#campcrossroads

It has been such a long time since I last posted. My last post was before I left for Sweden and I haven't had a chance since then to really sit down and write something. Right after I got back from Sweden, I had to get back into the swing of things and prepare for Camp Crossroads (CXR). The youth camp that we run every year for the Chinese churches. This year as usual was no small feat. Once again, it was another wonderful and awesome year. Things don't always come together, but it's great to know that we serve a God that although He loves order, He just needs us to be willing to listen, obey and follow His lead.

Every year at CXR, the Lord has really challenged me to step out in faith. He continues to develop the prophetic gifting inside of me and every year, the prophecies over people's lives have become increasingly more specific and have been much deeper than in years past. The Lord doesn't give me the entire message up front, but rather, He gives me a starting point or a person to pray over and the words just flow. When I first started out, He would give me more of a message to speak over someone because He was building my faith and giving me a reason to overcome the fear of speaking over someone's life. I don't take my giftings from the Lord lightly and I don't believe any believer should, but that's a whole other post.

This year was extra special. As I was preparing for the service that prayer and the prophetic is allowed to be exercised more freely, I was asking the Lord what I should do. This last year, I have been discipling a couple of people. One of my disciples was at camp and this is his last year as a camper because he has graduated and is going to college next year. The Lord told me to call him up and that together we would be praying for people this year. The Lord told me that we would be praying for both young men and women, but that I wouldn't be the one to initiate, but rather to ask him who we are going to pray for.

So that's what I did. I called up my disciple, on the side, not in front of the whole camp and told him what we were going to be doing tonight. I prayed over him and myself that God would give us the people to pray for and that the Lord would speak through us and give us the words to say. After that, I asked him who we were going to pray for.

One by one he would say a person. At first, I would be the one to pull them aside as an example of the proper way to do things because people will not always understand what you are doing. We don't make a show about this, but that we need to speak over these people on the side. I would pull the camper to the side of the chapel so we weren't in front of everyone. Later on, I just allowed him to pull the people aside and I would follow.

Each person we prayed for, the Lord always wanted him to start. As he was praying, prophesying, and laying hands on people, the Lord would then speak to me about what to say to the person. After he finished, I would start right up and add to what he was already saying. It was truly amazing to hear what God had to say through both of us. It was such an awesome tag team. There were some people that he called out that I would never have thought to pray for, but that's why it was God's leading. Each time, after he would pray,  I would also have a word for the person even though I didn't know we were going to pray for that person. It was truly amazing seeing first hand God working through us.

One of the coolest ones was when we prayed for our speaker. The things I spoke over him, he confirmed that everything was so spot on. I was so blessed to hear that because some of the statements that were not only specific, but also really bold. A lot of people that we talked to later thanked us for the words because the words were either spot on or exactly what they needed to hear. Sometimes we didn't even know why we said some things, but we later find out through that person sharing why we said what we did. For me, it brought a huge confidence boost, but also a huge rise in faith. To really experience the Lord speaking through me. 

This was the first time I have ever "tag teamed" prayer/prophesying over people. I have seen it done before, but it was a real blessing being able to do it myself. I know that this is only the beginning. Through this year at camp, I have definitely seen the development of this gifting from years past. It was so much more intense and so much more specific than before. I thank God that He continues to develop, expand and increase this gifting inside me. Totally looking forward to continue to use this gift in the way God has intended.