about, but before she left her countenance changed & she was more welcoming to what we had to say. I had a guitar that day, so a sang a prophetic song over her. Although she disagreed with us, she received the song tenderly, which I believe planted a seed. As some of our group ministered to her, another part prayed for a man playing basketball. He had a bad knee & ankle, both of which got completely healed. The man testified to the lady & it set her in shock. Within the park, another man received prayer, I taught a group of preschoolers Jesus Loves Me This I Know, we encountered a psychic, & a woman caught in human trafficking. There was so much activity of darkness, but the Lord is greater.. Later on after lunch, my friend Andrea & I went back out to minister. We prayed for a woman with multiple sclerosis in her legs & we prayed for & ministered to another woman named Ruby. She was a precious older black woman whose son has been in prison for 17 years. She hasn't seen him in over 4 because she has had no transportation & she can't speak to him much because the phone calls are expensive. She was so broken & lonely, but left so encouraged & empowered. After dinner, we went out a final time that day to play on the street corner near the JHOP church we were having our meetings at. We played & sang over Boston, declaring the worth & the purpose of the Lord's people, & as we were about to pack up, a young guy sat down & began talking with the guys that came with us. He has been seeking direction & hope for a long time & was pulled by our ministering. He came to every night meeting beginning that day & was really awakened to the Lord.
The day after, we went to Harvard. My friend Andrea & I split off & encountered the hardest hearts yet. There was such a stronghold of intellectualism & humanism locked on the people's hearts & minds. It tore my heart interacting with so many people who were not only spiritually blind, but comfortable in their blindness, refusing to receive sight. Most of the people in the Harvard area either elaborated on their own twisted religious ideas or swore us out in rage. We trekked on through the Harvard area though & decided to walk through one of the school buildings. We found a 3rd year student named Miranda, who talked with us for some time about her desire for world peace & other things. We shared the reality of Jesus with her, prayed for her back (she suffered with pain from an auto accident) & she was completely healed physically, as well as exposed to the heart of the Father & her true & created identity as a daughter of the King & the bride of Christ.
The final day began with all of us girls staying in the church I was in praying & singing in the Spirit, declaring Psalms, & waiting on the Lord. All of the students met together in the Prayer Room for an intercession set, & then we headed to Tremont Temple for our final Solemn Assembly. The temple is just across the street from the balcony Jonathan Edwards preached to thousands of people from. This day was significant because it was April 9th, the day the Azusa Street revival began in California in 1906. It was also the final day of the 40 day corporate Daniel fast that a number of colleges in the New England area, as well as IHOP here in Kansas City were participating in, contending for revival to break out in the East Coast.
The final meeting went powerfully. The temple was filled with thousands from all over the East Coast getting healed, encouraged, & equipped to blitzkrieg their area with the power & love of God.
The Lord has placed a burden for Boston deep within my heart. Going there has revealed the face, heart, mind, & a personality on the burden of His own heart that He has given to us corporately as IHOP & to me individually as one with sight looking upon those without it. Awake oh sleeper..