Wednesday, May 11, 2022
           (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Spiritual words from Bob Jones over us
May God have pity on us and bless us; may he let us face shine upon us. So may your way be known upon earth; among all nations, your salvation. O God, let all the nations praise you!
In the early 1990’s Margaret and I led a small group for Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Urbana. One weekend a famous Arkansas prophet named Bob Jones (nothing to do with the university of the same name) visited our church and spoke with the small group leaders. He spent a few minutes with each couple or individual who led a group and in his unusual way, felt our fingertips for spiritual evidence of various gifts God gave us to share with those in our small group pastorate.
Recently we looked at the transcript of what he told Margaret and me. Thirty-five years later, we both still shiver a little, feel some goosebumps, appreciate God’s touch through Bob Jones – whose reputation preceded him, who never said exactly what was expected, who loved us, and who loved God.
The italicized annotations are comments from Margaret, then and now …
From Bob Jones
to Margaret and David Sandel
Early 1990’s, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Urbana, Illinois
The room is crowded with a huge group of people. Each person or couple is chosen by the pastor in the order that they should come up for the prophetic blessing, while the rest of us listen and witness it.
(I found myself agreeing with what Bob Jones said, knowing what I knew of the people he spoke to. I also seemed to get some of the blessing poured on them: in my head I was saying, “Me too!”)
We were last or nearly last.
First to Margaret:
Can you feel where it’s touchin’?
No. (Confused about what I was supposed to be feeling.)
Hallelujah! Can you feel it yet?
No.
You can feel the tremblin’ can’t ya? All over.
That’s what He’s doing.
The trembling is when He begins to work his divine nature in you. So He’s really workin’ on your case. And the trembling … and even … you oughta feel like a warmth comin’ at different times, especially probably early in the morning. The Lord is workin’ His nature in you, in that He’s beginning to get your brain, which is really bright, and use your brain that you would know the right words to speak to people in counsel, that you could show the right way to people, people that can’t take the walk anymore, you can restore them back to the right walk again.
And so you’re in a strong time of testing of faith, and things are really changing in your life, honey. I mean your priorities, your thinkin’, everything is changing. And the end result of that will be one that can believe, and receive, one that don’t have to sweat it in the mind anymore, but can believe it in the heart.
And so, there is pressure on you, there’s pressure put on you at different times. And … I’m gonna lay my hands on your head just like an access point (in his strong rural Arkansas accent, we heard an ESSCESS POINT) on your head, to where the enemy can really come and pressure you at different times. So I want to lay my hand on that and seal that access point.
I seal that access point in Jesus’ name. I command that you no longer pressure our sister. I also command now, that you take your hand off her ear … there it comes! For we replace one voice with another. Got that, hon? We replace the enemy’s thoughts with the revelation of the Lord. (at this point the spirit was really evident in his movements and broken speech.) Hallelujah! In Jesus’ name … thank you, Lo–! Thank you Lord. Hallelujah! In Je-, in Jesus’ name, hallelujah! Now let the voice raise up and proclaim the word of the Lord in counsel. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
So, you’ve been doin’ it to the best of your ability; I see you doin’ things to the best of your ability. Now that ear’s going to open, and the living Word will begin to come. So you’ve been doin’ a good job on that, but there also been the enemy bringin’ accusations when you do it.
Then to David, and to both of us:
Hallelujah! You feel where the flow’s comin’? Yeah, pastoral.
You’ve got the intercession, you’ve got the anointing, you’ve got everything else, but you’re sweatin’ it in your mind tryin’ to figure out how to do it.
Quit that!
You’ve got the anointing to do it, do it! You don’t have to know how to do it; all you gotta know is the One that assigns you, and you have not been havin’ any trouble at all gettin’ that. So don’t try to figure this thing out, faith it out.
The anointing’s good in you, that intercession is getting’ right through! The power’s on you beautiful, the compassion is right. The Lord set the one that you just beautifully complement one another’s ministries.
So quit sweatin’ there, you all are too smart!
See, there’s a beautiful anointing on him, look at them lips. The power’s all over him. So all you gotta do is show up, be on time, and be empty headed! And the Lord will move.
Margaret said: “You’d better pray for an anointing on him to be on time!” Laughter.
There’s a good anointing on him, it’s real. That pastoral callin’ is real. That ability to get hold of the Lord, that’s all real. So you will find that God is faithful in his callin’, and all you gotta do is look to Him. So you be faithful to Him, he’ll be faithful to the callin’ He’s put in you.
So you rest.
In a private time I (Margaret) got to ask him a question, so I asked for confirmation of my filling/gifting. I asked him for the meaning of colors, which I saw when praying for others.
When asking for the Holy Spirit’s filling to do ministry, I was confused. I had grown up in a belief system that didn’t allow for speaking in tongues. This was beginning to be so much more than that. Previous to this day with Bob Jones, I went to a place where I was alone and I began to be rather demanding of an answer from God as to how He moved in and among us. This was very intimate, and I felt the spirit come over me and from that time on I would see colors when praying for someone with my eyes closed. I had figured out that red (since you are observing not with your closed eyes but  instead with your spirit, it was kind of like looking at a car back up or brake lights in the night) – that red was the Holy Spirit being present there so you could SEE Him. Other colors came to give context when praying for people, like “green was a new season in their life.” The messages were always hopeful and positive.
 That day when I asked Bob Jones about the colors, instead of giving me a list of meanings or guide sheet he went into a personal ecstatic moment, looking up and talking about the beauty of the throne of God. After our conversation I continued to learn by experience, settling for confirmation instead of instruction.Â
Colors are rare for me now, perhaps because I often pray with my eyes open, perhaps the colors were “training wheels,” or maybe I’m not as open. There is always a conflict, because in the Vineyard I was trained when praying one on one to observe the person and look for signs of God’s moving on or in them.
 Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.
Acts 12, Psalm 67, John 8, John 12)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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