Forecast Calls For Change

OK, so this is a crazy, yet amazingly true story....

Tonight as I was driving home from Kansas City with my friend Brian and we had an encounter with the listening and loving heart of our all powerful God!

First of all, if you haven't read my post from last Sunday I would highly recommend reading it before you read this one. Consider it a warm-up for your faith.

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So here we are, after having had an amazing week of ministering to people through the prophetic, physical healing and deliverance we are full of faith and spurring each other on in our pursuit of loving Jesus.  It's at this point that Brian decides that we need to listen to a message by Billy Humphries that talks about the great outpouring of the Spirit at the end of the age.

We are enjoying our drive (and Billy's teaching on "The Wind of the Spirit") when suddenly the weather starts to get really really bad. The wind came up out of no-where and began blowing snow everywhere! Within a few minutes we could no longer see the road and Brian (who was driving) had to slow down to a virtual crawl. Soon visibility had dropped to 0% and people began hitting the ditch were forced to pull off onto the shoulder.

As this began happening I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit moving upon my body. This has been a pretty standard occurrence over the past few days and so I knew that the Lord was wanting me to engage Him through prayer. As I began turning my heart towards Him I got the distinct sense that He was inviting me to rebuke the storm! We kept driving, or at least attempting to drive, and finally after a few minutes of treachery I asked Brian to pull the van off to the side of the road and said to him emphatically, "I'm going to rebuke the storm!"

So there I was, standing on the side of the highway (along with a few other stranded cars), the wind and snow blasting in my face, and I began to rebuke the storm in the name and authority of Jesus. I waited a few minutes but nothing seemed to be changing. I rebuked it again and then decided that I could just as easily rebuke it from the warmth of the van.

I climbed back into the van and looked out at the virtually hidden highway and thought to myself - "This is kind of silly! The Lord prompts me to rebuke a storm, even confirming it with a manifestation of His Spirit on my body and still nothing happens?!.... I'm NOT relenting!!".

So I began to petition the Lord once again to exercise His power and calm the storm. Jesus had done it by the power of the Holy Spirit and we have the same Spirit and the same Father! So why not here? Why not now?....And so I continued to contend.

Now what's kind of funny about this whole story is the fact that while I'm praying for the natural wind to stop, Brian has been praying that the Lord would release an increase in the wind of His Spirit upon the Church! So here we are, two sons calling out to their Heavenly Father. One is asking for the wind to stop and the other is asking for the winds to rise up! It was very comical.

We continued to pray. A few minutes of intercession go by and it begins to look like things are starting to break up. Brian and I look at each other and decide that we could probably start driving again. So he puts the van into drive and we re-emerged onto the highway.

No, we had not experienced the dramatic holding back of the wind that we had expected, but none the less we began to thank the Lord for holding back the snow and increasing the visibility enough that we could proceed on our journey home.

And then it happened!

A few hundred yards after pulling back out onto the highway the wind and snow stopped! That's right!! The storm completely stopped! No more snow! No more wind!!! Not even a hint of a snowflake or wisp of snow on the road. I looked up into the night sky and it was as clear as clear could be with countless stars on shiny display. It was amazing!

For the next 5 hours we drove home in near perfect conditions praising and thanking the Lord for His provision!

I can't tell you how much we laughed, smiled, prayed and praised our Father over that next few hours but I do know that both of our hearts grew significantly in faith for doing greater exploits through the place of prayer!!!

We have a Good Father who is Faithful to His word. A word in which He says "cast all of your cares on Me because I care for you".

Yes He certainly does care!

"This poor man cried out to the Lord, and He answered me."

Jon

Unforgiveness

I heard this quote today in class and it was just too good not to post!

"Unforgiveness is a cup of poison that you drink hoping the other person will die!"

God Is Good...ALL The Time!

So how good is God? Let me give you a testimony of how Good He has been today...

I was supposed to arrive in Kansas City today at 1:30 pm via United Airlines, but on Friday morning as I was finalizing my reservations the computer informed the booking agent (my friend Mark) that he could not use his “buddy” passes on the dates of January 2-4! What does one do? I need to be in Kansas by Sunday and can’t fly until Tuesday!!

As I’m on the phone I get an email from a friend from the House of Prayer in Winnipeg who is interested in taking Commission (the same program Rhonda and I just finished in November). I responded to his email and asked him to call me. A few hours later we had decided that Brian would drive with me down to KC and that we would leave Saturday morning.

As a result of those “delays” or “problems” we were able to attend the FCF 10:30 service this morning. And what do you think the message was about? “The Grace of Fasting”!!! It made me smile and think “God, how Good are You!?!”. But that’s not the best of it.

After the service they invite people to come forward who want to receive prayer in the area of “increased longing and love for Jesus”. There are a LOT of people who come forward and shortly there after an invitation goes out for people to come and help with doing prayer ministry. I immediately feel the presence of the Spirit on me and walk up to the front to start praying for people.

As I get to the front I spot a guy who I think I should pray for, but just as I get there someone else steps in and “takes” my guy! I move on to the next guy and wouldn’t you know it, the same thing happens!! Suddenly I spot a guy who isn’t standing on the lines (which are basically pieces of tape in the carpet so that ministry lines are more orderly) and I know that this is the “one”.

I’m about to pray for him and recall some of our training on how to do prayer ministry. Step 1: Ask them their name. So I do that. I introduce myself and posture myself to begin praying. I’m waiting on the Lord and suddenly remember Step 2: Ask them what they want prayer for! (I assumed it would be for “deeper love for Jesus” but I thought I’d ask anyways). “So, what would you like prayer for?”....and this is when God shows just how Good He really is!!!

“I’d like prayer for physical healing. I was diagnosed in February with Crohn’s Disease!”

I started to laugh out loud!!!

For those of you who don’t know me personally, I was afflicted with Crohn’s for almost 20 years and a few years ago the Lord brought my healing to the point where my Doctor pronounced me “Crohn’s Free”.

And so with great faith I looked at this guy (whom I’ll call “Justin”) and declared “Justin, the Lord LOVES you!!! I just drove 12 hours from Canada and I want you to know that Jesus healed me of Crohn’s Diseas 3 years ago!”.  We rebuked the Spirit of Crohn’s Diseas and suddenly the Holy Spirit began to move open him, delivering Justin by the authority of Jesus from a Spirit of Crohn’s, Rejection, Anger and Worry.

It reminds me of the verse: “All things work together for good for those who love God”

So a big Merry Christmas to Justin! And an even bigger “Thank You” to Jesus for yet another perfectly timed gift!!

Oh what fun it is to ride with a White Horsed God and King!

Jon

Back in KC

I just arrived back in Kansas City after a long day of driving. My friend Brian and I pulled into the IHOP parking lot with the snow gently falling and we both commented on how we needed some Christmas music! It felt like coming home for the holidays after being away for the past month.

We are settling into our apartment and have found a wi-fi connection so we are trying to make the most of our free internet. Rhonda, if you have a chance to read this, I am staying across the hall from Andy & Sharon's old apartment. I'm hoping that they have not been moved by the housing department!

Enjoy the blistering cold weather!

Jon