The End. . . of our trip; the Beginning of something even better (part 16)
On the plane home, we tried to minister to the stewardess who sat in the jump seat next to ours. Most of our words were way off except I saw her home being diagonally situated to an old stone church in her home country. DJ also got the name of her future husband, which, incidentally, turned out to be the name of her ex-boyfriend, too!
As I was writing all of these testimonies down, I realized a few things. First, I hope no one gets the idea that we think we were somehow responsible for all of the things that happened. There is a hiddeness about our King and He has a love for participation. When He co-labors with us, we are the ones who people see. If He’s ok with that, I am, too. Many would have others say, “It wasn’t me, it was Jesus.” Theologically, that’s accurate. Religiously, it sounds good, but biblically, it’s not what He told us to say when doing signs and wonders. He said to tell people the Kingdom of God has come near. People get so hung up on what someone says after a sign or wonder has happened and miss the fact that the sign or miracle IS the proclamation. We’re so word oriented that we think we must give a running commentary on everything lest someone gets confused and thereby we take away their responsibility to seek out the meaning. The sign opens the door for the Word to be proclaimed and if the sign ain’t up to snuff, keep the trap shut. It’s simply embarrassing to give prophetic words that aren’t on or so general they could be for anyone and pray for healing that doesn’t come and then say, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repent.” My rule of thumb is: if it doesn’t make them wonder it’s not a wonder, move on. (If you don’t like this theology, check the blog next week, it will probably have changed.)
I also realized that I reached the limit of my gifting really quickly. You find that it gets old just telling people what they like or what kind of people they are, etc. You start getting a longing to really declare the goodness of God over their lives and you start wanting to see them encounter God right there—not just at some point in the future when you’re not around. You also start wanting those “spooky” words that make people really wonder. It’s not that you want them to think you’re awesome; it’s just plain fun, people. I think one of the rewards of ministering to people is the joy of freaking them out. Tell me that Peter and John didn’t enjoy telling the lame man to walk. Tell me they didn’t enjoy seeing his face when he didn’t fall over. Of course, the pathway to getting the freaky words is greater intimacy with the Father, Who, I suspect, also enjoys freaking people out.
I also realized that there’s a lot more to the verse “the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets” than I had known before. It seems to me that there’s a point where you’re responsible for your gift and its use. Furthermore, it seems to me that this verse intimates that people can turn the gift on and off whenever they want. If that’s the case, then why not turn that puppy on all the time?
It’s not your usual Joel2generation post, but I felt led to post a hymn of praise:
We give the highest praise to you, Father, for Being Who You are!
We give glory to You for doing such things with us and through us!
We praise You, Jesus, for manifesting Wholeness and Love and for sending Holy Spirit
That We may praise You and
Give the highest praise to You, Father, for Being Who You are!
As I was writing all of these testimonies down, I realized a few things. First, I hope no one gets the idea that we think we were somehow responsible for all of the things that happened. There is a hiddeness about our King and He has a love for participation. When He co-labors with us, we are the ones who people see. If He’s ok with that, I am, too. Many would have others say, “It wasn’t me, it was Jesus.” Theologically, that’s accurate. Religiously, it sounds good, but biblically, it’s not what He told us to say when doing signs and wonders. He said to tell people the Kingdom of God has come near. People get so hung up on what someone says after a sign or wonder has happened and miss the fact that the sign or miracle IS the proclamation. We’re so word oriented that we think we must give a running commentary on everything lest someone gets confused and thereby we take away their responsibility to seek out the meaning. The sign opens the door for the Word to be proclaimed and if the sign ain’t up to snuff, keep the trap shut. It’s simply embarrassing to give prophetic words that aren’t on or so general they could be for anyone and pray for healing that doesn’t come and then say, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repent.” My rule of thumb is: if it doesn’t make them wonder it’s not a wonder, move on. (If you don’t like this theology, check the blog next week, it will probably have changed.)
I also realized that I reached the limit of my gifting really quickly. You find that it gets old just telling people what they like or what kind of people they are, etc. You start getting a longing to really declare the goodness of God over their lives and you start wanting to see them encounter God right there—not just at some point in the future when you’re not around. You also start wanting those “spooky” words that make people really wonder. It’s not that you want them to think you’re awesome; it’s just plain fun, people. I think one of the rewards of ministering to people is the joy of freaking them out. Tell me that Peter and John didn’t enjoy telling the lame man to walk. Tell me they didn’t enjoy seeing his face when he didn’t fall over. Of course, the pathway to getting the freaky words is greater intimacy with the Father, Who, I suspect, also enjoys freaking people out.
I also realized that there’s a lot more to the verse “the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets” than I had known before. It seems to me that there’s a point where you’re responsible for your gift and its use. Furthermore, it seems to me that this verse intimates that people can turn the gift on and off whenever they want. If that’s the case, then why not turn that puppy on all the time?
It’s not your usual Joel2generation post, but I felt led to post a hymn of praise:
We give the highest praise to you, Father, for Being Who You are!
We give glory to You for doing such things with us and through us!
We praise You, Jesus, for manifesting Wholeness and Love and for sending Holy Spirit
That We may praise You and
Give the highest praise to You, Father, for Being Who You are!
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