When They Saw What He Did Then…

Mike-P1020072-200It’s always intrigued me to read the passage in Acts 8:4 when Philip went down to Samaria. “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.”

Power is what people of the world are looking for today. They have problems with no answers. They’re sick. They’re hooked on alcohol and drugs. Their relationships are tearing them apart. Satan has turned their lives so upside down, they don’t know where to go or what to do to get things fixed.

They don’t care if you talk in tongues or dance in the aisles or sit up straight and sing out of a hymnal. But if you have the power to get their bodies healed and their lives straightened out, they’ll come to wherever you are. Not only that, they’ll listen to what you say.

That’s the kind of credibility God wants to establish. He wants the Church in our day to have the same reputation Jesus had when He was on the earth. He wants people to say about us what they said about those first-generation disciples, “If you go where they are, you can get healed.”

I heard Bill Johnson say, “The Gospel without power is not good news.” If all we have to offer people is religion, a new set of rules to live by or a new set of standards to live up to, without power which can heal their bodies and transform their lives, what good is that? We’ve merely bound them up with another set of “shoulds.” I “should” read my Bible, I “should” go to church, I “should” pray more.

Wouldn’t it be much more exciting to do the works that Jesus did? It’s fun to be spiritually on fire, going all-out for God. When you live like that, you never know what’s going to happen. You don’t know where you’ll wind up or who you’ll be ministering to or what amazing things the Spirit of God will be doing next.

Often people will wait around until they receive the gift of healing. If you want to receive the gifts of the Spirit, it won’t happen until you start ministering. As much as you might want to, you can’t wait around until you receive the gift of healing and then go lay hands on the sick. The power manifests as you give out. Once you step out to do the works of Jesus, the Spirit of God will back you up with His power.

I often say to people, “If you’re going to pray for the sick you must be willing to take a risk.” If you’re willing to take a risk and pray for the sick, you’re doing what God sent you to do. And, as people watch what you do, they will listen to what you have to say. Then they will begin to care about what you believe.

Awake California!
This month a city-wide event was held here in Bakersfield at the Rabobank Arena. It was an event to call the people of California to pray for a number of areas such as Family, Government, Church, Education, etc. The event was well attended and allowed a large number of us to come together from all streams of the church and worship and pray. We thank God for those that worked hard to bring this event together.

Drive-Thru Prayers
One of the young men I meet with on Saturday morning shared this story with me. He was going through the drive-thru to pick up his coffee when the Lord told him that the person at the window had an ear problem. When he pulled up he asked her if her ear was hurting. Her response was, “Yes how did you know that!” He told her how and prayed for her and drove away. Two days later he drove back through and the same girl was at the window. She said that the ear quit hurting immediately! How cool is that?

Thank you for your prayers and continued support of this ministry. We appreciate each of you.

God bless,

Mike