"As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it(Luke 19:41,NIV)."
For twenty-five years on my drive to work, I have driven down one of the longest streets in the world.
Chicago's Western Ave. is one of the longest continuous streets of any world city. Extending from 119th St. on the south to Howard St. on the north it is 24.5 miles. It is not a street tourists are pointed to when they visit Chicago in the glossy brochures. Far from the sparkling shops and glitter of Michigan Ave. or the bustling commerce of State St, the grandeur of Buckingham Fountain, Lake Shore Drive, or Chicago's world famous architecture, Western Ave is a gritty mix of Auto Dealers, "Supermercados" and ethnic restuarants(this is the place you can find a real Chicago hot dog,not at the tourist price), old city parks and churches, viaducts and overhead el trains, wall murals, trucks, buses, and it seems hundreds of students and city residents waiting for buses. This is the place where you will see the real Chicago.
Along its banks, so to speak, live the nations of the world, and that I believe is why the Lord longs to pour out His Holy Spirit on the 42 distinct neighborhoods that the street passes through. . Here you will find Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and many of the other nations of Latin America, Jews, Arabs, the largest Irish population in the United States, African-Americans and AfricannAfricans, recent immigrants from that continent, Poles, Ukrainians, Germans, Italians, Indians, Pakistanis, peoples of the former Soviet Union republics, Serbs, Albanians, Bosnians, Sudanese, Turks, Afghans, even Napalese. Every race is represented and so many of mankinds's ethnicities that the listed are just some of them. This is the place where you can have Juevos rancheros for breakfast, a Chicago hot dog for lunch, and Shashlik for dinner, and you could try different variations of these meals for many, many days.
I believe this is the kind of place, just like in Jerusalem(another urban center, with a polygot of peoples) that God longs to pour out one of next greatest moves of His Holy Spirit just like He did in Los Angeles at Azuza Street. There in that city, which is now the second largest in the United States with an equal or even greater amount of ethnic diversity, the Holy Spirit came down in power in 1906 which is still reverberating around the world. Led by a one-eyed African-American preacher named William Seymour, the moving of God's spirit touched people from all over the globe who had come there to see what was going on. It seems that God doesn't necessarily have to do that today. He has brought the nations right to the cities like Chicago.
Along just this street of Chicago, more than 1,000,000 people live now. New 2010 Census figures may show even more.
Recently, the Lord has burdened me for just one of the neighborhoods along that route. Two months ago, he called me to fast, especially for the neighborhood I live in Morgan Park, which is primarily made up of Irish Americans and African-Americans. I was especially impressed with this Scripture from Hosea 10:11-12: "Judah must plow and Jacob must break up the ground. Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you."
Since that time, on the days I fast, I have a strong impression from the Spirit, that I am getting on a spiritual bulldozer breaking up ground for a great outpouring of His Spirit on the city.
I'm sure there is unplowed, hardened ground where you live. It is time to seek the Lord! Who else do we have to call on?
It will cause you to weep for the city as Jesus did!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Goodbye Beloved Drexel
The Kinsella's beloved cat, Drexel(he was named after Drexel Blvd, a street in Chicago where he was found), died yesterday, and I am not too proud to say I cried my eyes out along with my 19 year old son and wife. Drexel was part of our family for nearly 14 years, and we have many, many memories of him associated with our sons' growing up years and our family life. He was especially Ethan's special friend, and he probably cried more than any of us. Drexel, who we called our mountain lion, once weighed nearly 30 pounds; he had dwindled to nearly 5 pounds, and we kept him with us until the last day his skeleton like body could walk or bleet for his special treats. Yesterday, he literally dragged himself to the heating register in our kitchen and just sprawled out. It was 5 A.M. when I found him, and he always, always looked up to me for his morning ritual of water filled just to the top of the bowl, his regular WD cat food filled just to the top, and of course his call for his special "Pounce" treats. He always liked at least three, and we would bleet(yes bleet like a sheep) even in his last days until he got them.
Yesterday, he could not even ask for that. He could not raise himself up. He could not eat or drink, just look up at us with sad eyes. We knew it was time to call the Vet; my wife, Ethan, and I took him down the street, Ethan holding him in a blanket.
We brought him into the room where the vet administered the drug that would put him to sleep forever. There were more tears as all of us held his body until his last breath.
This was sad for us, but how much sadder, those humans all around us in Chicago who perish without an adequate witness of the gospel.
This is a theme I will share in another post for today.
Yesterday, he could not even ask for that. He could not raise himself up. He could not eat or drink, just look up at us with sad eyes. We knew it was time to call the Vet; my wife, Ethan, and I took him down the street, Ethan holding him in a blanket.
We brought him into the room where the vet administered the drug that would put him to sleep forever. There were more tears as all of us held his body until his last breath.
This was sad for us, but how much sadder, those humans all around us in Chicago who perish without an adequate witness of the gospel.
This is a theme I will share in another post for today.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Next to Jesus: My Greatest Christmas Gift!
A Merry, Glorious, Joyous Christmas to all, and I say Christmas!
Christmas, of course, evokes some of the best memories of life. The food was great and the relatives usualy a delight, but it is the gifts we receive and at what age that stand out most vividly. I still remember the telescope I recieved at ten and the road race my brother got. We had gotten up at 2:00 A.M. We were so excited. My father discovered us down in the our finished basement He was very unhappy with us and almost felt moved to cancel our gifts as he sent us vehemently back to bed.
He didn't; my telescope stands in a corner of my basement more the 40 years later as a remberance that he had mercy on us.
This year's gift, next to Jesus' saving salvation may be the most memorable. It came not from a shopping mall or without wrapping paper, ribbon, or bows, but packaged in the heart of a tangled-haired, hoodie wearing 19 year old who plays guitar and harmonica.
It's my son Ethan!
In the span of three weeks he has gone from a usual 19 year old college student who really never revealed the working of his study habits or inner thoughts into a Holy Spirit empowered young man who was baptized in the Holy Spirit through a "text message!"
Within a week, he had shard his testimony with many people in is college dorm, laid hands on another student who also was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and shared his testimony with an entire church where he shared what happened to him and played a song he had written on the altar about his experience. Many moved to the altar at this presentation seeking the same experience.
What a gift to his mother and me! Every night as he and his brother grew up, I came to their beds before sleep, laid hands on them and prayed this simple prayer: " I pray that you may grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord!
The Lord has honored that! For all you parents out there. Never, never, never give up praying for your children. They may be lost in a dark forest, tangled in vines and among thorns, but God will get them out. The kids you now think are the most lost, may become the greatest witnesses to their generation.
More than a 4.0 G.P.A, the greatest future career, and material goods, my wife and I have prayed and desired that God would use our sons!
As Ethan told me this week, In the perfect time and place, the Holy Spirit has moved upon his life.
On this Christmas of 2010, I give the greatest praise to my Lord for this gift!
Long after the wrapping paper is thrown away, I will see this life changed and join him in interceding for our lost and dark world and a generation that needs to experience the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit empowering them to do great exploits following the living, active, and powerful "Word" who came into this world to give light: Jesus!
Christmas, of course, evokes some of the best memories of life. The food was great and the relatives usualy a delight, but it is the gifts we receive and at what age that stand out most vividly. I still remember the telescope I recieved at ten and the road race my brother got. We had gotten up at 2:00 A.M. We were so excited. My father discovered us down in the our finished basement He was very unhappy with us and almost felt moved to cancel our gifts as he sent us vehemently back to bed.
He didn't; my telescope stands in a corner of my basement more the 40 years later as a remberance that he had mercy on us.
This year's gift, next to Jesus' saving salvation may be the most memorable. It came not from a shopping mall or without wrapping paper, ribbon, or bows, but packaged in the heart of a tangled-haired, hoodie wearing 19 year old who plays guitar and harmonica.
It's my son Ethan!
In the span of three weeks he has gone from a usual 19 year old college student who really never revealed the working of his study habits or inner thoughts into a Holy Spirit empowered young man who was baptized in the Holy Spirit through a "text message!"
Within a week, he had shard his testimony with many people in is college dorm, laid hands on another student who also was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and shared his testimony with an entire church where he shared what happened to him and played a song he had written on the altar about his experience. Many moved to the altar at this presentation seeking the same experience.
What a gift to his mother and me! Every night as he and his brother grew up, I came to their beds before sleep, laid hands on them and prayed this simple prayer: " I pray that you may grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord!
The Lord has honored that! For all you parents out there. Never, never, never give up praying for your children. They may be lost in a dark forest, tangled in vines and among thorns, but God will get them out. The kids you now think are the most lost, may become the greatest witnesses to their generation.
More than a 4.0 G.P.A, the greatest future career, and material goods, my wife and I have prayed and desired that God would use our sons!
As Ethan told me this week, In the perfect time and place, the Holy Spirit has moved upon his life.
On this Christmas of 2010, I give the greatest praise to my Lord for this gift!
Long after the wrapping paper is thrown away, I will see this life changed and join him in interceding for our lost and dark world and a generation that needs to experience the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit empowering them to do great exploits following the living, active, and powerful "Word" who came into this world to give light: Jesus!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Home is where the Heart is and Spiritual Power
It's Christmas Eve and our hearts turn toward home. There, in the intimacy of the family hearth, perhaps around a crackling fire (in our home's case)or the Christmas tree, families and friends gather together for the season of giving.
It's almost always the "home" that comes to mind,not a cavernous auditorium or Cathedral, although many might go to a place like this for a midnight service, or as part of their tradition once/year when we think of Christmas.
Homes have a very significant place in the moving of the Holy Spirit. It was in a home, the upper room, that the fire of heaven first came down, birthing the church: "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole "house" where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest of each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.(Act 2:2-4)
Pentecost, the incredible manifestations of the Holy Spirit began in an urban center. Thousands heard and responded; there were 3,000 added to the church that day, an instant "mega-church," but it seems the movement was honed in the closeness of people's homes. They did go to the temple courts, but it was in their homes where they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
It seems you have to get smaller to get bigger; you have to grow in greater intimacy and community in a smaller setting in order to effect the neighborhood right around you. Sadly, I think many American Charismatic/Pentecostal churches are missing out on this. We gather together in mega-centers, filled with all the amenities of the shopping mall; there fellowship is supposed to be built around the in-house Star-bucks center just like at a food court, or the latest spectacular, entertainment event that will draw the crowds. Many people really only know the back of many people's heads or shake their hands in the so called "fellowship time." In our fragmented times, people are longing for intimacy and we draw them to the event where the Spirit is really supposed to move.
Our homes are where we retreat to. That's the place where we expose ourselves to the things we would never think of engaging in at the mega-center. That's where we take in America's fixation with celebrity and entertainment. It's a separate thing from the "church."
In the book of Acts and in many countries where the gospel is exploding, it is in the community of the home, the place where you can break together and truly connect with other believers that powerful things did happen and continue to happen. Like the nucleus of a hydrogen bomb, electrons and protons, and neutrons mix together in the smallest part sparking the fire into a chain reaction that is incredibly explosive.
This closeness is mentioned many times in the Book of Acts: from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.(Acts 5:42). Peter who spoke to thousands in the Jerusalem Public Square, enters the house of Cornelius, a gentile, and before he is even done speaking to a large gathering of people in the home, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message and they were were filled with the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues and praising God!
My wife and I have made it a practice now that when any believers visit our home, we have a time of prayer. We gather to meet with the living God, not to watch the latest entertainment from T.V or Hollywood In recent months, we have had some incredible times of prayer and praise, and it has not happened at the traditional morning "prayer" at the church or the twice a year special week of prayer. It has happened after pizza or tea or coffee. It has happened in the home in the community where we live. This is where God wants to empower us; we are to go out from the church, not point everyone to the mega-center and say that is where you can meet with God. Inviting people into your home is much less threatening; you can meet with God, see people saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and healed all in the comforts of the home.
I believe this is going to be a critical thing to understand in the times ahead. What if the Mega-churches crumble, what if the places where we try to reach our kids and neighbors with one more entertainment event can't hold them. Can a person actually be saved without a power point or light show?
When the Spirit of God is moving, you don't need any of this. Community, intimacy, connection, oneness, a sense of belonging and unity, can be unleashed out of the home!
It really is the place to turn to. God is just waiting for us to seek Him and open our homes as a place for prayer and praise.
It is from a home that the world was turned upside down!
It's almost always the "home" that comes to mind,not a cavernous auditorium or Cathedral, although many might go to a place like this for a midnight service, or as part of their tradition once/year when we think of Christmas.
Homes have a very significant place in the moving of the Holy Spirit. It was in a home, the upper room, that the fire of heaven first came down, birthing the church: "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole "house" where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest of each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.(Act 2:2-4)
Pentecost, the incredible manifestations of the Holy Spirit began in an urban center. Thousands heard and responded; there were 3,000 added to the church that day, an instant "mega-church," but it seems the movement was honed in the closeness of people's homes. They did go to the temple courts, but it was in their homes where they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
It seems you have to get smaller to get bigger; you have to grow in greater intimacy and community in a smaller setting in order to effect the neighborhood right around you. Sadly, I think many American Charismatic/Pentecostal churches are missing out on this. We gather together in mega-centers, filled with all the amenities of the shopping mall; there fellowship is supposed to be built around the in-house Star-bucks center just like at a food court, or the latest spectacular, entertainment event that will draw the crowds. Many people really only know the back of many people's heads or shake their hands in the so called "fellowship time." In our fragmented times, people are longing for intimacy and we draw them to the event where the Spirit is really supposed to move.
Our homes are where we retreat to. That's the place where we expose ourselves to the things we would never think of engaging in at the mega-center. That's where we take in America's fixation with celebrity and entertainment. It's a separate thing from the "church."
In the book of Acts and in many countries where the gospel is exploding, it is in the community of the home, the place where you can break together and truly connect with other believers that powerful things did happen and continue to happen. Like the nucleus of a hydrogen bomb, electrons and protons, and neutrons mix together in the smallest part sparking the fire into a chain reaction that is incredibly explosive.
This closeness is mentioned many times in the Book of Acts: from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.(Acts 5:42). Peter who spoke to thousands in the Jerusalem Public Square, enters the house of Cornelius, a gentile, and before he is even done speaking to a large gathering of people in the home, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message and they were were filled with the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues and praising God!
My wife and I have made it a practice now that when any believers visit our home, we have a time of prayer. We gather to meet with the living God, not to watch the latest entertainment from T.V or Hollywood In recent months, we have had some incredible times of prayer and praise, and it has not happened at the traditional morning "prayer" at the church or the twice a year special week of prayer. It has happened after pizza or tea or coffee. It has happened in the home in the community where we live. This is where God wants to empower us; we are to go out from the church, not point everyone to the mega-center and say that is where you can meet with God. Inviting people into your home is much less threatening; you can meet with God, see people saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and healed all in the comforts of the home.
I believe this is going to be a critical thing to understand in the times ahead. What if the Mega-churches crumble, what if the places where we try to reach our kids and neighbors with one more entertainment event can't hold them. Can a person actually be saved without a power point or light show?
When the Spirit of God is moving, you don't need any of this. Community, intimacy, connection, oneness, a sense of belonging and unity, can be unleashed out of the home!
It really is the place to turn to. God is just waiting for us to seek Him and open our homes as a place for prayer and praise.
It is from a home that the world was turned upside down!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
PRAY-The Prayer Curriculum: Hope for Urban Education
If you follow the news about the plight of American urban education, you hear the usual litany of complaints: poor test scores, inadequate facilities and resources, decrepit buildings, student and parent apathy, and teacher incompetence.
Almost always, there has been some movement to save the schools. In my 25 years in working as a H.S. teacher in the CPS(Chicago Public Schools), there have been a plethora of educational movements and Acronyms to solve the American Urban Education Crisis. The other day, sitting in another school institute day as the seminar speaker was sharing more insights and practices on how to do my job better, I listed just some of the acronyms and movements I could remember in a quarter century of teaching: TAP, Essential Schools. Deming, STP(Strategic Teaching Project), Collaborative Learning, CRI(Chicago Reading Iniative), IGAP, ISAT, MSI(Multi-Sensory Instruction, World of Difference, RTI, RBI, SDI(Are these Missile systems?) Student Reflection Logs, Fish Bones, AVID, STD, GAINS, Whole Language, EDS(Educational Delivery System) SAC(Student as Client), Culture of Calm, NEP(New Educational Paradigms), PLATO, KEY TRAIN, and most recently color-coded Data Driven Analysis of now departed CEO Ron Huberman and a man named the Colonel who is leading the charge into the educational frontier. And let's not forget "CHARTER Schools, the current saving school method touted by politicians and business leaders who have never stepped into an urban classroom and its myriad of sociological ills in their lives.
I'm sure there will be more to come with the same principles packaged in new Acronyms led by another educational consultant.
I've got a different one- PRAY. It is not an acronym; it means what it says- a simple verb. It sounds simple and so not politically correct in this age of multiculturalism and tolerance.
I'm convinced PRAY worked at my High School and those who work there now, the 200 or so who came after me have little idea how the spiritual and educational climate was dramatically changed by a small band of Pentecostal/Charismatic prayer warriors fasting and praying for the school to change in a decrepit, graffiti scarred classroom once/week.
I know. It was my classroom I was there at 7 A.M. once/week with two pastors from a local store front church and several students. That was more than 20 years ago, and this H.S. has gone from a gang-infested, poorly performing school with 1200 students, 35% who were absent on any given day, and those who there engaging in a variety of hooliganism from pulling fire alarms three times/period and fighting in the street, brawls in the hallway, smoke bombs, and once a bathroom that was blown up right across from my room, urinal parts swirling in the air as dangerous educational scrappnel to a school rated one of the best general high schools in the city with 3200 students, not on probation as many urban high schools are with positive educational programs and activities ranging from IB/AP classes to a highly respected Advanced Band and Orchestra. Full musicals too are performed in an auditorium with band members playing in an orchestra pit where once graffiti scarred chairs violently pulled up from the auditorium floor were stacked high like the dead at Buchenwald.
Did this happen just by educational initiatives? Yes, great administrators and teachers came to the school to give it a whole new feel. But I am convinced that Kelly H.S. on the southwest of Chicago would never have been at this point if not for the fervent, effectual prayers of some Spirit-filled believers calling out to God in words that man cannot express
Our cities, our schools are just waiting for new bands of warriors to change our schools and cities, and no Educational Acronym or notebook consultant is required.
Just PRAY!
Almost always, there has been some movement to save the schools. In my 25 years in working as a H.S. teacher in the CPS(Chicago Public Schools), there have been a plethora of educational movements and Acronyms to solve the American Urban Education Crisis. The other day, sitting in another school institute day as the seminar speaker was sharing more insights and practices on how to do my job better, I listed just some of the acronyms and movements I could remember in a quarter century of teaching: TAP, Essential Schools. Deming, STP(Strategic Teaching Project), Collaborative Learning, CRI(Chicago Reading Iniative), IGAP, ISAT, MSI(Multi-Sensory Instruction, World of Difference, RTI, RBI, SDI(Are these Missile systems?) Student Reflection Logs, Fish Bones, AVID, STD, GAINS, Whole Language, EDS(Educational Delivery System) SAC(Student as Client), Culture of Calm, NEP(New Educational Paradigms), PLATO, KEY TRAIN, and most recently color-coded Data Driven Analysis of now departed CEO Ron Huberman and a man named the Colonel who is leading the charge into the educational frontier. And let's not forget "CHARTER Schools, the current saving school method touted by politicians and business leaders who have never stepped into an urban classroom and its myriad of sociological ills in their lives.
I'm sure there will be more to come with the same principles packaged in new Acronyms led by another educational consultant.
I've got a different one- PRAY. It is not an acronym; it means what it says- a simple verb. It sounds simple and so not politically correct in this age of multiculturalism and tolerance.
I'm convinced PRAY worked at my High School and those who work there now, the 200 or so who came after me have little idea how the spiritual and educational climate was dramatically changed by a small band of Pentecostal/Charismatic prayer warriors fasting and praying for the school to change in a decrepit, graffiti scarred classroom once/week.
I know. It was my classroom I was there at 7 A.M. once/week with two pastors from a local store front church and several students. That was more than 20 years ago, and this H.S. has gone from a gang-infested, poorly performing school with 1200 students, 35% who were absent on any given day, and those who there engaging in a variety of hooliganism from pulling fire alarms three times/period and fighting in the street, brawls in the hallway, smoke bombs, and once a bathroom that was blown up right across from my room, urinal parts swirling in the air as dangerous educational scrappnel to a school rated one of the best general high schools in the city with 3200 students, not on probation as many urban high schools are with positive educational programs and activities ranging from IB/AP classes to a highly respected Advanced Band and Orchestra. Full musicals too are performed in an auditorium with band members playing in an orchestra pit where once graffiti scarred chairs violently pulled up from the auditorium floor were stacked high like the dead at Buchenwald.
Did this happen just by educational initiatives? Yes, great administrators and teachers came to the school to give it a whole new feel. But I am convinced that Kelly H.S. on the southwest of Chicago would never have been at this point if not for the fervent, effectual prayers of some Spirit-filled believers calling out to God in words that man cannot express
Our cities, our schools are just waiting for new bands of warriors to change our schools and cities, and no Educational Acronym or notebook consultant is required.
Just PRAY!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Pentecost: It Can Happen Again In This Generation!
Pentecost can happen again, and I am convinced it will if people truly call out to God in fasting and prayer. He has promised to draw close to us if we draw close to him. Recently, I have seen it manifested in my own family. On Halloween,a Sunday,while worshiping the Lord in a usual Sunday service, I was prompted by the Lord by one word- "fast."
It had been a long time since I had done this, but I began to do this the next day.It has continued every Monday since. My wife and I have been burdened for a long time to see the Holy Spirit move, and I truly cried out for this. Some incredible things began to happen in a short time. My college son raised in the Church but not really fervent began to have a yearning to experience more of an "edge." He said before leaving for college again after Thanksgiving break that he would fast with us on the next day, Monday. He went into a quite room, fasted, prayed, and read the entire Book of Acts for four hours. This is not my son who reads. He learned most of his World History by playing video games. Reading the entire Book of Acts was quite radical.
The next week he texted me about what were the requirements to be a Nazarite. I've never heard that one from anyone. I told him he'd have to live a separate, holy life, and there is the hair thing. At that moment, I felt prompted to text him: Be filled with the fire from Heaven. Speak! You will be filled. At that very moment, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues!
He immediately began to go out and tell others on his dorm floor what had happened. Some believed but some did not. The next day he laid hands on another student, and he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Since that time his life has changed radically.
Returning home for Christmas break, he wanted to pray instead of playing video games; he wanted to praise, instead of listening and praising his usual secular music. In one incredible moment, he called me over the other day, and we began to intercede for our families with spiritual intensity. Side by side we both prayed in the Holy Spirit. I believe walls will come crashing down and new inroads for the Holy Spirit will happen.
Stay tuned. If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.
It had been a long time since I had done this, but I began to do this the next day.It has continued every Monday since. My wife and I have been burdened for a long time to see the Holy Spirit move, and I truly cried out for this. Some incredible things began to happen in a short time. My college son raised in the Church but not really fervent began to have a yearning to experience more of an "edge." He said before leaving for college again after Thanksgiving break that he would fast with us on the next day, Monday. He went into a quite room, fasted, prayed, and read the entire Book of Acts for four hours. This is not my son who reads. He learned most of his World History by playing video games. Reading the entire Book of Acts was quite radical.
The next week he texted me about what were the requirements to be a Nazarite. I've never heard that one from anyone. I told him he'd have to live a separate, holy life, and there is the hair thing. At that moment, I felt prompted to text him: Be filled with the fire from Heaven. Speak! You will be filled. At that very moment, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues!
He immediately began to go out and tell others on his dorm floor what had happened. Some believed but some did not. The next day he laid hands on another student, and he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Since that time his life has changed radically.
Returning home for Christmas break, he wanted to pray instead of playing video games; he wanted to praise, instead of listening and praising his usual secular music. In one incredible moment, he called me over the other day, and we began to intercede for our families with spiritual intensity. Side by side we both prayed in the Holy Spirit. I believe walls will come crashing down and new inroads for the Holy Spirit will happen.
Stay tuned. If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.
The Irony of the Traditional Pentecostals
In one of the great ironies of the modern Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, the historic Pentecostal denominations like the Assemblies of God that were the inspiration and fuel for the modern Charismatic movement which swept through all Christian denominations in the 1960s and 70s have retreated into a kind of "institutional Pentecostalism." There are now little manifestations of the spiritual gifts(at least in the American church)which distinguished it immediately from mainline denominations after the Azusa Street Revival at the turn of the 20th Century and the Charismatic movement that blew with new winds starting in 1960 that brought so many people of all races, faiths, and ethnic groups into the body of Christ. It was not done in a lecture series on the validity of Christianity. It was demonstrated in power, experienced, and proclaimed to millions.
Now, on any given Sunday after the choruses, some raised hands and Amens, the services have retreated into times not much different than a Presbyterian service. The denomination that was from the "other side of the tracks, has become the church in the suburbs off the Interstate. Many are now "seeker friendly," instead seek Him friendly with prayer and supplication. In an attempt to make Christianity more palatable to a post-Christian world, churches have implemented a kind of top-down marketing strategy. The church has removed the power of the Holy Spirit as not to offend anyone for the packages of man. The purpose driven life model for the church has some merit, but when the Holy Spirit and His full manifestations are left out of equation, the church is left to be little more than than one more option in the shopping mall mentality of the church. It's just one more option, and many are choosing not to make that option.
Is it any wonder this generation of A/G kids are leaving so called "Pentecostal Power" because they see little power and have never really seen any manifested. Church is just one more option in the "food court" of American life. The secularism and religion of so called "tolerance" has crept into this generation's way of thinking. The only absolute anymore is that there are no absolutes and we must tolerate all lifestyles, practices, and mores.
When the Holy Spirit is moving, though, people are confronted with their sin and the absolute necessity to repent. "There is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved." The reality of this idea that is so, so different from our modern world's acceptance off all belief systems as equal cuts through all generations when the Supernatural power of the Holy Spirit is demonstrated in our midst in church, home, or street.
I challenge anyone out there who has never read or has not read it in a long time to read John Sherill's "They Speak with Other Tongues." The stories in this book of incredible supernatural occurrences to people of all walks of life are absolutely incredible! They can only be called supernatural. Their manifestations led to radical changes to individuals, families, communities, and ethnic groups.
It can happen again, and I am convinced it will if people truly call out to God in fasting and prayer. He has promised to draw close to us if we draw close to him. Recently, I have seen it manifested in my own family. On Halloween,a Sunday,while worshipping the Lord in a usual Sunday service, I was prompted by the Lord by one word- "fast."
It had been a long time since I had done this, but I began to do this the next day. My wife and I have been burdened for a long time to see the Holy Spirit move, and I truly cried out for this. Some incredible things began to happen in a short time. My college son raised in the Church but not really fervent began to have a yearning to experience more of an "edge." He said before leaving for college again after Thanksgiving break that he would fast with us on the next day, Monday. He went into a quite room, fasted, prayed, and read the entire Book of Acts for four hours. This is not my son who reads. He learned most of his World History by playing video games. Reading the entire Book of Acts was quite radical.
The next week he texted me about what were the requirements to be a Nazarite. I've never heard that one from anyone. We told him he'd have to live a separate, holy life. At that moment, I felt prompted to text him: Be filled with the fire from Heaven. Speak! You will be filled. At that very moment, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues!
He immediately began to go out and tell others on his dorm floor what had happened. Some believed but some did not. The next day he laid hands on another student, and he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Since that time his life has changed radically.
Returning home for Christmas break, he wanted to pray instead of playing video games; he wanted to praise, instead of listening and praising his usual secular music. In one incredible moment, he called me over the other day, and we began to intercede for out families with spiritual intensity. Side by side we both prayed in the Holy Spirit
Now, on any given Sunday after the choruses, some raised hands and Amens, the services have retreated into times not much different than a Presbyterian service. The denomination that was from the "other side of the tracks, has become the church in the suburbs off the Interstate. Many are now "seeker friendly," instead seek Him friendly with prayer and supplication. In an attempt to make Christianity more palatable to a post-Christian world, churches have implemented a kind of top-down marketing strategy. The church has removed the power of the Holy Spirit as not to offend anyone for the packages of man. The purpose driven life model for the church has some merit, but when the Holy Spirit and His full manifestations are left out of equation, the church is left to be little more than than one more option in the shopping mall mentality of the church. It's just one more option, and many are choosing not to make that option.
Is it any wonder this generation of A/G kids are leaving so called "Pentecostal Power" because they see little power and have never really seen any manifested. Church is just one more option in the "food court" of American life. The secularism and religion of so called "tolerance" has crept into this generation's way of thinking. The only absolute anymore is that there are no absolutes and we must tolerate all lifestyles, practices, and mores.
When the Holy Spirit is moving, though, people are confronted with their sin and the absolute necessity to repent. "There is no other name under heaven by which men can be saved." The reality of this idea that is so, so different from our modern world's acceptance off all belief systems as equal cuts through all generations when the Supernatural power of the Holy Spirit is demonstrated in our midst in church, home, or street.
I challenge anyone out there who has never read or has not read it in a long time to read John Sherill's "They Speak with Other Tongues." The stories in this book of incredible supernatural occurrences to people of all walks of life are absolutely incredible! They can only be called supernatural. Their manifestations led to radical changes to individuals, families, communities, and ethnic groups.
It can happen again, and I am convinced it will if people truly call out to God in fasting and prayer. He has promised to draw close to us if we draw close to him. Recently, I have seen it manifested in my own family. On Halloween,a Sunday,while worshipping the Lord in a usual Sunday service, I was prompted by the Lord by one word- "fast."
It had been a long time since I had done this, but I began to do this the next day. My wife and I have been burdened for a long time to see the Holy Spirit move, and I truly cried out for this. Some incredible things began to happen in a short time. My college son raised in the Church but not really fervent began to have a yearning to experience more of an "edge." He said before leaving for college again after Thanksgiving break that he would fast with us on the next day, Monday. He went into a quite room, fasted, prayed, and read the entire Book of Acts for four hours. This is not my son who reads. He learned most of his World History by playing video games. Reading the entire Book of Acts was quite radical.
The next week he texted me about what were the requirements to be a Nazarite. I've never heard that one from anyone. We told him he'd have to live a separate, holy life. At that moment, I felt prompted to text him: Be filled with the fire from Heaven. Speak! You will be filled. At that very moment, he was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues!
He immediately began to go out and tell others on his dorm floor what had happened. Some believed but some did not. The next day he laid hands on another student, and he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Since that time his life has changed radically.
Returning home for Christmas break, he wanted to pray instead of playing video games; he wanted to praise, instead of listening and praising his usual secular music. In one incredible moment, he called me over the other day, and we began to intercede for out families with spiritual intensity. Side by side we both prayed in the Holy Spirit
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)