Dear
Brother Taylor,
It
was a great blessing to see you again.
I have kept you in my thoughts and prayers through the
years. I felt as though I had come home last
Saturday when I attended your monthly meeting at The Church
at Northern Virginia in Oakton.
When
I was at the school that you were President of during the 70s, my first visitation ever was
in the attic room that I shared with several other women.
I experienced hearing water dripping. I thought that we had leaky plumbing and
literally got up from my bed to check it.
To my amazement, as I returned to my bed the sound of
water dripping continued, so this time I went to the little
window portal for evidence of rain.
Surprisingly, there was no rain.
I returned to my bed again and drifted off to sleep.
I
do not know whether I was dreaming or whether I had a vision,
but the sound of soft rain continued until I saw water building
up on the wooden floor. I remember becoming worried about the
water levels getting higher and higher. (I was not studied enough to know about Ezekiel's
vision of the healing waters; ankle, knee and waist deep).
As
I watched the water rise, my concern was that I would drown
even though I was, at that time, an excellent swimmer.
The waters climbed to the ceiling over my head. To my amazement, I was able to breathe,
walk, and move in the water-like
substance and felt such overwhelming peace and joy.
Shortly afterwards, the Lord walked
in, and we went out together.
I do not know where He took me, but I remember when He
returned me, I did not want to let Him go.
I
have never forgotten that substance, and now I better understand
the Presence of the Lord and that dynamic
atmosphere. I
could feel the same water-like substance when we began to worship
at the meeting at The Church at Northern
Virginia and sensed its gentle rising.
I remember the many times we went up
in the spirit at the Bible
School
and I remember hearing the angels singing, (ruining
me for any other earthly music except it be mixed with the heavenly
choir).
On
one such occasion, I saw the heavens open and a light too bright
to look at, shone as a noise burst through the opening.
I longed to go in, but the noise was so loud and great
that my natural ears could not contain the sound; I fell to
the floor holding my ears. I had never understood this occurrence,
but your reference to the progression of our relationship with
the Lord as being similar to the noise
of a waterspout developing into the new
song is applicable.
Thank
you for your obedience to the Lord calling you to this area,
and all that He is able to deposit in us through you for His
sake.
With
much appreciation,
Brenda Noble
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The
Secret of the Stairs - Personalized for me
Diana
Lancaster
In
2001, a friend from Tucson visited me, and brought along a book,
The Secret of the Stairs, to read.
While here, the Lord spoke to her, That book is for
Diana. Before her departure, we prayed and the
Lord spoke through her, The Lord loves you so much, Diana,
and He wants you to be in love with Him again.
I cried, knowing for months I had been hearing the still
quiet voice of God calling me to be in love with Him.
When
I went to my room with my new book, the Lord met me, presencing
Himself with me. He
began to personalize each chapter as if He wrote the book just
for me. He impressed me to fast everything that
had been a distraction from Him for 30 days, and to seek only
Him.
For
months previous to this, I had prayed, Lord, show me how
You see me, and prepare me for Your soon coming.
I began to see myself as the Lord saw me. As the dealings of God began, I heard
His voice clearly and knew it was Him.
So I responded, and totally yielded to Him, allowing
Him to do as He desired in me.
I
heard the Lord say, You know all about Me, and what I've
done for you, and how to receive from My hand, but you don't
know Me! I didn't know I didn't know Him!
He
told me another time, You're selfish, and you live your
life for self. All
this began to bring me to a place of brokenness before Him.
He'd show me, as He'd speak, what He saw in me. I wept, repenting and allowing Him to
change me, knowing I was totally dependent upon Him to do so. He showed me my self-life and immaturity,
yet I saw how He longed to make me His bride.
Yet
another time the Lord told me, You love Me for the blessings
and benefits I've given you, but you're not in love with Me
anymore. He saw the potential within me, the hunger
I had for more of Him, what I longed for. Yet all I'd been taught for 18 years was
all He had done and so freely given me, and how to receive those
things by faith.
My
eyes began to open, and I began to want Him for Himself, and
not for what He could do or give me.
All this was bringing great reduction to me as I yielded
to Him as He walked me through The Secret of the Stairs
book. I began to
see the cross that Jesus personally made for me, and I chose
to die to my self-life, and my will crossing His, and surrender
all to Him. I gave Jesus everything, and I felt the
death and pain of it as I gave up what I wanted. I wept much before Him, but received His
grace to carry me through.
Much
to my amazement, the Lord took all I gave Him, and I knew our
home was to be sold. He
showed me how I had made idols out of my home and all the stuff
within it, trying to find satisfaction for the great spiritual
hunger within me.
For
five months our home was for sale, and one Sunday a lady called
to see it. I told her she could come the next day.
I felt for sure it would sell.
In the middle of the night I was awakened and heard the
Lord speak, Not only do I want you to sell your home, but
you are not to buy another; you are to rent and box up everything
and put it in storage.
I froze in the bed, sweating, knowing I was facing the
cross again. All I could say was, Lord, I'll do
it, I can't not do it.
And I went to sleep.
The
next morning as I was worshipping the Lord, I fell on the floor
crying, Lord, let this cup pass from me, but not my will,
but Thine be done; I'll do whatever you want.
I had allowed the Lord to bring to death in me my love
for our home and all the stuff.
But it was more than I could bear, not knowing how to
tell my husband what the Lord said to do. I didn't see how he would ever understand.
Of all the Lord's dealings, this was the hardest place
He brought me to. As I continued to worship Him, I heard
Him speak, This cup shall pass from you, and I will make
a way for you to stay.
Peace, heavy peace settled over my whole body and mind,
and a knowing dropped into my heart that the debt on
our home would be cleared. I got up off my knees, cleaned and vacuumed
the house to show it, and the phone rang. The lady cancelled her appointment because
she found another house.
My husband David and I felt released to take down the
For Sale sign. He did understand what the Lord had been
doing in me. And
I later saw how our home had been an Isaac upon the altar.
In five months time, our home was paid in full; God had
made a way!
All
through this time I had been praying for the Lord to draw
me to Himself. And
I found my heart changing, as layer after layer of my self-life
was dealt with, and the very motives and intents of my heart
were exposed.
For
18 years I had laid hands on the sick, and seen them recover
in the Name of Jesus.
I had many opportunities to teach and share the Word,
and minister to others. But like the Shulamite woman, I never
found satisfaction for the spiritual hunger within me through
working for the Lord or ministry.
And Jesus showed me how years ago I had started following
ministers and ministries, and stopped following Him.
I was seeing the price I would pay in giving up all to
follow Jesus - that my life was not my own, that it wasn't about
me, or just about whom I was in Him. Rather, it was about Jesus, and who He
is and desired to be in me.
He
showed me the times He'd come, and I always dodged the plow
that came to till up the soil in my heart because I didn't recognize
and know the Lord in this way.
My life was full, and I was very distracted.
But when the Lord got my attention, and walked me through
The Secret of the Stairs, He later told me, I have
patiently waited for you to come to this place with me.
I will be eternally grateful to Him for what He has and
is doing in me. The Lord wrote The Secret of the Stairs
through Wade Taylor in such a way that I would hear and understand
what the Lord was speaking and calling me to in my life. I then saw my life differently, knowing
I would qualify in this lifetime to be His bride, so I am making
myself ready!
*.......... *.........
*
By
Way of . . . The Stairs
Nancy
Carr
I had spent most of my Christian life
feeling that God was distant and demanding and holding a lightning
bolt in His hand with my name on it.
As a result, I tried hard to stay out of the way of lightning
bolts! I worked hard for God - always trying
to please Him and earn His love, always feeling condemned because
I didn't measure up.
In
1991, I finally gave up and told God, If this is all there
is, I give up. I'm
miserable and I wouldn't share this with my worst enemy.
Christianity is too hard, I can't do it.
In
my spirit I heard His voice, ever so gentle, ever so loving,
ever so kind: That's right, Nancy, you can't...but I never
asked you to. You can't earn My love, I simply love you.
I am pleased with you just as you are.
I delight in you.
Draw near and I will reveal Myself to you.
Open yourself to Me and you will stand amazed as you
see My glory.
Those
words were life-changing.
Something happened deep inside of me and the cry of my
heart became, Lord, I want to know You.
What an amazing journey it has been and continues to
be - so much revelation, so many experiences.
I'm not the person I was, and I'm not the person I'm
going to be. I'm a work in progress.
While in a prayer meeting in 1996, the Lord gave me a little vision. I saw myself as a child being helped up
a set of stairs holding the Lord's hand.
My attention was drawn especially to the stairs themselves
and to the fact that each one had a low riser and a longer step,
or platform. I was disappointed that my little vision
had nothing to do with what the Lord was saying to the group
that day, and figuring that I had missed Him, I forgot all about
it.
A
few weeks later my husband and I were at a conference in Charlotte,
North Carolina. I
purchased a book called, The Secret of the Stairs, by
Wade Taylor. As I read the book, I was absolutely amazed!
The author was describing in the experience of the bride
in the Song of Solomon what I was beginning to experience in
my life! And on
page 66 (page 72 in
the 2004 edition),
he was describing and interpreting my little vision!
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*......... *
An
encouraging Anonymous word
I
would like to share what happened when Wade Taylor spoke at
one of our meetings during a conference this past April.
There
was such a contrary atmosphere in that place before Brother
Taylor started speaking.
As he spoke, I could feel things shifting in the heavenlies,
and coming into a proper adjustment.
After
he finished speaking, the Kingdom (order)
of God was there, and each person in the room was conversing
softly with the Lord from their heart.
Before
I left the meeting, I asked someone, Did you feel the atmosphere
shift as Brother Taylor spoke?
He replied, It certainly did shift!
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*
