A Revival of the Miraculous?

I've long prayed about a new level of God's supernatural power to be manifested in both my ministry and mostly in the Church at large. You might say, it has been my focus of prayer and my passion when I am spending deep time with God.

I grew up listening to the amazing missionary stories from my uncle, Prince Mathiasz. Accounts of demons being cast out in crazy fashion, divine intervention at the edge of life... the list goes on and on. You could even say that these times shaped my Christian life and walk with God.

In my mind I was determined to experience what I was hearing about.

If this was for real I needed to be a part of it.

As the years progressed and I became more formally involved in the ministry, the quest of miracles, signs and wonders became more and more prevalent in my life. I would attend conferences where this seemed to be the topic of focus, I would delve into this subject in great depths in my Biblical studies, sermons, teachings and through prophecies.

It was all made quite clear to me that we should be praying that God would manifest His power in the Church as promised for the end time revival.

Let me pause here for a moment and make one thing clear!

I still believe that God is and will bring signs, wonders and miracles to this generation's Church.

Healings, miraculous provisions and other miracles are Biblical and absolutely necessary in the Church. They are still one of the most powerful evangelistic tools available to the Church today.

Ever since my AIM missionary trip to Sri Lanka and my return to ministry in the U.S., God has been dealing with me about this topic.

While I am still looking for Mark chapter 16 vs 17 & 18 to happen in my life and in my ministry, God has dealt with my very clearly through several events in my recent days.

A great friend of mine recently captured what I'm about to say in a recent blog post.

Mark Johnston wrote on his blog:
"What we need, Jesus seems to be saying, is not an increase in our faith, but an increase in our responsiveness to the faith we already possess. We have enough faith to speak and act with powerful results – so all which remains is to… well, speak and act!

We shouldn’t expect significant supernatural power to accompany a life of spiritual mediocrity; and what is mediocrity other than doing only what is “commanded” of us in our religious context? We may be tempted to think that if we worship at the designated service times and do the minimum devotional maintenance that is expected of us and refer to ourselves as “Christians” we will be vessels of God’s power. Perhaps instead of asking Jesus to increase our faith we should be pleading with Him to increase our faithfulness..."

This is what struck me so very hard several weeks ago! We have (I have... but the Church, too, has) been sitting around waiting so long for this supernatural event to occur. All of a sudden, we find ourselves thinking that we are somewhat deserving or we entertain some other twisted reason in our minds as to why God would start to grant us supernatural power in the order of Mark chapter 16.

How backwards is that!?

I am disgusted with myself when I think that I actually may have thought along those lines before. Perhaps not under the impression that God owed it to me (us... the Church) but just that it would happen that way.

It's more clear to me now than ever before, what the world needs is the Church to step up to the plate and Danny Rivers said it best at NAYC 2007... Be The Church!

What, in my mind, would be the truly needed miracle in our generation is for the Church to hit the streets and start displaying that sort of attitude that can only be generated by a person who is completely in love with Jesus Christ and what He would be doing if He walked in the current world, in the flesh.

The true miracle would be Christians that go and serve others just because they have a love for people... here again, not something that comes natural to most people... dare I say, it would be super-natural.

What would happen if we became Christians who befriend their neighbors and spend quality time building a lasting relationship with them before ever mentioning church, Sunday's special program or how good the music is at First united Pentecostal Church of ___________.

How about a group of believers that look at a new convert or a guest to one of our services with un-judging eyes welcoming them into the fold without hesitation, just as they are. Believers who recognize that God loves them with all of their imperfections just as much as he loves you. A Church that focuses more on helping people discover God's love rather than a life-style that you choose to adapt to in order to attempt to please Him.

Is this the kind of "revival of the miraculous" that we are just supposed to sit around and wait for until it forms out of thin air? Or is this more of our choice to follow the plan of Jesus Christ and go out into the communities and Be The Church?

Let me take this opportunity to close this entry with a declaration I love by...

I declare the presence to supernatural power in my life! I will show the world God's power through the choice I make everyday. The choice to show His love and His power to those I come in contact with.