Does the term “City of Ibrahim” mean anything?
Is there such a place?
Please reply via the contact form or in the comments. Thanks!
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Now playing: Rick Pino - Your Love Is Like
Popularity: 22% [?]
Archive for the 'Prophesy' Category
The Methodist church still uses the cross and a flame as a symbol but the flame went out long ago. What do you do when your founding no longer lines up with your current church? In other words, what do you do when your methodology does not reflect your stated theology? In other words, let me see your methodology and I will show you your true theology.
So what does it mean when your stated and preached theology does not reflect your actual theology? You are a liar. You may not mean to be, but you are.
Have you ever been in a service that had an altar call for the baptism in the Holy Ghost then did not actually lay hands on anyone to receive it? I have. Ever seen a man stand in the pulpit of a denominationaly pentecostal church and preach sola scriptura? I have. Ever been persecuted by the elders of a pentecostal church because their teenage children saw open visions of the end times in one of your meetings? I have. And every time I thought it was some sort of bizarre isolated occurrence. I no longer think so.
These are the works of the flesh that take place when pentecostal faith is no longer being exercised. It seems in every generation or so a new move has to come along and restate what the generation before was supposed to carry.
I have decided to preach it from the rooftop and I really don’t care who it offends.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Some may chalk this up to being super spiritual but check this out.
We had a birthday party for our son this Saturday at a park in town. In between running around getting things together, Isaac and I stopped at a garage sale. We did not have time to stop there, and in fact, there was nothing that caught my eye that caused me to stop. I actually turned the car around and drove back after passing it. The sale was not even on the front lawn, it was inside.
There was nothing in the house but a few pieces of furniture and a couple books. I saw a little model of a church that I liked and asked how much the books were. I offered $3 for one of the books and two little church models. The woman told me that they had some “religious books” in another room if I was interested.
I went through the empty house to a back room and saw this 
and 
The pictures are really bad and there were more books than I captured in the pic. We got to talking and I told the folks that I was planting a work downtown and this was a real find. As I gazed around the room I saw books by Hinn, Wigglesworth, and other Pentecostals. This was a find indeed! They told me that their father had moved to Colorado and they were charged with doing something with what was left. As I began drooling over examining the books, they said to me,
If you want them, they’re yours!
I brought a friend to help load the books into my van the next day and it took us a half hour to move them all. As if that was not cool enough Holy Spirit reminded me a prayer I made about two months ago. I asked that “one day” I might be able to have one of those multi-volume bible commentaries. Well, in one
day I got a half dozen of them including the 12 volume Interpreter’s Bible, the 23 Volume Communicator’s Commentary, the 23 Volume The Pulpit Commentary, the 31 Volume The Preacher’s Homiletic Commentary, at least two other full commentaries, the entire Tozer Pulpit Series, and about 200 other books. Here’s what it looks like in my bedroom after dozens of trips from the van, up the stairs, to my house. I am going to need a larger bookshelf.
So check this out. Less than a month before I am leaving my church to start my new ministry I receive the entire library from an AG pastor who has left the ministry not even a mile from my house. To me that is a prophetic sign.
btw, the book that I bought that triggered this windfall? God’s Smuggler. A story about a man that took the Word into oppressed areas by God’s supernatural provision. I just read it in two days.
Popularity: 8% [?]
So I am working the altar the other day when I went to pray for a girl. Instantly I knew that there was an unclean sexual spirit at work. But I did not feel like she was in sin. That may sound odd but that was my impression. I asked her if there might be some sort of relationship that she was involved in that the Father may not be pleased with. This was nothing heavy handed. Just felt that I had to ask the question.
She was vehement that there was nothing. I am ok with that. I don’t run a cult, I am not going to make someone come up with something just to make me happy. It’s the Holy Spirit that convicts, not me and it is the Holy Spirit that draws, not my words. I left her alone and continued working the altar.
A little later I came back to her. I felt like I had a little clearer picture. I told her that I felt like something had happened and God wanted to heal it. As I continued talking I told her that God would show her what I was talking about. As we talked I knew she was seeing it.
Often as I counsel people they begin to receive revelation. I frequently meet with people who want counsel and before they are done telling me the problem they know the answer. That’s just how the gift works in me.
So as I was talking I could tell that she knew what I was talking about. When I felt the time was right I laid my hands across her eyes and told her to see that situation. This is not guided imagery. I am not telling people to see anything. I never tell people what to do or what to see. I told her that I do not need to know what happened or what the memory was or any of that. She had a memory that Jesus wanted to heal her heart of. As soon as I told her to see whatever it was Jesus was pricking her heart about she started crying. I asked her if she sees it and she answered that she did.
I then told her to look for Jesus. The bible says that He will never leave us or forsake us. That He would be with us to the ends of the earth. That means if we are His, He is with us. When I told her to look for Jesus she started bawling uncontrollably. I prayed till the peace of God overcame her. I then asked if the memory had changed and to tell me what Jesus was doing to which she said,
“He is keeping my father from touching me.”
Selah
I wish I could tell you that I was shocked but I wasn’t. You hear lots of statistics about girls getting touched inappropriately but when you start to see how it ruins girl’s lives the numbers take on a disturbing reality.
I was in prayer about preaching a few months ago and the Lord gave me a word of knowledge that He was going to bring healing to people who were molested.
At the end of my message I told the 150 or so youth the word of knowledge. I did not pray for a minute before there were youth sobbing all over the building. Boys and girls. I wanted to just sit down and cry but I had an altar call for that and one other thing so they could have plausible deniability and the altar was full. It seems like a majority of the girls that have relational issues that I counsel were molested. I don’t know how many of the boys.
After the girl I ministered to this week regained her composure she began to make excuses for her dad, “I just want to let you know I did not get raped or anything.” She was protecting him. How sad is that.
I wish that I could hear preachers address this in service more often. Just cut your giving message back a few minutes once a month and say something like, “Men, if you are touching your daughter inappropriately you need to repent and move out of the house until you get some professional help. Girls and boys, if you are bing molested call the police.” The fear of the Lord would come upon those who are contemplating it.
I don’t know this girl’s father, he does not attend our church. I truly don’t know what I would do I he did.
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Now playing: Hillsong United - Lead Me To The Cross
Popularity: 30% [?]
This will either bless and challenge you, or totally puzzle you.
I had a Friday night class that centered on ministering in the power of the Holy Ghost. About 30 people came. Most between 15 and 20 years old. Some older, some younger. One night I heard the Lord tell me to have an altar call. He said that if anyone wanted a spiritual gift to come to the altar and He will give it to them. That was a new one for me. I was obedient and told the people just as I had heard it. To my amazement only one person responded.
This was a 15 year old girl who said she wanted the gift of deliverance. I told her there was no such gift but that you would need the gift of discerning of spirits for that ministry so I will pray for that. I laid hands on her and called it forth. Down she went. She got up about a half hour later and told of a complete open heavens encounter that she had. She saw angels waring with demons in a complete battle. It was long and detailed. I talked to her about never taking part in the battle and not getting involved in the warfare. The angels were there for a reason.
Over the next couple months she got all kinds of stuff. She would get visions and see things in my meetings all the time and I came to really treasure the gift. Recently I sensed a shift in the gifting in purpose and strength. I had been discipling her in this gift but Jesus has decided to take over the discipleship process. I asked her to give account of what has happened recently. I mildly edited it to conceal her details.
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It was June 17, 2007 and I was at Carl’s Friday night class at church, the last one I would attend since I was going on a mission trip to Omitted. We worshipped God, Pastor Pedro was a guest preacher, and then he asked us to come up to the front (I don’t remember for what). When I went up there, it was something different. Carl prayed for me and he didn’t say anything but “open heavens”. Then the fire of God fell on me and God, almost immediately, told me that my visions were going to be so clear from now on. Since that day, they’ve been picture clear.
A week from that day, I went on a mission trip to Omitted. Half way into the trip, while the team was in prayer and worship, God did something like I had never experienced. The song playing at the time was singing “I want to stand at your feet, drink from the cup in your hand, lay against you and breath, feel your heart beat”. That underlined part really sunk into my spirit. I asked God, “God, I want to feel your heart beat.” As soon as I said that God responded saying “I will give you more than that.” In an instant, I had a vision that I was in God’s heart. It was so real that I could tangibly feel God’s love around me. In God’s heart, I had my own room. In the room were pictures of my life hanging on the walls. The only picture that I saw was the Eiffel tower. As the vision ended, I could still feel God’s love around me and I couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear.
The next encounter was on a Wednesday night, my first Wednesday back from Omitted. At the end of the service, I went up to worship. Sometime while I was up there, I saw angels pick me up and we started soaring through this “icy tunnel”. The reason I call it this is that it was a tunnel made completely of blue ice. We soared through there straight for about 2-3 minutes and then I was back where I was in the service, worshipping. I was so shook by where I had just been that I had no words except “God, You are so amazing!” A few minutes after that, Carl came over to me and started declaring open visions over me. Immediately, I was back in that same icy tunnel. I was enjoying it so much but I was still wondering where I was going. After soaring for about a minute, the tunnel dropped me of into the throne room of God! God’s glory in the throne room was so heavy that I fell at His feet, in the throne room and at the altar, to worship Him. I stayed down there for a while after I came back into the meeting and was by consumed by the glory of God. I just started singing “Let it rain!” over and over again until I saw that rain was falling down from heaven onto the people at the altar. This rain was the Holy Spirit coming and falling on the people there with all of His glory, fire, and power.
The next Wednesday was even more spectacular. We had a worship night that day. I knelt down at the altar to worship Jesus. Then, Carl came over with a word for me from God. God told him that I have the “Bride of Christ” anointing. He said that I have this intimacy with Christ that I’m actually able to go into His wedding chamber. He told me that I’m supposed to show others this intimacy so that they can have it, too.
God made this more clear through the following experiences.
It was towards the end of a Friday night class at Carl’s house. The glory of God started falling on me and I felt a burning fire running through my whole body, especially my head. I felt angels pressing me into the ground. All of a sudden, I was in the throne room. Jesus was on the throne while myself and others were sitting around Him. Everyone was dressed in royal gowns and jewels. I asked God, “Why are we all dressed like royalty?” He answered, “Because you are all my princes and princesses.” After He said that, I noticed that we weren’t conversing in English, but in tongues. Although I didn’t understand what we were saying, my spirit seemed to and so did the people around me. The only tongues that I recognized were Carl’s, who seemed to be talking with us. God revealed to me that that is how they speak in heaven.
After a little while of being back in the natural, I laid back down again in the same spot that I was in when I went to the throne room. God took me someplace but this time it was different. Jesus and I were in a courtyard dressed as if we were from the middle ages. I was sitting on one of the benches in the middle of the courtyard (The benches, though not connected, formed a circle) and He was holding my hand sitting in front of me. We were speaking in tongues to each other but this time I got the main point of what we were saying. We were speaking terms of endearment and telling each other how much we love one another. It was very intimate and something special between me and God. Ever since that day, I’ve gone back into that place that is only for God and I when ever I worship or pray to Him.
One day, as my mom and I were driving home, my mom started yelling at me. Every word that she spoke broke my heart a little more. As tears poured down my face, I lifted my head to see a sticker on a car that said, “Relax, God’s in control.” That little sticker slightly lifted my spirit. When we got home, I ran to my room and knelt down. I started to cry again and prayed to God asking Him to take everything. I then went to our courtyard and, instead of me sitting on the bench, Jesus was and I laid my head on His lap and He poured His love on me. He was dressed in a white gown that seemed to be silk but it was softer. The white of His gown was a white that I have never seen before and it seemed to glow along with the rest of Jesus.
One or two Wednesdays after this, I was worshipping. I was telling God that I just wanted to be with Him. Right after I said that, I went back into that courtyard. When I looked at His face, I was somewhat mesmerized by His beauty. I can’t even describe to you His features because they are so distinct like no other man. His eyes shined with love. He didn’t even need to say anything yet I still knew that His love for me was immense. After, the band told us to go back to our seats, I was still dazzled by God’s radiance.
At the end of the service, after Carl preached, Carl said for the intercessors to start praying, God gave me a vision. I saw Jesus walk over and sit on the edge of the stage, facing the audience. He started to cry. I said, “God, why are You crying? I don’t like when You cry.” He said, “They can’t here me, their ears are closed to my voice.” He yelled at the youth to hear Him but they didn’t. I started to pray and ask God to open their ears to His voice. As I prayed, people’s ears started to open and they could hear Jesus’ cry to them. Jesus stopped crying and started smiling, as did I. People went up to answer the altar call.
A few minutes later, I went up to worship behind them. As I looked at a cluster of people at the altar, God started speaking to me. He told me that they didn’t know how to drink from Him so they went to find things in the world to drink from because they were thirsty. God then showed me a pool of water in an oasis. He told me again that this was His water and that people needed to drink from His water but didn’t know how. They needed to be taught how to drink from God’s Spirit and someone had to teach them. This whole time that God was speaking this to me, I was burning and, basically, being overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit. He is so amazing!
As I sat in a chair that I had been placed in by Carl while the above paragraph happened, I went back to the courtyard. There, God told me that everyone has there own place with Him, like our courtyard, which not even angels can enter. This place is intimacy with God. Everyone’s place is different. He also said that others can experience what I have experienced and to take others with me the next time He takes me to heaven. Through these encounters, I was further understanding the Bridal anointing.
The next time I went to Carl’s Friday night class, I was worshipping. Carl saw an angel pouring oil over my head. Then He saw an angel walk across the room and place something purple in my hands. Then my hands physically started to lean down and before I knew it I was on the floor. I could feel an angel breathing on me and speaking to my spirit. Even though I didn’t know what it was saying, I knew my spirit did. God said to listen to the angels because they are here to help me. Then I saw the angel put a goblet made of gold in my right hand. I asked God what I was supposed to do with it and He said pour it over people.
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It goes on but you get the idea. Exciting times!
Popularity: 17% [?]
We had a little move of God this past summer. We had a little outreach to some urban young folks and saw lots saved, set free and baptized in the Holy Ghost.
One girl showed up and got right (I actually blogged about it here). What I found out later was that this girl had just gotten out of a correctional institution. I still don’t know what got her there but she lost a year and a half to the place. She had gotten out that week and her younger sister brought her to the meeting.
As it turns out, she had been accepted to a Christian College and had gotten a financial needs scholarship. Now she was right with God and was really excited. She was faithful to the meetings and grew in her relationship with Jesus. As the weeks passed she began to develop an unusual maturity in the Holy Ghost. We prayed for her and laid hands declaring that she would see a move of God at her new school.
The night before she was to leave she called me and asked if I would baptize her friend before they left. Her friend had gotten out of the institution the same time and was now going to go to the school with her. She had come down to make the trip with her. I had lead her to Christ a few days earlier and wanted to be baptized before she went.
I went to her house and baptized her. She came up out of the water filled with the Holy Ghost. We prophesied over her, declared things of the future, broke off things of the past and watched her glow that you see on a person with a fresh filling. I then realized that the roof was awfully close to the pool. 
Of course we spent the next half hour jumping off the roof into the pool. This may be the best benefit of working with young people.
All seemed well until I got a phone call a few days later. It seems they had run into a few problems. Without going into details, I later discovered this on the schools website under beliefs
Without meaning to be unfriendly or unkind to anyone, we feel it only fair to say that Pensacola Christian does not agree with the modern-day charismatic movement, and we believe that students who are a part of the modern-day tongues movement should seek their college education elsewhere as they would not be allowed to participate in or promote any charismatic activities.
That could be a problem! I am waaaaay beyond charismatic. And these girls got right with God under the anointing. They were believing God for a move of God in a place that did not believe that God moves anymore. As time went on people around them began to experience manifestations of the Holy Ghost. there were angelic visitations, sovereign deliverances, works of knowledge and prophesies through people who did not know that such things were possible and the leadership of the school was not liking it in the least.
Last week they were brought into the dean of students office and were given an opportunity to promise that they would not pray in tongues. If they did not promise then they would be expelled. To try to keep this story brief, these girls were expelled from the school three days later.
Those that know me know my intolerance for the biblical liberals who have disregarded whole chapters of the Bible by saying that the Holy Spirit ran out of power sometime around the 3rd century. But on another note, how cool would it be to have the testimonies that these girls will have?
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Now playing: Rick Pino - I Can Hear The Sound
Popularity: 22% [?]
So I came together with some of my disciples to reach a certain people group. There were about 7 people meeting on a patio in the south Florida heat. The Lord has touched this group and it has grown … and grown … and grown.
We had our outreach The Mission last Saturday and had 110 people show up. Lots of people got saved. It was a “Yeah God!” kind of night.
This past Tuesday night we had our normal meeting in a living room. The problem? We had 57 people show up. Imagine 57 people worshiping in the living room of a 1800 square foot house. When I preached I had about four square feet to move around. I literally had a one foot by four foot area to move around in. There were people stuffed into every imaginable spot.
The good part is that when time comes for ministry, you don’t need catchers because you can only fall back a foot before you hit someone.
The bottom line: I do not know what to do now. Tuesday night we had several drug addicts cry out for deliverance confessing Jesus. We had a guy who got out of jail within the last week. A whole bunch of people responded to the altar call about sexual purity and almost ten responded to a word of knowledge about rage.
I have to find a way to pastor these people. I can’t continue to bring these folks in someone’s living room and we simply do not have room to grow.
I do not know what to do now. Please pray.
Popularity: 39% [?]
I have mentioned my Friday night discipleship group. I started it because I wanted to pour into the lives of a few young men. I get a little less than 40 now.
Here is kind of a cool picture in the middle of the altar ministry last Friday.
Popularity: 40% [?]
I have told this story lots of times but have never set it to paper.
When I got saved, I really got saved. I was in my late 20s and had live a pretty wicked life. I had gotten out of the military a few years earlier and was in college. I went into a Charismatic church, got set free from the devil, and never looked back.
Within a year I was part of a rogue deliverance/healing ministry and saw all kinds of signs and wonders. We prayed for people all over the place and saw miracles in pizza places, hospitals, living rooms, and anywhere else you find people. I distinctly remember casting the devil out of a homeless man in the doorway to Winn Dixie before buying Swiss Cake Rolls to break a fast. (Oh the college years)
Within two years of getting free I was part of church plant team sent to south Florida. I was beginning to move in the prophetic in general and had a pretty keen word of knowledge. The church I helped plant was not a very healthy one but I was young in the Lord and I did not know any better. There was lots of judgment. I thought that was part of leadership. Maybe the leaders need to know the struggles of the people but this was something else. The church leadership I was a part of would gossip about people. If anyone left the church, all their dirty secrets would be laundered in an effort to discredit them and their criticism of the church.
Because of my critical spirit, almost all the prophetic words I got were filled with judgment. I spoke lots of words about repentance, sin issues, pride and rebellion.
As time went on our church became friendly with a man who lived in town who had spoken at Toronto. My pastor went there and got really blown away. Though he was not completely sold on what was going on, he knew God was in it somehow.
Several months later, Jeremy & Connie Sinnott, who were worship leaders at Toronto, were coming to a church in South Florida for what was billed as a worship conference. The congregation was odd to me but the presence of God was there and so I worshiped. On the second day of the conference, Jeremy and Connie were praying for some people so I was waiting for Jeremy (because I was a man and only men could minister to me). Eventually someone said to me that I should have Connie pray for me because she has a real anointing.
I went to her and she ministered to me what I now know to be the Father’s love. She spoke some words, laid hands on my chest, and I literally began to feel hot liquid flow into my heart. I could only cry. When she was done I could not even talk. I told someone that it felt like my heart was being circumcised. Strange indeed.
After that weekend a work of grace began to develop in my life. The hard prophesies began to be softened and I began to flow in a compassion I had never experienced before. When someone came to me for counsel, no longer was my first impression to find a reason to blame them for their problems. Before, no matter what you were going through I could always find a way to make it your fault. That was not the initial response after that.
So this love of God began to swell my heart but I had this problem. I had this word of knowledge that I seemingly could not control. I could look at people and see the sin in their lives. I only had to listen to someone for a minute before I could clearly see all their moral transgressions. This made it almost impossible to have meaningful relationships. All I could see was people’s sins. They would tell me they were fine but I knew better and I wanted to rebuke people so badly.
I now had this issue. I knew the love of God but I was getting all this dirt on people and I was in the leadership of a church that was constantly bringing accusation against everybody. There was no issue that could not be solved with a rebuke.
As an example. When my son was born he had a slight problem keeping down food that caused him to be hospitalized. It turned out to be minor but they had a hard time diagnosing it and he was quite ill. In the midst of this hard time I went to my pastor and told him that I was having a hard time and that I was being tempted with lust. While my son was dieing in the hospital he said to me,
“You know that this sin is the reason your son is in the hospital right?”
Blech! I have to spit that out every now and then. I cannot believe I thought that was godly counsel. (If that man is reading this please repent. If you go to his church, RUN!)
So I had this revelation of the love of God in conflict with what I was receiving and how I saw Him ministered. In the midst of this conflict, I took a pilgrimage to Toronto.
At first, I was really disappointed. The services were quite tame. The ushers did not let people remain in the isles during the preaching and most extravagant behavior was stopped. This was not the kennel I was told it would be.
There were lots of great sessions with great speakers but as I look back God did two things. The first was I got a revelation that I am exactly how God created me to be (this is a major post in itself so I won’t go into it). The second was almost as impactful as my time with the Sinnots.
In the middle of one session John Sanford said, “Just because you have access to the spirit realm does not mean you can go snooping around in everybody’s life. If they have not asked for your ministry, stay out of their business.” This is not a direct quote but pretty close. John then talked about how you can read people by staring at them long enough and how people today call that prophesy but it is not. It is soulish and does not glorify God. His wife Paula talked about walking into a room and picking up the burdens of every person in the room and that she had to learn to not allow that to happen. She had to reject that natural reaction.
This was revelation to me! Just as the ministry of the Sinnots revolutionized my relationship with God, this one little teaching revolutionized my ministry. After that time, when I would start getting accusations against a person I would have to tell myself that I am not going there.
God began to use me in genuine prophetic revelation. That is revelation minus the anger. Since the church could not bring accusation against me regarding my personality they began to tell me that I did not have a prophetic gift and that I was an evangelist so I should only bring prophetic words to the lost. And it just got goofier from there. Eventually the God I knew conflicted with the church I was attending and it was time to go (can you say deliverance?).
In the past few years I have had people tell me that I am one of the nicest people that they know. And I have people call me saying that I always have a word of encouragement. This is a miracle! I was genuinely changed by a few encounters. Now I have read books by lots of the people in this movement and have listened to lots of teaching series and watched lots of conferences online but these two moments were landmarks in my walk.
So when I hear people say that Toronto was a counterfeit move or that it was really the devil I quietly pray that the Lord forgives them. It really is a frightful thing to call the Holy Ghost a demon. Not an area that I would tread.
Were there things in Toronto that were off? Aren’t there in your church? Aren’t there in your ministry? Could you testify that every single person that has ever heard your teaching will respond in a biblically sound manor will produce good fruit? If your church sees a couple hundred people a year how many of them are fruitcakes that you could not help or would not be helped? Imagine if that number was a half million that came through. Give a little grace.
In the end, I know that God was in that place. They have since ended the nightly meetings and the crowds have disbanded but there are congregations all over the world that were birthed in a move of the Father’s love the same way I was.
update: this post was in response to a post by Michael at Charismatica.
Popularity: 57% [?]
This post is one part testimony, two part prayer request.
I have done lots of posts about a Tuesday night outreach I have been leading. last week a lady from my church wanted to come and see what was happening. She later confessed to me that t one point she was actually scared for her safety. I shouted Halleuijah! That means we are attracting exactly the crowd we feel called to reach. The young urban knuckle heads.
Last week we had almost 40 people in a living room and man did it get hot! I was there worshiping when the Holy Ghost said, “Why don’t you take off your shirt?” Mind you, I had on a t-shirt underneath, but I was thinking, “I am about to preach.” Thankfully it was a new shirt because I preached the Gospel that night in a wife beater to a group of young men who find that suitable attire.
Among the (many) people flopping around on the floor was a Mormon girl who missed her flight back to Arizona because of a traffic jam on the way to the airport. One guy who got saved was the roommate of a crack dealer that has been coming (we believe that this dealer is the gateway to nothing short of a revival so please pray for his deliverance and salvation).
This Saturday we are going to have a big blowout with performances and almost a real service. We are expecting over 100 to show up. Here are the flyers: (click them for a larger view)
click for larger view
click for larger view
Would you please pray for the lost to be saved? We have gone into every hood we can find inviting people. We really need the grace of God in this thing and are hoping for a real move of God. This is not going to be some Billy Graham crusade. We are praying for the supernatural to manifest. We want miracles, signs and wonders. This generation has heard the Gospel but has never experienced the full Gospel. It is my goal to make that an unavoidable fact.
Popularity: 53% [?]
Can I be honest? I don’t really buy into the prophetic significance of dates. I just don’t. I don’t see it in scripture and when I look back at history, I don’t see it either.
Surely everyone who reads this blog knows about The Call in Nashville. It was staged on the 7th along with about a billion weddings. I actually did a wedding that morning. I was almost hoarse from camp and was tired beyond words but a brother has to pay bills.
I was trying to watch it on God.tv but the stream failed.
This morning I wanted to see if there was any news about it and all I could find was news about the Live Earth concert.
Does anyone find it a little coincidental that both a stadium event trumpeting the “Live Earth” was staged on the same day as a prophetic intercession stadium event?
Popularity: 32% [?]
I have taken a cadre of young revivalists to try and infect youth groups from all over Florida. While I am gone I have asked some of my friends to post for me. Here is the bio of today’s blogger:
Dr. Michael G. Davis: MGD, as he can be found throughout blogsville, of Charismatica runs ANSWERS FOR THE FAITH Internet Ministries. Michael received his Doctor of Ministry from Claremont School of Theology. I have never personally met people before who were willing to out run their D.Min in chasing Jesus in this realm. His writings are both well exegeted and passionate.
As Iron Sharpens Iron’: Experiences in Blogging
“As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one man sharpens another.” -Prov. 27:17
One year and four months ago I launched my first blog and tentatively posted my first article. At the time I had all sorts of grandiose plans to do a ‘great’ teaching ministry on the internet. At least that was the vision that I believed that God was instilling in me at the time and maybe still is to a lesser degree.
Soon I was visiting in the blogosphere and paying homage at the feet of Adrian Warnock, JollyBlogger, Challies Dot Com, Evangelical Outpost, Mark D. Roberts, and Albert Mohler; with a Hugh Hewitt, a Mark Steyn, and a James Lileks or two thrown in for insane variety.
The ‘Godbloggers’ at the time were in the midst of a continuing discussion about Spiritual gifts. The battle lines were drawn between the Reform Charismatics and the Reform Cessationists with a few Pentecostals and what I call ‘Functional Cessationists’ (those who grant the possibility of Spiritual gifts while they seldom if ever experience them) thrown in as observers and referees. I thought I was through with theological minutiae when I passed my ‘quals’ and graduated from seminary. This was definitely not what I had in mind when I started.
One day while searching on Adrian’s blog I came across a link to PneumaBlogs. I went down the list on that page checking out a few. Then I came to a blog with an interesting name: “A Mighty Rushing Wind” -Carl Thomas. I Clicked on the link and was totally jealous when I saw that the domain name was Revivalblog.com, seeing that revival is a Spirit driven passion of mine. After that, I became a regular visitor to Carl’s blog.
I remember reading an article by Carl: “What I Learned in My Year of Blogging“. That article changed it all for me and the Holy Spirit used it to give me a new direction. Up to that point, Answers For The Faith was my main blog and it was by-in-large a teaching and an apologetic site. Charismatica was just a site where I stored a bunch of revival and prophetic ministry links that I wanted to keep track of. Once and a while I would post something Charismatic or Pentecostal that did not fit well on my other blog.
I really had no vision for the Charismatica site except the Lord had given me that name and domain in church one day. After reading Carl’s article, the ideas started flowing in a sovereign way. This would be a blog where I would share my own personal struggles, testimonies, and prophetic insights. Where I would write about my God-given passion for a major World harvest and revival.
A couple of weeks later, after I put up a contact link, I received an email from Carl asking me if I knew that it was impossible to make a comment on my blog. He helped me to change the settings and left the first official comment on one of my posts. It was the beginning of a friendship. He has no idea how thankful I was. My wife had been asking me every night for three months if anyone had left a comment yet. Finally, I could say yes and there was celebration in the Davis household.
That was over a year ago, though it seems like yesterday. Since then I have had a lot of different guests and a number of regulars commenting on my blogs and I am better for it. Also, I comment regularly here and on several other blogs. A whole community seems to revolve around this site and I am honored and blessed to be part of it.
I started out thinking that I was going to do some kind of teaching ministry on the internet and have found myself on the receiving end more times than not. I find myself in the midst of a whole lot of folks with similar interests. All seeking greater intimacy with God. All looking for a sovereign move of the Spirit in their lives and in their churches. All hoping for God to grace our land with revival once more.
All of you have built me up and have increased my faith and my hope exponentially. It is a case of ‘Iron sharpening iron.’ Every time Carl brings us testimonies about the Holy Spirit blasting his youth group, it is iron sharpening iron. Every time you visit Revival Journal and read about David Copeland’s latest ministry trip, it is iron sharpening iron. Take a few moments and visit SLW and gain the heart of a pastor, it is iron sharpening iron.
Read the latest on Chet’s blog and gain a heart for missions and discipleship, it is iron sharpening iron. Stop by and visit Mark H and Made To Prauise Him, it is iron sharpening iron. Go visit Rich and read his latest and then browse the Pneumablog articles, I have always found something to be thankful for, it is iron sharpening iron.
Then there is the fiery pastor/street preacher JC Smith, his passion wakes me up and keeps me moving on, it is iron sharpening iron in a big way. There are many others and lest you think it is just a ‘man’ thing, Sista Cala will drop by and occasionally leave an encouraging word, it is also iron sharpening iron.
I can’t tell you how much my life has been enriched and blessed by all of you. May God continue to richly bless you all and continue to bless me through you, and hopefully you through me also.
Michael G. Davis
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