Come on Jesus light my fire!
Written by: John Flanner - June 2008
[Viewings: 131]
After sharing a testimony at one of our Sunday services, a well respected member of our congregation came up to me and said, “As you were speaking, in my mind’s eye, as it were, I saw a sign above your head, which read ‘Highly Inflammable’ and I believe that when people touch you they are in danger of catching fire”. I was encouraged, of course, and I knew what he meant.
Naturally speaking I am a very quiet, shy kind of a person, lacking in a lot of self confidence. When the Holy Spirit starts to move within me, however, I experience a boldness which I know is not my own.
I was ‘born again’ at Westminster Chapel way back in September 1968 (40th anniversary coming up folks) and though my salvation was very real and meaningful, my life did not really change a whole lot, because basically I think I was overall quite a nice, quiet, easy-going kind of a person. Some of that changed on 10 February 1972 when I was prayed for to receive the Holy Spirit in power. After a short time of praising God, the Holy Spirit came upon me, blessed me with a language I had not been taught and out of my stomach, belly, or innermost being (depending on which version of the Bible you read) began to flow what are called rivers of living water. It was an exhilarating experience and I have never been the same since that night. From the very next morning at the bus stop I began to share with people about Jesus and his wonderful love. I was not shy, but bold and it seemed the most natural thing to talk about the person I loved and who loved me, just like I talk about my family and friends.
Shortly afterwards my wife enjoyed a similar experience of being filled with Holy Spirit and together since those days we have sought to follow passionately after God. From time to time the pressures of life will come and try to dampen down the fire, but God always turns up to reignite the fire and stir up the passion once again.
You know what it is like when you enjoy a good meal with lots of varied and interesting flavours, it kind of ruins you for anything less. Well having had such a mighty encounter with the Holy Spirit all those years ago, it did ruin me for anything less. As a result I have continually been pressing into God for more and hungering and thirsting for his manifest presence in my life.
I confess I don’t do boredom very well. I fail to see how life can be boring if God is around doing the stuff that only he can do.
I have endeavoured over the years to keep my spiritual antennae up so that I can sense where and how the Holy Spirit is moving. In that way I have been able to embrace a number of moves of God over the years. The wind of the Spirit blows from time to time bringing fresh revelation to old truths and it has been exciting to se God restoring the gifts of the Spirit to the Church, fresh understanding of the ministries of Apostles and Prophets, balanced teaching on the Word of Faith and Biblical prosperity. Out of what was known as the House Church Movement came a fresh understanding of the importance of small groups and body ministry. Latterly many of us have been enjoying a fresh sense of intimacy with God as a result of what came to be known as the “Toronto Blessing” and now we have a fresh phenomenon sweeping the world. This is the healing revival that has been going now for over two months from Lakeland, Florida and is sweeping the world as it is covered live on God TV and the much maligned Internet.
Every move of God throughout history has had its critics and this one has more than most. I have seen and been impacted enough, however, to believe that this is a genuine move of God. Not everything that is happening in this outpouring is of God of course, but then I dare to suggest that not everything that happens in my local church and yours is all of God either.
The fact is that through this outpouring I have seen more people miraculously healed, including 25 raised from the dead to date, than I have seen in the previous 40 years of my Christian life put together. I know personally of a number of Christian leaders who have visited the Revival in Lakeland to assess what is happening and without exception they have come home impacted by the Holy Spirit convinced that this is a genuine move of God.
In Luke 7:22 Jesus instructed the disciples of John to go and tell what they had seen and heard; the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear and the dead are raised and blessed are those who are not offended….
Some people are offended at the fact that the man being used to spearhead this outpouring, Todd Bentley a 32 year old, heavily tattooed, ex heroin addict from Canada, does not fit the image of what you would imagine a Christian leader to look like. I wonder what these critics would then of made of John the Baptist, with his camel’s hair and diet of locusts and wild honey, roaring in the desert “You generation of vipers”. Some are offended at the way in which Todd sometimes appears a little rough with those who are sick or disabled, but I wonder if they have ever read Smith Wigglesworth; a man who is highly regarded now for his faith, but at the time was much criticised by ‘nice’ Christians. Didn’t Jesus himself spit on the ground and rub mud into a blind man’s eye! That doesn’t sound very kind or hygienic does it?
I am here to give you a faithful account that my wife and I are on a daily basis seeing Jesus worshipped and lifted up in praise for around two hours every night and in response the Holy spirit comes in power and does the most wonderful miracles by their hundreds and we have the privilege of watching all of this on our television or on the Internet. This is being shown in 214 nations by television and in almost every nation on the Internet and the fire is spreading. Across the UK and indeed around the world Ministers are returning from Lakeland to discover the anointing they have received whilst soaking in God’s presence is still with them when they come back and the fire is spreading through their churches.
This is only a beginning, but it is going to spread and gather momentum. Jesus said that when the Gospel of the Kingdom has been preached to every nation then he will return. Could it happen through the media I wonder? Where the enemy has had such a foothold, spewing out all kinds of filth, now the Kingdom of God is coming more and more each day.
As for me, since I have been watching and fully entering in, I have discovered that I am preaching with a new fire and passion and for almost the first time in 40 years people are actually being healed through my ministry.
I close by asking you to look at Luke 9:1-2. Jesus gathered his 12 disciples together and gave them authority to drive out all demons, cure diseases, preach the Gospel of the Kingdom and heal the sick. If you are reading this then the likelihood is that you too are a disciple, learner, follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus commands you and me therefore to go and drive out all demons, cure diseases, heal the sick and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom.
The tragedy is that the vast majority of us have settled for a counterfeit Christianity, which is a pale shadow of what Jesus meant it to be. When the disciples went out and did the stuff, finding that it really worked they were astonished, but Jesus said to them on more than one occasion, not to marvel at it, because they would do even greater works than those.
Todd Bentley said he must have prayed for close on a thousand deaf people before he got the breakthrough, but once he did then his faith increased and now he expects to see the deaf healed every time. He is now ministering in the expectation that raising of the dead will become common-place as a sign and a wonder to the glory and compassion of our God. It is certainly what Jesus commanded us to go and do as part of the great commission, so why all the controversy?
May I urge you to get on fire for God by getting into the fire and becoming white hot and passionate for Jesus. Jesus has given you his word, now go out in his name, drive out the demons from your life, your family, your church and your neighbourhood, cure the diseases, heal the sick and bring in the Kingdom rule of Jesus Christ.
John Flanner
June 2008
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