This Saturday morning I had the pleasure of Esther & Jon K. joining me on today's treasure hunt.
We spent 30 minutes praising, worshipping and praying to God with each other and then spent about 5 minutes getting our clues. Both Esther & Jon were on their maiden voyage as treasure hunters so we spent a while talking about how it looks in action and answered a few questions.
It was amazing that when we compared our clues the location was screaming at us... We had to go to the Pentagon entrance in Chatham that is near traffic lights. So we jumped in the car and went off to our destination.
On the way there we passed the Delce and saw a lady from our church named Thalia in a red jacket and her shopping pram waiting at the bus stop. We pulled over and she said she was going to Chatham so we offered her a lift. On the way there we prayed for her joints and also her back and shoulder that were hurting as she suffers with arthritis. She was overjoyed by our God encounter.
We pulled up in the car park, pointed Thalia in the direction of the centre and we headed up the hill along the green area that is also a park with open land and headed along to the river side (the side of the River Medway) where there is a massive metal bar.
We approached a lady sat on the bench as she had a pram but she was quite firm that she wasn't interested. So we blessed her and moved on.
We then headed off across the road where we saw a lady at the bus stop. I could see she had a blue hat on so we approached her. We asked her name, Beatrice, and noticed she also had a yellow bag. Without any prompting she mentioned the pain she get in her hands, joint pain, due to arthritis. I explained what we were doing, to which she mentioned that she regularly goes to church and is a believer. She was very open to us praying for her. So we released the love of God to her and asked His healing power to flood her life through His Holy Spirit. She was visibly overjoyed after we had finished. We asked how her hands were, she said they were OK at the moment but that the real test would be when it's cold as the pain comes and goes. I left her with a massive hug, as did Esther and we moved on.
We then approached a man in a wheelchair who was dressed all in green. He was obviously in need of healing but didn't want to know at all. I showed him the map and asked him if he wanted prayer for anything (Jon mentioned to me afterwards about Jesus asking blind Bartimeus if he wanted healing for anything when he was obviously in need of sight!) but the man declined and we left him as the door closed - It's frustrating when you know that God could break through for someone and their unbelief is just keeping them bound up.
We went past the taxi side entrance to the Pentagon. I noticed a man sat in the corner smoking a cigarette, he was wearing a blue top, he looked down on his luck so I approached him with a simple "Hello!", he responded and without even having to use the treasure map we began to have an open conversation. His name was Dave and he spoke of his alcohol addiction. He was very open and I explained how God had led us to him and that he could be free from the weight of his troubles and that God wanted that for him. He responded well to our offer of prayer, he even let me lay hands on his shoulder. I released the love of God to him. Affirmed him and spoke words of purpose and direction, peace and love into his troubled life. He was grateful after we had finished and we shook hands - It's always difficult to know what happens in these situations. The man didn't receive Jesus as his saviour, but he became aware of God's love for him. I didn't feel it was appropriate to push him into a prayer of salvation. So we leave him with God and trust that as it says in 1 Corinthians 3:6 "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." So we pray that God will begin to grow something in that man!
We headed into the centre briefly but Esther felt we should go back outside to where we started so we ventured over to near the library. Esther had had a picture before we left of an elderly lady outside the library, and sure enough, there she was!!! So she bravely approached the elderly lady there. She spoke of Jesus to her and offered prayer but the lady closed the door politely as she said "I'm a Catholic, I normally pray for myself".
We then headed back to the Pentagon centre and went upstairs to the bus station. As we crossed the road a bus with Gillingham on the front went past. We walked around for a bit and felt a real oppression in that place. We spoke against it and called on the Kingdom to invade that place. Then all of a sudden we came across a picture on the wall. Upon studying it we felt that it was prophetic, depicting a battle over Medway between Good & Evil. I was amazed to see dark clouds in the evil side and then Jonathon saw the blue water that was vivid. Earlier when he got the clue he felt it may be Bluewater the shopping centre, but there it was in this picture (see above) - The amazing thing was it was a bright sunny day, and there were no dark clouds in sight, but in the picture there was a very different picture. I had a real sense that there are many spiritual strongholds in Medway. There are many large physical gates blocking access in the area in and around the towns and I felt this was mirrored in the spiritual. That the enemy has built castles and outposts that have dominion in certain areas and that we are to go into these areas and speak truth and love and demolish what the enemy has built!
We then walked back through the centre and outside, past a phone box and saw Thalia again in PoundLand, so I surprised her and gave her another smile!
As the buzzer went on my phone to warn us our time was coming to a close we rejoiced at all that God had done in just under an hour - We headed back to MFC, we prayed for everyone God had put along our path and gave Him all the glory for such a great morning.
It was a real privilege to see Esther & Jon stepping out in this for the 1st time. Many of their initial fears melted away and they showed a great confidence in God not letting them down. They now know for certain that He gives them clues all the time, whether it be out on a treasure hunt or in church or at work. They hear from God and I'm certain they will continue to step out more and more in being faithful with what He reveals to them! - Praise God!
