Activating Spiritual Gifts - Exercises - Part 2

This is the second part in the series of Spiritual Gift exercises, you can see the first part here.  This will eventually become a permanent page.


6.  Treasure Hunts - Practices the prophetic gifts (words of wisdom and words of knowledge) as well as the gift of healing and the gift of evangelism
          This wonderful activity has swept the nation as Christians have become dissatisfied with the monotonous ineffective way-of-life that the traditional American church has been raised in.  This began with Kevin Dedmon and you can read more about it in his book Treasure Hunts. So here's how you do it: get a group of people together if possible (it's not required, I started doing these on-my-own before I ever practiced this with a group), wait on the Lord for prophetic revelation for clues for who to pray for and where to go, then go out and find the people God points you to!  
          The way that you can be sure to practice the gift of healing as well, is to ask the Lord for people to pray for that need healing and He will point them out to you.  This is the beginning of walking as true witnesses that we were called to be.  I wrote another article on how essential this practice is to the growth of the believer/Church as a guest post for The Prophetic Life and you can view that article here.

 7.  Hospital Run - Practices the gift of healing
           Okay so this one is just what it sounds like, go to a hospital and pray for the sick.  There are a few things to pay attention to when you go to hospitals.  The first is that security doesn't always like it when you do this.  I have never been personally kicked out of a hospital for praying for people, but I do personally know people that have been (you'd be surprised how many hospitals are branded with the name of a denomination of Christianity that disallow praying for the sick).  There is a tension between submitting yourselves to authority and going through and obeying the mandate from Christ to pray for the sick.  While I have called the clergy at multiple hospitals seeking permission to pray for people there, I have yet to be given that approval.  So how do you get in?  There are two ways that I (and others) do this.
          First, if you can let your pastor or healing team leader know that you want to pray for the sick, oftentimes they will notify you when a congregation member is in the hospital.  This gives you the excuse to be at the hospital.  When a member is in the hospital, not only should you pray for that individual, but visit as many other people as possible!  Just peek your head in and say "Hi, my name is ____ from ____ church, would you mind if I pray for you?"
          The other method can be done more often, but it is a bit more risky: simply go up to the hospital/ER and start praying for people.  We won't see the sick healed if we don't pray for them... and we don't build our faith on what we never do.  Just be aware that people are there for a reason and that Jesus wants to heal every single one of them!


 8.  Spiritual Reading Booth - Practices words of wisdom and words of knowledge
          As seen in Furious Love, this entails setting up a booth or table with a sign Free Spiritual Readings and giving people prophetic words.  This creates excellent opportunities for evangelism as well.  As the Lord reveals things about people's lives, call forth the destiny of their calling.  Sow promise and prosperity over all that you minister to with the love of Christ.  Do not be afraid to use the name of Jesus!  However, it's important to remember when doing this that you are not brow-beating people to Christ.  Nor does a prophetic word necessarily require the salvation of an unsaved person you are ministering to (let the Holy Spirit do His work, so that every time that person thinks about the word you give... he/she will be contemplating the reality of Christ).
         A word of caution for this one, I do NOT recommend starting off in a New Age or Witchcraft festival like you see Jason Westerfield do.  This is a great thing to do for people that are accustomed to walking in the power of God, but especially for people that have experience in battling the demonic.  Those settings can be dangerous for someone that has not quite learned to walk in the authority Christ has given them yet... so just pray about it before you determine to do that in an occult atmosphere.

9.  The Quickdraw - Practices words of wisdom and words of knowledge
          One moderator gets two individuals to be back-to-back, the moderator then counts out 10 paces, after the 10th step the two turn and whoever gives the accurate prophetic word first wins!  Obviously the paces can be increased or decreased to permit more time to receive revelation.  This exercise removes the "logical" human reasoning from the process, since the immediacy of the prophetic word disallows much contemplation on the revelation.  It's important that the winner must also have a correct interpretation if the revelation is abstract.  In other words, you can't turn around and say "I see you looking in a mirror that's shattered into a thousand pieces and then it becomes a solid pane" (the only way that word wins is if that is something that has recently happened to the recipient, because it has no interpretation).  The interpretation has to come with the abstract revelation.  In the example it could be something like, "I feel like the Lord is saying that you see yourself as have a shattered/disconnected life and that the parts don't seem to make a whole, but He is saying that He is making you whole."

10.  Concentric Rings - Practices words of wisdom and words of knowledge
          This one requires at least 6 people.  There is an "inner circle" and an "outer circle".  Every person faces another person.  Those on the "outer circle" give a prophetic word to the person he/she faces.  A moderator allocates a period of time to receive the words and then give them.  After the prophetic words are delivered, the circles rotate and new words are given to the new partners.
          To mix this one up, the moderator can have the group receive the revelation... and then rotate the circles (this prevents the bias of foreknowledge from interfering with the accuracy of the words).  A good starter time limit is a minute.  As the group progresses, the time to receive revelation can be decreased.

How to Ascend Into Heaven

Recently a friend at the Name Above All Names healing rooms I volunteer at gave me Katie Souza's Ascending into the Supernatural CD set.  I have heard teaching on ascending before and it never seemed to work for me, but I'm more than willing to continue trying and failing at something that offers the potential outcome of "being in Heaven".  If you want a thorough Biblical foundation for why we can ascend into Heaven, the saints that have done it in the past, the types of encounters you can expect: I highly recommend getting the teachings from Katie Souza.  Before delving into the step-by-step instructions for going to heaven (without dying), there are a few misconceptions that must be addressed.

First let me state that I've had both out-of-body and in-body experiences with Heaven.  The out-of-body experience, I had no inclination of what was going to happen... I was pulled up and that was all there was to it.  The encounter was not the result of my pursuing Heaven, but God granted me His grace by drawing me up through an open heaven.  Much of that encounter is personal, but I saw some of the Biblical locations in heaven (namely the throne room and banquet table).  This is not the type of experience that I have had as a result of the instructions which follow.  While I believe it is certainly possible to ascend into the heavens, in the natural, at will (Christ did it when He transfigured)... it simply isn't my experience.  However, my experience does not determine the possibilities, faith does. 

Okay, so is it Biblical?  Paul went up (2 Cor 12:2), John went up (Rev 1), Stephen saw into heaven (Acts 7:55), Jesus walked under an open heaven (Luke 3:21), Jesus saw into heaven (Luke 9:18, Luke 10:18), the heavens opened for Ezekiel's visions (Eze 1:1), and much more.  Encountering heaven is a mandate for divine revelation and retrieving God's response to earthly issues. 

So how do you do it?  Katie notes 5 steps on how to ascend and goes into detail on each step, if you need additional information view Expected End Ministries web site.  She also reviews how to bring things back with you from Heaven. 

Here's the steps:

1. Plead the blood of Jesus over your sins (repent!)
2. Cultivate an open heaven
3. Know that you're already seated in heavenly places
4. Come under the Holy Spirit's power
5. Activate your faith
   

The Lord has released me to share my first experience with this.  I was sitting quietly in my chair and I suddenly had the impression that I was in the throne room.  The more that I looked the more I could see myself surrounded by other thrones.  Again, this was not in the natural, but in the same realm as how we receive prophetic revelation.  If you've never done that try some of the exercises I mentioned in this previous post.  Then I saw a hand (which I knew to be Christ's) reach into my heart and turn up a dial on it as you would turn up a thermostat.  Next He took a flame and put it in my heart.  Before descending, I asked to take something with me and a flame appeared in the palm of my right hand.  Afterward, I truly wasn't sure if I'd just been to heaven or not and I asked the Lord to confirm the encounter through His word.  He said "read Hebrews 1 and 2".  I opened it up to Hebrews 1 and read "He makes His angels winds, and His servants flames of fire"!

So I encourage you to try this out on your own.  Let me know about your experiences and encounters.  Remember to ask for confirmation from the Word (the Word is to be experienced and experience must be validated with the Word, never contrasted by it).  Be Blessed!

The Divine Family p1

The Lord spoke to me recently when I asked Him about what season He has me in.  He is often working things in my character that I have to be conscious of, in order to receive the full benefit of His work.  In other words, if I'm aware that He is developing the fruit of patience in me I lean on Him to respond to circumstances with patience. If I'm unaware of that intention, I'm likely to be found rebuking the situation, pleading the blood, asking for angelic help, etc.  One of those two is walking by the Spirit, the other is immaturely applying spiritual principles to a carnal mindset.

The Lord said He was raising me as a spiritual father.  Before I proceed, let me state that I am not claiming to be one yet, but only growing in the knowledge of Him (Eph 4:13).  He has been granting me revelation on His very nature, and how our relationship with God (the Trinity) is so uniquely knit into the family unit.  The obvious arenas of such understanding are: the bridal paradigm (spouse), the Father (as I relate to my son and the "grafted branch", my nephew), the comforter (as I relate to my mother-in-law).  We are spiritually made in His image (Gen 1:27) and God Himself dwells in us (Eph 1:17-19), so we can often receive revelation from the Lord through our relationships. 

The most recent revelatory interactions the Lord has given me are with my son and nephew.  My son and I were out at the Indoor Safari and as I watched him play on the jungle gym and trains, my heart began to swell with affections for him.  He wasn't doing anything in particular to stir these emotions, I just looked at him and knew that all of my heart loved him (I've had similar encounters with my wife as well).  In that moment, the Lord said "that's how I feel about you, but even more" and the tears started.  Knowing in our heads that God loves us is something we can confide in and trust in, but how much greater the depth of that sentiment when we can legitimately feel those affections!  That moment is one where I lived Ephesians 3:19 "to know the love that surpasses knowledge".  It isn't the knowledge of a fact, it's the knowledge of experience.  Just because I've read all the books on riding a bicycle, seen the wiki on it, and watched a few youtube "how to" videos doesn't mean I can ride a bicycle.  The person that can explain it best is not necessarily the best at it.

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The Key to Inheriting the Promises

Heb 6:11-12 "And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (NASB).

In his book The Apostolic Ministry, Rick Joyner states "... if it takes 'faith and patience' to inherit the promises, why do we have this huge 'faith movement,' but no one has even heard of a 'patience movement?'" I would even suggest that along with self-control, patience is the least sought after fruit of the Spirit. I digress for a moment to suggest that while "fruit happens" is a nice cliche and generally applicable, I think that we could all agree that "fruit happens from a life of pursuing Him" which includes the attributes of His nature that we lack. Anyway, I have been praying for patience frequently lately (in dealing with people as well as work scenarios) and the Lord spoke to me about it and said "Patience must be learned... slowly."

Dismissing our need for patience and not pursuing what we know is in His nature, is inherently sinful (we are created to be in His image, if we pursue another image it cannot be a holy one). So why pursue patience? It is the key to His promises. God is always faithful. It is not, however, a pleasant gift to grow in. The "growing pains" of our instantaneous satisfaction based lives in the 21st century have given us a bent towards believing that if something doesn't happen immediately it must not be His intentions. I actually believe that this one key is the reason people fail to see healing or have their prayers answered: they give up. Luke 18 tells the parable of the unjust judge and the widow who continues to come to him. Christ than equates faith with persistently asking. As long as we continue to believe and stand in faith, while we are in agreement with His will, He will show faithful.

Likewise in Matthew 17:20 Jesus says, "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (NASB). The significance of the mustard seed is not only that it is a small seed, but it has exponential growth over time. If the seed of faith is sown in fertile soil in your heart (Mt 13) and is watered with the living water within you (Jn 4:14) it will grow exceedingly! But guess what? You can't throw out the seed if you don't see a plant in 30 minutes. His promises of healing, provision, deliverance, etc. all regularly rely on our choosing to believe in what He says, acting on it, and not giving up. Just acknowledging the possibility isn't enough, we must be proactively pursuing this patient endurance with faith in His promises in order to see them realized.