Mary Colbert - Prayer That Changes Everything: 5 Principles to Activate Your Faith

CHAPTER 2

THE PRINCIPLE OF FAITH IN CONSTANT MOTION

.

CHAPTER 3

THE PRINCIPLE OF FAITH THAT EXCITES GOD

.

.

.

CHAPTER 8

GOD LEADS US IN TRIUMPH

Larry Huchs teaching on the shofar is used here with permission.

- and-western-wall-june-1967.

.

CHAPTER 10

PRAYING WITH POWER

.

CHAPTER 11

VICTORY IS NOT FOR THE LAZY

.

.

IT WAS CHRISTMAS night 2014, and I was at the end of a long, fulfilling day spent with our son, his wife, and our grandchildren. Everyone else had gone to bed, but at eleven oclock I was still up finishing my labor of love, which had been cooking for and hosting the family. After a few final touches, I left the kitchen looking good for the morning. It was time for some well-earned sleep.

I stepped into our pitch-black bedroom. Anyone who has read my husbands book The Seven Pillars of Health knows that one of the pillars of good health is sleep, and one key to good sleep is a very dark room. Don takes his own advice, and he doesnt kid around. The blinds and drapes were completely shut so no light could come in. He even covered the little red or blue lights on electronics with black tape. By this point in our marriage, I think I could have navigated the entire room without the benefit of a single ray of light. Like Don, I appreciate uninterrupted sleep.

I felt my way to the bed so thoroughly exhausted from the events of the day that I dont even remember my head hitting the pillow. My body and mind were way ahead of me. They just wanted to go unconscious.

Then it happened.

As soon as I lay down, the whole room lit up. It went from no light to bright as day in an instant.

No way, I thought. Have I somehow slept through the night already? The sun cannot be up right now. Didnt I just come in here?

Then I heard a voice speak, and it was not Dons. In fact, it was unlike any human voice I had ever heard. Still, my immediate reaction was to wonder, Did I leave a radio on? Is that the television?

The voice sounded authoritative and booming, similar to what our friend Kenneth Copeland sounds like when he is preaching under the anointing. But I quickly concluded it was not Kens voice. It was something I had never heard before.

With a trembling soul, I realized I was hearing the voice of the Father or maybe the voice of the Holy Spirit. I dont know how that all works, but one thing was clear to me: God was speaking to me in my bedroom. Here is what He said:

Mary! You have been summoned by Me!

Every cell in my body shook with awe and fear. The word Me carried with it an earth-shattering power. I knew this was the God who could split rocks with a word and command worlds into being. I cant begin to describe the terror that coursed my body. Like the sound of a train roaring by, so was the vibration of Gods very words, the basis of all reality. No wonder Moses and John fell on their faces when He spoke, I thought. Im not sure I will survive this!

The voice continued: I want you to get a pen and a pad and write this down.

God wants me to write something down? I thought. Hes giving me a message? But as I was forming those thoughts, He was still speaking without pausing.

I want you to teach My people the five principles of faith. Write this down!

The problem was, He didnt stop to let me find a pen and paper! I scrambled around the room looking for something to write with and to write on. I could now see by the supernatural light of His presence. I felt desperate to find a pen because the Spirit of God was talking and had commanded me to write it down. I didnt want to fail my encounter!

Thats when I first received the supernatural revelation that He was telling me to write a book. God has given me a command according to Jeremiah 30:2, I thought, which says, Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel, saying: Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. That is happening to meMary Colbert. Wow!

I fumbled through the items on my bedside table as the voice of God continued and as my heart pounded with excitement and no small amount of fear. I finally found what I was looking for just as He declared, The first principle is...

CALLED BY GOD

All my life I have heard people talk about their visitations from the Lord. I myself had experienced personal encounters with angels before but never a direct personal encounter with God. Yet I never felt deficient in any way because I am very secure in the Fathers love and affection for me.

But I do believe that such encounters are important to establishing a ministry. Paul associates apostles with those who had seen the Lord (1 Cor. 9:1). Experiences erase any doubt that God has called you, and they often supply the revelation to help you minister in the years ahead. Don had been called and set aside for a specific work by the Lord, and this was confirmed in multiple ways through a number of experiences and numerous people. I have spent much of my life supporting Don in his workhelping him write books, traveling with him, and being his biggest supporter. There is no doubt in my mind that he was called of God. Don is like a modern-day apostle Luke, and I believe he walks in that same gifting and anointing.

But in our years of ministry, we have also seen well-meaning people launch out before they were called. A friend of mine, Lynn Braco, pastor of Fort Myers Christian Outreach Center, said to me once, You know, Mary, one reason some preachers dont finish their race well is because some are called, some are sent, and some just took a microphone and went. I laughed when she said it, but there is a lot of truth to her statement as well. She added, When God calls you, He equips you to finish the race. Its not your own doing. Ministry is not just something to do because you want to. Its a calling. Ive observed that pastors who try to anoint their children or a preferred associate to take over their ministry rarely succeed. Thats not how ministry is meant to be built. People who minister are supposed to be called by the Father, not by other people. He then confirms that calling through multiple voices and witnesses, not through the decision of one person to anoint him or her.

Having believed this for some time, I had told the Lord, I will never say I have been called unless You call me. I am not going to be guilty of just taking the microphone and going. I want to finish my race strong, whatever race You have called me to.

Over the years, I have often spoken at womens meetings, prisons, and jails because we are all commanded by the Spirit of God to be witnesses of the gospel and to share our testimonies. Nobody needs a special experience to share the gospel and convert the unbeliever. But certain callings to teach, preach, and evangelize in a more focused and full-time manner must come from the Spirit of God.

For decades I had been completely content to be Dons support, and I still am. I wasnt seeking a ministry assignment. On that Christmas night I didnt see what was coming for me. But the Father knew me better than I knew myself. He knew I wouldnt grab a microphone and go unless I had a mandate from heaven. When He started with the words You have been summoned by Me! it was a joyful, almost playful way to let me know this assignment was straight from Him. He wanted me to know beyond any doubt that He was calling me to share an extraordinary message. Over the next several minutesI dont know how long the encounter lastedHe put in my hands an amazing set of principles that would change not only