Hope Church @ Port City

I want it all!

...and by His stripes we are healed. (Is. 53:5)

I want it all!

I must confess – I want it all. Everything God has for me. Everything that’s biblical. If it happened in Bible times, it can surely happen now. If it happened to the apostles, it could happen to me. (After all, the Bible does say that God’s no respecter of persons!)

That would include, in no particular order

  • leading people to Christ
  • dreams
  • visions
  • being taken up to the third heaven like Paul
  • prophesy, word of wisdom, word of knowledge
  • radical faith
  • radical love and forgiveness
  • miracles
  • discernment
  • being sent by God
  • preaching
  • being filled by the Holy Spirit and helping others to receive
  • people getting healed even by handkerchiefs and aprons that have touched me – or by my shadow
  • encounters with angels
  • hearing God’s audible voice
  • healings – both my own healing, and also the ability to lay hands on other people and heal them
  • deliverance and casting out demons
  • not being affected by serpents or deadly poison
  • speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues
  • having power over the enemy
  • living a life in Christ’s victory
  • raising people from the dead
  • enduring persecution
  • binding and loosing
  • striking someone blind (assuming that God wanted me to do so – see Acts 13:11)
  • love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control

It does stand to reason that if God doesn’t change, His power and miracles don’t change either. Which means we should be experiencing them now. Today. In our daily lives. On our trips to the grocery store, on visits with our neighbors, everywhere.

It seems like half the church believes that such wonders don’t exist, and the other half want to confine them to strict limits within the church walls.

We need to be taking revival to the streets! To the marketplace. To our schools. Everywhere!

14 Responses

  1. Ichabod says:

    You are far gone, ma’am, that’s the only thing I can say……..

  2. Ichabod says:

    You are far gone, ma’am, that’s the only thing I can say……..

  3. Kathi says:

    What’s far gone about that? 😀

  4. Kathi says:

    What’s far gone about that? 😀

  5. Donna says:

    Scary! Sounds like my old church.
    Kathi, if all this stuff was really meant for today don’t you think we’d be seeing it? The only time you see near to some of this is when there is fakery involved.
    Doesn’t the bible say ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign…’ ??
    Be careful – that’s all I can say.

  6. Donna says:

    Scary! Sounds like my old church.
    Kathi, if all this stuff was really meant for today don’t you think we’d be seeing it? The only time you see near to some of this is when there is fakery involved.
    Doesn’t the bible say ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign…’ ??
    Be careful – that’s all I can say.

  7. Kathi says:

    We ARE seeing it 😀

    Where does the Bible say that God changes – or will stop pouring out His Spirit?

    An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign … yes. To prove that Jesus is real. What I’m talking about is His presence – His glorious, manifest PRESENCE – along with which comes all these signs and more!

  8. Kathi says:

    We ARE seeing it 😀

    Where does the Bible say that God changes – or will stop pouring out His Spirit?

    An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign … yes. To prove that Jesus is real. What I’m talking about is His presence – His glorious, manifest PRESENCE – along with which comes all these signs and more!

  9. Donna says:

    You say you’re against WOF churches…how do these things that you bring up differ from what they teach?

    Getting healed from hankerchiefs that have touched you or your shadow?? The laying on of hands? One must first believe/have faith in another’s healing before performing such a ritual. And the person receiving must also believe to be healed – this is not WOF??

    WOF is more than just believing for that brand new car. Many many people are broken and turn away because of the lies of healing – not only my own personal experience, but I watched it happen to people all the time.

    And I don’t know anyone that has truthfully heard the audible voice of God, been taken up to the third heaven, survived a deadly snake bite without medical intervention, and I certainly don’t know anyone who has been raised from the dead, or had the power to raise the dead. And striking someone blind??

    Kathi, again I say, if these things were possible for today don’t you think we’d be seeing it?

    If it only took a hand or a hankerchief to heal, why not take it to a children’s hospital where there are so many poor little souls dying today?

    I’m sorry, this is a sore subject.

    No, I see no difference with this than what I walked away from so many years ago.

  10. Donna says:

    You say you’re against WOF churches…how do these things that you bring up differ from what they teach?

    Getting healed from hankerchiefs that have touched you or your shadow?? The laying on of hands? One must first believe/have faith in another’s healing before performing such a ritual. And the person receiving must also believe to be healed – this is not WOF??

    WOF is more than just believing for that brand new car. Many many people are broken and turn away because of the lies of healing – not only my own personal experience, but I watched it happen to people all the time.

    And I don’t know anyone that has truthfully heard the audible voice of God, been taken up to the third heaven, survived a deadly snake bite without medical intervention, and I certainly don’t know anyone who has been raised from the dead, or had the power to raise the dead. And striking someone blind??

    Kathi, again I say, if these things were possible for today don’t you think we’d be seeing it?

    If it only took a hand or a hankerchief to heal, why not take it to a children’s hospital where there are so many poor little souls dying today?

    I’m sorry, this is a sore subject.

    No, I see no difference with this than what I walked away from so many years ago.

  11. Kathi says:

    I believe what the Bible says. I believe in healing because I’ve been healed, and believe in the laying on of hands because I’ve been healed that way (this week, even) and I’ve laid hands on the sick and they’ve recovered. Every time? No. But if the Apostle Paul wasn’t able to heal everyone, I shouldn’t expect to be able to either.

    I’ll say more about it all tomorrow… church just got over here and didn’t want to leave this hanging out there.

  12. Kathi says:

    I believe what the Bible says. I believe in healing because I’ve been healed, and believe in the laying on of hands because I’ve been healed that way (this week, even) and I’ve laid hands on the sick and they’ve recovered. Every time? No. But if the Apostle Paul wasn’t able to heal everyone, I shouldn’t expect to be able to either.

    I’ll say more about it all tomorrow… church just got over here and didn’t want to leave this hanging out there.

  13. Kathi says:

    I haven’t announced this publicly yet, nor have I been back to see the doctor for confirmation. If a limb regrows or blind eyes see you don’t exactly need medical documentation… but with something internal, you do. Ken laid hands on me Friday night and prayed for healing in my gall bladder. I woke up Saturday morning pain-free and able to eat anything I please (it had been so bad that the tiniest amount of fat would make me hurt so much I’d be breathless). Since Saturday morning – not a trace of pain. None.

    In Africa, Central & South America, and Asia, divine healing is common in crusades and missions. Not so common here in America and Europe. Ditto for raising people from the dead and other miracles. We’re a bit more comfortable with things like prophecy and even tongues… there’s an element of control there.

    Westerners expect God to stay in his gift-wrapped jewelry box and behave. So He tends to accommodate us. It’s been said that the Holy Ghost is a Gentleman – He won’t force Himself on people who don’t want Him.

    Let me ask you this, Donna. When people pray (when you’ve asked me to pray)… you expect an answer, don’t you? Prayer isn’t (meant to be) just mumbling some words of comfort and you know that somebody cares because they took a minute to mumble. Sadly, we reduce it to that all too often. Someone caring about you is nice – but that doesn’t solve anybody’s problems. Jesus can!

    Prayer is going BOLDLY to the throne of grace because Christ won us that access in His death and resurrection. Prayer isn’t a form submitted in triplicate to some heavenly bureaucracy to stamp “approved” or “denied” on. Prayer is going straight to the King of the Universe, EXPECTING that He will move on our behalf.

    Is that WoF? I don’t think so. I think it’s radical faith.

    Why not take it to the hospitals? Indeed, why not (some are). Jesus did say that at the end of days He would separate the sheep from the goats. I wonder at what He meant by that… because He doesn’t seem to be speaking to nonbelievers (Matthew 25). I wonder at the people who are determined to keep the glory within the four walls of the church…

    You know Ken and I. Met us in person. We’ve both heard the audible voice of God. Not often – but we have. Ken and I have dreams and visions and prophesy and speak in tongues and get words of knowledge and wisdom. We’ve had encounters with what we believe may have been angels (the Bible says we’ll entertain angels unawares of what they are)

    We haven’t been taken up to the third heaven, but the Apostle Paul was. Ditto for surviving the snake bite – and we’ve talked with missionaries with similar stories about snakes and poison and yes, people being raised from the dead. These missionaries are people we know in person and trust their integrity. And to be honest I wouldn’t WANT to strike someone blind but it’s got its purposes in God’s power.

    To me, WoF (the overall movement) is not about radically trusting God for power and provision. It’s not about expecting God to move. There’s an edge to much of the teaching, that if God’s promised something, He has no choice but to do it and we can force Him to… and that if He doesn’t do as we command, it’s because of a problem on OUR part. (No one ever stops to consider that perhaps He’s got a problem with arrogance). Furthermore, some of the teaching of the WoF movement goes a step or six beyond arrogance and changes both God’s nature and man’s.

    For all that we can expect God to do great things and live in anticipation of those things… we in no way have the authority to *command* that God do anything. He’s sovereign.

    If I pray for someone and they die anyway, is it a matter of not enough faith? Or is it a matter of a man’s appointed to live once and all of our days were written before they came to be… people will die. The temporary death of our physical bodies is rarely pretty or controllable. Just like we want to put God in a pretty box, we want to put death there too (and anything else we can’t control).

    I know you were hurt because you were promised that a healing would happen and it didn’t. That doesn’t mean that God is any less powerful or glorious, or that He won’t work mighty miracles at other times, places, and ways (including one in your heart, dear one!).

    I choose to follow Christ. I choose to believe the Bible. Both have proved to be Truth. If I’m going to follow Christ but not believe the Word of God, what do I have? Some amorphous “spirituality”. Christ and the Word cannot be divorced, they are one. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1). And so if I’m going to believe the Bible, I’m going to believe all of it, everything it says, and expect that since God does not change, that He’s not going to do things differently now than He did then, and that the signs and wonders and miracles that happened in Bible times can and will happen now. There’s not a single word in the Bible about signs and wonders and miracles and etc. ceasing. Not a single word about the abolition of the offices of prophet and apostle. Not a single word about God becoming silent in our day. In fact, since each believer carries the Holy Spirit in our hearts, shouldn’t we expect MORE? We’ve got the possibility for intimate fellowship with the Creator of the Universe. Shouldn’t we expect great things due to that positional relationship?

    God wants you, Donna. He wants you right along with your doubts and fears because He wants to heal them. You were wounded not by what He did, but by how man handled it. He wants to heal you without scars. He wants to carry your hurt. He wants to live in power in your life. He wants you to live forever in Him. But He’ll neither force you nor tapdance for you. To paraphrase a favorite CS Lewis line from Narnia – “He’s not a tame lion. But He’s good.”

  14. Kathi says:

    I haven’t announced this publicly yet, nor have I been back to see the doctor for confirmation. If a limb regrows or blind eyes see you don’t exactly need medical documentation… but with something internal, you do. Ken laid hands on me Friday night and prayed for healing in my gall bladder. I woke up Saturday morning pain-free and able to eat anything I please (it had been so bad that the tiniest amount of fat would make me hurt so much I’d be breathless). Since Saturday morning – not a trace of pain. None.

    In Africa, Central & South America, and Asia, divine healing is common in crusades and missions. Not so common here in America and Europe. Ditto for raising people from the dead and other miracles. We’re a bit more comfortable with things like prophecy and even tongues… there’s an element of control there.

    Westerners expect God to stay in his gift-wrapped jewelry box and behave. So He tends to accommodate us. It’s been said that the Holy Ghost is a Gentleman – He won’t force Himself on people who don’t want Him.

    Let me ask you this, Donna. When people pray (when you’ve asked me to pray)… you expect an answer, don’t you? Prayer isn’t (meant to be) just mumbling some words of comfort and you know that somebody cares because they took a minute to mumble. Sadly, we reduce it to that all too often. Someone caring about you is nice – but that doesn’t solve anybody’s problems. Jesus can!

    Prayer is going BOLDLY to the throne of grace because Christ won us that access in His death and resurrection. Prayer isn’t a form submitted in triplicate to some heavenly bureaucracy to stamp “approved” or “denied” on. Prayer is going straight to the King of the Universe, EXPECTING that He will move on our behalf.

    Is that WoF? I don’t think so. I think it’s radical faith.

    Why not take it to the hospitals? Indeed, why not (some are). Jesus did say that at the end of days He would separate the sheep from the goats. I wonder at what He meant by that… because He doesn’t seem to be speaking to nonbelievers (Matthew 25). I wonder at the people who are determined to keep the glory within the four walls of the church…

    You know Ken and I. Met us in person. We’ve both heard the audible voice of God. Not often – but we have. Ken and I have dreams and visions and prophesy and speak in tongues and get words of knowledge and wisdom. We’ve had encounters with what we believe may have been angels (the Bible says we’ll entertain angels unawares of what they are)

    We haven’t been taken up to the third heaven, but the Apostle Paul was. Ditto for surviving the snake bite – and we’ve talked with missionaries with similar stories about snakes and poison and yes, people being raised from the dead. These missionaries are people we know in person and trust their integrity. And to be honest I wouldn’t WANT to strike someone blind but it’s got its purposes in God’s power.

    To me, WoF (the overall movement) is not about radically trusting God for power and provision. It’s not about expecting God to move. There’s an edge to much of the teaching, that if God’s promised something, He has no choice but to do it and we can force Him to… and that if He doesn’t do as we command, it’s because of a problem on OUR part. (No one ever stops to consider that perhaps He’s got a problem with arrogance). Furthermore, some of the teaching of the WoF movement goes a step or six beyond arrogance and changes both God’s nature and man’s.

    For all that we can expect God to do great things and live in anticipation of those things… we in no way have the authority to *command* that God do anything. He’s sovereign.

    If I pray for someone and they die anyway, is it a matter of not enough faith? Or is it a matter of a man’s appointed to live once and all of our days were written before they came to be… people will die. The temporary death of our physical bodies is rarely pretty or controllable. Just like we want to put God in a pretty box, we want to put death there too (and anything else we can’t control).

    I know you were hurt because you were promised that a healing would happen and it didn’t. That doesn’t mean that God is any less powerful or glorious, or that He won’t work mighty miracles at other times, places, and ways (including one in your heart, dear one!).

    I choose to follow Christ. I choose to believe the Bible. Both have proved to be Truth. If I’m going to follow Christ but not believe the Word of God, what do I have? Some amorphous “spirituality”. Christ and the Word cannot be divorced, they are one. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1). And so if I’m going to believe the Bible, I’m going to believe all of it, everything it says, and expect that since God does not change, that He’s not going to do things differently now than He did then, and that the signs and wonders and miracles that happened in Bible times can and will happen now. There’s not a single word in the Bible about signs and wonders and miracles and etc. ceasing. Not a single word about the abolition of the offices of prophet and apostle. Not a single word about God becoming silent in our day. In fact, since each believer carries the Holy Spirit in our hearts, shouldn’t we expect MORE? We’ve got the possibility for intimate fellowship with the Creator of the Universe. Shouldn’t we expect great things due to that positional relationship?

    God wants you, Donna. He wants you right along with your doubts and fears because He wants to heal them. You were wounded not by what He did, but by how man handled it. He wants to heal you without scars. He wants to carry your hurt. He wants to live in power in your life. He wants you to live forever in Him. But He’ll neither force you nor tapdance for you. To paraphrase a favorite CS Lewis line from Narnia – “He’s not a tame lion. But He’s good.”

Comments are closed.