It Is Time For A Miracle Reformation

For anyone who has been following The Kings of Eden for some time, you will know that I absolutely love miracles, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and really, every way that Jesus comes and transforms lives. What I don’t love is when we as individual members of the Body of Christ do things that make all of us collectively look stupid. Just this past year we have seen a disappointing end to an extraordinary miracle, and that’s just one example. I’ll explain more of what I mean about that shortly, but I believe that we are stepping into a time we are past due for—the time for a Miracle Reformation!

Back in November of last year (2019), I was driving a trailer of belongings from Oregon to Texas, and kept seeing repeating 111’s. I ended up texting a bunch of photos to a friend because it kept happening just so frequently. Exit 111, 111 miles to the next city, license plates, and more. Normally when this happens to me, God is trying to communicate a message to me. Now, driving at 50-80 mph in a truck with an enclosed trailer isn’t exactly a great time to look up Bible verses, but when I finally was able to look up repeating 1’s and found the following:

“Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.” Exodus 11:10

“He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.” Psalm 111:4

Both of these verses speak of “wonders”, and not miracles specifically, but I think of “wonders” as miraculous happenings that cause people to ask questions, to think, and to engage in surprise and admiration of God. As an interesting aside, if you add 111 + 111 you get 222, and Acts 2:22 says, “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know,” yet again pointing to the miraculous. Ultimately, I think that God wants us to both not-harden our hearts toward miracles and also to remember them. But with so much silliness abounding in the church regarding the miraculous, sometimes it is hard not to let a little hardness or skepticism in.

For example, there is a “study” that has been passed around the internet for almost a decade now about speaking in tongues (you can read the earliest I can find of the many re-publishings of it here). It is supposedly by Dr. Carl Peterson who purportedly published through Oral Roberts University, and it says that immunity can be increased by 35-40% through speaking in tongues. Sounds wonderful, right? Wrong. First off, it is impossible to actually locate the study. I’ve tried and failed multiple times (and if anyone is able to produce it, please send it to me and I will correct this statement, but until then . . . impossible to find). Second, the only thing I have ever seen is the exact same piece of text that has been copied and pasted so many times that no one seems to know where it actually first appeared nor how real it is or isn’t. Third, if one actually evaluates the text of the documentation, it is incredibly vague. It doesn’t reference the title of the study, it doesn’t tell us where the very specific 35-40% numbers came from, and while some of the facts about anatomy and physiology written in the statement are verifiable as true, none of that has anything to do with speaking in tongues, and certainly has no connection to an unnamed, unidentified study that no one can produce. And yet, when I recently spoke with some people who were repeating these same numerical statements, they began to argue with me that they didn’t care if a study could prove it or not because “they believe the Bible and know that tongues is healthy for the body.”

Don’t misunderstand me. I believe speaking in tongues is a good idea. There is are reasons Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:18 that, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.” Yet, when someone is challenged on the ability to produce evidence of very specific numerical claims about the effects of the practice on one’s body, I get ridiculed for not having enough faith in God. I’m sorry, but I both have faith in God and enough of a science background to recognize that a study should have actual data associated with it. And when we collectively repeat nonsense enough times that we believe it is true, anyone else with half a brain knows it is absurd and it makes us look stupid. How is that helping encourage people to pursue miracles? It isn’t.

Another disappointment in the past year is the Dalton Bible and its oil production scandal. I have written about the initial miracle here and have a guest author’s article I have shared here on my other website and then my perspective on the scandal here for those who want to read it. In summary though, a Bible began miraculously producing oil a few years back, and at some point early this year it came out that some of that oil may have been planted by a person or persons in the ministry. While the ministry vehemently denied it, the oil stopped flowing, the ministry stopped all meetings, they stopped communicating with the outside world, and then stopped maintaining their ministry web domain, apparently disbanding. While the circumstances surrounding it are sad enough, this is the kind of stuff that causes skeptics to be even more skeptical.

I think it is time we saw a Miracle Reformation—where we not only expect to see and experience signs, wonders, and miracles, but where we also have a high level of discernment regarding what is actually taking place when they occur, as well as intentional accountability that answers the sensible questions of naysayers. Having written multiple books on miracles, with multiple more in the works, I recognize that it is not always possible to provide a so-called “rational” explanation of miracles to those who don’t believe. However, I think sometimes we don’t even try to help people understand what is happening when miracles take place—and I think that is often because we don’t understand what is going on either!

It seems to be a rare breed among people of faith to find those who both seek to operate in miracles and understand what God is doing in and through them. While certainly I don’t think we have to limit God to what we can understand with our minds, I do think that we would be wise to ask Him for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding related to the things He is doing. After all, God tells us to ask Him and He will tell us the answers (Jeremiah 33:3). I believe that God wants us to remember the miracles of the past and not let current failings harden our hearts to the things of the future, but I believe God also wants us to walk in wisdom as we administrate His power in signs and wonders.

Toward that end, I have written and published two books of what is eventually going to be a 6-book series on different kinds of miracle manifestations. In each book I discuss the miracle itself, what the Bible says about it, advice on how we can discern the situation wisely, and how we can partner with God to see these wonders in our own lives. The two currently published are Gemstones From Heaven and Feathers From Heaven, available on Amazon, with additional books on oil, manna, gold, and radiance miracles in various stages of being written (I am taking testimony submissions for those books—email me at thekingsofeden@gmail.com). You can also find more goodies under the “Signs, Wonders, & Miracles category” on this website.

Impartation and the Human Spirit – The Power of Impartation Part 4

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In Part 1 we discussed the mechanism of impartation and how we can influence its effectiveness in our lives. In Part 2 we discussed what I call Impartation Math—understanding both how we can give to others without loss on our end, as well as how the seed of impartation can help us grow in spiritual power. In Part 3 we saw how the power of impartation can be used to pursue exponential growth in spiritual power. In this fourth and final installment of The Power of Impartation series we are going to look at the influence and interaction between the human spirit, the holy spirit, and how they are related to impartation—as well as how we can benefit from that understanding.

In Numbers 11 we see an interesting interaction between Moses and God. Moses is complaining that running the nation is too much work, so God gives him a very intriguing instruction. The passage says:

“The Lord said to Moses: ‘Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone” . . . . So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again. However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp.” (Numbers 11:16-17, 24-26)

The fascinating thing about this scripture, to me, is that God recognized that something He had placed upon Moses had a few different qualities.
1) It helped Moses accomplish something (which in this instance was governing)
2) It could be shared and/or given to others
3) It is possible to share it with someone who isn’t physically present
4) The “it” being shared is actually part of the nature of God, not just an object

It is also of note that because the process of impartation is sharing an aspect or quality of the Holy Spirit, it means that the qualities of God can be split up. What I mean by that is that having the Holy Spirit means we have access to all aspects of His being, but it doesn’t mean that all aspects of His being are actively resident or at work within us. Furthermore, something about impartation causes those qualities to be shared, revealed, or otherwise manifested when they previously were not. The main difference between the Old and New Testament regarding this is that the Holy Spirit is now resident in all believers, but all of His qualities are still not made manifest, hence the value and benefit of impartation from one to another.

We see this again in another Old Testament passage, between Elijah and Elisha, except there is something unique about what that passage shows us that is relevant to understanding how impartation functions and how our human spirit is involved in the process. 2 Kings 2:9-10 says:

“When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?’
‘Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,’ Elisha replied.
‘You have asked a difficult thing,’ Elijah said, ‘yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.’”

Note here that Elisha didn’t ask for a double portion of the Holy Spirit that was upon Elijah, but a double portion of his spirit. Furthermore, Elijah didn’t tell him that was impossible, but outlined conditions under which Elisha’s request would be granted. Elisha seemed aware that what he was going to receive had a connection not just to the Spirit of God, but to Elijah’s spirit. In fact, we see Jesus reference this as well in Luke 1:17a, saying “he will go on before the LORD, in the spirit and power of Elijah . . .” Even Jesus recognized that it is possible to inherit something from another *person’s* spirit and not just from the Holy Spirit.

While I get that concept opens up a large can of worms (too large to cover here, and which I will be covering in the book I am now working on that will share the same title as this series—The Power of Impartation), it is important to understand there is a significant interchange between our human spirits and the Holy Spirit in impartation. There is an important principle that I see displayed in 1 Corinthians 14 that I think reveals the connection between the Holy Spirit and our human spirit. The passage is talking about tongues and prophecy, but pay attention to what it says about the human spirit:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying? You are giving thanks well enough, but no one else is edified. . . . Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. (2 Corinthians 14:14-17, 29-32)

In this passage speaks about gifts of the Holy Spirit, but he keeps referring to people praying with their own spirits. How does that work? He explains in 1 Corinthians 14, “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.” In other words, the Holy Spirit and the human spirit work together when one is praying in tongues. This is a perfect example of a situation where the Spirit of God comes upon our spirits and the connection of the two influences what happens next. We also see that Paul tells us the spirits of the prophets are subject to their own control, which means that our human spirits are not simply passively receiving whatever God is doing, but that we have the ability to control what our spirits are doing. Why is this important?

If we want to understand how impartation works, we have to grasp the concept that our human spirit is involved in a partnership with the Holy Spirit, but also that some aspects of the flavor of our own spirit get passed on when we impart to others—largely because our spirit is the vessel. If you will recall in Part 1 (https://www.thekingsofeden.com/2020/05/growing-in-spiritual-power-the-power-of-impartation-part-1/) I shared a story about a time I received prayer from Prophet Larry Randolph, and I could actually observe the “flavor” of the impartation in how I was prophesying over others shortly afterwards. In some way, impartation is not just a gift where we are giving an aspect of the Holy Spirit as a gift, but we are giving the gift of ourselves as well—and yet, because the Holy Spirit flows like a river through us, we don’t experience loss even as we give freely of Him and of ourselves to others. And isn’t pouring out our lives for others part of the example Jesus gave us? With impartation, we just give of ourselves in a different sort of way.

I am excited about the gift that impartation is to the Church, and while I understand I have shared just a few aspects of a larger subject, my hope is that it has given you, the reader, a greater understanding of the impact it can have in your own life, how it functions, why it even matters, and the connection both our spirits and the Holy Spirit have in this process. If you are interested in more on this subject, as I mentioned earlier I am now working on a more comprehensive book on the subject which will also share the name The Power of Impartation (the book is now finished–get it here!). If you want to be notified about it when it is in print, make sure to sign up for my email list below (if you haven’t already), and you will also receive a free e-book on how to engage the angelic realms as a thank you. Stay in touch and God bless you!

The Power of Impartation Series:

Part 1: Growing in Spiritual Power

Part 2: Impartation Math

Part 3: Pursuing Exponential Growth

Part 4: Impartation and the Human Spirit

The book The Power of Impartation is now available. Get your copy today!

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Pursuing Exponential Growth – The Power of Impartation Part 3

In Part 1 we discussed the mechanism of impartation and how we can influence its effectiveness in our lives. In Part 2 we discussed what I call Impartation Math—understanding both how we can give to others without loss on our end, as well as how the seed of impartation can help us grow in spiritual power. Now we are going to look at how the power of impartation can be used to pursue exponential growth in spiritual power, which ultimately looks like more effective prayers and better results. While intentional impartation may not exactly mirror exponential growth, it can help us to move in that direction at growing rate.

Exponential growth is growth that increases in the growth speed over time, essentially gaining speed as time passes. A good example is that of a farmer and his crops. When a farmer plants a single plant, it produces seeds—not one, but many seeds per plant. For simplicity let us say one plant produces 20 seeds. If a farmer plants those seeds and they all bear fruit, he will harvest 400 seeds. If he plants those seeds and they all bear fruit at the next harvest, he will harvest 8,000 seeds. Repeated continuously it will then be 160,000 seeds, then 3.2 million, then 64 million, and so on. At some point he will be unable to plant all of the seeds he would theoretically obtain, all due to exponential growth over time. What we are going to do is apply the concept of exponential growth and look at what could happen if we turned it toward intentional use of the principles behind impartation.

Before going further, I just want to point out that growing in spiritual power has to do with our own effectiveness in manifesting and releasing the Kingdom in the earth. It is not the same as having an actual relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, nor is it a substitute for developing a lifestyle of intimacy with the Godhead. Nothing in this series should be understood to be or taken as a substitute for a relationship with God, but instead is meant to show some ways we can shortcut the process of growing in spiritual power to influence our world.

As we discussed in Part 2, Impartation Math shows us how we can impart a small portion of our spiritual ability to others as a seed that can be cultivated and grown. But what if we didn’t just do this at random, or only do it occasionally? What if instead, a group of people caught the vision for how to grow intentionally and put these principles into practice? Let’s look at that now.

Imagine that a group of five people all met together weekly for prayer and/or ministry of some kind. Then imagine that each time they met, they prayed for one another to receive impartation from the measure of the Holy Spirit on their lives. To explain this, I am going with the following rules, which, while the numbers are a little arbitrary, the numbers are chosen to represent a concept:

1) Something imparted is in seed form

2) When one prays for another, roughly 1% of their total spiritual force is given away (with 1% representing a small amount, in seed form)

3) When that impartation is assimilated, the total spiritual power increases to make a new total.

4) Everyone in the group starts at 100 sp (SP = spiritual power, representing the power, force, God-points, or whatever one wants to title this)

If on meeting 1 everyone gives 1% to everyone else (1 sp), at the end of the meeting everyone is now at 104 points. At the next gathering, everyone gives 1.04 sp away so each person goes away with 108.16 sp. If we continue this ten times in total (rounding to 3 decimals or less), then by the end of 10 meetings (chart at the bottom) each person would be at approximately 148 sp, nearly 1.5 times what they began with, and if this continued weekly for six months, he or she would have at least 277 sp, almost 3 times the starting point. Now, while these numbers are only a rough representation of how this works, there is a sort of spiritual mathematics that occurs when we engage in spiritual transactions of any kind, and if we are aware of this, we can make purposeful use of this in our lives.

Imagine what could happen if this group continued to do their weekly meetings regularly for years, with people coming and going, picking up the benefits of both giving and receiving in impartation culture, carrying it with them to other places, and with the initial group continuing to grow both in in spiritual power over time. Imagine if instead of five people it had ten or fifteen, and that in addition to regular impartation they spent time in corporate worship and intercession for their group, the region, and more. What if this was a God-designed way that we could help one another make leaps and bounds forward in our ability to see our prayers answered, miracles released, our communities transformed, and experience the manifestation of the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?

Personally, I have seen the benefits of acceleration in spiritual growth, and this has been in part through intentional focus on my part. I think that sometimes people can confuse the idea that we get everything in the Kingdom as a free inheritance with the idea that we get it for free in seed form. Jesus told a parable about the mustard seed of faith in Mark 4:30-32, saying “Again he said, ‘What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.’” The point of this parable wasn’t about just needing to have a seed—it was that as the seed grew, the increasing benefits would be revealed. I believe that impartation is essentially a means of both planting new seeds and watering those seeds we have already received from Heaven. The more intentional we are about it, the more watering the plants get, and with better nurture comes better and faster growth. Jesus wasn’t teaching his disciples to rest and do nothing. I believe he was trying to explain how growth over time would release increasing benefits, and that as we do, other people will be able to benefit from the power of God working through our lives. Intentional impartation is one way we can help maximize this growth with one another.

In the fourth and final installment of The Power of Impartation series we are going to look at the influence and interaction between the human spirit, the holy spirit, and how they are related to impartation—as well as how we can benefit from that understanding. Stay tuned!

Meeting #: Start + Add = End Total*

1: 100 + 4 = 104
2: 104 + 4.16 = 108.16
3: 108.16 + 4.326 = 112.486
4: 112.486 + 4.5 = 117
5: 117 + 4.68 = 121.68
6: 121.68 + 4.868 = 126.548
7: 126.548 + 5.06 = 131.6
8: 131.6 + 5.264 = 136.864
9: 136.864 + 5.476 = 142.34
10: 142.34 + 5.69 = 148.03

*For everyone checking my math, please note that for simplicity’s sake, I have intentionally rounded to 1 or 2 decimals in certain places when the numbers were extremely close to the next decimal, which since the numbers are all made-up to begin with doesn’t influence the point one way or the other.

The Power of Impartation Series:

Part 1: Growing in Spiritual Power

Part 2: Impartation Math

Part 3 – Pursuing Exponential Growth

Part 4 – Impartation and the Human Spirit

The book The Power of Impartation is now available. Get your copy today!

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Impartation Math – The Power of Impartation Part 2

In Part 1 we discussed the mechanism of impartation and how we can influence its effectiveness in our lives. In this segment we are going to look at what I call “Impartation Math”, or ultimately the rules behind how it functions, so that we can look in a future segment on how to make use of these principles to enhance our own spiritual advancement. Impartation prayer is a great way to accelerate spiritual growth in the individual, but from what I have observed there is a sort of spiritual mathematics behind how it tends to function. Keep in mind this is how impartation tends to function in most cases, and is not a rule for all circumstances, as there are always outliers. However, I am confident that the concepts we will discuss are fairly reliable. Some of the information below is also discussed in my book The Gamer’s Guide to the Kingdom of God.

Impartation is a useful method to grow in spiritual power, but when receiving it from others, it seems that we typically only receive a small portion of whatever the other person carries. Thus, it often takes a moderate amount of impartation over time before we notice significant changes. Impartation is much like planting a spiritual seed, but it is also a renewable resource. When imparting to others, we don’t lose spiritual virtue, but rather pass on a seed of what we have received to the other person.

To explain the concept, we are going to look at math using arbitrary percentages I have assigned for simplicity’s sake. While the numbers are kept simple for easy math, we have to keep in mind that impartation is typically passing on virtue in seed form, requiring further growth and development to become powerful and effective. Spiritual virtue flows through us much like a river that collects in a reservoir. When we impart to someone else our reservoir level drops slightly, but is entirely temporary as it is soon refilled by the river of God still feeding it—so we are able to give freely without experiencing any personal loss. Practically speaking this means there is a limitless supply of God-energy available to us in any and every situation. Ultimately, it is the speed of the flow of one’s “spiritual river” that influences how quickly this occurs, but when we give to one another we help increase their ability to be a conduit of the Holy Spirit.

Consider that when praying, we give someone 1% of the spiritual power (or a spiritual gift) we possess. If 100 people gave 1% (or fewer people but a total of 100 separate instances), then that individual’s spiritual capacity would essentially double. There is no limit to the amount of virtue we can impart to others, but if we can only give 1% at a time it will take a while to notice the effects. Ultimately, the goal is to enlarge our reservoir so more can flow through us in any moment. This means that the speed at which we see divine healing, deliverance, and much more should see an increase over time, and really the same will occur for answered prayer as a whole. Additionally, as our reservoir enlarges, we are able to impart more virtue to others when we pray as well. For example, even if the percentage we impart remains the same, as we enlarge our reservoir, we become able to release a greater amount to others. In human terms, 1% of 100 gallons is far less than 1% of 100,000 gallons and our spirits work similarly. As we grow in spiritual power, we have more ability to release a greater measure upon those around us.

Now, if we want to see this occur on a wider scale, we would have to become more intentional about it. And as we discussed in the previous article, we have to not just receive impartation, but do something to assimilate it to truly become part of us. Furthermore, hopefully we aren’t solely relying on this to grow, and are also doing things with what we receive to minister to those around us. In Part 3, we are going to look at how we can use these principles to pursue exponential growth in spiritual power.

The Power of Impartation Series:

Part 1: Growing in Spiritual Power

Part 2: Impartation Math

Part 3 – Pursuing Exponential Growth

Part 4 – Impartation and the Human Spirit

The book The Power of Impartation is now available. Get your copy today!

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Growing in Spiritual Power – The Power of Impartation Part 1

Back in the fall of 2006 I volunteered at Global Awakening’s yearly Voice of the Apostles conference. After one of the night sessions I was tasked with driving one of the speakers, Larry Randolph, and his wife back to their hotel. We had some brief conversation on the ride there, and during that time I asked him if he would mind praying for me to receive an impartation of the prophetic gifts, unction, or whatever else one might choose to call it. He agreed, but then we got sidetracked with some other things and the prayer didn’t occur that night, which was disappointing but fine. Yet, what happened the next day taught me something interesting about growing in spiritual power and the power of impartation.

Larry was the speaker for the afternoon session, and after calling out words of knowledge and prophecying over the audience members the Holy Spirit highlighted to him, he was about to end, saying “I’ve got time for one more.” He then looked directly at me and called me up to the front to pray an impartation of the prophetic over me. At first he wasn’t sure specifically why he felt led to do this . . . until I reminded him that I had asked the night prior. He chuckled, as he then recalled that we had never gotten to it that night, prayed for me, then closed the session.

It was touching that the Holy Spirit heard and honored my request from the night prior, but what followed was fascinating to me. I had the distinct impression that I needed to take some time in prayer with God after this, but a friend came up immediately and asked me to pray for her as well, which I did. In hindsight, I should have listened to the nudging I felt, but that’s the value of experience, and I was still pretty young in the prophetic at the time.

I have a theory about how impartation works. The Bible likes to refer to spiritual virtue, anointing, gifts, etc. as oil and humans as earthenware jars (2 Cor 4:7), so let’s use the analogy of oil in a jar. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can be likened to a full jar. When someone prays impartation over us, we receive an infilling of more oil, but the jar is already full, so we have to temporarily expand the jar size to fit the extra oil (yes, I know that’s not actually a thing with jars, but just go with the example).

Once the jar-size is expanded, there are two possible options:
1) the oil will get used and the jar shrinks back down to normal size
2) the oil gets assimilated and the jar permanently expands

Some believe that impartation only works if God initiates it. I have not found that to be true. It may be more effective if God initiates it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work the rest of the time. In Acts 3:6, Peter says to a cripple that “what I have I give you”. Peter recognized that he not only had a substance but that he could give it to other people. In addition to spiritual power, we see multiple times in Acts where the Holy Spirit is given through the laying on of hands, and it references the same occurring with prophetic gifts in 1 Timothy 4:14, saying “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.”

There are a number of ideas out there about impartation, but my observation has shown me that the two options listed above are really the only two available. Either we receive the gift of impartation and it becomes permanent, or we receive it and it is impermanent. What I have found is that we can influence how permanent it does or does not become. For example, why would I have felt nudged not to pray for someone else after receiving impartation prayer from Larry Randolph? It wouldn’t matter unless my actions were able to influence what happened in some meaningful way.

I am a huge fan of impartation prayer, as I believe it is a method God gives us to accelerate spiritual growth for ourselves and others. However, it works best when we are active participants. In my own life, I have made it a point to intentionally cultivate both my relationship with God and my prayer life, as I have noticed accelerated spiritual growth when I spend long periods of time in prayer. Furthermore, I have found that if I spend time in prayer, worship, soaking, or otherwise engaging with God in the subsequent days after receiving impartation prayer, it seems to have a positive impact on whether I assimilate the impartation or not. Anyone can get prayed for, but those who are intentional to steward the gift are those who will receive the most benefit.

If you want to enhance your own spiritual growth as far as effectiveness in prayer, healing the sick, and more, I encourage you to take advantage of impartation where it is available, but don’t be passive about it. Take it that next step and intentionally assimilate all the Lord has given you so that you can be the most effective you there is. We are going to look a bit more in the next two installments about how we can encourage exponential growth and the connection impartation has with the human spirit.

The Power of Impartation Series:

Part 1: Growing in Spiritual Power

Part 2: Impartation Math

Part 3 – Pursuing Exponential Growth

Part 4 – Impartation and the Human Spirit

The book The Power of Impartation is now available. Get your copy today!

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Deal with Coronavirus According To The Grace You Live In

These days, the COVID-19 Coronavirus is all over the news. Literally. I’m not sure it’s possible to watch any other news, actually, because if it isn’t Corona, I’m not even sure anyone is reporting on it even if we would be better served by not having 24/7 fear-and-panic updates. However, this entire process has gotten me doing a good bit of pondering as I have some very divergent thoughts and stances on things, all of which come crashing together when dealing with what many are choosing to call a pandemic. I have friends whom I love and highly respect who have canceled their ministry engagements and are telling their social media spheres to stay home. I have other friends whom I also love and respect telling people to not be bound by fear and to not change their life activities and spiritual practices based on disease. After reading tons of dueling social media posts from other believers and tossing in a few of my own (guilty as charged), I’ve taken a brief mental sit-back to really evaluate why I make the decisions I make, what I think others should do and why, and how we can individually review what the “right” choices are when so many different voices in both the Church and the world are saying so many different things. I’m going to look at some of my own conflicting views, and then bring it back to my conclusion that each person needs to deal with the coronavirus according to the grace you live in.

As a nurse, I recognize that diseases are very real and both can and do kill people. I also do not want to see a single person die due to lack of healthcare availability, and this strain of virus seems to be more tenacious than other coronavirus strains and seems to have a more deadly tinge to it. If avoiding public places, engaging in “social distancing”, and generally helping prevent the spread of disease by reducing out-of-home activities can help keep people alive, it’s honestly a really wise, helpful, and kind thing to do. Mind you, people die from the flu and even coronavirus every year, and while the actual numbers on coronavirus death ratios are, from what I can gather, massively inflated due to a lack of accurate initial diagnosis and insufficient testing, the fact is that for each individual that dies from this virus, that is someone’s mother, father, brother, daughter, friend who is no longer alive on the earth. I’m not certain this is quite the health emergency it is being made out to be, but I’m also not entirely certain it isn’t. And many people, even if a statistically small number comparative to the whole, are dying from this disease, and each death matters. Longer-term, if it is the health emergency some claim, than many more will die, hospitals will be overrun, and even more will die, which is a terrible potential outcome, whether it comes to pass or not. So with all of that in mind, where is my inner conflict?

As someone who has a healthy distrust for government—any government—I don’t fully believe everything we are being told. It is rare, in my opinion, that we are ever told the whole truth by the government about almost anything, so why would this be any different? There are a number of ways certain people who don’t have our best interests in mind could stand to gain substantially from an emergency such as this. I also think the massive closures across the board of both businesses and religious sites sets a really bad precedent, and I think the USA as a nation is going to find that our response to the coronavirus, even if totally appropriate for the situation, will send the message to people in positions of influence that if someone screams “Emergency!” that Americans will simply lay down and let the government roll over our Constitutionally-mandated freedoms. Individuals have the right to choose not to frequent a business or religious establishment, but I don’t think that from a Constitutional perspective the government should be mandating it, whether at the federal, state, or local level. Furthermore, as a strong proponent of divine healing, raising the dead, and immortality in Christ, I firmly believe that we, the Body of Christ, have been given dominion over sickness and death. I believe that the Church should have no reason whatsoever to fear this virus and that on some level we should be welcoming people into church services for the purpose of divine healing, and even holding coronavirus-specific healing services to see the power of God touch the bodies of those the virus has made sick.

And that right there is the conflict. I both think that self-quarantining from a scientific perspective is actually a really good idea (because scientifically speaking, it works), and that closing down churches and self-quarantining from a faith-perspective is largely a fear response and incredibly unwise on that level. On the other hand, asking to get sick is also unwise, and then the Bible even tells us to submit to human authorities as well.

1 Peter 2:13-17 says, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.”

Honestly, part of me wishes that passage wasn’t in there because my don’t-trust-government side doesn’t like that it says to submit to human authorities. On the other hand, I also don’t think God wants us to obey evil either, and the above passage also says to live as God’s slaves, not the government’s slaves. So the lines, as much as it would be nice if they were clear, are actually still somewhat blurry in my mind.

This might still not seem like much of a conflict to some, so let me get back to the spiritual side of things for a minute. It is a fact that Jesus paid for all sin, sickness, and death on the cross over 2,000 years ago. It is a fact that God isn’t the author of disease, nor does Heaven have disease to hand out. Jesus has given us power and authority over sicknesses to heal them, and over demons that cause illnesses in the body to cast them out. In the Old Testament, a disease made a normal person unclean, but in the New Testament Jesus demonstrated that in the presence of a disease, he cleansed the disease and healed the sick of their problems. The New Testament reality is such that there is no good reason why we as the Body should need to hibernate to avoid getting coronavirus or any other disease or illness, as we should be in a position to take authority over every bacteria and virus and see them destroyed in Jesus’ name. That’s a major part of the conflict—we shouldn’t be hiding when we have divine ability to push it all back and destroy it. On the other hand, I am not new to divine healing, and I know that while theoretically that is where the Body of Christ should be at, most of the time that simply isn’t the case. And that’s where I think that each of us need to deal with the Coronavirus according to the grace we live in.

I believe Romans 12:6 offers a principle that we can use to help us decide, individually, what the right answer is for us, and I think we can each use that principle to both guide our own decisions in this as well as to keep us from holding others in judgment for their decisions which may be in conflict with ours. The verse says, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith . . .” (Romans 12:6). The admonition here is to do what the person is doing in accordance with his or her faith. The way I read this, if someone has a high level of faith for something, he or she will respond to a greater degree in that area than someone with little faith. For me, if I have a high level of faith for divine healing, then it would be fairly reasonable for me to hold a church service, encourage corona-infected people to come, and expect God to show up and heal them—and under the US Constitution, I would be protected by law and therefore not actually disobeying government (a lawyer friend explained this week that legally, the government can suggest/request that churches close voluntarily, but Constitutionally they may not mandate it). If I have a low level of faith for divine healing, then I probably need to bust out some hand sanitizer, don a mask, and maybe stay at home and pray from afar (everyone should wash their hands anyway, regardless of faith level—hygiene never goes out of style). In fact, if I walk in a low level of faith in that area, I am likely to not only come to harm myself, but bring harm to others, and that is the opposite of wisdom.

I think that the more people see the members of the Body of Christ attacking one another during a time when much of the world is panic-driven, it isn’t going to show them the peace that we are supposed to walk in, nor is it going to release peace to them as we bicker amongst ourselves. So here’s my suggestion: Let us each decide the grace we have individually been given, and the grace we are actively walking in, and then live it out. Let us not hold others in judgment for walking in the level of grace they currently walk in, as that is foolishness. Jesus spent his time working with His disciples, and when they questioned what others were doing, regardless of what those people were doing, whether for or against, Jesus left them alone (Matthew 12:30, Mark 9:40). We would do well to take a page out of His book and just keep doing the things that we do in accordance with the measure of faith we operate in. We would also do well to use this as a mirror to reflect upon where our level of faith for divine healing is at. Do we actually believe the promises of God in regards to healing and health? How much do we believe those promises? If we recognize we have room to grow (which we all do), what do we plan to do about it? After all, whether Coronavirus or any other disease or illness, it doesn’t wait for us to get our theology lined up properly before it decides to strike, so now is as good a time as any to identify an area of weakness and do something about it.

In the end, regardless of where each of us are at, please know that your prayers are powerful and that the single most-beneficial thing we can each do is pray, continuously, for all coronavirus sickness to be healed, for near-death situations to be reversed, and even for those who have died to be raised from the dead by the power of Jesus Christ. As we pray, God will answer our prayers and touch people all around the globe with His lifegiving power, with each prayer making it just a little bit more here on earth as it already is in heaven. Blessings to you all, and I pray along with you that this quickly passes.

If you want to learn about how to walk more readily in divine healing, check out Praying Medic’s Book on Divine Healing and his Self-Paced Online Class.

If you want to learn about how to raise the dead, check out my book Faith To Raise The Dead and Tyler Johnson’s book How To Raise The Dead.

Spiritual Authority to Cast Out Demons and How It Actually Works

The subject of casting out demons is growing in popularity in some Christian groups, and for good reason—it is an important need and people are realizing their ignorance and choosing to learn. However, in order to take authority over a demon to cast it out, one actually has to have that authority. One of the subjects that I think is fairly poorly understood among Christians is that of spiritual laws and their relationship with spiritual authority. There is a lot of teaching out there about our authority in Christ, but far less on the subject of spiritual laws. Why does this matter? Because casting out demons is normally based on spiritual authority, and spiritual authority is based on spiritual laws. It isn’t a matter of “we can do whatever we want because we know who we are in Christ” but “through Christ we can operate to the extent of our authority based on existing spiritual laws. Now, before someone levels the heresy finger at me, lets discuss spiritual authority and how it actually works.

Authority of any kind is obtained through power delegated to an individual from a governing body. In order for a governing body to govern, there have to be rules in place that decide what is and is not permitted—in other words, laws. For a person to operate in spiritual authority (which is spiritual power that has been legally delegated to an individual based on existing laws made by the governing body), there must be spiritual laws.

I hear people teach on this subject, saying things like “Take authority over a demon and cast it out”—and they are 100% correct in teaching that. But sometimes even when one does that, the demon doesn’t leave. So how does that work, and why does the demon not always leave when we command it to in the name of Jesus? This is where understanding spiritual laws come into play.

First, before anyone decides I am wrong and that demons have to leave every time they are commanded out, let’s look at what the Bible shows us. We’re going to look at three separate situations that deal with spiritual authority and casting out demons, and what that means for us and our beliefs about whether demons can resist or refuse being exorcised.

The first is found in both Mark 5 and Luke 8, and recounts Jesus’ encounter with the Gadarene man possessed by a legion of demons (a legion is roughly 4,000-5,000 men). In it, Jesus actually had to command the demons out twice (as the first time clearly didn’t work and only agitated them further), and the second time only occurred through bargaining.

Mark 5:6-8 says, “When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!’ For Jesus had said to him, ‘Come out of this man, you impure spirit!’” This passage shows us that the demons started yelling after Jesus commanded them out, and it was then that they started speaking through the man’s body.

Mark 5:11-13 continues the story, saying “A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, ‘Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.’ He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.” I can’t pretend to understand what was going on that Jesus needed to let the demons go into pigs instead of sending them to the Abyss, and the passages are written in a way that suggest Jesus had the authority to send them there if he wanted to. Maybe he just felt like it, maybe he had another reason he chose the pigs, but in doing so it destroyed someone else’s livelihood (which is something Jesus would likely have avoided if circumstances were different), so Jesus probably had a good reason for doing it that way. Regardless, not only does this passage show us Jesus bargaining with demons on exactly how they will leave a man, but he was forced to command the demons to leave two times before it actually took place. If Jesus has to command demons more than once, even if it only ever happened to him one time (and that’s only what was recorded), we shouldn’t be surprised if we run into the same problem.

The second situation that shows us something about casting out demons and spiritual authority is in Acts 19:13-16 which says, “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.”

It was not unheard of in that day for certain Jews to perform exorcisms. This family exorcist-team heard about Paul doing it and decided to try his method, not realizing that Paul wasn’t working with a method like they typically did. Instead, Paul was operating out of spiritual authority. Notice that the demons not only recognized that both Jesus and Paul had spiritual influence, but that the demons also recognized that these seven brothers did not possess that same authority. The end result was a badly-failed deliverance.

The third passage is Phillippians 2:10-11 which states, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Yes, one day in time or eternity every knee will bow, but that hasn’t happened yet. Thus, it is only in theory that demons must obey, and in actual practice we sometimes have to make them obey.

What can we learn from these passages?

First, if a demon doesn’t leave, simply repeating oneself isn’t necessarily going to get the job done. Does that mean that it can’t work? No. What it does mean is that we will need to figure out why that demon is able to resist being cast out. The ability of a demon to enter a person is based on spiritual laws, as is its ability to remain. That’s why the topic of spiritual laws is relevant to deliverance to begin with. Demons already know spiritual laws, and know those laws well enough to know when they can and cannot remain in a person. When a demon is able to resist being cast out, it is usually because there is something connected to that individual that is making room, giving permission, or in some manner making an allowance for that demon to remain. Demons know these laws and that’s why authority doesn’t always work to cast them out. Theology that says authority always works to cast out demons is theoretically correct but in actuality wrong.

There are a number of things that can either give or help give demons access to a person. Unhealthy emotions and/or beliefs, sinful actions and desires (and feeding them over time), curses, generational iniquity, any form of abuse, and intentional engagement with the demonic are some of the main ones, but this is not an exhaustive list. The way this works is that all of these involve some human’s free will—and our free will is a significant contributor to demonic involvement in situations. There is a principle in the Bible that says that whatever happens on earth requires human involvement and agreement (Psalm 115:16, Amos 3:7). As such, for demons to afflict us and latch on to us generally requires someone (whether us personally or others perpetrating evil upon us) to utilize their free will to permit it.

When interrogating a demon to find out how it was able to gain access to a person, I have heard demons say on multiple occasions things like “They let me” or “They gave me permission.” Keeping in mind that demons lie as commonly as we breathe, the things they say are often a twisting of truth. For example, if someone has spent a lot of time engaging pornography, and have spirits associated with lust and perversion, while the demon may claim that he or she “gave them permission”, it wasn’t like someone sat there and said “demons of lust and perversion, please enter me.” But that’s what the demons make it sound like. No, it was that person’s actions which engaged the law of sowing and reaping (what you put out you get back) and the law of focus (what you engage will engage you). It is only by understanding spiritual laws that we can get a better handle not just on how people get demonized, but why demons are sometimes able to resist our efforts to cast them out. In the above example, if the spirits of lust and perversion won’t leave, it is usually beneficial for the person to renounce whatever actions, thoughts, words, activities, etc. they have engaged in that would constitute a form of spiritual agreement between them and the demonic. Again, while one might not be consciously invoking demons, the energy that our actions release has an attractive quality to it for either light or dark, good or evil. In fact, Proverbs 18:21 says it like this: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” While this isn’t just limited to the words we say, this is a perfect example. The things we speak, or really the energy we put out in any manner, will cause us to receive the fruit of those words or actions.

When we want to cast out demons, we need to identify where we operate in spiritual authority, areas of weakness or bondage in our own lives that undermine our spiritual authority, and our own limiting beliefs. We also need to recognize that in addition to learning how spiritual laws function, which is vital, we also have to *develop* our spiritual authority. Believe it or not, spiritual authority can be grown (we will look at that subject in another article). The Bible says in Luke 2:52 that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” While not technically authority, this passage demonstrates that Jesus had to grow in aspects of his walk as he journeyed through life, and we are no different. While in Matthew 28:18-19a, “Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go . . . ” it doesn’t mean that they received all authority. He received all authority and has delegated it to us, but we don’t necessarily walk in all of it at once. In John 16:12, Jesus said to his disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” He recognized that their ability (and likewise ours) to handle everything he had for them at that time was limited, and v13-15 goes on to explain that the Holy Spirit will reveal and release more to us as we become ready for it.

Ultimately, spiritual laws help give us insight into how the spiritual realms operate, how the angelic and demonic are able to function, and ultimately give us a glimpse into how we can become more effective in casting out demons. Specifically, growing in spiritual authority is an effective means to reach that end, but ultimately there are a good number of tools we can use and even new ones we can develop by understanding how spiritual laws influence both spiritual authority and how to more effectively cast out demons.

Stop, Drop, and Pray

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While I was driving to work the other night I was listening to a podcast, I had this strong impression that I needed to pray. I turned off the podcast message and went into prayer. After a few minutes, I felt impressed to call a certain friend. When I did, she let me know that she was glad I called because she had literally just asked the Lord for help in a situation, and moments later I rang her cell phone. I prayed with her and helped her work through the immediate issue. I learned as a Cub Scout to “stop drop and roll” if for some reason my clothing ever caught on fire. Sometimes, putting out spiritual fires can be similar—we need to stop, drop, and pray.

I once heard prophet Larry Randolph say something at a conference I attended that has stuck with me. He said, “In the midst of the mundane, the supernatural happens.” Often I think we are looking for big spectacular displays of divine power, but more often than not God works supernaturally in subtle ways. Think about it—before my friend had even prayed, God alerted me I needed to pay attention to what He was doing, and then even as she was praying, He impressed on me to call her. In Scripture, this could be characterized as a manifestation of the gift of the word of knowledge, but more often than not I just think of it as God communicating with me. Sometimes God lets us know things not through a spiritual gift, but through our relationship with Him.

Prayer is a crucial part of our spiritual lives, and it has the ability to change any situation. While I believe that cultivating a lifestyle involving intentional prayer is important, I also believe that random times of prayer are also vital. It isn’t enough to just have metered times of prayer complete with prayer lists because some life situations don’t fit the mold. Don’t get me wrong—I believe that using a list can be a valuable means of intercession because it provides focused reminders about people and situations that need ongoing prayer. However, we must also cultivate sensitivity in our hearts to the Holy Spirit so that we know when it is time to stop, drop, and pray.

One of the best pieces of advice I can give someone who wants to grow deeper in their relationship with God is to become more sensitive to both the voice and leading of the Holy Spirit. It says of Him in John 16:13-14, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.” Holy Spirit loves to reveal the will of God to us, and He does it in full concert and cooperation with Jesus and the Father, so we can trust that all directions we receive from Heaven come with a unified will and purpose.

I plan to eventually write and release one or more books on the prophetic, including wisdom and guidance on how to hear the voice of God and recognize the various ways He leads us, but until then, here are some other resources that may be helpful to grow in hearing God’s voice:

My buddy Praying Medic has written two books on the subject that I highly recommend. They are
Hearing God’s Voice Made Simple and Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple.

There are many others out there, but two good ones are Spirit Talk by Larry Randolph and Translating God: Hearing God’s Voice For Yourself And The World Around You by Shawn Bolz.

You might also be interested in reading about how I learned to first listen to God and then pray what He desires in my article titled “How I Received Mentoring In Prophetic Intercession“

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Stewarding The Prophetic Gift

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Years ago, when I was first introduced to the Charismatic Renewal and the prophetic as a whole, I lived in State College, Pennsylvania. I don’t recall when or where, but I met a woman who was highly prophetic, and gave her a ride to our church a few times. She was very friendly and outgoing, and told me about all these very specific prophecies over her life. It all sounded very exciting, and there was definitely supernatural activity surrounding her life, but I would be surprised if many of them came to pass, and for one reason: She wasn’t very good at stewarding the prophetic gift.

Prophecies as a whole are usually conditional. Most of the time they are an invitation to encounter and engage God in various areas of our lives. I have heard it say that if someone receives a prophetic word from different people more than three times it is a “done deal” and is guaranteed to happen, but I can’t say for sure whether that is true or not. Nevertheless, most prophecies are meant to help draw us into God’s plans for our lives, not encourage us to sit on our laurels and wait for God to dump the prophesied future upon us. And this is where this woman went wrong—she didn’t do the things she needed to do to walk them out.

Let me give you an example: she once had a dream where angels were lined up in a row holding number cards, much like the judges in the Olympics hold to score events. She understood in the dream that this series of numbers were lottery numbers. So what did she do? She called me and left a voice message that said “I had this dream two nights ago and didn’t buy a ticket yesterday, and those were the lottery numbers. Pray and release the angels to do it again today!”

Umm, no. You had the dream two nights ago and watched as those exact numbers become the actual lottery numbers yesterday night, and instead of recognizing that you didn’t follow through on God’s instructions, you are just hoping to have someone else agree with you in prayer and have those exact same numbers come up again tonight. Sure, God is able to do it, but it isn’t going to happen. That’s what we call a window of opportunity, and even though I was fairly young in the prophetic, even I could tell that she had missed it. I confess I was also disappointed she hadn’t called me a day sooner, because I would most definitely have bought a ticket. . .

She isn’t the only one I have ever heard having something similar happen. When I was a kid, my parents had some friends who had a similar encounter, and I still remember this story over 25 years later. The Lord spoke to one of them and gave them a lottery number to play. They didn’t buy a ticket, and unsurprisingly, they didn’t win. Their takeaway? You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket. Simple, right? While I am not specifically advocating for or against the lottery, if the Lord gives you an instruction, especially if it isn’t going to hurt anyone, then just do it! In both of these cases, the risk of buying a single ticket is so minimal that even if you heard wrong and failed, you aren’t out more than the price of a cup of specialty coffee. Furthermore, what if you took that small risk and did hear correctly? Consider the potential future impact that would have had on not only your life, but the lives of those around you.

If we are interested in stewarding the prophetic gift, we have to step out and take risks now and again. If we want to see God move, then we have to walk out the things He has told us and put action to our beliefs. When I talk about “doing things to walk it out”, some people say “Jesus did it all, so we just need to rest in the victory.” Yes, the Bible does talk about entering into God’s rest, but that doesn’t mean we sit around all the time and do literally nothing. Jesus, of all people, knew how to rest in the Father, but the Bible tells us that He went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38). Sure, we need to live in God’s rest, but if God gives us specific instructions, it would be prudent to do what we see our Heavenly Father doing (John 5:19).

I have heard people tell me these amazing prophetic words they have received that speak of them having huge businesses or big ministries far larger than most around today. And when I ask them what they are doing to walk it out, they give me a funny look. “I’m just waiting on the Lord.”

That’s not how this usually works.

In all honesty, God is probably waiting on you. Yes, there are times where God will give someone specific instructions about remaining in rest or some such thing, but I think that is often more about a heart posture as we walk things out than it is about doing literally nothing. I can’t tell you the number of meaningful words I have received from high-profile people, because it seems to happen to me a lot, but I don’t just sit there and wait for them to come to pass. I look at how I can walk them out practically.

Just this past week my wife and I were called out in a service with a very detailed and specific word of knowledge. With that came a very detailed and specific prophetic word that covered a series of things, one of them being that God had a bigger house for us. Not a new house, although it would be new to us, but specifically a bigger house. This prophet didn’t know that my wife and I have been working on getting our house ready to sell and are looking to buy a bigger house. We had some things that held us up, and more recently have just held off on listing the property. After we received this prophecy, we contacted our realtor and signed paperwork the next day to put it on the market. That’s what’s known as “responding in faith.”

At some point it doesn’t matter what it is that God says. If we want to steward the prophetic gift, or any prophetic word we receive as a whole, it will require obedience, and that obedience usually requires some sort of action. Unlike how the woman in the first story seemed to think, when God gives us instructions there are often timetables associated with them. At times we don’t know the timetable, but with something like her dream, it was pretty clear, and she failed to do one simple thing which would have had massive ripple effects in her life. We already felt the Lord leading us to get a new property, but had stalled out. When we received instructions from God, the only thing left to do was act on them.

If you have received prophetic words that still have not come to pass, I encourage you to spend some time talking to God about them. What are some practical steps you can take to walk them out? How can you partner with God to move them forward? Stewarding the prophetic gift isn’t, in my opinion, just about how to prophesy over others, but also how to walk out the words we have received. After all, if we are faithful with little, the Bible does say that we will receive more (Matthew 25:23, Luke 16:10).

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Interpreting Prophetic Revelation: Oven Encounters

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Since discovering that prophets and the prophetic are alive and well today, and that God still speaks clearly to his people through dreams, visions, the small inner voice, and more, I have had two separate encounters with ovens that highlight the importance of not just receive revelation, but rightly interpreting it.

Years ago, I was a volunteer assistant for our church’s campus ministry at Penn State. During our annual student retreat, I went to the campground half a day early to set a few things up and spend a number of hours in prayer prior to the weekend. Sometime during the time of prayer I put a music CD on and spent time soaking in the presence of the Lord. During this time, I had the strangest experience—my right hand twitched in a very peculiar fashion as if I was turning a knob or dial on something, and simultaneously I had a vision of an oven dial. Not sure what it meant, I assumed I was to pray for God to “turn up the heat” in the spirit.

That evening, when it was time for dinner, we discovered the oven was broken and was taking forever to heat up. Thus, it took hours longer than expected to cook the frozen lasagna planned for the meal. Had I turned the oven on when I received the vision and the hand movement, it would have sufficiently preheated to avoid the problem. Instead of rightly discerning the prophetic encounter, I took revelation that was sent by God to solve a practical problem and misinterpreted it as guidance on how to pray for the event.

More recently I had a second encounter with an oven, written about in more depth on my blog post titled When God Didn’t Tell Me About The Fire. In this instance, God didn’t tell me a single thing about the problem with the oven-fire that was starting, but instead spoke in that still, small voice about being a good steward and returning a staff badge to our ministry storage area. As a result of obedience, I smelled a fire in its early stages and was able to put it out before it burned a church down.

This is an example of following the clear directions God gave me and as a result of being led and guided by Him, being in the right place and time to avert a potentially serious problem. This time it wasn’t particularly hard to discern the revelation itself, but the instructions that came by divine revelation were designed to put me in the right place at the right time for an entirely different issue than that which was revealed.

In the first oven encounter, I misunderstood and misinterpreted what God was doing and missed out on blessing an entire group of people with a timely dinner and low-stress meal preparation. In the second oven encounter, because I rightly discerned not just the initial word, but followed through on where it led me, I was able to fulfill everything God had planned when he first gave the revelation.

Prophecy and the realm of spiritual revelation as a whole is more than just receiving revelation. We need to receive it, interpret it correctly, as I failed to do the first time, and then choose the appropriate action. Moses and Jonah are perfect examples of hearing and interpreting a revelation correctly, but choosing the wrong action. Moses was told to speak to a rock but struck it out of his own personal anger, which demonstrated to the people of Israel that God was angry with them when He wasn’t. Jonah was sent by God to preach to Nineveh so they would repent for their evil ways, but instead, out of his own hatred he went around announcing their imminent destruction. God still managed to work things out in both cases, but His heart was not displayed properly in either case.

The fact is that we all will make mistakes as we learn to hear God, receive revelation, and practice spiritual gifts. We are all going to miss it from time to time, and that is okay—its part of the growth process. Nevertheless, we must understand that receiving revelation is just the beginning, and that we have a responsibility to properly steward every stage of the process, whether revelation, interpretation, or action.

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Interpreting Prophetic Revelation: Oven Encounters

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