God has really been challenging me this past year or so about real faith. Of the many meanings for faith, He has really highlighted one aspect of it to me: that of complete trust. To have faith in God is so much more then hope, it is a firm belief in whom He is: His character, integrity, and person. If I am praying for healing that is not based upon Gods integrity as revealed by His Word and Spirit but rather pray based on mere hope, is this what we can really call faith?
In this time as Gods Spirit seems to be doing an acceleration of new things in the Body, we really need to start trusting Him! I am of firm belief that true ministry stems out of intimacy with Him and so this is where faith should stem from also. By all means we are to be discerning and to test all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21); yet from what place is such testing done - fear or faith? Do we dismiss what God wants to do out of fear that the devil may be involved, or do we trust Him to guide us into all truth as promised (John 16:13) ? Do we have greater faith in the devils ability to deceive or in God’s ability to reveal truth? Sometimes I think we can be inclined to test the things of God in a manner where our own intellect or understanding is the benchmark, yet this is a bit of a worry when we remember that this is of coarse our finite minds trying to confine an Infinite God! Lets continue to test by the Word, Discernment, and Fruit, yet lets shift perspectives on what testing is, from fear to faith: let us not recoil in fear that the Devil is on the prowl, but march forward, confident that if something is amiss, He will show us!
Bill Johnson of Bethel Church fame (http://www.ibethel.org/) says “Christ was not afraid that when He would return He would find people who made mistakes; no, His concern was that He would return to find people with no faith (Luke 18:8)”.
-Paul
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Angelic Encounter?
Since being acquinted with the Holy Spirit, a close friend of mine is becoming accustomed to life in the supernatural. Recently while praying or reading his bible, he has seen "an unatural rainbow move from being in its original arch shape to then forming a perfect circle" (check Revelation 4:3), and the shekinah Glory of God - "It was awesome and it was like golden lights and bronze lights radiating together in perfect harmony while kept woven together by this brighter than the sun magnesium fire-like light fusion that had probably a hint of chrysolite but its like a colour I have never seen before".
He recently recounted a close encounter of the angelic kind which took place approximately 4 years ago. He writes: "If I was as spiritually mature and not so sceptical back then when I received what was most likely an angelic encounter, I would have asked the lady many more questions and I would have made sure I was more polite!". This is the story of his visitation:
"It was about 12:45pm and I was taking the tram home from high school but strangely enough we had to get off this tram and get on another - something which has never happened before. The next tram took a long time in arriving and this old German lady just struck up a conversation with me. I thought it was odd that she spoke to me - a perfect stranger. We talked about things in general - the weather, the tram arriving late and why we had to change trams. Then we slowly began to drift away from each other and then the tram arrived.
In an attempt to avoid talking to her again I sat right at the front of the tram and then, after a few moments she comes waltzing over and sits next to me and says "ahh there you are!" And starts nudging me with her elbow. I laughed and thought to myself “this woman is crazy!” We then spoke to each other again right up until the tram stopped across the road from the shopping centre. At the tram stop she talked to me for a good 40 minutes and then as I was politely trying to walk home via the shopping centre she started walking with me again - still talking. I thought it was extremely weird; it was as if I were her grandson. We crossed the very busy street, walked passed a few buildings and went into the shopping centre together and slowly walked into the food court. It was at this point she asked me, "Do you pray?"
To that I replied "yes, of course I pray." And I think I asked if she did and I think she said "Oh yes, prayer is very important, never stop praying…never stop tee hee hee!" Then I told her "Look lady it was nice talking with you but I must go, it is getting late".
Strangely enough she had this great smile and then took my left hand and gently rubbed it and said "you do take care of yourself, God bless you" at this point she was facing the entrance to the stairs of the cinema and turned her head around and kept smiling at me as I was walking away and I kept turning my head around and still saw her from about 25 metres as she was smiling at me and then I turned around again and I am telling you the truth, she was not there and it was as though she disappeared and while she was walking and talking with me, it was as though no one else could see her but me. She was quite mysterious because:
1). She asked me about spiritual things (praying etc) and it was if she already knew. After all, why would she take such a risk and ask me if I prayed if I would laugh at her? She must have known.
2). The way she spoke to me was as if I had known her all my life.
3). How she stood in the middle of the food court and it seriously did not seem that anyone else could see her and therefore she was not self-conscious of just standing there and smiling at me.
4). The way I turned around and saw her smiling at me, looked away and turned around again and she was gone still puzzles me to this day. She did not walk off to the shops or anything straight after talking to me. Instead she just stood in the middle of the food court and no one else looked at her at all. I cannot understand how I could be looking at her one second, look away, then look again and she had gone in an instant!
When I got home that day I told my parents about what had happened and what is the first thing mum says to me other than, “she was probably an angel in disguise!”
I beleive God has confirmed in both our spirits that this was indeed an angel in the form of an elderly lady. God has a sense of humor. To Him be the glory!
"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it" (Hebrews 13:2).
- Kym
He recently recounted a close encounter of the angelic kind which took place approximately 4 years ago. He writes: "If I was as spiritually mature and not so sceptical back then when I received what was most likely an angelic encounter, I would have asked the lady many more questions and I would have made sure I was more polite!". This is the story of his visitation:
"It was about 12:45pm and I was taking the tram home from high school but strangely enough we had to get off this tram and get on another - something which has never happened before. The next tram took a long time in arriving and this old German lady just struck up a conversation with me. I thought it was odd that she spoke to me - a perfect stranger. We talked about things in general - the weather, the tram arriving late and why we had to change trams. Then we slowly began to drift away from each other and then the tram arrived.
In an attempt to avoid talking to her again I sat right at the front of the tram and then, after a few moments she comes waltzing over and sits next to me and says "ahh there you are!" And starts nudging me with her elbow. I laughed and thought to myself “this woman is crazy!” We then spoke to each other again right up until the tram stopped across the road from the shopping centre. At the tram stop she talked to me for a good 40 minutes and then as I was politely trying to walk home via the shopping centre she started walking with me again - still talking. I thought it was extremely weird; it was as if I were her grandson. We crossed the very busy street, walked passed a few buildings and went into the shopping centre together and slowly walked into the food court. It was at this point she asked me, "Do you pray?"
To that I replied "yes, of course I pray." And I think I asked if she did and I think she said "Oh yes, prayer is very important, never stop praying…never stop tee hee hee!" Then I told her "Look lady it was nice talking with you but I must go, it is getting late".
Strangely enough she had this great smile and then took my left hand and gently rubbed it and said "you do take care of yourself, God bless you" at this point she was facing the entrance to the stairs of the cinema and turned her head around and kept smiling at me as I was walking away and I kept turning my head around and still saw her from about 25 metres as she was smiling at me and then I turned around again and I am telling you the truth, she was not there and it was as though she disappeared and while she was walking and talking with me, it was as though no one else could see her but me. She was quite mysterious because:
1). She asked me about spiritual things (praying etc) and it was if she already knew. After all, why would she take such a risk and ask me if I prayed if I would laugh at her? She must have known.
2). The way she spoke to me was as if I had known her all my life.
3). How she stood in the middle of the food court and it seriously did not seem that anyone else could see her and therefore she was not self-conscious of just standing there and smiling at me.
4). The way I turned around and saw her smiling at me, looked away and turned around again and she was gone still puzzles me to this day. She did not walk off to the shops or anything straight after talking to me. Instead she just stood in the middle of the food court and no one else looked at her at all. I cannot understand how I could be looking at her one second, look away, then look again and she had gone in an instant!
When I got home that day I told my parents about what had happened and what is the first thing mum says to me other than, “she was probably an angel in disguise!”
I beleive God has confirmed in both our spirits that this was indeed an angel in the form of an elderly lady. God has a sense of humor. To Him be the glory!
"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it" (Hebrews 13:2).
- Kym
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Fresh manna
Monday, December 25, 2006
Vision, 26/12/06
The Lord showed me a small boy, a boy who lived in poverty; he was William Booth. A mighty angel of the Lord descended from the heavens and gave William a seed, this seed was The Salvation Army. When the right season had come, William planted this seed, and behold it grew into a great tree, a tree of solid root and foundation, a tree of influence. Out of the tree came ants, ants whom are the soldiers of that day. Each ant had a lantern, a light that it carried. The ants brought light to Great Britain, and soon, the light of holiness, righteousness, and justice reached the world.
After a time, some of these ants began to move 'off track' and gaps in line from the original Army tree began to eventuate. There were black sparrows that would come and eat some ants, whilst others were swept away in black rain. Still the light shone all over the world as the ants did His work, but the lineage to the original tree was far and few between, only a faithful few still came directly from the tree.
The Lord showed me a Mighty Being, an angel of Christ Himself I do not know, but He carried with Him three rods, and came to the tree. One rod was burning on fire, but was not being consumed; the second rod was hollow, and a rushing wind passed straight through it; the third rod was made of bronze, and it was drenched and dripping in blood. The Being then, one at a time, tapped the tree with each rod, and then ascended once more. There was a great stirring in the tree, for it was on fire, breathing of wind, and covered in blood; the tree grew in strength and height, it was prominent, mighty, majestic, and influential, it became a curse to the world, one that was attacked, scoffed at, and persecuted - yet it stood tall, proud, and holy. As all this was happening multitudes of ants, far more then before, stormed out of the tree, an army that had a the heart of a warrior, an unrelenting uncompromising force. And I heard the Lord saying "This is my Army, in them I am well pleased".
I saw these soldiers in human form, they were an old woman, making soup in a kitchen; they were a woman, holding up a prostitute and bathing her; they were a boy, laying hands on the sick and healing them; they were a young girl interceding with Kingdom authority; they were an old man, raising the dead, they were a man, willing to stand, and stand some more.
- Paul
After a time, some of these ants began to move 'off track' and gaps in line from the original Army tree began to eventuate. There were black sparrows that would come and eat some ants, whilst others were swept away in black rain. Still the light shone all over the world as the ants did His work, but the lineage to the original tree was far and few between, only a faithful few still came directly from the tree.
The Lord showed me a Mighty Being, an angel of Christ Himself I do not know, but He carried with Him three rods, and came to the tree. One rod was burning on fire, but was not being consumed; the second rod was hollow, and a rushing wind passed straight through it; the third rod was made of bronze, and it was drenched and dripping in blood. The Being then, one at a time, tapped the tree with each rod, and then ascended once more. There was a great stirring in the tree, for it was on fire, breathing of wind, and covered in blood; the tree grew in strength and height, it was prominent, mighty, majestic, and influential, it became a curse to the world, one that was attacked, scoffed at, and persecuted - yet it stood tall, proud, and holy. As all this was happening multitudes of ants, far more then before, stormed out of the tree, an army that had a the heart of a warrior, an unrelenting uncompromising force. And I heard the Lord saying "This is my Army, in them I am well pleased".
I saw these soldiers in human form, they were an old woman, making soup in a kitchen; they were a woman, holding up a prostitute and bathing her; they were a boy, laying hands on the sick and healing them; they were a young girl interceding with Kingdom authority; they were an old man, raising the dead, they were a man, willing to stand, and stand some more.
- Paul
Friday, December 22, 2006
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