JOEL 2 GENERATION

This blog post comes from 2 separate visits to a mall involving a couple of co-workers in this Muslim-majority country. One a Muslim and the other a Christian. Our primary focus has been outreach, but not only have we been praying for anybody and everybody who wants/needs it, but along the way we have really found that the Christians we meet are isolated, in need of encouragement (in spite of "virtual church" - take note pastors!!!) and however we can do that, we are trying to be such encouragers in this hour. About 2 weeks ago I met a couple working in the information booth at the mall's entrance. I began to speak with them and see how things had been going with COVID...everybody has a story they want to tell (take note Christians!!!) and just like that, we were having a meaningful discussion. The man was a Muslim from India and the woman was a Christian from the Philippines. She was an active member of Church here that I knew well and had even ministered in formerly.  W

While out Fear Extinguishing in this Muslim-majority country, we were burdened by the lack of fellowship that the Christians we met were getting. None of their churches have started meeting in person yet (which they SHOULD BE even if in smaller numbers, diverse locations). The Zoom meetings were NOT meeting their needs - not that God hasn't used and isn't using them...but they are NOT a substitute for incarnational ministry where the Body of Christ gathers together IN PERSON.  The Incarnation itself is our model that God became flesh and we need to meet IN the flesh, in person at this time. (more about that topic in another blog post). So as we were praying with a number of different Christians who were working in their places of employment, it became clear that God wanted us to be doing something about what we had learned.  The following idea came to both my wife and I as we were ministering to a few restaurant employees in a Food Court.  We had started ministering to them at

I don't know how to adequately capture and express the types of reactions, incredibly powerful and positive ones, that we have experienced in the past week seeking to love the people we are encountering in this Muslim-majority country. And also at the pain and regret, I feel knowing that the vast majority of Christians living and working in this country are not reaching out, are not taking risks, and are not opening their mouths with the people they meet.  I wish I could say I was wrong, but when people are telling you, and we've heard this a number of times, "No one has ever asked me how I am doing or offered to pray for me" then my assumption is almost certainly correct.  I wish I were wrong. But the evidence is that the tens of thousands of Christians who live and work here are keeping their faith to themselves. Or in the case of one Muslim woman who asked when my wife described what we do offering to pray for people, "Who even does this?"  The answer sho

I know that I have used this illustration now for years. I can't even begin to count the number of times I got the WRONG word of knowledge for someone and yet God turns the encounter into a significant Kingdom one.  For example, I might have gotten a word for a back problem, the person doesn't have one but asks, "Does your God heal knees though?" And then we pray and they get healed. Yesterday, I got a few words of knowledge incorrect (I also got a few correct too!) and God opened up incredible opportunities to minister to people especially as I was partnering in a mall with my wife. On one occasion, I told my wife that I felt the Lord was highlighting a particular woman and that she had an upper back/shoulder issue. She didn't but my wife got to minister to the woman for like 10 or more minutes. She is a Gulf Arab Muslim woman and was so encouraged...asking my wife, "Who even does something like this?" (in response to my wife explaining that she often p

This has been an incredible week for us - ministering to many different people, many of them Muslims, some of them Hindus, and others from a Christian background.  Many different nationalities - from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Some of the encounters were in Arabic, most of them were in English and even one morning there was an encounter in Tamil and another in Hindi as I was with an Indian couple who had those languages.  Even though it has been a great week of reaching out, let us not think a week like this should in any way be unusual. This is what normal Christians should always be doing - praying for people, getting words of knowledge and/or other prophetic words for people, seeing unbelievers getting healed, and hearing the Gospel. We prayed for back problems, leg and foot pain, a skin condition, headaches, a wrist problem, shoulder, and neck pain. There were other issues/conditions that I can't recall right now. Too many to remember is a good problem! In addition to p

Yesterday was an incredible day. After a mandatory quarantine of 14 days, we were excited to be out, interacting with people freely and to see what God would do.  And the logical place to do that when it is over  110  ° F (or  43.33 ° C ), is to head to one of the large malls. Over the course of a few hours, we were able to once again pray for and minister to many people.  Here is one of those stories. In my morning Bible reading, the Lord highlighted the verse that says Jesus "does what He sees the Father doing" (Jn 5:19).  I felt like the Lord was emphasizing that in our new outreaches, God wants us to rely even more on His prophetic guidance, leading as we go. And He led us  Back in March and April, when we had been out fear extinguishing, our community ministered to hundreds and hundreds of people in cities/towns in this country. And so it wasn't surprising that in one of the first places we felt led to stop, the group working in this restaurant asked us, "Do you

After several months in the West, we are back "on the streets" here in the Middle East engaging in our mandate to be "Fear Extinguishers". I'm entitling this post "101" because along the way we've discovered that there are some basics that we share with others and minister to them with. Here are the "BIG 3" - the basics of for Fear Extinguishing 101: We have... 1. Promises of Protection - whether it is Psalm 91, or any of the dozens and dozens of promises in God's Word, we have been promised by God that He will protect His children.  Even today as I was sharing this with a Filipino man, he was "taking notes" of these truths that we have to remember! Do we believe this? 2. Promises of Healing - Today I shared Matthew 10, but I will more often share the promises in Luke 10. The Old Testament contains promises of healing but our promises under the New Covenant are "better" (Heb. 8:6-8).  Do we really believe that God

An old Vineyard adage about Power Evangelism was "The MEAT is in the Street".  I don't know who came up with it, nor how widely it was believed or practiced,  but my experience for many years was/is that it is true.  God often does more OUTSIDE of the four walls of the Church than what happens inside.  I have been praying for the sick 'on the streets' intentionally for the past 20 years.  And I have seen again and again that the MEAT of the Kingdom, so to speak, has been truly amongst the lost in every conceivable context and location, all around the world.   The Lord has interesting ways that He speaks to His kids. He will use the familiar in our lives to speak and lead us.  And that is exactly what He did in my life with regards to how the Church would be able to meet in light of global restrictions being put upon it. Full disclosure; I live in a part of the world where, in some of the countries, believers are not allowed to gather in Church buildings.  So they

It has been time for Christians to be gathering IN PERSON.  And by so doing, believers are accessing God's grace in a unique way.  In short, there is grace in the gathering!  I literally heard the Lord say that back in May or early June. Many Christians at that time were living in their virtual "Zoom Worlds" and yet the Lord was clearly saying, "It is time for those who are online, to get OFFLINE". It was time to be gathering, back in May/June.  It didn't matter where or how. It wasn't about a big meeting vs. a small meeting.  It was simply the fact that Christians needed to be meeting together in person.  Whether to walk together, to sit together...the Lord gave us many creative ways to be meeting in spite of all the legal restrictions that had been put upon us.  If the Lord was emphasizing gathering in person back in May/June, how much more is it that time in August?!?  The isolation has been devasting for many believers.  In all honesty, we will see t

We all know Proverbs 29:18 - "without a vision, the people perish".  More sermons have been preached on that verse than we will ever know.  And yet, many who have preached on it don't realize what the verse actually means because they don't understand that the word for "vision" actually refers to a prophetic word from the Lord. Since COVID began, nothing has been more tragic than to watch so many Christians, and Christian leaders, who didn't seem to know what to do.  And initially, that's okay. Seek the Lord and ask Him.  But many didn't seem to do that.  And 6 months later, many Christians are still unclear on what the Lord is calling them to be doing in this hour. So first of all, let us seek the Lord for that "vision"!  For a mandate, for an assignment, etc. Don't look to your 'celebrity prophets'. Look to the Lord personally - seek the Lord in the community in which He has placed you.  Add fasting to your prayer and your

Irenaeus (late 2nd century, spiritual grandson of the Apostle John) – to followers of false teachers/heretics -  “Those who are in truth His disciples, receiving grace from Him, do in His name perform miracles, so as to promote the welfare of others, according to the gift which each one has received from Him. For some do certainly and truly drive out devils, so that those who have thus been cleansed from evil spirits frequently both believe [in Christ] and join the Church. Others have foreknowledge of things to come: they see visions and speak the prophecies they have received. Others still, heal the sick by laying their hands upon them, and they are healed. Moreover, as I have said, even the dead have been raised and remained among us for many years. And what more can I even say? It is not even possible to number all of the gifts which the Church, throughout the whole world, has received from God, in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and which Christian

People are more open to spiritual things than they have ever been. Fear continues to run rampant. People have had to face their own mortality. The future is uncertain. Nobody knows when or how the COVID-19 pandemic will end.  After spending several hundred hours on the streets in the past few months, I can attest to the fact that there is an openness and a willingness to talk about important issues that I have never seen.   All although I was praying with many people and watched God break into the lives of dozens and dozens of people's lives, and I have endlessly given them my contact information for follow up, the vast majority haven't heeded those invitations.  I have gone back to visit them and their appreciation for prayer and counsel remains. Many have been healed and testify that they are still healed, still pain-free. I knew that God was really emphasizing house church meetings (and still is, going forward!) and I even began inviting these unbelievers to house meetings.

While out at a restaurant with my family, I noticed that Farsi was being spoken at the next table.  I went over there and introduced myself and within less than a minute a new group of Persian friends had been made, two sisters and two men. After some small talk about where I was from, my visits to Iran, and how much I loved Persian food, I began to talk to them about miracles of healing.  One of the women, an acupuncturist, declares, "I wish I could see a miracle".  I asked if anybody had any pain.  She pointed to her sister and said she had stomach pain.  I said that I would get my wife as she is a "healer".  And I told her that she would indeed get to see the miracle she wanted to see. My wife came over and the woman had had a chronic stomach pain condition for years.  The acupuncturist sister said that she had tried absolutely everything and that nothing had worked.   After praying for the woman with the pain in Jesus' Name, she was completely healed!  Her w

In one of my most significant encounters since starting the mandate the Lord gave us to be "FEAR Extinguishers" back in March, yesterday I heard Farsi being spoken by two women and greeted them.   What followed was about a 20-minute interaction where I was able to share many of the things the Lord is speaking right now.  One of the women was a follower of Jesus and was so hungry for what God was saying.  She kept asking me, "What is Jesus saying"?  I told her a number of our stories and the way God has been leading us even since the end of 2019 with regards to the coming COVID-19 pandemic.   I spoke quite a bit about this upcoming Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, and what God was going to do - how God was going to be pouring out His Holy Spirit and that He was going to be speaking more clearly, giving more prophetic revelation.  I encouraged them to be expecting dreams and encounters. I spoke about the mandate to gather in homes and let them know that I would help them fin

We were out FEAR Extinguishing and met an incredible Italian guy and his French wife who ran a Cafe-Bakery.   While getting coffee from him, the Lord gave me a word of knowledge about a problem in his lower-middle back.  He was shocked that God had revealed his pain to me. He had back pain and I asked his wife to come over and be my "ministry partner".  She put her hand on his back, I prayed for him and something happened!  She felt tingling electricity in her hand and his back pain left.  He said he'd have to also check it out in the evening to be sure.   He was so shocked. I gave him my card and we left.   The next day I received an email from him, and this is what he wrote:   Subject: Thank you for the miracle   I’m writing to say thank you very much for bringing light in this world.    I so grateful to what happened in the cafe, I was a bit lost on what was happening, a beautiful family comes into the café to order some drinks with big smiles all times, and then you a

The opportunities continue to be unbelievable.  Today was no exception. I felt prompted to head into a shop to ask the employee about a recurring dream he was having.  And sure enough, he's been having a dream with the same person over and over.  This opened a huge door to pray for him, to encourage him, to prophesy over him.  The Lord gave me a name that was very meaningful to him. And in the end, I was able to anoint him with oil in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Next it as on to Walmart where we ministered the other day to an Afghan Muslim woman and also to a Coptic Orthodox Egyptian woman.  Today was INCREDIBLE.  The first employee we approached was an Iranian woman and as we spoke with her she shared how she had left Islam and come to Christ!  We got to encourage her and even invite her to a house church meeting in her city!  I also got a word of knowledge for her Muslim mother (a left knee) and she was going to pray for her when they spoke next! As we we

Different cities definitely have different atmospheres spiritually.  And a pastor friend of mine headed out in his city yesterday and we had the most encouraging time.  There was only openness and receptivity. We had prophetic words for people who really seemed to value and even in one case treasure what they heard. Clearly, some of the people were not Christians, and yet they received prayer with gratitude.  It wasn't like we asked...we would just begin to pray or to declare God's blessing over their businesses.   I think one of the most unusual aspects of our time yesterday was how much of our own spiritual lives we were able to share with people.  How God has been working in our own lives during this whole COVID-19 pandemic. And there was absolutely no pushback, not from one person we spoke with.   Another aspect was the length of time people wanted to talk or were willing to talk. Sometimes interactions are short, but not yesterday. It was such a relational time, such a nat

I blogged about this very topic the other day and it appears that in California where I am currently a growing number of Church leaders are going to go ahead and try to resume big church meetings in their buildings by the end of the month. Did ANY of them consider that the word to "gather again" might mean to be gathering in small groups initially?  The vast majority of them have not done a single "in-person" meeting/service since the restrictions were put into place. Have ANY of these leaders considered that the majority of unbelievers (and I know this from my interaction over the past 3 weeks on the streets) won't go anywhere near a large church meeting for months? Were ANY of these leaders using the time that has elapsed since they had to suddenly close their doors, to come up with a plan to mobilize their churches into small units (house expressions) in the case that they could not re-open for months and months?  Did they devote this time to training lea

While many Christian leaders in my state seem anxious to get back to "Church as usual", I am reminded once again of the old Vineyard adage, "The MEAT is in the street"!  This means that MORE is happening OUTSIDE the walls and confines of "Church meetings".  That has been my experience - and since there have been NO church meetings, that has been especially true since the COVID-19 pandemic began.  Go and EXTINGUISH FEAR - that is what the Lord told us and that is what we have been doing. I would say in the beginning that the majority of the people we were meeting, our primary interaction was to actually help them with their fear, anxiety, and worry in these uncertain times.  To pray with them, to encourage them, and literally see "fear extinguished" in the encounter.  Sure there was the virus issue, but the financial issues became as important to people - the fear of the future, the fear of getting a paycheck, etc.  But God ALWAYS seems to want to

The Lord is saying "It is time for the church to start gathering again" (the Revelation) but many are misunderstanding what that means at this time (the Application).   One prophetic voice had a powerful prophetic dream where he received a timeline for 2020. (Note: we must always "test" prophetic words)   To summarize the contents of that dream:  1.     The first four months of 2020 (January-April) - REPENTANCE- Deep sorrow and contrition for sin. 2.     The second four months of 2020 (May-August) - RECOVERY- to return to a state of health, mind, and strength. 3.     The last four months of 2020 (September- December) - RECOMPENSE- compensation or reward for loss or suffering. Note: April has just ended and so what is the "shift" that the Lord intends??  Read on.   I've been back in the United States now for about 3 weeks and during that time, I have been on the streets almost every day interacting with dozens and dozens of people in obedience to the ma

So many voices, so many conflicting opinions. It is overwhelming!  You can find a Christian leader, a pastor, a theologian, a prophet, etc. etc. who will tell you anything you want to hear right now! So BE CAREFUL who you are listening to! Be careful and discerning about whose counsel you are heeding!  The NT is full of admonitions to exercise discernment, to "beware" of false shepherds and false teachers.  I realize there are some well-meaning Christian voices who aren't "false" shepherds/teachers, who are simply giving wrong advice and wrong counsel at this time.  They haven't "heard" from God even though they will cite Bible verse after Bible verse to support their opinion. And that is what much of what people are hearing is - it is simply opinion! The Church, for the most part, was completely caught off guard by this global pandemic.  Much of the Church wasn't prepared. A lot of the teaching wasn't training and equipping people t

There are simply too many stories now to document.  I tried to keep up but I've lost count of the dozens and dozens of people we have been able to encourage, to pray for, to share about Jesus with. Every man I have taken out with me has seen God at work, has seen the gratitude being expressed by people.  We have ministered to many non-Christians, and there has been absolutely no resistance.  Even this morning, a Lebanese Muslim woman was so encouraged when I prayed with her in Arabic. I met an American policewoman who also was from an Arabic background, and got to pray with her in Arabic.  Yesterday, I got to pray for many Persian Muslims.  So open, so receptive.  I got to pray that God would visit them in dreams and visions. Two young Moroccan-American Muslim women were very open to me praying for them and who wanted to meet my wife for further ministry. I think the thing I am struggling with the most is how many Christians who are completely missing the greatest opportunity in ou

I went out with a close friend to walk and to be "FEAR Extinguishers" - we chose a local area where there would be people and businesses/restaurants/shops open.  And just like it was in the Middle East ("just like" might be an understatement as you will see below), we were able to openly minister to I estimate a couple of dozen people in a couple of hours.  People were incredibly receptive.  This particular city is known as being somewhat hostile to Christianity, but I can honestly say, we saw NONE of that. We prayed for individuals mostly but in a couple of cases, it was up to 3 or 4 people.  One woman, a security guard, began to tear up, nearly crying as we prayed for her and her husband. One restaurant employee who was taking my order named "Jesus", let me pray for his entire family where everyone who had had jobs was no longer working.  Another manager at a large restaurant that miraculously had not let go of a single one of their 85 employees,