I’ve often wondered what it would be like to be overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord whilst at work, so much so that you forget how and why you came to be where you are. I’ve been slain in the Spirit countless times over the years in church meetings and other nominated places, but this time it was different. Allow me to wax lyrical for a little. When Kate, my daughter and I entered the assigned room for the interview with Chuck Parry, I was armed with a charged cell phone, my IPad, a list of possible questions and just in case, a spiral note book called “the TIME is NOW”! We had prayed for an encounter with Holy Spirit and honestly we really didn’t know what to expect other than we both had every good intention to stick to the allocated interview time given by John Crumpton, the Senior Pastor of the hosting church for the Supernatural Healing Nights with Chuck Parry (Bethel Healing Rooms).
We chat to John whilst setting up to get some info about the last few days whilst Chuck Parry had been at the church. Record attendance! Sounds like a pastor’s dream! There must be some keys hidden in here for revival, I’m thinking to myself. John in his usual manner lets every man speak for himself.
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Atmosphere shifts
In walks Chuck Parry and the atmosphere clearly shifts. There was something different about him! He sits down, Kate says “Lets pray” and honestly I don’t know how long we sat holding hands. We didn’t speak. I cried. I usually do when the presence of the Lord is around. We sat in the most wonderful glorious stillness. We were overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord and I could stay there forever. Somewhere from deep, deep within I remember I’m here with some questions that are so very important, but I’m not concerned, I feel I’m floating, I’m moving high above the earth with the clouds and I’m surrounded with sounds of choirs. I love what I feel and see. And then I see South Africa through the clouds and I fly down, and together as a nation we sing He is Alive. I even forget to tell him all that I experienced because it was so intense, and after all I had to get to the questions! But I figured he’s a prophet, he may have seen and heard the same thing?!
The generals are rising…
I open my eyes and start chatting to Chuck about the Israelites and the cloud that covered them by day and by night, and then I move on to mention Elijah and the cloud the size of a man’s fist and our nation, and that we are living in a kairos time. It’s not just the water rain we’ve ached for but the reign of Holy Spirit. The three of us talk like old friends around a fire. My spirit is alive. It’s like the spirit of Elijah the prophet awakening the prophetic voice in this land. Back and forth the three of us wove the story of this land — the land where the Spirit of the Lord is alive and is moving and is arising. The land to which many of God’s generals are coming, a land in which many of Gods generals are arising and from which many generals will be sent. His eyebrows move. We feel it, we can taste it, and if we open our eyes we can see it. We shut our eyes and we begin to dream it and we talk about it — the writers write it and the painters paint it. Our children’s children do and will stand with their hands held high in magnificent surrender about it.
Unlocker of dreams
Like a true father he unlocks the stories and dreams of the Greatest Father from within — there’s keys to the kingdom that the Lord’s releasing to and from and within South Africa and they’re answers to the prayers that have been prayed privately and collectively. My heart starts beating like a drum. As the key is set into the lock the ratchets are turning and revelation is being released for impartation and increase. Perhaps, said differently, the penny’s dropping that’s it’s not By might nor by power, but by my Spirit (Zechariah 4:6).
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As I’m writing this, I’m getting “wrecked”. I remember my own father, who I loved so, so much. He could tell us stories about history and maths and great people but the one story I shall never forget was the day I heard him say “I love you Marian Brenda.” He only said it once and once was enough. I was in my early twenties when Dad and I shared truths about his life and his pains of growing up and wanting to be a preacher and how he had to give up that idea for the sake of supporting his father and mother due to the 1929 Recession. It ripped him apart. His voice was silenced. Designing and building constructions instead of building the house of the Lord which was his true desire. We wept together with a mutual understanding. Dad took my hand and said sorry for all the pain he had caused, for wrong choices. If ever there was an Elijah moment of the hearts of the fathers being restored to the children, it was then. I drove away the richest woman in the world.
An everlasting story
Coming back to sitting with Chuck it was similar — here was a promise that the Lord was again going to pour out His Spirit on us in South Africa. It is our time to tell our greatest story, our kairos time — the appointed time by our Heavenly Father, it’s a time to rise and shine and let the Glory of the Lord be risen on us so that nations will come to us, it’s a time for healing, it’s a time for restoration, it’s a glorious time. Fathers will tell their children they are so loved, we will be able to love one another — we are the carriers of His great love.
It’s just as is written in Luke 1:17 (NIV) And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
It’s an everlasting story, Jesus did it all the time — He would sidle up alongside a person and listen to them and wait to hear where and when He could tell them about His greatest Love Story, the Story of His Father, of His home, of what it’s like, now, what it’s going to be like in eternity, and when it just didn’t align He would ask the Father what would He like Him to do? Do it now? How? Listen and do what He heard.
Creating an atmosphere
This is just how Chuck works, fluid, with people, in different places, taking different “now: things, just like Jesus did – music, an excellent story, arts, dance, to create an atmosphere of heaven. You shut your eyes and like a child the music plays, lifting the name of Jesus, you enjoy, you laugh, you remember His goodness, you celebrate, and you respond to Him with love and gratitude and honour. And really it’s like wheels within wheels of His magnificence and you can’t help yourself but take it to the nations. In this process, people get healed of all kinds of strange diseases — mental, physical, and relational. Hope is restored. Quite honestly, wherever there is malalignment with Heaven, then very simply realignment with “what does Father God want me to do?” “How does He want me to do it” “Where and When” and in the most uncomplicated manner, he just lets Jesus do it and then he teaches others how to do the same.
Formidable love team
Chuck works in team, and we watched them and experienced them at Breakthru Life Church the following day. They’re a formidable love team that truly moves in unison yet uniquely individual — that dispenses the anointing of Holy Spirit like a team of highly skilled surgeons out on a battlefield. They understand triage and say only what they hear the Father say. They mean business in the Kingdom and do it exceptionally skilfully. Love to Heal, Love to Restore. They have fun doing it. People laugh whilst it’s happening just like children. I guess that’s why Jesus said
Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children. (Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14; Luke 18:16 New Living Translation)
Save for the fact that we had to pack for a 1 000km trip to Oviston for another remarkable encounter with the Lord and His people, we would have gone back for more at Breakthru Life.
Listen to Kate’s interview with Chuck Parry for Red Oak Radio below:
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