Forerunners get filled early
Yesterday, several of us who are involved in leading worship at our church had a time of targeted prayer for a worship team of junior high students at Olivia’s school. This was the 2nd such time of prayer that we’ve had for young worshipers in the last few days. We laid hands on them and spoke what the Lord gave us for them. It was a powerful time and we’re recognizing that God is moving on them specifically, but on younger and younger people in general. I mentioned a bit about this in the recent post about the Elijah Generation teaching by Steve Freeman.
This morning I was re-reading the most recent post in the monthly European intercessor’s blog, The Daywatch, by Roger Mitchell. In it, he’s studying the work of the Holy Spirit, using the book of Luke, to help us understand who the Holy Spirit is/what He does so that we can better recognize what He is doing NOW (and follow Him…duh!). The first thing mentioned in what I was reading is that the Holy Spirit is the Preparer. Roger underlined this by noting that it was the Holy Spirit who literally put the embryonic Jesus in a teen-aged girl.
As I’m studying German now (yea!), I thought reading through Luke 1 in my German Bible would be a good connection to this whole topic. Reading your Bible in a foreign language that you’re in the process of learning is a fabulous tool…not only for the language acquisition, but for opening up spiritual insights. You are forced to read at a different pace and frequently, you’re faced with translation differences that give you pause…to…reconsider…what…you…think…you…already…know.
This morning my (exceedingly) slow paced reading, and the focus of the work of the Holy Spirit caused me to stop at Luke 1:15 where the angel tells Zachariah that John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb. It’s not clear when exactly this happened, but in Luke 1:41 it says that John the Baptist lept in Elisabeth’s womb and that Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit at that time.
I’m guessing that John got the Holy Spirit before Elisabeth and that his reaction to recognizing Jesus was the key for his (aged, barren) mother to get filled. I think this is a pattern for our times!
Through listening to Mike Bickle and teachings from IHOP, I’ve been familiar for awhile with the concept of the Forerunner and the spirit of the Forerunner coming on a whole generation and seeing people getting on fire at younger and younger ages. That’s typically been filed in the “yes-Lord,-I’m-glad-you’re-doing-that-somewhere-on-the-earth” folder. Well, I think what’s already raining down in different places on the earth is starting to sprinkle here!
If John the Baptist is the obvious model for the Forerunner, I think the “younger and younger” manifestation is probably the normal progression. Watch out pregnant women!!!
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Stewardship – God’s original plan?
I’m not quite sure where all this topic will go, and I’ll probably write a few posts about it as I think it requires a multi-faceted exploration. These musings were provoked by some blog posts by Martin Scott a couple of months ago. He posited stewardship as the appropriate governing perspective (my terminology) for the Body of Christ over against nationalism and patriotism. I really liked that idea straight away as it put words to the uneasiness I’ve often felt with patriotism; particularly in the way I’ve found it expressed within the Body of Christ.
Simply questioning patriotism in many circles is unheard of and indeed negatively provocative. I’m less interesting in stirring up a hornets nest however, by attacking patriotism, per se, than I am in exploring what stewardship could really mean in its fullest expression. My thought is that for the follower of Jesus, living a full expression of stewardship would make patriotism a lot less energizing.
Obviously the working definition of all these words can be hard to pin down and can lead to a fair amount of heated discussion. I’ll try to explain my terms as I’m using them as I go. That doesn’t mean everybody has to agree with me, of course.
I titled this Stewardship – God’s original plan? because I believe this really begins back in Genesis 1:26,28 with God’s creation of the cosmos and man. I believe that God gave Adam (and then with Eve) a small (?) parcel of land to steward (Genesis 2:8,15). I tend to think that the Garden of Eden was a “partially tamed” land to teach mankind some essential truths about how this whole thing – life, creation, relationship with God, etc. – was supposed to work…with the idea that these experiential understandings were to be applied to the rest of God’s creation. What was it that they were to understand? Certainly a lot more than I can imagine, but here’s a short list oriented to what I’d like to discuss:
To summarize, He set up Creation and Man in Creation to have a symbiotic relationship. Man helps Creation flourish and Creation’s life becomes life-giving for Man. All of this is intended to be in a context of a growing relationship with God as Father. The joyful, probably limitless, treasure hunt that God has instilled in the created order is there to provide us and Him joy as we seek His heart and and He reveals clues to us as to how His Creation works. He desires that we mature and become more and more creative and loving just like Him. I also happen to think that this maturation process is part of preparing a Bride for Jesus…i.e. a creative Body of Christ to be equally yoked to the Creator for eternity…but that’s another story!
More next time…
Technorati : Garden of Eden, Genesis, Martin Scott, nationalism, patriotism, stewardship Del.icio.us : Garden of Eden, Genesis, Martin Scott, nationalism, patriotism, stewardship
What you know will keep you from what you need to know
I really like this teaching from Bill Johnson. It’s not that it reveals a great truth, but it reveals how great truth is acquired and implemented in our life. It’s a sort of primer on how God reveals Himself in “layers” and how a new depth of truth will often appear to challenge an existing truth. It’s this challenge…this paradox…that requires that we keep our focus on the God who is THE TRUTH and not on our intellectual grasp of some concept. We have to seek the God who gives the revelation to experience a new level of anointing and experience in Him to allow us to live in the new truth. That’s not the way we think in the West, unfortunately. We are (I know I am) enamored and satisfied with new concepts…to the point where we don’t actually live it out. This satisfaction actually causes you to resist what God would reveal to you.
So, open your heart to what God would reveal to you in this teaching!
Experiencing the Great Things (mp3 25.5Mb)
Technorati : Bethel, Bill Johnson, How to learn, Knowledge, Revelation Del.icio.us : Bethel, Bill Johnson, How to learn, Knowledge, Revelation
Catching up with the Elijah Generation
Just yesterday, here in France, we were praying for the various youth worship teams that are springing up at the same time that there seems to be a generation of youth that are rising up with such a profound anger in their hearts. These, “angry” youth (also in our Christian school!) unconsciously have a certain “vengeance” in their heart because they grew up without parental love. This is taken out on the teachers in our Christian school. Our teachers have the opportunity to be the vehicles of healing and reconciliation with respect to the generational divide sown so deeply in so many of today’s youth. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to love those who provoke you constantly…we all know that. What we’re seeing, however, is that a new anointing for worship is rising in younger and younger age groups. One of the things that comes with worship is the spirit of revelation…a revelation of who God is and who He has made us to be and a revelation of how we express Him in the times in which we live.
This worshiping generation is preparing the way of the Lord. I believe they come, as it is spoken of in Malachi 4:5-6, in the spirit of Elijah…the result being generational and family reconciliation. I believe this spirit of Elijah will, among other things, touch our teachers so that they realize that they can be the “fathers” whose hearts are restored to their children (their students) so that the reciprocal heart change can also take place and touch broken families and restore the destiny of a chosen generation.
This morning I re-listened to a teaching given by Steve Freeman this summer at Bread of Life church in Indianapolis about the Forerunner Generation that is arising now. It’s a wonderful teaching that begins with an overview of Church History that will stir your spirit. Steve then lays out the Forerunner Movement and the acceleration of God’s activity in the earth right now. It came together in my spirit that we’re seeing that right here…right now with this generation of young worshipers. Exciting times!
A Generation Calling – August 2009 – mp3 22Mb
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Living with a God who moves
In sports there’s an axiom that says “Dance with the one who brung ya.” It’s often spouted by coaches, having just won a championship, who are justifying why they continued to play their star player who seemed to be having a bad start in the championship game. The idea is that when you understand the basis of your success, don’t screw it up by messing around with the formula…even if the formula doesn’t seem to be working.
In this teaching by Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, CA, the idea of how a move of God was sustained in the early church is put forth. The premise is that the move of God that lasted a generation had a foundation. The foundation was Acts 2:42.
(The title given by Bethel to this teaching is “Continuous Revival”. But, because of the way “revival” is used in many different contexts – its current “semantic cloud” if you will, I admit that I’m not a fan of the word right now. I find that it “mis-communicates” more often than really conveying its fullest/highest definition. )
Teaching – mp3 – 22Mb
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Got Bethel?
I’m about to start posting several audio teachings from Bethel Church in Redding, California, but I’m putting this post up first. Why? Well, it says on their site that the sermons downloaded from their Sermon of the Week site are free to copy provided you give the proper attribution. I’ve written once asked them about posting a message on my site, but never got a response. So, based on the “right to copy” statement on their site, I’m going to start posting several of their messages, BUT, should they come and ask me to remove them, I will. If so, I want to make sure that this post remains to let as many people as possible know about this incredible well of rich Kingdom resources that is bubbling over in Redding, CA and how you can taste a whole lot of it directly yourselves.
I’ve been impacted by various teachers during my life but there are certainly places and ministries where God has made extraordinary deposits of His Blessing and Spirit (though I happen to believe that God is waiting with joyful anticipation for every spot on the earth to cry out for and search for and experience the same “open heaven” blessing that, up till now, seems the exception more than the rule). Mike Bickle and the International House of Prayer in Kansas City was probably the first to have made a significant impact on me with his 3 20-part series of audio teachings on The Life of David, the Song of Solomon and the Bride of Christ. Rick Joyner and Morningstar Ministries in Fort Mill, South Carolina has marked me with various books and their worship anointing. The Vineyard and Hillsong movements have obviously been hugely impacting in the realm of worship. Arthur Burk and Plumbline Ministries with their Motivational Gifts teachings and other great insights have fed me as well. In the last 2 years or so, however, the bulk of my “deep drinking” has clearly come from Bethel Church in Redding.
On their site, they have 2 methods of obtaining regular free content:
I strongly encourage you to sign up for both of these (free) and let down your bucket into the well!
Technorati : Bethel, Bill Johnson, Revival, Sermon of the Week, Teaching, Wells, open heaven Del.icio.us : Bethel, Bill Johnson, Revival, Sermon of the Week, Teaching, Wells, open heaven
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