Doug Stanton quote

You guys should check out his revival meetings. www.dsmi.org

Last night he shared a sweet story about a dead boy raised back to life. One quote of his stuck out, "God, when will I see the dead raised in my ministry?" "When you love the whomsoever and would pray over them to be raised just as fervently as you would if it was your wife."

My current thought process

Don't know what its worthwhile or even if I'll agree with what I wrote in two weeks but figured I'd write this out at least. And maybe it doesn't apply to anyone else but is just what's on my mind temporarily...
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I think we spend our life thinking we are waiting on God for this or that. I think the reality is quite the opposite. I think God can't wait to overflow His goodness on to us. The problems are multiple. Number one - we can think goodness is to be manifested by giving things that are truly empty but have become idols in our lives. So God could never be good by blessing in those ways - rather those things need to be ripped out of our clinging hands so that we don't live in false security(don't glaze over those last two sentences I'm pretty sure there is something good in there). Number two - true blessing is more of Him. His presence and revelation/ability to walk in the truth are more blessing than anything else. Truly they are the only things that one doesn't look back on and say that they were not let down by them because they didn't really satisfy. This is not to say God doesn't bless financially, relationally, or in an assortment of other ways but these seem to be secondary...

I think prayer has all too often turned into a negotiating or counseling session towards God. I was watching the Part 2 to the Indescribable video (do watch it - it is incredible) and the host was talking about the bigness of the universe but then how the Psalmist records how God holds it in His hands. It really seems the Lord is waiting to let more of Him flow into and through us as we will not become ruined by pride or seek power or use power to cause division, etc. by what He has already done. I don't know that we have to coax or advise God into promoting us. Honestly, I think like any daddy, he'd love to see it occur with His kids. So I think if we just set ourselves about His business of loving others in whatever way helps them in their walk with the Lord, then He'll take care of my business. This is not to say one shouldn't believe for different things to occur, but at the same time, to just walk in His rest, knowing that His Word does not fail and that if his eye is on the sparrow, He is certainly watching over me. It is that moment- by- moment walking in trust of Daddy and pure love towards others (not people-pleasing, fear, manipulating, etc.) that seem to be at the large core of life in the Spirit and both are equally impossible to do on a consistent basis when we walk in the flesh. That is why to live in the Spirit is so contrary to the flesh... But when one is walking in those two is when peace overflows all of life.

Anyway, my point was only that if God could speak and entire galaxies that are incredibly complex were made and spoke again and DNA which is as complicated as a metropolitan city were made, then I'm pretty sure He can take care of my life. The only question we each can ask is, what do I need to have Him grow me in and in what way do I need to yeild to Him so that He can bless and entrust me in a greater way with more of Him?

Necessity of relationship

I think the Lord made us with the necessity for relationship with Him. The church likes to use the word relationship. However, relationship is truly what it is. It is only as we relate truly, openly, and honestly with Him and see Him for who He is that life begins to change. While we have God-in-a-box, He will show up in the manner that it seems that He is allowed to. Oh, but there is so much more to life in Christ. If one wants to have only formula Christianity of putting in time of the various Christian activities on the "to do" list in order to feel like a "good" Christian they can. Oh, but there is so much more. It is when one is truly still in His presence and just relates about life and encounters Him that one's view of God can begin to change. There is a great danger in reading the Bible from one's denominational lens. Instead of having the Holy Spirit reveal the Father and His glory and how He works to the reader they simply read the Word of God for how they have always read it and simply see how it agrees with all of their ideas about God. It is truly incredible what can happen when Bible reading does not become about putting in a certain amount of time, reading one's preconceptions of God into the page, reading and only trying to run around in the flesh trying to do what can only be done in the Spirit, etc. but becomes about truly encountering God and discovering who He is. As God becomes bigger through honest relating and encountering Him in Bible reading, the Holy Spirit seems to make the application so much easier. However, with no encounter, a small view of God, and brief time limits rather than just enjoying spending time with Him, application of what is in the Word is burdensome and impossible. It is only in time with Him that He reveals His heart to us, which in turn starts to change our hearts to be more like His.

Upton Lyrics

So I've been listening to Jason Upton a lot lately (I'm sure those of you who know me well are shocked) and there are just some incredibly annointed lyrics on his cds. Here's a few.
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"If the whole wide world is staring straight at you. They can't see Me... I want them to know Me I want to show them my glory, but they can't see Me." - Dying Star (from Dying Star)

"We better trash our idols if we want to be
In the army of the Lord
And the greatest idol is you and me,
We better get on the threshing floor" - also from Dying Star

"But it’s just plain idolatry, when God can’t have all of me
I want to live for the will of God
Oh Lord, I want to follow
With all of my mind, all my heart and all my soul
I want to follow you Oh Lord" - I Will Follow (from Dying Star)

"Jacob had a dream for all the ages
Jacob had a drive to build a nation
But the fighting is in vain
If your only aim is to build your own great name
Because My dream's not what you do
Jacob will you dream for me
The way that I have dreamed for you" - Jacob's Dream (from Jacob's Dream)

"You stand beside me just waiting while I try to go it alone
Smiling You say son come here won’t you let me just help you
But frustrated I try to make it cause I’ve just got something to prove
Not knowing it is my weakness that perfects your power" - Just Like You (from Faith)

"In Your presence, All fear is gone..." - In Your Presence (from Between Earth and Sky)

"You’ve been too long upon this mountain
Its time you journey to the sea
Sometimes to trust in your false comfort
Is easier than trusting me
Some men only believe in what their eyes can see
Some men only believe in what their minds conceive

But believing’s like conceiving
This child that we’re receiving
A gift beyond our reason
Its more of what we need, and less of what we know
It calls not to our mind, but cries out to our soul

That mountain’s burning in the sky
To the heart of heaven
Without the fire we’ll never fly
To the heart of heaven
Can you hear God’s holy cry
From the heart of heaven
Lay it all down
Lay it all down
Lay it all down
For the heart of heaven" -Burning in the Sky (from Dying Star)

Wow

I *ENJOYED* reading this.
http://healingandrevival.com/BioSWigglesworth.htm

Some highlights -
"He [Smith Wigglesworth] describes meetings where "many would be prostrated under the power of the Spirit, sometimes for as long as twenty-four hours at a time." They would pray and fast and cry out for the salvation of fifty or a hundred people for the week and they would see what they had prayed for."

"He would walk by people and they would come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and be saved. He began to see miracles and healings and the glory of God would fall when he prayed and preached."

"Smith would pray and the blind would see, and the deaf were healed, people came out of wheelchairs, and cancers were destroyed. One remarkable story is when He prayed for a woman in a hospital. While he and a friend were praying she died. He took her out of the bed stood her against the wall and said 'in the name of Jesus I rebuke this death'. Her whole body began to tremble. The he said 'in the name of Jesus walk', and she walked. Everywhere he would go he would teach and then show the power of God. He began to receive requests from all over the world. He taught in Europe, Asia, New Zealand and many other areas. When the crowds became very large he began a "wholesale healing". He would have everyone who needed healing lay hands on themselves and then he would pray. Hundreds would be healed at one time.

Over Smith's ministry it was confirmed that 14 people were raised from the dead. Thousands were saved and healed and he impacted whole continents for Christ. Smith died on March 12, 1947 at the funeral of his dear friend Wilf Richardson. His ministry was based on four principles:' First, read the Word of God. Second, consume the Word of God until it consumes you. Third believe the Word of God. Fourth, act on the Word.'"

I think you might enjoy it...

Still Cancer-free

I just (as in one hour ago) received the results of my last PET scan and I'm still cancer-free. Praise the Lord. My doctor told me that virtually all who relapse from Hodgkin's would have done so by now. It will be three years come February since being told I was in remission and three years from April 1st that I finished treatment. Thanks to those of you who have prayed for my health.

Quote on passion vs. Holy Spirit fire

"Let me warn you at this point: Be careful not to confuse fire with a human emotion or with what is often called passion. Coaches tell their players to "fire up!" A romance novel talks about burning with passion. But as I use the term fire, I am not talking about excessive emotion or even honest, pure-hearted, spiritual passion. Such passion in the human soul is often the result of our spirit's encountering the flaming presence of God's Spirit. The soul - made up of the mind, will, and emotions - does become zealous and passionate when it glows with the fire of God, but that will be the topic of another book. This book is not about our soul's passionate response; it is about the Holy Spirit's passionate initiative. I am not in any way challenging you to rev your spiritual engines, crank up your emotional fervor, or work yourself into a fever pitch. God forbid!" -Fred Hartley III p. 20 Prayer on Fire

Quote

“If we try to eradicate the sin from our own lives without getting at the lies, we will become frustrated, religious, and exhausted. We will fall into the same trap of legalism we condemn the Pharisees of. Sin is like the leaves and fruit of the tree. The lies we believe are the root. The lies are planted in the soil (the flesh), and watered by the words and actions of the devil until the deadly fruit appears. We eat the poisonous fruit and become spiritually weak, even sick unto death. We can pick off leaves until we are “blue in the face” and still struggle to obtain His righteousness. Jesus said that I have come that they might have life and life more abundantly; not so we could cope and call ourselves survivors.” -Marjorie Cole p. 14 Setting Captives Free