Legacy

There have been men and women throughout history who have lived their lives in pursuit of fulfilling impossible dreams. These are the people who shake cultures, who invent things that are of vital importance, and who are remembered long after they have died. These men and women know that God has appointed them to be a catalyst that will change the world as we know it.

These men and women were not without opposition. They faced failure, scrutiny, threats, and attacks. However, what distinguishes them from the people that only the most studied historians would know about is that they were not satisfied by attempting to change the world. They were only satisfied when their mission was accomplished. Their dream of change would spur them on through defeat and their small victories gave them a taste of what they knew they must fully experience.

These were men and women of focus. They didn’t forget what they were born for when they faced opposition. They didn’t give up when faced with obstacles and they didn’t change the subject when others mocked them. They didn’t allow friends or family who opposed them to veer them off the path set before them. They would preach their message to anyone who would listen and even those who wouldn’t. They were never deterred by the odds they faced or how strong the opposition appeared to be. They sacrificed their own well being for the advancement of the cause.

These are men and women who prayed. They sought God to give them strength. They found peace in God through the fiercest storms. They understood that if God said it, He will do it. They realize that they are the Lord’s vessel and that they must follow the direction He leads them down to the most detailed coordinates. They abandon themselves to God’s grace because what they are trying to accomplish is impossible for man, but not for God.

These are men and women who left a legacy. They weren’t just legends while they lived, they were legends after they died. Their legacy lives on through the men and women who have come after them. They didn’t focus on serving themselves, but rather on serving others. Serving people they would never see, people who would never be able to give their appreciation. Jesus taught His disciples to do things in secret so as not to be rewarded (Matthew 6). He taught them to pray to God, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Legends are made out of people who pray. Legends pray for Heaven to invade and occupy the earth. Mary Queen of Scots said, "I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe." Legends leave behind a legacy for generations to come. What will your legacy be?

Greater Measure

If I were to go around asking people if the Bible contained promises, most Christians would agree that it is full of them. Unfortunately, if I were to ask the same people if God has fulfilled any of these promises in their lives, many would probably have a difficult time remembering what God has done. After praying for a man today who has been a Christian for 75 years I was asked a question as to how I can see so many others healed but did not see breakthrough with him. In the midst of crisis it is easy to forget the things that God has done in the past. The disciples struggled with this after they had seen Jesus multiply food not once, but twice. The Israelites certainly struggled with this as they fled Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. Bad theology comes when an insecure person gives an answer to a question that God has not yet answered. Why the man didn’t get healed today is as valid a question as why someone I prayed for in Nashville didn’t get healed.

Over the past several months there has been an incredible increase in the anointing of God not just in my own life, but as a corporate body. At the end of 2006 I had a goal of seeing someone healed every day of 2007. However, as the days passed by I knew that I had already missed the mark. Healings were not too much more than sporadic for the first half of the year so I really had no idea what was about to happen. While traveling several times in July I began to notice that people were getting healed more often when I prayed for them. By the time August rolled around I knew that when God showed me a problem that somebody had it would be healed 100% of the time. When school started in September I had now seen many more healings than there had been days so far in the year. Also in September I started to go after deafness like paparazzi go after celebrities. Since then I have seen dozens healed and have been acutely aware of people being around me with any measure of hearing loss.

Recently I have noticed a greater measure of God’s presence. I honestly don’t feel like I have done anything differently, although I know there have been some small differences. Ever since going to Nashville I have felt God’s presence more while praying for people than any time I can ever remember. Specifically I have also noticed that my awareness of angels has increased. No, I haven’t see them yet, but I sure do feel them. Many times I have felt the presence of angels as I have prayed for people and my faith has increased that God will heal them. It is amazing to look back on 2007 and see all that God has done. I have experienced tremendous increase as the Lord has poured out a greater measure of His presence and anointing. At the beginning of the year I was concerned that God had not yet given me a greater measure, but looking back now I see that what has happened was only made possible by Him pouring out an even greater measure than I had anticipated to begin with. He has gone beyond what I could even think of asking for! The glory of the latter house truly is greater than the glory of the former house!

I No Longer Call You Servants

While talking with a coach recently about the vision I have for my life I began second-guessing myself. One of the things I had told him was something that had just within the past few weeks become highly important to me. While I mentioned spending more time creating this vision I thought for a moment and said that I need to make sure that this is what I am supposed to do. Immediately my coach stopped me and said, “You aren’t a servant, you are a friend. Friends have the option to do what they want.”

I suddenly realized that I was thinking the way I used to, always asking what God’s will for my life is. Jesus taught the disciples to pray in Matthew 6:10, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” When Jesus talked about the kingdom coming, or being at hand, he was always talking about the good news of God’s love being shared as well as the sick being healed, the dead being raised to life, and the oppressed being freed. So when my vision lines up with His kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven, I shouldn’t be worried about the details. Why? Because God wants to be in relationship with us and will tell us what we need to know. Jesus says in John 15:15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” Jesus tells us everything that the Father tells him. So when Jesus says in John 5:19 that he only does what he sees the Father doing, which was healing every person that came to him, we also have access to that same realm!

Although we know that we are God’s friends we often have tendencies that suggest we still feel like servants. And as long as we still feel like servants we will not fully access our heavenly bank accounts where we have waiting for us the full knowledge of what the Father is doing. As long as we have the mindset that we cannot possibly know what God is doing we create a theology that excuses us from knowing what God is doing. When we are convinced that something can’t happen we will live our lives to make sure that we are correct. It is only when we determine that something is possible that we will live our lives to search out a creative solution. What about Proverbs 25:2 which says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” There is truth to it, but Solomon isn’t the savior of the world, Jesus is. John 14:6-7 says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." If we want to know the Father, we need to know Jesus, as he is the ultimate truth.

Since we are friends with God and not servants we have a voice. When we ask God for things He hears us. John 14:14 says, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Jesus didn’t say to ask anything that is God’s will; He said to ask for anything. What is it that you are passionate about? What dreams has God given you? Don’t do nothing just because you don’t want to do what isn’t God’s will. If you are in relationship with God He will tell you all things and loves you whether you decide to be a pastor or a high school math teacher. Jesus taught us to pray that the kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven and that can happen no matter what you are doing and no matter where you are. As a friend you have full access to God and the answer to every problem that the world will ever bring you.

Incredible Healing Wave In Nashville!

As I type this I am on the plane flying back to California after spending the weekend in the Nashville, TN area ministering with Bill Johnson and also his son Eric. Saturday night after our team called out what God was wanting to do and Bill released the congregation to pray, over 125 miracles of healing happened! Sunday night Bill had everyone with some measure of deafness stand and within ten minutes 62 people had been healed! Then after the team again called out what God wanted to do, another 140 miracles were released to people!

All weekend I had been asking God to release healing of deafness in a greater measure. Although I had already personally prayed for nearly ten people who were healed of some measure of deafness I was asking God to release a wave that would heal every person in the building. I almost got what I prayed for! After sharing several testimonies Bill felt that God was moving in the area of deafness and boy was He ever!

One of the most exciting things to see this weekend, as has been the case recently, was how many people were touched as I was ministering to them and God showed me something specific that He wanted to heal, even though the person hadn’t told me about it. Several were brought to tears as they were healed of multiple ailments that they hadn’t even asked for prayer about. The majority of things I saw healed were in fact not things that people told me about, but rather things that God told me about. Not bad for someone who used to tell everyone that he never hears God speak!

Friday night was at a wonderful church, Grace Center, through whom I had initially heard about the ministry of Bill Johnson through a friend. The worship at Grace Center is amazing. The church is so passionate about the presence of God. They have prayer meetings before each service that are really just times of soaking in God’s presence! The place was packed as people hungry for more of God jammed into the building to find that all of the seats were already reserved more than an hour before the service started. The overflow room and hallways allowed space for everyone else. However, God is not limited by walls and people cheered loudly as testimony came forth that someone was healed of cancer in the overflow room!

God, aren't you going to do something?

Recently I came to the realization that I cannot simply ask God to do everything for me while I sit back and do nothing. While you might think that is a bit extreme to ask God to do something while we do nothing, it actually isn't that far from the truth. Before I moved to Redding I was under the false assumption that I could not hear from God. There were many times when I asked God whether or not I should do something and I would never hear Him speak to me. What I didn't know at the time was that God can speak through other things than just an audible voice. Since I never heard His audible voice I thought that he never answered my prayers.

In the past several months I have been almost overwhelmed by God's love in how often He speaks to me. No, I don't hear His audible voice as though I am talking to my friends, but I have heard Him tell me hundreds of times that He is wanting to heal people and then as a result people have been healed. Hundreds of times God has given me prophetic words for other people that encouraged them with the things that God has been showing them. Hundreds of times God has given me dreams that confirm things or speak prophetically to me just as Joseph or Daniel in the Bible.

While praying for a friend recently I felt that God was wanting me to pray for them as though I had never prayed for them before. Dozens of times I have prayed for this friend without them being healed. There have been breakthroughs and answered prayers that I am very thankful for, but I felt as though I had gotten to the place of praying for them as a way of sympathizing instead of praying for them to be healed. So I repented to them and began to pray like I meant it. When nothing happened the first time I prayed again. I kept praying until we saw some breakthrough rather than stopping and just asking God to bless them.

Then, a few days later I was praying for another friend who I have also prayed for many times. I invited Holy Spirit to come more, as He was already there. Then it hit me. God was there. Every time I have prayed for this person He has been there. Sometimes His presence has been very thick and yet the person is still not healed. I was asking God to heal the person Himself. However, I realized that I have done that before and that God listens to me. I remembered that it is impossible for nothing to happen when I pray. Then it hit me; God wants me to do something about it!

Mark 4:38-40 says:

Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"

And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.

And He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

The disciples asked the savior of the world, "do you not care that we are perishing?" however we often ask the Healer, "aren't you going to heal this person?" Jesus then essentially told them, "you wouldn't be scared if you had any faith." I think that God is now saying, "you would heal this person if you had faith."

Well hasn't God been healing people when we ask Him to come? Yes. Jesus didn't start His ministry by telling the disciples that they had no faith. He performed miracles. He taught by parables to the crowd and then explained them to the disciples. However Jesus knew that the disciples must be trained to partner with Heaven so that God's will would be done wherever they went. It is the difference between going to get food yourself and asking someone else to do it for you.

When children learn responsibility their parents can trust them with much greater things. However the child who always asks for help and never does anything themselves will never be given responsibility. I am not saying that we are the ones who heal people, but I remind you that Jesus did tell His disciples to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, and cleanse lepers. He is preparing us for promotion just as He prepared His disciples before Pentecost. To walk in a higher level of authority we must be willing to take steps of faith beyond what we currently know. God is doing something, it just might not be what we think.

God Magnet

About seven or eight years ago I remember one of my high school classmates singing a song by one of his favorite bands, MxPx. The song was called "Chick Magnet" and the line he always sang was, "Well he's a chick magnet, if ya know what I mean. The way the girlies just go to him, well ya should've seen."

People often ask me how I get words of knowledge. Do I go around and constantly ask God to show me things? That’s a good idea, but I have only done that a few times. Do I seek the Lord for a few hours every morning to get a list of things to look for? Nope, but that isn’t a bad idea either. Most of the time I just feel something in my body that isn’t what my body would normally do. Then I ask people who around me if they have a problem with that part of their body. I really can’t take credit for getting the words of knowledge because frankly I didn’t do anything to get them. Well, maybe I did actually do something to get them.

This morning I spent a few minutes reflecting on the goodness of God. I remembered the day almost a year ago when God gave me a huge download of things He wanted to heal and I saw each one of them healed. I remember being at work and getting words of knowledge for my co-workers who weren’t Christians. Since I knew that it was God speaking to me, I was only slightly hesitant to ask them if they had that problem. For what seemed like weeks I was getting dozens of words for people every day. Actually it was only three or four days, but I could literally be writing an email and would get words of knowledge for the person. However, I then began to become afraid to give the words because of how people were reacting. Whereas I had been very accurate at first, I started to be much less accurate. Before I knew it, I wasn’t getting words of knowledge any more.

Now fast forward to June of this year. I was going on some ministry trips and was stepping out with what God was showing me. Then I went on more trips in July and even if I wasn’t sure about whether it was God or not, I would try it out. By the time August rolled around, it felt as though I had antennas sticking out from my body in every direction. I would pick up words of knowledge for people about problems they had forgotten they had because they had become accustomed to them. I started to realize what was happening just before going on a trip to Petoskey, Michigan at the beginning of September. I was no longer afraid of whether I was wrong or not; I was just going to give the word of knowledge regardless.

There are things that we can do to attract God. Some are obvious while others are less obvious. Some of those obvious things are reading our bibles, praying, spending time in worship and things like that. The things that are less obvious have to do with God’s character. God is good, so if we aren’t ready to obey what He is going to tell us, He isn’t going to tell us. In His goodness, He spares us the heartache of repeated failures that come simply because we aren’t ready for the responsibility that He gave us. No guy would ever be a chick magnet if he never talked to girls. In the same way, no person is going to be a God magnet if they never talk to God. Ask God questions, and make sure to answer the phone when He calls. He looks at our faithfulness and will give you the responsibility when He sees you are ready to handle it.

There is one more great way to become a God Magnet. How do you respond to a friend who asks, "Can you to do me a favor?" Do you immediately say yes or do you hesitantly say maybe? I had someone ask me two days ago if I could do a favor for them and I told them frankly, "it depends on what it is," because I knew that his priorities were not my priorities. When he told me what it was that he wanted me to do, I told him that I couldn’t do it because it conflicted with a higher priority. We have to know what our priorities are, and if you want to be a God Magnet, then God must be number one on your priority list. Regardless of my desire to help them, if I constantly turn down people who ask me to do favors for them, it won’t be long before they stop asking me for help. They will find someone who is not only wanting to help, but is also willing to make any sacrifice necessary to help. God loves that we desire for Him to use us, but He is attracted to the people who say yes before He even asks.

Got Love?

I know I promised a blog on what has happened over the past few days, but the reality is that I can't put it to words. I tried, but I can't do it. Three hours of writing and I feel like I would need to write a book in order to finish it. My thoughts are too jumbled right now to put something together that would be comprehensible. So here is a quick thought on love:

"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

So there you have it. Love is the greatest. Until we encounter the love of God we won't be able to share it with others because you can only give what you have. Got love?

The Kingdom of Heaven is upon you

Wow, so much has happened since I last wrote. Within 48 hours I witnessed God open over a dozen people's ears, increase the vision of a person who is almost completely blind, dissolve three tumors near a woman's collarbone, heal a man's leg that had kept him from being able to work, and other miracles of healing. Aside from being amazed by God's love in healing all of these people, not to mention the hundreds of others that I didn't personally witness, is that most of the healings took place not when someone approached me for prayer, but rather when God spoke to me about what He was doing.

The invitation is there. God is calling the plays out methodically just hoping that someone is listening to what He is saying. God is looking for people who are leaning into Him to hear what He is saying and act upon it. I used to tell people that God never speaks to me. However, what I didn't realize is that if I had been really hungry to hear God, I should have waited on Him until I heard Him speak. Two and a half years ago I went on a my first mission trip to South Africa. I went into the trip praying that I would see miracles while I was there. However, I was dissappointed to return home without seeing anyone healed. Unfortunately I didn't realize for over a year that I didn't pray for anyone to be healed while I was there.

Now I understand what God is doing and what He saying at least some of the time. I have asked God to show me what He is doing so that I would only do what I see Him doing. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. That is what words of knowledge are. Similarly, by leaning into God we can often get a grasp for what He is doing in this current season. For us in Redding, He is giving us authority over deafness. It is amazing. I had never seen anyone healed of deafness eight months ago, and nobody healed of it in the U.S. until July, but since then I have seen over 50 people have their hearing restored. Around 40 of those have been just in the past two months. Those aren't people that were in the same room as me, those are people that I have prayed for personally. The Kingdom of Heaven is here!

I feel like God is taking us on a bullet train. Right now it is leaving the station and is picking up speed, however, it is still there and if people will drop their luggage and run after it, they will make it on the train. This train is rapid acceleration. God is going to take us to our next destination so much more quickly than we reason is possible. However, this is what happens when the Kingdom is upon you. God is calling us to draw near to Him so that He can reveal His secrets to us. We don't hear because we don't listen. We don't see miracles because we don't pray.

The Kingdom of Heaven is now. God is pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, at least on those who want it. However, in order to want something you must know that it is available. My personal conviction in this season is to drop everything and run after God. That doesn't mean that I don't go to work or do my homework for school. I even got my oil changed in my car about two weeks ago. However, it does mean that I am looking closely at the activities I engage in to determine how committed I am to them. The Kingdom is here and it is accelerating at a rapid pace, I don't want to miss it because I am holding onto nonessential things.

Praying from an Open Heaven

In recent weeks I have felt a significant shift while praying from the standpoint that I have authority from heaven to declare things into existence. Not that asking for things doesn't work, because it has, but when I declare things I find that my faith for them is significantly higher than if I was just asking for them. I have asked God for 100% breakthrough over deafness and I have received a measure of that, however my faith increases when I declare that deafness isn't allowed anywhere near me.

Tonight was the first night of Bethel Church's annual Open Heavens conference. As many of you may know, southern California has been ablaze with several wild fires that are fueled by very gusty winds. At the conference tonight we began to pray around 8:30 that the winds would cease and the fires would be put out. We did as Jesus did, we commanded the winds to stop and the fires to disappear. After arriving home I checked the news and saw a great headline that read, "Signs of Hope: Winds ease in California's fire zone." The article was updated about 10 minutes before 9:00. We have authority to command the winds to stop and they will obey us!

Along with me declaring that deafness is not allowed in Redding, I have been asking God to bring me people with hearing loss. Tonight at the conference I was praying for a man with cancer when God showed me that he had a hearing problem. We prayed very briefly and I asked him how it was. His response was, "It's louder. It's almost too loud." Then I asked him about a problem with the heel and he said that he shattered both of his heels in an accident 18 years ago. I quickly commanded the pain to leave and had him test it out. The pain in his left foot was completely gone, just like that.

In both of these cases I already knew that it was God's will to heal, because He wouldn't show me that the man had hearing loss or a problem with his heels if He didn't want to heal him. So rather than asking God to do what He has already said He wants to do, I simply executed the play that God called. God gave me the orders and I gave the deafness and the pain the order to leave. We live under an open heaven all the time and as long as we live under authority, God gives us His authority to command things into being. Those are the prayers that stop the winds!

A new kind of jet lag

Now just about a week after returning from a 19 day trip to England I have spent several days being wide awake at 4:30 am and extremely tired from about noon until 5 pm. However by Friday I was doing well, sleeping in until 7 and getting to bed at a normal time. Then out of the blue, last night I was so tired that I went to bed at 7:30. Other than waking up at 2 am, I slept until nearly 6 this morning, ready to take on my first Sunday at Bethel in over a month.

Coming back from England I was excited to see what God had in store for the next month and a half before I would go on my next ministry trip. Over the summer I had a very busy month of travel in July and then only went on one trip in August. However, I saw more healings in August than I had in perhaps the rest of my life up to that point. Amazing things happened as I prayed for people in the healing rooms, at church, and out in the community. So my anticipation for this time frame is sky high as I am expecting amazing things from God.

One thing that I have seen a ton of breakthrough in over this past season of trravel is deafness. Since going on a Firestorm to Michigan the couple days before school started September 11, through the end of the England trip, I have prayed for 20 people whose hearing has been restored. Before the England trip I set a goal of seeing one person healed of deafness every day. I didn't get it, just 10 instead of 19. So naturally, when I got back, I wanted it to keep increasing. It took less than 48 hours to see the first person healed. I walked into a group of young people before youth group when God gave me the word of knowledge. I asked them who had a problem with the left ear and they each said no, until one spoke up saying that he has hearing loss in that ear.

Then Friday night at church God gave me a word as I sat in the front row that He wanted to heal someone of deafness. I was praying for a man with heart failure and could tell that his hearing wasn't great. I shifted to put one hand on his back and when he started to walk away I told him that I wasn't done yet. I prayed more and this time he could feel the fire of God. I asked if he had problems with his hearing and he told me that he did, but he left his hearing aids at home that night. So I prayed and his ears opened up. Praise God!

Fast forward to this morning. Pastor Bill was amazing. Make sure to download the podcast. While others were praying for a fresh and continual baptism of fire for intimacy with the Lord, I was ready to leave, to come home and pray on my own. I was going to look for people with hearing aids on my way out because God gave me a word for it as Bill preached. As I got up I saw a woman with a walker, but when I turned towards the door, I slowly turned back and walked over to her. I talked with her and prayed for her as she had suffered a stroke. I felt fire go into her as I prayed but she felt nothing. We talked some more and then I said goodbye. As I did, Pastor Bill asked people who needed healing to raise their hands and as I walked to leave, a young boy raised his hand. I asked him what he needed prayer for and he said his ears. He has hearing loss and pounding in his ears from an infection. Actually, I should say, he HAD hearing loss and pounding in his ears because Jesus healed him!

The thing that gets me is that I would have totally missed him, but because I have been crying out to God to give me more compassion for others I went over and prayed for that woman who had a stroke and listened to her talk for a while. It was just long enough to get me to be the first person to see the boy as he raised his hand. Had I not talked to the lady, I would have already been driving home. I am contending for a deafness free city and it is off to a good start. I am so thankful that the fruit of people being healed of deafness in England is hanging over and getting people healed in Redding too. That is one kind of jet lag that I will look forward to the rest of my life - the increased fruit that comes after returning home from ministering.

Some things never get old

Well, I just got back from The Well, which was in the nearby town of Leamington, which was well worth the drive from Rugby. The meeting was in a massive cathedral and people came from all over to attend.

Banning lost his voice before he even began to preach. He was leading us in prayer for England and as soon as he started to talk after it, his voice was completely gone. I could barely hear him with the microphone, so he handed the mic off to me to take over - or just to share some of the healings that broke out when Chris Gore and myself went to Canada the weekend before I came to England.

After we shared testimonies Banning came up and just called out a couple words of knowledge and we scattered around the cathedral to pray for the 25 or so folks who stood. I prayed for a woman in the back who had a problem with her knee in which it clicked and was weak. She tested it out and no longer had any problems.

So then I began to slowly walk up and down the aisle a few times to see if God would show me anything. I picked up a few things and then went down the outside to be more out of the way. God gave me words of knowledge about healing a heart condition, problem with the brain, and then I moved more towards the front and stood next to a pillar. I felt a pretty strong word for the left ear, but rather than asking the crowd over Banning speaking, I just waited. Well, within 30 seconds a teenage boy came over to me and asked me to pray for his hearing. It turns out it was his left ear and so I explained what had just happened.

Now keep in mind that Banning is preaching at this point, but this kid just gets up out of his chair and asks me to pray for him! Nothing happened the first time I prayed. The second time he noticed a slight increase, and then after praying a third time he said that his bad ear was now better than his good year. Banning saw what was going on and so the kid and I got to share how God had just opened up his ear after he got up to ask me to pray just after God had given me a word of knowledge for the left ear. God is so good!

Just a few minutes after he sat down another man got out of his seat and asked for prayer. Poor Banning. First he loses his voice, then people are leaving their seats to receive prayer while he preaches! This man was the boy's father who had memory loss. Obviously it is hard to test how good your memory is right on the spot, but he felt the fire of God as I prayed.

Then a few minutes after that man sat down, another man came over to me for prayer. This man said that the people around him told him to come over and have me lay hands on him because he has an irregular heartbeat that comes every 2 weeks or so. This man also felt the fire of God as I prayed. Three words of knowledge and three men that came to me to receive their healing for the very things that God was doing. God is so good!

By this point Banning's voice was starting to sound much better. The more people I prayed for the better he got! He wrapped things up and we were told that we only had about 15 minutes to pray for the sick. He wanted us to be able to give words of knowledge so we squeezed that in really quick between myself, Chad, and Wes, and then we immediately started praying for them as soon as we gave our words.

The first guy I prayed for didn't get healed of deafness- yet. Argh. I wanted 100% tonight. The next lady did however. The ringing in her ears went and she regained the balance that she had been lacking for a while. Her friend was so happy that she came back over to me later on just to boast at the work God had done!

Next, a man that I had prayed for on Sunday that wasn't sure if he was healed came back to get the whole thing. He left with it!

Then came another man with a "shopping list" of things he needed healed. First I started by praying for his ear. His response to me asking if anything was different was, "I hear you much louder!" Then I prayed for a cyst on his throat. When I asked him to test it out he said that if I had told him that I couldn't see it anymore that he would believe me because he couldn't feel it anymore! Finally I prayed for his hand. It didn't hold out for long. I felt like it was done and all the joint pain left. Praise God!

Finally I prayed for a woman who had pain in her mouth. Most of it left but then I felt like she had pressure in her ears. She says that she was very congested and had sinus pressure. When I prayed for that her sinuses cleared up but then she got a sharp pain in the side of her head. I commanded that spirit to leave and it didn't want to at first. I kindly stepped on its head and took authority over it in Jesus name. All the pain left and the woman was shocked at how free she suddenly felt. Praise God!!!

What a great night! It was a breath of fresh air for me as this is one of my favorite things to do, possibly my favorite thing to do - heal the sick. Not that doing skits, or sketches, for kids is a bad thing, but healing the sick just doesn't get old to me. We did the same skit over and over in schools this week before today when we finally got to do the other skits. However, we still repeated one of them four times. In order to keep it fun we added some improvisation to them but even then it still gets kind of old. However, with the last man that I prayed for tonight, the fourth person who was healed of hearing problems, I was more excited when he was getting healed then I was with the others. There is just something that never gets old about seeing deaf ears open and people being set free. Seeing what the Father is doing and then doing it is so much fun! Hopefully there will be much more of this to come in the coming week!

England: Day 1

Today was a good day in the Kingdom. Both the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of God. I woke up feeling pretty good and went to a combined church service of three congregations in town.

The worship was solid and then we did one of our "sketches" as they are called here. Then we shared some testimonies. Instead of preaching as had been the plan, the pastor decided to just move straight into ministry time. After we prayed for those who came forward and saw several of them get healed, I asked the pastor if we could give some words of knowledge so we did.

I must say that having an increased measure of faith to see deaf ears open makes it much easier when giving a word of knowledge. I used to be pretty scared to pray for people who were deaf, and now I love it. I said to the congregation, "God made it clear to me that He is going to heal people who are deaf, partially deaf, or have ringing in their ears, so please come forward if you have any of those."

Before the next person was finished giving their words a man had already came forward for healing. He took his hearing aids out and he didn't put them back in. Then after another word of knowledge his back was healed as well.

Another woman came forward for healing from deafness and thought that she could feel some heat and that they might have opened up some. Probably 30 minutes later she came back to me and said how ever since she recieved prayer everything has been much louder and that she keeps telling people how everything is louder. Praise God!

At least one other person with deafness was healed too through Wes, who is the only other current BSSM student on the trip. I was talking with another man and suddenly got a word of knowledge for him as well. However, with the noise in the room he didn't notice any difference although he wasn't aware of any hearing loss to begin with, but rather too much ear wax.

So we have a deaf count of at least 3 so far and I have 2 of them. I want to personally see at least 35 healed of deafness on the trip and at least 50 for the whole team. I can't wait to get into another meeting or just into a place where I am around a bunch of people. The people of Rugby are ready for Jesus to come and take over, whether they know it or not!

This afternoon we went to a big reservoir, or man-made lake, where sailing is quite popular. On the way there we drove by several buildings that were over 300 years old and even a few that were 400 years old. It was very beautiful with the countryside, the narrow roads, and partly sunny weather. It was still chilly though. Well, I am going to go to bed now as it is quarter past eleven, and we have a full day tomorrow starting out in the schools. Over and out from the expanding Kingdom of God in the United Kingdom.

Stumbling upon the Will of God

There are times in life where things just don't seem to be happening the way you want them to. Why would God seem to keep you from doing something that is obviously good? Well, sometimes He just has something better in store for you if you are open to going where He is going. Tonight I had a great example of being where God wanted me to be even though I didn't think it made sense.

I had a meeting for those who work in the Healing Rooms that included a time of impartation from Beni Johnson. I was thinking that I should go to that instead of of Youth since it is only every other month. However, late Monday night I was informed that I had to be at Youth to perform the skits that we will be doing in England next week for Jesus Culture. Finally, I told one of the people in the skits to send me a text message when we were about to start and I went to the Healing Rooms meeting. Beni spoke for a little while and then prayed for us and I then went over to the sanctuary to the youth meeting.

I didn't know what was going on, but Linda was talking to the kids and all of the sudden she calls me out and tells me to come up on stage. She has me share some of the testimonies of what happened in Canada this past weekend. As I am sharing about getting a word of knowledge and someone getting healed, God shows me that He wants to heal someone's tailbone right then so I interrupt myself and call it out. All of the sudden I am leading a healing service, instructing the kids to go pray for each other. Some of the kids come up and give more words of knowledge.

It just broke open! There were at least 20 healings, including several tailbones, necks, backs, wrists, knees and sore throats. One kid shared how he felt electricity all over his body when the kids were praying for the hole in his heart. After I handed it back over to Linda we went into worship which all of the sudden seemed like worship! Why can't we always remember that God is so good? After worship I went to the back to get ready for my skit and asked one of the guys who has problems with his left ear if he got any breakthrough. He said something to the effect of, "I feel something going on, but it hasn't broken open yet." I laid my hands on him and commanded it to open. I started to feel some supernatural activity and then he says, "I think it just opened!"

I talked with Linda later and she said that she had been looking for me and thinking, "Why isn't David here? He needs to be here for some reason." Interesting how God moves. I didn't want to be there, yet God did, and because I came over right after Beni prayed for me instead of waiting for a text message, I didn't miss out on how God wanted to use me to release the youth to heal the sick.

Last night I went to the hospital to pray for someone from school. We were unable to go into her room to see her, yet as we were praying for the family member of some women in the waiting room, God showed me that someone had a problem with the front left side of the head. I asked if it was their mom, who was in the ICU, and they said no. I then asked if it was any of them. One of the women then said that her son-in-law has a very large cancerous tumor on his brain in that exact location. I was able to pray for him and hope to hear a report from them. Then I prayed for a man with hearing aids because hours earlier I had received a word of knowledge for deafness and had yet to find a person who was deaf.

Don't discount what seems to be an abnormal circumstance, it could be the Holy Spirit trying to see if you are paying attention to what is going on. In fact, be on the lookout for opportunities that will arise after unexpected detours. God will use any hand that is given to Him if we are open to followed His lead.

Quick update from Canada

The woman we came to Calgary to pray for saw significant breakthrough yesterday. There is still one area that we are wanting to see breakthrough in, but she already had numbness leave her feet, pain leave her leg, arthritis leave her hand, the ability to breathe easily, and the ability to fully lift her arms in the air.

Last night I preached at the church that they go to. It was supposed to be the youth service but one of the worship leaders got married, causing most of the young people to be at the wedding. No worries, the average age at the meeting was probably 45-50 - I wonder what this morning will look like! It turns out that a lot of the people who were there were from other churches. Praise God! They heard about understanding the authority we have in Christ to heal the sick and the ones who stayed long enough received healing.

Since it is just Chris and myself I didn’t want to just call people forward, as they would be waiting in line for probably two hours, so I just had the people around them laying hands on them as I called out words of knowledge. A few people experienced a touch from God in that manner, but the real miracles started to happen after at least half of the people left.

Several people who were deaf quickly regained their hearing. A young woman with mild cerebral palsy no longer limped as she walked, which shocked the friend she was with. After one man’s ears opened up, I still felt that he had a problem that was caused by the inner ear and it turns out he has had a problem with his equilibrium for over 25 years. I prayed for him and he tested it out, now able to walk in a straight line with his eyes closed! Praise God! One woman had a problem with the tendons in her feet and she was now able to walk on her tip-toes without any pain. The same woman had cancer in the exact location of where I had a hand print on my upper chest when I woke up yesterday morning. As I prayed I felt it go and she is excited to go to the doctor to see the good report. Another woman has been troubled for years with pain which has manifested as a demon. The manifestations stopped after I rebuked them and commanded the spirit to leave and the pain left her back, neck and head.

God is in a good mood and the temperature is in the 30s!

Sign Language

Jesus tells His disciples in John 14:11 that they should believe Him based on the miracles from His ministry. He didn't just come saying that He was the son of God and the Messiah, but He preached the Kingdom with demonstration of the King. When John the Baptist was having an internal struggle in prison he sent his own disciples to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah even though John himself had said that Jesus was the Lamb of God. The response Jesus gave in Matthew 11:5 was that "the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor."

If that was the standard that Jesus carried then why shouldn't we do the same? In John 14:12 He tells the disciples that they will do greater works than He did. Jesus made it clear to the disciples that their mission was not to preach at people and get them saved but rather it was to preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, and cleanse lepers (Matthew 10:7-8). Jesus never intended for us to argue with people and try to convince them with our words. We are simply to preach the gospel and do the stuff.

Jesus even said in Mark 16:17-18 that "these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." Are the signs accompanying you? Since I am not about lowering standards so that I can pass them I will use the example of Matthew 11:5. Do the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead come back to life, and those with skin conditions healed?

While in Michigan I realized that the more breakthrough I get in healing, the more I become hungry for greater breakthrough. Many deaf people were getting healed but there were others that had not gotten healed. There was a blind woman at one of the meetings but I didn't get to pray for her and I don't believe she regained her sight. The lame did walk, but not all of them. I prayed for one man who hasn't had legs in many years and he did not receive a miracle. Do we really believe that these signs will accompany us if we believe? I think sometimes we forget to uphold the standard.

(Someone has a problem with their left ear. Open in the name of Jesus!)

Sometimes we struggle to speak the language the others need in order to receive the gospel - and I don't necessarily mean that they don't understand English. They may have arguements that we don't always have answers for but when signs follow you it is a language that all understand. When they experience the power of God it speaks their language and confronts them with the truth. I am becoming much more proficient in sign language so that in all circumstances signs follow me. I rejoice in the man who took out his hearing aids yesterday morning and said that he didn't need them any more, but I know that if I can't communicate every sign then the language of the Kingdom may not be expressed.

God is so good!

I am in Petoskey, Michigan right now on a Firestorm. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is simply a ministry trip led by a pastor from Bethel where students from the school of ministry can get hands on experience. So far this has been an amazing trip! Leading up to this trip I began to contend for breakthrough that every person who comes to the meetings would get healed. With all the healings that have taken place over the past two evenings I believe we are well on our way to reaching that goal. I want to share with you just a few of the testimonies of what God has been doing.

A man with diabetes was prayed for on the first night. He walked up to the front carrying his cane to testify that God had healed him. He was there again last night without his cane sharing again how God had healed him. Towards the end of the meeting he brought me to another man saying that he really needed prayer. God showed me there was something wrong with his feet and he said they were numb. After praying once his feet were tingling and then after praying again all of the numbness was gone and all of the feeling had returned. The man then started to laugh and then cry - something that several people told me they had never seen him do (laugh or cry!). I then asked him if anything else was going on and he told me that his stomach can't digest food. I prayed once and he said that he was feeling less nauseous than before. As I prayed again I felt as though I was squeezing his body in the spirit. He started shaking a lot and after I said, "be healed in Jesus' name," I released the peace of Heaven over him and he immediately stopped shaking. I asked him how he felt now and he said that it was completely gone! God is so good!

On the first night I called out scoliosis as being something that God was going to heal. Last night a woman grabbed me and said that she got healed. She told me and then testified to the whole church of how she went to her chiropractor that morning and told him that she didn't need an adjustment because she got healed. The chiropractor then was amazed that he couldn't find the curve in her spine. He asked her, "what really happened to you?" to which she answered, "I went to church last night and God healed me!"

Last night Kevin shared a testimony from last Saturday in Turlock, CA when he called out a word of knowledge for Rhonda with Lupus. It turned out to be the wife of somebody in the church. Kevin talked to her on the cell phone during the service and God healed her! She then came to both services the next day to testify that all of her pain and fatigue was gone! Well, last night Kevin asked if there was a Rhonda who has Lupus and a woman raised her hand saying that it was her daughter. So as 200+ people watch on, Rhonda, who was in another state, got healed of Lupus over the cell phone! Over the next 10 minutes, two more people with Lupus were healed over the cell phone. Talk about the power of the testimony!

I gave a word of knowledge last night that not only was God going to heal deafness, but that somebody's ears were going to open right now. I was surprised when only two people stood up for that word. The first one didn't even have deafness, but ringing in his ears. Within a few minutes of giving the word I went to find the other person who stood up. She wasn't standing anymore because God had already healed her without anyone praying for her!

After hearing of her healing I started to pray for an 86 year old woman. As I had her test out her hip she said that while she was able to walk better, she was still in pain. I then asked her what was wrong with her feet and she said they were fine. I told her that I was feeling burning on the bottom and she said, "Oh, my feet do feel like they are burning on the bottom!" I told her that this was just a sign from God that He is going to heal her whole body (she told me she was skeptical that God would heal her) and sure enough within a minute the burning in her feet had stopped - Praise God!

Later I went to pray for an 89 year old woman who had a stroke and was constantly dizzy for four years. I prayed for her a few times and nothing happened. An hour or two later I came back to release the joy of the Lord over the woman and her son. I was pleased to see that she started to laugh. She is 76 years older than me! I have never made someone that old laugh! After a few minutes of laughing I asked her if she was still dizzy and she said that it completely went away. She was so happy because she has been constantly dizzy for four years until someone laughed on her! God is so good!

There were so many more healings both last night and the night before. One of the great things is that each night about half of the crowd has been from other churches in the city. I am praying that when we get to the last meeting we will fully exhaust the supply of sick people in the church! Yesterday we got to speak at a Christian school. We prophesied over students and teachers, gave words of knowledge, and healed the sick. That hour could have just changed the lives of those students. God is so good!

For God so loved the world

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." - John 3:16-18

As I was praying and worshipping this morning I was struck by the lyrics to a song that was playing. It was "How He Loves" off of the "We Cry Out" CD. I started to think about how much God loves us.

Ephesians 3:17-19 says, "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." His love surpasses knowledge. Paul is praying that the believes will be able to grasp just how much God loves us.

Then in my spirit I felt that if people knew how much God loves them, they would be instantly healed. John 3:16 came to mind and I realized that Jesus wasn't just talking about salvation. So often people think that God gives them sickness as a punishment for things they have done wrong or to teach them a lesson. That is not what my bible says. It says that whoever believes in Him is NOT condemened. Did you get that?

Well, wouldn't you get to Heaven and be with Jesus sooner if you died an early death due to sickness? I think that is just an excuse to to cover up the fact that you didn't want to be in relationship enough with Him while here on earth to ever seek His face until you had encounters with Him daily. Am I stepping on your toes yet? Back to John 3:16, Jesus says that those who believe will not perish, but have eternal life. Let me tell you that eternal life doesn't start when your body is six feet under the ground in a casket, it starts the moment you believe. If you believe in Jesus, and what He said, you will not perish. I am becoming more convinced every day that the mountains are not removed from the lives of Christians because they lack faith. Let me rephrase that. Breakthroughs don't come because people don't understand that God is good and that He loves them unconditionally.

When God reveals to you more of His love you will know it. You won't be the same until He does it again. It isn't about just words. You can memorize the entire Bible and miss the heart behind everything that is said. That is why people can have enough faith to go to Heaven but not enough faith to bring Heaven to Earth. They believe that Jesus died for their sins but miss the rest. On the other hand you can dive into the Word until you grasp it and know it in your entire being. That is when you become a Heavenly atmosphere ready to change the world at any moment in any location.

I pray that today you will have an encounter with this love that surpasses knowledge so that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Pressing in for breakthrough

I just got back from a six mile run with three guys from church. With the exception of being forced to run about a mile one day in May, I haven't run at all since June of last year. I am happy to say that I ran the first 2.5 miles without walking. However, after that point I walked most of the way back around the loop. However, when I could see the end I went for it again, running faster than I had run at any other point. I could see my goal and wanted to finish strong. I could have just kept walking, I mean it was 105 degrees outside, but there is something in me that won't just throw in the towel and give up. It is possible that I won't go running again anytime soon since it is a very low priority for me, but if I do, I know that I will need to challenge myself to run more and walk less. Don't worry, there is a point to this.

Two times in the past week I have had friends come over for a "Glory night." The goal of these nights is to seek the face of God by giving Him the glory through praise and worship. The idea is that we must go beyond what is convenient and comfortable and actually give a sacrifice of praise to God. My friend Zach said it well, "the higher our praise goes, the deeper our worship will be." I found that to be true during the second night when I had trouble breaking through with my praise and then found that my worship was much shallower than it had been the first time around. Zach read us a quote by Ruth Heflin who said, "When you discover things that seem to contribute to the glory, do those things more; and when you find things that seem to diminish the glory, stop doing them. It's as simple as that." Run more and walk less.

I have found that even with all the hunger for God there is still the element of time and convenience. I set aside an hour to pray in tongues. I soak for an hour. I might read my bible for an hour. Occassionally I might block of more time for one of these, but typically it is set in stone. I thought of that this morning as I prayed. I abruptly stopped at one hour just because it was an hour, even though I was gaining momentum.

It would have been pointless for me to stop running after one mile because I was still feeling great. When you can meet your goal and still have energy you shouldn't stop, but rather go for greater Glory! If you are wanting to go to another level, you can't continue to do the same things that you are already doing, you must press in for breakthrough! I will not be able to run 6 miles if I always stop once I reach the 2.5 mile marker. We won't see the Glory of God in our meetings if we stop short of His Glory. We have to praise higher and worship deeper.

Last night was an experiment. We had no instruments and we didn't put on any CDs. We didn't have a worship leader. After we went for maybe two hours we stopped and began talking. I knew that we should press in again, but my flesh didn't want to. We shared some great things and had very meaningful conversation for another few hours, however I knew that next time we meet together there would be no excuse for not pressing in again. After walking at least a mile and a half I knew that I had no excuse to not press in and run the last mile or so. You don't get breakthrough when you give up, you get it when you press in, running more and walking less - doing the things that contribute to the glory more and doing things that detract from the glory less.

Hunger-Producing Victory

A week ago Bill Johnson had a “family talk” at the Sunday evening service. I would say that the main theme of his talk was pressing in for more. There have been so many people who have gotten healed over the years, yet there are still many who have gone on to be with Jesus or are still stuck with their disease or disability. The challenge is to not get satisfied with some victory and become complacent so that future battles are lost. Like him or not, when Lance Armstrong won the first of his seven consecutive Tour de France races he picked up his training regiment to further distance himself from the competition. How much more should we prepare ourselves for something that has eternal significance?

I have been reading sermons by John G. Lake extensively over the past week and have been amazed by his faith. It truly seems as though every person who came to him was healed because he wasn’t afraid of any condition. That is how I want to be. I want cancer to be afraid of me, not the other way around. After reading several stories about how when he placed his hand on cancers and tumors they were literally burned by the power of God I became convinced that this should be how we always approach disease. When you know you have the answer, you will use it.

Last night I was praying for a man who was given no hope by the doctors. There is nothing that can treat the form of cancer that he has and his insurance has refused to pay drug companies to just do experimental research on him in hopes of finding a cure. After listening to him talk for quite some time I felt like my faith was about ready to explode all over the man and his wife. Romans 4:18-21 says, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

I don’t know about this man, but I know that I was not about to waver in unbelief regarding the promises of God. I am fully persuaded that God has the power to do what he has promised. I told the man that it was time for his miracle and I began to pray. I felt God lead me to he area where the cancer is so we laid hands on it and I imagined that thing shrinking under my hand, being burned away by the fire of Almighty God. After a minute or two I asked him what was happening and he responded that the pain was leaving and that he felt it was shrinking. So we continued to pray and that continued to happen.

I haven’t seen hundreds of cancer cases healed like John G. Lake, but bless God it is starting to happen. I have been pressing in for more and God has been answering. I have been praying that every person would be healed and a much greater percentage of people are being healed. Those who are truly hungry only get hungrier when they taste victory.

God doesn't lie!

In Mark 8:17-18 Jesus askes His disciples, "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember?" He was asking this because He had fed the 5,000 and He had just fed the 4,000 and yet the disciples were still worried about whether they would have enough to eat. We have their example of what not to do, however often when God miraculously provides we do the exact same thing.

When I was first seeing miracles in Brazil last summer I faced doubt only a few days later. I was preaching in a church and on the third and final night I began to worry about whether people would get healed when I prayed for them. Just a week earlier, the first service that I was at to pray for people I prayed for seven or eight people without a translator and each one of them was healed! Even though I had seen many healings take place through my own prayers and even greater miracles through the prayers of the rest of the team, I began to wonder if God would do it again. That last night was tough as my doubt overcame my faith for most of the people I prayed for.

God wants us to look at what He has done and what He is doing to have faith for circumstances that we face. In the past ten days I have witnessed upwards of 50 things healed ranging from hearing loss to carpel tunnel to arthritis to dizziness and all sorts of pain. In March I was very hesitant to pray for people with hearing loss even though I did see some people get healed and was the only person to pray for one woman whose hearing was restored. In Boise, Idaho last month God showed me that He was wanting to heal a man's ears and he did just that. Since then my fear of praying for the deaf has gone away and I have seen probably 10-12 people regain their hearing. In fact, I believe that someone reading this is going to have their ears healed. Particularly the left ear. Be healed in the name of Jesus! The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

My faith is increasing that when God releases a word of knowledge to me that the person will in fact be healed. I believe that they will be healed as much as I believe that the sun is going to rise tomorrow morning. I used to think of a word of knowledge as though it was a check from a friend that is without a job and may not have the money in the bank when in reality a word of knowledge is as good cash - it has no chance of bouncing. My faith has increased so that Numbers 23:19 has become a reality. When God speaks, it happens, because He doesn't lie. While in Oregon last week I asked God for a word of knowledge for the gas station attendant who was limping. I felt a sensation on the right side of my head. It turns out the man had cerebral palsy. It wasn't that his leg was injured, it was that there was a brain injury at birth that affected his leg. God doesn't lie!

But wait, there's more!

Today Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to reach 500 home runs in baseball history. However, the once spectacular feat is now overshadowed by the question of whether he will be able to match Hank Aaron's 755 home runs and the amount that Barry Bonds ends up with (he is currently at 754). Even for Bonds, the quest to pass Aaron's record and get to 756 will then be how many more can he hit.

The past three days was the Jesus Culture conference here in Redding. On Wednesday night Lou Engle talked about how The Call is like John the Baptist who prepared the way with prayer and fasting. Then he went on to say that filling stadiums with people to pray and fast isn't enough, we must move on to the ministry of Jesus, with mass healing and deliverance. It was great to have 70,000 people gather in Nashville for The Call on 07/07/07, but can we fill stadiums with people who will be saved, healed and delivered? We are to the point where we must move past praying for revival and go out and have revival!

On Thursday I was leading one of many outreach sites in our city to equip the conference goers in signs and wonders. The first person that I talked to during the 30 minutes we had got healed. For many of the people in my group they had never even ministered on the streets before, let alone see someone get healed. The man was walking with a cane and was wearing knee braces. He was in a lot of pain because of his sciatic nerve. A few minutes after we had prayed for him we saw him again and he told us that when he walked away he realized that his back felt better. I realized that "better" isn't good enough and asked God for more while he was still 40 feet away. Then as he continued to walk he realized that all of the pain was gone and that he no longer needed his cane to walk. Carrying his cane in his right hand, he continued to walk down the street thanking us for our prayers and praising God for healing him.

Last night Chris Hill spoke about how it isn't enough to simply have a profound experience at a conference but then leave thinking that you will have to wait until next year to experience God in the same way. For David it wasn't enough to be King, he had to have God's presence in his city. We can't be satisfied with having access to the presence of God once a year or just at certain locations or events. There is so much more of God that we can tap into!

This morning at the healing rooms I saw God open the ears of three different people. With each one I could feel when the healing was done and then would tell them to check the improvement. I recently heard Todd Bentley say that when a word of knowledge is given it isn't his anointing that heals people, but it is God because Todd is just calling out what the Father is doing. I expereinced that in a measure this morning as every correct word of knowledge I gave (between 7 and 10; I did give a few that were not correct or undetected) got healed. I asked one man if he had problems with his left ear and he said no, only to have his wife say that he has ringing in his ears. As I prayed I felt like my ears were draining out and declared that his ears were opened and asked him how it feels. Well, his ears popped, and then he couldn't stop smiling, laughing, and praising God as the ringing stopped and his hearing increased!

The more people I prayed for, the more words of knowledge I got, and the more my faith increased that God was going to heal every last infirmity a person had. For some of the first people I didn't get as many words of knowledge. Some of them experienced healing while a few didn't notice a difference. I prayed before we started that God would heal every person that came in. Out of the people I prayed for, only one didn't notice any change, others felt God do something and left encouraged that they were healed but had no way to test it, and the rest got mostly or completely healed. There is more though. As great as it was to have those 3 people have their hearing restored before I ate anything today, not every person who came in was healed. As much as God did I won't be satisfied until every person gets healed. Once that level is reached I will have to think of something else because there is always more!

Are you hungry?

Ever go through a season of life where it feels like all you are doing is preparing for a deadline? In school it seemed like I would study for tests, take them, and then forget all of the information I studied. There have been times when I geared up for a ministry trip only to get lazy after it passes. This isn't the way it should be.

We should pursue God for relationship with Him, not for Him to show up at our meetings. Many trips that I have been on have left me tired, wanting to do nothing else than sleep. Why not spend time worshipping in His presence before going to bed? We spend time praying for God to show up but after He does, we often forget about Him until the next time we need Him to show up.

I used to get up early to pray in the Spirit before going to work, even if that meant that I didn't go to bed because of needing to be at work at midnight. I haven't been doing that as much recently. I used to spend all of my free time over at the prayer chapel soaking even though I didn't necessarily feel anything or sense that something was happening. It is a shame that I have to think about how it used to be. I realize that not everyone is going to be in full-time vocational ministry, but regardless, why shouldn't we spend hours a day with God? It is all about priorities and yes, I could do a better job managing my time. Working in a secular industry shouldn't be an excuse for an inconsistent or nonexistent relationship with God.

Think about it. Those in the secular industry need to be just as hungry as those in ministry because they have to compete against non-Christians that are probably more willing to make sacrifices for their career. Unfortunately we don't hear of too many great products that are made by Christians, but rather we constantly are bombarded by filthy movies because no Christian can make a decent movie that isn't in Aramaic about a guy from Nazareth. The attitude seems to be, "let the forerunners be hungry and we will just follow them." Basically, that translates to, let the radical people be weird and catch all the flack from mainstream Christians and we will try to ride on their coattails if it doesn't inconvenience us.

God reveals His secrets to those who are completely in love with Him. Last time I checked, if I was completely in love with someone then I would be sure to find time for them every day. Last time I checked the average Christian could sure use some tips from an all-knowing God. Don't forget the dreams God has put on your heart. Will you remain hungry enough to chase after God until He gives them to you?

Pressing in for breakthrough

Through my travels this summer is has become evident to me how much the devil likes to try to distract us from what we are supposed to do. At the beginning of this month, poison oak on my leg caused swelling that led to stiffness and serious pain whenever I stood up. This of course was while I was on a Firestorm. I didn't want to do a thing other than rest, but I pressed in through the pain and wound up experiencing healing on the trip after I stepped out in ministry in words of knowledge and healing while I needed healing myself.

This weekend I was on another Firestorm and felt very weak due to pain in my stomach. Determined to not let the devil keep me from ministering, I went out on outreach and prayed for a woman who was paralyzed due to a stroke, her husband who was mostly deaf, and another man with no feeling below his knees. Then, that evening I led worship at the service, something I have never done before. After worship started I no longer noticed the pain or any weakness in my body. One person on our team commented that the worship was highly anointed and that she had never been that drunk in the Spirit during worship.

Oftentimes our breakthrough is just on the other side of the hurdles that stand in front of us. After experiencing somewhat of a spiritual low point during parts of February and March, I pressed in hard for the last two months of school. Right after graduation, my sensitivity to the Spirit increased dramatically. Starting with a trip to a Todd Bentley conference I noticed an increase in people getting healed and my accuracy in words of knowledge. With each successive trip, there has been an increase.

In the past I had been quick to become content with the measure of breakthrough that I received. This summer I have realized that being content is foolish. I am extremely thankful for the measure God has given me, but there are people who are still being oppressed by the devil and need to be healed. That is why I am continuing to go after more. I am taking the opportunities that God is bringing me and not allowing myself to become complacent like I did back in February when I had ramped myself up to a big trip and then came back mildly discouraged at the outcome. When we see results that we don't like, that is the time to press in for more, not the time to give up and just hope that things turn out different next time.

When a baseball player who is very serious about his game returns to the dugout after an at-bat he will talk to the hitting coach regardless of whether he struck out or hit a homerun. Why? He could have done something wrong on the homerun and just gotten lucky or he could have done the right thing when he struck out but just missed. Likewise, if we really want to grow in our ability to co-labor with God and minister to others it is imperative that we ask the Holy Spirit for advice whether the person we prayed for died of cancer or was raised from the dead. I think God is pleased with us when we ask Him questions even after victories. It shows our hunger for more and it shows that we know who the Healer is. God has a good track-record of exalting those who humble themselves and ask for help even when things are going well.

Your time has come

John 2:1-11

"On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."

"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."

His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him."

What will you do when the wine runs out and your mother comes to you wanting you to do something about it? Will your response be to do what the Father wants or will it be to act out of fear? How will you respond when a demand is put on you that is out of your reach? Will you be ready?

Jesus prayed and fasted as a lifestyle and not just when he found out that there was a boy who had a demon that didn't want to leave at the disciples' commands. Will you be ready when someone comes to you and needs a breakthrough in an impossible circumstance? Be ready for the opportunities that God gives you. Be ready to release the Kingdom anytime, anywhere. Your time has come! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, will you seize the opportunity?

Keep the fire going!

About two weeks ago the Thermocouple on the water heater decided that it didn't want to work anymore. This caused the pilot to go out and stopped the gas from heating the water. The result was very cold showers and no hot water at all. I decided that enough was enough and I went to Home Depot to buy this $7 part. After installing it I re-lit the pilot light and turned the water heater back on. It wasn't too difficult, but it probably still took me an hour, plus the time to go buy the part. Unfortunately, I couldn't immediately enjoy a hot shower as it still takes time for the water to heat up. Then it occured to me how many Christians continuously allow their pilot light to go out, making it difficult each time they want to have hot water. Allow me to explain.

Our pilot light is our relationship with the Holy Spirit. It is being in a constant state of prayer. It is staying in His presence. It is being constantly connected with Him. I have had this happen to me before, where I allowed myself to not spend time seeking God every day, and then finding how difficult it was to get the fire back to pray, soak, and literally walk with Him. It got to the point where the water was so cold that I couldn't stand it anymore and I had to get back with God. Likewise, I got to the point where I was tired of cold showers and I had to have hot water.

It may cost more to constantly remain connected to the Holy Spirit because in order to do so you may have to eliminate some things that you do and likewise it costs more to have the water heater going every day so that the water is hot. However, the cost is worth it. I am reminded of a dream that one of the interns had in which he was turning on the lights in this huge house and a woman, who represented the Holy Spirit, kept turning them off. After arguing with her about keeping the lights on to let people know she was there, she ran throughout the house and turned on every last light, coming back to tell him, "Power costs!"

It is costly to walk in power. Many people, myself included have tried to just turn on the heat when they are in the moment, but that doesn't usually work. To see the best results, the heater needs to be on all the time. We must constantly stay connected to the Holy Spirit, not just when we want to see the results. No coach would let someone from the crowd join his team during a game and give him the ball. The coach gives the ball to those who are there day in and day out and have proven their faithfulness with whatever opportunities they are given.

Don't turn off your heater and let your pilot light go out. It might not seem like a big deal to turn it off and it might seem like you are saving yourself some money, but when the time comes to bring the heat you will be like the virgins who didn't prepare oil for their lamps. You will miss out on opportunities to see Heaven invade Earth. Pay the price to keep your fire going. It is worth the cost.

Preparation for Acceleration

This past weekend I was afforded the privaledge of attending The Call in Nashville, TN. I came to The Call expecting to go to a new level in many ways. I feel as though because I prepared my heart and was expecting God to move, He did.

On my flight to Nashville I recognized that as we boarded the plane, the person in front of me in line was going to be sittting next to me. Although it was a short flight, I prepared myself to talk with her before we ever got on the plane because I know that there will be times when revival will break out while I am on an airplane. I was able to share with her the journey of moving to Redding and seeing God move in the supernatural. She had an encounter with God because I was able to convey how I went from not believing in miracles to being apart of them on a regular basis.

During The Call I was informed that I would be going with a small group of people from Bethel up on stage to pray for healing revivalists to be released throughout the country. I was also told to get words of knowledge to release for healing to the people who were gathered (and I suppose also who were watching on TV). As we waited backstage I remembered that I have received several prophetic words about preaching at stadiums full of people. I thought, "Lord, I never knew it would be this soon!" In the end, they ran out of time to do that segment, so we didn't end up on stage at all to pray or give words of knowledge. However, I did find a woman who had an injury very close to the word of knowledge that I was going to give (I was going to say broken right foot that didn't heal correctly and she had a broken right ankle that didn't heal correctly).

I have asked God numerous times in my life for an acceleration to take place. I don't want God to move mightily when I am 85 years, I want Him to move mightily now and for it to continue to increase for the rest of my life. What would happen though if I am suddenly thrusted into doing what would only seem possible 10 or 20 years from now? Would I step up as though I was made for that moment or would I shrink back in fear giving the excuse that I am not ready?

Many Christians claim to not be ready when faced with things that are beyond comfort for them. If something causes them fear they claim that God has not prepared them for it yet. Could it be that God is wanting to bring an acceleration to His people who are willing to take Him by the hand and walk into uncharted territory? Having opportunities that are stretching for us now, but are things we desire to do in the future are gifts from God. He is giving us the ability to bring tomorrow into today.

If God has told you that you will preach to thousands, get ready to be handed the microphone. If God has told you that every crippled person you lay hands on will walk, start laying hands on them now. If God has told you that you will start orphanages all over the world, start taking care of kids now. Don't wait for a plate of food to show up in front of you, go prepare it. Too often we wait until God gives us the thing we long for when the reality is that He already gave it to us and we don't even realize it. We wait to be clothed in power before we will pray for the sick but the truth is that they won't be healed until you pray for them.

As my friend aptly stated on a firestorm a few weeks ago, if you don't do anything then nothing is going to happen. If you want to continue experiencing the results you are now, keep not doing what you aren't doing. Did you get that? But if you are wanting an increase in results, take a risk. John Wimber says faith is spelled R-I-S-K. Do something you wouldn't normally do, pray for something that scares you to pray for, and pray for every person that you want to see healed (which should be everyone!). How can God use you to see limbs grow back if you never pray for anyone who has a missing limb? Take a risk and prepare to be accelerated.

A Greater Reality

When faced with adversities, it is often difficult to see how we can fulfill our dreams. The reality of what we can see in the natural attempts to block out the reality of what God has called us to. Much like an eclipse, we may only see a glimpse of what we know to be there whereas the lesser reality is what we see most.

My friend Daniel reminded me how we cannot let the lies of the enemy and our current circumstances dictate our future hope. If you dream of being an author, you cannot focus on the reality that you are a poor student, you must focus on becoming an accomplished writer!

The enemy would like nothing better than to keep you from fulfilling your destiny and having a big impact in the Kingdom of God. If he can convince you that you are incapable of accomplishing your dreams then he has gained a small victory. God gives us larger than life dreams so that if we believe His word the devil won't stand a chance at getting in our way.

I dream of being a revivalist. I dream about seeing people saved and healed every day not because I do outreach daily but because I make myself available. I dream about the biggest cities in the world being transformed by the gospel. I dream about massive healing and evangelistic crusades in the US and internationally. However, my current situation does not point to that destination. When I minister on the streets people aren't getting saved or healed at nearly the rate they should be. A few of my friends see people get healed and saved on a daily basis. Literally. One friend told me how she was shocked when she realized one day recently that nobody had gotten healed that day.

When God has called you to the impossible, it is imperative to keep your eyes on Him and not what you see in front of you. We must allow what is invisible to become more real than what is visible or else our circumstances will dictate our future. Our world would be significantly different if inventors gave up when they didn't immediately experience success and became satisfied with the status quo.

How many times have Christians given up on a dream because they thought it was impossible or too difficult? If I remember the story correctly, Reinhard Bonnke was not God's first choice to win millions of souls on the African continent, but he was the first to say yes to the call. How many others are called to change nations but have let a false reality get in their way?

One of the first prophetic words I ever received was so big that I didn't know what to do with it. I often would listen to it thinking, "how could I ever do that?" I didn't have a firm grasp on the reality that God can use anyone to do anything and that He might just want to use me for greater things than I could ever imagine. If we turn our focus to our present circumstances instead of to God we will never see the greater reality that He has called us to and walk in the fullness of our calling.

Defeat is not an option

Randy Clark has a sermon titled, "The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat." I tend to dislike this message because I am not content with living a lifestyle where defeat is normal. I understand why he preaches it though; many would become so disheartened by defeat that they would give up before ever tasting victory. Randy, like so many others, had prayed for the sick for years without seeing anyone get healed. They had to persevere through so much just to taste victory and experience the thrill of God healing someone through their prayers. Because of the groundwork that men and women like Randy, Bill Johnson, Heidi Baker and others have laid, we now get to experience breakthrough much more quickly.

One year after seeing my first healing, I have seen more people healed than I can count. At the beginning I wrote down each healing testimony, and although I still try to write them down it is difficult to keep track of everything God has done. However, I have seen more people walk away without healing than I have seen walk away praising God for healing them. Many of these defeats break my heart. I remember praying for a man with cerebral palsy back in February. I prayed so fervently and felt the Holy Spirit stronger than any other time I have prayed for someone yet nothing manifested that I could see.

Then of course there are friends of mine who are afflicted with disabilities. These are illegal! I have contended for their breakthrough but to no avail, both still are confined to their wheelchairs. I can't leave out that I prayed for one of them that the doctors would not have to put rods in her back because she was healed and while the doctors changed their minds and didn't put any rods in her back, she still isn't healed. But praise God, no new rods!

This past weekend I met a guy two years younger than me with a disabillity. Most people with his condition die at a very young age. Counting the whole weekend, I spent around 10 hours praying for him before he left town. He is an amazing young man whose freedom is being robbed by the enemy. Seeing him leave in the same condition as the first time I saw him crushed me. That evening I spent at least another hour praying for another man whose freedom and health is also being robbed by the enemy after I had already spent over an hour praying for him the day before. Still nothing.

Today I was called up to go to the hospital to pray for a man who was dying with two people from church who knew him. I felt the Holy Spirit flowing into him as I prayed. Heat was all over his chest as my hands were on him. Several times I felt the power of God rush through my hands and into his body. A few minutes after I stepped away from him he went to be with Jesus. After giving the family a few minutes to mourn I knelt down to quietly pray for him to be raised from the dead. After a few minutes, one of the people I was with tapped me on the shoulder to motion for us to leave. I am now 0 for 2 in seeing both the dying healed and the dead raised.

Tomorrow I should be meeting with a man who is paralyzed that I prayed for last week at the hospital for about an hour. Nothing happened last time but he is going to walk. I am not giving up and I am not giving in. God is good all the time. By His stripes we are healed. I will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. It is impossible to pray and have nothing happen. Jesus commanded us to heal the sick and to raise the dead. Nothing is impossible with God. Defeat is not an option.

I don't deserve this!

Most people think that God is waiting for them to mess up so He can punish them. People think He is like the Highway Patrol officer that stands outside his car with his radar pointed like a sniper rifle down the highway to catch speeders. Actually, that may be partially true. However, when God comes after you to pull you over, He does so in love, not to intimidate or threaten, but to warn that your actions could cause harm to yourself and others. God is so loving that He watches over us and takes us out of dangerous situations.

Recently I was talking with a teenager who has been doing drugs for half of his young life. His view of the police was that they were out to get him for no reason at all. People typically think that they don't deserve the punishment they receive for doing something that they don't even think is wrong. Their view of God is that He punishes them for their sin by giving them bad luck or by making them sick. If only they realized that sickness is from the devil and that God's mercies are new every day!

But it doesn't end there. God doesn't suspend our license when He catches us speeding. He might put us on probation, which is so we can learn to not make the same mistakes again. But most of the time it is just the opposite. Since His love for us is not based upon what we do or don't do, we can mess up and He will shower us with His favor and love.

Wondering why God would use us to see people get healed of conditions and pain they have battled for years, a friend asked me, "What did we do to deserve this?" Another friend answered that question today in a simple yet profound way, "We don't deserve it and we can't earn it. He just loves us." I was just showered with His favor after I did something stupid. What did I do to deserve it? Nothing. I think that God just wants me to know that He loves me regardless.

Bill Johnson says that God can win with any hand, even a pair of 2's. God is in the business of turning things around. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't die for us before we had sinned the first time. He died for us after we had betrayed Him time and time again. Yet He still considered us to be His friend and not His foe. When we didn't deserve mercy, Christ died for our sins.

Many people think that God is teaching them a lesson by giving them sickness or disease. When offered prayer their response screams that they are thinking, "I deserve this! God is dealing with me!" They think that because God caught them speeding, He took the tires off their car so they are slowed down. They think that he broke their air conditioning permanently so that they must live in torment for the rest of their lives. They think that He drained their oil so that their engine would fail prematurely. God doesn't do any of that. The devil has come to steal, kill, and destroy but Jesus has come so that we may have life and have it to the full!

God is handing us the keys to our dream car and most of the time we do all we can to turn it down. We think that in order to be spiritual we must be in a constant state of suffering and not accept any gifts. I've got news for you: Jesus suffered so we don't have to. He died for our sins so that we don't have to. He paid the full price for it so that we don't have to. We don't deserve the favor and blessings we have experienced in life because we didn't do anything to earn it. But we don't have to worry because our Father has given it to us with no conditions - He simply loves us. Yes, He loves us.

Walking On Water

I just returned home from a great ministry trip to Lake Tahoe. Almost immediately after seeing the lake I began to think about walking out onto the water. This is because I have a burning desire inside of me for the impossible. I have had dreams in which I am flying through the air, watching lightning come down from heaven when I prayed for someone, and walking into a room full of people in wheelchairs with every one of them being completely healed. We were born for the impossible!

Rather than becoming satisfied with what I have seen, with each impossible thing that God does, I become even hungrier to see more. On Saturday, a man who was completely blind in one eye due to a detached retina began to see the outline of his wife and other features of the restaurant that they were eating lunch at. The catch is that nobody was there to lay hands on him; he just took off his sunglasses and saw! A word of knowledge had been given at our meeting and the man’s daughter had the person use their cell phone to call and pray for him. Since he wasn’t home, the person left a message declaring that God is healing his eye. It was confirmed that the man’s sight was restored at the same time the phone call was made.

I am so thankful for that miracle, as well as the people that were healed of different ailments after we got back to Redding while I was just standing around talking with friends. God is so faithful with the aches, the pains, and the blind eyes, but He does not want us to become complacent because we have seen one miracle. The reality is that we were created to live a supernatural lifestyle and not just have a supernatural moment here and there.

After seeing more of the goodness of God this weekend, I can’t help but long to have even more of His goodness revealed to me. I have come to the realization that I must move beyond thinking that it would be nice to live supernaturally. Even just telling other people that you want to live supernaturally isn’t enough. We must actually go do something about it. Take this analogy about eating. Do you just think to yourself that you are hungry and want food, do you tell someone else that you are hungry and want food, do you go search for food until you find it, or do you find food and eat it? It is dangerous to have knowledge of the supernatural and then do nothing about it. If I know that God heals people and that He does it through me, then I am responsible to take that healing to the people who need it.

Bill Johnson says that God will not give us revelation that we are not ready to be held responsible for. When God shows you something it is because He thinks you are ready to handle it. If I had thought about walking on water or flying several years ago I would have thought that I was going crazy. However, this morning when God was increasing my passion to take revival into the streets of my city on a daily basis, it was because that is what He is moving me into.

Why would we not be able to walk on water? The Bible tells us that nothing is impossible for God (Luke 1:37) and that everything is possible for him who believes (Mark 9:23). If we believed what God says about Himself and about us as much as we believe what the media says about American Idol and the Presidential candidates then the Kingdom would be advancing so quickly that we wouldn’t be able to keep up. Hospitals would be cleared out in moments. Campuses would be completely transformed during lunch. Nations would be saved in a day. It’s time to walk on water; but let’s not just think about it or tell others about, let’s do it again and again and again.