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We don’t need to fake the power of God, it is real.

I have been to hundreds of meetings over the years where the Holy Spirit power of God was so evident that folks were naturally falling down all on their own. Then I have observed those who seem to want to help things along with a shove or two.

I can remember one occasion where I was given a slight shove but I responded by refusing to go down. On other occasions I have found myself naturally on the floor and didn’t know how I got there and had real trouble getting up to leave an hour or so later.

Here’s a timely article by J. Lee Grady who likens some of shoving to a gaudy TV wrestling match:

“Please Stop the Holy Ghost Smackdown”

Grady tells about one experience he had receiving a physical fleshly shove that actual hurt:

When I looked up, the wild-eyed preacher was heading toward me with his arms flailing. I tried to duck, but when he got close enough he shouted “in the name of Jesus” and slapped me across the face. I tumbled to the floor.

My face and neck were stinging with pain. I had not been slain in the spirit, as some observers assumed. I had been assaulted. This man used his own strength to make people think he had imparted a special anointing to me. All he did was give me a headache.

Wow, all in the name of Jesus? What ever happen to only doing what the Father was actually doing (John 5:19)? That is what Jesus did and we should follow his example if we want real revival that will actually change lives and change our nation. It is time to shut down the circus and the show and seek only the genuine.

Our nation is in serious trouble and the time for fun and games is over. We need the real thing or our nation will never be the same.             *Top

1. Man ‘Praying in Tongues’ Finds Missing Florida Girl

2. -Court Awards Woman Injured while ‘Slain in the Spirit’

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Phil 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  -ESV

Everything around you might be chaotic and falling a part but God offers you peace of mind and joy in the midst of it all. One can live in full confidence and faith that everything is going to turn out for the best for you and yours (Rom 8:28) in Christ Jesus.

God the Father personally offers to give you His peace and joy—a peace that the world outside of Jesus does not understand or comprehend. It is available to you for the asking, no matter what your circumstances.

You may be engulfed in a nasty divorce and see no daylight at the end of the tunnel. You may have lost a child and you are even blaming God for it. That good job that you had for years is gone and you can’t seem to find another. You may be behind in all of your bills and the family car was just repossessed. It doesn’t matter—God promises you peace and joy in your life regardless.

You say Michael that is just crazy—there is no way that I can have any peace while I am going through this or that.

That is the point of course, God the Father offers all Christians a peace that doesn’t make sense in the ways and understanding of this world.

Here’s how it works. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit actually living inside them even though most of the time we ignore that presence. How incredible it that?  The creator of the universe actually has placed a part of himself inside of each one of us. It is that Spirit which can transform our lives and bring us peace and joy, faith and confidence, in the midst of sorrow and chaos.

It all begins when we choose to worship and praise God no matter what—in bad times and good. The Holy Spirit will flood our lives with peace and joy if we choose to take everything to him in prayer and then praise and thank him for everything regardless.

I once read a book that demonstrated this principal in the life of a prisoner who was transformed by the power of God and later became a minister that touched the lives of millions: Prison to Praise by Merlin Carothers. I highly recommend the book.

Point is, all of our lives can be transformed for the better by praising God and receiving His peace that can only come to us by His Spirit which is given to us through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

If you’re reading this and not sure whether you have His Holy Spirit within you, sort of always believed in Jesus but never fully committed your life to Christ, now is the time. Pray to God right now…God I want your Holy Spirit in my life, I fully commit myself to your Son Jesus, please help me with my unbelief and help me to change my life. I want to receive your joy and peace in my life through your Son Jesus and by Your Holy Spirit.  In Jesus name, Amen.

*NOTE: This is the final article in the Phillipians 4:4-7 series. Here’s links to the other 4 articles:

1.  Kingdom Culture: Peace in the Midst of Chaos

2.  Kingdom Culture: Be Reasonable and Considerate

3.  Kingdom Culture: The Lord is Always with Us

4.  Kingdom Culture: Do Not Worry, Be Thankful and Pray Instead

Phil 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  -ESV

Do not be anxious about anything? This comes in the form of a command and surely is relevant for us today in the middle of a major economic crisis and a culture that seems to be leaving us behind. In effect Paul says here—Don’t worry pray instead and be thankful. This is the way of the Kingdom and the path of faith which leads us in an entirely different direction than the dominant culture.

We know that Paul actually lived out this command praising God after being beaten and thrown in prison, ministering to those around him regardless of the circumstances, even writing this scripture and others while he was in custody.

Remember, we have a God who wants only the best for us and we have a Lord who understands what we are going through, and we have a Holy Spirit which is with us in the midst of all of our troubles inspiring us to seek the best—we are not alone, praise God and be thankful!

The passage also remind me of what Jesus said in Matt. 6:25-34 plus the Greek word for anxious is the same in this passage also:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” …

…“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”…

“O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, …For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

The basic message in both of these passages is the same—live according to faith and not like the dominant culture. Praise God, seek His Kingdom, pray continually, remember to be thankful and  it will be well with you and yours for all eternity including the few years lived on this earth and in these chaotic times.

Believe me I know how difficult this may seem sometimes and I certainly am guilty of letting bad circumstances get to me and bring me down for a while. But with God everything is possible and when we let His Spirit to be more a part of our daily lives than it is increasingly fulfilled in us as we actually gain the mind of Christ and peace floods into our daily lives in spite of ourselves.            *Top

A Devotional by Mike Bickle:

“The Holy Spirit intentionally offends people”

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. —1 Corinthians 1:21-24

In contrast to the polite, shy, gentlemanly image we have of the Holy Spirit, He intentionally offends people. It pleased God that the Gentiles were offended by the foolishness of the gospel message and that the Jews were tripped up by the stumbling block of the cross. Paul warned the Galatians that if they required circumcision as demanded by the Jews, then "the offense of the cross has ceased" (Gal. 5:11, NKJV). The implication is that the gospel is sometimes offensive by God’s design. By offending people with His methods, God reveals the pride, self-sufficiency, and feigned obedience that lie hidden in people’s hearts.

{ PRAYER STARTER }

Father, prepare me for the times when Your Spirit offends me or others. Remind me that You may choose offense to reveal my pride, self-sufficiency, or feigned obedience.

Response: I freely admit that there are times when I have been embarrassed and offended by the Holy Spirit usually when I need to make some changes in my life and particularly my attitudes. It seems to come at the most inopportune times and calculated to make one look rather silly which in reality we all are in comparison to the Lord.

It is tragic that sometimes we may back away from making those changes and letting the Spirit have it’s way with us. Some of us would rather make up theological reasons why we don’t need to respond. Believe me I know that one too. After you get a Doctorate in Theology you really think you know something but in reality you have only gained fancy ways of talking about what you really don’t know.

The Holy Spirit is real good at helping you see how ignorant you really are no matter whether you are highly educated like a Paul or practically wise like a Peter.

Come Holy Spirit, Fill us today and show us your ways.

Bishop Pearson was once the pastor of a large Charismatic church with over 6,000 members, use to be on the board of Oral Roberts University, guest host on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and was even part of a group of black religious leaders who use to advise President George W. Bush.

However, 8 years ago he began to teach a false doctrine of universal salvation, that everyone goes to heaven, which he called "the gospel of inclusion".  Soon, he was rejected by other Charismatic and evangelical leaders and the membership in his church fell to only a few hundred. Recently, the church’s property went into foreclosure and was lost.

Response: How the mighty have fallen. This is very sad, at least I feel a sadness born by the Spirit, and it is nothing to celebrate about, which I was ready to do until the Lord let me know how sad he was about it. Yet it should be an example to others and encourage pastors to remain faithful to the Gospel.

One would have hoped that after all the discipline and criticism that Pastor Pearson received that he would have come back into the fold. The only worse thing that could have happened would have been if Pastor Pearson’s church to continued growing as he taught false doctrine.

We do need to continue to remember him in prayer. Remember, it isn’t really over till it’s over.

One can only hope that this would happen to every pastor who continues to teach false and heretical doctrine.           *Top

Joy in the Holy Spirit

Today’s message is from Fuchsia Pickett.

I am told that laughter was a large part of the revival of 1948. It is a part of the move of God today. I know that some people may try to counterfeit this experience. But that doesn’t mean that joy and laughter are not real experiences in God.

I preached recently on the joy of the Lord. I had no idea what the response would be. When I finished preaching, we sang a chorus about the joy of the Lord. The glory of God began to breathe through the church. I saw men bending over in laughter. Children were giggling and teenagers were cackling.

I elbowed my husband and said, “It is happening.” No one had suggested anything or forced that manifestation of joy to happen. The presence of the Lord was simply filling the people and allowing them to experience His joy without inhibition.

We have lived a sour Christianity long enough. When God brings revival this time, we are going to be so happy that we will harass people with our happiness. They will be provoked to jealousy over our carefree, joyful countenances, attitudes and actions.

Joy is not found in worldly pursuits. Most people in the world have already discovered that truth. As the world sees our joy in the Holy Spirit, they will be attracted to God. And, as the presence of God reveals the compassionate heart of Jesus, we will be moved with love toward the unsaved.

TODAY’S PRAYER:

Lord, I don’t want to be a sour-faced Christian who frowns on those who are free enough to enjoy Your presence. Fill me with Your supernatural joy.

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a female guard with a drawn handgun turned a corner and walked toward the gunman and yelled "Surrender!" Bourbonnais said.

The gunman pointed a handgun at the woman and fired three shots, Bourbonnais said. She returned fire and just kept walking toward the gunman pressing off round after round.

The female guard fired off about a dozen shots.

After the gunman went down, Bourbonnais asked the woman, who has only been identified as a volunteer security guard with the church, how she remained so calm and focused.

Bourbonnais said she replied:

"I was asking the Holy Spirit to guide me the entire time."

Response: It might be controversial to some, but I do believe that she was strengthened and inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Hundreds of Christians could have been killed in this incident except for the heroic and ‘inspired’ actions of this woman. What an incredible story! 

(Kudos to Hugh Hewitt @townhall.com where I found it)

*Update: The Security guard shot the gunman multiple times, however, the coroner has ruled the death a suicide. Apparently the shooter finished himself off after the security guard put him down.            *Top

Pastor McKissic is quoted as saying:

“We are praying that God will pour out His Spirit upon us as we gather as a body of Baptist and evangelical believers with diverse viewpoints. We’re also praying that we will leave this conference knowing more about the Holy Spirit as a doctrine, but more importantly we will also ask the Lord to pour out His Spirit upon us at this conference so that we will all fellowship with the Holy Spirit as a person.”

We should be praying for these folks and asking God to show up in a special way. Come Holy Spirit and surprise a bunch of people, in Jesus name, Amen. *Top

Folk music was popular at the time so we slightly changed the words of one Dillon song and two of Simon and Garfunkel’s and had the congregation sing with our guitars instead of the regular hymns. This was way radical at the time, there was no such thing as ‘contemporary’ worship music.

The Jesus people, Calvary Chapel, and Chuck Smith were just getting started 20 miles down the freeway. It was a great experience for the kids. However, the Pastor received all sorts of complaints from some of the elders in the congregation. Many of the comments seem rather funny now.
I read the scripture and preached out of one of the new versions of the Bible (don’t remember which). There were more than a few comments about that choice. Then the guitars were referenced as “tools of the devil”. The Pastor never did tell me what they really said about the music, but it wasn’t good. LOL.

This was a church that sang 3 or 4 good ol’ hymns all written in the good ol’ days of 1700-1900, and accompanied by God’s own instrument, the organ. I was also the regular church organist at the time, but that day I was guilty of leading the congregation with a guitar.

But you know what, the Holy Spirit did show up and some people also told the Pastor that they were blessed. We ended up doing several more services that year and it really did bless the kids that were involved and made them feel like they were really part of the church.

Now back to ‘Hip-Hop’. I can’t imagine how that kind of music can be redeemed. Only God can redeem something like that noise along with all the severe words that seem to attend it. Now I am one of those old fogeys who can’t conceive that anyone could be blessed listening to that kind of ‘worship music’, and the Holy Spirit just reminded me of the time when things were a whole lot different.

If people come to Jesus and can worship with that noise, then may God richly bless them. What do you think? I am especially interested in hearing from some of you younger folk out there, and from some who worship in ethnic or black churches.

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