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CONTEND FOR MIRACLES Missionary
Esther Thornton, Oregon |
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God has numerous blessings for us to
enjoy. And, when we do our part, He is more than willing to do
His! He does not want us to settle for less than all that He has for us! “Contending For Miracles” - “Choosing Not
to Settle For Less”, Parts 3-4 Jokes: Celebrity: “It is so good to be with you wonderful people here
at Shady Rest Nursing Home. Does anyone here know who I am?” Resident: “No, but don’t worry. If you go down to the front
desk, they’ll tell you.” _______________ A reporter interviewed a 103-year-old woman: “And what is the
best thing about being 103?” the reporter asked. The woman simply replied, “No peer pressure.” ______________ God loves his people. If there had been
only one person in need, Jesus would have come to die for him. In Psalm 139,
it says that all the members of your body have been written in a book, and
that your body has been fashioned to fulfill the will of God and to bring
glory to God. Jesus was drawn to those in pain and He understood suffering as
we read in Isa. Chapter 53. So, He can release that grace into our lives.
Jesus would walk a long ways to pray for just one person. He loved children. Physical healing is only one aspect of
signs, wonders and miracles. Habits you cannot break, He can break.
Personality disorders you may have received genetically are not big as far as
God is concerned. He also understood the need to deliver people from demonic
suffering and then they would be healed, if this was their problem. God is a
God of miracles! The following is an excerpt from an email
I received recently: This is the season for "Greater
things than these shall you do." Oh my goodness...Jesus is doing
miracles that I would have never thought of! A pastor from Australia came to
our class yesterday and shared a testimony about a women
who came to church repenting and sobbing because she had recently had an
abortion. The pastor prayed for her and the next morning she woke up with
morning sickness because the Lord had restored her baby in her
womb!!!!!!!! Here is another testimony in their same
email: Dear Brothers and Sisters at Bethel, I
started July 1, 2007 as a young pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Vernon,
British Columbia. God brought people into my life to introduce me to the
writings and messages of Bill Johnson and John Paul Jackson since I started.
Pastor Bill, thank-you for mentoring me. God is at work in our congregation
to bring deliverance from the bondage of traditionalism. On Easter Sunday we
had a testimony from a doctor in our congregation who prayed in the ER for a
woman who had already been pronounced dead and had turned purple (the team
had been working on her for over 30 minutes and gave up). After 30-40 seconds
of him praying, her pulse started and she began breathing on her own! The
attendants in the ER were blown away when he told them that it was the power
of prayer. The same Easter morning, we were also able to share that my two-year-old
nephew, who was found floating in the neighbor’s pond for 10 minutes and was
flown to Victoria ICU, came out of his coma and asked for ice cream. God is
still the God of resurrection! The doctors still had concern about his
potassium levels and so we prayed as a congregation for that specific need.
When we arrived home after church, we received a call from my sister-in-law
that Benny’s potassium levels straightened out at 11 am, precisely when we
had prayed for him. All praise to God! And one for you to chuckle about: This
morning I listened to Pastor Bill’s Easter sermon and was a bit disappointed
that the bulk of the time was spent praying for, among other things, people
to find money. After the sermon I returned to my desk to dig into my own sermon
prep, and out of my Word Biblical Commentary fell a 20$ bill! I have no idea
how it got there. We serve an amazing God! ___________________ Choosing Not to Settle For Less, Part 3: When God heals you, you can go to the
doctor and have it validated. We had James Wesonga
from Kenya speak last Friday night and I have spoken at his church various
times. One time, I held a week of revival meetings. A lady was healed of
three diseases the first part of the week. She then went back to her doctor
who had diagnosed these diseases originally, and he confirmed that they were
all healed! So, she was able to testify at the meetings of what the Lord had
done, and it was validated! And, it is encouraging to know that we
can all have a part in seeing miracles come to pass. Miracles reside in the
body of Christ and not just in any one man. True Christianity is not just attending a
church, but it is the church doing the work of the kingdom, seven days a
week. It is not coming into church to get something only, but to go out and
take something to others in need. They need to be delivered from prison
houses. As most of you know, we have a painting
of Prison Island in the Zanzibar Islands in Tanzania, Africa on our bedroom
wall. This island is where they kept the African slaves in bondage. And, this
painting, taken from a snapshot taken in Africa, is a prayer reminder to pray
for the unreached areas of the world. God showed me 3 head demonic forces that
had been holding the Zanzibar Islands and keeping them from salvation and
deliverance. But, now, since that time, 5 churches have been started in
that 99.9% Muslim area. God believes in restoration and He
doesn’t want us to settle for how things are. In 2 Kings. 13:18-19 Elisha told the king
to strike the ground but he only struck it 3 times. Elisha was angry and said
he should have struck it 5 or 6 times till he had destroyed it. It was not
only his life at stake, but his children and his children’s children were at
stake - the entire nation. Because he stopped short, Syria would not be
defeated. He didn’t realize that what he did in the physical realm would
change that which would happen in the spiritual realm. People are hanging in the balances with
your words - your words could turn their whole life around; their marriage;
their future; and their whole inner world. Claim restoration for them.
Remember these 3 words: “He stopped short.” Say, I will strike the ground for
as long as it takes. Don’t stop short. Smite the ground for your own future
as many times as it takes. Have the faith that it takes, as the prophet did. ___________ Choosing Not to Settle for Less, Part 4: Tommy Barnet’s son has pastured the Dream
Center in California for probably about ten years and he started when he was
just in his early 20’s. And, it is amazing how many young people have been
set free there - drug addicts, gang members, and so many others. Aimee Simple MacPherson,
who is the founder of the Foursquare Denomination, in the 20’s, 30’s, and
40’s, built Angelus Temple and filled it during revival days several times a
day and it seats over four thousand people. But, it shut down after the glory
days and there were only about 20 people meeting. But, the Foursquare allowed
Matthew Barnett to take over Angelus Temple, a phenomenal piece of property
worth millions of dollars. And, the Foursquare gave him eight million dollars
to remodel it. And, now Matthew is ordained in the Foursquare and Assembly of
God denominations. This is the first time the Assembly of God has allowed
dual ordination which is a good sign of unity. Aimee Simple MacPherson’s son said he would have to ordain Matthew in
the Foursquare or he would have to answer to her one of these days! Aimee had said over that building that
God would restore broken lives; that the glory of God would be in that place;
and the poor would always have a place to find spiritual and natural food. A
pastor who visited Angelus Temple said that he felt an anointing there to
bring back the miracles that Aimee had in her day but it will be multiplied
through many hundreds of young leaders. He felt that the angels of God had
encamped around about that building; keeping it for such an hour as this; so
that Los Angeles might only again feel the moving of the miraculous in their
city. The miracle-working power of God must
work in and through me; now in my time; and in the place it is to be. Our
nation has degenerated from a one-God belief system in the last fifty years
quite rapidly - a multi-God: culture; philosophy; morality ideology; It is affecting
the next generation and the generation behind that. People need a deep-seeded
conviction that they would build their lives around the Word of God - those
values; the power of the God that we preach and that we serve. It would
change their whole life. People are harassed by demonic forces
emotionally, mentally, and physically. People don’t know what to put their
trust in and the Word of God is the only things that we can stand solidly
upon in the world in which we live. Receiving miracles begins with the
realization that we serve an awesome, powerful God - the only true and living
God. We, in America, have influence and we need to use it right. My cry is not just for miracles or
healing, though they are there, but that God can do anything on any level of
living, whether physical, financial, moral, spiritual, mental, domestic - He
is a miracle-working God. Believe in Him that He will do things in your life
that He has never done before because He is able to do them. If leaders feel the resistance toward choosing
not to settle for less, than what happens in the pew? If the leader feels
discouragement when it seems God is not answering prayer, I wonder how you feel? If doubts from the pit of Hell attack the leader,
what happens with others? - Like, Why does it take so long and so much prayer
to get an answer? Where is God in this situation? We all have the same
valleys that we go through, but we must soak our lives with the Word of God. It seems it would be easier to settle for
less, and for a while, that is true. But, the enemy will never leave you
there, but he will keep taking more. What is less today will be multiplied by
ten in two years. Until you say, “No more! I’m not going to settle for less!
I’m going to study the Word and pray and seek the face of God once again.” A few years back, City Bible Church was
having financial difficulties due to the economy of the Northwest; jobless
rate; and businesses hit. So, they changed their budget as best they could,
but they were still down a couple hundred thousand dollars. So, Pastor Damazio said, “Let’s take $20,000 and give it away.” So
they took twenty some thousand and sent money to Uganda, Rumania, down town
inner city churches; to Mexico. They sowed money everywhere that they could
think because they believe in the principles of sowing and reaping and that
it works - and, not just when you are prospering. What do people usually do when they run
low on money. First, they stop tithing, which should
be the last thing. It is a trust and faith factor to uphold, even in hard
times. We wait until we prosper. We do the same toward healing. But, we
need to contend for healing. Pastor Damazio’s
daughter was found to have diabetes and his wife said, “Until she is healed,
we must figure these things out as to what she has to eat and do.” We should
not stop believing. The devil is a master schemer of discouragement and he
cannot take over anything until we stop. People will say it is a generational
curse, or something else, but basically, we must
just not stop believing. Faith holds its ground. We don’t have to accept
everything that life throws our way. I can stand my ground. It is dangerous to settle for a religion
without power. It has no substance but is just an empty outline. Power (dunamis) ability, might, force,
strength; the ability to work miracles - “Dunamis”
is sometimes translated “power” and sometimes “miracles.” The Spirit of God
is power. Watchman Nee tells a story of his team
trying to evangelize an island in south China - fairly large- with 6,000 huts
on it - they had tried to evangelize with preaching, which was fruitless on
this island. So, Nee went to work on it in prayer and researched it and
discovered that the people were dedicated to an idol called Tawang. They were convinced of his power and afraid of
it. They found that procession day for this idol was on January 11, at eight
o’clock in the morning. They promised these people that on January 11 it
would rain, as the people believed that this idol protected them and their
crops from rain. The crowd then cried out, “If there is rain on the 11th,
then your God is God. He said, “O.K.” The Christians earnestly began to pray.
On the morning of the 11th there was not a cloud in the sky but
during breakfast sprinkles began to fall and pretty soon, a heavy rain. The
idol worshippers were so upset that they placed the idol on a big chair and
carried it outdoors and cried out against the rain, but they stumbled and
fell, and the idol was broken in pieces. Then, the rain increased even
heavier. After that, one of the leaders of the tribe, said there was a
mistake - that the procession day was not the 11th
this year but on the 14th. So, they changed and made another idol
for the 14th. So on the 14th, the people gathered and
they said that the same thing would happen as they prayed that there would be
rain. By evening, there was a torrential down fall and the people turned to
God in mass - the whole island heard the gospel (thousands of people) and
turned to the Lord, and to this day there are several churches on that
island. God showed forth whose power if greater, even as He did for Elijah on
Mt. Carmel on the contest between the true God and Baal. Is it possible in America that we suffer
from “home town” belief? - So many churches; Bibles; and every opportunity.
Mk. 6:5 says Jesus couldn’t do much there because of their unbelief. We are not to settle for a small God. We
should not make Him the size of our problem. Psa. 78:41 says that they
limited the Holy One of Israel - limited here in the Hebrew means “fenced Him
in”. We need to ask for big things and allow
God to be who He is - a big and great God. George Mueler
was on his way to preach and he was traveling there in a boat and he had to
be there to preach at five o’clock and a fog settled in over the coast. The
Captain said that he would not make his appointment, but Mueler
said that God told him to and that he would do it. The Captain said that the
fog was there and they could not make it. So, Mueler
took the captain by the hand and told him to come with him where they went
down to the captain’s cabin. Mueler said he would
pray that the fog would clear so they could get through; not the other boats
but them in particular. He said, “The fog is going to lift in five minutes.”
The captain laughed and told the others that he had an idiot on board - a
mental case here. But he prayed and by the time they walked up to the deck,
there was like a road cut in the fog. George could have simply rescheduled the
meeting and God would have said it was O.K. but George chose to activate a
large prayer and God honored it. “By the way, God said, I can move fog!” There was a businessman in City Bible
Church who Frank prayed for him. He was on his way out-of-town, couldn’t find
a job; he had been out of work for months; he was totally discouraged; he was
going down to California. He said he couldn’t find anything in Oregon. Pastor
Frank he would not agree with him in prayer for him to leave. He said he
would pray one more time that a job would open up that week. He still decided
to head for California, but his car broke down. That day a job situation came
in; he happened to go and check it out; he happened to get the job; it was a
great job and his whole family is happy because God opened the fog a little
bit! What kind of fog do you have hanging over
you? Don’t settle for a survival-thinking
mindset. The problem is never how to get new, imaginative thoughts into your
mind, but how to get the old ones out. We need to hit the delete button on
our mind’s tape recorder and replace the old stuff with the new thinking
patterns. It’s as if some would say: I like to be discouraged; I like being
bitter; I like being negative; I like being unbelieving; I
like thinking small thoughts. No one would say that, but that is what they
are doing until a new CD is installed in you and you begin to think God
thoughts, faith thoughts; Word thoughts - and you begin to change. A philosopher in the court of Alexander
The Great went broke. He asked Alexander for financial help and he told him
to draw whatever he needed from the imperial treasury. But, when the man
requested an amount equal to $50,000, he was refused - the treasury needed to
verify that such a large sum was authorized. So, he presented this to
Alexander who said for him to pay the man at once. “The philosopher has done
me great honor“, he said, “for by the largeness of his request he showed that
he understood both my wealth and my generosity. Give the man what he asks.” Do you think that we understand God in
that we ask so small because we don’t want to intrude or take advantage of Him. But, God is waiting for us to pray some of the
largest prayers that we have ever prayed. We need to move our prayer requests up a
couple of notches; to look again at dreams and prophetic words and reclaim
them once again; have larger gifts of God put into your hands, and “Why not
now?” ________________ "Contending For Miracles"
by Frank Damazio Email from Erick Reimer,
"Brief Testimony", March 26, 2008
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