At the Wednesday 10:00 AM intercession set, Lou Engle got us all rocking. Okay, it was the Holy Spirit, but you know what I mean. At one point, he mentioned that he felt like God had just told him that the pluralism of our country, the idea that we should welcome all cultures and beliefs, was actually going to be used by God to reach the world with the gospel. Let me explain. He compared it to Jerusalem at Pentecost, when Jews and others from all over the Roman empire were in town. The Holy Spirit falls for the first time on the church and people are hearing the gospel in their language and with clarity. (Acts 2) So, when God pours out revival in the U.S. in a similar manner, “bam”, all these pluralists get swept in to the kingdom. Lou announced this from the mic and we prayed into it with energy. Hey why not? God’s ways are higer than ours!
A commentary on how loud it can be in the Prayer Room. Week before last, we had a HUGE thunder and lightening storm and it knocked out power at the base for over two hours. It was during the 6:00 AM intercession set and the team did a great job of adjusting. The only lights were the emergency lights along the side walls and the only music was a viloin, a guitar and voices. It was so good! To me, it was an object lesson in how unimportant electronics can be. At one point, after about an hour or so, the power came on for about 10 seconds, then went off again. Half of the room erupted in applause when it didn’t stay on. Nuff said.
So today in the prayer room, I’m reading Paul Keith Davis’ article on the theme of the
Joshua Generation”. I thinkit is titled “Moses My Servant is Dead”. The point is this – Moses lived 120 years, then his time was done. It was time to actually go take the Promised Land and that was Joshua and the next generation of Israelite’s job. Davis likened this to the history of the divine healing movement and the pursuit of apostolic, first century Christianity that was birthed in the middle of the 1800’s. He referred to the Bethshane Conference on Healing and Holiness held in June of 1885 in London as the beginning of the healing movement, that saw it’s last great manifestation in the 40’s and 50’s in the U.S. At the time he wrote this, he was in Wales doing a conference near the sight of the outbreak of the Welsh Revival 100 years before. (Davis was there in 2005). I was struck by the history of God releasing healing to His people over the last 120 plus yeasrs, starting with this conference in 1885 with William Boardman and A.B. Simpson and going through John Alexander Dowie, John Lake, and on into William Branham. Here at IHOP-KC, God has spoken of releasing a healing movement that will have such authority on it that, “no disease known to man will stand before this people”. “This people” is the Joshua generation that Davis is speaking, a people so dedicated to being intimate friends with Jesus that the power and authority won’t distract them, nor will the money that will come forth from this unprecedented movement.
Two weeks ago, I had been reading Gordon Lindsay’s book on Dowie, and all I can say is, God is really going out of his way to speak to me about how important divine healing is to Him. It is a foundational piece, I believe, of the last great revival that is coming in the earth, and more and more of us should be asking God for this gift. More than that, we should be asking God to draw us into greater intimacy with Him, for there we can become this “Joshua Generation”, this people Paul Cain described prophetically as a “people without mixture”. God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and He is restoring all things to His church in preparation for the return of Jesus. I want to get with it!
That ’s the question. If we buy into the idea that there is an Israel somewhere that is still near and dear to God’s heart, is what we see now in that nation called Israel the same thing? I’d say yes and no. Yes, because there are Jewish people living there that make up the majority of that nation. They are living in the land promised them by God and given to them by their natural forebears centuries ago. No, because not every Jewish person living there will say yes to Jesus. That is the key deal. There is so much prophetic scripture about Jesus returning to rule the world from Jerusalem, so there has to actually be a Jersualem to return to. That’s why the reestablishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 was such a phenomenal event. For nearly 2000 years there had been no Israel or Jerusalem on the map in any way, shape or form. Scholars were puzzled for centuries and came up with some “interesting” interpretations of scripture to reconcile with there being no Israel or Jerusalem on the map. Now there is, and people have trouble believing they are the same folks. One key may be this - while Romans 11:26 says “…so all Israel will be saved (delivered)” this does not mean everyone living in Israel now will go to heaven. The door to eternal life is still narrow, meaning one must accept Jesus Christ as savior and Lord to be able to enter in. Not all Jewish people will do this – but some will. (Romans 11:4,5) So pray for Israel and the peace of Jersualem. Just like with our gentile friends and relatives, you never know who might say yes.
God has been opening my eyes to His people Israel the last few months. I’m not sure when or how it started, maybe just from being in the Thursday 10:00 AM intercession sets for Israel. All I know is that I’m seeing some Scriptures that are so plain on the subject, I wonder at how I never realized this before. Two of them are Romans 11, where it is abundantly clear that we are now one “tree” with them and Ephesians 2. The Romans 11 passage makes it clear that they were God’s original olive tree in the earth and we gentiles have been grafted into their “trunk”, much like a fruit tree can have different branches grafted into it to allow for various fruits to come from one tree. Also, in the Ephesians 2 passage, Paul clearly says God has made ”one new man” from the two of us, with the barrier between us having been removed in Christ. Wow. So what does mean about the present day nation of Israel? Surely that isn’t the same group, is it? I’ll save that for another post, but for now, check out these two passages and see what you think.
I read an interesting article in the Kansas City Star yesterday about George Tiller and his “formative” years as a doctor. According to the article, Dr. Tiller’s dad did abortions in the 50’s and the 60’s. The article mentioned that his dad started doing it out of guilt from not doing an abortion for a woman who ultimately died. Then, when his father died he found out about this and eventually Tiller started doing this himself. He actually intended to close out his father’s practice and become a dermatologist, but, in the end, he kept it open and continued the abortion “service” his dad had provided. I guess the point is, the article more or less presents Tiller’s start in the abortion business as a response to finding out his dad did it and why he got started. In the end, it was humanistic compassion that made him think he should serve women by aborting their unwanted children. Hence, the late term abortions as well. Women would find out their child would have birth defects, and he would abort them. Wow, all this from finding out his dad did abortions and never let the family know it.
I’m at the Monday, 10:00 AM right now. We are praying for the response of the nation to the murder of abortionist George Tiller yesterday in Wichita, Kansas. Obviously this is a heinous act, as heinous as the late term abortions he performed. But here is the key difference – this is NOT the heart of the Pro-Life movement in this country. I know of no one who is Pro-Life that wants to see abortionists murdered. Rather, our desire is to see themsaved and transformed in their thinking. For me personally, I’m grieved that this man was sent into eternity unprepared. Anyone who dies without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is destined for Hell, and, if you’ve heard Bill Weise’s testimony of Hell, you would not desire for anyone to be there for even a little while, never mind eternity.
I invite you to pray for George Tiller’s family, for the family of the one who killed him and for this nation. There has already been an editorial in the Kansas City Star decrying Pro-Life people and and “assuming” that we are happy in this murder. Here’s an excerpt:
Tiller’s murder stains anti-abortion leaders
By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
The outspoken leaders of anti-abortion groups can save their feeble “we’re shocked and saddened” statements. They are privately pleased at George Tiller’s murder on Sunday.
They have wanted Tiller out of the way for years. He has been fought in the courts, and won. He has been shot before, and survived.
But not this time, not when a (likely) anti-abortion nut got too close and killed Tiller at a church service.
People who genuinely abhor the killing of unborn children — and there are many of these well-meaning people in the anti-abortion movement — have a right to be very worried right now.
Yes, there is likely to be a backlash against the anti-abortion movement from Americans who abhor the killing of someone just because he or she disagrees with your view.
George Tiller performed a legal service as a physician. Yes, it was controversial, and it endangered his life.
But the kind of movement that wanted Tiller dead finally succeeded in their cause on Sunday. It’s a stain on their cause, one that will last many years.- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
“Privately pleased”?? This is what Pro-Abortion folks will inevitably say. This is what must be prayed against, for no one but God will be able to alter this opinion.
The above is the title of a Mike Bickle book I’m reading. Overall I think it is the best summary of what IHOP and the prayer movement as expressed here is all about. I’m particularly grateful for the treatment of the issue of the fasted lifestyle and how that impacts those around you. Bickle points out that the typical pattern is that people warn you that you are “extreme” and “unbalanced”. If that doesn’t get your attention, then you can end up in the “you are demonized” category. Check out the commentary on John the Baptist in Matthew 11:18 for proof on that one. It has helped me in particular because I have struggled with the tension this has brought on my life from family and friends. I’m coming to a place where I’m more at peace with the accusations, realizing that it is part of the territory and that it is those very folks that I’m praying for. Forerunners are meant to help break out of old ways of doing things and break into the new, and that is what the prayer movement is all about – breaking us out of where are to prepare us for what is coming.
I’m still amazed at the videos Morningstar is putting out on the Todd Bentley thing. They certainly have been wide ranging, including the primacy of the Word of God and spontaneous healing ministry from Todd. I sense they are getting a ton of email comments of all kinds and this may be driving some of what they are doing. I haven’t seen the latest ones yet, but there is a three parteron “Learning from Mistakes”. I’ll probably have a comment after viewing those, but for now, I think we are seeing a new trend in Morningstar’s ministry, getting away from print/webpage only “written” material and going with more web posted video. We’ll see.
I just watched Todd Bentley’s video apology to the Revival Alliance, Peter Wagner’s apostolic network that, I thought, brought some covering and leadership to the Lakeland revival. First of all, I applaud Todd for apologizing to those guys and seeking to clear the air around them, so to speak. Todd made it clear that they were not endorsing him as a leader or the mistakes he made during the move, especially divorcing his wife. In fact, he mentioned that that same evening, he and Shonnah were committed to working through their on going marital issues. However, many have questioned Peter Wagner and the other leaders that were there over “getting involved with/endorsing” Lakeland and Todd apologized for the grief his stuff has caused them.
I was a little puzzled over Rick’s statement that the Revival Alliance never meant to give leadership/oversight to the move. Rick said they just wanted to “stand with” Todd and cheer on the revival, mentioning somewhat belatedly that they would bring correction and direction if needed. That wasn’t my understanding from what Peter Wagner has said, but he and Rick have talked a lot so I’m sure I’m ill-informed. Nevertheless, I do remember them commissioning Todd on the platform as a leader o this thing. Don’t get me wrong, I believe their hearts for unity in the body and revival are right on, but if you are going to communicate about specific issues, you need to make sure you get it straight. Maybe that’s it, getting it straight means this is what they always intended. Okay, color me “straightened”. Anyway, I again, want to applaud Todd’s heart to admit his wrong and apologize. I do believe he wants to do this right and I know he is submitted to the process. Looking forward to watching this play out.
