LIVING WATERS from Lightbearers

And these signs will follow those who believe: Mark 16:17 NKJV

The coming revival will be marked, not by ‘superstar’ ministers, but by ordinary believers followed by extraordinary miracles. Millions of grassroots saints will be filled with extraordinary power and blessing that will demonstrate to the common person the wonderful reality of the risen Messiah. Signs that point to Jesus will follow believers. The preaching and sharing of the Word will be followed and confirmed by life changing exhibitions of the power of God. The time to prepare for those days is right now!

Miracles bring back the joy of your salvation like catching a foul ball at a baseball game. They are spontaneous, anticipated but unplanned, moments when the heavens open up and God’s lightning and thunder come down upon you and the situation, and the folks you are serving. It’s a shared moment that changes lives, and no one is ever the same. You can’t order it up, but you can set the atmosphere for it.

What attracts God’s manifest presence? Lake said that the secret of a successful religious meeting is that it allows people to open their hearts to God. A major reason why God doesn’t touch people is because sin, guilt, condemnation, shame or some other sense of unworthiness or fear keeps them from opening up. You can help people open their hearts to God which – obviously – is the key to real effective ministry. When hearts are open, then you can walk right in so to speak and bring a great blessing if you are prepared, and sometimes even if you don’t think you are. Whether it’s right in your living room or the jungles of Borneo, God responds to open hearts.

How do you position yourself to cooperate with God in these miracle moments? Everyone talks about submission and obedience to God, but I believe there is a level above obedience, and that is total, heartfelt cooperation. Cooperation comes when one has wholly bought into the vision or purpose of the other. Military people understand this, which is why they strive for it throughout the whole organization (watch BRAVEHEART, where Wallace addresses his outnumbered army). The Lord, through Paul, expressed confidence in Philemon’s obedience ‘knowing that you would do even more than I say’ (Philem 21). That is cooperation, when you are no more simply receiving commands, but you have bought into the whole program and are moving stride for stride together with the Lord. Do you see it?

My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you… Gal 4:19 KJV

Miracles are conceived and born in the prayer closet. There is a ‘travail’ in prayer where the same word is used for giving birth. In that place where you seek to align yourself with His purposes without any agenda – there is a time and place where you represent your agenda to Him – your praise and love expressed allows the Lord to draw you closer (James 4:8). When He says, as you sense in your spirit, “Ask! What shall I give you?” (2 Chron. 1:7) then you present your agenda and ask for miracles. And the miracles come!

God is not arbitrary. He doesn’t have good days and bad days, days when He is doing miracles and days when He is not. The Lord will meet any man anywhere, if the man will meet Him on the basis of His word. This is true of salvation, and true of every other promise in the Word. Miracles are always available!

…and nothing will be impossible for you. Matt 17:20 NKJV

What are your dreams? Imagination is a function of the soul that is very closely aligned with revelation. I suspect they both flow on the same neural pathways. If that’s true, then using your imagination can prepare your mind and heart to receive revelation. Have you ever awoken from a dream where your body is reacting to your dream, maybe with sweat or muscular reactions or others? That’s because your body reacts to what your mind is experiencing, whether it’s rooted in reality or just imagined. As you prepare to do miracles, imagine yourself doing them. Your neural pathways will learn to open in new ways. I have a fair resume of healing miracles because I’ve always seen myself doing them. Imagination opens the door for a faith that says nothing is impossible!

…for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; Matt 17:20 NKJV

I can’t talk about having a miracle ministry without talking about the gifts of faith and speaking in tongues. When I first got saved and filled I spoke in tongues much out of the joy of my salvation, and miracles occurred. Then I went to Bible College and got talked out of it. As I recall God sent a prophet named Patrick to personally talk to me about praying in tongues for hours, but I heard with my ears and not with my heart. It would be years before I got my act together along those lines, years that lacked miracles. But when I did, miracles multiplied, like hundreds and even thousands.

It was my friend Dale, through a teaching tape (Remember cassettes? They were hot in the 80’s and 90’s!) who clarified for me that the gift of faith was operated by a command or a decree. I had to learn to command! A command is not a request. You are not commanding God; you are issuing a command under His authority by revelation. It’s the whole cooperation thing, running together! You don’t ask a dog or cat to leave your house, you run them out with a slap and an order. That, very simply, is a command. Healing is always ministered by a command.

Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin…1 Sam 9:15-16 NKJV

Miracles can and should extend to every part of your life. Miracles open up all day long when you in your imagination take the Lord with you everywhere you go. You walk into Starbucks, He walks in with you. You show up for work, He is there. When you practice His constant presence, talking to Him and receiving revelation become as simple as talking to a friend.

But earnestly desire the best gifts. 1 Cor 12:31 NKJV

Perhaps the greatest key to your miracle ministry is your passion, your desire. Passion is a door that is only opened from the inside. Passion is a fundamental element that makes one truly alive. Passion is what drove the Lord to the Cross and His disciples to the ends of the earth. In whatever you are passionate about, you are going to need the working of miracles in your toolbox to truly produce excellence in that thing. In whatever you do, you are going to need the ministry of working miracles. Miracles are God’s advertising. Seek miracles. Pray for them! Let the world see the power of the resurrected Christ! Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…