Bent County

We have arrived in Bent County, in the County Seat of Las Animas. We are going to have our meeting at the Wesleyan Fellowship and are meeting a group of people there with Kent Reyher, a Trustee there. We are excited to see what God will do.

So, a precious thing happened here. We had a very pleasant surprise awaiting us, but let me back up for a moment. When I spoke recently with Kent, he not only was excited, but was talking about bringing out chairs for everyone, making lots of phone calls and contacts, cooling down the building with air conditioning before we came, refreshments, and a number of other churches that may be involved.

On arrival, there was a crowd waiting for us! We were in for a real treat!

First, we started inside the building. Tony explained what we were about to do and let them know about the symbols of our prayers we were using. Everyone was very interested and their hearts were so in alignment with the prayers we would all be praying about each symbol. All told, including us and another person who stopped in, there were 21 of us in all, representing 7 different churches. Three of those present were pastors. What an answered prayer for unity! We spent some time in worship and prayer to begin our time together. I sang “The Father’s Song” over them. Then, we made our way outside to the place they had set apart for this offering.

There were plenty of chairs set up already for anyone needing them. It is such a sweet time placing the symbols in the ground as the Lord has shown us to do. Tony starts by preparing a small hole in the ground as an opening and talks about Elijah and the prophets of Baal. The stone and the sticks were laid in place as a representation of Elijah’s altar that day. We also called down fire from heaven, but this time on our hearts. Next, Tony loves to use the chain link for unity. We pray that the church would again be completely aligned with God’s Word and His heart, in unity together. Then, each person in turn who desired to, stepped forward to place the other symbols into our offering “well”, and prayed over their meanings. We called for more watchmen with the Colorado Prays Card.

I love the mustard seed. We have a volunteer place some mustard seed kernels into the opening in the ground, then take a handful and throw them into the air, asking for faith to spread across our county, state and nation. God is worshipped and honored by the reading of Jeremiah 10: 6-7, and a copy is placed into the ground in a small container. Water symbolizing the Living Water is poured over the offerings, as is olive oil representing the Holy Spirit poured out on all of us.

Lastly, we take the sacred elements of communion together. Then whoever desires to, can come forward and pour a portion of this into the ground also. Thank You Jesus for what You did, pouring out Your blood for us. We remember, Oh Lord. We will not forget. We prayed once more over the offerings, then covered them. We always seal our time with worship, so we went inside and sang worship songs together. We sang “There is Power in The Blood”, “How Great is Our God, and “We Exalt Thee’.

Some precious contacts were made during the fellowship time afterwards. They had refreshments and cool drinks and we got to meet a lot of them. In Prowers County, our sweet contacts Joel and Veronica had told us to be sure if we were in Las Animas, to contact Pastor Rod and Susan Colter who run the Feed and Seed Store there. We got to contact them, because they were here at this meeting! They asked us where we were going from here, so we gave them the names of tomorrow’s counties. They had contacts in both of those counties and gave us their information! Another gal told us to be sure we went to the Bible Bookstore to see Virginia, the owner. Others told us that when they were contacted, they were given our website and had already looked it up. One gal said, “Oh yes, I know all about you- I saw your picture when you were 10, I know all about when you were at IHOP; I know all about you! I read it all last night!” It was so sweet and encouraging. Another gal has a radio station she wants to talk with us later about, and many said they were very interested in prayerwalking in the future! (And the refreshments were delicious!) They went to so much trouble for us to know we were welcome! It worked! Lord, we thank You for these amazing and precious souls who love You and take their relationship with You and service to others very seriously. We were so blessed to be there with them, and to have them pour over us like that. Thank You for letting us share with them all You have sent us to do across the counties. Bless and keep them until we see them again! Thank you for Bent County!

One final mention: Before we left for the next county, Tony was patient and kind and let me take lots of pictures in downtown Las Animas, including: the Bent County Courthouse, the Bent County Sheriff’s Office, Las Animas City Hall, and many other beautiful historical buildings. Of special mention, there was erected a beautiful memorial stone to the unborn from the Arkansas Valley Council. One more special mention: Our Melody, who has travelled to these counties with us, took most of these pictures because I was so busy visiting with everyone!

So, as you enjoy these pictures, thank God for Melody! And we thank God for you!