Bear with me on this one . . .

Back in May I had a meeting with some youth. The Holy Ghost fell in the room and one of the youth I have been chasing after got impacted. I blogged about it in the post “God Loves the Youth.” Here is an excerpt,

There was a kid that I had been harassing to come to my group because I felt God was drawing him but he was avoiding me. Finally he could not avoid it and came. When the Holy Ghost descended he began to bawl. He wound up on the ground coughing up devils and got off the floor praying in tongues and running around the room. He said that when I told everyone to repent of their sins he saw a black cloud in the room and that as I began to pray it escaped through the cracks in the doors and windows. Wish that happened to me at 13!

So this kid had some stuff to walk out. He was the youngest of three brothers. He was very concerned how he was going to live after this. He was supposed to be at a part the next day that was going to have drugs. His other brothers were the leaders of a gang.

They had an affinity for two girls in our church so they would come high to the youth service from time to time. They were trouble makers and over 18 but for some reason we let them hang around.

This young man became faithful to my small group and I began to disciple him. At the end of every meeting he would conclude with a prayer request for the salvation of his brothers. Six months earlier I prophesied over his oldest brother right in the middle of a service that God said, “Peek-a-boo! I see you! You are running from me but the earth is round.” (He later told me that he was so mad at me that he wanted to have me jumped)

Two months after the boy got saved I preached the most anointed evangelistic message I ever preached. The whole rotten crew was there. Conviction began to stir in their hearts. The next week they went to youth camp and got saved. But they had a problem. The older brothers were two thirds of a rap group that were about to be signed but they did not want to do hard core rap any longer. They turned down the offers and went back to the lab.

In the meantime the oldest brother replaced the youngest in mentorship. I really began to pour into him and he started to bring people to my meetings. Three weeks ago I thought it was just going to be he and I in my meeting so I put together a lesson plan on deliverance ministry. By the end of worship there were eight kids that came. Half of which were away from God.

The Glory of God fell in that room and every kid that was away from God got saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost. This has happened to almost the entire crew they used to hang with. They are on fire! The oldest one said to me,

I want to preach. But when I preach, I don’t just want to preach with words.

I said, Amen! And I am sure he will.

Anyway, there is lots more to the story but I will end there. They just gave me a copy of some of the songs they have made since getting right with God. Listen and enjoy.

This is not going to be a theological post. I am not going to debate anyone. If you disagree, that’s fine. Move on.

I have received an array of correspondence from people who happen to stumble upon this blog who come to say the same thing,

I want to see the power of God in my ministry.

I have good news for you, God wants the same. But where do you start? The truth is, there are two ways to catch a log on fire.

1. You can use friction till it smolders and then feed the smoldering embers with oxygen till it spreads to the whole log.
2. Throw the log on an existing fire.

So the easiest way to see the gifts in operation in your life is to get around people who have Holy Ghost activity in their lives. Pray with them, minister with them, study the Word with them. There is a giga-church in my area that is lead by a man who is a strong Bible teacher and evangelist. Guess what every leader in the church is? This is a spiritual law. Trust me, it works.

If there is nobody in your circle of influence that functions in these areas I have great news! You are the beginning of a revival! Here is what you do. Get two or three people who are as hungry as you and you begin an ongoing prayer meeting. When I was hungry for the gifts, this is what I did. I had a couple people and I would say, “We are going to pray until something happens!” And we did.

Sometimes someone would get a vision, or someone would get a song they would sing or someone would get a verse from the Bible that was for us but we would pray until something happened. You should do the same. Whether you are called to take care of the little ones, teach the Word, or heal the sick, you will do it better with the power of the Holy Spirit working through your ministry.
There is no excuse for a powerless Christian.

Take this for what it is. I have had some encounters lately and while I don€™t normally post this stuff I feel lead to do so on this occasion.

I wrote this in my journal July Second:

I was in service this morning and we were singing some patriotic song when I got a vision:

There is going to be a fire that sweeps across the US churches. It is going to test and purify. It will bring fear to many and will cause some to fall away from the true faith.

I see the middle of the country in the natural very dry and the fire starting there spreading outward. This will be confirmed by a summer of fires that will cause great destruction.

The fire I saw in the vision roughly corresponds to the Albuquerque area if that matters to anyone.

Well, this morning I woke up and the Holy Ghost said:

“The coming shaking, the awakening.”

Then I had this old Stevie Wonder song stuck in my head. In it, the singer laments that his spouse is cheating on him and he was going to have to confront her even though it may be the end of the relationship.

But what I really feel my eyes wont let me hide
cause they always start to cry
cause this time could mean goodbye

Right after this, the fear of the Lord came upon me as I saw Him moving in churches purging the unfaithful. Still I cry Maranatha!

Don’t ask me where I got this. My only advise is chew thoroughly.

Adventures in Heaven by Mike Mason (pdf)