How many sermons have you heard in your life? How many have you heard in the last year? How many were memorable? How many left an eternal mark inside of you adding to the very makeup of your being? Leonard Ravenhill said to his son,

“Be careful when you preach, because if you don’t have a word from God, you are not only wasting your hour but as many hours that are sitting in the pews.”

I have had the privilege to hear some of the greatest sermons ever preached. I also have been in meetings where I felt like life was being sucked out of me. I know that you know the feeling of the latter, and hopefully you have had the experience of the former. Leonard Ravenhill said,

“When was the last time you tip toed out of the sanctuary because you met God.” In Titus Paul said that the, “Word was made manifest through…preaching.”

A living word from the throne has that much power–it brings men face to face with Jesus. A word from heaven can sweep one up by the wind of the Spirit into the reforming gaze of God.

I have noticed a few things about these messages. I have noticed that they all seem to have some undeniable and inescapable qualities. After I noticed these things, I made a mental note to weigh each word that I am hearing by this Spiritual scale. I submit to you that this is a very good way to test the spirits. A solid factor in hearing God. A distinguishing marker to determine the origin of a preached word. Maybe this falls short, maybe it’s spot on.  I have seen it to help me.  So humbly I share it with you, to take a piece of paper and mark down how many times in a month that you hear these themes selected by your pastor. If you find them lacking, I suggest to sensitively share it with him so that he might take it back to God in prayer. There are 5 points. I believe the first is most important but the following four are not in order of importance.

1) Christ

Listen closely to note how much is Jesus the emphasis. Not just the historical Jesus, but the person. Notice how challenged you are to know Him more and how personally He is referred to. Note in your heart if you genuinely and undeniably see Jesus as the centerpiece.

2) The Cross

Are you challenged to take up your cross? Are you able to see the evidence of the cross in your life or lack there of? Note if the doorway into the resurrected life is proclaimed to your soul.

Have you a constant Spiritual remembrance of God’s suffering punctured into your heart? Does the preacher cause you to see the dripping blood of God?

Is there any encouragement to take up your cross in relation to one another? Is the cross the heart of all wisdom presented to you and the universal solution to the problem of man?

3)  How Does What Is Being Spoken To You Relate To Those in Chains?

In America we often forget that Paul told us to “remember those in chains.” Not just to pray for them but that the constant meditation upon the fact that our brothers are suffering throughout the world will affect the very fabric of our thinking. It is not an equal balance to weigh a prosperity message next the father who has just been ripped away from his children for the Gospel. I mean, how foolish would a man feel to stand before Richard Wurmbrand, who suffered 14 years in Romanian prisons for Jesus and tell him about his best life now? Or that there is a rich blessing of material things coming his way as he gazes from the floor with a bleeding back unable to walk from his last beating, shivering from eating only one slice of bread per week?

We need to remember those in chains when we speak. I am all for being provided for, but if the preaching doesn’t ring true for those in chains, we have forgotten them. If we are giving a revelation of Jesus to the inner man, it will ring to to all men. Not just a select portion of the world.

4) Conviction

Paul said that his words came with…”conviction.” Conviction is being convinced inwardly beyond intellectual reason. Conviction is the influence of the Holy Spirit on the soul. Conviction is the power to arrest a man not just about sin but about God. I am moved in the core of my being by words from another world entering into my soul. Prophets burn with this gift. Ravenhill said, “you want to meet a prophet? You probably want to see one but not hear one. Because he will leave blisters on your soul.” Though not all men will carry such a deepness of conviction there must be a sense that this man speaking to me has been with God. Some people describe honey and others dispense honey.

5) Incentives

What are the incentives that are being laid down in front of you? Is it something eternal? Is it a vision of eternity? Has the essence of eternal significance been injected into you? Is there a negative incentive rooted in eternity, that to disobey will have consequences? We cannot preach an emasculated word. It must carry the essence of a positive eternal incentive and a negative incentive as well or it will create a loose generation no matter how great their gifting, their calling or their power.   Without the fear of God, we will create an emasculated Christianity that cannot overcome the devil.

These things are very important to me. You may add some or disagree with some, but I feel that it is a crucial layout for weighing a word that is claiming to be from God. If we have failed in these areas, God will have mercy on us. And He will move in spite of us, but to have these qualities is a great indication that you are standing before a man that you can be assured has come forth from the counsel of the Most High.

Eric Gilmour is an Associate Editor for Voice of Revolution, overseeing Revival & Evangelism. Visit his website at agonypress.podbean.com

This is how John G. Lake almost always described the power of God that lived in him, moved through him, and utterly possessed him.

“God Almighty can look out of your eyes, and every devil that was ever in hell could not look in the eyes of Jesus without crawling. The lightnings of God were there.”

He seemed to be on a different plane than most that lived in his day, not to mention our day or anyone else’s for that matter. He was on earth, surrounded by heaven. Lightning is power in the sky connecting with power on the earth. What an awesome picture of the power of God that is available towards us who believe:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. Ephesians 1:18-21 NASB

And raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (vv 2:6)

The Tangible Word

Lake was able to make such a statement because verses like these were not distant and far off. They were real, available, and tangible. They were written for him to walk in and not just read. They were not fairy tales, they were realities. One of my personal goals is to see a church that actually lives out the life described in the Bible making heavenly mysteries become earthly realities. To live out the call in the Bible and not theologize it away for a by-gone era. It’s real, it’s powerful, it’s for today! Salvation alone is an incomplete gospel. It is part of the kingdom, and all the fullness thereof that results in a life transformed into the image of Christ. His desire is for us to be fully saved, fully healed, fully filled with Holy Spirit fire and power.

Lake described it this way:

It is always God’s will to heal… God is willing, just as willing to heal as He is to save. Healing is part of salvation. It is not separate from salvation. Healing was purchased by the blood of Jesus. This Book always connects salvation and healing.

…we are instructed on the Word of God concerning the salvation of the soul, but our education concerning sickness and His desire and willingness to heal has been neglected. We have gone to the eighth grade or tenth grade or the University on the subject of salvation, but on the subject of healing we are in the ABC class.

Ahead of His Time

These statements were written on January 12, 1922! This was a man ahead of his time. I am part of a culture that envisions heaven coming to earth in accordance with Matthew 6:9-10; where Jesus instructs us not to recite something but to capture the spirit of the prayer, that, whenever we pray, it is with the understanding of God’s will for the kingdom of heaven to come to the earth. For many in the Church this prayer has been prayed for decades yet the true intention of it has been missed. The cry for heaven to come to earth seems almost revolutionary for those whose goal in life is waiting for the “sweet bye and bye.” Heaven is available here now, and Lake was tapping into this revelation years before the recent re-discovery, if you will, of Jesus’ revelation of the spirit of prayer on the mountain.

The goal of this article is for us to capture and learn from a man who was so possessed with heaven that wherever he went heaven touched the lives of those around him. I am going to share a few quotes with you to give insight into the way he thought about, reacted to, and processed the kingdom of God in the earth. All the quotes are taken from John G. Lake; The Complete Collection of His Life’s Teachings, by Roberts Liardon. This is part of God’s Generals. (See end of article for references)

The Baptism of the Holy Ghost

A Christian is a man indwelt by God – the house of God, the tabernacle of the Most High! Man, indwelt by God, becomes the hands and the heart and the feet and the mind of Jesus Christ. God descends into man: man ascends into God! That is the purpose and the power of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

What theology! Have you ever heard it described in such a way? Most often it is lessened in its intensity, therefore the infilling of the Spirit in the individual seems lessened in its intensity as well. Even if you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, immersed in the very flaming life of God Himself, there is still a greater baptism to undergo, from glory to glory. If we captured the thought and understanding behind the way Lake viewed it, we may therefore long for and enter into a greater baptism.

Listen as you read how Lake describes his personal baptism in the Spirit:

And one day, the glory of God in a new manifestation and a new incoming came to my life. And when the phenomena had passed, and the glory of it remained in my soul, I found that my life began to manifest in the varied range of the gifts of the Spirit, and I spoke in tongues by the power of God, and God flowed through me with a new force. Healings were of a more powerful order. Oh, God live in me, God manifested in me, God spike through me. My spirit was deified, and I had a new comprehension of God’s will, new discernment of spirit, new revelation of God in me.

What strength, what substance, and what a description!  Here was a man that God poured His Spirit out on. I pray that we all step into a greater depth and a deeper part of the river of the Spirit of God Eternal.

He tells another experience in the Spirit, where He seemed to go deeper and experience more of God:

In 1908, I preached at Pretoria, South Africa, when one night God came over my life in such power, in such streams of the liquid glory and power, that it flowed consciously off my hands like streams of electricity.

His description of someone who is filled with the Spirit:

Will a man speak in tongues when he is baptized in the Holy Ghost? Yes, he will, and he will heal the sick when he is baptized, and he will glorify God out of the spirit of him with praises more delightful and heavenly than you ever heard. He will have a majestic bearing. He will look like the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be like Him.

The Power of the Christian

The same divine authority that was vested in Jesus is vested by Jesus in every Christian soul. Jesus made provision for the Church of Jesus Christ to go on forever and do the very same things He did and to keep doing them forever. That is what is the matter with the church. The church lost faith in that truth. The result was, they went on believing the He could save them from sin, but the other great range of the Christian life was left to the doctors and the devil or anything else. And the church will never be a real Church, in the real power of the living God again, until she comes back again to the original standard – where Jesus was.

Dominion over devils

I confess I would like to swear sometimes, and I would like to say, “To h– with preachers who are all the time preaching fear.” They preach fear of the devil and fear of demons and fear of this influence and fear of that influence and fear of some other power. If the Holy Ghost has come from heaven into your soul, common sense teaches us that He has made you the master thereby of every other power in the world.

Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. -1 John 4:4

And if we had faith to believe that the “greater then he” is in us, bless God, we would be stepping out with boldness and majesty. The conscious supremacy of the Son of God would be manifest in our lives and instead of being subservient and bowed down and broken beneath the weight of sin and the powers of darkness around us, they would flee from us and keep out of our way. I believe God there is not a devil that comes within a hundred feet of a real God-anointed Christian. That is the vision God put in my soul.

Here is a man who was not afraid of the enemy and walked in boldness. Many in the church don’t even mention the reality of demons and the powers of this age. The truth is that they do play a part in the kingdom, and that part is total defeat and devastation to them and their kingdoms, which are passing away (Dan 2). Lake sought to empower the Christian concerning these matters by revealing that God has given us all the power and authority over these dominions.

All these little insignificant devils that come along side in this sickness or that sickness or that temptation of sin have no power over you. Dear friends, from heaven there comes to your heart and mine that dominion of Jesus by which the God-anointed soul walks through them, through myriads of demons, and they cannot touch you.

The Fire of God

I want to leave you with a story he tells of how the fire spread in South Africa through a man named Don Van Vuuren. He was a man who was sick with tuberculosis. His friends sent him a letter telling Him of how God was moving among them (in Lake’s ministry). This moved him deeply and he cried out to God to be made whole. Within a few minutes he could breathe deeply, completely healed, and baptized in the Spirit. His wife, who wanted nothing to do with God, saw the change in her husband and that he was healed and gave her life to Jesus right there. In a week their whole house of 13 people were all saved and filled with the Spirit. The fire spread to his family and soon, 19 families were baptized in the Holy Ghost.

VanVuuren heard from God not long after, that He wanted him to go to parliament. Premier Botha tells of his encounter with VanVuuren:

…that man came into my office and stood ten feet from my desk. I looke up, and before he commenced to speak, I began to shake and rattle in my chair. I knelt down. I had to put my head under the desk and cry to God, why he looked like God, he talked like God. [Lake adds] he had the majesty of God.

For 18 days he went to different leaders of the government ”until every high official knew there was a God and a Christ and a Savior and a Baptism of the Holy Spirit.”

For several years before I left Africa, he (VanVuuren) went up and down the land like a burning fire. Everywhere he went sinners were saved and were healed. Men and women were baptized in the Holy Ghost, until he set the districts on fire with the power of God; and he is still going.

May the life of John G. Lake inspire you to be heaven living, breathing here on the earth. I believe if our minds can be transformed like his and even more in our generation, we will see the power of God in the earth like never before.

________________________________________

References:

Quotes listed below from aforementioned source in order that they appear in the article.

Roberts Liardon, John G. Lake; The Complete Collection of His Life Teachings, Tulsa, Albury Publishing 1999., p. 447; p. 407; p. 367; p. 372; p. 376-377; p. 378; p. 411-412; p. 442; p. 448; contextual paraphrasing story of VanVuuren from p. 456-451; p. 457; p. 459.

by Stevie B

Recently, Dave Edwards and myself recorded a podcast on this very subject.  This entry will probably post on Fire Press before or around the same time I’ve finished editing and publishing the episode to our podcast feed.   The reason I am posting this is because I’d like to share this as a study or addendum to go along with the discussion so people can have some written notes about what we discussed.  I’ve recorded podcasts in the past regarding the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues in general, and in the most recent podcast episode’s show notes you can visit links to other posts of mine over the years that go into more detail.  On the podcast itself though, we’ve covered this subject, but yet, never fully dealt with if there’s supposed to be an initial evidence to distinguish that it happened or not. In the discussion, I think we unofficially had a process of elimination on what the initial evidence is not, or what it’s not likely to be, based on many of the following thoughts below.

The following is the question posed to a FIRE School teacher named Brian Parkman, along with the response he gave on Facebook when asked on his public wall.  I’ve copied and pasted the response and edited it mostly to form a nice article, and added some of my own commentary in the middle, but borrowed heavily from Parkman that it’s necessary to give credit where credit’s due and will distinguish where each author’s thoughts are placed.

Do you believe that speaking in tongues is the only true evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit?

by Brian P

No, but it’s the only VERIFIABLE INITIAL evidence that one has been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Let me explain: the baptism in the Holy Spirit is unique to the New Testament believer. Therefore we have to have an INITIAL evidence that is also unique to the New Testament in order to know one has been filled the moment we are praying for them. Otherwise, how would I know they had been filled at that moment? When Peter and his brethren went to Cornelius’ house in Acts chapter 10, and the Holy Spirit fell on them, how did they know that the Holy Spirit had fallen on them and they were filled?

“FOR THEY HEARD THEM SPEAK WITH TONGUES” (verse 46).

That was the only INITIAL evidence they had. Otherwise how would they have known?  The ULTIMATE PURPOSE of receiving the Holy Spirit is power, But the INITIAL EVIDENCE is tongues, otherwise there is no way for me to definitively know they have been filled when I pray for them.

You might ask, “What if you laid hands on them to be filled, and all they did was prophesy?” That still would not be conclusive evidence they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit because they prophesied in the Old Testament too. The Holy Spirit may just be coming on them at that moment and they prophesy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have been filled with the Holy Spirit, because they prophesied in the OT and without being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

So again, an experience unique to the New Testament needs an evidence that is also unique to the NT in order to know they have received the NT experience of Spirit baptism, because any other evidence you can name to ‘prove’ they are baptized in the Holy Spirit happened in the OT. Tongues didn’t happen in the old covenant, but is exclusive to the NT, so it is the only conclusive INITIAL evidence we have to know they have been baptized in the Holy Spirit at that moment.

Examples of the Gifts in the Old Testament

by Stevie B

A Word of Wisdom reveals a fraction of the mind of God concerning people, places, or things pertaining to the future.  Moses told Israel as they left Egypt and entered the Promised Land what would happen if they disobeyed; Samuel told Israel all that would happen if they appointed a king over them.  A Word of Knowledge, by contrast is a revelation by the Holy Spirit giving a piece of God’s knowledge or information concerning people and situations in the present.  Joshua received a word of knowledge about why the city of Ai was not taken (Joshua 7:10-13). Elisha knew by miraculous revelation the location of the Syrian camp, thereby saving Israel from being attacked (2 Kings 6:8-23).

The Discerning of Spirits is the supernatural ability to see into the spirit world – by this insight the believer can see angels, demons, and discern the condition of the human spirit – good or bad. An example of this would be when Elisha prayed for the eyes of his servant to be opened and he then saw the angel armies of the Lord (2 Kings 6:17).

The Gift of Faith is a supernatural manifestation by the Holy Spirit supplying unlimited faith in a specific situation to achieve supernatural results, as evidenced in the example of Daniel in the lion’s den (Daniel 6:23)

For our discussion today, we’re defining the gift of healings as the supernatural impartation of God’s divine healing power through you to cure disease and heal the sick and afflicted instantly – in particular, being anointed to minister healing for specific kinds of sickness.  This happened many times all over the Old Testament and we assume the reader can think of a few examples for themselves.  However, what distinguishes the workings of miracles from the gift of healing, is that it’s a special momentary gift of authority which enables us, by the anointing of God, to intervene in the ordinary course of nature to do something that could not be done naturally. A true miracle must involve the suspension of natural laws in the ordinary course of nature.   Examples include the multiplying of the widow’s oil (2 Kings 4:1-7) parting the Red Sea and walking on dry ground (Exodus 14:13-31), the floating axe head (2 Kings 6:1-7), among many others.

Why The Evidence of Spirit Baptism is Not Prophesying or Having the Gift of Prophecy

by Stevie B

The gift of prophecy is a supernatural utterance in a known tongue (not conceived by human thought or reasoning) spoken under the anointing of God to exhort, edify, encourage, strengthen, and comfort the Church.

Definitions

1. Prophecy – “to declare the mind of God in the power of the Spirit” (F.F. Bruce)
2. Prophet – “a divinely called and inspired speaker who receives authoritative revelations directly from the heart of God and is compelled to deliver them publicly”

To continue the line of thought of Brian’s that one can point to Old Testament Scriptures to show that people operated in all of the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in the New Testament, except for tongues, I point oftentimes to King Saul.  In 1 Samuel 10, when he was anointed king of Israel by the prophet Samuel, it states that the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he prophesied with the prophets (see v.6, 9-13).  Then later on, once he had backslidden and was trying to kill the young David whom God had appointed to replace Saul, it says

Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him (1 Sam 16:14, ESV)

The Spirit of God had left Saul at this point, and he no longer walked in any kind of anointing, but was troubled instead by a tormenting spirit (from God at that!–put that one in your Bible and read it!).  Later on, during which time Saul is trying to kill David–not very good fruit for someone if they have the Holy Spirit–it states in 1 Sam 19:23-24:

And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.  And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

So let’s get this straight; in the Old Testament, before Christ’s work on the cross, and before believers were able to get saved and have the Holy Spirit living in them, we had instances of murderous backslidden kings prophesying naked when the Spirit came upon them.  Therefore, I’d not necessarily point to prophesying as evidence of being filled with the Spirit!  If anything, prophesying for the New Testament believer is EASIER than we think, and all can do it–give a thorough reading to the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 14 for more about the gifts in a local fellowship context.

Do I understand it right then that we can show the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit without actually being baptized in the Holy Spirit?

by Brian P

Yes, one can show the fruit of the Spirit without being baptized in the Holy Spirit. It’s not the fruit of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, it’s the fruit of being BORN of the Spirit, or being born-again. There are plenty of Christians that walk in the fruit of the Spirit and aren’t baptized in the Holy Spirit. Now whether one walks in the gifts of the Spirit without being baptized in the Holy Spirit, generally speaking they don’t. But take healing for instance, a person could still get someone healed and not be baptized in the Holy Spirit because they can still pray for them by FAITH, and the person can receive their healing through faith. But strictly speaking, that wouldn’t necessarily be a gift of the Spirit, it was the person’s faith that healed them.  Smith Wigglesworth got people healed before he was baptized in the Spirit just because he still believed in divine healing and had faith for it. Faith still works without being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Make sense?

So getting back to your original question about tongues again, since tongues is the only evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit that is exclusive to the New Testament, tongues is the only DEFINITIVE evidence I have that someone is baptized in the Holy Spirit. A person could be getting people healed, but that doesn’t definitively show me they are baptized in the Holy Spirit because they healed in the OT too, and they weren’t baptized in the Holy Spirit. That person may just have a strong faith for healing. Or he may be ministering the Word on healing so well to those he prays for that they are getting healed by their own faith. Or it could just be a temporary enduement of power like in the OT–like the way the Spirit rushed on King Saul, who was deemed wicked by that point in his life.

So, tongues being the only gift of the Spirit that did not appear in the Old Testament, it becomes the only gifting that we can definitively ‘see’ in a person’s life that lets us know they are baptized in the Holy Spirit in the New Testament sense. The other giftings wouldn’t be conclusive because the OT shows us one can do those other things without being baptized in the Holy Spirit. So theoretically one could operate in the gifts without being baptized in the Holy Ghost, because it could just be a temporary enduement by the Holy Spirit for that moment, but generally speaking, most of the people you see operating in the gifts are baptized in the Holy Spirit.

____________________

To listen to the podcast itself, click below.  It’s recommended that you give it a listen or leave some thoughts and comments below the post, because we can’t cover every single angle of this in just one post, but Dave Edwards and Steve Bremner had a thorough discussion on it in the latest episode of Fire On Your Head.

Is  Speaking in Tongues The Initial Evidence of Spirit Baptism?

Why Every Believer Should Speak in Tongues & Are You Saved If You Don’t?

The Spirit of Truth – differentiating between the corporate gift of tongues with an interpretation in the local context, versus the personal use (prayer language).

The Ministry of the Holy Spirit - what praying in the Spirit does to the believer, and why every believe should view this exercise/practice as vital to their walk with God.

NONE of this subject matter is intended to be divisive or create a dividing line in the sand between believers or segments of the Body of Christ, but rather attempt to encourage people who’ve never experienced the wonders of praying in the Spirit (aka praying in tongues) INTO an experience that many of us who do it feel is vital and should be pursued and encouraged in the life of every believer, along with a Scriptural presentation for doing so.

May 10th Edit:

Check out recent podcasts with Brian Parkman that flesh out some of these objections further:

What Is The Purpose of Speaking in Tongues?

Answering Objections to Speaking in Tongues

Free Ebook:

“The world out there is not waiting for a new definition of Christianity but a new demonstration.”

~Leonard Ravenhill

“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Cor. 2.4,5)

Demonstration; “the action of showing the existence or truth of something by giving proof or evidence.”

The Gospel isn’t a verbal argument for the existence of God.  It is above all things a demonstration of God Himself.  It is the evidence of who He is in His love and power.

We believe “LOVE AND POWER” evangelism is the only evangelism that there is.  The reason is simple; we don’t want the faith of individuals to rest on the cleverness or wisdom of our arguments but on the demonstration of God’s love and power.

We seek in “LOVE AND POWER” to be that demonstration to the world, first of all in our lives and out of that, in our outreaches.

Love is the greatest demonstration of power that there is, for in Christ’s love demonstration of the cross, His power broke all the power of the enemy.

Power is the undeniable demonstration of God’s love.  We have seen men who have little to no belief in God, encounter Jesus when their torn ACL was completely and supernaturally mended before their eyes.  In that moment, there is nothing that a man can say other than, “God is love.”  For they did nothing to earn anything, but His care for them was extended to them even in their rebellion and ignorance.

Love still holds it’s power, and power still demonstrates His love.  Love and power is the demonstration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Be In Love

“Do everything in love (1 Cor. 16.14).

We have no agenda but to love. God’s agenda has always been to love, climaxing with Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 states “Without love we are nothing, love never fails…” So let us drop all other fear-filled agendas and expectations so we may be free to simply love people.

We are bound by our agendas and drained by our expectations, but love is freedom, for it is not something to do, but something to be.  Let us focus on the love of God and let love melt the hearts of men.  Even if they don’t receive the gospel that day, they will never be able to shake off the fact that we loved them and told them of His irresistible love.

Jesus didn’t come to shame sinners but to save them.  Evangelism is the spreading of the gospel.  That gospel is the greatest expression of love.  So how empty is the testimony of God’s love if it be void of love itself? Love’s expression of evangelism shows that we believe and care that men are literally walking toward an eternal fire.  “The fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5)” actually the result of the Holy Spirit in our lives will be love.

“For the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5.5)”

Never forget this; God makes men like Jesus and Jesus laid His life down for others.

Love is best defined as “selflessness” since, “Greater love has no man than this, that He would lay down His life for His friends (John 15.13).”  This is why “Perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).” Because, fear is “self consciousness” and love is not “self consciousness.”  We are slaves to fear to the degree that we love our lives.  To the degree that we love our lives we will fail to be witnesses, because we will simply be restrained from the love that makes us a witness.  Our Christianity is silent to the degree that we love ourselves.  But if we will allow the Holy Spirit to be a constant inflow into our lives, His love will expand in our hearts and “self consciousness” will burn away and God will be free to extend His hand to the world through us.  Love is the goal.  Love is the incentive. Love is the inspiration. Love is the power.  Love is the gospel.  Love never fails.

Walk in Power

“When God made it possible for the Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead to live in you, He made powerlessness inexcusable.”  ~Bill Johnson

Jesus did not leave us powerless. He never desired us to go without power. To do God’s work we need God’s power.  There is no witness with out power.  “A good news without power is not good.” ~Bill Johnson

The power of the Holy Spirit is for the preaching of the Gospel (Isa. 61.1).  It is for the delivering of the captives (Acts 10.38).  The Gospel is the “power of God unto salvation (Romans 1.16)” Paul shows us that he was not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God.  Many people are ashamed of the Gospel because they haven’t seen it as the power of God.  To see the Gospel as the power of God will destroy the shame of proclamation.

Power forces a decision.  Power shows God to the individual in an undeniable way.  We see the sick healed on the streets and it is such an arresting moment in the individual’s life.  Even in their shock, they are stuck with the evidence that God has just touched them.  Even if they are not sick, we seek to pray for them in an attempt to usher the presence of God into their hearts.  As they sense Him who is the desire of the nations, they break internally. Power is irreplaceable.

Without power we can end up as phony as the door to door salesmen whose product doesn’t work when he is asked for a demonstration of it.  Power is God coming into the lives of men.  What love! Power is love.  Power is the Gospel.  Power is God.  Power is demonstration. Power is the evidence.

A friend of mine recently preached a very thought provoking message on “frequencies”.  It got my attention so much that I decided to do my own investigation and started Googling “the stuff that he was taking about”. Minutes turned into hours, and hours into days, and days into about 1 week.  Since I like videos I did a lot of my research on YouTube. (thumbs up for the videos by kids who kept things short and simple)

What I learned both surprised and challenged me. The surprising part was how amazing God has designed, created, put in order – the world and everything in it, including us people. What challenged me was that when I looked at the Word and put 1 and 1 together, I found that I, by design, have a much bigger part to play in bringing change to my surroundings. Here’s a summary of my findings…

The crazy cool science part

Everything is made up of matter. Matter takes up space and has mass to it. Matter comes in 3 different forms: solids, liquids and gasses. (You can add #4, plasma, but I don’t understand that yet, and it isn’t really necessary for what I am writing about here.)

Matter is made up of molecules. The closeness of the molecules determines the state of the matter. And on a smaller level, molecules are made up of atoms.

All matter has energy, either kinetic, or potential. When I hold a stapler in my hand it has potential energy; when I throw said stapler across the room, while it is flying through the air, it possesses kinetic energy as it is “in motion”.  In short, everything around us has energy. Energy itself moves. It vibrates at a frequency. Everything, whether solid, liquid or gas, has a frequency on a sub-atomic level.

When you introduce an outside energy to matter, you can actually change that piece of matter’s frequency on a sub-atomic level. Because the frequency changes, its outward appearance will also change.

Here are two examples:

Water is a type of matter (liquid) that has its own frequency. By introducing radiant energy through a microwave, the water will change and, if left long enough under radiant energy, become a gas. On a sub-atomic level the radio waves from the microwave cause the atoms to vibrate faster and faster, heating it up and causing it to change forms.

A second example – A chair is a solid with its own frequency. Introduce fire, thermal energy, and the chair will burn and burn until there is nothing left. The solid chair changed forms because a outside powerful energy was introduced.

Isn’t that amazing! Matter can change depending on what type of powerful frequency is introduced! That means that everything, absolutely everything, around us can change depending on what kind of powerful energy is introduced to them.

The God-breathed part

Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.

Proverbs 18:21 (MSG)

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Luke 6:45 (NIV)

and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5b (NIV)

What we think about is planted in our hearts. What’s in our hearts comes through our mouths, and hence it is wise to watch what we think about, because our words can bring life or death to the world around us.

1 + 1 = 2

Here’s how we connect the Word and science:

1. Everything around you has a frequency.
2. By introducing a powerful frequency or energy, you can change everything around you on a sub-atomic level.
3. Your words are either death or life (a powerful frequency or energy) (Prov 18:21).
4. By changing the way you think (for exampling thinking more in line with Heaven), you would be changing the way you speak (Luke 6:45).
5. When you speak with faith, things around you will change and line up with your words (Matt 21:21,22).

Dr. Emoto did a study about introducing either positive or negative influences on water molecules. He found that introducing either positive or negative words, pictures, music, thoughts, even prayers (all types of frequencies), to a glass of water changed the shape and form of the water crystals when frozen. Positive frequencies created beautiful crystals (picture on right) while negative frequencies left the crystals deformed and twisted (picture on left).

To tie this all together, God is the one who said, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Science shows that by introducing the right frequency to pretty much anything, a change takes place on a sub-atomic level and a matter re-aligns itself to fit with that frequency.

This is what challenged me: What am I thinking about all day? Because what I think about ultimately gets planted in my heart and at some point will come through my mouth – either treasures or trash. And thus, what am I speaking into the matter (things) around me? Is it positive, negative, because now I find that the reason I see change around me is because I am causing it!

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (see Mark 11:22-23)

I see hungry people, I see possibilities in relationships, job opportunities. I see that I am a agent of change and by faith, I can make this world a better place. Because of what Jesus did, I not only have what God set in motion when He created the world, but I also have the Holy Spirit, the ultimate Trump Card. I have life and it’s time to let Him loose.

About Marnus Coetzee: Born and raised in South Africa, I heard God’s call into missions and joined OM (Operation Mobilization) in 2005. I did 6 months of missions training before spending a year in Ukraine. I now serve full time with OM USA as a prayer coach. Among using blogs, Twitter, and Facebook to equip and train the body of Christ, I lead teams on international missions trips to the middle east, with an emphasis on supernatural evangelism. In 2010 I start my second year at Bethel Atlanta School of Supernatural Ministry. I also serve on the Prophetic and Sozo ministry teams at Bethel Atlanta. For my’ blog visit http://www.marnusandlisa.com

Resurrection is our identity as believers in Jesus. It is the framework of who we are. Death is unanswerable apart from the One who gives life. And if the One who gives life resides in us, then we have the answer the world is in search of. The quest of kings and the hope of the homeless, eternal life and power from death. The assurance of the Christian and the secret escape for the atheist, the hope to keep living, even beyond death.

But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!” (Acts 23:6)

Other than for this one statement which I shouted out while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.’ (vv 24:21)

According to these texts, the primary reason Paul was put on trial is that he preached the resurrection of the dead.

What kind of person can make such a report or share such good news as this?  It is like saying:

“I have the answer the world longs to hear. You no longer have to worry about death. A man called Jesus overcame death. And he ascended to heaven and is sitting at the right hand of God, even now. So if you believe in Him you will not have to face death, but there is eternal life through Him!”

There can only be two responses to this: 1) Life invades the hearts of those who hear it; 2) Death rages against it. But, praise God, Jesus overcame death!

Lazarus

Jesus’ friend Lazarus had fallen asleep and died. When Jesus arrived they were upset and said “only if you had been here, he would not have died.” They believed in resurrection of the dead, but they did not realize the enormity of what was about to happen.

Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live, even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die, Do you believe this?‘ (John 11:25-26)

They believed in resurrection but failed to ascertain that the Resurrection Himself had arrived on the scene.

So they led Jesus to where they had laid him. And this was His response.

Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days. “Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ”I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me. “When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. (John 11:39-44)

Jesus did not just speak into Lazarus’ tomb, nor did he simply speak to those who could hear. His voice broke a barrier! The sound waves traveled through the boundaries of life and death. He spoke into death and called Lazarus back to life.

His response? He smashed death. He eradicated its powers rendering it useless, null and void. He is the giver of life. What was His declaration before? “I am the resurrection… He who believes in me will never die.” We believe in Him.  The result: we never die. What does this mean?

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8)

The Ascension

He has called us to do the same things that He did, and even greater:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. (John 14:12,emphasis mine)

Jesus is no longer on the earth physically. But, as John 14-18 states, He did not leave us alone. He sent His Spirit to live in us. And through the Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, nothing-NO-THING-is impossible.

My wife just got a bracelet that says: “Make the Impossible Possible.” She wears it everywhere she goes. It is a constant declaration of the God that can do anything, lives inside her, ready to use her to do the impossible.

Jesus is the Sacrifice, the Resurrection, and the Ascension! It is significant and vital for us to understand all three. The cross, awesome as it is, is useless without the resurrection and ascension. Yes, the cross is the payment of our sins, but without the resurrection there would be no life, no power over death. Hallelujah! It did not end in death! The resurrection is life yet still, it did not end there, either. Not only did He rise again, He ascended. This is the part most of us leave off the list. His ascension means that He has sent us His Spirit, empowering us, just as the Father empowered Him.

Our God is alive and He is doing the same things today as He did when He walked the earth, only today, He is using us to accomplish it.

He did not just want to be a superhero to one generation for all time. Just as Elijah went to heaven and left his mantle to Elisha, and Elisha walked in a double portion; Jesus left us His super-cape and said that we would be better superheroes than He was because He sent us His Spirit and sends us out-now that is the definition of apostolic. This is the people and the church the world longs to have revealed.

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)

The First and the Last

So in 2006, this is how I started this blog:

“Recently at work, I came in and told two of my coworkers that i was bummed because Steve Irwin, ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ had died. I then said. ‘I pray that he will be raised from the dead.’ One responded by seemingly ignoring me and the other looked at me like I was crazy.”

As previously mentioned, death is something the world cannot overcome. Once all of men’s resources have been exhausted and all medical help has been utilized, and the person still slips away causing hopelessness to set in with the feeling that all is lost, what more can be done? Life has left and the spirit has departed.

The answer to the problem is Jesus.  Remember He is the “Resurrection and the Life.”

Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last and the living One: and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (Rev 1:17b-18)

Death is defeated forever!

Which He brought about in Christ, when He raised him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:20-21)

Nothing is over Him, He is one with the Father, He has complete power, and all things are subject to Him. Verse 2:6 states that we are seated right next to Him in these heavenly places, therefore we have access to His authority, in His name.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:19)

We can open the doors that no one else can! We have His keys. We have access to all of his power. We have the power and the right to advance the kingdom of heaven in the earth! This includes raising the dead.

We have received life and are commanded to give life (ref. Matt 10). Jesus is the One who is in control of their spirits when they die. Thus, He is the only One who has the power to return their spirits to their bodies. And, He tells us to raise the dead, meaning that it is His will and desire for us to raise them up. He would not command us to do this if He were not willing to respond on His part. He would not tell us to do something if he did not want to do it.

We Must Believe!

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

[Moses] endured as seeing Him who is unseen. (Heb 1:27)

Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. (Heb 11:1 KJV)

Faith proves that what we cannot see does exist.

…God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. (Romans 4:17)

The world does not see life in death, but we know the Author of Life, and have the power to restore life when death comes.

So should we look for death? No, we should look for life everywhere we go, and as we go we will find life even in the midst of pain, sickness, and death.

In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 1:4)

Conclusion

In 2002, I was in Africa. We were deep in the bush and a little boy had died of Malaria. We prayed for him for 4 hours and he did not rise up. This is my only experience this close with the matters we have discussed. I am not deterred. I know that He raises the dead, which is why I am writing this. I shared that to be real. I will walk in this, the Bible says so. I am sharing a vision with you to inspire you to believe.

The previous year my friends Avi and Bryan were there. They were in a service and a lady brought a dead baby up to Bryan’s father. They prayed for the baby and it came back to life. As this happened, another lady, whose baby had died the night before ran home to get the body. When she got back she handed the baby to Bryan. He did not know what was wrong with the baby. He said that is stunk real bad and looked like a dead animal, not moving. So he took the baby and lifted it up to heaven, and prayed in Jesus name. Then he handed it back to her and the child was now moving. Six months later when he was back in the States, it was confirmed a dead raising, the child now healthy and in church.

This an attempt to stir and ignite a fire in you to go for it. RAISE THE DEAD!

Resources

David Hogan a missionary in Mexico has seen over 458 people raised for the dead in the ministry in the last 30 years. Heidi Baker has been in Mozambiquq for over 7 years and seen over 100 raised from the dead. They are not doing it themselves, they are teaching the people to do it.

For an article on resurrection, visit here.

Boy raised from the dead in Ohio, click here.

Here is a video testimonies of recent dead raisings; God using people like you and me.

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Mat 28:16-20

Oxford American Dictionary explains “commission” as “a group of people officially charged with a particular function” and “the authority to perform a task or certain duties.” I’d say we have done quiet well with the first part of the commission. We have gone to the nations, discipled them, baptized them, and taught them everything Jesus taught us. But I think for various reasons we have skipped the second part – how we were actually supposed to go and disciple the nations, baptize and teach them.

I have 2 questions I’d like to answer:

• How did Jesus teach?
• How did Jesus tell the disciples to teach?

How did Jesus teach?

“You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” Acts 10:37,38

In Matthew 3 we find Jesus being baptized by John in the Jordan. Until then I believe baptism was more of a outward sign, a confession of faith, so to say. But when Jesus was baptized something deeper happened, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, came on Jesus and then His earthly ministry began, which was one of teaching and power. It’s this same power that Jesus told His disciples to wait for in Jerusalem before they could start their “great commission”. (Acts 1:4,5,8)

In Luke 4 we find Jesus Himself saying what this power, anointing, Spirit was for:

“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:14-21

Jesus then went on preaching the good news of a God who loved the world so much, He wasn’t going to hold anything back (John 3:16,17). He confirmed this teaching with opening up salvation to anyone who would believe. In Mark 16, Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” By now we should know that baptism here means the same baptism Jesus had, one with the Holy Spirit. But lets look for a second at the word “saved”, in Greek = Sozo (Strong’s Gr 4982) .

Sozo (salvation) touches 3 areas.

• Salvation for the Spirit (Mat 1:21, Rom 10:13)
• Deliverance for the Soul (Luke 8:36)
• Healing for the Body (Mark 5:34, James 5:15)

The Good News, salvation, has a lot more to offer than just being baptized in the names of God, and being taught how to live in righteousness. The Good News is really a Gospel of Power, the power to save and affect every area of our lives. Without power, without the Holy Spirit, are we not just going back to the law (Rom 8)?  Jesus taught in the power of the Holy Spirit. He demonstrated this power through healing all who were sick (Mark 6:56), casting out demons (Mat 8:16) and forgiving sins (Luke 5:24).

How did Jesus tell his disciples to teach?

The first time Jesus sends out the 72 others besides his disciples, he gives them these instructions: “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you (Luke 10:9).’ ” When they got back they reported with joy, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” And then Jesus replied:

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.’

‘All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’

Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.’ ” (Luke 10:18-24 emphasis mine)

Notice the joy for both Jesus and His disciples? Notice how Jesus praises the Father for what He was doing according to His good pleasure? And then how Jesus blessed His disciples for what they have seen? That is the way missions should be done! That is the results that we should be expecting! Jesus sent out His disciples in power and they continued the same ministry of words and wonders as He did. According to Acts 2:4, we now have that same power!

We easily quote Matthew 28’s “Great commission” because it doesn’t require a lot of us; and to be frank, it’s easier to read it by itself without adding the other great commission verses to it. I think the reason we see Christianity impact so little of the world, is because we don’t see in the same breath and with the same enthusiasm in context of the rest of the Great Commission which is found in Mark 16:16-18:

“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

About Marnus Coetzee: Born and raised in South Africa, I heard God’s call into missions and joined OM (Operation Mobilization) in 2005. I did 6 months of missions training before spending a year in Ukraine. I now serve full time with OM USA as a prayer coach. Among using blogs, Twitter, and Facebook to equip and train the body of Christ, I lead teams on international missions trips to the middle east, with an emphasis on supernatural evangelism. In 2010 I start my second year at Bethel Atlanta School of Supernatural Ministry. I also serve on the Prophetic and Sozo ministry teams at Bethel Atlanta. For my’ blog visit http://www.marnusandlisa.com

In worship at church lately God has really been pointing out the theme of Heaven coming to earth. If you follow our blog,you may have noticed that my last several post have been on this. It’s as if the more He shares with me on the the matter, the more I now have of the perspective and capacity to peer into these realities and to consider the impact of the awakening of our generation to the realization of such things.

In God Dares Us to Dream, I was beginning to imagine the possibilities of all that can happen when we begin to dream. Then in Where Heaven Meets Earth the understanding of the knowledge that we are God’s house, connecting heaven and earth started to set in and in the Elements of Heaven and Earth was just me flying around in these revelations trying to wrap my mind around all the awesome things that could happen. And now I am day dreaming of heaven, of the glory of God covering the earth like the dew covers the earth in the morning.

As I looked for images of dew for the article, there were up close blades of grass covered in the dew. I imagine all the people covered and consumed with heaven, with the things we have been discussing, with the presence of God. What does that look like? Maybe if I write 50 of these articles we will have somewhat of an introduction. The point is this; the more we see it the more clear the picture will become (1 Cor 13:12) and the image of God will begin to emerge in the earth.

As Bill Johnson so often mentioned in his book; When Heaven Invades Earth, that because in heaven, sickness does not exist, heaven coming to earth would consist of, removing all sickness here. Did Jesus not exemplify this?

Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. Mt 4:23

He is the King and His kingdom is the good news that He is proclaiming. So we see with His words and power this kingdom advancing in the earth. Something supernatural is occurring-heaven is touching earth.

Pray then in this way: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread… Mt 6:9-11

We just read an example of Jesus administering heaven to the earth. Now, a couple of chapters later, He shows us to pray for this. How do we pray? Your Kingdom come, Your will be done… Where? On Earth! As it is in Heaven… What’s the goal? For the earth to become like heaven. For the kingdom of heaven to physically fill the earth like the dew on the grass in the early morning. Our daily bread, I believe is not just physical, we need manna from heaven, which is Jesus-the very Word and words of God.

We have all these awesome examples of everything the early church did; healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, changing cities and affecting nations. The kingdom of heaven filling the earth through the Church. Philip flew around kind of like Elijah would catch rides in tornadoes. And this was the foundation generation for all that those who came after them would accomplish. As Paul mentions in 1 Cor 3, we are both being built and are building the kingdom in the earth. This is our vocation, our occupation and our calling. Your Kingdom Come!

So here we have a few brush strokes on a canvas beginning to realize what heaven coming to earth may look like. We have the essence of the supernatural. We are supernatural kings sent by the King of Kings to establish His rule worldwide. And His return is Him coming to take His place and reign over His kingdom.

I am dreaming of awesome supernatural things to take place. Heaven is a place of limitless possibilities. When heaven comes to earth all of that comes with it. I tried in the last post to describe some of this but words were hard to find that would capture the momentum of my heart in a way that could articulate what I was feeling.

We now attend Bethel Atlanta Church. Every week there are testimonies of heaven touching earth. I even heard in a podcast today that they have had a supernatural testimony everyday since the church was founded and it’s only two years old. So I keep writing on this subject because I am seeing it on a new level and with a new perspective every time we meet.

Scott Thompson, who I mentioned last time, is the director of outreach for Jesus Culture. He is also a leader in our church. On Sunday he shared a testimony about the conference he had just returned from in Cleveland. One of the young girls who was attending had gone back to her hotel room to get something after they had been taught how to give words of knowledge and pray for the sick. Once she returned from her room and stepped off the elevator she heard screaming and people saying, “he’s dead!” She ran over to see what happened. A little boy was found at the bottom of the pool. They tried CPR for 12 minutes but nothing happened. Without even asking she squeezed her way through the crowd and stood over the boy. She leaned over and touched him on the chest and said something like “I command you spirit of death the come off this boy” and “I command you to live in Jesus’ name.” Nothing happened at first, but she prayed the same thing two or three more times and he began coughing up the water and sat up alive raised from the dead. Stop right here and praise God, come back when you have composed yourself.

Not a Christian superstar, but simply a young girl full of fire and faith presenting a supernatural answer to a supernatural need.

After this, he had the church pray for each other. I prayed for a kid’s pinkie and it was healed. I think the kid may have had more faith than I did. Anyway, afterward when I was considering what had happened I realized that a supernatural response is a supernatural response. If a pinkie getting healed is totally supernatural then it’s just as supernatural as raising the dead. Both instances require heaven to intervene. A sore pinkie will not instantly heal itself. It needs Holy Ghost. The same Ghost, Spirit, or Breathe is the Breathe that brings life to all and raises the dead. Faith as small as a mustard seed can move a mountain and faith to heal a pinkie can raise the dead. The only difference comes from the mind analyzing the situation. I believe this is why Smith Wigglesworth so often said, “Only Believe.”

During worship that morning I was in the back and I just pictured a mist gently flowing through the sanctuary touching the people. The image was like the dew. Dew, or fog is a cloud that comes down to the earth at night. What a great example in the natural of heaven coming to earth.

Annointing means to be painted with or covered with God. We are covered with God like the dew on the grass, like Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Hab 2:14

The earth was once covered in the waters of judgment. The Lord made a sign of the rainbow to signify that He would never do that again. The rainbow being another natural symbol of heaven meeting earth. Now, He is, in mercy, flooding the earth with His glory.

My heart is just begining to swell with these ideas and revelations. If you have any thoughts on this please comment. When our revelations come together we will see a greater piece of the picture that God is painting in the earth. I will post more on that later in The Fellowship of Revelations. Thanks for following this series on Heaven and Earth and for now I leave you with this verse:

Behold, how good and how pleasent it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head coming down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard, It is like the dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing-life forever. Psalm 133

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