The Book of Acts TODAY !

group photoThe quaint town of Spa, Belgium famous for its thermal springs was a favorite destination spot for many of the European nobility as early as the 14th century. It’s the place from which we get the term “health spa.” Nestled in a picturesque valley of the Ardennes region, Spa is also the preferred site of Students for Christ – Belgium’s annual retreat at the Salvation Army center on the outskirts of town.

This year’s retreat went down in history as we experienced first-hand some very similar occurrences to our theme for the weekend – The Book of Acts TODAY! Under the teaching and ministry of evangelist Wim Kok from the Flemish city of Leuven, students had fresh and/or new encounters with the Holy Spirit…healing, prophecy and heavenly languages were all evident!

Probably one of the most exciting happenings of all was the spontaneous all-night prayer meeting held by a handful of tenacious students determined to make a difference in the spiritual realm through their connection with God. About 3 am on Sunday morning as intercession was well underway, one of the students proclaimed in her prayer in reference to God’s power through Christians, “and hell trembles”. At that very moment, the house shook, and every participant of that holy huddle felt it, not to mention the guest speaker who was fast asleep in his second floor room.

When I got home on Sunday evening an email from the retreat speaker awaited me in my inbox. It was a link to the National Seismographic Institute of Belgium which upon further perusal indicated that the epicenter of a mild earthquake during the wee hours of Sunday morning around 3 am was none other than Spa, Belgium!

DSC06267.JPGThe students were overwhelmed as to how God would manifest Himself in such ways to convince them that He desires to use them as His vessels within the halls of academia here in Western Europe. What an object lesson!