Wind and wells
On the day after my 78th birthday, Mary and I walked into The Alabaster Prayer House at Bethel Church, Redding, California, in ‘tourist mode’—just taking a look, and having no idea what was about to unfold. There were only two vacant seats and as I sat down, I was immediately aware of a tremendous heavy sense of God’s presence resting on me; it moved me very deeply ‘with sighs and groans too deep for words’ (Romans 8:26). That was just the beginning of a most significant couple of hours!
After some time, through the window I saw the flags of many nations which line the driveway. Where I ‘just happened’ to be sitting, I could see the Union Jack drooped from its flagpole. Other flags were flying, but not the Union Jack! It was behind some trees and didn’t seem to catch the light breeze.
“Flags are meant to fly!” I thought, and I began to feel desperate, so very desperate, to see the Union Jack, the flag of our land, flying. At that moment, I felt that it had a particular application to our own local congregation and to our wider family of churches.
I kept praying for some long time:
“Wind of the Spirit, blow, blow through the house.
Blow through the house, Lord, blow through the house.”
The wind picked up and the Union Jack began to fly, then droop, then fly, then droop and so on. After some time, the Union Jack flew almost fully! —but only for a little while. A sustained wind was needed for that—sustained prayer.
I read Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37) and came to v.14...
“I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”
As I read those words, deeper sobs—more ‘sighs and groans too deep for words’—welled up from deep inside me as memories flooded back. In 1971, our friends, Dave and Chris Richards, and Mary and I were seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit; we were helped by Howard Cole, the then-vicar of St Mary's Church, Cogges (on the edge of Witney). That very verse was what Howard felt the Lord telling him to give us as a promise!
So began a wonderful adventure of 60 years (so far) of experiencing being filled with the Spirit and settling in ‘our own land’. We’ve lived in community, formed a house church, planted churches, been in at the beginning of the development of an international family of churches and much more.
In times past, we've known the Wind of the Spirit blowing through ‘the house,’ but in recent years it has felt like being becalmed. It is clear that the Lord wants to blow with a new move of his Holy Spirit. Now is the time to obey the commission of the Lord to Ezekiel. It’s time to catch the Wind of the Spirit afresh!
After maybe two hours, I left the Prayer Room and found Mary in the surrounding garden. When I tried to tell her what I had experienced, I couldn’t get the words out. Only some hours later—or maybe the next day—was I able to, but still deeply moved!
Never have I experienced such a profound encounter with the Lord, nor have I experienced something which stayed with me for many days (albeit not with the initial intensity).
That was September 2023 when a group of 15 from Oxfordshire visited Bethel Church. Three days later in a main conference session, from the platform Hayley Braun (one of Bethel’s School of Supernatural Ministry leaders) looked over to where we were all sitting. She prayed for the ‘Oxford Group’ and then prophesied:
“The Lord is asking,
‘Are you willing to uncover the wells?
‘Are you willing to dig?
‘Are you willing to give yourself to prayer,
‘to intercession for this,
‘to the work that brings out the debris?’”
Over recent years, similar prophetic words have given to many of our churches—to re-dig ancient wells. Clearly, the Lord is saying that whatever has been done so far is not the complete task; there is still work to be done.
I believe the Lord is speaking to each and all of us: Are we willing to catch the Wind of the Spirit and to be carried along by him? Will we actively dig or re-dig ancient wells of the Spirit?
This is an extract from Geoff’s new book, “Wind & Wells”
The price is just £8.00 if bought in person via this link (or for 'click and collect'!)
Or £10.50 with postage and packaging. Click here to purchase.