Joy to the World

Some of you may have heard of Matthew Harding- the internet phenomenon known as "Dancing Matt". The story goes that while working in the video game industry he decided to do more in life than just develop violent games, so he quit his job and began traveling the world. He started making videos of himself dancing in the many cities he visited and they eventually went viral. Matt, through his own initiative, even got a sponsorship from Stride Gum to make a third video of his dancing journeys. Check it out below:

There is something so special about Matt's story (and funky white-man jig) that stirs our hearts with joy and hope. Though people are so diverse, we are all made in the image of God. This is like a prophetic snapshot of the world to come when we will all dance with joy with our Lord and Savior Jesus!

"When I see you again, you'll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you." John 16:22 (The Message)

iBethel TV

The church we are attending (Bethel) has recently begun to broadcast their services online. If you are interested in checking it out, click here. They also post testimonies from people who have been healed. This has been the most explosive year of spiritual growth my family and I have ever experienced. The culture, values, vision, teaching, and miracles of this church and others like it are transforming the world and forcefully advancing the kingdom of God! Even if you are involved in another church, I encourage you to take a look at how the Spirit is moving in this community and receive even more spiritual nourishment for your journey.

"Now all of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it." I Corinthians 12:27 (NLT)

The Shack

I just finished reading "The Shack" by William Paul Young. This fictional story about a father's amazing encounter with God after the tragic death of her daughter came out in 2007. It has risen to the New York Times Best Seller list and has remained their for over 45 weeks despite only an initial $200 marketing budget. It is the most revelatory work of fiction I have ever read regarding the nature of God. There is movement of the Spirit that is changing the world's perception of how people think about the divine. It is a revolution that is revealing the kindness of God and leading many to repentance. Click here to read a NY Times article about the book. I encourage you to read this remarkable story and pass it on to others!

Here is an excerpt from the book from pages 101-102: God (or Papa) speaking to Mackenzie (the main character). "Jesus is fully human. Although he is also fully God, he has never drawn upon his nature as God to do anything. He has only lived out of his relationship with me, living in the very same manner that I desire to be in relationship with every human being. He is just the first to do it to the uttermost-- the first to absolutely trust my life within him, the first to believe in my love and goodness without regard for appearance or consequence."

Mackenzie: "So when he healed the blind?"

Papa: "He did so as a dependent, limited human being trusting in my life and power to be at work within him and through him. Jesus, as a human being, had no power within himself to heal anyone."

Happy Easter!

I am not exactly certain how bunnies and eggs got associated with the celebration of Jesus' resurrection but somehow we got suckered into this tradition yesterday. A local church was hosting an Easter event with live music, food, and about 15,000 plastic eggs dropped from a helicopter. It sounded like fun but the reality was far from it. Hundreds of children and parents circled a wet, muddy field in anticipation for the drop. We were waiting longer than expected because the tiny helicopter couldn't hold all the eggs at once so they decided to drop half the eggs and allow kids six and younger to go first. However, the sight of thousands of eggs dropping from the sky is too much for a child of any age to resist and almost everyone mobbed the middle in a mad dash for oval plastic. Many of the eggs were cracked from their free fall and many of the young children were muddy from their fall as older children were pushing, shoving, and trampling. Isaac thankfully got an egg because we asked a generous (yet disobedient) 10 year old if we could have one of the many eggs in his basket. Isaac was happy!

We pray your Easter was filled with joy, celebration, and love!

Practicing Healing

Too often Christians who pray for healing and do not see any improvement get discouraged, lose faith, or even stop praying altogether. We have only to look at the secular medical field to realize this is not the attitude we should promote. Doctors are said to "practice medicine" because it is a discipline of theory and experimentation, trial and error, and learning and adaptation. For instance, there is no medical cure for cancer, only treatment. Does this mean people simply accept cancer as an incurable disease? On the contrary, billions of dollars are poured into cancer research so that one day no one will suffer from this terrible disease. We will never give up!

Nature reflects our propensity to perservere and survive

I believe it is acceptable for Christians to "practice healing". Even if we do not experience immediate success in our prayers, we have faith because Scripture tells us that our prayers are powerful and effective. We study and seek deeper intimacy because revelation is in the realm of mystery. We invest our time, energy, and resources to become better healers because we love people. We persevere because we serve a God of the impossible. On this Good Friday, may Jesus be our reminder that we only endure suffering for the joy set before us. Let us press in to see greater breakthroughs of the Kingdom overcoming sickness and disease!

"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed." II Corinthians 4:8,9

Objection to Healing

Before moving to Redding, I had developed a belief that God could heal anybody but rarely ever did. My foundation was that God was all-powerful, however my reality was that I never saw a healing. This type of faith resulted in pretty weak prayers where I would pray for those who were sick but never really expect anything miraculous to happen. Over the past year my faith has been growing as I have seen and studied the move of God in people's lives. I now operate out of a belief that Jesus gives us the authority to heal and so I pray in faith even if I don't observe immediate results.

Objections to healing almost always arise because the nature of the miraculous is difficult to understand. One common question regarding healing is "Why do some people get healed and others do not?" Although there is no perfect answer to this question, we must hold on to the fact that Jesus never turned away or failed to heal anyone who came to him in need. He demonstrated that God's will was for all to be made well. Therefore, we must strive to become completely filled by the Holy Spirit as Christ was so that we too may experience his success rate and do even greater works (cf. John 14:12). I will expand more on divine healing as it relates to the medical field in the next post.

"Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases." Psalm 103:2-3

Understanding the Miraculous

Questions inevitably arise when we hear reports of the miraculous or testimonies of healing. For some the supernatural is offensive and dismissed, ridiculed, or rationalized away. For others it stirs up a hunger and excitement for more of God, causing them to seek a deeper relationship. I pray it is the latter for you.

Jesus and the disciples feed the multitudes with five loaves and two fish

One key to opening our hearts and minds to the Spirit can be found in Mark 6:45-52. Immediately following the feeding of the five thousand (vv. 36-44), Jesus sends his disciples to Bethsaida by boat while he went up onto a mountainside to pray. Here is the rest of the story:

⁴⁷When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. ⁴⁸He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, ⁴⁹but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, ⁵⁰because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." ⁵¹Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, ⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

Two details are interesting to consider from this amazing event. First, verse 48 says that Jesus was intending to pass by them as they were struggling with the oars in the strong wind. Why would Jesus want to purposely walk by his disciples while they were having a hard time on the water? Jesus only went into the boat because the disciples saw him and were terrified, thinking he was a ghost. Second, verse 52 notes that the disciples' hearts were hardened because they had not understood about the loaves. What didn't the disciples understand about the feeding of the five thousand?

Perhaps the journey across the rough waters was a test for the disciples to put into action what they should have learned from the loaves and fishes- the increase or miracle came by their hands through a divine directive. Could it be that the the disciples were supposed to calm the winds through the authority given to them through Jesus? It takes a soft and teachable heart to accept the idea that God works through human vessels. Eventually the disciples understood the authority, grace, and power they possessed and began to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit just like Jesus. May we have humble hearts to believe and do the same.

Faith and the Miraculous

When Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth in Mark 6, it is noteworthy that "he couldn’t do any miracles among them because of their unbelief, except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And Jesus was amazed" (vv. 5-6).

Jesus is our healer

The lack certainly wasn't on the part of Jesus. He walked in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, as was evident in his interactions with many people throughout the gospels. In fact, Jesus healed everyone who sought him. The difference with the Nazerites was their failure to fully accept and believe the Messiah. The reason our beliefs are so important is because faith is the catalyst to release the supernatural. If we are not experiencing healings, miracles, and wonders in our Christian walk, could it be a sign that our beliefs are not completely in line with what Jesus taught?

"Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." Romans 12:2 (NLT)

Treasure Hunt Healing

Today my small group decided to go on a treasure hunt at a local crafts store in Redding. We didn't fill out a treasure map but simply went up to people who we felt God was highlighting to us. I saw an older woman (~50 years old) walking around with a subtle limp so I just took a risk and when up to her with my friend Alan. We introduced ourselves and explained what we were doing and asked if she (Marcie) needed prayer for anything. Marcie told us that she had torn a ligament in her knee and was scheduled for surgery in a few days. She gave us permission to pray for her knee right in the store and we just lifted up a short prayer commanding all the ligaments, tendons, and muscles to be restored. Afterwards we asked her to test it out and she could actually feel something different. She no longer walked with a limp and was able to move it in ways she could not just moments earlier with no pain! Marcie was deeply touched and excited to share her news to her family when she got home. God is so good!

"He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing." I Peter 2:24 (The Message)

God's Power

One of the foundational characteristics of God is his power. He can do all things. He creates by simply speaking a word. He is all-powerful or omnipotent. Nothing is too difficult for him.

The power of God is awe-inspiring

Jesus was our model for how to be filled with the awesome power of the Holy Spirit and walk in the supernatural. He walked on water, cast out demons, opened blind eyes, and healed every sickness and disease. He even had the authority to command angels (cf. Matt. 26:53). Jesus not only believed in the power of God but he taught that all believers could walk in that power as well. Unfortunately, much of the church has either rejected that power or created a theology that renders Christians virtually impotent. What do you believe?

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you" Acts 1:8

Testimonies from Southern California

I just returned from our mission trip to Fontana, CA with 12 other team members. We were invited by a Guatemalan/Mexican church called Verbo to teach and minister to their congregation for three days. The people were hungry for the supernatural, although they did not have much experience with it. Without going into great detail, God moved powerfully and touched the church so deeply that it will never be the same. There were prophecies, divine encounters, angelic visitations, salvations, and healings. We haven't had a chance to record all of the testimonies yet but there were so many amazing healings. Here is a brief listing of some them:

A grandmother, diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in her leg, felt pain and fire as she was receiving prayer and the tumor disappeared!

The grandmother's son (who came the night after hearing about her mother's healing) recently had surgery to remove gall stones and was simply experiencing the normal pain from post-op. As he was being prayed for, he started to cry and said that all the pain left his body. He was also supposed to have hip replacement surgery but the pain from his hip disappeared during the first prayer. We didn't even pray for his hip!

A woman with psoriasis (skin condition) had some sort of oil miraculously form in her hands as she was being prayed for. The next day her skin was completely healed!

A father who was living with extreme pain in his hip for 35 years and was on strong medications was reluctant to come up for prayer. But because his wife was powerfully touched by God, he came forward and all the pain left his body! His son was also healed of a shoulder injury and he broke down in his father's arms sobbing at what they had just experienced together.

"He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness." Matthew 10:1