Kingdom comes in Lebanon - in stores and restaurants (part 2)

while in one supermarket, Isaac got a word of knowledge for an employee - a tooth problem.  we prayed for him and he told us all the pain left.

late one night we offered to pray for any and all of the employees in this one restaurant.  we got to minister to one guy who was healed of a couple of conditions.  we also got to pray for a muslim employees whose headache didn't seem to want to go.  finally when one of our Lebanese friends prayed with him, he actually began to cry.  Don't know if the headache left, but know that the Kingdom touched him.

in another restaurant, while with a Maronite priest, the Lord gave us a word of knowledge for a women's neck problem.  we prayed and she was healed.

in an appliance store, many things happened.  words of knowledge and prophetic words began coming which always seem to open doors.  we got to pray for 6-8 different people, and saw some significant healings - a wrist that had been broken three times was healed and a jaw problem of 15 years healed.  some of the prophetic words that came were very accurate and encouraged the people who received them.  Isaac probably prophesied over 1/2 of the employees (or so it seemed). Whereas most of the people were Christians in this shop, a couple of the people we ministered to were muslims as well.  we had a couple of Lebanese with us who gave their phone numbers.  a lot of follow up will be going on.  

Kingdom comes in Lebanon - in Monasteries (part 1)

just got back from a 6 day adventure in Lebanon and saw God's Kingdom break into the lives of people on many occasions in many places.  I will share some of the highlights in this and the following blog posts.

I've been visiting monasteries for the past few years.  In one of the monasteries, Isaac of Ninevah and I got to meet the abbot who oversees some of the monks I ministered to a couple of years ago when they were in another monastery.  While we were sitting with him, talking about the things of the Holy Spirit, I got a word of knowledge for a neck/shoulder problem.  He had the problem, we prayed and he was healed.  Then he wanted to know how I knew so we got to talk about words of knowledge and healing for a while.

When one of the monks who had had a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit was sitting with us, he also got to share with his abbot about the encounter.  The abbot was quite open and interested in the experience.

My vision would be that as long as monks are gathering in monasteries to fast, pray and live lives of austerity that they would be having amazing encounters with God.

Also, while at the same monastery, we got to pray for people in the gift shop after Isaac of Ninevah and I got some words of knowledge.  Got to minister to a couple of people there.  They were very interested in knowing more about the word of knowledge and how God reveals what needs to be healed.

kingdom comes in Iranian restaurant

a group of us with our families decided to go to an Iranian restaurant to eat some of our favorite food and to "spill" God's Kingdom on those around us.

I knew it would be a good night when as we were walking into the restaurant, I got a word of knowledge the right ankle for a Gulf Arab muslim woman walking by and my wife ministered to her for about 20 minutes.

Inside we began ministering to the Iranian muslim employees - first a right arm was healed, then the same man's left arm was healed.  I prayed for the right arm and another prayed for his left arm. Because of the propensity for muslims to zero in on a single person "with a gift", three or four us us were praying for sick.  Next a back problem is healed.  Another man with a hand/wrist problem comes out.  He is healed.

At this point, they are asking for our phone numbers and asking us if we can go and visit some others who need miracles - an aunt who hasn't walked in 10 years, a woman with severe scoliosis back in Iran.  You know that people are genuinely healed when the invitations start rolling in!

all in all it was an amazing dinner for the Kingdom and the food was really good too!

As we were leaving we heard the QUOTE OF THE DAY

As we were leaving we overhear, a muslim employee after many witnessed the healings responding to a question by another muslim customer who asks,


"What is going on, is there a doctor over there?"
The employee replied,  "No, they are healers."
"Which one?" the person asked.
"ALL OF THEM!", the muslim man answered.

a healing during healing testimonies

every week when we have our "Encounter God" meeting we have a time to share about the miracles that people saw/experienced/witnessed during the previous week.

this was an amazing testimony time - there were healings that happened all over the city through a number of different people in our community.  I'll have to say that nothing is more encouraging than to see people walking in their destiny and releasing the Kingdom.  It was a glorious time!

during the testimony time, I got a word of knowledge about a shoulder issue.  I was prompted to share what had happened with the Muslim man whose shoulder was healed the night before.  One of our visitors had a "golf-ball sized" lump on her shoulder that was hurting.  The even shared that when her husband put his arm around her she winced in pain.  I shared the testimony and then we prayed.  We prayed once and most of the pain left.  We prayed again and to this woman's complete shock ALL the pain was gone and the lump shrunk about 90%.  She was speechless.  It was an incredible healing.

After that there were many other words of knowledge given and other conditions were healed during the meeting.

words of knowledge and healings in a restaurant

as my wife and I walked into a restaurant, I got a couple of words of knowledge for the hostess.  my wife also got a word at the same time.  they were all accurate and the hostess was so shocked that God has spoken about her pain.  one of the words was for another waitress.  The hostess was healed and was even crying she was so touched.  we got to share a lot of the King and His Kingdom. 

muslim healed at car dealership

the other night my teenage son and I decided to go and visit a couple exotic car dealerships for fun.  while one salesman was showing us one of these cars, the Lord gave me a strong word of knowledge for his left shoulder.  I asked him, "Do you have a problem with your left shoulder?"  He did and told me that he wanted the pain gone.  I put my hand on his shoulder and prayed about a 10-second prayer.  I took my hand away and the Egyptian muslim man began to check it out.  The shocked look on his face said it all.  Then he opens his mouth and says, "Who are you?"  I told him that it was God who revealed and healed his problem.  I was simply the messenger.  He took my number and I am looking forward to have this man call me.

free not to believe

just yesterday I was reminded of a penetrating passage that for years I was sure didn't apply to me/us.  It is the one in John 10:37


"If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me" (NKJV)


Can you imagine if we really believed this verse?  and that it just might apply to us?  


How crazy huh?  let's just walk through your next evangelistic encounter with a skeptic.  They start to throw at you objections - hypocrisy amongst Christians, evil in the world, arguments from science, etc.  Then you just say, "Stop!  I don't want to discuss these issues.  I am on assignment and the Kingdom of God is within me, in fact the very Spirit of God dwells inside of me.  So, I don't want you to believe anything I would tell you about Jesus and His Gospel unless I first do the same miracles that Jesus did"


First of all, I think this approach would actually save many of us a lot of headaches.  Nobody likes debates and if we are honest, they've never worked.  


It would also cause us to actually take a serious look at our lives in light of the lifestyle modeled by Christ and His followers in the Scripture.  We'd begin to pray that the Lord would "close the gap" between what we read and how we live.


Finally, crazy steps of faith are exactly the kinds of things that attract heaven.  I can just imagine the fervor that such an approach might cause amongst the angels.  "Oh my goodness, one of God's kids is actually invoking John 10:37 in the 21st century!  Wake up guys, we're being sent NOW!"

are you DEAD?

strange title I know.  a group of us were meditating on Romans 6 and Paul tells us there that we are dead to sin (v. 2) and that we died "with Christ" (v. 6).  I think that many of the problems that I have relate directly to me not living out of the reality of what Paul is teaching.  If I am dead to sin and alive to God, manifesting the life of Christ, then most of the struggles simply evaporate.  Simple.  If only I BELIEVED it more often!

more healings

the number of people I have had the chance to pray for in the past few days has been far more than I normally do.  in addition to the people God is touching out on the streets, we also had a church meeting and the Lord brought healing to several people there.

this has just been so encouraging.  a summary of some I haven't blogged about:

- man's elbow healed who walked in shop
- eye problem healed
- woman's shoulder healed
- joint problem in man's finger healed
- back pain healed

in each of these cases, the people heard many stories of God's Kingdom and many things about Christ and His Kingdom.  the powerful thing is that as we have been speaking about the Gospel, the Lord is confirming His Word by healing the sick and people's pain.

muslim man's arm healed

I prayed 2 or 3 times for this muslim man's arm and saw nothing happen.  then I got one of the Christian women who works in the shop we were in to come and help me.  the put her hand on his arm and I joined her in prayer.  then all the pain left the muslim's arm.  this muslim man witnessed a number of healing miracles and also heard many things about the Gospel.

syrian woman healed after word of knowledge

while ministering to a number of people in a shop, I looked over at one of the employees and felt the Lord wanted to minister to her.  then I got a word of knowledge for a stomach condition.  she was shocked as she had one.  we prayed.  she would only know if she was healed after she ate some hot, spicy food.  I told her to test it out.  the next day (this morning) I was back in the shop and she testified that she had tested it out and she was pain-free! 

I was then able to minister further to her encouraging her to get connected with a group of like-minded believers in her Church.  

man "sees" first miracle.

I had gotten a word of knowledge for a left knee problem.  nobody had one but then a man walks in the shop.  he has the problem.  I said to him, "I'll bet you've heard about a lot of healing miracles, but you've never seen one, right?"  He agreed.  we prayed and a knee problem he'd had for 40 years was healed.  I was then able to encourage him in his Christian faith.  His "theoretical faith" became real.

healings in Lebanese hospital and beyond

Today was interesting.  I had my plans and the Lord seemed to have other plans altogether.  I found myself in a Lebanese hospital visiting with friends and the Holy Spirit began to give words of knowledge and prophetic words for the staff.  I got words about neck problems and two were healed.  I had another about a headache and the woman let me pray for a headache that she suffered from every morning.  While praying for her, she began to feel the Lord's presence in her arm (I had her put her hand on her head).  She turned and began to tell the rest of the staff what was going on.  I got to prophesy over another woman.  Questions were asked about healing and I told them also that we cast out demons.  Several of them were muslims and they had many questions.  One of the muslim women I prayed for told my friend after we left that "he is a really good man".  I'm just glad she got to experience that God is good - not something muslims often experience.

at another place, I began to ask some the people there if they had certain conditions.  I thought I was getting words of knowledge, but none of them seemed accurate.  It's important that I say this because at the hospital they all seemed to be right on, but in the second place they all seemed to be wrong.  This is often the way it works!  Anyway, one woman did have an elbow problem and I had her put her hand on it and we prayed.  She was healed.  Another woman let me pray for her some dizziness she was experiencing.  She testified that she felt better.  Her son had a knee problem so I also prayed that God would impart a gift of healing to her to take to him at their home.

after all of this I was able to go and meet personally one of the most significant Christian leaders in the entire Middle East.  we talked about miracles of healing and also the casting out of demons. 

the day isn't even over yet.

Gulf Arab muslim man touched by the Lord

while in an industrial area today, Isaac of Ninevah and myself both got the same word of knowledge (neck problem on the left side) for a Gulf Arab muslim man.  He let me pray for him and some of the pain left.  He wanted to know "how" we knew he had the problem.  I explained that God had revealed it to us and that as Christians we are commanded to "heal the sick".  It was getting better as our time went on.  Later another muslim friend showed up and he recounted what happened and explained that "God spoke to them about my neck problem and they prayed for me".  He used a very strong word - God "spoke" which is not something you will normally hear a muslim say.  I used a softer word when I explained it, "revealed", but he turns around and drops the strongest possible description!  Remember muslims believe that God stopped speaking!

it turns out that he has a grandson who is 4 years old and has never walked.  we are arranging a time to go and pray for his miracle.  I shared a testimony out of a trip we took to Yemen when a young muslim boy was healed who had never walked but got up and walked after prayer.

another muslim man from Iran also asked us to pray for his condition.  we are arranging a time to go and pray (I will bring a former Iranian muslim with me for that visit).

God is ON THE MOVE.

turkish muslim man healed and tells of other experience

i met a Turkish muslim man the other day at his workplace.  I got a word of knowledge for a neck problem on the right side.  he told me he had a problem there and that it was actually bothering him at that very time.  he let me pray for him.

after praying quickly, he told me he felt something "strange" - heat.  he began to check it out and all pain had gone.  he goes on to tell me that he had another American friend who had prayed for him before and he had felt strange heat in his hand.  I love it when I discover that I am part of a process where God has been working in a muslim's life.  another "Kingdom Link" in a divine chain of activity.

I gave this man my phone number and told him that I would like to help bring healing to any of his friends or family.  

follow up from muslim man healed

i was back down in the Industrial area again of our Arab city and was able to follow up with one of the muslim men whose shoulder was healed.  he told me that his right shoulder was 100% fine but that his left shoulder had gone back to about 1/2 of the pain.  we prayed again AND it was the same as the other shoulder.  I asked him about 1 hour later if it was the same and it was.

his boss is a former muslim and able to follow up with him directing him towards the healer Himself!

several muslims healed and one we are still waiting for

today while in the Industrial area of our city, I was able to pray for a few people and see them healed.

one man had a shoulder problem and I prayed for him and he told me all the pain left.  that led to another man with a foot condition - I prayed and all the pain left.  I was with a former Iranian muslim who knew these guys and so he was also explaining to them the Kingdom of God.

a while later I was able to pray for another man's shoulders that were injured in a motorcycle accident.  pain left and he could move with more flexibility.

finally I prayed for an Iranian muslim who was blind in one eye - since his childhood.  I laid hands on his eyes and began to pray for him.  He worked in the shop next to my Iranian Christian friend.  After prayer, I saw no difference in the eye, but I had broken off the shock and trauma from the accident and told him that I was praying an angel would visit him and complete the miracle.  pray with me about this.

quick drive-by healing in Dubai

as I was walking back to our hotel, I noticed a couple of muslim men walking towards me (from Pakistan), and one of them had a wrist brace on.  I stopped them and asked what happened.  I asked him if he would like to see the pain disappear.  He was intrigued by the question.  At first I said I would lightly put my hand on his wrist and ask God to heal him.  He was hesitant thinking I might somehow grab it and hurt it.  So I backtracked a bit and told him that he could put his own hand on his wrist and I wouldn't touch him.  (Don't know what I was thinking - I normally don't ask to put my hand on someone in public anymore).  He did, I prayed a quick prayer breaking off the shock and trauma from the injury and releasing God's Kingdom in Jesus' Name.

The moment of truth came.  I asked him to check it out.  He started to move his fingers.  He looks at his friend saying nothing (always a good thing).  Next he takes off the wrist brace still looking at his friend.  The realization hits - he hand is pain-free and healed.  So fun to see the reaction!

It was a quick interaction and they were ready to go.  I'll bet their conversation turned to Jesus and His healing touch.  A Kingdom "drive-by".

Hint:  you can ALWAYS stop someone to ask them what is wrong if you see them in a brace, with a crutch, a bandage, etc.  it is never not a great way to break into a conversation.

Gulf Arab woman "surprised" by revelation

while walking through an area of restaurants in Dubai, while we passed a table with 2 Emirati muslim women, I got a word of knowledge for a neck problem on the left side.  I told my wife about it and she approached the woman as I walked on.

when I do this I am always thrilled when Desert Princess gets "delayed".  if my wife rejoins me quickly, that usually means nothing happens (the word is wrong, they aren't interested, ect.).  sure enough she is delayed and doesn't rejoin us for about 5 minutes.

the woman had the condition and was again most surprised that God would "reveal" something so specific.  she was healed after Desert Princess prayed but kept asking "How did your husband know?"
In that brief interaction, my wife was able to share with these muslim women about the Kingdom and the power that Jesus has given His followers to know things and to heal the sick in His Name.

They didn't ask for my wife's number so she just left it as a seed sowing opportunity.  One thing these two muslim women discovered was that followers of another faith had power and revelation that their faith lacked.

healing right before our very eyes

my wife and I have been working with a group of teenagers at Church for a couple of months.  much of what we have emphasized has been fundamental stuff - Lordship, Love and the Kingdom of God.  we've been teaching them what the Kingdom looks like - when there are sick, it looks like healing.  when there are the demonized, it looks like them getting set free.  it looks like God speaking prophetically.  it looks like those who are rejected, being loved.

we've done some praying for the sick and also we've shared a number of testimonies throughout the weeks of people being healed.  today was a golden opportunity to "swing the bat" as one of our youth limped in and could barely walk.  a bad collision in his basketball game had left his knee swollen, painful and unable to be bent.

one of the youth join me and we began to pray.  after the first prayer, he said it felt "cold" (not the thing that happens when people are laying hands on you in a warm room).  after the second prayer, the same sensation.  I had him get up and begin to walk to test it out.  It was still painful.  He was walking with a significant limp and still was in pain, but as he walked, it looked like it was getting better.  Back to prayer once last time.  We prayed again and spoke "peace" to those inflamed areas.   Then before a group of teens (some who haven't seen this kind of dramatic healing), he got up and began to walk normally.  He turned around in total disbelieve.  He knew that God has touched him.  That was enough though.  He knew that what he had to do was to try to go up and down stairs, something he couldn't do at all before.  He leaves the room and then returns with a huge smile on his face.  No pain, no problems on the stairs!

it was a glorious morning.  as teachers to these youth, we realized that more was "learned" in what happened than we could have ever taught them.  

it's as simple as....

this morning I'm thinking of how GLORIOUS it is that God has made our assignment so incredibly simple.  the Jews had counted up 613 commandments from the OT.  How absolutely confusing!  (of course, Paul tells us later what the purpose of all those laws was, "tutors to lead us to Christ").  Jesus comes along and boils 613 down to 2 - nice Kingdom math!  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength AND Love your neighbor as yourself".  Paul thinks about it and decides some years later - "still too complicated"!  He boils it down to 1 single commandment in Galatians 5 - LOVE OTHERS.  That's it.  Just go and LOVE and as we love others with the Love of God, we are in fact LOVING GOD with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  I used to hate math, but I love this Kingdom math.  1 simple equation - Go and Love and in doing that we are fulfilling EVERYTHING God requires.

waging war on personal unbelief

this is definitely a theme of this blog, but there is no doubt that "unbelief" is my biggest, single problem as I seek to live this Kingdom life of the miraculous.

even as many of us will wage war on other things in our lives in this season, be that war on consumerism as Christmas approaches, or the war on our waistlines and fitness levels as we are confronted with our massive amounts of our favorite foods along with weather that makes us prefer our couches, let us recommit ourselves to warring against our unbelief - our unbelief that circumstances won't change, that sicknesses aren't going to be overcome or even that our unbelieving family members will ever open their eyes to see the truth of who Jesus really is.

this is the season TO BELIEVE - to dare to think that God will invade our lives and relationships even as He invaded the Palestinian countryside so long ago.

surprising encounters for a hindu man

a few months ago my wife led a hindu woman to the Lord.  over the past few weeks her husband has attended several "Encounter God" meetings.  The first one he was more of an "observer", but in the last two meetings God has met him in remarkable ways.  this past week he was taken into a visionary experience where he saw Jesus.  He knew after it that he has a "choice" to make.  The other option in the dream was a demonic presence.  He is now actively seeking.  We are watching in amazement as God does things that we have personally never encountered (i.e. the quality/type of visions).  

I feel so "cheated" that I had no idea that God would pour out His Spirit on unbelievers in such remarkable (and truly Biblical!) ways.  Seeing them come to faith is so much easier when God Himself is pointing them to Himself and confirming the Word they are hearing.

fundamentalist muslim healed, asks for phone number

while out with my son, I walked by a muslim man and got a strong word of knowledge for the left elbow.  it was one of those words that was unmistakable!  I walked 10 feet past the man and stopped telling my son to hold on a minute.

i approached the man who was clearly a fundamentalist muslim (long beard, short mustache, bruised forehead).  i asked him if he had a problem with his left elbow which he did.  I proceeded to tell him that God showed us he had this condition and wanted to heal him.  I held his elbow and prayed a quick prayer for healing in Jesus' Name and the release of God's Kingdom.

he began to test it out and it was pain-free.  he seemed a bit taken back and wanted to get my phone number.  I haven't heard back yet, but I am sure I'll hear from Muhammad soon.

Egyptian muslim woman healed and prophesied over

Isaac of Ninevah and I were visiting a muslim couple the other night.  the man had been touched by the Lord last year on the streets when we prayed for him and he stayed in touch.  as soon as his wife entered the room, a word of knowledge came for a problem in her left foot.  she had broken it and it hadn't been properly treated.  we prayed and all the pain left.  she checked it thoroughly.

Isaac started to prophesy over the couple and saw some significant things - broken relationships with family and WHEN they occurred (accurate).  another relative's NAME and that she was depressed (accurate).

all in all we were able to share so much of God's heart - when He is healing and revealing, the sharing part is sooooooooo easy!

another appointment will soon be set up for our wives to go and minister more deeply to this woman.

the Kingdom is coming!

a weekend of healings and encounters

this past weekend we had a series of renewal meetings with a team from N. America - during the 6 meetings we saw many people healed (young and old), we had many who had powerful encounters with God and even saw a number set free from demonic bondage.

I love it when we can't even count/remember all the people who were touched/healed - so many were being used (our large ministry team and others) to released the Kingdom.

unbelievers were also present and saw God's power and glory for the first time.  

waiter's shoulder healed

a group of us were having dinner.  I asked one of our servers how his health was, if he had any pain.  he said his shoulder had been injured and wasn't right.  I didn't lay hands on him; I didn't touch him at all.  I had him lay his hand on his shoulder and then quickly released the Kingdom in Jesus' Name.  he started to test it out and said it felt better.  as we were leaving, I went to find him and he testified that it was fine - no more pain.

moral of this story - ASK people how their health is and then PRAY for them.  something will happen.

when God reveals a name

it doesn't happen very often, but over the past 10 years the Lord has given me the names of 6-8 people.  He then had a significant word or healing for the person involved.

last night while we were waiting on the Lord some prophetic words for a youth meeting, God highlighted a young lady and began to give me some things for her.  after some time as I asked the Lord for more information, the name "Diana" came to me.  I dismissed it because early in the evening a group of us had been ministering to a woman named Diana in another nation over Skype - so I didn't think it meant anything for her.

to my surprise when I sat down next to her and asked her her name, she said, "Diana".  I explained to her that the Lord had given me her name and began to give her a prophetic word.  she began to cry.  probably not because of the word, but because the Lord had called her out by name.  It is an amazing thing when He does that.

More Lord!

miracles in South Asia

on our recent trip to Sri Lanka, we saw a number of miraculous healings and had some opportunities (or at least my wife did) to deliver some from demonic bondage.

I don't remember to be honest all the people we prayed for because in the course of about 4 days we prayed for probably 50 different people from Buddhist, Christian and even Muslim backgrounds.  Mostly Buddhists though.

I just wanted to highlight a few of the healings we saw.

I approached a man in a cast and prayed for him one afternoon and all the pain left.  a bit of the pain returned (stiffness too) and he called me the following day to meet again.  we prayed again and all the pain in hand and wrist (which were broken) left again.  he was quite taken back.  a Buddhist man and his wife.

another man had pain in his side and leg - we prayed and he could walk normally again without pain.

while on a trip to the south, I prayed for a young Buddhist man whose arms had been affected by an accident he had while a teenager.  I prayed and all of his arm began to tingle and wouldn't stop.  we didn't see the healing completed while there, but I told him that the Lord had begun a work and would complete it.  He will get back to me via email to report on what happened.  following that, I got a word of knowledge for a back problem of another Buddhist guy standing there.  we prayed for him.  it wasn't hurting at the time, but I assured him that "the Lord reveals things to heal things".  finally another man with a stomach problem asked us to pray.  he too felt the presence of God.

after teaching about the miraculous to a group of Christian workers, I asked if anybody wanted to go out and "see some miracles".  A group of 3 decided to join me.  we walked out onto the streets and met a group of soldiers/guards.  one of them had pain in his heels.  we prayed and he was healed.  another Buddhist man had a shoulder problem.  I had another Buddhist man (who we prayed for and who wasn't healed) to join me as my "ministry team".  I figured if he wasn't healed, he would at least get to be a part of another man's miracles.  And so he was!  the shoulder was completely healed.  another one of our team prayed for a man's stomach that was healed.  and finally we met a man who had been a Catholic as a young man but was somewhat syncretistic now (believing in Buddha too) and the Lord healed his shoulder and neck problem.  we also prophesied over him and encouraged him strongly to return to Jesus and worship Him alone!  he was listening as it was Jesus who had just healed him!  that was all in about 1/2 hour of just walking 200 yards outside our hotel.

while at the airport when leaving, I found myself standing at the "Buddhist Information" shop (basically the shop that has all the books to propagate Buddhism and convert non-Buddhists).  what a place for a word of knowledge!  I got a distinct word for a problem that started in the back and came clear through to the stomach.  the woman had that condition.  I asked my wife to come over and she began to pray for the woman who was healed!  we got a great photo of her ministering with the "sign" in the background!  that led to a series of others - we prayed for 3 women and another man who all received healing - all Buddhists!  one man was a real seeker but just needed someone to really walk him through things and introduce him to Jesus.  he was healed of an 8 year chronic lower back problem.  another woman was healed of a headache.  that was just a fun time.

we got to pray for a number of others - a woman who was bleeding was healed, another woman who had some demonic bondages was set free as the demons were cast out (or off?) of her.

I should also say that there were many we prayed for who were not healed which is always heartbreaking.   I don't want to give the impression that we don't also have encounters where we don't get the result we are praying for.

death to self, so that....some thoughts

the message of death to self has been central to historic Christianity.  all Christian traditions have emphasized this teaching.  Jesus dropped the first bomb on self, "If anyone would come after me, he must DENY HIMSELF, pick up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23) and later "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20) being perhaps the most concise verse expressing this teaching by the Apostle Paul.

I think that for the most part this teaching has fallen on hard times - being neglected, seldom taught and only rarely modeled. our culture promotes self at every level - and much of the Church is following the culture.  let's face it a strong emphasis on laying down our lives, denying ourselves, forgetting about our own "rights" and getting our focus off of our all important "feelings" isn't going to fill seats in the churches.  "self" is catered to all over the Body of Christ - to our detriment.

I've gone through seasons in my Christian life where I have gone after this message (or have tried to) and it seems that I haven't gotten very far.  Far from "it is no longer I who live..." self continues to be the biggest problem I see in my life.  I continue to live a "self-centered" life most of the time.

I didn't realize earlier that there was "purpose" in dying to self.  that wasn't emphasized in my tradition.  the "it is Christ who lives in me (lives through me)" wasn't really an expectation.  I didn't know what that would even look like.

i'm in that season again - death to self if something that I am going after again.  It truly is the door to everything else I long for in my Christian life.  self must get out of the way; it must be crucified, so that Christ can be manifested through my life.

morning "spill" session - part 2

after leaving the donut shop we walked past a couple of Muslim guys and a Filipino woman and overheard them say to her, "you need to take medication for your back".  we stopped and inquired.  Isaac of Ninevah prayed for her - both her back and her stomach were hurting.  God began to touch her - we prayed again for her and then Isaac gave her his wife's number to follow up.  I don't know if she was completely healed because she needed to check it out over a period of day.

then while praying for her, I got a word of knowledge for one of the Arab muslim guys' left shoulder.  he was from Lebanon.  he let me pray for him.  it wasn't hurting at the time, but only when he worked out.  he said he would test it out later that day.  I told him it wouldn't be a problem anymore because what "God reveals, God heals".

finally we followed a Sudanese muslim guy into a shop as I thought I had a word of knowledge for a problem in his bicep.  he didn't BUT he had a shoulder problem.  I asked if I could pray for him and he agreed.  I prayed and asked him if he did a push-up would it have hurt before.  He said it would have so he then was willing to get down and do a push-up for us in the shop.  NO PAIN.

so in the course of about an hour, we approached many and ended up getting to pray for 4 people openly - 3 muslims and a Filipino woman.  all of this in a muslim country.  love to see the Kingdom come!

morning "spill" session - part 1

yesterday Isaac of Ninevah and I decided to head out and see what the Holy Spirit would do.  We probably were out about an hour just wandering in and out of different shops.  while in a donut shop, I got a word about a left hand/wrist issue.  neither of the employees working there had that problem and thought it strange I was asking.  when leaving, a Gulf Arab muslim man walks in with a wrist brace on his left wrist!  I returned to the counter and while he was ordering asked the woman if she remembered what I had just asked her about smiling and pointed to the new customer's wrist.  I asked him about the wrist and explained that God had shown us that somebody had a problem with their wrist.  He let me pray for him and took off the brace to test it out.  I don't know how much improvement he got but at the end he said, "In our culture when somebody has blessed us we honor them by kissing them" and proceeded to kiss me on the forehead.  I gave him my number and said goodbye.  I've never received a kiss before for praying for the sick!

drive-by healing late last night

after spending time talking with a Coptic friend about some of the things God has been doing amongst muslims in and through his Church, Isaac of Ninevah and I were heading back to the car.  we'd had a great time "talking" about what God was doing, but we hadn't been "doing" anything.  As I walked past a group of Filipinos who had just gotten off of work, I "tuned in" and asked the Lord to highlight something He wanted to do.  A word of knowledge came for a back problem in a the center, upper back.  I stopped and turn to the group of 5 or 6 and asked who had this problem.  The man in the middle replies, "I do, are you a pastor"?  At least Filipinos recognize the Kingdom's presence!  I sat down next to him, we prayed quickly and he was healed.  He was a believer and we were all encouraged.

Interestingly, before this yet again we heard about a muslim friend of this Coptic man coming to faith after Jesus visited him.  There was a process involved where he studied the Bible for some months, but in the end, the key factor that brought him to forsake Islam was a personal, supernatural encounter with the Risen Christ.  He also shared a number of exorcism stories where muslims were delivered from their demons in Jesus' Name.

plug for Roger Olson's new book, Against Calvinism

Watch out John Piper, Mark Driscoll and your Reformed friends, your “thorn in the flesh” just got a whole lot sharper! Roger Olson has done it again! After reading Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities, I didn’t think his work could get any better, but then Olson releases Against Calvinism.  After the first book, I was convinced that Roger Olson was in fact a Godsend to a Protestant Evangelical world that is crawling with militant Calvinists who have convinced others that doctrines like "grace" and "sovereignty" and even the term Evangelical itself somehow belong to them.  This first-rate theologian took aim at such notions showing that historic Arminianism is equally as grace-focused and God-centered as Calvinism.

Whereas Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities exposes how completely dishonest Calvinist writers have been in characterizing Arminianism, which amounts to bearing false witness and requires their repentance, Against Calvinism truly seems to strike a death-blow to High Calvinism.  I have come to appreciate, that in this theological battle, Roger Olson fights fair which as I’ve already stated can't be said of many of his Calvinist opponents. He seeks to represent their position accurately in a way that they would acknowledge is a fair representation. However, he tries to help them see some of the logical conclusions their belief system leads to, which tragically many of them do not seem to grasp. A quote from Olson's blog sums up the most important reason for this book being written: "[Calvinists] talk endlessly about God's glory and about God-centeredness while sucking the goodness out of God and thus divesting him of real glory. Their theology may be God-centered but the God at its center is unworthy of being at the center. Better a man-centered theology than one that revolves around a being hardly distinguishable from the devil...this would make Him unworthy of worship."

Olson demonstrates that he thoroughly understands Calvinism from Calvinist sources and opens up the closet to reveal the darkness inside as it concerns the nature of God.  I don’t see how anyone could study this topic with any depth and objectivity and still remain a Calvinist.  Olson in my assessment when you put these two books together dismantles their objectionable doctrines entirely.

The time has come for the novel doctrines of St. Augustine, which were only to be found amongst the Gnostics before him (something most Calvinists didn’t know), to be exposed. Calvin and his theological descendants have taken these doctrines and have effectively misrepresented God to countless millions of Christians since the time of the Protestant Reformation. Calvinism was NOT the Apostolic and therefore NOT the Biblical understanding of "election", "predestination", and "free-will" and Olson’s contribution here helps set that record strait. Against Calvinism articulates better than any other why I am personally “against Calvinism" and my prayer is that many who've been infected with Augustinianism/Calvinism will somehow be "healed" by reading it.  Olson directs the Calvinist reader to other less reprehensible Protestant options; I pray many will follow his counsel.  I also know it will help many of the “as yet unpersuaded” to resist the ridiculous claims of this new breed of  Calvinists in modern Evangelicalism, and to know that they can affirm the best of the Reformation’s doctrines without having to embrace the diabolical implications of the sub-Biblical ones.

pinching ourselves

my wife, Desert Princess, met again with a former Hindu woman who came to Christ after being healed.  the types of encounters this woman is having are on par with anything you've read in the Scriptures or heard about.

just yesterday morning while in our living room, during a time of prayer and waiting on the Lord she went into a vision/trance? (sometimes we just don't know) and was taken to heaven.  she went on to describe things that she has never read about before like the "sea of glass" mentioned in Revelation.  The first time we saw this was several years ago with a Moroccan Muslim man who would go into these types of visionary experiences and then I'd open up a Bible passage and he'd say, "yes, that exactly what I saw".

this woman also has had multiple visitations by either Jesus Himself or an angel (she wasn't sure) before she came to Christ.  she only realized this when she in frustration asked the Lord why He hadn't come to her earlier and led her out of the idolatry of Hinduism's false gods.  He then "reminded" her of the visitations and experiences.  God is so good.

these are truly special days in which we are living.  God is pouring out a level of grace that may be unprecedented from any other time in history.

neo-calvinist vs. emergent - two ditches?

listened to an interesting podcast this morning entitled "The Christian Humanist" which was three guys talking about the phenomena of the neo-calvinist and the emergent church movements in North America.

I don't personally "have a dog in this fight" although I have many friends who would be fit into one of these two camps (some even unknowingly), although I am probably more critical of the neo-calvinists because they hold a vision of God that was not only NOT shared by pre-Augustine Christianity, but was actually held by the Gnostics!  I have never met a Reformed person who is familiar enough with pre-Nicene Christianity to realize how ridiculous some of their claims to upholding "historic, Biblical" Christianity!

as for the emergents, these guys were able to articulate some of my concerns/observations in ways that were helpful.  Forever asking questions, and discussing possible answers, but never seemingly able to come up with any definitive answers.

what I found interesting is that these men who have had their feet in both of these camps at different times and in different ways would seemingly view them as ditches on either side of the road (which one of those ditches they believe to be deeper is up to you to decide).

why put a blog post up on this subject on a blog committed to the pursuit and documentation of the miraculous?  for one thing, and I've already hit on this above, the neo-calvinists are saying something about the nature and goodness of God that radically affects the expectations (aka faith) of Christians for the miraculous.  on the one hand, if God somehow is "allowing" cancer (aka sending it as part of His plan), then I will never rise up and be able to fight it.  "Who can oppose the will of the Almighty?" (as Augustine/Calvin and their descendants would ask).  In other words, what we believe about this issue of God's goodness and what He does/doesn't directly control in the world is a massive concern for those who want to move in supernatural, Kingdom ministry.

on the other side of the street, the emergents are so skeptical about everything - it is "cool" to doubt in their ranks.  let's question the doctrine of hell, or the exclusivity of Christ, the Virgin Birth or sexual orientation, or....(fill in the blank).  I know literally hundreds of Christians who whether they know it or not fall into the same philosophical camp and disbelieve much of what I write on this blog, or at least question the vast majority of it.  "How do you know they were 'really' blind"?  The glazed look comes over their eyes when talk of miracles is brought up.  I think Bill Johnson's famous description of "unbelieving believers" is maybe the best way to describe them.

I too am a product of many of the same influences, both theologically and philosophically that these two camps have arisen from.  they did not "emerge" (to take one of their terms of 'self-identity') out of nowhere.  whatever that "road" is that is in the middle, that avoids the pitfalls of the ditches on either side of the highway, may we find it and walk on it faithfully "until He comes".

i had a dream

last night I had a dream in which the Lord clearly was encouraging me to be more explicit in my invitations to people I meet to surrender their lives to the Lord AT THAT TIME.  I guess He will be bringing people to me who are more prepared and ready to make that commitment.  I'm excited to see what this week will bring.  I also guess that since it is the "old men [who] will dream dreams" (Joel 2/Acts 2) that I am getting to be more in that category now than in "young men will see visions" one.

we have been seeing that as soon as people are ready to be free from the demonic forces that are tormenting them (and believe me, many are being tormented even in the West regardless of the whether the Christians who are ministering to them believe that is the case!) they are ready to invite the Lord to come into and take control of their lives.

it is a new day - I really believe the Lord's dream to me last night was a reminder to cast the net and bring it in at that very time and see what's He will bring.

Christ told us that the harvest was ready - that was 2000 years ago.  I assume that we will continue to do more sowing and casting the net broadly, encouraging people along in the process of coming to Christ, but I need to, we need to assume that more of the people we are encountering are ready now to cross over and leave the Kingdom of darkness for good.

in WHATEVER city you enter, heal THE SICK who are there (Luke 10)

could God's Word be CLEARER and yet God's people in general be more UNCLEAR than the commission to heal the sick as Christians (meaning "Little Christs/Anointed Ones).

Jesus sends the UNNAMED 70 in Luke chapter 10 with the commission to bring the Kingdom:

Where? in WHATEVER city you enter.

To do what?  To heal THE SICK who are there.  How many of the sick?  THE SICK.  In what cities, WHATEVER cities.  And what if the people don't have faith?  Jesus didn't mention that as being a barrier - so nor should we.  Our faith/expectation might be a barrier, but we aren't ever to put that on the people we are praying for.

Is this being preached/emphasized in your Church?  Is this the way your pastor is admonishing you to live every day.

I'm not trying to be negative - it's not entirely his/her fault.  He didn't go to a Church that taught or expected that Jesus meant what He said on this occasion for us today.  It hasn't been his personal experience either.

So we come up with elaborate theological excuses.  Here are a few you might have heard:

• "That was THEN; it's not for us today.  We "aren't the 70".  
• "Miracles were needed before there was a Bible"
• "It might not be the Father's timing for healing"
• "It isn't always God's will to heal"
• "God is trying to teach us things through sickness which is why people aren't healed"
• "What about Job?"
• "There's the now and the not yet"
• "God's sovereign and in control"
• "We'll all be healed perfectly in heaven"
• "God's ways are not our ways"
• "I guess God just wanted that child to come home early"

(Note: some of these are truths that are used in a perverted way so that they become "excuses" for why something like healing doesn't happen)

Funny, that you can't find Jesus ONCE using these excuses to explain away why someone doesn't get healed during His ministry.  He didn't EVER pull out one of these excuses that pastors, Bible teachers and theologians recirculate today again and again.  I might not have put the version of the excuses you've heard in exactly the same words, but I'll guarantee that they are essentially a version of one of these!

Let's just own up to the fact that we've allowed our experience to trump the teaching of God's Word.  We've found verses that "appear" to support our experience and we find comfort remaining in our conditions of profound unbelief.

Maybe we need to dust off our Bibles once again, re-read some familiar stories and dare to believe them to be true.  Dare to believe that Jesus might have been right and a pastor/teacher/theologian today is wrong.  I know I am speaking direct, but the fact is we need to be awoken from our slumber.   We need to have the cold water of God's Word thrown on us afresh each day and respond, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief".

a couple of muslims healed

yesterday we did some "spilling" here in the Middle East.  prayed for an African muslim man who had tooth pain.  He said all the pain left and wanted to get together with us again.  in the evening, I got a word of knowledge walking by an optician shop.  I walk in and there is a Filipino optometrist, an Iranian shi'ite woman and an Egyptian (presumably muslim) working there.  I ask who had the pain in the wrist and hand.  It was the Iranian woman.  So my ministry team became the Catholic Filipino woman.  She took the wrist of the woman, and I prayed for healing in Arabic.  She starts feeling tingling in the wrist.  By the time we were done (we prayed twice), she said she was healed.  I told her my wife was an exorcist and healing that if she needed any further ministry, she could contact her.  then the Egyptian guy asks to talk to me privately.  We step outside and he ends up being a Coptic Orthodox Christian.  He asked me if I was a "missionary"!  This whole event is beginning to sound like I could set it up as a joke - an American Charismatic Protestant, walks into a shop with a Filipino Catholic, an Egyptian Orthodox and an Iranian shi'ite muslim....

a day full of Kingdom stuff

starting this morning at Church where the Lord highlighted a number of things prophetically and then we got to pray for people who responded to the words.  while leaving Church, the Lord gives me a word of knowledge (right shoulder) for a man walking in front of me.  when I asked him about it, he said his wife had encouraged him to go for prayer during the service, but he declined.  God got him on the way out - and his shoulder was healed!

tonight's meeting in my home got even better.  the Lord healed several different conditions (a right ankle, a right knee), and spoke prophetically to all the first time visitors.  their testimonies were quite similar - basically they said, "everything that was prophesied was accurate" and also that the very things that they were thinking about or that was on their hearts was revealed.

the accuracy of some of the words could only have been the Lord - while looking at a person, the Lord highlighted several times a condition they had, an issue they were struggling with and even in one case that it was a "spirit of affliction" that was causing one of the physical problems.  then when the unclean spirit tried to come back and afflict the person again (a former Hindu who came to the Lord only one week ago) the Lord highlighted the condition again and dealt with it once and for all!  it was just such a night of God's Kingdom presence.  

former Hindu woman having amazing God encounters

an Indian woman from a high caste Hindu background came to Christ last spring after we prayed for her to be healed. immediately she began to have "encounters" - dreams, visions, OPEN visions, audible voice, etc. we'll it hasn't stopped and this past Friday there was a new one. she hasn't been to our "Encountering God" meetings that we hold on Fridays but this last week her husband agreed and she was all set to come. the enemy countered and her husband went to sleep at 4:30pm and couldn't be woken up. like a spirit of slumber came on him. she was so discouraged and went into her bedroom to read the Scriptures and pray. she was taken into a vision and was somehow "at our meeting". I was totally dumbfounded as my wife and I listened to her describe our meeting exactly! she knew where people were sitting, she was confused when she saw certain people laughing. Actually the laughter broke out in a strong way this past week and she doubted the vision/experience because somehow she thought we were "only praying". one of the women she knew actually was laid out in the middle of the room laughing like no one else. she saw that and described it all. we are truly in awe of what God is doing. now our friend gets to add "translocation" to her list of crazy, Biblical experiences.

just a few "thoughts" from Luke 10

Jesus sends out the "nameless and faceless" Seventy in Luke 10 and there is just so much relevant "glory" on this passage for us to consider today and to live by.  As I've argued in other places, the excuse that some theologians and Bible commentators have given that the commandments given to the Apostles don't apply to ordinary believers (then or today) has been handled by Luke in this passage.

I don't want to be too critical, but the reality is that Matthew 28 actually destroys the "those commandments were only for the Apostles" argument because Jesus Himself commands the 12 Apostles to teach others (which includes us today) to obey ALL of what he commanded them!  Not SOME of what He commanded, but ALL - which would include chapter 10:8 - "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons and raise the dead".

However, the Luke 10 passage comes in as a strong counter-punch.  Surely the Holy Spirit anticipated that believers in subsequent ages and generations would fall into the kind of unbelief we see today when it comes to the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit and knew that Bible teachers/commentators would come up with incredible theories (i.e. the miraculous gifts "ceased" with the death of the Apostles) to explain away their own lack of power and so we get this beautiful passage to wage war yet again on our unbelief.

He sends them and tells them, "whatever city you enter...heal in it those who are sick".  Somebody might want further clarification.  "Lord what city or cities are you talking about?".  His reply, "WHATEVER city".  And more importantly, the believer might inquire, "So Lord, exactly who are we supposed to pray for?  Those who you give us a word of knowledge for?".  Jesus continues, "No, not at all.  I'll give you words of knowledge to be sure, but actually I just want you to heal THOSE WHO ARE SICK".

Wow - whatever city and those who are sick!  Could Jesus have been any clearer?  Could the Church through the ages have missed somebody's intention any more than we have?  For years, I had absolutely no idea that this passage even existed.  Sure, I'd read it dozens of times.  I loved the Bible - in fact, I could have been accurately described as what Jack Deere would call a "Biblidolator" - someone who had elevated the Bible and the study of it to an idolatrous level.  We don't worship a book, we worship God who's revealed Himself through His Word.

Let us purpose in our hearts to actually go back to the teachings of Jesus - including Luke 10 and do whatever it takes to "obey" His commandment to "heal those who are sick" whenever we "enter whatever city".  Seems simple doesn't it?  Probably our one problem is UNBELIEF.  He'll help us with that too - "Lord I believe, help my unbelief" (what has become arguably my favorite and most relevant daily prayer from the entire Bible).

hearing stories from the summer

as a group of us scattered all over the world during the summer and are regathering back into the Middle East, I am beginning to hear stories/testimonies that are blowing my mind.  it seems that this outrageous Kingdom just can't be contained.

stories out of London where God's glory would manifest with gold on people through one of our Lebanese sisters EVERY TIME she prayed for someone.  I often don't understand why God does what He does and the gold dust phenomenon often seems to offend Christians (who seem to have God all figured out/what He will do and will not do) but if the Lord sovereignly chooses to cover people supernaturally in gold dust when a believer prays for people in Jesus' Name is free to do so as far as I am concerned.  if this offends someone you know, ask if you can pray for them and see what the Father will do!!

stories out of South Africa were equally as remarkable - healings, people coming back to Christ repenting as they listened to the testimonies of one of our S. African sisters.  At times, people were being hit by the power of the Holy Spirit and it would last for hours!  weeping, laughing and receiving prophetic revelation.  this sister also would get some of the most accurate words of knowledge (1 Cor. 12:8) for people and saw a number healed.  I would say she carries something that is producing Godly hunger in others and then ultimately repentance.

this is just a "taste" of what I heard from just a couple of pilgrims in our community.  can't wait to gather and see what else God has been doing.

"armed and dangerous" - offering the Kingdom wherever we go

last night Desert Princess and I were out to dinner and as has become our habit she asked our server if she had pain in her arm (she had gotten a word of knowledge).  sure enough there was an arm issue and my wife asked if she could ask Jesus to heal her.  she agreed.  what happened next was yet again OUT OF CONTROL.  just a quick prayer and this Indian woman declares "I go to see Jesus now!".  she had some kind of powerful encounter right then and there.  the language barrier was an issue but clearly this woman couldn't put into words what the Lord had just done for her.

Desert Princess encouraged her to go to Church.

I just trust this short testimony will help you realize that you are "armed and dangerous" and can offer and release the Kingdom of God wherever you are!

God HATES cancer

sometimes we need to be reminded of some simple truths.  One of those truths is that "cancer" is not (has never been nor ever will be) a part of God's Kingdom.  It is NEVER His "plan".  He isn't "allowing it" for some purpose.

cancer is a demonic destroyer - and Jesus came to confront it, to heal it and to one day totally destroy it.  it tortures people whom God loves and creates fear in the hearts of God's people.

Perfect Love (another great Name for God) CASTS out fear!

may Christ's Church rise up in its Kingdom authority to see this despicable plague confronted and healed. Jesus NEVER faced a cancer patient He couldn't and didn't heal.  May we BE LIKE HIM.

the "new "normal"

how long could someone have walked around with Jesus and NOT seen a miracle? a day? less? more? I guess in times/seasons when He would commune alone with the Father away from people the healings wouldn't be happening.

the question today is: how long can someone hang around US (YOU and ME) and not see a miracle? tragically, many if not most Christians don't really seem to expect that we can look like and live like Jesus today. we might say we "believe" we are supposed to, but in reality, what does our life look like? are signs and wonders FOLLOWING us as the Scripture declares should ("those who believe"). maybe we don't REALLY believe the Book we consider to be the inerrant Word of God. I know that I struggle daily to really believe what I say I believe, what Christians say they believe.

The EVIDENCE of real belief are the miracles characterizing our lives. As one man asked us this summer, "Is the evidence of faith speaking to the mountain or is it the mountain moving"? of course it is the latter.

let the life of Jesus manifesting through you today be the "new normal"

healings in a mall

a group of about 15 of us decided to just love people in Jesus' Name for about 2 hours yesterday afternoon. I had some teenagers who had "never seen" God use them to perform a miracle - that all changed!

we saw a girl's sprained ankle healed, a lower back healed, a woman's foot healed a several other healings. Many others got prayer for other needs. Jesus' Name was lifted up as everything was done in His precious Name!

The coolest thing for me was to hear one of the junior high girls who said she wanted to see "one miracle" that she was involved in. Guess what? she saw 4 of them!

healings in the youth group

yesterday we saw a number of physical healings - a head, a couple of backs, vertigo/balance, legs and arms that weren't the same length come into Kingdom alignment and some other things too. We had so much fun that about 15 of the youth decided to join me for a "power spilling" afternoon at the mall. youth hungry to see God move miraculously. what happened is for the next post.

miracles in the mountains - part 4

at the end of our evening, we were walking by some more shops and one really caught the attention of one of our group. she felt led to really pray for this rather "dark" shop with lots of occult stuff inside (it was closed). she sensed some demonic presence. as we prayed for the shop, we asked God to release His light into the darkness. as we closed, our friend discerned that an angel had come. why do I share this? wait till you hear what happens next.

we turn the corner and there are two women and man loading up a car. I got a word of knowledge for a right wrist condition. I approached them and asked and one of the woman had the problem. i asked if her friend could put her hand on her as I prayed, but she wouldn't let anybody touch her! she was adamant. I asked if she would lay hands on herself - she agreed. we prayed and something began to happen in her wrist. then she left with her husband but the other woman remained.

who was this woman? she was the OWNER of the shop we had prayed in front of just 10 minutes earlier! I immediately got a word for her and said, "I just get the words, 'country music'" - she then tells us that she is from Texas. my friend began to prophesy over her about her creativity and artwork - it was all true. we also got a word of knowledge about her neck - which was hurting her and she let us pray. this woman was very, very open but obviously was open to lots of stuff that wasn't from Christ and His Kingdom. In many ways, she may have been one of the most open and receptive new age people I had ever met. we spoke to her for probably 1/2 hour about many different things. she really like angels (as many new agers do) and we told her about our time in front of her shop! we told her many things about the Kingdom of God. one of our group spoke clearly with her about Christ's death and the cross. I spoke with her about deliverance from "dark spirits" and the need to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. She really was having a major encounter with God throughout all of this. we got to pray for her at length and God really touched her.

clearly she needs now to go through some serious deliverance and invite Christ ALONE to come and live within her. However, our time with her was a powerful foretaste of what she is going to experience in Christ. We prophesied her destiny - she loved that God wanted to give her a gift of healing! she was so sincere and so hungry. and sadly, we don't think she'd ever met Christians in her life who ministered to her supernaturally. she was "convinced" as soon as we approached her and her friend with the initial word of knowledge. she knew we carried something that she needed and was open to receive all we had to offer her. our friends are going to be following up with her in the next few days. we are thrilled with what God is going to do next!

I just trust that this short testimony will provoke anybody reading this to re-consider any of their friends and relatives who are involved in new age spirituality - approach them with love, with revelation and with healing - see what happens when you do.

all in all that final encounter was just an amazing end to such a glorious day in the Kingdom.

miracles in the mountains - part 3

at night we headed out again to see what the Lord would do as we reached out with His Kingdom. we went to an arcade to drop our kids off before we launched out thinking we we going to visit some bars to pray for people. while at the arcade the Lord gives me a word for a young woman who happens to have been in the youth group my friends had led. it was for a problem in the head and I felt that there was dizziness involved. she had this problem and actually a number of other health issues that we got to pray for. It was just a powerful divine appointment to minister Christ to this young woman and reconnect her with our friends.

a few of us then headed out and as we approached a bar, I got a word of knowledge for a problem in the lower right arm (below the elbow). there was a man and woman standing outside the bar and I approached them and asked. the man actually had the condition. he asked me "are you a healer?". I told him I was. He then say asked, "and you sense things?". I told him I did. Knowing he was most likely a new age guy, I told him that I had been involved in "Divine Healing" for a long time. He then said he had lots of pain but didn't want prayer. Kind of strange. We moved on.

after approaching a couple of more people and even ministering a Christian man out witnessing and handing out tracts, we headed into a fast food restaurant. I thought I had a word of knowledge and my friend approached this young couple and asked them. The first word wasn't right, but while talking to them the Lord gave me another word for the woman's knee. She had a problem. We shared a couple of testimonies of knees being healed and she let us pray. I had her put her own hand on her leg while we prayed. She actually was really touched as she held back tears. She had been involved in Church and we knew that she was away from the Lord. God sent us into that restaurant to remind her of his love and concern for her personally (a specific word o knowledge from total strangers!).

We also met with the manager and asked him to check with all of his employees to see if anyone needed prayer. Nobody took us up on our offer.