Faith and a Feather

Last week I was at a meeting in Albany Oregon with a precious group of believers who are hungry for God and gather regularly to seek Him and to engage the supernatural realms. This particular meeting was set aside to seek the Lord in faith and expectation for gemstones from heaven to manifest. Many of those at the meeting had experienced this before, but there were those there who had not yet but wanted to. I was invited by a friend, and although my wife and I did not attend as guest speakers by any means, we were invited to share a few words about the gem manifestation.

I spoke for about five minutes, and after sharing a brief testimony I encouraged everyone present that God wanted to give them gems–personally. God loves each and every one of us and desires to directly interact with each of us. He desires to lavish gifts on each one, and we are not so special that God won’t do for us what he does for many others, whether it be gems or any other miracle. I encouraged the group to actually go around the room and look for gems, as God is a good Father and loves to give his kids gifts that they’ll enjoy, much like any earthly parent gives their children fun toys to play with just to see their enjoyment. I let them know that looking for jewels isn’t a sign of valuing them over God, but that we are simply getting to appreciate the gifts that God is giving us–we’re not seeking his hands instead of his face, but we want to both know God and get the goodies!
No sooner had I shared this than a well-meaning but misguided woman did the favor of sharing a short testimony with exhortation that we were definitely not to look for gems at any moment whatsoever, and that we were to worship the Lord only and not get off into idolatry with this gem-business. If God wants us to have gems, He knows where to put them so we will find them without searching for them. I must confess, I was very disappointed to hear this. This woman single-handedly dealt a huge blow to the growing faith in the room, and I am sorry to say that I don’t think it ever quite recovered.

I am sure if I had been prone to arguing we could have gotten into one, as the woman had a very contrary attitude about her. I was very gracious with her disagreement, even backpedaling slightly in stating that each person needed to decide what was in his her or her heart with the Lord in how to address this issue she had brought up, when in reality the woman was dead-wrong. She was determined to pursue the issue and made sure she had the last word on the subject so that everyone would bow to her will on the matter. I feel it important to point out that In Matthew 7: 7-8 it says “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Jesus himself instructed his disciples to ask and seek, and if Jesus says it, we should probably do it.

A few minutes later during worship the Lord instructed me to get up and start looking for jewels, telling me that if I didn’t they definitely would not appear. I realized that this woman’s words had put everyone in a state where they didn’t want to offend her and weren’t going to look for gems. I got up and walked across the middle of the room and began searching on the far side of the room from her. After I did so, a couple other people got up and started to do the same. It wasn’t too long after that this woman left the meeting, and after she was gone a number of other people also began to search in earnest, and the gathering took a much lighter, more enjoyable tone.

Although no gems appeared that night, there was a supernatural manifestation that evening. While the woman was still present, I found a single small white feather near me on the floor. Feathers are a manifestation I am familiar with and have experienced over the years at home, church, at my workplace, and even in random public places. In this case, I believe the feather was showing a level of warfare that was happening over this issue of supernatural manifestations. I was pleased the feather appeared, but I was disappointed it didn’t go any further than just that lone feather.

This meeting was a bit of an object lesson for me in regards to things-supernatural. We often do not realize the power of our words and the attitude and intention behind those words. We have the ability to create and encourage faith, as my wife and I had done with the things we shared, and we have the power to sow doubt, as that woman had done. I wish I could give her the benefit of the doubt and say that she did it unwittingly, but the purpose of the meeting was no secret, and if she didn’t want to be around people who were looking for gems it would have been better for all of us if she had chosen not to attend.

Faith is a tenuous thing at times, and when faith is wavering the smallest things can tip it one way or the other. It is important, therefore, that we encourage and cultivate lifestyles of faith that push us toward heavenly realities on a daily basis. A single feather from heaven was all that appeared out of a group of 20-30 believers, many of whom have already seen and a few of whom currently still experience this on occasion in their own homes, all of whom had been praying that week and that day for angels to bring gemstones into the meeting. That feather served as a bit of a lesson to me–that not only do I have a lot to learn about dealing with contrary people in large group meetings, but that more important than just those people are the influence they have on the rest of the people present. When given the choice to build up or tear down it is always best to take the high road and encourage our fellow man, strengthening his faith in the good things God is doing. When opinions are at odds, we will never go wrong by emulating the fruit of the spirit.

If you are interested and want to learn more about the miracle of feathers from heaven, consider reading my book: