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Showing posts from September 5, 2010

reflections on the outreach - equipping youth

hard to know how many people were involved in the 3 outreaches (maybe 200). many who came said they wanted to see their first miracle on the streets - and they did! I was particularly moved by the teenage guy from our Vineyard Church who was skeptical about all the healings he had heard about and joined our team to see one. He basically said, "show me the money" - after God used him to bring healing to 3 people. I asked him how he knew it was real and he told me that when the man who was healed asked, "Did you do magic on me or something"? he was convinced! That was powerful - a youth from a Charismatic Church who himself was a skeptic UNTIL he saw people healed. Guess who was on EVERY outreach? He was hooked! Can't wait to see what happens as he returns to our Church believing that God heals and wants to use him to release His Kingdom. Also had others see healing flow through their hands for the first time on the streets as they saw a whole new approach

reflections on the outreach - demonstration 1st, talk 2nd

in all of our training, we emphasized that we wanted the people we met to encounter something of God's Kingdom 1st, before we spoke to them the Gospel verbally. Whereas BOTH approaches are Biblical (sometimes Jesus preached 1st, and then demonstrated miraculously and other times the demonstration came 1st), I believe that in America we find ourselves needing to demonstrate the Kingdom supernaturally BEFORE we try to talk about Christ. This happened on the streets on Saturday over and over again. An accurate word of knowledge, a physical healing, meaningful prophetic ministry or even an encounter with God's love. I am reminded of one Arab muslim man who witnessed the healing of a friend of his AND THEN I was able to speak boldly about the Jesus who just came in a miraculous demonstration. He gladly took the Arabic New Testament I offered him and I spoke about Christ's Deity openly (which isn't always easy with muslims). He told me he would cherish the gift I came hi

reflections on the outreach - power of the testimony

a number of people we approached were not interested initially in our offer of prayer for their healing. this seemed to be the case with many who had conditions we could see (cane, crutches, casts, wheelchair). However, if somehow we could get a testimony shared of their condition being healed (either earlier in the day or at some other time), then we got to pray for them. The testimony helped them overcome their initial skepticism and released faith - at least enough faith to let us pray. one man I remember had just limped out of a Psychic/Palm Reader shop walking with a cane. I didn't think he'd let us pray (because of the shop he had just emerged from), but we asked anyway. He thanked us for our concern but wasn't interested. Then I quickly recounted a couple of testimonies of scoliosis being healed (one that was dramatic and instantaneous), and then he let us pray. God began to move and in the exact spot in his spine where the scoliosis was the worst, he began to

many healings on the streets this past weekend

a large group of us did a series of 3 outreaches this past Saturday and saw God work a number of Kingdom miracles. Here is a summary of what we saw: 1. A mother and her daughters were sitting on a bench. The mother had a cane, so we stopped of course. She had had a hip replacement that hadn't healed well. First we prayed for a neck problem which was healed. then we prayed for the hip which was also much better after prayer. She didn't stand up to fully check it out, but was moving her leg up and down without pain. They were strong believers and very encouraged! 2. We see a woman in a wheelchair. She had suffered from a stroke. We got a word of knowledge for her neck. The Lord began to touch her as we prayed. At the end, a chronic pain in her foot was healed. She didn't want to try walking. We did ask. Another word of knowledge came for her friend - a wrist condition in her left wrist. She had carpal tunnel and then all the pain left after prayer. 3. We got a prophetic indi