At Training Camp, God revealed his POWER in a way I've never experienced before.
I have experienced the Holy Spirit in powerful ways in the past. One ordinary Sunday morning, probably in 2004, I felt God's Spirit fill me with so much Joy that I couldn't even stand it. That moment in God's presence is one of the happiest of my life. Another time, in 2005, an amazing woman of God, Michelle Cash, put her hand on my shoulder from behind and I literally felt the hand of Jesus on my shoulder. I felt tingly all over and utterly washed by the Spirit of God, and I immediately started to weep. It was powerful.
More recently, in 2009, I was by myself in my room, and after reading and hearing about people praying in tongues (in a language of the Holy Spirit between the Spirit in you and God), I experienced it for myself. I prayed in barely a whisper to God in a different language. I was so blown away at God's presence and by the fact that He allowed me to experience Himself in that way. It was amazing. And it took a while for me to tell anyone.
But, I've never experienced such a continual and powerful presence of the Holy Spirit like I did at Training Camp last week. And I've never been so open about His power. There's no denying it now. I couldn't begin to explain away these powerful works of God if I tried. And thank God that I'm not ashamed to tell them. I don't care who thinks I'm crazy. If I'm crazy, so are all the other Spirit filled Jesus loving sons and daughters that I just fell in love with.
At Training Camp, we had a night where we all worshipped and didn't even need a stage or a band or a pastor. We sung, we danced, we taught, and we HEALED. Well, God healed, through us! A guy who has been deaf his whole life began to hear. God began to heal him! At least 2 girls with Celaic disease were healed. People were getting visions and prophecied over other people. This was all done in an orderly and beautiful, loving way. God was revealing Himself to each of us in unique and personal ways.
I absolutely LOVE having God's stories to tell. I'm not much of a storyteller, but I think I'm becoming one as He's writing beautiful stories into my life and the lives around me. I can't wait to have even more for you!
Declaration:
I hope you enjoy this declaration that was spoken over us at Training Camp, because it's what
we have decided:
We have decided that teaching the Gospel without demonstrating the Gospel is not enough.
Good preaching, good doctrine, being good people, it's not enough.
We have decided that having a good church club is not enough.
Good fellowship, it's not enough.
Just being a member of that club, it's not enough.
We have decided that having good bible studies is good, but not good enough.
That just making it to Heaven is not our goal; and that knowing about God without truly knowing and experiencing God is meaningless!
We have decided that having good programs is not enough.
That change without transformation is intolerable, and staying the same is not an option!
We have decided that gifting without character is futile.
We have decided that singing songs without worshiping is hollow, and having meetings without God showing up is pointless.
We have decided that having faith without works is not enough, and having works without love is not acceptable.
Our function comes out of our relationship first with the Father and second with each other.
We have decided that reading about the book of acts without living the book of acts is unthinkable.
We have decided that confident faith is good, bold faith is better.
We have decided that hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is silly.
That believing in His presence without seeing it manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy; that believing in healing without seeing people healed is absurd; and that believing in deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous.
We've decided to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit led, and Holy Spirit empowered.
Anything less doesn't work for us.
We have decided to be the ones telling the stories of God's power, not the ones hearing about them.
We have decided that living saved, but not supernatural is living below our privilege and short of what Christ died for.
We have decided that we are a battleship not a cruise ship, an army not an audience; Special
Forces not spectators, missionaries not club members.
We have decided to value both pioneers and settlers; pioneers to expand our territory and settlers to build on those territories.
But we are not squatters; people who take up space others have fought for without improving it.
We have decided to be infectious instead of innocuous, contagious instead of quarantined, deadly instead of benign.
We have decided to be radical lovers and outrageous givers.
We have decided that we are a mission station not a museum.
Therefore, we honor the past but we don't live in it.
We live in the present with our eyes on the future.
We see past events, successes, and failures as stepping stones not stop signs.
We pursue learning in order to be transformed not learning in order to know.
We are people of engagement not observation.
We focus on what could be not on what is or what has been.
We are not limited to the four walls of this building; our influence is not restricted by location.
Not even the Nations are out of bounds.
We are more concerned about how many we send out in the world then how many we convince to come into the building.
This building is meant to be filled, and it will be, but it will not be the measure of who we are or the measure of our effectiveness.
We raise up world changers not tour guides.
We train commandos not committees.
We are a people of our destiny not our history.
We have decided it's better to fail while reaching for the impossible that God has planned for us, than succeed in settling for less.
We have decided that nothing short of His kingdom come and His will be done in our world as it is in heaven will satisfy.
We have decided that we will not be satisfied until our world freaks out and cries out, "those who turned the world upside down have come here too."
These are some of the decisions that define who we are as a community and how we live our lives.
These decisions are not destinations but rather journeys.
Journeys along an ancient path, we have not found some new way.
But rather rediscovered a path as old as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The same path followed by Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, Paul, John, and Peter.
The path followed by the first century church, a church that revolutionized the culture of the first century and beyond.
It's a path that will impact the world we live in today.
It's a path of bold faith, believing that what God says is really true and acting on it.
It's a path of outrageous generosity, giving our life away in order to demonstrate His kingdom.
It's a path of radical love, loving God with everything in us and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
It's a path of liberty, freedom, and healing.
On this path you will find significance, purpose, and destiny.
It's a path less traveled however.
It's not a path only available to a select few, but to whosoever will come.
It's for people of every nation tribe and tongue, for those in any occupation or vocation.
No matter where you are in your life journey there's room on this path for you
