6/9/2010 - 7-eleven

Today my treasure map consisted of 7-eleven for one of the locations, cowboy hat, mustache, & blue visor for some of the appearances. I went directly to our local 7-eleven and as soon as I parked the car a man in a "cowboy hat" who had a "mustache" got out of his car and walked in. I had no doubt he was one of the treasures. I went up to him and explained my treasure map and asked him if he needed prayer...and he couldn't understand me. He only spoke a little english. I asked him if he knew Jesus and he smiled really big and nodded his head yes and said Yeshua. Sooo I didn't get to pray anything specific for him, but I was encouraged that I hadn't chickened out, even if it wasn't a complete success due to the language barrier.

Then as I got into my car, I noticed a man in a "blue visor" filling up his gas tank, as I got out of my car he got into his and closed the door and I wasn't brave enough to run over to him with his door closed, so I may have missed out on a wonderful treasure. Courage is sometimes harder to come by then you would think.

6/7/2010

Sorry to say, but I didn't have any success with my treasure hunt today. I combined it with a grocery shopping trip, so maybe I didn't look properly. Will try again tomorrow or Wednesday or both.

The Treasure Hunt

This blog has been inspired by the book The Ultimate Treasure Hunt by Kevin Dedmon "a guide to Supernatural Evangelism through Supernatural Encounters".

After reading the book I tried out the idea that God could lead me to people who needed prayer through words of knowledge given and written down (the treasure map) before walking out the door. I was blown away. As intimidating and scary as it may sound to approach a complete stranger and offer to pray for them, it has been and continues to be the most rewarding risk I have ever taken.

The treasure hunt is this: I or a few friends and I pray and ask the Holy Spirit for words of knowledge to direct us to His treasures (people He has prepared for an encounter with Him that day). We then take a few minutes and write down all the words that come to mind and place them in one of the following categories:

1. Location (stop sign, bus stop, Target, safeway, frozen foods etc...)

2. A person's name

3. A person's appearance (the color of their specific articles of clothing, the color of their hair, etc...)

4. What they might need prayer for (knee brace, cane, liver, tumor, left ankle, finances, marriage etc...)

5. The unusual ( lollipop, windmill, lime-green door, dolfins etc...)

Each of our papers with the words we've written down is our treasure map(s). We head out the door to the location(s) and search for those who fit the clues. Once we find the person(s) who has been marked as a treasure we approach him/her and explain that we are on a treasure hunt and that we think he/she is the treasure. We show him/her the clues if they are doubtful, and ask if any of the things they might need prayer for are written on our list of ailments. Once they confirm that we have listed a need that is specific to them, we ask if we can pray for them right then and there. If the person accepts, we pray for them and share Jesus' love and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. It is just amazing!

During Jesus' ministry he demonstrated great love and compassion for people by healing them, setting them free, doing good, feeding them etc... Jesus went to where the people were. He went to where the need was, and met it. We are surrounded by people in great need right now. The Treasure Hunt is one of many tools for any follower of Jesus to use in order to go out, as He did, and love on our neighbors by finding them supernaturally and watching God demonstrate his goodness and love and desire to still meet their needs.

This Blog is going to be where I document the testimonies of each of my treasure hunts. I welcome anyone to add their treasure hunting testimonies. I wish I had started documenting them a year ago, as each testimony has been amazing and the memory of each is what helps me overcome the fear of going on the next one. Because I have seen it work and know it has worked, I know it will work again. So here we go. Tomorrow I will go on my first one that will be posted to kick off this blog.