There is More

Are you hungry for greater impartations?

I am coming to the end of a three-week sabbatical that my church has graciously given me and I would like to write about what I’ve seen and experienced. I was granted seven weeks, but three were spent on the road with my friend Dan Bohi. Most people reading this realize that his calling to itinerant ministry has led him to crisscross the United States many times preaching in a hundred or more churches each year. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a few weeks than basking in the manifest presence of God night after night. We began in Columbus, OH where I joined Dan and our journey took us to Shattuck, OK for one night and then to Las Vegas for a four-day crusade. We left Las Vegas and drove to southwest Indiana for a four-day crusade, and then to Willard, OH for one night. Leaving Ohio, we drove to Dallas, TX for a four-day crusade.

What have I seen and experienced? I can tell you at the onset that there is an increased anointing that is resting on hungry people and is moving in desperate churches that fear God more than people. Pastors and laypeople are relinquishing their old wineskins and allowing the Holy Spirit to impart fresh wineskins that will accommodate a revival culture (see Luke 5:36-39). The remnant is growing across the country and institutional structures are giving way to an apostolic paradigm that embraces apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (see Eph. 4:11). Yes, there is sin, compromise, and lethargy in churches across our land, but emerging out of the ash heap of failed programs and human efforts, pastors, leaders, and laypeople are falling at the feet of Jesus for fresh encounters. What I’m saying is that revival is brewing. A glorious Church is being established and she will have no spot, wrinkle, or blemish (see Eph. 5:27). Jesus is building His Church and hell will not be able to stop the momentum (see Matt. 16:18).

The Church across America doesn’t need more growth strategies, conflict management seminars, or better preaching techniques. I’m certainly not against trying to improve ourselves, but I’ve witnessed a greater sense of His presence in three weeks than some churches see in a lifetime because it wasn’t orchestrated by the flesh. I’m praying that we experience a fresh baptism with the Holy Spirit. An encounter with the manifest presence of God can do more than all our teaching and training put together. In one night, I witnessed seventy people instantly healed by the power of the Holy Spirit. In another service, words of knowledge were called out and in every condition that Dan sensed we saw God’s miraculous touch: backs, knees, hearts, joints, fibromyalgia, cancer, and more. In another service, I watched a wheelchair bound woman stand to her feet and walk and the next night she came to church without a wheelchair. I saw a pastor’s wife plagued with MS; she came to church riddled in pain and despair, her appetite was gone, and her mind was muddled. The power of God fell on her and she left the church dancing pain free, not to mention her appetite has returned. I saw demons cast out of people, pain instantly leave bodies, believers become sanctified, and hundreds of people receive fresh impartations with the Holy Spirit. I witnessed the operation of all nine manifestations in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 with no division or dissention; rather, I saw the body of Christ come alive. In one particular service in Indiana, I experienced one of the weightiest encounters with the manifest presence of God. Dan was undone in his preaching as the glory of God settled upon us. When he opened the altar for an impartation, everyone came forward and we ministered until 11:00pm that night. Every age came forward from children to adults in their eighties, and they all experienced a fresh touch with the power of God that will mark many of them for life.

Our ministry in all these churches was only equaled by the ministry that took place outside the church walls. Dan and I ministered to nearly twenty-five people on the streets and in restaurants, stores, gas stations, and hotel lobbies. In one restaurant, I prayed for a little boy with leg braces while Dan spoke a word of knowledge over a couple at the other end of the restaurant. Standing just off the strip in Las Vegas, Dan prophesied over a waitress in a parking lot of a restaurant. Tears ran down her face as she heard the anointed words that filled her bruised and broken heart with hope. She looked at us and said, “Thank you for truly loving me.” On another occasion Dan led a young woman to the Lord while in the parking lot of Walmart. That same night she came to the church where we were and while I was baptizing people in the tank of water she ran forward to be baptized. We lived and modeled one of Dan’s favorite verses, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). The hope is that we’ll let Him out and give Him away to everyone we see. Think of it this way: you will never look into the eyes of someone in the marketplace who doesn’t matter to God, and you carry His presence within you to make a difference in that person’s life. Will you take the risk and let the Holy Spirit use you?

I want to declare that our mission has never been more imperative than right now. Jesus has sent every one of us to preach the Kingdom and to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons” (Matt. 10:7-8). We’ve been sent into the world just as He was sent (see John 17:18). We have no other ministry than the ministry that He extended to us if we’ll just believe (see John 14:12). If we’re not replicating Jesus then what are we doing? He wants to use you in and out of the church walls; He lives in you! The Holy Spirit has made you a walking sanctuary (see 1 Cor.6:19). He wants to do more than you can ask or imagine if you’ll only release the power that’s in you (see Eph. 3:20).

Are you hungry for more?

Let’s Pray

Father we ask for a fresh baptism of your Holy Spirit. We receive your purity and power, and we are willing to release your presence everywhere we go. Lead us to people in and out of the Church who need a touch from you, Lord. Let your ministry become our ministry in Jesus’ name, amen.