For those of you who don’t know about Bethel – it is one of the most highly anointed churches in the United States.  People literally come from all over the world (Japan, Norway, etc.) to Bethel’s schools of supernatural ministry (healing, deliverance, prophecy, evangelism) and to just GET HEALED.  People have gotten healed of cancer, and so forth – and there’s been tons of creative miracles.  When I was there, a lady with uneven leg length received healing; basically God made one leg grow out so that her legs were even.  It was amazing and this released her from chronic back pain.

There’s many things I learned from my experience at Bethel.

(1) To see the awesome and great things of God, we have to invite His presence.  We have to hunger for it and desire it above all else.  Jeremiah 33:3 - ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’  Bethel has an amazing air of hunger for God, and the LORD has honored that by showing up and empowering those at Bethel with extraordinary power in the Holy Spirit.

(2) There are men of God out there.  I saw more genuine men of God at Bethel than I had ever seen in one place.  Men who honor women as their sisters in Christ and are protectors of women.  One brother (relatively young – twenties) prayed for my prayer request; he used the words – “I stand with you my sister in fighting this battle.”  I felt so honored and loved.  I realized that I want to see a generation of godly men; men who are after God’s own heart.  We should definitely pray to see an army of godly men and women rise up in this generation.

(3) Even though God’s presence was so real and God’s miracles were constantly happening there – week to week people get healed, delivered, and so forth – there were still many unsaved and unhealed people in Redding, CA.  It’s strange that even if people know that God is tangibly somewhere (for example, my taxi drivers who knew all about Bethel and what people experienced there), they don’t care and they don’t seek or want Him.  I just can’t get over that.  Even if God’s goodness is visible, people will still turn away.

(4) God’s timing is impeccable.  Oftentimes, I get so worried that I am going to somehow miss God’s timing, but (1) I shouldn’t worry because worrying is SIN (I stress this because this is something I often forget), and (2) in Christ, God orders our steps.  When I was leaving Redding, my flight was delayed for 2 hours.  I then prayed that God would speed up the San Francisco delay so that my flight could leave sooner.  However, it was then delayed for another 1.5 hours!

Little did I know that God wanted me to meet a sister in Christ named Mandy.  She was scheduled on a later flight but because my flight was running so late, they bumped her up to my flight (which eventually left even later than her original flight).  She just so happened to sit next to me (on an assigned seat flight!).  It turned out that she was a student at Bethel’s school of supernatural ministry from Australia, and her primary gift was prophecy.  She ended up sharing a testimony about one of her experiences.  This testimony was a word from God to me about something I had been praying for a long time.  It was awesome!  Then she prayed for me.

It’s amazing.  When you pray for the LORD to order your steps and to guide you, BELIEVE that He is.  He will never allow you to miss the opportunities and divine encounters that He has for you if you keep in relationship with Him through prayer and spending time with Him in the Word, praise, worship, and sometimes, just silence – waiting on Him.