Legacy

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

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

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

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

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

Greater Measure

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

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

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

I No Longer Call You Servants

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

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

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

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

Incredible Healing Wave In Nashville!

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

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

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

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

God, aren't you going to do something?

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

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

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

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

Mark 4:38-40 says:

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

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

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

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

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

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

God Magnet

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

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

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

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

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

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

Got Love?

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

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

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