Peter Clifford  2008 Testimony

 

GOD IS ALWAYS SPEAKING TO US

 

 

I have been really trying to seek God this year.  Personally, my walk with God has been a roller coaster ride.  Seeking God has really felt like work.  When I know deep inside what I should be doing it just seems too hard to pray, to worship, and to read the word.

 

I have had lot of BIG personal things happen this year that I can only hope God is in charge of and orchestrating.  Right now He continues his concerto in me (May 13^th 2008).

 

I have never been in a position such as this.  I feel like God has and still is reprogramming my brain.  The point of view for the past 40 years was:  What is successful in the secular world, that is my goal.  NOW it is: What is successful to the heavenly world is my goal.

 

 

------ Note #1  The Revival in Lakeland FL --------

To me the revival is just what its definition says:  To Revive

I needed God to revive my spirit, or maybe to even awaken a slumbering spirit.

The revival is simply a tool God is using to encourage me to seek out His plans for me.

It is by no means a following.

--------- end of Note #1 -------

 

God is always speaking to us.  He is like a fixed spotlight shining down in a room with no windows.  He is unchanging and we are the ones that are either closer to the light or in a dark corner. We hear and feel Him more clearly as we walk closer to the light. The further from the light the less we hear, but it is us who are changing not God.

 

Prior to the revival I was praying that God would give me direction and I somewhat jokingly said " God can you just send me an e-mail?"   Well, my wife called me from her precepts bible study at church.  When someone asked how she was doing her reply was " oh, we are in transition"   "Aren't we all" was the reply back.   Then she was told about Chuck Pierce and his 40 day prophecy that God spoke to him.  My wife was encouraged.  Maybe not so much about the prophecy, but that there were others in the same situation.  She called me to encourage me about this.  I was near the computer and searched for it.  As I pulled it up on www.elijahlist.com I was overcome.  I saw on the screen the Lion of Judah.  Wow God is speaking to me.  About 10 days prior to this I had a dream about two lions coming out of the brush.  One was a grey lion the other looked just like the picture on the web page.  There were children in a field, that was like the back yard of a church or school.  My immediate thought was to have the lion chase me instead of the children.  The lions did chase me and I put a move on the lion to outmaneuver it and I in got to the side door of the church and was safe inside.  The children were all safe too. I had shared my dream with our life group because at the time I did not know what it meant and was asking if anyone knew the interpretation.

 

As I read the prophecy there were several places where I was overcome with weeping as God was speaking to me. Now that I look back at it God did send me an email with directions. 

 

----- Chuck Pierce 40 day Prophecy points ---   

The following are notes that I made for myself after I read the prophecy about 10 times.

Dates:  March 4^th to April 14^th

Signs:   watch the rain and wind be of benefit to you

              I will provoke and produce a jealousy of Me in you

              Abrasive circumstances will increase

Must Do's:   Be anointed to leap over the Mt. of deception and intimidation

                     Hear the call

                     Be delivered

                     Be qualified by God

                     Know how to confront

                     Keep your mind stayed upon Me

                     Decree the blockade that is blocking your gate of destiny

                     Know the different voices

                     Pre-pare for a quick change

                     Honor me with a shout

What God is doing:   Creating a fear and awe of Him

                                   Forming a highway in the wilderness

                                   Qualifying Individuals

                                    Activating you

                                    Creating a strong people that will rule in every sphere of authority

Lean not on your own understanding:    written 7 times in the prophecy

DO NOT:  Listen to the enemy

                  Fall into an understanding of the past  even the past 40 years

                  Look at your circumstances

                  Allow your abilities to be your trust

                  Miss your window of opportunity or the catalyst of momentum

  MISC. :     Spheres of authority will be arranged in the next 40 days

                   You have never been this way before

                    Now is the time of restructured vision

                    I am the God of gold and silver. I am the one who can shake loose finances

----- end of prophecy note ---

 

 

Moses and the Mt.   or  Pete and Florida

 

My wife had seen how I was struggling with my walk and she expressed that I needed to be alone with God and offered to take the kids so I could go up the Mt.    Listen to your wife, she is your helpmate and God will speak to you through her.

 

 

May 5^th, 2008  Monday

A friend of ours who we pray with and seek council from told us about www.god.tv and the revival that was going on.  He was more focused about god.tv and the founders Rory and Wendy than the revival. It was funny how he thought we reminded him of Rory and Wendy. So on Monday May 5^th we started watching the revival .,.and I could not take my eyes off the screen.  I went from a short period of watching to active participation.  It stirred something up in me, maybe my slumbering spirit.  I wanted that.  I wanted to feel God. I wanted to be in His presence.  I wanted to feel his power.  I felt compelled to go.  I get easily excited about new things, so I reeled myself back in and went to bed at midnight.  That night I had a dream.  The words "empty vessels"  kept repeating themselves for what seemed like most of the night.  I literally saw a field of empty drums that were in front of a stage.  Little did I know that in 4 days I would be there with the other empty vessels.  People just empty wanting God to fill them up.

 

-----Note # 2  Five Keys to Effective Prayer ----

In April a friend of ours in Life Group shared his testimony about how he felt a really strong presence of God that week and it was because of a letter he received from a ministry that he partners with.  Two days after this I really felt a sense of urgency to get the letter from him and follow it.  Because, I too wanted to feel a strong presence of God.  I called them and left a message.  Shortly thereafter I got an excited call back to share this with me. With great determination the letter was scanned and emailed to me.  It is a 6 page letter detailing the 5 keys to effective prayer. The headlines of the 5 keys are:

1. Find a place alone, away from outside distracting influences. 2. Wait quietly before the Lord. 3. Play worship music  4. Become totally dependent on God  5. Open yourself  to God.

God is speaking to me with direction through others once again.

In the next few days I felt desperate to put this in use.  My wife and I were home alone and we put in a worship cd and worshipped for over an hour and then we prayed in the spirit for some time too.  We have been looking for God to give us some answers. He did not give us any specifics,but at the time we both felt like something was changed or something was broken.  We were not sure exactly what changed or what was broken, but something happened as we pressed in.

-----end note #2   5 keys-----

 

May 6^th, 2008  Tuesday

I took these 5 keys to effective prayer to seek God and watch the revival on god.tv.  The 5 keys for me are not a formula, but are more like an attitude of:  God I respect you.  God I will honor you.  God I will put the flesh and worldly things aside and focus on you.  God I want to do business with you.

  I did this and participated in the revival from my tv (which was hooked up from my laptop).  I prepared a place upstairs in my home away from the disturbances of everyday life.  I was like those on t.v. I was hungry, desperate, and thirsty.  I felt even more compelled to go.  My wife and I praised God, worshipped God and we were getting closer to the light. Wow I am definitely having some sort of break through.  I can not wait until 7pm when the revival starts.  At 11pm when it went off I was still hungry.  What happened to the "work" feeling?

     There was no doubt that God could meet me in my house, but I wanted to take the extra step. I was ready to go up to the mountain. I was in great anticipation of meeting up with God.  So that night I made flight reservations to go to the revival on Thursday May 8^th, 2008  and come back on Saturday, the 10^th.

 

May 7^th, 2008  Wednesday

Just waiting to watch the revival tonight.  I am getting excited and am looking forward to me and my wife watching it together.  It's tough to start at 7pm because that is the start of the wind down of the day.  I feel like this is the most important thing for me to do.  I hear the phone ring.  I hear the kids.  I hear the neighbors.  I think .,.am I being selfish?  My wife had so many distractions that she pretty much missed it. But, I am trying so hard to press on.  It's like my wife did the battle for me so I could be with God.  This situation I am still processing.

 

May 8^th, 2008 Thursday

Here we go, my window of opportunity.  I arrive at the Orlando airport at 11:30 am and have til 3pm to check into my hotel.  First thing to do is to get to Lakeland the cheapest way possible.  I am excited and filled with anticipation of finding others who are looking for God.  I check the hotel shuttles. None going to Lakeland, its too far.  I see the out of town shuttles and give them a call. "we can pick you up in 5 minutes and drop you off at the front door for $95"  I take a swallow and tell the person on the other end of the phone, " I will have to call you back".  I have time. There is no hurry.  I am still looking around for the desperate  people.  All I see is people on vacation.  Don't they know how close they are?   I go to information and ask, " what is the cheapest way to Lakeland?" I am handed the phone # to the $95 one way shuttle.  I stop at the taxi stand and see the person behind the counter doing a crossword puzzle.  I want to tell them about the revival, but I say " Can you tell me a four letter word for taxi".  I get a chuckle and a quote of $127.    My mind is starting to change.  My thoughts are:  Ok God  I know you want me to go and I know you want to do something here.  I am thinking in the terms of sharing a ride with other believers, but God has something else in store.  So I sit inside the terminal looking out over ground transportation in anticipation of the other seekers while reading a book.  After 10 minutes of reading I get to a  part of the book that tells me to pray for 10 minutes the following prayer:  " Yaweh, is my shepard, I lack nothing"  So I do it and I look behind me and all I see is the Avis counter.  It is totally empty.  When I first arrived there were at least 50 people in line at every rental car counter.  Ok, I get up and go over to the counter and ask the lady, "what is the cheapest moped, I mean car that I can rent today and have back Saturday".  Again after a chuckle and a moment on the computer she says, " $95"  I think ok $95 a day plus all the fees, insurance and taxes.  "that is including all taxes and that you have it back by 1pm Saturday" she says. So for $95 I am all set for all transportation needs for my stay there.  Wow I am starting to trust God and expect God to do things.  But the savings are just one part of this.  The best part will be found Friday morning!

 

I arrive at the hotel and see other people arriving and know that they are there for the same reason I am.  There is excitement in the air I feel a little tingling in my shoulders as I walk in the lobby to check in.

 

I get to the Lakeland  Center at 4:15pm.  There are about 500 people in line already.  It starts at 7PM.

 

-----note #3 about the revival----

It started April 2nd at a church that seated 700.  The plans for this were for 5 days then off to Africa or Uganda.  After a few days they were turning away thousands so they went to a new venue where they could hold 3000.  Again after a few days they were turning away thousands.  They went to a stadium that holds 8000 for the weekends.  Todd Bentley, the Evangelist from Fresh Fire Ministries says, " as long as God is here I am staying" They then went to the Lakeland Center that holds around 10,000.  I showed up on day # 37.

-----end of note #3----

 

I stand in line for 2 hours with my new friends Tim and Cynthia.  They are a young couple that have a small church in CT and were here the day before.  They were so excited about the revival and I felt a connection with them.  I pretty much hung out with them for the rest of the events.  They were able to be there because someone had given them enough money to go.  The people who gave them the money were not able to travel because of medical reasons and were trusting that they would bring back the fire.

   The doors opened, people were running through the isles and up to the front making sure to get a good seat.  I was in line behind a very large man from Texas who I saw on god.tv and every night that I watched he was right up at the front of the stage.  As the people were running I had no idea which way to go, so I knew if I could keep my eye on the Texan I could be upfront too.  The worship team was practicing and getting ready.  People started to worship.  This is contagious.  This is so cool.  This is my Mt.   There was such a sense of Freedom there.  If you weren't shouting to the Lord or praising Him, or jumping you were the odd one.  Worship was awesome.  From traveling and standing for so long my back was at a 9 on the pain threshold scale.  I have had back problems since I was 16 years old.  I wasn't there for healing.  I was there to meet God.  But it is easy to get caught up in the power and manifestation.  I was looking for that and did not get it.  I was discouraged, but mostly in pain and tired.  I went back to my hotel room a bit disappointed and confused about the whole thing.  At certain times in the revival, especially as my back hurt, I thought that maybe this red headed tattooed guy isn't who he says he is.  So I went to bed a little deflated.

 

 

 

May 9^th, 2008 Friday

My back did not feel too bad this morning.  Even though I did not feel the "heat" go down my spine my back was surprisingly good for what it normally would be after a day like yesterday.  I purposely brought no Motrin as a step of faith.  Lately I have been taking a lot.  I drove to the church for the morning service.  As I sat in the parking lot I called my wife.  She told me that the life group was watching on god.tv and that they were praying for me and praying that I would bring back the fire. My disappointment from last night shrank like a leaf on fire.  Thank you Life Group.  As I spoke with my wife I see my friends Tim and Cynthia walk by to get in line.  Wow is God orchestrating this or what?  So I get in the line of 200 people with my 2 new friends at 9:10am.  Service was glorious.  We went up to the front for worship.  After one song I looked up at the musicians and saw a young man playing the guitar.  I instantly thought of my son, who kind of looked like him.  It is very obvious to me that my son has a gift for playing the guitar.  I could not look at this kid on stage and not think of God's plans for my son. This is when I really started weeping.  I am still weeping. After worship they took an offering. My mind set was: Lord you know my situation, you know how much it cost me to get here.  (Earlier in the month I was praying about tithing and offerings. Being self employed it can get a little confusing.  My answer  was to give with a joyful heart.)  As the plate was passed I felt I should give $95.  I realized the whole thing.  I listened to God and trusted he would take care of my transportation needs earlier. He saved me so much money that the $95 offering that I put in came from Him too.  It did not have to hurt to give. This revelation brought so much joy in the giving.

 

  The main speaker was a business man who met Todd Bentley and was giving his testimony about how he got there.  The things that he said were like he was talking just to me.  There was such an outpouring of information about what was going on there and how it matched up with me was incredible.  God is speaking to me again.  I must be getting closer to the center of the light.  At 2 pm they had to stop.  I was there for 5 hours and I did not want to leave. I can not believe how the time seemed so short.  So I drove back to the hotel to lay down for a minute and soak this in a get ready for the Revival at the open field. But is that what happened?  No.  First my dad called me.  I called him back and he told me that my mom had been sick for 3 days and could not get out of bed. I sat in the car in the hotel parking lot in unbelief.  Is this uncanny or what?  So I told my dad where I was and what I was doing.  This kind of event might be hard to swallow for some people and I really had some fear and intimidation about talking about my personal relationship with Jesus.  But after all that just happened it was not that hard.  I  spoke to him and actually he told me some things that were encouraging about what he was doing in church.  How cool was that!  So I say,"let me pray for mom."  My mom gets on the phone and I tell her what I am doing and about the revival and ask if I can pray for her.  She is so receptive to it I can't believe it.  I pray for her and she says, "I feel better already" oh yea I say.  She says, "well sure my son just prayed for me."    She had vertigo and was unable to stand.  The next day she was able to stand up and go to the doctors.  On Mothers day, Sunday, she was all better.  The Dr. said that vertigo does not get better on its own. 

After that I had a call from a friend of mine who was 15 minutes from getting ready to do the benediction at ODU's graduation.  He said that he was speaking about the fire.  I laughed and told him that I had just seen his friend Bob Wiener.  He was confused and said what?  I told him where I was and that his friend was just at the service and actually was part of an impromptu reading.  I had sent my friend the link for the revival and god.tv and he was so excited that I was there.  So I asked him if I could pray for him and ignite the fire at ODU.   So, we will see.

I take a shower and get ready to go to the airport for the open-field revival.  As I drive down the road and onto the exit ramp I see an old man hitch hiking.  EErrrt.  I automatically pull over.  What is this I am doing?  My brain would normally have to process this.  See the man.  Look at what he is wearing. What does he have with him?  Is he going to be a danger.  Why is he there?  Oh I bet he is a drunk and can't get a job. Should I stop?  By my normal processing time it is too late and I have past 2 exits.  But no not this time.  I see someone who so obviously needs Jesus and I react.  I am so excited, but I try to contain myself.  What is God going to do?  I am going to let God do it.  So he gets in and we drive off.  "Where you going?" I say.  He tells me, "Sarasota, to look for some work."  I let him talk.  I try to contain myself.  This guy has no idea how fired up I am by this time.   So he tells me about his son and his struggles and then after much time he asks.  "So where are you going?"  So I proceed to tell him and he listens and seems interested, but does not want to go.  I do not push. I do not pry.  This is God at work and I am the tool. I feel good about it.  I acted. I trusted God to do the heart surgery, not me. I am not the Dr.  As I look back, it was most likely a seed that was planted right there. At the end of a great service Friday night to 14,000 people.  Todd Bentley imparted each and every person there personally.  As you can only imagine, there was a long line.  He had a cloth soaked in oil in each hand and he touched your forehead as you went through.  The "tunnel" seamed so surreal.  As you approached the line it broke off into two lines. One on his right and one on his left.  Two staff members motioned people in and other staff were helping him with the oil and other staff were laying hands on people as they exited.  The "tunnel" was a good 40 feet long.  Did I feel anything?  Oh yes I did.

 

On my drive back I surely felt that I seized the opportunity, I took a step of faith, I did not miss my window of opportunity, I gave a shout out, I was qualified, and activated.

 

May 10^th, 2008 Saturday

I can't stop smiling.  I can't stop weeping.  I can't stop praying.  I can't stop worshipping.

I went to bed at 3 am and got up at 8 am.  I am tired, but not too tired to do the above.  My wife and kids picked me up from the airport and then we got to go to saturday night church.  It was our turn to teach Sunday school.  Man I was so excited.  As one child who has some energy issues started to act on them.  I saw him in a new way.  I felt so much compassion for him and simply put my arm around him.  As I did he let out a big sigh and calmed right down.  Maybe he just needed a touch.  I know that I did!

 

 

 

As I finish this testimony I realize it is not finished, no it is only half way done.  The exciting part has not happened yet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                    

                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hi