I
had the
opportunity to hear the Rev. Jeffrey Brown give a testimony and preach
at a
revival in Wilson, North Carolina in 2007. He took
his shoes off and stepped up into the pulpit. He had my
attention. I walked away that day my mind forever changed about
healing power and I knew I would never allow people, limitations or
circumstances to stop me from reaching the potential God gives to all of
us.
He began
by saying, "I have to tell you right from the start that people have
planned my
funeral six times. I’ve had cancer and recurring cancer. One
morning after I was healed from all this I felt my throat and a big lump
had formed.
Back I went to the surgical room again.”
This
preacher continued on coming down into the midst of the people in his
sock feet
with an unbelievable strength of voice while his frail lanky body showed
the
visible scars of the numerous battles for his life.
"The
devil thought he had shut me up with this last surgery,” he said
twisting up
his mouth in a determined, rebuking manner.
"During
the surgery my vocal cords were damaged and separated,” he said with
finality.
He thought
about the surgeon for a second, smiled and said, "I had this Iraqi
doctor and
he came in my hospital room the next morning with his charts and notes
to try
to explain to me why I would never speak again. But he didn’t know
people
had already prayed for my healing once again and I had spoken to my wife
that
morning. I just let him talk on and after he was finished telling me I
would never preach again, I looked at him and said, is that
right?”
Well if I
was the devil I would shutter when this man got up on his feet to speak
because
when he pointed his finger at you a supernatural knowledge was released
from
him onto you in a prophetic affirmation.
Now I’m
here to tell you that this preacher did not know anybody that day with
the
exception of the pastor and one deacon, yet he spoke the truth over
about eight
people’s lives. He looked at one man and said, "God has a protective
shield over you, I don’t know what you do or if your job is dangerous
but you
got a hedge around you.”
We all
looked at each other because the man he was speaking to was in law
enforcement.
Then he
looks at another and says, "You’re called to a ministry.” That man had
recently rededicated his life and is a gifted singer and pianist.
He told one young lady that she would preach to thousands. That young
lady preached at our church a few weeks ago. I sat stunned and
remembering Jeff Brown's prophecy over her. She said she was more
stunned
than anybody over that prophecy that day.
He asks an
elderly lady what her daughter’s name was and she says, Marie. He said,
"she’s got grace in her life.” That daughter’s little six year old
girl’s
name is Grace.
He points
his finger at me on the second night of the revival and says, "You got
power in
your tongue. I see a garment on you with bells on the hem. I am now
a speaker and minister of education.
The first night he was in the middle of his sermon and suddenly he looks
up in
the choir loft and points at my husband and tells him to come down. He
looks at me in the congregation and said, "This is your husband isn't
it?" Well I was crying by then because my husband and I had just
gotten married a month earlier. Still crying and overwhelmed by this
man's discernment he wrapped an anointed cloth around both of our wrists
and
said, "You have a covenant and you two are going to the promise
land."
What this preacher didn't know was that in this Jubilee Year that I was a
Jubilee birth. It was my season. God had moved me geographically to
Wilson, North
Carolina. I remember saying, Lord has anything
good ever come out of Wilson?
God had changed my name, and my husband had nicknamed me Hepzabah.
Two months after this revival God opened a door for me to go back to
school where I earned my degree in biblical studies.
Prophecy is not complicated. You are either anointed for it or you're
not. In bible times if your prophecy didn't come about you would be
killed. If someone prophecies over you make sure it is confirmed by two
or
more.
Rev. Brown has went on to be with the Lord, but he touched so many
people's
lives and his words still linger in our lives today. God had allowed a
thorn in
his side but then it was that weakness in him that made the glory of God
so
pronounced in him.
