At 11:45 yesterday morning I hear the report that it is snowing and I immediately jump up to see it. I have never lived in a place where it has snowed before and have only been in snow a few times. I was worried about how long it would take to get my windshield clear so that I could drive to school, but to my surprise it all came off when I first turned on my wipers and left a huge (ok, maybe not huge) pile on the ground.
After Bob Jones we got to hear Pastor Bill at school yesterday. Talk about amazing. It was like being at a conference or something. Yikes, we are still recovering from the last one. Anyway, Bill was different from how I have ever seen him before. I could tell that something had really happened in him and it became obvious after listening to him that he still wasn't even sure what it was.
He says to us, "Some of you are assigned to help us (Bethel Church) complete a task." He spoke to our class, even though we were also with second year and a lot of visitors, something that he has never told another class before, that we were going to significantly alter world history.
Additionally, God puts favor on your life so that you can give it away. One man in the school tossed me a ball of snow that he brought in from outside. When God give you something incredible it is because you are supposed to give it away! If you have an amazing healing anointing you should not stay locked up in your house!
As I got home last night I was thinking about how oftentimes I don't feel the power of God, or when I do, how it doesn't manifest in such a powerful as to make me unable to speak. At the conference last week another student challenged me to be filled with the Spirit yet to still be able to control myself to speak to crowds. I am not trying to put God in a box when I say this, but there are not many speakers or pastors that I know of that are flopping around uncontrollably while trying to speak.
One thing that I can be sure of is that I need more of God. I don't think that I am something because the reality is that often times I feel like nothing. The times in my life when I thought I was something special didn't turn out too good, so I think I'll stick with what works. God, give me something incredible so that I can give it away!
Bob Jones made it very clear to us as a school that healing is not an option for us. We must not back off when faced with impossibilities because to true disciples, nothing will be impossible. He also spoke of the new authority that we will be walking in and the importance of having our tongue under control. Since we will have authority to curse cancer and disease we must make sure that we don't speak negative words that will paralyze the progress of others.
One thing he told us that was somewhat of a wake up call to me was that we must build a house on the foundation that has already been laid. If we build that house then the healings and miracles will increase and become very consistent. Furthermore, I am a child of God and I can do anything my Daddy does!
He also reminded us to not give up praying too soon. He probably could have just said never stop praying, but his point was that we should never let discouragement keep us from continuing to go after breakthrough. Remember, healing is not an option!
That's right, you did see me on the Video Announcements today. If you missed me go back and look again, really hard. I was only a few feet away from the camera but it flashed by me so quickly that I only am on screen for a split second and am only a blur. Oh well.
In other news I got to spend some quality time with my Tallahassee boys today. It was a blast. They got radically touched by God which made me more happy than a clam, which makes me wonder how happy clams really are.
I had a few key conversations with people today that confirmed my desire to travel as much as I can through second year. A pastor suggested that I go on the firestorms as they are very cheap to go on but are very valuable in gaining ministry experience.
After almost three weeks off of my big prayer season, I feel like God is taking me back into it again. I am kinda glad about it because I felt way more productive when I was praying a lot.
On Friday I will be going to San Francisco and Berkeley as we are going to be doing a conference in addition to our normal outreach.
And 2 weeks from now I will be on my way to Mexico! God bring your fire!
I can't really express how I feel right now. I had the experience of praying for a man with very severe cerebral palsy tonight and seeing his family have to roll him away in his wheelchair seemingly untouched.
I felt fire on my hands for the entire time that I was praying for him which was at least an hour. Power surged in my body at times but without fail the fire was there for an hour.
Several times tears welled up in my eyes as my heart broke for him. I asked a few of my friends to pray and so they began to pray for me. I thank God for them as they were really there for me.
Then I don't know what happened. Simultaneously one of my friends and I got hit at the same time. It took a lot out of me. I don't really know how to describe it other than it was like having the life sucked out of you.
Next thing I knew my head rested on a support between his crippled feet. Within a minute I was drained and fell to the floor. I still tried to pray now with my friends hand on top of mine, but after a minute or two I was done.
The fire was completely gone and I could no longer feel God's presence. My friends then prayed for me. Within a few seconds of them beginning to pray, the fire came back and I could feel God's presence again. However, I was still drained.
I was done. I didn't have anything left in the tank.I know that God was the only way this man was going to be healed, but so much happened as I laid hands on him that it wore me out.
But praise God for two wonderful friends who were there to encourage me as a coach would just encourage his own player who just lost the game for his team even though he gave his all.
It gets harder each time I have to watch someone go away without having been healed, but even more-so each time I see someone in a wheelchair or with a developmental disability go away without their healing.
It was just a fresh reminder to go after breakthrough. It is so hard to watch believers not receive healing. Although I don't think they will be reading this, I do just want to say thank you to my to encouraging and praying friends. You blessed me tonight more than you know.
I don't know where to begin. I suppose I could start at the beginning. God is really doing something huge in me. I am being completely honest when I say that I normally don't feel anointed. I believe that comes from the fact that I don't normally feel the Holy Spirit on me.
In the past few days I have been highly more aware of God's presence and also the Holy Spirit. With that in mind, there have been many times when I have felt the power of God surging through my body.
Additionally, there have been people who have gotten in my proximity and have felt the presence of God. That excites me because I want to give people an encounter with God and it has also been a dream of mine to walk into a room and have the presence of God heal everyone there.
God is definitely taking me somewhere. He is molding me to be able to handle a greater anointing. His presence is what prepares me. In His presence I am changed.
Ever since getting back from Winter Camp I have been heavily under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It has been very excited as it is something that it feels like I have been waiting a long time for. When you think about it, it would make sense that when the power of God shoots through your body you might shake or twitch just a little bit. Also, it would seem to make sense that typically the people who show such physical manifestations, or at least did at some point, seem to walk in a greater anointing than those who don't or have not in the past manifested.
Similarly, when the spirit is so heavy on you, it makes sense that it would take over your body for a little while. Well, being drunk in the Holy Spirit is just like that. To be honest with you I don't like saying "drunk" when referring to being under the power of God so much so that you appear to be drunk. In each of the past few days I have gotten "hit" by the Spirit so hard that I ended up on the floor laughing for 30 minutes or longer.
To many, that is just nonsense. And while it doesn't necessarily make perfect sense to me as to why that helps, I can't argue with the fruit. Just go over to the testimonies from tonight and you will see that God was moving powerfully. I can't even begin to make a case against getting drunk in the Holy Spirit when the result is that many people get radically touched by God.
After all, Jesus did tell us to abide in Him and that He is the vine. He then said that you will recognize people by their fruit. I can confirm that I recognize this fruit as being from someone who has been with Jesus. The result of which is some pretty amazing fruit. I think I will stick with the vine and see how much fruit can be produced.
Testimonies can be found on healingrevivalist.com. Enjoy!
Well, I have now had the chance to sit at home for a couple hours to let my mind catch up with what happened the past few days at Nor-Cal Winter Camp. To be honest, I didn't know enough about it to come in with any expectations whatsoever, so I must say that I came away completely floored and so happy that I went. Rather, I am so thankful that I was asked on Tuesday by one of the youth pastors to come on the trip.
Just like the trip to Brazil last summer, I immediately felt like I had become a part of a huge family. I must say though that this trip was definitely the best bang for the buck of anything I have probably ever done. I got my money's worth by just eating the food (for those of you who don't know, I can eat a lot!). Anyway, I had a great time hanging out with our youth and also having a little fun with them and the Holy Spirit.
Yeah buddy. Granted, I think most of us were having some fun with the Holy Spirit, myself included. So many of the kids were touched by God. It was fantastic. Many were touched for the first time. I can't wait to hear all the testimonies about what happened to all our youth. It was really an impactful few days. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I had three great student leaders in my room and we were definitely all getting rocked by God after we had to be in our rooms at night.
I don't really know what to say about it other than that the youth are great and that I love God. I am so thankful that He became real to me with His presence last summer and that now, almost a year after realizing that God is really doing something in the United States, I am going into deeper things with the Holy Spirit than I ever knew was possible. God is so good. I am so grateful to have Him around all the time.