If you read my blog from yesterday, you know that I was talking about flowing with the Holy Spirit and doing what the Father is doing. This morning I picked up Bill Johnson’s latest book, Strengthen Yourself in the Lord, and began to read some more of it. Just a few pages into it I became aware that the section I was in was talking about having solitude and how Jesus would only do what the Father did!
A year ago when my only way to hear Bill was through podcasts and downloaded sermons I heard him speak about unusual coincidences being the language of the spirit. This can come in all sorts of ways whether it is really bad traffic or waking up at the same time each night. Well, I find this as no unusual coincidence as I am wanting to only do what I see the Father doing to then read in just four pages about Jesus doing that same thing.
What does it mean? God is just confirming it to me. Why is it important? Because more will be accomplished on accident when I am focused on His presence than on purpose when I am focused on performance. Waiting two hours in a meeting for the Spirit of God to show up in power will create far more miracles than by just praying for people from the start.
I think that is another thing that God is trying to teach me: to co-labor with Him. He doesn’t want to do all the work and He doesn’t want me to do all the work. He wants me to partner with what He is doing. We co-labor with God. We co-labor next to God with what He is doing. He doesn’t co-labor with what we are doing. We are to co-labor with what He is doing. Yet we rest because we only do what we see the Father doing. Amen to that!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Language of the Spirit
God has really been drawing me in recently to seek His voice. With the events of this week there have been a lot of questions that I have been asking. Most of the time my question has been about trying to understand what He is doing, such as, “God, what are you doing in this?”
As the school year nears its end, I can’t help but realize that I need some new goals for the summer. Right at the top of that list is to understand the language of the Spirit. While I might have maturity, character, and other things down solidly, I feel that I am definitely lacking in the area of understanding the Holy Spirit and even what my own spirit is feeling in any given circumstance.
Growing up one of my biggest frustrations was never feeling like I could hear God. I would ask God about things and never hear his answers. It was like a person who is only five feet tall trying to dunk (yes, Muggsy Bogues dunked a few times, but he was 5’3”). After so many times of trying and never getting an answer I began to expect that I would not hear God’s voice. I would even tell people that I don’t hear God or worse yet, that I can’t hear Him.
Since then I have learned that it is not a good thing to say things like that about yourself because they become true. They also create an escape route out of any circumstance that would require that ability (some even call it an excuse!).
Without going into the details of what I was asking in one of the situations, I basically said, “God, I know you are good, but I don’t like this and you gotta make it stop by a certain day or I’m gonna make changes so that it has to stop.” Well, I said that Friday night and on Saturday it was fixed. My deadline was tomorrow night, so I am pretty happy that God worked ahead of schedule.
With what God has put on my heart to do, I understand the importance of being in step with Him and with what He is doing. Jesus healed everyone who came to Him, but not everyone in the world got healed while He was in ministry. He went where the Father sent Him. While I love the idea of praying for every person I ever come across that has a healing need, the reality is that it is not practical for one person to try to bring healing to the entire world. There must be an army of believers who are mobilized, not just one who takes on the task of praying for each person they come across who sneezes or wears glasses.
I want to walk into a store and understand that the Holy Spirit wants to do something, not spend every free moment out in the city looking for the next person with a limp. I know that my schedule will become such that I will be traveling enough that I will be trying to get the most out of my time at home so it wouldn’t be practical if I returned home just to spend hours at the store because I kept seeing people needing physical healing. Many of the great Healing Revivalists of the 1950s got burned out because they would minister constantly and people would line up for prayer at their homes. The majority of them were only in effective ministry for a few years. I don’t believe that God would want us to do something that we can’t keep up for very long. Jesus would even go away to be with God. He would just go hide up in the mountains so that He couldn’t be bothered. We should probably do something like that. Minister and then rest. Jesus knew what the Father was doing. I want to follow His lead.
As the school year nears its end, I can’t help but realize that I need some new goals for the summer. Right at the top of that list is to understand the language of the Spirit. While I might have maturity, character, and other things down solidly, I feel that I am definitely lacking in the area of understanding the Holy Spirit and even what my own spirit is feeling in any given circumstance.
Growing up one of my biggest frustrations was never feeling like I could hear God. I would ask God about things and never hear his answers. It was like a person who is only five feet tall trying to dunk (yes, Muggsy Bogues dunked a few times, but he was 5’3”). After so many times of trying and never getting an answer I began to expect that I would not hear God’s voice. I would even tell people that I don’t hear God or worse yet, that I can’t hear Him.
Since then I have learned that it is not a good thing to say things like that about yourself because they become true. They also create an escape route out of any circumstance that would require that ability (some even call it an excuse!).
Without going into the details of what I was asking in one of the situations, I basically said, “God, I know you are good, but I don’t like this and you gotta make it stop by a certain day or I’m gonna make changes so that it has to stop.” Well, I said that Friday night and on Saturday it was fixed. My deadline was tomorrow night, so I am pretty happy that God worked ahead of schedule.
With what God has put on my heart to do, I understand the importance of being in step with Him and with what He is doing. Jesus healed everyone who came to Him, but not everyone in the world got healed while He was in ministry. He went where the Father sent Him. While I love the idea of praying for every person I ever come across that has a healing need, the reality is that it is not practical for one person to try to bring healing to the entire world. There must be an army of believers who are mobilized, not just one who takes on the task of praying for each person they come across who sneezes or wears glasses.
I want to walk into a store and understand that the Holy Spirit wants to do something, not spend every free moment out in the city looking for the next person with a limp. I know that my schedule will become such that I will be traveling enough that I will be trying to get the most out of my time at home so it wouldn’t be practical if I returned home just to spend hours at the store because I kept seeing people needing physical healing. Many of the great Healing Revivalists of the 1950s got burned out because they would minister constantly and people would line up for prayer at their homes. The majority of them were only in effective ministry for a few years. I don’t believe that God would want us to do something that we can’t keep up for very long. Jesus would even go away to be with God. He would just go hide up in the mountains so that He couldn’t be bothered. We should probably do something like that. Minister and then rest. Jesus knew what the Father was doing. I want to follow His lead.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Don't ever give up!
I have heard Bill Johnson say several times that you never know when it might be the time that God heals somebody. Similarly he says that it is ok for us to live in mystery, not knowing why things happen the way they do, but knowing that God is ALWAYS good regardless. Just think of how hopeless a situation could be for someone who has been seeking healing for years. It would probably get to the point of not wanting to waste their time in prayer because nothing ever seemed to happen.
On Wednesday right after school was over with I was slowly walking my way to my car when some students stopped me for prayer. I had just come from revival group where my leader and other individuals prayed for me when we ended and the entire group prayed for me when I showed up. On my way there, the Junior High Pastor prayed for me and before that another 10 students or so had been praying for me in the lobby. Even though my body and mind werre exhausted I told them they could pray for me. Another one of our first year pastors joined them and I decided to test it out by walking. For the first time since Sunday I was able to walk without feeling like my knees were going to collapse!
The funny thing is that I almost turned them down because I just wanted to get home and sleep, which is really funny since it has been almost impossible for me to sleep even though I am spending 10+ hours in bed. And foolishly the thought ran through my mind that their prayers wouldn't do anything. WRONG! I am glad I said yes to them and whether it was just from my obedience to receiving prayer or maybe that act of physical obedience caused a spiritual release of some tiny amount of faith on my part to get God to supernaturally strengthen my knees in an instant.
This can apply to other things as well. I want to see people who are paralyzed get healed. I have not seen that happen yet, but if I pray for 1,000 people who don't get healed I am not going to stop! Also, when I moved out to Redding I made a point of spending time soaking so that I could feel the presence of God. I would go to the prayer chapel day after day for hours at a time not settling for nothing. Those months of pressing in led me into an incredible January and February of experiencing God on a whole new level!
So here is my charge to you: If you are seeking healing, do not turn down prayer even when you would rather just go on your way; If you are seeking God, do not stop seeking Him when you don't seem to be getting anywhere; If you are seeking breakthrough in healing for others do not stop praying for them in faith no matter how many aren't getting healed; Don't ever give up!
On Wednesday right after school was over with I was slowly walking my way to my car when some students stopped me for prayer. I had just come from revival group where my leader and other individuals prayed for me when we ended and the entire group prayed for me when I showed up. On my way there, the Junior High Pastor prayed for me and before that another 10 students or so had been praying for me in the lobby. Even though my body and mind werre exhausted I told them they could pray for me. Another one of our first year pastors joined them and I decided to test it out by walking. For the first time since Sunday I was able to walk without feeling like my knees were going to collapse!
The funny thing is that I almost turned them down because I just wanted to get home and sleep, which is really funny since it has been almost impossible for me to sleep even though I am spending 10+ hours in bed. And foolishly the thought ran through my mind that their prayers wouldn't do anything. WRONG! I am glad I said yes to them and whether it was just from my obedience to receiving prayer or maybe that act of physical obedience caused a spiritual release of some tiny amount of faith on my part to get God to supernaturally strengthen my knees in an instant.
This can apply to other things as well. I want to see people who are paralyzed get healed. I have not seen that happen yet, but if I pray for 1,000 people who don't get healed I am not going to stop! Also, when I moved out to Redding I made a point of spending time soaking so that I could feel the presence of God. I would go to the prayer chapel day after day for hours at a time not settling for nothing. Those months of pressing in led me into an incredible January and February of experiencing God on a whole new level!
So here is my charge to you: If you are seeking healing, do not turn down prayer even when you would rather just go on your way; If you are seeking God, do not stop seeking Him when you don't seem to be getting anywhere; If you are seeking breakthrough in healing for others do not stop praying for them in faith no matter how many aren't getting healed; Don't ever give up!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Is God the Biggest?
Bill Johnson often says that we must keep our awareness of God's presence at the forefront of our minds. We cannot allow for other things to become bigger than our awareness of His presence. Until Monday night I thought I had that figured out pretty well and that no matter what the circumstances, my awareness of God's presence was the biggest thing in my mind. Let me explain.
Late Sunday night I noticed that my knees were starting to hurt. I didn't think too much of it because I had spent a longer time kneeling during worship on Sunday night than I normally would, so I figured it would go away soon. Well, on Monday my knees were hurting worse so I decided to just lay down in bed and rest. For several hours I was aware of God's presence as a lay there. Well, by that evening I was having trouble sleeping and my knees were hurting really bad. In the middle of the night there were several times in which I audibly grunted due to the extreme pain that I was in.
When I woke up Tuesday morning I was in horrible pain. By now my back was also sore from being in bed for so long. Additionally I could hardly walk because of the pain and my knees also felt like they were going to buckle underneath me. I quickly became aware of how often I use my knees, from the slight bend to wash my hands in the bathroom sink to getting out of bed, rolling over in bed, and going up and down stairs. I ended up going to the prayer chapel hoping that being in His presence would heal me, but I was so miserably in pain that I could not even become aware of His presence. At this point I also had a terrible headache and so I ended up making my way over to the main building to just take it easy before school.
On my way there I almost fell over a few times. It felt like someone took a baseball bat to my knees and that they were going to buckle from underneath me. This isn't just soreness, I know what that feels like. My back is sore, as is my neck and collarbone, my knees just downright hurt. I was miserable the whole day at school. I couldn't concentrate because of the pain and the headache. I ended up just going home after school and skipping my Tuesday night homegroup.
Being able to lay down helped some and several hours later I noticed that my knees weren't hurting when I wasn't moving. A few times in the night I got up to use the rest room and quickly discovered that they were still hurting and still wanted to buckle under my weight (and I am not heavy!). However, I didn't have the killer pain at any time like I had the previous night or during the day so I woke up thanking God for the improvement. However I hardly slept all night due to my back and neck hurting and woke up with my collarbone also hurting.
My headache was so bad that I felt like I was in slow motion, so when I was getting very far trying to do homework, I decided to lay down and try to get some sleep. That didn't work for the sleeping part, but I did manage to have my headache go away temporarily while I put my pillow on top of my face. I managed to finish it (thank you God that I had already finished Dann's homework on the weekend!) and went off to school still in a lot of pain. My headache kept getting worse so I ended up just laying down in the back as Kris Vallotton spoke. After a while I couldn't handle that either so I went out to the lobby.
More and more people prayed for me but I was still hurting the same after school ended. I ran into Joaquin in the hallway and he and two other students started to pray for me. I tested it out by walking and found that my knees weren't getting weak as I walked. They prayed again and I walked even more, with less pain, but more importantly, without feeling like my knees were going to buckle.
I mention all this to say that with all the pain I was in I kept that as my focus instead of God's presence. Let me just say that God did not cause me to be in this pain to teach me a lesson, but He sure did use it to show me that I let this circumstance come between me and Him. How quick I was to allow my circumstances to take my focus away from God. Thank you God for your presence and for being bigger than the most excruciating pain I have ever been in!
Late Sunday night I noticed that my knees were starting to hurt. I didn't think too much of it because I had spent a longer time kneeling during worship on Sunday night than I normally would, so I figured it would go away soon. Well, on Monday my knees were hurting worse so I decided to just lay down in bed and rest. For several hours I was aware of God's presence as a lay there. Well, by that evening I was having trouble sleeping and my knees were hurting really bad. In the middle of the night there were several times in which I audibly grunted due to the extreme pain that I was in.
When I woke up Tuesday morning I was in horrible pain. By now my back was also sore from being in bed for so long. Additionally I could hardly walk because of the pain and my knees also felt like they were going to buckle underneath me. I quickly became aware of how often I use my knees, from the slight bend to wash my hands in the bathroom sink to getting out of bed, rolling over in bed, and going up and down stairs. I ended up going to the prayer chapel hoping that being in His presence would heal me, but I was so miserably in pain that I could not even become aware of His presence. At this point I also had a terrible headache and so I ended up making my way over to the main building to just take it easy before school.
On my way there I almost fell over a few times. It felt like someone took a baseball bat to my knees and that they were going to buckle from underneath me. This isn't just soreness, I know what that feels like. My back is sore, as is my neck and collarbone, my knees just downright hurt. I was miserable the whole day at school. I couldn't concentrate because of the pain and the headache. I ended up just going home after school and skipping my Tuesday night homegroup.
Being able to lay down helped some and several hours later I noticed that my knees weren't hurting when I wasn't moving. A few times in the night I got up to use the rest room and quickly discovered that they were still hurting and still wanted to buckle under my weight (and I am not heavy!). However, I didn't have the killer pain at any time like I had the previous night or during the day so I woke up thanking God for the improvement. However I hardly slept all night due to my back and neck hurting and woke up with my collarbone also hurting.
My headache was so bad that I felt like I was in slow motion, so when I was getting very far trying to do homework, I decided to lay down and try to get some sleep. That didn't work for the sleeping part, but I did manage to have my headache go away temporarily while I put my pillow on top of my face. I managed to finish it (thank you God that I had already finished Dann's homework on the weekend!) and went off to school still in a lot of pain. My headache kept getting worse so I ended up just laying down in the back as Kris Vallotton spoke. After a while I couldn't handle that either so I went out to the lobby.
More and more people prayed for me but I was still hurting the same after school ended. I ran into Joaquin in the hallway and he and two other students started to pray for me. I tested it out by walking and found that my knees weren't getting weak as I walked. They prayed again and I walked even more, with less pain, but more importantly, without feeling like my knees were going to buckle.
I mention all this to say that with all the pain I was in I kept that as my focus instead of God's presence. Let me just say that God did not cause me to be in this pain to teach me a lesson, but He sure did use it to show me that I let this circumstance come between me and Him. How quick I was to allow my circumstances to take my focus away from God. Thank you God for your presence and for being bigger than the most excruciating pain I have ever been in!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Dreaming with God
I have been dreaming a lot recently. Last night was the first night in probably the past two weeks that I woke up and couldn't remember having a dream. The thing about my dreams is that they have always seemed to be very short. I could write them out in four or five sentences on my computer. On Wednesday at youth group, Linda read some dreams that some of the youth were having. Some of them were really long and when I found myself asking God to give me longer dreams I remembered to be thankful for the dreams I have been getting.
Well, that night I had a longer dream. It had many sections to it which is very unusual for me. The next night I had an even longer dream which took up almost two pages typed out. So on my way to the church that morning I was asking God why I wasn't having dreams that were of real life events that I would see unfold. Again I remembered to be thankful for what God had just given me, realizing that I have seen an increase in dreams over the past few weeks.
After spending some time praying and soaking I had the unique opportunity to minister to the Pastor on Call team at church. Joaquin, who is one of the first year pastors and also the director of the healing rooms (he also led the mission trip I was on), led the meeting. He began talking about Benny Hinn learning about the Holy Spirit through watching Kathryn Kuhlman. She would wait for the presence of God before she would ever go out in front of a crowd. Then she would preach for hours until she recognized a shift in the spirit, at which time she would begin calling out words of knowledge and point to different areas of the crowd and people would get healed without anyone ever praying for them.
He also talked about how when the apostles prayed in the book of Acts they were so engulfed with the Spirit that when they went out the Spirit would just leak off of them to heal people. Men like Charles Finney would walk into a room and without saying anything people would fall to their knees crying out to God, repenting of their sins. There is something huge about moving with the Spirit of God. I am just beginning to realize how important this is.
At school we got to hear from Pastor Bill. We watched a clip of him on TBN Thursday night. God, help me to honor people as much as he does! I have never heard him say anything negative about a person before. It blows my mind. The last question that someone asked him was about a subject he had talked about maybe two weeks ago. I mentioned it here as well because I thought that it was so important. He stressed to us that a radical encounter with God does not make us anything better than someone who has never had such an encounter.
He again stressed how we must give honor to the small things that God gives us. The presence of God being in our midst is as big of a deal as a big encounter that could change our lives forever. The problem is that we put a measure on it, deeming it unimportant. He also told us to engage God's presence and not just enjoy it. I believe that is what great revivalists have done. They recognized the presence of God coming into the meeting and then engaged it. Sure some may have worked out of their anointing, but when they wait on the Lord, they aren't waiting so that they can fall asleep, they are waiting to set up an ambush, so that like Kathryn Kuhlman, when the Presence comes, the miracles immediately follow.
Well, that night I had a longer dream. It had many sections to it which is very unusual for me. The next night I had an even longer dream which took up almost two pages typed out. So on my way to the church that morning I was asking God why I wasn't having dreams that were of real life events that I would see unfold. Again I remembered to be thankful for what God had just given me, realizing that I have seen an increase in dreams over the past few weeks.
After spending some time praying and soaking I had the unique opportunity to minister to the Pastor on Call team at church. Joaquin, who is one of the first year pastors and also the director of the healing rooms (he also led the mission trip I was on), led the meeting. He began talking about Benny Hinn learning about the Holy Spirit through watching Kathryn Kuhlman. She would wait for the presence of God before she would ever go out in front of a crowd. Then she would preach for hours until she recognized a shift in the spirit, at which time she would begin calling out words of knowledge and point to different areas of the crowd and people would get healed without anyone ever praying for them.
He also talked about how when the apostles prayed in the book of Acts they were so engulfed with the Spirit that when they went out the Spirit would just leak off of them to heal people. Men like Charles Finney would walk into a room and without saying anything people would fall to their knees crying out to God, repenting of their sins. There is something huge about moving with the Spirit of God. I am just beginning to realize how important this is.
At school we got to hear from Pastor Bill. We watched a clip of him on TBN Thursday night. God, help me to honor people as much as he does! I have never heard him say anything negative about a person before. It blows my mind. The last question that someone asked him was about a subject he had talked about maybe two weeks ago. I mentioned it here as well because I thought that it was so important. He stressed to us that a radical encounter with God does not make us anything better than someone who has never had such an encounter.
He again stressed how we must give honor to the small things that God gives us. The presence of God being in our midst is as big of a deal as a big encounter that could change our lives forever. The problem is that we put a measure on it, deeming it unimportant. He also told us to engage God's presence and not just enjoy it. I believe that is what great revivalists have done. They recognized the presence of God coming into the meeting and then engaged it. Sure some may have worked out of their anointing, but when they wait on the Lord, they aren't waiting so that they can fall asleep, they are waiting to set up an ambush, so that like Kathryn Kuhlman, when the Presence comes, the miracles immediately follow.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Holy!
Just two hours after I wrote my blog yesterday I was encountering God in a way that hasn't really happened in a while. It didn't hurt that the night before I had just heard Heidi Baker repeat "Holy, Holy, Holy" over and over again. It also didn't hurt that the worship leader was singing, "You are Holy, oh so Holy, you are Holy, Lord". God is so holy. I have messed up so much, yet He welcomes me into His arms as though I have never done anything wrong. In fact, He pursues meto wrap me in His arms.
Today at school during worship I had to sit down. I started to cry again and was hit with the fact that I was sitting in the presence of a Holy God. The manifest presence of a Holy God was in my midst. My hands were on fire. How do I know they were on fire? My body was cold yet my hands were very hot. Words cannot express the impact it had on me to realize that God Almighty was right there with me. Did I mention yet that He is Holy? He is Holy! HE IS HOLY! God you are HOLY!
Here I go again. Yes, I am crying yet again. Every time I think about God since Tuesday I have begun to cry. Get yourself together David. Actually, don't get yourself together, get wrecked by God and never be the same. He is Holy! I got prophetic words today that really hit me. One was at school and the others were at a home group. The one at school was great because it confirmed what is going to happen because of what God is doing in me right now. He is Holy! The words I got tonight are great because they dealt with many of the leadership questions that I have been facing the past few days. God successfully covered everything that I needed.
There have now been several times in the past couple days where God has rocked me. His love is becoming more real every day. His holiness is becoming greater the more I think about Him. Oh God just to be with you! You let me be with you! Do you realize how amazing this is? This is like getting to hang out with the coolest person in the world, anyone you would like, but better, and you can hang out with God as much as you like! I remember thinking how cool it seemed to be hanging out with Bill Johnson, Randy Clark, and the other awesome leaders of the Power Invasion in Brazil last July. I still catch myself thinking that I am special because I got to hang out with cool people. That does not even compare to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ! Thank you Lord for all the people who help mold me, but let me never forget that you are the source and that I must know you above all! You are Holy! God is so good. He is Holy. He is Holy. He is Holy!
Today at school during worship I had to sit down. I started to cry again and was hit with the fact that I was sitting in the presence of a Holy God. The manifest presence of a Holy God was in my midst. My hands were on fire. How do I know they were on fire? My body was cold yet my hands were very hot. Words cannot express the impact it had on me to realize that God Almighty was right there with me. Did I mention yet that He is Holy? He is Holy! HE IS HOLY! God you are HOLY!
Here I go again. Yes, I am crying yet again. Every time I think about God since Tuesday I have begun to cry. Get yourself together David. Actually, don't get yourself together, get wrecked by God and never be the same. He is Holy! I got prophetic words today that really hit me. One was at school and the others were at a home group. The one at school was great because it confirmed what is going to happen because of what God is doing in me right now. He is Holy! The words I got tonight are great because they dealt with many of the leadership questions that I have been facing the past few days. God successfully covered everything that I needed.
There have now been several times in the past couple days where God has rocked me. His love is becoming more real every day. His holiness is becoming greater the more I think about Him. Oh God just to be with you! You let me be with you! Do you realize how amazing this is? This is like getting to hang out with the coolest person in the world, anyone you would like, but better, and you can hang out with God as much as you like! I remember thinking how cool it seemed to be hanging out with Bill Johnson, Randy Clark, and the other awesome leaders of the Power Invasion in Brazil last July. I still catch myself thinking that I am special because I got to hang out with cool people. That does not even compare to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ! Thank you Lord for all the people who help mold me, but let me never forget that you are the source and that I must know you above all! You are Holy! God is so good. He is Holy. He is Holy. He is Holy!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Leading Lower
So it has been a few days. I am still alive, but there has been enough things going on that have kept me from sitting down and thinking about what I would write about. Well, I just had a revelation as I was reading The New Mystics here in the Lobby at church while I wait for youth to start. I realized that I am not comfortable leading people who I feel are at least as strong a leader as I am.
I was just thinking about how I don't really like leading small group here at school because I don't feel like I am the clear cut leader of the group. I realized that although I wouldn't want to be leading a small group I am going to need to learn how to lead in situations where I am appointed as the leader but it is not because I am the only leader.
I think a major key for me in life will be my ability to lead in situations where I am surrounded by leaders. I am not trying to say that I need to let everyone know that I am the leader in an arrogant way, but rather that I need to learn how to lead leaders as though it was very natural for me to do. Right now I feel like a fish out of water, but I need to learn to soar like an eagle in the sky.
Last night at home group we watched a video of Heidi Baker preaching her "Lower Still" message at the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, FL. To be more accurate, I listened to it as I lay on the floor with my face in the ground. Since there is no way for me to capture what she said in this blog, I won't even try. However, I was completely shaken by her humility and the revelation that she walks in due to constantly being in the Presence of God.
Her message wasn't flashy and the average person at the meeting could write her off as a lunatic; however, it is hard to argue with someone who has planted 8,000 churches in a decade, feeds thousands of children every day, sees every deaf ear opened, sees most blind eyes opened, and who has raised the dead. You might not agree with her, but what fruit has been produced in your life?
The message gave me a clear picture of what my life, and the leadership principles I mentioned above, will look like in the years to come. Here is someone with a PhD who preaches often from the floor. For those who have not seen her I mean that she is lying on the floor. It looks like she is a mess, but the truth is that she is a mess for Jesus. Do I have it all together? Nope. Can God still use me? You bet. He moves in the biggest ways through those He has formed deep relationships with and the only way those can be formed are through time and trial.
It was a clear message to me that I must understand who I am and who God is. I must have a deeper understanding of Christ, to really know Him, to be His best friend.
This doesn't make sense to me as I write it, but as I watched and listened I realized that appearing to have it all together is not a requirement in the Kingdom. I probably don't get it now because I need to learn something else about it, but there is something amazing about having one of the biggest leaders in all of Christianity to preach while lying on the floor. She wasn't trying to impress the crowd with a polished message. Instead she spontaneously went where the Spirit led and poured her heart out to God.
This is too big for me to comprehend right now. I am back at the roadblock of a mind that can't produce thoughts that I had last night. However, in that place I felt like I could do more for Christ than when my mind is bogged down with the thoughts of daily life. When Jesus and Him crucified is all that matters you have reached the starting place where God can begin to use you to change the world.
I was just thinking about how I don't really like leading small group here at school because I don't feel like I am the clear cut leader of the group. I realized that although I wouldn't want to be leading a small group I am going to need to learn how to lead in situations where I am appointed as the leader but it is not because I am the only leader.
I think a major key for me in life will be my ability to lead in situations where I am surrounded by leaders. I am not trying to say that I need to let everyone know that I am the leader in an arrogant way, but rather that I need to learn how to lead leaders as though it was very natural for me to do. Right now I feel like a fish out of water, but I need to learn to soar like an eagle in the sky.
Last night at home group we watched a video of Heidi Baker preaching her "Lower Still" message at the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, FL. To be more accurate, I listened to it as I lay on the floor with my face in the ground. Since there is no way for me to capture what she said in this blog, I won't even try. However, I was completely shaken by her humility and the revelation that she walks in due to constantly being in the Presence of God.
Her message wasn't flashy and the average person at the meeting could write her off as a lunatic; however, it is hard to argue with someone who has planted 8,000 churches in a decade, feeds thousands of children every day, sees every deaf ear opened, sees most blind eyes opened, and who has raised the dead. You might not agree with her, but what fruit has been produced in your life?
The message gave me a clear picture of what my life, and the leadership principles I mentioned above, will look like in the years to come. Here is someone with a PhD who preaches often from the floor. For those who have not seen her I mean that she is lying on the floor. It looks like she is a mess, but the truth is that she is a mess for Jesus. Do I have it all together? Nope. Can God still use me? You bet. He moves in the biggest ways through those He has formed deep relationships with and the only way those can be formed are through time and trial.
It was a clear message to me that I must understand who I am and who God is. I must have a deeper understanding of Christ, to really know Him, to be His best friend.
This doesn't make sense to me as I write it, but as I watched and listened I realized that appearing to have it all together is not a requirement in the Kingdom. I probably don't get it now because I need to learn something else about it, but there is something amazing about having one of the biggest leaders in all of Christianity to preach while lying on the floor. She wasn't trying to impress the crowd with a polished message. Instead she spontaneously went where the Spirit led and poured her heart out to God.
This is too big for me to comprehend right now. I am back at the roadblock of a mind that can't produce thoughts that I had last night. However, in that place I felt like I could do more for Christ than when my mind is bogged down with the thoughts of daily life. When Jesus and Him crucified is all that matters you have reached the starting place where God can begin to use you to change the world.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
prepare today for the great harvest tomorrow
So tonight I went out on our Friday night outreach at church. I will preface what I say with being glad that I went, so don't take this the wrong way. It started out as our group split into the specific outreach that we would be going on, followed by breaking our Treasure Hunt group into smaller teams. Soon after several of the students began barking at each other talking about who was more anointed and would see more people get saved tonight. Although I know they weren't being completely serious about their arguing, it still annoyed me that this was even happening. We should be encouraging one another, not tearing each other down! Other than asking them to get along I stayed out of it because I did not want to be included in it.
As one group left someone stated to me that while my group is still "stuggling" to fill out our treasure maps with what God was showing us, they were going to be out winning souls. Then repeatedly as they left they shouted back to me that they were going to see more people get saved than my group. Now I know that this person has a sarcastic sense of humor, but do we really need to throw competition into the church as though it is a rivarly game in college football? I think not.
Anyway, it was a much different dynamic this week. One guy I didn't know at all and two other guys could have been leading groups. We went to Safeway and couldn't seem to find anyone on our lists. After a stop at Walgreens in which two of our guys prayed for a missionary from Sudan we headed off to get gas and then go downtown. As we got near, the guys wanted to stop at the Safeway that we were passing so I pulled in. After walking around for a minute some of the guys spot some people. One guy starts to pray for a lady and as he does I feel something in my right ear that had caused me to write down "deafness - right ear" on my paper when we were at the church. So after he is done I ask her if she has any problems with her ear and she does! She had gotten punched in the ear and it damaged her ear drum. C'mon God! Her hair was covering up her ear and she wasn't wearing a hearing aid so I never would have known!
I was getting really tired and so I was definitely ready to go but so when we got back to the church I decided to go soak and then read some at the prayer house. I am glad I did. I read some out of a book called "The New Mystics" by John Crowder. It was just really inspiring me to go after God and change the world through the gospel of power with demonstration of signs and wonders. Then on the way home I got to thinking about one of the dreams I have which is to see complete transformation of our country's biggest cities. I just began seeing myself doing power evangelism in Manhattan as the beginning work of seeing New York City won for the Kingdom. Oh was it beautiful! We were feeding the poor and homeless as well as seeing multitudes saved, healed, and delivered. I couldn't help but get excited to read that John Alexander Dowie saw the city of Chicago get transformed completely! And I can go beyond what he did! I can't wait!
As one group left someone stated to me that while my group is still "stuggling" to fill out our treasure maps with what God was showing us, they were going to be out winning souls. Then repeatedly as they left they shouted back to me that they were going to see more people get saved than my group. Now I know that this person has a sarcastic sense of humor, but do we really need to throw competition into the church as though it is a rivarly game in college football? I think not.
Anyway, it was a much different dynamic this week. One guy I didn't know at all and two other guys could have been leading groups. We went to Safeway and couldn't seem to find anyone on our lists. After a stop at Walgreens in which two of our guys prayed for a missionary from Sudan we headed off to get gas and then go downtown. As we got near, the guys wanted to stop at the Safeway that we were passing so I pulled in. After walking around for a minute some of the guys spot some people. One guy starts to pray for a lady and as he does I feel something in my right ear that had caused me to write down "deafness - right ear" on my paper when we were at the church. So after he is done I ask her if she has any problems with her ear and she does! She had gotten punched in the ear and it damaged her ear drum. C'mon God! Her hair was covering up her ear and she wasn't wearing a hearing aid so I never would have known!
I was getting really tired and so I was definitely ready to go but so when we got back to the church I decided to go soak and then read some at the prayer house. I am glad I did. I read some out of a book called "The New Mystics" by John Crowder. It was just really inspiring me to go after God and change the world through the gospel of power with demonstration of signs and wonders. Then on the way home I got to thinking about one of the dreams I have which is to see complete transformation of our country's biggest cities. I just began seeing myself doing power evangelism in Manhattan as the beginning work of seeing New York City won for the Kingdom. Oh was it beautiful! We were feeding the poor and homeless as well as seeing multitudes saved, healed, and delivered. I couldn't help but get excited to read that John Alexander Dowie saw the city of Chicago get transformed completely! And I can go beyond what he did! I can't wait!
Friday, April 13, 2007
Only believe
"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." - Matthew 21:22
Recently I have been on a journey of asking God for wisdom. Some of it was evident in my last post about raising the dead, but even more so I have really been seeking the Lord in the area of healing. I don't really know why it came up, actually now that I say that I know exactly why it came up, I am praying fervently for a friend of mine who has been a quadrapalegic for 36 years to be healed.
This next part could be "That ain't right: Part 2" which I will probably not get around to because I hate saying things that sound like I am complaining. Anyway, I was talking to him the other day and found out that his insurance is saying that some of the medical supplies that he needs are not necessary. Now if you know me, you know that I am not all for the government just handing away money to people who don't want to work. Additionally I support President Bush and will not slander him for any decisions he has made. My friend however does not mind voicing his opinion about the President and saying how instead of throwing billions of dollars into the war, the government should instead be helping the poor in its own country. While I totally understnad that it isn't the job of the government to fix every problem, I couldn't help but understand that taking the money that has been spent on the war in Iraq and putting it towards helping the poor and elderly would have great benefits for those people.
Anyway, I say all that to get to my point that I want to have a better understanding of God and anything else that would help bring healing to people that will otherwise continue to suffer. I don't know how much longer my friend will live. He is getting old and I am sure that his health isn't getting better due to the condition of his body. It made me think of the revivalists who have moved in healing in the past such as John G. Lake. Oftentimes, it was a struggle for healing with someone they were close to that propelled them into a greater healing anointing.
I see this current struggle as that for me. I can visualize the future and multitudes of people getting healed. I know that it is coming so when I pray it is easy to believe for it. And since I know that it is for me, I know that like Mary the mother of Jesus, I can ask for it now. I can ask God to get me ready for it now. I can ask God to teach me how to pray. By dreaming with God I am no longer bound by my worries of life but rather have my sights set on what God is doing. It is easier to embrace the process when you have a vision of the finish line. Grab hold of what God has shown you and don't let go. Train yourself so that you can do the best that you can and then run your race with your eye on the prize.
Recently I have been on a journey of asking God for wisdom. Some of it was evident in my last post about raising the dead, but even more so I have really been seeking the Lord in the area of healing. I don't really know why it came up, actually now that I say that I know exactly why it came up, I am praying fervently for a friend of mine who has been a quadrapalegic for 36 years to be healed.
This next part could be "That ain't right: Part 2" which I will probably not get around to because I hate saying things that sound like I am complaining. Anyway, I was talking to him the other day and found out that his insurance is saying that some of the medical supplies that he needs are not necessary. Now if you know me, you know that I am not all for the government just handing away money to people who don't want to work. Additionally I support President Bush and will not slander him for any decisions he has made. My friend however does not mind voicing his opinion about the President and saying how instead of throwing billions of dollars into the war, the government should instead be helping the poor in its own country. While I totally understnad that it isn't the job of the government to fix every problem, I couldn't help but understand that taking the money that has been spent on the war in Iraq and putting it towards helping the poor and elderly would have great benefits for those people.
Anyway, I say all that to get to my point that I want to have a better understanding of God and anything else that would help bring healing to people that will otherwise continue to suffer. I don't know how much longer my friend will live. He is getting old and I am sure that his health isn't getting better due to the condition of his body. It made me think of the revivalists who have moved in healing in the past such as John G. Lake. Oftentimes, it was a struggle for healing with someone they were close to that propelled them into a greater healing anointing.
I see this current struggle as that for me. I can visualize the future and multitudes of people getting healed. I know that it is coming so when I pray it is easy to believe for it. And since I know that it is for me, I know that like Mary the mother of Jesus, I can ask for it now. I can ask God to get me ready for it now. I can ask God to teach me how to pray. By dreaming with God I am no longer bound by my worries of life but rather have my sights set on what God is doing. It is easier to embrace the process when you have a vision of the finish line. Grab hold of what God has shown you and don't let go. Train yourself so that you can do the best that you can and then run your race with your eye on the prize.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Thoughts to ponder: Raising the dead
So I have been thinking about raising the dead more than normal and came across a question on an assignment for school where the topic came up. Here is my response:
"Jesus didn't command us to prophesy, yet we all can, but we are not all prophets. Jesus commanded us to heal the sick, but some will have a gift of healing, perhaps like John G. Lake, who saw hundreds of thousands of people get healed. I'm not sure how that works when you consider that we were also commanded to raise the dead. Would the person with the gift of healing just raise the dead more often?"
Just a thought.
David Hogan's ministry in Mexico has raised 300 people (approx.) from the dead. However, they have tried to raise approxiamately 2,300 people from the dead. That is a 13% success rate. For each person they raise from the dead it takes on average between 6-8 hours of prayer. So assuming that they don't spend any more time praying for the peope that don't get raised from the dead than the people that do (which I am sure they probably keep praying for the people), they spend 40-54 hours praying for people that don't get raised from the dead between times when they are successful in raising the dead. Don't like the 13% success rate? In baseball you wouldn't even make a minor league team if you batted .130 unless you are a pitcher. However when you think that they have raised 300 people from the dead and I have never done it, their 13% success rate looks pretty good.
We were commanded to raise the dead.
When you are raising someone from the dead do they have the choice of whether to come back or not?
Just to clarify, Jesus said to raise the dead, not to pray for the dead.
I am now 0 for 1 in raising the dead.
I realized that if I did raise the dead I would think that I have somehow arrived in that I have reached some cool spiritual level with God that He allowed me to raise the dead. WRONG!
We would probably see more people raised from the dead if people like myself stopped thinking that we are at a high level of spiritual maturity because it happened through us. This is probably also true when applied to creative miracles and other "great" miracles that many people would not have faith for.
"Jesus didn't command us to prophesy, yet we all can, but we are not all prophets. Jesus commanded us to heal the sick, but some will have a gift of healing, perhaps like John G. Lake, who saw hundreds of thousands of people get healed. I'm not sure how that works when you consider that we were also commanded to raise the dead. Would the person with the gift of healing just raise the dead more often?"
Just a thought.
David Hogan's ministry in Mexico has raised 300 people (approx.) from the dead. However, they have tried to raise approxiamately 2,300 people from the dead. That is a 13% success rate. For each person they raise from the dead it takes on average between 6-8 hours of prayer. So assuming that they don't spend any more time praying for the peope that don't get raised from the dead than the people that do (which I am sure they probably keep praying for the people), they spend 40-54 hours praying for people that don't get raised from the dead between times when they are successful in raising the dead. Don't like the 13% success rate? In baseball you wouldn't even make a minor league team if you batted .130 unless you are a pitcher. However when you think that they have raised 300 people from the dead and I have never done it, their 13% success rate looks pretty good.
We were commanded to raise the dead.
When you are raising someone from the dead do they have the choice of whether to come back or not?
Just to clarify, Jesus said to raise the dead, not to pray for the dead.
I am now 0 for 1 in raising the dead.
I realized that if I did raise the dead I would think that I have somehow arrived in that I have reached some cool spiritual level with God that He allowed me to raise the dead. WRONG!
We would probably see more people raised from the dead if people like myself stopped thinking that we are at a high level of spiritual maturity because it happened through us. This is probably also true when applied to creative miracles and other "great" miracles that many people would not have faith for.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
That Ain't Right (Part 1)
As I talked with my paralyzed friend the other day I realized how my fight to see the disabled healed carries so much more weight than I realized. I don’t really know how many people there are in the world who are significantly suffering due to health problems but it has to be hundreds of millions if not billions. It is so easy when faced with such a big problem to just throw ones hands up in the air in disgust not even knowing where to start.
Earlier this week I decided that I needed to start over in my quest to right what the devil has made wrong. I am tired of offering sympathy to those who are suffering. Although I have been told that I am full of compassion for others, the difference between it and sympathy is doing something about it. So I am gonna do something about the suffering that is going on in the world.
I don’t know what it will look like, but I know that I can no longer sit back and wait, merely hoping that it will happen. What is it? God’s spirit being poured out on me in such a way that the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk and the gospel is preached to the poor. In the past I would have just thought that it would look like crusades in as many countries as was feasible, but today I realized that I can’t afford to end up like any past revivalist who died without passing the baton to the next generation of leaders, equipping the body of Christ to do the same, and making sure that people realized that the power was from God and not from them.
Prayer is the backbone of ministry and yet that seems to be one of the first things to go when life becomes busy. I am determined to make sure that my bank account is full so that when I need to make a big withdrawal, I have enough in my account to cover it time and time again. As I prayed I believed that God was going to release his healing anointing to heal my friend as well as the countless others that I will come across in my time on earth.
Remember how Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness? Then I am sure you also remember that the prayers of the righteous man are powerful and effective.
There comes a time when an injustice goes too far. That time is now. What would you do if your home was completely destroyed by a natural disaster and you had no shelter, only the clothes on your back (if you were lucky), you have no source of food and you haven’t eaten in weeks? In Mozambique, severe flooding has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and without government aid as we are fortunate to have in the United States, many people are suffering and facing horrible conditions.
The above picture is of a refugee camp where the shelters are sticks with grass over them. That camp was visited by Iris Ministries and was brought food for its 6,000 refugees. Iris Ministries is actually a great example of equipping the body of Christ, raising up leaders, and preaching the Gospel to the poor. And I shouldn’t neglect mentioning that through their ministry the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the dead are raised!
Earlier this week I decided that I needed to start over in my quest to right what the devil has made wrong. I am tired of offering sympathy to those who are suffering. Although I have been told that I am full of compassion for others, the difference between it and sympathy is doing something about it. So I am gonna do something about the suffering that is going on in the world.
I don’t know what it will look like, but I know that I can no longer sit back and wait, merely hoping that it will happen. What is it? God’s spirit being poured out on me in such a way that the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk and the gospel is preached to the poor. In the past I would have just thought that it would look like crusades in as many countries as was feasible, but today I realized that I can’t afford to end up like any past revivalist who died without passing the baton to the next generation of leaders, equipping the body of Christ to do the same, and making sure that people realized that the power was from God and not from them.
Prayer is the backbone of ministry and yet that seems to be one of the first things to go when life becomes busy. I am determined to make sure that my bank account is full so that when I need to make a big withdrawal, I have enough in my account to cover it time and time again. As I prayed I believed that God was going to release his healing anointing to heal my friend as well as the countless others that I will come across in my time on earth.
Remember how Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness? Then I am sure you also remember that the prayers of the righteous man are powerful and effective.
There comes a time when an injustice goes too far. That time is now. What would you do if your home was completely destroyed by a natural disaster and you had no shelter, only the clothes on your back (if you were lucky), you have no source of food and you haven’t eaten in weeks? In Mozambique, severe flooding has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and without government aid as we are fortunate to have in the United States, many people are suffering and facing horrible conditions.
The above picture is of a refugee camp where the shelters are sticks with grass over them. That camp was visited by Iris Ministries and was brought food for its 6,000 refugees. Iris Ministries is actually a great example of equipping the body of Christ, raising up leaders, and preaching the Gospel to the poor. And I shouldn’t neglect mentioning that through their ministry the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the dead are raised!
Friday, April 6, 2007
Gettin' out of the box
So today I got out a little bit. It all started this morning when I decided that the crowded prayer chapel was not the place for me to pray in tongues. While I was outside I felt that God impressing upon me that I should get back to doing outreach. It then occurred to me that when I had been getting words of knowledge frequently back at the beginning of winter I had been doing outreach a lot. Recently I haven't been going out to pray for people and haven't been getting many words in other times either. Not to say that God took them away, but there is definitely something about stewarding what you have properly so that you keep it.
So I went to go on our Friday night outreach instead of staying in the service where Lance Wallnau was apparently awesome. Anyway, other than the outreach pastor I was the only person from the church that had done outreach before. So I led a team of 2 young ladies and after soaking in the prayer house - God's presence is so awesome - we headed over to the Sundial Bridge where I saw a picture of a woman in a wheelchair.
As we were walking I spotted a woman wearing a neck brace so I stopped and started conversation. After they asked us a few questions about how we would be praying and whether we believed she would be healed, they allowed us to pray for her. She was somewhat surprised that some of the pain in her neck and leg left, but when I asked if we could pray again she said that one time was enough. One of the men actually said how he was so happy to see us out there praying for people. We ended up talking with them for a few minutes and they all thanked us as we parted ways, much different from their skeptical questioning of us when we met just a few minutes earlier.
We walked a little bit further and saw a woman in a wheelchair. They were much more receptive and immediately said that it would be ok for us to pray for her foot. I totally forgot to ask her if it felt different as we got to talking about other things, which is easy to do when people notice my Brasil shirt, the accent of our Australian teenager, and find out our other person is from Virginia. Again, we talked for several minutes and they showed their gratefulness for us praying for them.
As we were walking back towards the car I stopped to pray for a rougher looking man who had a cane. He too was very open for prayer and seemed as though it was quite normal for a stranger to offer prayer in public for healing. Although he didn't notice any difference he too was encouraged and as we parted ways his wife, who was probably 40 feet away at this point, turned around to thank us for praying. After we got off the bridge the girl from Australia (only 16 years old!) thought that we should go to In-n-Out. So off we went. As we drove off I noticed that the other team had just arrived but I decided to just keep driving.
As soon as we got to In-n-Out a man and woman were approaching their car to leave. The man was limping so I asked him what was going on. He said that he was sore from shopping all day but then eventually said that he has been struggling with it for years and can only take certain construction jobs because of it since he can't stay on his feet. He also said how eager he was for God to heal him and how he is praying constantly for it. Although he didn't feel anything the Australian girl (I know her name, I'm just not saying it) said that she felt God saying that he will be completely healed in the next week. Then he mentioned how the woman had things she needed prayer for as well. So we prayed for her and she began to cry. She didn't notice any difference but I believe that they both have the faith to be healed, and they certainly were encouraged by God. Praise the Lord that He put us exactly where we needed to be to bring encouragement to people who needed it!
On Tuesday night as I had been praying I felt that I should start really going after the healing for people that I have been praying for. It was time for something to happen and as Smith Wigglesworth would say, "if God isn't moving, I'll move Him." I felt that I should call a friend who is quadriplegic every day and pray for him. So the next day when I started praying for him I just got his voicemail. Yesterday he called me to say he had been in either the hospital or with doctors all day concerning problems that had come from surgery after the accident that left him paralyzed. These complications forced him to retire from working about 20 years ago. Needless to say, now is the time!
So I went to go on our Friday night outreach instead of staying in the service where Lance Wallnau was apparently awesome. Anyway, other than the outreach pastor I was the only person from the church that had done outreach before. So I led a team of 2 young ladies and after soaking in the prayer house - God's presence is so awesome - we headed over to the Sundial Bridge where I saw a picture of a woman in a wheelchair.
As we were walking I spotted a woman wearing a neck brace so I stopped and started conversation. After they asked us a few questions about how we would be praying and whether we believed she would be healed, they allowed us to pray for her. She was somewhat surprised that some of the pain in her neck and leg left, but when I asked if we could pray again she said that one time was enough. One of the men actually said how he was so happy to see us out there praying for people. We ended up talking with them for a few minutes and they all thanked us as we parted ways, much different from their skeptical questioning of us when we met just a few minutes earlier.
We walked a little bit further and saw a woman in a wheelchair. They were much more receptive and immediately said that it would be ok for us to pray for her foot. I totally forgot to ask her if it felt different as we got to talking about other things, which is easy to do when people notice my Brasil shirt, the accent of our Australian teenager, and find out our other person is from Virginia. Again, we talked for several minutes and they showed their gratefulness for us praying for them.
As we were walking back towards the car I stopped to pray for a rougher looking man who had a cane. He too was very open for prayer and seemed as though it was quite normal for a stranger to offer prayer in public for healing. Although he didn't notice any difference he too was encouraged and as we parted ways his wife, who was probably 40 feet away at this point, turned around to thank us for praying. After we got off the bridge the girl from Australia (only 16 years old!) thought that we should go to In-n-Out. So off we went. As we drove off I noticed that the other team had just arrived but I decided to just keep driving.
As soon as we got to In-n-Out a man and woman were approaching their car to leave. The man was limping so I asked him what was going on. He said that he was sore from shopping all day but then eventually said that he has been struggling with it for years and can only take certain construction jobs because of it since he can't stay on his feet. He also said how eager he was for God to heal him and how he is praying constantly for it. Although he didn't feel anything the Australian girl (I know her name, I'm just not saying it) said that she felt God saying that he will be completely healed in the next week. Then he mentioned how the woman had things she needed prayer for as well. So we prayed for her and she began to cry. She didn't notice any difference but I believe that they both have the faith to be healed, and they certainly were encouraged by God. Praise the Lord that He put us exactly where we needed to be to bring encouragement to people who needed it!
On Tuesday night as I had been praying I felt that I should start really going after the healing for people that I have been praying for. It was time for something to happen and as Smith Wigglesworth would say, "if God isn't moving, I'll move Him." I felt that I should call a friend who is quadriplegic every day and pray for him. So the next day when I started praying for him I just got his voicemail. Yesterday he called me to say he had been in either the hospital or with doctors all day concerning problems that had come from surgery after the accident that left him paralyzed. These complications forced him to retire from working about 20 years ago. Needless to say, now is the time!
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
All the Tools
So I am eating my Nature Valley crunchy granola bar and I notice a few logos on the wrapper. This is the official energy bar of the PGA Tour and also of the US Ski Team.
I can’t believe that I have the same exact resources as Olympic Skiers and Golfing greats such as Tiger Woods. I couldn’t help but wonder why I don’t hit a golf ball as far as Tiger or why I can’t ski nearly as well as Johnny Mosley.
Then it occurred to me that I must steward the resources that I have and put them to work. Similarly, it is not enough to have really good golf clubs, you need to use them the right way. I could use the clubs of any person on the PGA tour and I would not suddenly become that person.
In the same way we have all the tools in the kingdom but if we don’t steward them, then they won’t produce the same fruit as the “professionals”. We must steward the resources and put them to practice until they produce the desired fruit.
Why am I not good at golf or at skiing? I don’t do it very often. Last summer I played more holes than I have in my entire life, and that was still under three full rounds (rained out one time). I didn’t expect to be good after my few golfing days, yet sometimes we expect to be working in consistent signs and wonders with little experience.
My encouragement is this: we have all the tools we need to succeed, but we must put those tools to work and steward the gift. We must experiment with what works and what doesn’t and become “students of the game”.
Keep going after it and remember that Tiger Woods wasn’t the outstanding player he is now the first time he stepped on a golf course.
I can’t believe that I have the same exact resources as Olympic Skiers and Golfing greats such as Tiger Woods. I couldn’t help but wonder why I don’t hit a golf ball as far as Tiger or why I can’t ski nearly as well as Johnny Mosley.
Then it occurred to me that I must steward the resources that I have and put them to work. Similarly, it is not enough to have really good golf clubs, you need to use them the right way. I could use the clubs of any person on the PGA tour and I would not suddenly become that person.
In the same way we have all the tools in the kingdom but if we don’t steward them, then they won’t produce the same fruit as the “professionals”. We must steward the resources and put them to practice until they produce the desired fruit.
Why am I not good at golf or at skiing? I don’t do it very often. Last summer I played more holes than I have in my entire life, and that was still under three full rounds (rained out one time). I didn’t expect to be good after my few golfing days, yet sometimes we expect to be working in consistent signs and wonders with little experience.
My encouragement is this: we have all the tools we need to succeed, but we must put those tools to work and steward the gift. We must experiment with what works and what doesn’t and become “students of the game”.
Keep going after it and remember that Tiger Woods wasn’t the outstanding player he is now the first time he stepped on a golf course.
Monday, April 2, 2007
REWARD!
This morning when I went downstairs to enjoy a delicious Nature Valley bar for breakfast I noticed through the drapes covering our kitchen window that my car had something written on it. Upon further inspection I found that it had a lot written on it.
The crime scene:
If you have information regarding this crime please comment and if your information is accurate you may be eligible for a reward of one (1) packet of Ramen Noodles. That's right. Ramen Noodles. Good stuff. :)
The crime scene:
If you have information regarding this crime please comment and if your information is accurate you may be eligible for a reward of one (1) packet of Ramen Noodles. That's right. Ramen Noodles. Good stuff. :)
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