Recollections of Empowerment

by Jay Jakub
Nov/Dec 2011

Overall Observation

I’ve never before seen such a strong and diverse move of the Holy Spirit at such an event! There were times, in fact, that my wife Eleni, and I found the power of the Holy Spirit to be so strong that it was hard to remain standing when entering the conference room. Judith MacNutt, Mike Evans, and the prophetic minister Robin Morrison even remarked at times during the three days that they were seeing moves of the Spirit occurring that were new to them. At times during the conference, all manner of Holy Spirit–inspired emotions literally swept through the room like an unseen wind across the assembled group of approximately 500. These manifestations ranged from boisterous and uncontrollable laughter to weeping; from wild Jewish–type dancing around the room to ‘resting in the Spirit’ on the floor — some slumped in chairs, and others being ‘glued’ to the floor for periods of time. From receiving supernatural inner and physical healings to obvious manifestations of the demonic in some attendees, as oppressing spirits were being driven out by the irresistible presence of the Holy Spirit. From unrestrained praise and worship to the memorable “ridiculous men of the huddle,” as Judith described us and among whom I was privileged to be numbered, packed tightly in a football–like huddle, dancing, singing, rejoicing, and surrendering completely to the will of the Holy Spirit, for what seemed like an hour of unabashed celebration of being one in the body of Jesus Christ. God was there! What a conference!!!

Physical Healing

On day 2 of the conference, Mike Evans gave a talk on physical healing that included a remarkable ‘on the spot’ demonstration. After explaining how he prays for healing, asking for the Holy Spirit to come, then just waiting until he hears something directly from the Holy Spirit about the problem before praying hands on, he got a word of knowledge about people with ankle and foot problems. Mike asked if anyone was suffering from such injuries, and six came forward for healing prayer. After praying with four of the injured — all of whom claimed some significant healing at the instant time of his prayers for them — Mike asked for a volunteer, someone who has never laid hands on anyone before in a healing prayer situation to come forward to try praying “hands on” on one of the two remaining “ankle and foot volunteers.” A man near me volunteered, went up, knelt down, prayed, waited on the Holy Spirit, then just said a few things about the physical problem in the form of a prayer and the person receiving prayer was healed! PTL!!!! How exciting and encouraging! Mike then repeated this with another volunteer. She went up, prayed, waited, prayed what she heard the Holy Spirit say in her thoughts, and there was another healing, with the subject getting up and walking around to test what just happened. We were all so encouraged to witness this, and we found it impossible to adequately capture the emotion of the moment of Supernatural healing in a written testimonial.

Mike taught us that we are all given the authority to pray to heal the sick, but few of us are bold enough to just go up to a stranger in pain and ask if they would mind us praying for them. This point was very convicting to many of us, and a woman near the back of the room raised her hand and asked if Mike would pray for her to be free from self–consciousness and pride that might keep her from stepping out and laying on hands in healing situations with strangers. Mike used this as an opportunity to ask all of us in the room if we wanted such a prayer, warning that if we truly want this, Jesus will henceforth expect us to get out there and start praying for people. Nearly everyone (perhaps all, I couldn’t tell for sure) rose and awaited this prayer, and Mike again encouraged us saying that God will certainly begin putting people in our path who need healing and will expect us to step out; “perhaps, he will even do so today,” Mike said. This “perhaps, even today” part of what he said was ringing in my ears as Mike began to pray this prayer to be set free of self–consciousness and pride over the assembled group, and my whole body began to tremble, especially my head, in a way I have never before experienced. It was the obvious presence of the Holy Spirit. I knew without a doubt that Mike’s prayer for us had been answered supernaturally with all this shaking I was experiencing, and before I could even sit down, my eyes fixed on a man across the aisle from me. All I could focus on were the hearing aids in both his ears, and this shocked me as I instantly realized I was expected to step out right this minute; the Lord wasn’t even going to give me a day to process what just happened. “Oh, no! Please don’t make me do this right this minute, Jesus,” I called out quietly, but He did not let me off the hook. I felt this was a test I would have to pass, lest my inaction be a disappointment to the Lord.

So, with much trepidation, I got up as we were all beginning a break and approached the man with the hearing aids, explaining my belief that Jesus wanted me to pray for the restoration of his hearing and to do so right this minute. He agreed (to my relief), and I asked Eleni to join me. As we discussed his hearing problems briefly, he said he was going to now remove both hearing aids after which time he would be unable to hear what we were saying. I proceeded to lay one hand on one of his ears, while Eleni laid a hand on his other ear and we began to pray and wait for the Holy Spirit to tell us what to do next, just as Mike had instructed. This didn’t take long, and after a minute or so, what came in my mind were words like, “eardrum,” “perforation,” “dark passage,” and “rupture.” I immediately said these words, praying as I did that the Holy Spirit would open his ear passageways and restore his hearing. Eleni, I think, prayed in tongues and in English. After another few minutes of prayer, we began conversing quietly with the man and I realized by what he was saying to me that he was hearing every word I was saying!!! Praise the Lord! Cautiously, but with great anticipation, I asked if he could hear me, and he said he could, and that his hearing to his obvious amazement was much improved. Praise the Lord again!!! We then asked if we could pray some more, which we did, and he again said his hearing improved noticeably. Eleni tested him further by standing behind him and whispering and he confirmed he could hear every word she said! I immediately burst into tears at this extraordinary “workshop” of the Holy Spirit; encouraging us all in this way and providing a measure of real healing to this man’s hearing loss. Finally, as we rose to leave him, the man said he was going to keep the hearing aids out the rest of the day to see if he could hear the speakers, and later, during the afternoon, we saw him happily scribbling notes during each of the afternoon talks, no hearing aids in sight! How wonderful!

The only question mark for me came at the very end of the conference the next day, when this man walked into the hall late and I saw him wearing at least one of the hearing aids. He wound up taking the microphone and testifying about significant physical healing of his injured back and legs during one of Mike Evans’ sessions, but didn’t mention the hearing. I struggled against unbelief for a time at this lack of further confirmation, but still left pleased that he obviously had multiple close encounters with God and perhaps his hearing was improving, but was not entirely there yet, like many other healing situations we have seen and heard about where such healing is progressive and takes time. Maybe, one day we will know for sure; maybe not. In any case, we praise the Lord.

At the end of the conference, during testimonies, many others took the microphone to praise God for their physical healings. One testimony that stands out was of a man who spoke of a stroke he suffered in 2003 that had made it impossible for him to jog. He missed getting the runner’s “high” (endorphin release). He said that on Friday, during the ‘Empowering’ service, he actually stood up and danced the Hora all around the room!!! He had been healed of the effects of the debilitating stroke. Praise the Lord!!!

Inner Healing

We heard about many instances of inner healing during the conference, especially during the testimonials, but one situation really stood out for me personally, as Eleni and I were the prayer ministers involved and the gentleman testified before the whole group at the end of the conference about what happened, so I feel free to share it now in this document. Eleni and I were a two–person prayer team that volunteered to provide individual prayer with multiple other prayer minister teams during set times each day of the conference. A man in his fifties was brought to us at one point and he related how he and his wife and family were still grieving deeply for a son lost in a car accident just 9 months before. The grief, it seemed, was still bone crushing, and we sensed the Holy Spirit leading us to pray for Jesus to take the man back to the time of the accident in order to show him where Jesus was at the time his son was killed so tragically. Soon after, it seemed that a big weight was removed from this man’s shoulders, as he told us that he got a vision of Jesus there at his son’s accident scene, lifting his son up in his arms. This proved to be a deeply meaningful inner healing experience for the man, as he later testified before the whole group at the end of the conference. What a privilege to have been his prayer ministers when this occurred. God is so very tender and loving to show himself to this man in this way. Praise the Lord!

During the testimonies, another woman detailed how skeptical and suspicious she had been about the whole “healing thing,” and of her deep wariness of “those charismatic people,” being fearful of even attending the conference, lest her friends identify her as one of “us.” She attended very reluctantly in the end, and as she detailed her experiences, we all cheered, especially when she said how she had been overcome by the Holy Spirit at the conference, was healed from crippling fibromyalgia, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and given the gift of tongues, with Judith pointing out that she had now truly become “one of us” as we laughed. The woman described herself as having been completely transformed.

Resting in the Spirit

For many attending, the healing service Thursday evening proved to be their first experience with the phenomenon of “resting in the Spirit.” Many people being prayed over toppled over backwards onto the floor (laid down gently by the catchers), then lay motionless for some time while the Holy Spirit did whatever healing he was going to do with them. The healing service started at 7pm and went until about midnight, with dozens upon dozens experiencing the resting in the Spirit phenomenon. I was there catching many of them.

At one point, a CHM prayer minister, was laying hands on people who were subsequently “slain in the Spirit” and a rather large man toppled over directly onto her, knocking her to the floor and (according to witnesses) covering her entirely to where she could not be seen! There was much laughing about that as the man was removed without injury to either party. Soon after, she was up praying again, this time for a young woman, when the Holy Spirit decided to overcome her rather than the recipient of her prayers! She collapsed backwards onto her side this time without anyone there to catch her and lay prostrate for about 10 minutes, unable to move at all — the “glued to the floor” experience — as we (and she) roared with laughter! Of course, she was not injured, since this was all the doing of the Holy Spirit, so this just became another example of our Lord’s wonderful sense of humor. How fun!

As we got down to the last people of the night, I finally stepped forward for prayer. As a team prayed for me, I soon found myself also on the floor looking up. (It turned out that a very tall nun actually caught all 6’5” of me! Amazing! Thank you, whoever you are!) As has happened once or twice to me in the past when I’ve been overcome by the Spirit in this way, I was in an unnecessary and inadvisable rush to get up, this time frankly because it was very late (most of the other prayer ministers had already gone to bed and I wanted to meet one of the speakers who hadn’t yet left the meeting room). While I lay there pondering what to do, I kept hearing the Holy Spirit saying, “Let me minister to you,” “Let me minister to you.” This kept me there a bit longer, but my impatience and desire to meet the other speaker got the better of me, I’m sad to say (so sorry, Holy Spirit!!!), and I rose before the Lord was finished with me. The Holy Spirit would soon come back to finish the job, as I discovered the next day.

The Ridiculous Men of the Huddle

My unfinished resting in the Spirit experience on Thursday night would in fact be rectified in a very humorous way on Friday. I was a catcher again at the extraordinary Empowering Service that evening, and found everyone between me and the stage at one point having gone down to the floor. I stepped forward to the stage to receive anointing prayer, hands outstretched. Judith MacNutt and Mike Evans both came to me together after a short time and laid their hands on each of my hands. No sooner did this occur then I actually saw through closed eyes what briefly looked like a bolt of lightning, though I felt nothing, and I soon found myself looking up at the ceiling. I was awake and aware of everything going on around me, and there was an enormous hush flowing through the room for a long time as the Holy Spirit just descended on the entire place. I was later told that people were toppling over in their chairs, and Robin, Mike, and Judith could be heard over the next minutes remarking at just how powerful the Holy Spirit was moving in the room at this time of anointing! Wow! I was so very curious and eager not to miss anything, but this time the Holy Spirit had me pinned tightly to the floor. It was as if I could move the muscles inside my arms, legs, and torso, but the outside parts of my body would not or could not respond at all. The Holy Spirit wasn’t going to let me go anywhere this time until he was quite finished with me! I was absolutely stuck to the floor, unable to lift my limbs at all! As I lay there, soaking in the palpable presence of the Spirit, I could literally feel the Holy Spirit like a towel wrapped around my head, stretching from ear to ear across my forehead with a gentle heaviness. Something big was happening — I still don’t know what exactly, but can’t wait to find out — and I quickly gave up any thought of getting up while I felt the Holy Spirit on my head in this way. Wow!

Eventually, I did rise, literally staggering around for a time as I did so, catching glimpses of people having all manner of Supernatural experiences, all very quietly as though in absolute awe of the sheer power of Jesus at this time. That quietness, however, was about to change in a big way. A pastor who had touched my heart the night before was positioning himself near the stage to catch others. He was himself suddenly and abruptly overcome by the Holy Spirit and fell backwards onto the floor (I think without anyone behind him to catch him), just roaring with laughter as he did so and continuing to laugh while down on his back. Recovering my legs, I started laughing at what happened to him once I saw he was ok, as did several other men up at the front, and before long, a dozen or more of us were just roaring with laughter, experiencing the joy of the Holy Spirit without any encumbrance of self–consciousness.

When my new pastor friend arose from the floor finally, he linked arms with several other men, whom I soon joined, and we formed a tight huddle, laughing uproariously the whole time, dancing in a circle back and forth, forward and back, hugging one another unabashedly in love and fellowship, trying not to fall down in a heap, and just feeling (at least from my personal perspective) that we were actually and truly one body in Christ Jesus. One man (who had one arm around my shoulders) pronounced that the effort of this arm motion alone (I am much taller than him) just confirmed the miraculous healing of his formerly damaged shoulder! Praise the Lord! This dancing, singing, laughing, nearly falling, all in a tight huddle continued for a very long time, with other men gradually joining us, breaking into the tight circle. I was vaguely aware at this time of all sorts of wild jubilation spreading around the room, with many dancing in a Jewish type dance in a long line all around the room, while others worshiped with hands raised in the air, and others slumped over in their chairs or onto the floor. So much was happening. I think the praise and worship leaders at some point started playing their great music, which just whipped us all up even more. I could see the leaders up on the stage, their mouths agape at what was happening all around. The power and the glory of the Holy Spirit was just so amazingly evident everywhere. The next day, during her closing remarks, Judith described our little group of men as the “Ridiculous men of the huddle” that she will “never forget” as long as she lives! HA! I’m so very happy to have experienced this extraordinarily close fellowship with these other men, and when writing to Judith in the future will be sure to use this salutation — A ridiculous man of the huddle!

Thank You, Jesus, for allowing Eleni and me the opportunity to see Your glory and power on display in Vermont on the mountaintop in such a meaningful way! Thank you, CHM, for putting on these events. I can’t wait for next year’s CHM in New England!!! Praise the Lord!

Jay Jakub is a CHM Prayer Minister and volunteer. He and his wife Eleni live in McLean, Virginia.