|
"The People Need A Deliverer!" Remembering Jill Austin
Victoria Boyson
www.victoriaboyson.com
Many years ago, I met Jill Austin at the very first conference I spoke at. How greatly she touched my life at that conference affects me still today - she was amazing to say the least!
For the three days we ministered together, she made such a point of pouring into me and into my family. She repeatedly plucked me out of the audience, prophesied over me and, at one point, literally drug me around with her during the prayer time pointing to different individuals saying, "Pray for this one now!" I would pray for them then she'd pull me toward another person, "Pray for them!" It was intense and unlike any prayer time I'd ever had up to that time.
I had incredible respect for her, but I have to admit I was somewhat intimidated by the level of intensity she worked in. I'd not experienced that level of spiritual authority before. I realized years later that she imparted something to me even in that very first conference.
She came into my life at a time I desperately needed her and sometimes I still weep when I think about it.
I was emerging rather apologetically as a person willing to speak for God. I was in the midst of dealing with my own seemingly giant feelings of inadequateness and the politics and jealousies of the church. She swept in and pulled me up from my squashed position and made me see myself through the eyes of Christ, called to walk in HIS authority.
Later, when I heard of her death, I wept. Yet, I felt that through her death her impact on my life was somehow made even stronger. I continued to sense her strong, intense, authoritative prophetic voice speaking to me, "Get up, Victoria, we've got work to do!"
I know if she were still here on this earth today she'd be out there doing the work of the Lord and setting the captives free like she did me.
The reason I bring her up now is I get the sense that she and others like her in heaven are getting impatient with us. We are focusing too much on our inadequacies or qualifications and not enough on the hurting of the world and the church. Christ came to set people free and that must be our goal as well.
In the spirit, the Father has allowed her to speak over the church resounding with intensity! The words I hear exactly are, "The people need a deliverer!"
Mighty Deliverance
I thought of Moses who felt inadequate and like a failure. He saw the mighty glorious presence of God and was overwhelmed by his own humanity and said, "Pardon your servant, Lord. Please
send someone else" (Exodus 4:13 NIV), yet God used him to deliver the entire nation of Israel.
Consider Joseph who worked through such wounding and rejection, yet delivered Egypt through a horrible famine. God
sent him ahead to a foreign land to keep them and their families alive and to preserve many survivors. "So it was God who sent me here, not you! And He is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh - the manager
of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt" (Genesis 45:7-8).
Consider also Jesus who is our ultimate deliverer who rescued us from eternal death. Jesus came that we might have LIFE! Our Father saw our
desperate war with sin and sent Jesus who confronted the cross to deliver us from sin.
Our Father hates sin because of what it does to us - it brings death, guilt and shame. His loves for us manifests itself through
the cross - the demonstration of the liberating power of His love!
Though we were dead in our sin, He loved us still. "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us
sinners" (Romans 5:6).
Our Father loves humanity even in its darkest moments - He loves us so much He reached down, drew us to Himself and delivered us from the wretched bondage of sin to walk freely with
Him!
Awakening the Cry!
I saw God in heaven listening to the prayers of His people - millions were praying and asking Him to give them power, wealth, authority and countless other blessings.
I
watched as He heard above all the prayers being prayed and earnestly gave His attention to the one asking to bring deliverance to His people - TO BE THE VESSEL OF DELIVERANCE - to set the captives free. God's
attention was captivated by their heart and reacted to their prayers.
God is looking for a deliverer to answer the cries of the lost and desperate - someone to set the captives free - to show them the way.
All that you've been through, all you've endured, God will use to bring deliverance to His people. It's a valuable treasure in the kingdom of heaven and God wants to use you to save the nations. Please
believe me when I tell you... He needs you and you are His delight!
Lord, Send ME!
In Isaiah 6:5-8, Isaiah was terrified when he saw the holiness and majesty of the Lord. He reacted to His holiness and
said, "It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's Armies."
But, "Then one
of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, 'See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are
forgiven.'" He was delivered.
"Then I heard the Lord asking, 'Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?' I said, 'Here I am. Send me.'" Isaiah became a
deliverer.
I see in the spirit thousands of men and women all over the world with purified hearts and minds who have gone through a purifying fire of the Lord's intensity and now are ready to be used. They are
crying out with pure hearts saying, "Lord, send me!"
They have been destined since the beginning of time to become a part of the Lord's awakening army - commissioned by the precious Holy Spirit to
bring comfort and salvation to the lost of the earth.
The Lord is listening - HE HEARS YOUR CRIES.
He is opening the door for you now to minister His deliverance to the nations, because He has given you the
heart of a deliverer.
|
NEW Book by Victoria Boyson