Ebenezer Wall
In Bible times, believers often took a large stone or built a pile of stones commemorating a time and place where they saw God move on their behalf and help them. These commemorative stones were called Ebenezers which means “Stone of Help.”
Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!” I Samuel 7:12
So the Ebenezer Wall now designates a place on our website to share stories of when we see God move. These could be one sentence testimonies or even one word in some cases. However, a short story with a few more details may go even farther in inviting others to “look what the Lord has done!”
Once you submit your story, pastors will review it for any minor editing needs before making it a public Ebenezer Story.
THE WALL
FREEDOM INSIDE THE RIVER BANKS
As Dayspring began to stop grieving Holy Spirit at the same time we were leaving old connections not knowing if/where we’d find new ones, God quickly began to give us divine appointments with new friends in His broader Church who had much longer experience embracing Holy Spirit. God used many of them to help coach and encourage us along the way.
None were more sweet and well-timed than meeting Lloyd and Elaine Hoover, bishops with Lancaster Mennonite Conference who had pastored their church through a similar journey from ignoring Holy Spirit to loving Him. Lloyd and Elaine taught and modeled worship, listening prayer, prophetic and apostolic giftings, the practical blessing of Jesus’ gifts in Ephesians 4, words of knowledge, and many of the things God had taught them about how He often walks church families into deeper walking with and in The Spirit.
One evening after a powerful worship and response time at a Flourish gathering with our new Evana Network, Dayspring’s staff lingered up front at the altar with Lloyd and Elaine, basking in the glow and talking together about what God had been up to that night.
As we often did, we began to ask them more about how to successfully walk Dayspring into growth with Holy Spirit without suffering as much divisiveness that some churches have gone through.
In that moment, Lloyd introduced us to the imagery of freedom inside the river banks as he explained some of the beauty and mystery of Holy Spirit much like Jesus did with Nicodemus. Lloyd said that following Holy Spirit is not like being in a pond or lake that lacks current. It is much more like a river; there is movement, there is flow. At times the current is casual and pleasant. At times it is roaring and feels more powerful and even a bit dangerous. But rivers have river banks to keep the water where it belongs. Holy Spirit provides freedom within the river banks.
Lloyd’s inspiration from Holy Spirit has stuck with Dayspring to the point of including this imagery in our Culture Statement. – [by Pastor Kent Miller]
OUR VALUABLES
A while back, several of us went to a 4 or 5 day conference in Pennsylvania called Voice of the Apostles. I wore my small cow horn hoop earrings (handcrafted in Uganda) on the trip out, but a day or so later I looked for them and they weren’t in my jewelry bag.
I searched high and low around the room repeatedly, but could not find them anywhere. They were beautiful, unusual, unique, one-of-a-kind, and even if I replaced them with a new pair, they would not be the same. I loved those earrings – the perfect size and color. I even prayed over them… “God I know you can see those earrings! It would be really cool if you could just show me where they are…!!” But they weren’t showing up when I went through my things, over and over again. On our last morning, I woke up early and as I was lying there I remembered that I had also worn two little necklaces that were missing too.
When I got up and looked around one more time, still no jewelry. Then as I was at the mirror getting ready and thinking about it, I shot up my little prayer again, “God I know you can see them, could you just please show me where they are?” And then I heard him say, “You can trust me with your valuables.” I did a double-take and realized, this isn’t about jewelry, is it??! I just did a little happy dance and told this to my suitemates. And as I was repacking my suitcase, where do you think I found those earrings?? I lifted half of my stack of clothes from the week and there they were, right in the middle of the dirty laundry!! So now I keep a list of my valuables on my phone and I pray for them regularly! Can’t stop, won’t stop until they are all restored!! – [by Pam Bartholomew]
Watch this space for more stories soon!
