‘My Heart says of you, “Seek His Face.” Your Face, Lord, I will seek’ Psalm 27:8
Jesus loves it when His family all get together to be with Him! Recently, people from six churches in the the Lilydale area of Melbourne united with the purpose of encountering our King of Majesty through prayer and worship over a 24 hour period. The gathering was initiated from a desire to draw worship bands and speakers from a mixture of denominations in a bid to unite the body of Christ for one purpose: to encounter God’s Glory and Presence for personal transformation and spiritual revival.
When God and His kids are together, the family fun starts – as was evident at Lilydale! Healings, joy, and worship flowed. People walked in off the street. His Kingdom came. The ‘rellies’ (our brothers and sisters in Jesus) got to know each other better.
Below is a report of the gathering written by Russell Bratton… wonderful things happen we come together to seek His Face!
Dear Leaders, Speakers, and Friends,
Thank you so much for your part in Seek His Face. We are so thankful for the variety of expression of the Holy Spirit that each of you brought. Some were expressive with great zeal and exuberance, others were captivatingly meditative and intimate. Some brought a prophetic message, and some were burning with compassionate intercession. Most of you expressed all of the above.
From our (Russell and Josh’s) point of view, Seek His Face was meant to be a time of worship and prayer to meet with God, with an anticipation of ministry and outreach. It was clear from the outset that those who had come were hungry to meet with Him and ready to worship. The Presence of God was with us in every worship session. There were some local worship songs that were outstanding! I want to get words and chord charts! There were some songs where God used the instruments to take us places in the Spirit or show us revelation. The expressions we saw in the people ran the gamut from tears, singing at the top of their lungs, clapping, dancing, twirling, singing in the Spirit, spontaneous songs, prophetic songs, whispering prayers, lifting hands, painting, being transfixed, kneeling, to lying prostrate. There is no doubt God met us in that place of genuine worship.
Throughout the time there were a number of leaders who led us in intercessory prayer. There were many things prayed of course, but some themes that seemed to be recurring or stood out were praying for our local government, unity, the lost, prayer for the empowering of the Spirit, changing the spiritual atmosphere over the region, healing domestic violence, breaking drug abuse, and releasing blessing over the churches.
Although we expected that the Lord would meet with us in ministry, we were overwhelmed by the wonderful power of the Spirit as He engaged us. From the very first session, the Spirit’s power was evident as some shook, trembled, wept, received joy, and some reported being physically healed. Throughout the course of the event there were probably 80 or so who received significant ministry.
One lady whom I got to pray for during the first session had been seeking more of God for some time. She was standing quietly still as we prayed for her to receive more of the Lord. Then we sensed the Lord was reconfirming her calling to minister to others. As we began to bless and release afresh the calling over her, she began to shake profoundly under the power of the Spirit throughout her body, then her hands as well. She knew the Lord had met her and confirmed His presence was with her. Many others received accurate prophetic words, fresh impartations of gifting, compassion for the lost, new hope, joy, and boldness and more.
At about 4am the Holy Spirit released a great amount of joy as those who were present held hands and some were suddenly overcome with laughter. Some, so weighted by the Spirit’s presence, fell gently to the carpet laughing and thanking the Lord for his goodness.
At many of the sessions there was a great release of the tangible power of God as people responded to calls from the leaders for a fresh impartation of boldness, fresh empowerment from the Spirit, and healing.
Two ladies reported receiving physical healing. One received prayer on Saturday for a lump on her neck, it is now gone!! The other has had painful tendonitis in one of her feet for several years following an accident; following prayer on Saturday, she reports the pain is gone!
Another element that we had hoped to see was outreach with groups going out from us with simultaneous intercession. It nearly happened after one of Nartarsha’s sessions, but there were some pressing ministry needs that took priority at that time. Nevertheless, God brought in several people off the street, one of whom received prayer for healing from bone spurs, an associated nerve condition, and prayed through forgiveness towards a perpetrator whom she had gone through a court case with. The Spirit came upon her with power as we prayed. We hope to hear the results as one lady exchanged phone numbers with her.
SO WHAT ARE THE OUTCOMES?
One of the overwhelmingly obvious things that we noticed from the start was unity. One young girl who goes to another church came up to me saying she’s still part of the fellowship I go to. I said, “I know exactly what you mean”, we are the Church. There was evident admiration or honour from fellow worship leaders and speakers. Many expressed great joy at getting to worship with those from other congregations. Another fellow led worship for his session, then stayed for several hours into the morning saying he didn’t want to leave because of the love he felt.
There was an evident theme throughout the speakers and prayer leaders that where we are at is not enough. Each speaker was keen for more. More passion, more willingness to sacrifice for the kingdom, more risk taking, more means to reach the lost, more of His Spirit is needed.
Another obvious fact of this time of worship and prayer was that many people met with God either personally or corporately. Many who were hungry encountered Him one on one.
On Saturday morning there was an impression that God was knitting together the churches in this region and was going to show us more events, activities, and ministry opportunities to join together in. The speaker that morning confirmed that by saying the same thing in his message nearly word for word.
I, personally, was wonderfully happy with all that was taking place through these 24 hours, but at one point I felt the Lord saying, “This is only a drop in the bucket compared to what’s coming.”
So to summarise the outcomes, if someone asked me what God was doing during Seek His Face, I would say, “He was unifying us, releasing intercession, and ministering to us.” If asked what does He want the church in this region to do now, I would say, “I believe He wants us to continue to pursue unity, continue those already existing ministry partnerships and look for new opportunities, keep interceding, seek the lost, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and keep asking for more”.
MORE 24 HOUR WORSHIP AND PRAYER?
Before the event was over we had several people and one of the speakers asking when would we run another event. We will not be able to answer that until after we have had a chance to sit down and pray together and consider your feedback as well.
Some things went amazingly well. I was shocked that nearly all of our worship bands started exactly on time except for maybe only two who started only about 5min late. Considering the logistics, this was outstanding!! Well done to all the musos who faithfully showed up early and the sound guys who worked so efficiently!!
Thanks also to the musos for getting all their lyrics in ahead of time. That helped things run very smooth.
It felt like there was plenty of time for ministry except in a few circumstances where God was ministering into some especially deep needs. In those situations people were able to continue to receive ministry in an adjoining room.
It seemed to us that the time allocated for speaking/prayer leading, 30 to 45 min was sufficient. However, we did feel that perhaps more time could have been set aside specifically devoted to corporate prayer.
God-willing should we run another event, we would aim to get the outreach more firmly established.
To those of you who took part, Josh and I would greatly value your thoughts, reflections, and recommendations, and also what you sensed God was saying and doing through this event.
With overwhelming gratitude to all the worship leaders and speakers and lovely folks who made this event possible, we say THANK YOU! Thanks to our Father and King who is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
With grace to you,
Here are the words recorded throughout the event:
I Am
– Jehovah Jireh your Provider – who I say I am – Truth – Love – Hope – Grace – Peace – Joy – good – kind – holy – generous – with you always – Rapha the healer – the Son of God – Desperate for you – God – Holy Spirit – In you – The Spirit of prophecy – Jesus – The Son of Man – The Lover of your soul
I Am
– The all sufficient one – The Alpha and the Omega – Father to the fatherless – the beginning and the end – El Shaddai – The one True King – The King of kings and the Lord of lords
I will
– heal your nation – smash through onto earth when my people are desperate for me – never abandon you – release my grace and mercy – pour down my love on all people – share my heart with you – inhabit the praises of my people – release creativity in new ways – reveal the secret things to my beloved
- You can lay your burdens at his feet
- His mercy, love, forgiveness, and truth
- Lord come fill the Valley with your Presence!! Overflow!
Jesus is King
- New Life
- Salvation to the nation. Romans 10
- Not by might, Not by power, But by my Spirit, Says the Lord
Holding back the tide
- Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Heb 11:1).
- “…..unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore however humbles himself like this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Mt 18:3-4
Awakening
- Only you can raise a light. From the darkness comes a light
- I hear your voice, saying, this is my …. Awakening
- In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and confidence is your strength. Isa 30:15
Well of goodness
- together we can move…… not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, His banner over us is love, I walk on the hills, I walk in the Valley, follow me trust me all things are possible
- God is pouring out his GRACE!
- liquid gold love and healing
- Domestic abuse …….renewed in Him trust Him
We’re singing a new song
- Holiness, Oil of Joy, Revelation of Redemption, Healing Love, Freedom of the Holy Spirit, New Wine, Overflow kingdom
- We are the creation of God, our very essence originates in Him, we were never made or meant to be apart from. That’s why the deep of our heart calls to the deep of His. Our Dad is calling His creation back to HIm.
