Mourning
to Joy
About ten hears ago I attended a
conference at the Toronto Airport
Christian Fellowship. Although the conference began on Wednesday
and ended on Saturday evening, I arrived on Friday afternoon, and
attended the Friday evening meeting. It was a time of good
singing, instructions and testimonies and prayer.
The next morning I attended the 10:00
a.m. meeting at that
church. The first thing that the leader did was to ask if anyone
then present had a testimony of what God did during the previous
night's meeting. Way in the back of the main auditorium was a
young mom, standing on a chair, waiving her arms over her head to get
the leader's attention. He saw her, asked her to quickly come to
the podium and tell her story. This is what she said:
"I was here last night with my little
boy. I really wanted to
focus all of my attention on worshipping God, but I had to keep and eye
on my son. As I apologized to Jesus for being distracted from
total devotion to Him, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, "Don't
worry - I'll watch him." Then my son became totally
engrossed in the carpet, so I focused my attention on the Lord.
Immediately I had a vision of a beautiful grassy hill on an beautiful
sunny, partly cloudy summer day. The temperature was perfectly
comfortable, and I saw multitudes of children playing on that hill, but
also worshipping God as they played. Then I realized that Jesus
was standing next to my in my vision, and He asked, 'Do you know who
these children are?' I replied that I did not know them, and He
said, 'These are children who have died before their time. They
are here with Me, and they do this all day long. Go tell their
parents that they are here with Me, and they do this all day long.'"
A this young mom said, 'All day long'
she was being melted down to the
carpet by God's love. A wail arise from the crowd in attendance
at that church, and the leader said, "If this touches your life, stand
to your feet and let the people around you pray for you."
The man sitting directly in front of
me stood up, and those of us
around him touched him in the Name of Jesus and prayed for him.
He began to shake slowly, as if an invisible someone was shaking a salt
shaker. After a short time of being shaken, the man broke into a
big smile and said, "I am free at last from the grief I have had for my
son who died thirty years ago!" I talked to that man later and he
told me that he was the pastor of a church, and was greatly looking
forward to see what effect this monumental change in him would have in
the congregation he served.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
About a year ago I was reading in the
Bible in the Book of Isaiah, and
came across this passage:
Isa 51:11
Therefore the redeemed
of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and
everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness
and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
When I read this passage I
realized excitedly that I had seen
this happen - the Lord turning sorrow and mourning into joy - at the
Toronto Revival! It only took the Lord a minute to accomplish all
of that in that man's life!
Many people have objected to the
Toronto Revival, but I hope that you
do not find this report objectionable!