Oil of Heaven Ministries

Psalm 37:7 - "Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him."

There is a deep need in every one of us to be close to God. Experiencing God is something to be sought after and not avoided. While we base our theology on God's Word, our experiences with God make it all come alive. The Bible is a book recording the experiences of men and women throughout several millennia of history whose lives were changed through divine encounters. Your life, too, will be changed as you encounter Him.

To "soak" in God's presence is to rest in His love rather than to "strive" in prayer. Someone has likened this experience to making pickles. When making pickles, first the raw cucumber is dipped in boiling water to sterilize it. Then it is immersed in the pickling solution for several weeks. During this soaking time the pickling solution soaks deep into the flesh of the cucumber until it takes on the flavor of the pickling solution and it no longer tastes like a raw cucumber. In soaking prayer we "marinate" in the divine presence, and begin to take on the flavor of God.

We offer a safe place for those hungry for God's presence to be drawn deeper into intimacy with God. This is a time to quiet down enough to hear the words of life God wishes to whisper to us. There is no program, no performance, no wrong or right thing to do, no expectations placed on you by others. Our practice is to soak while listening to intimate worship music with meaningful words that quiet the soul and help us draw near to God. It usually takes about fifteen minutes to quiet the business of life and enter into rest, but you can’t force or hurry this so we often go longer. As we soak in God's presence and listen to the appointed scriptures or selections from the Psalms, the Lord often begins to draw our attention to some particular passage of Scripture or provide impressions or pictures in the mind's eye. Of course, the idea is not to "get something" but to "be with someone," so we take a good bit of time just to be with Him and to love Him and let Him love us. We then have a brief time to share any thoughts with the group. We return to quiet music or simply wait in silence and meditate upon what we have heard.

As we rest expectantly in God's presence, often the Holy Spirit reveals more of God's love for us and renews and repairs damaged areas of our life. As our Prayer Team ministers to those present, occasionally people become quite emotional as God touches deep places in their heart. There are often areas of past wounding where we are very reluctant to go. That is often the very place that the Lord wants you to revisit so that He can bring freedom and healing to areas of fear and pain. Most evenings, a few people are present who want healing prayer or would like to receive a fuller release of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In prayer for physical healing you may experience an electric like tingling or a warm sensation going through you. We always have a team of experienced people on hand who can love you through whatever God chooses to do with you and help reassure you.

Can I trust that it is the Holy Spirit working? Everything we receive from God we receive by faith. Faith must be positive and focused on God, not negative and fearful, focused on the enemy. St. Luke records Jesus as saying, "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Lk 11:11-13)

The key is an intimate relationship. You grow to know someone (even a divine, triune someone!) by a series of encounters that bond you together. It is not only a rational process of the mind memorizing the Catechism! Your heart must be engaged as well. Experiencing God's presence will help you to stand before the Lord in silence with your mind in your heart and to hear with the ear of the soul.