Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry
Amateur acting? That's my impression of what prophesying became....a performance. Maybe I am expressing how saints are limited in their prophesying. For example during the week I may enjoy something from the Word or something from another ministry that would have nothing to relate to the Holy Word for Morning Revival.
Steering the flow, I can relate. When a single brother in 1996 I witnessed a casual conversation between an elder and another (elder/deacon?). A thought was suggested going to the Life Lessons in lieu of Holy Word for Morning Revival. I was all for it. At the time I had been reading the Life Lessons on my own. Then the brother whom I'm not sure if he was a deacon or an elder made the suggestion there could be a slected group of brothers who would ask questions at the end. Kind losses the element of spontanaity. When it came down to it, our locality wasn't about to pull a "Spokane". Meaning aborting the Holy Word for Morning Revival for a publication book. Like I said, I would have been in favor for this direction.
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There is always the pressure to speak and often you don't even know if you have anything worth sharing. I remember one time I had shared a testimony in the Lord's table meeting and wanted to stand up a second time, but the Lord said no, pray for someone else. So I began to pray and as I did I saw this sister who seemed to be struggling, so I began to pray for her to speak, and for about 15 minutes you could see she was struggling more and more and I knew she must have something and so I was praying. And then she stood up and she shared this gospel experience she had that was wonderful, really amazing. Yet for 15 minutes she struggled, obviously wondering if she should speak at all. That is the other part, there is always that fear what if I stand up and get exposed?
Now if you take someone with no genuine experience and you put them in that environment and they try to control that environment, the only way is through amateur acting.
To me it was a wonderful menagerie, you saw the phonies and the genuine saints and the real shepherds, the real teachers, the real prophets. How else could people exercise their gifts? WL taught then when you share your testimony in a meeting it is like investing your talent with the bankers. I think this is true.