Tonight was the graduation for School of Ministry. So my first year of school is officially over. However, before getting into what happened tonight, I'll back up to to Friday. I had volunteered myself to help out at a formal dinner hosted by a family at church for all the second-year women. So Friday at 10 am I showed up to learn what would be going on that night and to help set up for it. The hosts are absolutely awesome. Apparently they do stuff like this all the time. It just amazes me. I ended up rolling into school a minute or two late because of it though and had a seat way in the back. I mean like so far back that there was no row until people started putting chairs there. We had worship, which by the way, we have been blessed with some super musicians all year that are better than almost any worship team at any church, and they are just our band for school. Thanks God. Then we heard from Pastor Bill and Pastor Kris. After them they announced the winners of the M. Earl Johnson Award. That award was named after Bill's dad, who went to heaven a few years ago, with the intent on being given to the person who most signifies a revivalist. The problem is, it is way too hard for them to pick people. Seriously. I wouldn't want the job at all. Since earlier in the year I had people telling me I would win it. Not knowing what it was, they did nothing more than confuse me and make me wonder why I should win some award. Honestly, that would have been the single greatest honor that I have ever received considering who I'm up against and the integrity of the people choosing it (it isn't some popularity contest like in high school). Anyway, I didn't win it, but when they announced who won it, I was so happy because of knowing the sacrifice this man has made. Yeah. It is incredible. He is a great guy as well. Someone who I can proudly say that I would endorse to anyone. He has been a constant encouragement to me from the beginning of the year and is always telling me that he believes in me. Great guy. I'm so happy for him. (They had a male and female from 1st, 2nd and 3rd year that were picked for the award, so six total, and they all shared briefly at graduation as well as getting free rides for their next year of school, except that the 3rd years don't have a next year, so I don't know what they get.)
Then they had this ceremony of the award winners praying for the students as they did a prophetic act of walking through a door into their destiny to then go and be knighted by Pastor Bill and Pastor Kris who both had long swords. Then we got went through a fire tunnel. I was wearing a new shirt that one of the interns made that shows a guy in a wheelchair getting healed. I'll have to put up a picture sometime. Anyway, so the first year winner, Chris, is praying for me as I go through and he says in his New Zealand accent, "That is you! You are going to be pulling people out of wheelchairs the rest of your life! Feel free to start with my daughter!" It was something like that. Actually, a little bit longer, but man was it powerful. Then as I went through the fire tunnel, I heard, "That is you!" or "That is perfect for you!" several times as people hit me on the chest pointing to the man praying for the guy in the wheelchair. Knowing that I just got impartation from a whole lot of people, I lay down for about 15 minutes to just soak it in. I would have stayed a lot longer, but they were needing me back at the party, so as most of my class had yet to go through this process, I was leaving my last day of first year. Kinda sad to be honest. It was a great year.
Oh boy. The party. Incredible. Tough again in that I had to have had people offer me food at least 20 or 30 times. Makes me want to go hide just so that people can't ask me. It was a six course meal with all the bells and whistles. We were to treat them as princesses and make everything perfect. I got there around 5 and the guests started to arrive at maybe 6:30 for (I'm not even gonna try to spell it, but it sounds like...)"or derves". :) Haha. I know it starts hors, but I forget all the other stuff. Yeah, then the appetizer, then the salad, then sorbet, then the main course, and finally desert. It was an incredible time and I got to spend time with a lot of really great people who I will surely be spending more time with this summer. I left a little while after 11 pm and headed over to the prayer chapel to prayer through the night, after soaking for a while I realized I would be dead tired if I stayed up all night, so I went home and went straight to bed. Time, approxiamately 1 am.
The next morning I woke up at 5:30 or so and went straight to the prayer house. I figured if I have made it to the 40th day of a fast I might as well go out with a bang and pray it up. So I went and prayed in tongues for 4 hours. Then I went and hung out with one of the more recent friends I have made, Derek, for coffee, except neither of us got anything. After that I went back and spent a little time soaking and then more time praying. After having gone over 4 hours again I was starting to feel like I should stop and leave. However, since I had wanted to stay for 6 hours I was trying to get to that. However, the urge won out when I realized I didn't feel into it any more. So I left after 4.5 hours. Finding a note from another friend that I had made it to the end of the faston the sign in sheet, I called her to see what was up, and ended up going with a group to see Shrek 3. Eh, ok. It wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't bad. I was happy that there wasn't the random, unnecessary bad language. After that we went out to eat and I came to the official end of my fast! Woohoo!
I honestly didn't think I'd finish it, but I got the burger that I love at the restaurant and ended up finishing my whole meal! LOL. I ate much more slowly than I ever would normally. Man was it good! Haha. Boy did I miss eating. The rolls were great, the fries were even better, and the burger, magnificent. Even the water was so refreshing (I fasted everything that day). After another person joined us and ate, all 6 of us went to the Sacramento River Trail to go for a walk. I had never been before so it was a new experience for me. I was full, like I would be any time that I eat out , and so I was walking slower than I normally would be able to. Not to mention I was still really sore from playing softball on Thursday. Then after a little while Derek joined us too. After that ended I went home to relax after a long day.
Today, I woke up on my own, before my alarm was to go off at 5 am. Haha. People think I'm crazy, but I just love spending time with God early in the morning. I got much more dressed up then is normal hear, wearing dress pants and a dress shirt tucked in. I ate breakfast for the first time in what seems like forever! Haha, 40 days serriously makes you forget what it is like to eat! I got to the chapel around 6 and started praying, and then later began to soak. Well, as I was soaking I became super aware of His presence and my hands were getting super hot. Wow. I honestly can't remember exactly what I was asking, but it was something to do with what I need to do to walk in the breakthrough, and then I heard a small inner voice say "faith." It was so tiny that I could have missed it completely, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. Faith is the key. I immediatly started thinking about Smith Wigglesworth and how he seemed to have faith for anything and everything. I truly believe that small voice was from God. I think faith is the key. It is all we need. We need mountain moving faith, but sometimes it seems like we don't even have faith that the grass will grow even though it still needs to be mowed every week. The great thing is that we can learn all about faith in the bible and don't need some book or something else to help us get it.
Anyway, this is huge for me. I just need to walk in the realization of faith. Anyway, between services I prayed for a man with diabetes. God touched him so much that even though the guy had just gotten there for the second service, he was tempted to go home so he could test himself to see whether or not he got healed. This guy had faith! I believe his faith healed him, and hopefully he will report back to me in a week that Jesus healed him completely. Amen! After church I went immediatley to Costco to pick up some FOOD! Woohoo! I have never spent that much money on things that weren't a bunch of clothes or some big ticket items. Granted it included protein powder that will last me several months as well as other things that will last me a month or at least several weeks. Got home and enjoyed eating. It was great. Again. Thank you Jesus! After spending some time cleaning up, I watched a movie with Jeremy and we enjoyed some vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, well it tasted cold, but it was still good! Then it was off to the civic auditorium for graduation. I made myself a sandwich with some lunch meats I bought! So proud of myself for eating something that isn't what I would normally eat! Lots of people were really dressed up as were Jeremy and myself. It was fun. We all went outside for a group shot which hopefully turned out OK as we were all looking into the sun and who knows how we fit into it as it was a mess. Anyway, back in for worship. I felt the presence roll in so I ended up sitting down after pressing in for a few more minutes. Fire on the hands! After that the graduation began with the third years, then the second years, and finally the first years. The M. Earl Johnson award winners all spoke and probably my favorite line of the night was from the female second year receipient who was diagnosed with cancer and then a few weeks later found out she was pregnant (the doctors have told her to abort the baby, but she has refused) said that we must remove the word impossible from our vocabulary. That is faith. Come on! My camera batteries, which I had charged on Wednesday didn't work at all, not even to turn on my camera, so I was only able to take some of the pictures that I would have liked to. Hopefully I still got some good ones.
I was talking with a friend afterwards about how they at times feel like even in this environment that they aren't challenged. This person is passionate about revival and wants to be trained up to become a revivalist that will change the course of history, but feels like they are being held up by people who are less passionate. They talked about wishing that the people who are going after "the stuff" as Pastor Bill would say could be hanging out and building with each other and really start to grow. I mentioned how there had been some people that would just meet together and do that kind of stuff. Unfortunately, I don't know how you grow in leading a crusade unless you are being trained by someone who has lead a crusade. You can't give what you don't have. Anyway, I feel like I need it as well, so I think we are going to try to get something like that started. This is going to be for crazy people that want to be radical evangelists (I would say revivalists, but in this culture that is too general and inculdes everyone). If you are interested let me know. Jeremy and I headed over to In-n-Out where probably 100 other students had gone as well and boy did I enjoy it. Grilled onions are definitely much better than the regular and vanilla milkshakes are the best. Ok, glass of water and I am going to bed! Even though I have no school tomorrow, I do not want to start going to bed at 2:15 in the morning! Heck, I could call my sister in Hungary right now and it would be after 11 in the morning for them! Good morning to those on the east coast! Good night to everyone in Redding who is probably still up after their graduation parties! Congrats and thanks for a great year! :)
Showing posts with label Bill Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Johnson. Show all posts
Monday, May 21, 2007
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
How to Move Mountains
These days there is a "How to" book on just about every subject imaginable. Come to think of it, if someone finds a subject that doesn't have one, they will probably write it or sell the idea to a publisher. Well, since there are already books on how to cook Salmon, how to use an egg several hundred ways, and how to play video games, I thought that I would devote this blog on how to move mountains.
First you need to expect the miraculous from God. Bill Johnson says that we need to pray for things that are probable, improbable, and impossible so that by the success of the probable we are building strength for the improbable and impossible. Similarly, you should anticipate what God is going to do because by doing so you are abiding in faith. Oftentimes when we anticipate what God will do He will equip us with a gift of faith for the situation. This jolt of faith gives us the spiritual strength to beat the odds. However, we must not neglect developing a life of faith, which sets our attitude, that will sustain us between times when God equips us with that burst of radical faith. Each gift of faith should raise our measure of faith that we live with on a daily basis. Although you might not use it to the same extent in your normal activities, strength training will increase your strength so that when needed, you are up to the task.
Link your heart to what God is already doing. If God is sending rain, pray for rain. If a contract looks to be won, pray for the contract. By praying for what God is already doing, you are co-laboring with Him and building up a history of success. Then it is very important to celebrate those answered prayers. Give thanks to God for answering your prayers and remind yourself of how faithful He is. When less probably circumstances come your way, you will have greater faith because you have experienced the smaller victories. If I went to the gym today (I have not been in a year), it would be foolish for me to try to bench press 250 pounds on my first try. I need to work my way up, starting with what is easier. Why is it that sometimes we think that a headache is nothing and that the only people worth praying for are those who are dying or haven't walked in 40 years (I am shouting at myself)? Sure I could try to lift 250 pounds once with someone spotting me to make sure I don't seriously hurt myself, but meanwhile I should work most on what is probable and improbable.
Have the mindset that you have a 100% rate of success. If I were to play tennis right now it would be easy for me to have the mindset that my first serve would be a fault. Why? Because most of the time my first serves have been faults. However, if I go into my serve expecting to get an ace I found that oftentimes I would get one! However, I can't remember ever getting an ace when I had the mentality that I was just going to mess up on my first serve. Likewise, when praying for someone we must have the mindset that every person we pray for gets healed, or in this case, every mountain that has ever been in my way has gotten out of my way. Plus, we serve a God who does the impossible so why not believe that every person will be healed?
I will undoubtedly talk about this again because I absolutely love it. However, if you are slightly bored, feel free to check out a sweet Mountain Moving picture that I put on my new website. It beats myspace by a longshot and is much more customizable than any other site I've seen thus far. So feel free to join and add me as a friend!
First you need to expect the miraculous from God. Bill Johnson says that we need to pray for things that are probable, improbable, and impossible so that by the success of the probable we are building strength for the improbable and impossible. Similarly, you should anticipate what God is going to do because by doing so you are abiding in faith. Oftentimes when we anticipate what God will do He will equip us with a gift of faith for the situation. This jolt of faith gives us the spiritual strength to beat the odds. However, we must not neglect developing a life of faith, which sets our attitude, that will sustain us between times when God equips us with that burst of radical faith. Each gift of faith should raise our measure of faith that we live with on a daily basis. Although you might not use it to the same extent in your normal activities, strength training will increase your strength so that when needed, you are up to the task.
Link your heart to what God is already doing. If God is sending rain, pray for rain. If a contract looks to be won, pray for the contract. By praying for what God is already doing, you are co-laboring with Him and building up a history of success. Then it is very important to celebrate those answered prayers. Give thanks to God for answering your prayers and remind yourself of how faithful He is. When less probably circumstances come your way, you will have greater faith because you have experienced the smaller victories. If I went to the gym today (I have not been in a year), it would be foolish for me to try to bench press 250 pounds on my first try. I need to work my way up, starting with what is easier. Why is it that sometimes we think that a headache is nothing and that the only people worth praying for are those who are dying or haven't walked in 40 years (I am shouting at myself)? Sure I could try to lift 250 pounds once with someone spotting me to make sure I don't seriously hurt myself, but meanwhile I should work most on what is probable and improbable.
Have the mindset that you have a 100% rate of success. If I were to play tennis right now it would be easy for me to have the mindset that my first serve would be a fault. Why? Because most of the time my first serves have been faults. However, if I go into my serve expecting to get an ace I found that oftentimes I would get one! However, I can't remember ever getting an ace when I had the mentality that I was just going to mess up on my first serve. Likewise, when praying for someone we must have the mindset that every person we pray for gets healed, or in this case, every mountain that has ever been in my way has gotten out of my way. Plus, we serve a God who does the impossible so why not believe that every person will be healed?
I will undoubtedly talk about this again because I absolutely love it. However, if you are slightly bored, feel free to check out a sweet Mountain Moving picture that I put on my new website. It beats myspace by a longshot and is much more customizable than any other site I've seen thus far. So feel free to join and add me as a friend!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Overdue for an update
Since my last post a lot has been going on. I went out of town Friday after school for a ministry trip in a small town called Clear Lake. We were facilitating 24 hours of prayer and also planning on going out into the city to do some outreach. But before that, we had some awesome stuff at school.
On Thursday Joaquin spoke and we just had a good ole time. I sat on the floor around the podium with about 40 other students as God came increasingly into the room and started getting many people drunk in the Spirit. I honestly can't remember what he talked about now, but I know that it was good. Haha. Following that, we had our last outreach of the year. We were outside for a little while and since it was pretty cold, I put on my jacket in addition to my sweatshirt. I couldn't believe that I was wearing that much clothing in May. Then I had home group and had fun hanging out at our leader's new apartment.
Then at school on Friday we were privaledged to have Jason Westerfield speak to us. Jason is a graduate of the School of Supernatural Ministry and is one of the main people behind a lot of the testimonies that Pastor Bill has shared over the years. Additionally, he was one of the main speakers on the Global Awakening trip I took to Brazil last July and was the preacher for my team until he got sick, at which time I took over the preaching duties for the rest of the trip. It was much like Thursday with Joaquin but even more just because of Jason's personality. It was great.
So fast forward to Saturday. I hadn't been feeling too well after not sleeping well in a sleeping bag on the floor of a house with no heat. Yes it was still cold. My pillow was cold all night long. It was like sleeping on an ice pack. That would be great when it is 85 degrees in the apartment like it was when I got home last night, but not great when the temperature in the house is below 60. I stayed at the church and tried to pray while a few guys went out to do outreach around noon. They went to the hospital and got to pray for a man in the emergency room who hadn't been responding at all. When they started praying for him, his eyes began to move and he began to respond!
That night we walked down the road to the grocery store. I was looking for some sort of energy/protein drink and another group was looking for some food. While walking down the back aisle I could hear something going on on the last aisle (don't worry, I was just around the corner). Jeremy, Daniel, and Samuel stopped to pray for a woman in an electric wheelchairs that the store provides. She had messed up 5 vertebrae in her back. After they prayed for her, they prompted for her to do something that she couldn’t do before, so she gets up out of the wheelchair and starts running. Jeremy follows her running down the aisle and runs past me yelling Jesus as the woman runs past me. She got completely healed and ran to her friends who were several aisles down and says to her friend who was in a wheelchair that she needs to let us pray for them. So she goes back to her electric cart and drives it back to the front of the store to get a normal shopping cart.
Meanwhile we begin to talk to her two friends. We pray for the daughter of the woman in the wheelchair and as we are praying I feel a sensation in my left elbow so I ask them if they have any pain there and the woman in the wheelchair said that she has had problems in that elbow for a long time and her friend just claimed it for herself even though her pain was in her right elbow. So I prayed for them both at the same time and the woman’s right elbow got instantly healed. She began moving it around and said that there was absolutely no pain. Her friend who was in the wheelchair said that there was still pain so Samuel began to pray for her again. Jeremy then asked her if she was feeling anything and she said that Samuel’s hand was very hot. After a minute or two her elbow was also healed! Samuel then laid hands on the other woman and she said that she felt like she was on a rollercoaster ride. God really whacked them both. Praise God!
Thankfully that evening we had a portable heater for the house and so I was able to sleep a little bit better. At church Sunday morning God continued to move. He healed the eyes of a guitar player after the first service so that he didn't need to wear his glasses in the second service. Another woman said that she could see me clearly after I prayed for her without her glasses. God also healed a woman's neck and shoulders that were causing her hands to go numb. Then we came across an interesting situation where a person was needing some inner healing and deliverance. I wasn't wanting to get involved since I don't have much experience with it and I hadn't been there from the start, but our trip leader called me over since I have been fasting. Well, while standing there I got a word of knowledge for something she had been doing but she ended up saying it within a minute anyway. Although I didn't really need to use it, it was reassuring to me that God was showing me more in the form of words of knowledge that I am feeling and that I am sure are from Him.
After that the pastor took us out to lunch, and I got to watch people eat again. Haha. Luckily I won't have to do that too many more times. We drove home and made it in time to get to pre-service prayer where I got to see Clay, Bart, Ross, and Lance from my church in Florida. The service was great. It was nice having our worship team back after a few services with less experienced musicians and a much different style of music in Clear Lake. There was a guest speaker, Paul Goulet, who is from the International Church of Las Vegas. He was great and it was awesome to get to hear what God is doing in "sin city".
Yesterday I was up early to work for the conference. After some serious miscommunication I showed up to work at 6:30 am and worked until noon. Then I worked again from 2-4 and again from 5:30-7:00. Needless to say I was pretty tired so I went to the prayer house to soak and then went home and soaked some more.
Today I was working in the kitchen which was actually a lot of fun. The people were great and it was fun to get to serve all the pastor's by being one of just a few people who were making their breakfast and bringing it to them. At one point I put out 240 bottles of water in just a few minutes to replenish the supply that was being decimated by the pastors. Haha. They were all super thankful though so it was a pleasure doing it. I spent a couple hours at the prayer chapel and now I am waiting to a little bit before a impartation meeting for the healing rooms with Cal Pierce and his team. Cal had been on the board at Bethel but God called him to reopen the Healing Rooms in Spokane, WA that John G. Lake had run many years ago. So he has been doing that now for many years and their reputation has grown to the point that even a hospital has asked them to set up a healing room! Praise God!
Well, I'll let you know how that meeting goes! I can't believe that there are only 6 days of first year left. God has been so good!
On Thursday Joaquin spoke and we just had a good ole time. I sat on the floor around the podium with about 40 other students as God came increasingly into the room and started getting many people drunk in the Spirit. I honestly can't remember what he talked about now, but I know that it was good. Haha. Following that, we had our last outreach of the year. We were outside for a little while and since it was pretty cold, I put on my jacket in addition to my sweatshirt. I couldn't believe that I was wearing that much clothing in May. Then I had home group and had fun hanging out at our leader's new apartment.
Then at school on Friday we were privaledged to have Jason Westerfield speak to us. Jason is a graduate of the School of Supernatural Ministry and is one of the main people behind a lot of the testimonies that Pastor Bill has shared over the years. Additionally, he was one of the main speakers on the Global Awakening trip I took to Brazil last July and was the preacher for my team until he got sick, at which time I took over the preaching duties for the rest of the trip. It was much like Thursday with Joaquin but even more just because of Jason's personality. It was great.
So fast forward to Saturday. I hadn't been feeling too well after not sleeping well in a sleeping bag on the floor of a house with no heat. Yes it was still cold. My pillow was cold all night long. It was like sleeping on an ice pack. That would be great when it is 85 degrees in the apartment like it was when I got home last night, but not great when the temperature in the house is below 60. I stayed at the church and tried to pray while a few guys went out to do outreach around noon. They went to the hospital and got to pray for a man in the emergency room who hadn't been responding at all. When they started praying for him, his eyes began to move and he began to respond!
That night we walked down the road to the grocery store. I was looking for some sort of energy/protein drink and another group was looking for some food. While walking down the back aisle I could hear something going on on the last aisle (don't worry, I was just around the corner). Jeremy, Daniel, and Samuel stopped to pray for a woman in an electric wheelchairs that the store provides. She had messed up 5 vertebrae in her back. After they prayed for her, they prompted for her to do something that she couldn’t do before, so she gets up out of the wheelchair and starts running. Jeremy follows her running down the aisle and runs past me yelling Jesus as the woman runs past me. She got completely healed and ran to her friends who were several aisles down and says to her friend who was in a wheelchair that she needs to let us pray for them. So she goes back to her electric cart and drives it back to the front of the store to get a normal shopping cart.
Meanwhile we begin to talk to her two friends. We pray for the daughter of the woman in the wheelchair and as we are praying I feel a sensation in my left elbow so I ask them if they have any pain there and the woman in the wheelchair said that she has had problems in that elbow for a long time and her friend just claimed it for herself even though her pain was in her right elbow. So I prayed for them both at the same time and the woman’s right elbow got instantly healed. She began moving it around and said that there was absolutely no pain. Her friend who was in the wheelchair said that there was still pain so Samuel began to pray for her again. Jeremy then asked her if she was feeling anything and she said that Samuel’s hand was very hot. After a minute or two her elbow was also healed! Samuel then laid hands on the other woman and she said that she felt like she was on a rollercoaster ride. God really whacked them both. Praise God!
Thankfully that evening we had a portable heater for the house and so I was able to sleep a little bit better. At church Sunday morning God continued to move. He healed the eyes of a guitar player after the first service so that he didn't need to wear his glasses in the second service. Another woman said that she could see me clearly after I prayed for her without her glasses. God also healed a woman's neck and shoulders that were causing her hands to go numb. Then we came across an interesting situation where a person was needing some inner healing and deliverance. I wasn't wanting to get involved since I don't have much experience with it and I hadn't been there from the start, but our trip leader called me over since I have been fasting. Well, while standing there I got a word of knowledge for something she had been doing but she ended up saying it within a minute anyway. Although I didn't really need to use it, it was reassuring to me that God was showing me more in the form of words of knowledge that I am feeling and that I am sure are from Him.
After that the pastor took us out to lunch, and I got to watch people eat again. Haha. Luckily I won't have to do that too many more times. We drove home and made it in time to get to pre-service prayer where I got to see Clay, Bart, Ross, and Lance from my church in Florida. The service was great. It was nice having our worship team back after a few services with less experienced musicians and a much different style of music in Clear Lake. There was a guest speaker, Paul Goulet, who is from the International Church of Las Vegas. He was great and it was awesome to get to hear what God is doing in "sin city".
Yesterday I was up early to work for the conference. After some serious miscommunication I showed up to work at 6:30 am and worked until noon. Then I worked again from 2-4 and again from 5:30-7:00. Needless to say I was pretty tired so I went to the prayer house to soak and then went home and soaked some more.
Today I was working in the kitchen which was actually a lot of fun. The people were great and it was fun to get to serve all the pastor's by being one of just a few people who were making their breakfast and bringing it to them. At one point I put out 240 bottles of water in just a few minutes to replenish the supply that was being decimated by the pastors. Haha. They were all super thankful though so it was a pleasure doing it. I spent a couple hours at the prayer chapel and now I am waiting to a little bit before a impartation meeting for the healing rooms with Cal Pierce and his team. Cal had been on the board at Bethel but God called him to reopen the Healing Rooms in Spokane, WA that John G. Lake had run many years ago. So he has been doing that now for many years and their reputation has grown to the point that even a hospital has asked them to set up a healing room! Praise God!
Well, I'll let you know how that meeting goes! I can't believe that there are only 6 days of first year left. God has been so good!
Monday, April 30, 2007
Could it be?
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!
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!
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!
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