One day my friend Paul Williams came over to visit, and the two of us had a time of praise and prayer together. I can still remember the great joy that filled our hearts.
These Bible verses seemed to be highlighted to me:
"...and the people...rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them" (I Kings 1:40); and
"...they are come up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard" (verse 45).
It was no ordinary joy that we felt that day!
I wrote the date next to those verses in my Bible. It was 26th March, 1981.
I also had a sense that the two of us would one day be sent by the Lord to minister overseas.
I never knew at the time though that Paul and I would one day travel overseas together. But some fourteen years later, I was scheduled to travel to the Philippines with Brent Campbell and Bree Kullick. For some reason though Brent wasn't able to go, so his plane tickets were given to Paul. (Paul was on a 40-day fast at the time, and no doubt this was part of the Father's reward for his seeking after Him).
So Paul, Bree and I traveled together to the Philippines. While we were there, we laughed so much for joy. After two weeks, Paul and Bree returned to the Philippines. I however stayed for nineteen months. And one of the predominant fruits of the Spirit I saw expressing itself in the meetings was joy - and laughter.
It's interesting that joy was what Paul and I had felt in that prayer time fourteen years earlier. And interesting that we both ended up traveling overseas together.
Sometimes when we pray in the Spirit we are speaking forth mysteries about our future. Sometimes we are partaking, in the form of an earnest, of a manifestation which we are one day going to see in greater measure. That's what was happening that day when Paul and I prayed together in my parents lounge room at Prunda Parade, Raceview.
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