Night Strike Friday January 22 2010

There's a Carmelite mystic nun, Saint Teresa de Avila, who had a vision from God on how our souls operate. She described her vision as a castle, in the first room, was the room many never ventured out of. In the next room is the second room of the soul, where we would question if anything we were doing in the kingdom of God was worthwhile. It is here where the soul becomes in conflict with barrages of the enemy. And granted, many times on the street our progress is slow, but yet goes forward. I was having one of those nights, in my second room of my soul, as Saint Teresa, described it. Sometimes the enemy will clobber you with your own reason and make you ponder the up hill climb you have to make.

Tonight for me was one of those nights. That is until I got out of the car I was riding in and was greeted by an old friend. My friend had called Mark Neitz asking for Mark to be there to pray with him. Our friend was under severe spiritual attack. Mark couldn't be there but he relayed to our friend that I would be there to pray. Our old Night Strike friend waited anxiously for us to arrive. With our friend's need for our team's prayer, I knew in a instant, with my own thoughts conflicting within me telling me that these frequent trips to the city were worthless, had all been revealed to be a big lie. We are needed in the city. Barely seconds in UN Plaza and immediately energized to take up the fight, with my good NS friends, once more.

Bob Johnson and I prayed for our friend and made the devils attack him back off. Our friend was elated after several minutes of prayer, thanked us, with a glow about himself, and then he left to go home. We hadn't even divided up our teams to go out yet. We were off to a start!

Our faithful team from Cornerstone was there, Andrea and Blyth (hoped I spelled your name correctly). Andrea is now the new Cornerstone leader. Sorry, Andrea, but that's how it works. We were impressed and you are now in charge.

Ellen brought her team from Vacaville and they headed to Market St. for the evening.

Elyssa brought her family and some friends and they headed off to Polk St. Elyssa made some great smelling soup. I think we were ready to follow her team and get a cup.

Bob and Rolf remained at the plaza to keep the open heaven for us as we ministered.

Bill and I went to the Tenderloin District, Ellis St, with the Cornerstone crew. For those with me I was still off my game. I was deemed the “Special Leader” for my new found skill of just standing and watching the street lights cycle through their spectrum of 3 colors. When it gets to green again I need a good shove to get going or else I'll wait through the cycle again. Soon it became a game of who could shove Mike into the street first. At times they weren't even waiting for the green light. I couldn't tell which one of the three with me were doing it. But I am pretty sure they were each taking turns.

I brought turkey on wheat sandwiches, Andrea and Blyth, brought PBJs, blankets and socks. They had this little nap sack crammed full of provisions. We prayed for several people along our way on Ellis St and gave out a lot of sandwiches and socks.

We had one interesting encounter at the corner of Turk and Leavensworth (I believe). We were asking the Holy Spirit which street to turn down so we were all looking in different directions to get a feel for the Spirit and His guidance. A woman walking past us stopped and asked if we were lost. We told her no, we were waiting to hear from God to figure which way to go. She pointed out that she asked us to give us specific directions because the neighborhood we were in was dangerous. It was a reminder of where we were walking and the presence of the Holy Spirit going before us and protecting us. Her remark was also an answer to us that we needed to turn down Turk. Into the belly of the beast.

On Turk we encountered an interesting gentlemen, Rick, whom we stopped and spoke with for sometime. At times, Rick was mainly hitting on Blyth and Andrea, which we would try and step in and steer the conversation. It was an interesting encounter to say the least. Rick was questioning his own spirituality. He grew up in church. Rick wanted to be given a revelation from God. So I spoke with Blyth to try and get a word. I kept getting a picture of an electric guitar. I asked Rick if he played the guitar, he said no. He sings. But that wasn't enough to sway Rick. Then again, Rick was a bit inebriated from alcohol.

We pushed on down Turk as it got late. We came across a gentleman named Robert. His brother Lovis Bronin, I believe, was getting ordained as a deacon in a church in Antioch. So we prayed with Robert that he would be given provision and favor to go to Antioch to witness his brother's ordination. We also prayed for Robert too as he prayed for us.

Robert was extremely thankful that we were on the streets and ministering to the people. It meant a lot to him that other people in the world cared about him. Cared enough to come down to the harsh reality of his neighborhood and pray with him.

The night ended on bittersweet note, with a good friend, Elyssa, Night Strike leader, whom I respect highly, told me she was being taken up the ranks by the Lord to a new adventure and ministry. I know she will do awesome and she's going to be leading a big ministry someday. God always has a plan!