01 October - 02 October 2011

Saturday Morning

Greetings from Seinäjoki, where we have just started our Finland –Tour.

Our time here began with a special Day of Intercession for Israel, held by the Pentecostal Church of Seinäjoki. Among a few other speakers, Gayle had been invited to do two sessions during this event. Gayle’s first session on Saturday morning was received very well. The people were receptive and inspired by her teaching.

Gayle said that according to statistics, prayer is the most taught subject in our churches, yet it is the least practiced thing in the life of a Christian. We simply lack the understanding and faith that we can truly impact the things in the natural through our prayers. So easily we get discouraged and give up, as we don’t see an instant answer. God may not answer our prayers instantly but eventually He will, as we pray according to His word. God’s word is eternal, constant and creative. When we pray His word, we send that word out into the spiritual realm, which through our activated faith brings God’s creative power into action. When we get involved with what God is doing on earth by praying what he is saying about different things, we can start impacting the events of today, writing history together with God.

Too often our prayer life is just crisis management circling around me, myself and I. But how much of our prayer life is about our love relationship to God, just about being with Him? Where does our passion for prayer derive from? From the desire to get to know who God is or to get our need met? Let’s pray out words that have eternal impact around us. Let’s find out what God’s word says about things and what He has on His heart.

When we understand what God’s word says about Israel, what is on His heart concerning His special people as well as the nations, we understand what is happening in Israel and in the world today and why, and out of that place we can start praying accordingly. When we pray God’s word and His will over Israel and the nations, we release faith in the unseen realm and God begins to move on their and also on our behalf. Our prayers turn into a blessing for Israel, other nations and us as well.

After the message, Gayle led the whole congregation into fervent intercession for Israel. This was great, as we right away put theory into practice and activated our faith in prayer on behalf of God’s own special people. It was a powerful morning indeed, and we were all very encouraged blessed.

Saturday Evening

Saturday evening Gayle gave us a brilliant message on storms of life, based on Mark 6, where the disciples were in a raging storm.

This message was very relevant to every individual in the meeting as everyone of us faces storms every now and then - either we’re about to enter into a storm, we’re in one or we’ve just come out of one. Storms are a part of the world we live in. But the good news is that it doesn’t matter how long the storm lasts if God is in there with us.

Gayle made a few points that help us understand why we’re allowed to experience storms in our lives and how to handle them. First of all, God knows the storms we’ll face and when we surrender to Him, he will use these storms not to break us but to make us. In the midst of our storms, we often don’t find a quick way out but one thing is sure – Jesus eventually comes and helps us out. When He comes – no matter what kind of a storm we’re battling – He comes with His presence, which changes the situation as the evil has to flee.

When he comes, His presence meets our every need. May God help us understand His purposes so that we may understand what He’s doing and get the benefits out of the storm we’re in.

May He help us to see Him in the boat, may He help us to lay the burden down and hand it completely over to Him and trust He’ll lead us back to the shore.

As Gayle made the altar call, people streamed forward, surrendering and handing their situation over to Jesus. This was a strong message that many bought afterwards to take home to their loved ones and friends. Praise God for the word that heals and sets free.

Sunday Morning

As the Sunday morning meeting began, we saw a young man sitting right in the front row, looking very desperate. The senior pastor, Martti Kallionpää, suddenly felt the urge of the Holy Spirit to walk over to this man and pray out loud for him. He had lost everything and was in deep trouble, also bound by alcohol and other demonic forces. The leaders set him free right there, and he fell over under the power of the Holy Spirit, weeping and shaking.

As I now look back, I see this incident almost as an introduction to Gayle’s message that morning, as she was going to speak about the necessity of the manifest power of the Holy Spirit in us believers, in order for the world to receive the full gospel Jesus paid for on the cross. None of us knew Gayle had this very topic prepared for this morning. As Gayle began to share the word the atmosphere was electric and full of anticipation.

Gayle once again reminded us of the truth that there will be no manifestation of God’s glory, no revival without prayer - the kind of prayer that seeks the face of God, not the kind of prayer behind the steering wheel on our way to work. God in His word has not asked us to pray but commanded us to pray.

In order to see the power of God manifest in and through our lives, we have to be surrendered and uncompromising, connected to God. We need to become completely dependent on God.

We don’t need more seeker-sensitive meetings, dynamic speakers or new programs. All we need is to seek HIS face and spend time in His presence, rely on Him in everything we need so that when the people come to us for help they don’t have to leave saying “they could not” but that they would leave saying I went there for love, help, fellowship, hope, just to find peace for myself, to be accepted, to find Jesus and found it.

Sunday Evening

Sunday evening Gayle challenged the people to start believing God wants to use them. We should boldly step out in faith believing He wants to use us for a miracle, and put in use the little we have, expecting God to bless and multiply it.

Gayle drew her message out of the story of feeding the multitude of five thousand. In order to walk in the life of miracles, we’ve first got to have compassion for people, see and feel the way Jesus does. We also have to believe God wants to use us all. So often we look at ourselves and think, how can I do anything for God, how could He ever use me for a miracle, I have absolutely nothing special to give! But that’s exactly the perfect place for a miracle to happen, for the power of God to manifest.

The little God has given us is the very tool he wants to use to reach the dying world. As Jesus put the morsels of fish and bread on the disciples’ hands, they stood on the place where they had the choice to either turn away from the miracle or give it a chance. They had to overcome their fear. And so do we.

If we keep in our hand what we have, it eventually rottens or dries up, just as the fish and the bread that was placed on the hands of the disciples. But as they stepped out in obedience, and their hand reached another person’s hand the miracle happened.

The disciples began to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit. Again, after the message the altar was full and we got to minister to many who wanted to dedicate themselves to serving God in a new, fresh way. This was a precious evening and the presence of the Holy Spirit was so strongly in that place that people were in no hurry to go home.

We’ll still return to Seinäjoki on Wednesday as Gayle will speak in the weekly revival night. That meeting will be live streamed in the internet so don’t miss out on it! Tomorrow however, we’ll travel to another city, Jyväskylä, where Gayle will speak in the evening.