11 Chapter Nine: The Prophetic Unlocks Destiny (1/2)

Having also previously been blessed to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I now found myself regularly operating in what the scriptures define as the gifts of the Holy Spirit: words of wisdom, knowledge, and especially the wonderful gift of prophecy. Life as I knew it would never be the same again. In the last days, G.o.d 17 says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

(Acts 2:17–18 NIV)

”1Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters,

I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were inßuenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of G.o.d says, ”Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, ”Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are di$erent kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are di$erent kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same G.o.d at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous p o w e r s , t o a n o t h e r p r o p h e c y, t o a n o t h e r distinguis.h.i.+ng between spirits, to another speaking in di$erent kinds of tongues,[ and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines.” (1 Corinthians 12: 1–11 NIV)

”Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:1 NLT)

Things began to move rapidly and with baby in tow, every weekend found my husband and me attending church services all over as more invitations poured in than I could keep up with. A few more months of these whirlwind activities went by until one day during the regular Sunday wors.h.i.+p service at my local church. I began to sense a strong impression from the Holy Spirit to give my ftrst gospel concert. After much prayer, we selected one of our local town halls in Wallington, Surrey as the venue. We contacted and sent flyers to many churches and our local newspapers to advertise the concert t.i.tle themed ”Music in My Heart” named after one of the very ftrst songs I had written. Another one of G.o.d's out-of-the-blue blessings was soon to make me realize that G.o.d was unveiling a bigger plan than my mind could fathom.

After reporters from both our regional newspapers, The Guardian and The Herald, heard about the concert, they called and interviewed me. Feature articles about me and the event were printed in their widely circulated newspapers, publ ic iz ing the event beyond any advertising we could have purchased. This elevated the event to a whole new level. We began to receive more phone calls and many new inquiries until the hall was soon ftlled to capacity with standing room only! Surprised by the success of our ftrst event, we would put on more gospel concerts, the largest one being a Memorable Gospel Concert I headlined in November 1993, at the London City Temple with the Rev Bazil Meade and The London Community Gospel Choir. They were one of England's most successful gospel choirs at that time. Their credits included royal performances for her Majesty the Queen, concerts, videos, and studio recordings with a lengthy list of well-known artists including Puff Daddy, Mariah Carey, Sting, and Paul McCartney. The City Temple concert took place just a few weeks after the birth of our second child, a strong and handsome baby boy.

Many invitations to minister in song at special events and conferences from a wide variety of churches and organizations, including the British Red Cross, followed as I had continued to minister during the pregnancy of and after the birth of our second child. Now we had two babies in tow as we went from venue to venue. Again, I thank the Lord daily for His wisdom and preparation for His destiny in our lives, giving me a wonderful husband and a very supportive family. These fresh encounters with G.o.d continued and would ultimately lead me into what would become a life of full-time ministry; singing, preaching, and prophesying in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now is probably the right time to share with you another unusual happening that quite suddenly begun to occur at the various services I took part in. ”You! Lady sitting over there! I see you moving to America.” I looked back and around me to see who was being addressed. To my shock, those startling words were being directed at me and were spoken by the host of the gathering I was attending on that day. What in the world is this strange lady talking about? I thought to myself. She might as well be prophesying that I would go to the moon. It had never crossed my mind to desire to live in America, vacation maybe, because I had an uncle who resides in Maryland, but relocate again to a new country? Most deftnitely not!

This interesting new phenomenon would not stop and continued for the next year and a half or so. In almost every meeting I would attend, complete strangers would single me out and say, ”I have a word for you from the Lord: you are moving to America.” One of my brothers also came to visit with us one day and stated, ”I dreamed and saw you spending dollars. ”These words sounded so strange to me that I was unable to register them at all, no matter how often I repeatedly heard them spoken. My husband, children, and I were all British residents. Having endured the arduous mountain of applications, fees, and paperwork to settle us all in the United Kingdom, my mind was now totally closed to ever making another major and exhausting move like that ever again.

I somehow shut out and strangely did not at all connect with the words being spoken over my life by such a crowd of witnesses. My exact thoughts were, how odd that people keep saying this. Can you believe how dumb spiritually one can be when we do not want to see or hear the truth of G.o.d's word staring us right in the face, even when He is so close that you can almost feel His breath? However, the Lord in His mercy knew exactly how He would ftx my ftxed-to-living-in-England mindset. How long it would take for Him to shatter this fortress in my mind and ftnally get through to me was known only to Him. He quite simply lovingly and gently chipped away at the stronghold of permanent UK residency that I had built in my mind and heart.

G.o.d's prophetic timing for me to make this move was however rapidly approaching and coming to a close. Time was, unbeknown to me, fast running out for me to leap over this great faith chasm and cross over the oceans once again to meet His timetable and schedule for my life. Well, He decided to speed things up big time, seeing that I was both extremely clueless and a dedicated slow coach on this one matter! One night, just before going to bed, as I was rounding up the day with my normal night prayers and devotions, I suddenly clearly heard the quietest solemn voice within me say, ”Open Job 33:14 and read it.” At that moment, I certainly could not recall ever having read or noticed this part of the scripture in the book of Job before. This sort of occurrence had only happened to me once before early in my Christian walk. I was quite rattled and startled and was also immediately very troubled.

First, I was startled because I just clearly heard an instruction that was deftnitely from a third party and, second because my ftrst quick thought about the book of Job was about the man who went through the most severe of biblical accounts of life's trials, and I had no idea what that verse would say. With trembling hands, I reached for my Bible and found the following scripture; it read: ”For G.o.d speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it” (Job 33:14 NLT).

I called out loudly to my husband Jide, telling him what had just happened. He was just as astounded but proceeded in his usual manner to calmly pray and encourage me with the scriptures. Now check out how completely dull of hearing I had become on this matter: I did not at all connect the dots but instead began to search my heart for what it could possibly be that I was not hearing G.o.d about! I was completely blind to and ignoring the elephant in the room! Talk about being slow and on the verge of complete disobedience to G.o.d's clear command. We can certainly be deaf to G.o.d when we choose not to see, hear, or receive the word of the Lord that is so close to us!

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! (Matthew 11:15 NLT)