This post was written in 2010
This summer I have been busy traveling, from Los Angeles to Taiwan, to India, to China, then back to Los Angeles. Then from Los Angeles to Africa, to Dubai, then back to Los Angeles. I was running low on my spiritual gas tank without knowing it. After returning from Africa and Dubai, my right shoulder began to hurt like crazy; some said that I got a “mid-age shoulder pain”… what!? I am only 30-something! Sigh~
Today I felt led to call my intercessor; after chatting, she gladly invited me to her house for prayer. I didn’t have the urge to go right away because I had “stuff” lined up to complete, but I really needed some serious intercession because of my shoulder pain. Oh Lord… my intercessor doesn’t usually pray for people in the afternoon. But she felt God wanted her to pray for me. Before I went to her house, I started to soak before God for 30 minutes; it had been a while since my last soaking, and I had a hard time quieting myself down. Then I went to her house at 5 pm. My intercessor and I chatted for 45 minutes; she told me about her older son’s testimony of how God provided him a job. It’s really amazing~ God is good!
She first interceded for me and broke any bondages that would’ve caused my shoulders to hurt. In agreement with her, I felt the spirit of some African witchcraft leave me. In a vision, I felt like I was walking in a dark jungle trying to push away some tall weeds as I went; I couldn’t see any light at first, but slowly I found a beam of light coming at me. Next thing I see a tall angel holding a burning coal with a pair of tongs and dropping it into my mouth; then it goes down to my throat and my belly. My body begins to burn literally. Then I heard the Lord say, “To obey is better than sacrifice.”
1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel replied:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
The intercessor sees that God gives me this huge pair of wings to help me in doing His work. I didn’t feel like flying, but I received the wings, God. In my mind, I kept on being thirsty and hungry for God. I want to obey God; I want to pause my busyness and listen to His voice. I desperately need Jesus. I wept and wept as my body burnt. The next thing was that I saw a bright light in my vision; then my arms and legs once again were paralyzed; I could feel something, or someone, was holding my arms and legs. My mouth was trembling, and my tongue was moving up and down involuntarily; it’s not like speaking in tongues, although I was; it’s more like eating something hot in your mouth, and your tongue begins to push out or swallow in the heat… or something like that~
I felt like I was in another dimension, now with my arms, hands, legs paralyzed, plus my mouth and tongue felt like “burning”… hmm… it sounds weird. But I was filled with the Spirit of God. My intercessor prayed Psalm 91 over me again – it’s my favorite Psalm. I love You, God. You save me!
I can’t live another day without being filled by the Spirit of Jesus- like what my intercessor always says: be filled with the Holy Spirit every day.
Yes, to obey is better than sacrifice.