This letter will be longer than usual since it is the word of my testimony of God's working in my life over the past thirteen years. But I pray that you will read it because it is perhaps the most important thing I have ever written to you. Although I never imagined telling this before my release, God has quickened to my heart that this is now my weapon of overcoming the evil one according to Rev. 12:11 for I have already come under the blood of the Lamb and have laid down my life, but the word of my testimony has remained long sealed until God's appointed time. May the Spirit give you ears to hear and may your understanding of the times we have been in and are about to enter be opened. We thank you so much for standing with us these many years. Without your faithful support we couldn't have begun to make it. But here we are, more sure of God's goodness and faithfulness than ever before. All praise to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think. We give all the glory to our Lord Jesus Christ for His great power to sustain and to deliver. "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Revelation 12:12 I want to establish right off that I am not writing out of any authority of my own or of things or doctrines learned or studied, but as God's appointed messenger. Like Paul I say that I am not fit in myself to form personal judgments or count anything as coming from me; but my power and ability are from God Who has justified me (2 Corinthians 2:5 6). Therefore, I come in all humility, in the fear of the Lord and in obedience. In 1985 after an extended stay in a rehab hospital, God sent me Susie a prayer partner I hardly knew who challenged me to seek God for wisdom until I knew His will for my life (which I was slowly losing physically) so I could pray unwavering prayers with assurance that God would not only hear but would answer because it was His will (based on James 1:5 8 and I John 5:14 15). She came seven days a week for at least one hour a day for 1 1/2 years. It wasn't long before the Lord gave us a tremendous burden for the Body of Christ. During that time He also revealed His will for me which was healing, so I began to pray consistently to that end regardless of what was happening. Early in 1986, the Spirit of God came upon me in private prayer and spoke that God was pouring out special gifts of intercession on thousands in order to prepare the way of the Lord by tearing down strongholds that had been built up for years against an accurate knowledge of His true nature in order to prepare for Himself a people He could inhabit and work through. I experienced amazing breakthroughs in prayer as confirmation of this. All this time I had seen the blindness of the Body but knew little of my own state. Then on March 23, 1986, the Lord revealed much of my life to me a life built on fear, anxiety and striving. I was drawn to the Cross and for months God gradually unraveled the mess of my life. I discovered I was an ally to sickness because I had used it to deal with all kinds of fears like responsibility, the future and many others. In wanting a way to control the things I feared, I opened the door to what was to become a tyrant master set on destroying me. I experienced deep sadness about my life but at the same time, hope for the future since up until then I had actually been afraid to be healed but didn't know why. As God continued to cleanse me He renewed my burden for His Body and, as He showed me more of Himself, I longed to see others set free. By now I was a personal intercessor to many leaders and missionaries but especially the sick.
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