I’ve been quite busy and haven’t posted for about two months. We continue to see the Lord do wonderful things regularly. Recently, on an outreach in the park, God revealed a lady’s suicidal thoughts. I was praying for others in the park, then I returned and found her still talking with my friends. We then prayed for her, and she felt “light.” We prayed a few times, and all the pain from fibromyalgia left! She was quite happy.
After some men received physical healing at one rehab ministry, two guys requested prayer because they were “hearing voices.” The first felt peace, felt “light,” and the voices stopped. The second said, “When you prayed, it felt like something exploded inside of me, and something left me.” Both those men received deliverance, but there was no clear external manifestation. Not everyone falls on the ground or speaks in another voice when they receive deliverance! In my experience, it has been more common for the person receiving to simply tell us they felt something leave. That’s why it’s important to interview the people we pray for. I was at the same rehab last night, and after several healing miracles and much joy, a man who had a tormenting buzzing sound going from one ear to the other was set free, and the noise stopped.
I could share other stories, but I’d like to share a video of a recent ministry time with a church in Maryland. I’d been there in person about eight years ago, and they invited me to share through Zoom this time!
I’m not great at recording videos, and it’s sometimes hard to do while praying for people. Most testimonies I have recorded are in Portuguese, so I’m happy to have ministry time recorded in English! The first part of the message I shared was an interpretation of tongues from what God was giving me just prior, and I later also received an interpretation of tongues for what Katie was saying as she prayed for a man. God revealed some of the physical problems people had to heal them through prophecy, including a lady who wasn’t even there because she wasn’t feeling well that day and didn’t go! God revealed her reflux issues, and she said she didn’t have pain for the first time in months after we prayed for her.
If you’ve read The Mechanics of Miracles, I think you’ll enjoy seeing some of what I talk about put into practice. Notice how we pray and interview the people, and how we get the people involved in praying for each other and acting as the body of Christ.
Lately, I’ve written about how the Bible’s instructions demand that we allow every member of Christ’s body to speak and participate in our meetings. Monologue sermons were primarily for proclaiming the gospel, not for discipleship. I even wrote a radical post on Why Church Leaders Should Speak LAST. So maybe you’re wondering why I’m speaking so much in this video!
I listen to Mark Heman’s messages and some other sermons on YouTube. I enjoy special events with guest speakers who have something powerful to offer the body of Christ, and I’ve heard some great sermons. Truth is always good! I’m not against sermons, but they shouldn’t subvert dialogue and teaching each other. Our regular meetings must allow all to speak and should be focused on communion, not centered around a sermon. I’m fine with big meetings when they are special events or conferences. That kind of event does restrict participation because of its size and the program. However, regular fellowship must involve the participation that the Bible describes.
I encourage everyone to speak in meetings in recovery houses, our Open Heaven meetings, and many online meetings. I am also learning to teach using questions and answers, dialogue instead of a monologue. However, that wasn’t as easy in an online meeting over Zoom! This was a special occasion. Even so, we got everybody involved and still had much more dialogue after the teaching than in many church services!
Our friend Brian Hogan shares that the people in Mongolia loved big meetings, but the churches stopped multiplying whenever they had big meetings more often than once a month. It seems that the churches in the New Testament had some bigger meetings for a special occasion, like a visit from Paul. Some bigger meetings are fine as special events, but spectator events replacing participatory meetings as the main thing isn’t healthy. I may speak more when invited to a special event, but even then, I get people involved and participating. In local fellowship, I want to share what God has given me. Yet I don’t want to be the only one sharing or to preach a weekly sermon!
Enjoy the meeting!
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Go to Heaven Now
Featured Image by ilanwet from Pixabay
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