JOEL 2 GENERATION

The other day our small groups at school were sent out into the streets of Redding to destroy the works of the devil. Whatever God showed us in heaven is what we were meant to do here on earth. So, we got together and asked God to reveal to us where he wanted us to go, and who he wanted to touch that afternoon. Many of us got names of people, colors, images of sick people and snap shot pictures of houses and places where we could possibly go in the city to find people. We discussed what God showed each of us, and then compiled it into a treasure map. One of the guys in my small group saw a picture of a bridge crossing the Sacramento River, and another guy saw the word “park”, so we headed down to where we knew these things to be. We had a whole list of things on our map, so whenever we encountered someone who fit the description God gave us; we attempted to minister to them, showing them our map to confirm to them the Word of the Lord. Some people were freaked out, and others were intr...

Paul writes in 1 COR 12:8 about the gift of the 'word of knowledge'. John Wimber defines this gift as "God revealing facts about a situation concerning which the person (ministering) had no previous knowledge"(Power Healing). Through them God will often reveal where a person has pain or where specifically they need healing. Sometimes a word of knowledge seems very general (i.e. when someone gets the word for 'lower back pain' and there are 35 people present) while at other times it can be much more specific. (i.e. lower back pain comes when you are with a one or two individuals). The latter of course is far more risky to give:) This past week I have had several times where God gave me some specific words of knowledge which really encouraged me. On one occasion I was sitting with 3 Omani Muslim men when the Lord gave me a word that one of them had pain in the left knee. When I inquired, one did have that problem, and I told him that God wanted to heal him...

In the past 10 days, we’ve had the privilege of ministering in 4 different church services, wherein our “…preaching (was) not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 COR 2:4). The testimonies of healings and prophetic words are simply too many to try and write about them all. I will share a few and hopefully the others who were involved will add their too. In each of the services, I would give would I came to refer to as a “Kingdom now guarantee”. As our team would began to minister, I would say that if we didn’t do the works of Jesus or if we didn’t come with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power (which of course we left up to the Lord as to what He wanted to do), then they didn’t have to believe anything that we were saying. In each and every service, God faithfully poured out His Spirit and gave us prophetic words for the people, words of knowledge, and healed many different people from a variety of problems. Additionally,...

I remember hearing some teacher or preacher noting that the last part of the book of Mark, "isn't in the oldest manuscripts." Even my Bible notes that verses 9-20 are "bracketed in the NU-text as not original. They are lacking in Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, although nearly all other manuscripts of Mark contain them." Nevertheless, the same passage contains Mark's version of the Great Commission and is frequently cross-referenced with the other Synoptics. However, verses 17 and 18 don't get a lot of press unless they are being used as ammunition against snake handling communities (and even coming from the sticks of the US I still haven't seen a snake handling community). And, of course, as ammunition, they are referred to as "not in the original text" and therefore, not really in the Bible even though they are in the Bible. I, however, think there is something more afoot than textual criticism. There is a remarkable amount of oppos...

Last night I was playing soccer with 20 Arab Muslim men. About 5 minutes into the game, one of the players seriously hurt his ankle and was carried off the field. They put some ice on his foot/ankle and we finished the 1st half. I knew that God had me there on assignment. I went up, sat down next to the man and asked him to tell me where the pain was. After showing me, I took off the ice pack and put my hand on his ankle and began to ask the Holy Spirit to come and bring the Kingdom. I prayed for a minute or so and then asked him, "How is it"? He checked it out told me that the pain was definitely less. I continued to pray. I felt the presence of the Lord and told him that something was happening right at that time. After praying a second time, he was a bit surprised. He wondered what I had done. I hadn't asked him; I just sat down, took off the ice pack and put my hand on his foot. He wasn't 100%, but he got up and began to walk around. I came up next to hi...

After crossing a river, a certain group of people were commanded to go back to the middle of the river and collect some stones to build a monument so when their children asked, "What means these stones?" (KJV), they would have the opportunity to testify about what God had done for them to the next generation. The "stone-layer" generation had a definite point of reference-- a definite encounter with the Holy-- that they could recount. There was content and memory in the answer to the question: "What means these stones?" In the third chapter of Galatians, Paul writes, "This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith?" Later in the same chapter, he writes again, "Therefore, He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith?" Acoording to Paul, the "stones from the river" for the Ga...

A couple of nights ago in an Arab restaurant, the Lord spoke to me through a word of knowledge that our waiter’s had a problem in his left knee, a Syrian Muslim named Muhammad. When I asked about it, he explained that he had suffered a condition in his entire left leg since he was young – I found out later he had an unstable knee/leg and a flat foot. He limped slightly. I tried to explain to this young Muslim man how the Lord revealed to me that he needed healing in his leg and that I was confident God was going to do something special if he allowed us to pray. God doesn’t give us words of knowledge unless He intends to do something. I also had to explain clearly that he didn’t have to pay any money. I needed to make that clear because in his religion there are also so-called ‘healers’. Interestingly, most (if not every) Islamic healers demand some ridiculous sum of money to pray for their ‘client’s’ healing and/or to try and deliver them from demons. I explained ...