Tag: provision

God Has Your Miracle on His Mind (Gloria Copeland)

God Has Your Miracle on His Mind

by Gloria Copeland

What do you need from God today?

Stop and think about that for a moment. It’s a serious question. Picture yourself the way you want to be, healthy and whole in every area of your life. That is the will of God for you, you know. First Thessalonians 5:23 says, He desires you to be “preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)” (The Amplified Bible).

God wants you to be sound and complete. It’s His perfect will for you to be whole, undamaged and intact—spirit, soul, and body—before Jesus returns. In light of that fact, let me ask you again: What changes would you need God to make for His will to be fulfilled in your life? What would it take for you to be whole?

It would take a miracle.

That may well be what you’re thinking right now. If so, I am here to tell you God has one for you. He has as many miracles as you need. He is the God of the miraculous.

What’s more, He is thinking about you today. That’s amazing, isn’t it? The fact that the Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth has you and me on His mind is almost more than we can comprehend. Yet we know it’s true because the Psalmist says, “How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn towards me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!” (Psalm 139:17-18, The Living Bible).

Just imagine that! When you woke up this morning, God was thinking about you. He was aware of your needs. He was mindful of the blessings He has laid up for you and He was making plans to get them to you.

In other words, when you awoke this morning God had your miracle on His mind.

Every Part Precious

I preach about healing a lot and healing is wonderful. But sometimes you need more than healing, you need a miracle. A miracle is different. A miracle is something that is absolutely impossible apart from the supernatural working of God. It’s something that cannot happen by natural means.

If you have a disease, you need healing. But if you have a part missing—if you were born without fingers or toes, for example, you need a miracle. For years, it’s been prophesied that we will see those kinds of miracles again in the Body of Christ. It’s been prophesied that we’ll see all the miracles the early church saw and even greater miracles than those. I sense in my heart we’re there!

I truly believe it. They might say, “Surely, you don’t expect to see somebody grow a part on their body where there was no part before!”

Yes, I do. God has parts for people! The Bible says He made all of our parts before we were born and we can easily believe that. Why is it so unthinkable that He could add another part at a later time if it’s needed?

Just before the verses we read that tell of God’s thoughts about us, Psalm 139 says:
 

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect [or unformed]; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (verses 14-16).

According to those verses, God wrote down all your members (every part of you) in His book. And because God does all things well, He didn’t write them down as broken or missing. He wrote them down as whole and intact.

My friend Billye Brim has revelation of that so she speaks to her body according to those scriptures. She says, “My parts are written in God’s book. So, parts I command you to be the way God designed you to be. I command you to be whole and complete in agreement with God’s book. All my parts are intact with nothing missing, nothing broken. All the parts of my body function and work as they’re designed. I receive what the Book says about me!”

You may not have thought God cared about your parts but He does. Your parts are as important to Him as they are to you. He made them for you and He wants you to have them the way He made them. We need to get that revelation because God is ready to restore some parts. He wants to work miracles!
 

Expect the Impossible

I am fully expecting to see those miracles in the days and months to come. In times past, we’ve had people who were very small in stature because of disease or abnormality come to Healing School and ask us to pray for them that they might grow. Naturally, their DNA had patterned their body to be very small. But that’s not their heavenly DNA. That’s not how God designed them to be. That’s just something that happened as a result of the devil’s work in this world. Through thousands of years of getting people to sin, he’s been able to mess up God’s perfect plan for people-not only spiritually but physically.

Well, what do you think God did when He saw that the devil’s work had perverted His divine plan and made that person abnormally small? Do you think He said, “Oh, my. I guess the devil won this time. I’d better go back to My book, scratch out My perfect physical plan for this person and write in ‘midget-size,’ instead.”

Certainly not. God never changes. He just kept the original entry in His book which says that person’s DNA is perfect. Now He’s waiting for somebody to agree with Him and believe for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

If faith in the Word of God is spoken and released without wavering, I believe we can see that small person G-R-O-W up and become normal right before our eyes.

You might think that would be impossible and, naturally speaking you’d be right. “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). “All things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23) so we need to start believing.

We need to start expecting the impossible!

It’s Never Too Late

Of course, people with physical abnormalities or missing parts aren’t the only ones who need miracles. Miracles are also needed when natural circumstances have gone on so long that it looks like it’s too late for a turn around. Abraham and Sarah needed that kind of miracle, for example. They needed a child for their lives to be whole and intact. Yet they were well past childbearing age when God told them He was going to give them one. They were about 100 years old.

No doubt, their natural thought was, Even if God did heal our barrenness, it’s too late for us now. We’re too old. That kind of thing can’t happen this late in the game.

But God did it for them, didn’t He? He proved that it’s never too late for a miracle.

A friend of ours experienced a “never too late” kind of miracle in his family. His name was Justus Du Plessis and although he went home to be with the Lord a couple of years ago, he experienced some amazing things during his lifetime as a Pentecostal minister in South Africa. On one occasion his father was desperately ill. In fact his father’s death was so imminent that the doctor who came to see him went ahead and filled out his death certificate.

After the doctor left, the church members gathered around to pray and while they were praying, he was healed. Do you know what he did? He got up, took a shower, milked the cows and then walked to the doctor’s house to return his death certificate.

Talk about a miracle coming late in the game! You know it’s late when you have to take back your own death certificate!

Clearly with God, it’s never too late for a miracle.

The Definitive Factor

Okay now, you may be thinking, if God wants to give me a miracle and I want to receive one-what’s the problem? Why hasn’t a miracle already taken place in my life?

For a miracle to get from heaven to earth, a divine connection has to be made. Miracles aren’t magic. They don’t just happen—poof!—because God decides to wave His miracle wand one day. No, miracles primarily occur when people put themselves in position to receive them.

To find out how to position yourself for a miracle, you can study the miracles in the New Testament. As you do you’ll see patterns emerge. You will find certain elements were most always involved when miracles happen.

The first of those elements is faith. Whenever a miracle takes place someone on earth is believing. It might be the person who needs the miracle. It might be the person who is ministering. It might be someone praying for the one who is in need. The situations may vary, but the fact remains that it is faith in God which connects the power of heaven with the need on earth. For a miracle to happen someone has to believe that God is willing and able to do it—and do it now.

Galatians 3:5 confirms that. There the Apostle Paul, rebuking the Galatians for their legalism, asks this question: “Does He Who supplies you with His marvelous [Holy] Spirit and works powerfully and miraculously among you do so on [the grounds of your doing] what the Law demands, or because of your believing…?” (The Amplified Bible).

The answer is obvious. God works miracles because we believe! We could look at one miracle after another and see that truth in action.
 

  • In Mark 5, when the woman with the incurable issue of blood receives her healing, Jesus says, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole” (verse 34).

     

  • In Mark 10, when blind Bartimaeus receives his sight, Jesus says, “thy faith hath made thee whole” (verse 52).

     

  • In Luke 17, when the leper is not only healed but his body parts are restored and made whole from the disease that had eaten them away, Jesus says, “thy faith hath made thee whole” (verse 19).

     

  • In Acts 3, when Peter and John heal the man who was crippled from birth, they give glory to the name of Jesus. And Peter says, “His name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness” (verse 16).

It’s interesting to notice that the power of God isn’t mentioned in most of those instances, just the faith of the people. I think that’s because God’s power and His willingness to heal and work miracles never changes. The variable is people’s faith. Faith is the definitive factor.

Just Do It

As important as faith is, however, that alone won’t get the whole job done. You can’t just sit around believing on the inside and doing nothing on the outside. For faith to come alive you have to take action. As James 2:26 says, “faith without works is dead.”

You can see the connection between “doing” and receiving in the very first miracle Jesus ever performed. I especially like to think about this miracle because it was clearly not a miracle Jesus planned to do. It was one that was drawn out of Him by the person who most wanted that miracle—His own mother Mary. John 2 tells us that she and Jesus were attending a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the host ran out of wine. Mary looked to Jesus to do something about it. He told her His time to do such things had not yet come but her faith was unshaken. She continued to expect a miracle and she turned to the servants and said:
 

Whatever He says to you, do it. Now there were six waterpots of stone standing there, as the Jewish custom of purification (ceremonial washing) demanded, holding twenty to thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, Fill the waterpots with water. So they filled them up to the brim. Then He said to them, Draw some out now and take it to the manager of the feast [to the one presiding, the superintendent of the banquet] (verses 5-8, The Amplified Bible).

What happened when the servants did what Jesus said?

They saw a miracle. The water was turned into wine!

It would serve us well to always remember what Mary told the servants that day. She said, “Whatever He tells you to do, do it.” That’s one of the major keys to receiving a miracle.

Whatever the Lord says to you—do it.

If the Lord tells you to get up and run, get up and run. If He tells you to dance and shout, then dance and shout. One time a man attended Healing School and during the meeting the Lord told him to run. He didn’t want to run in the meeting so he ran out the door, ran outside and ran around the block. If you think that’s silly, think again because he came back in healed!

Whatever the Lord tells you to do, do it!

If he tells you to repent of something, you repent. If he tells you to forgive someone, forgive them. He knows what you can do that will bring you into position to receive. So listen for His instructions, then obey!

Kick Doubt Out

Once you’ve believed and acted on your faith, refuse to doubt or fear. When the devil comes to you and says, You’re not going to get that miracle. You don’t deserve it. Remember how many times you’ve failed God. Refuse to entertain those doubt-producing thoughts. Instead, just answer him and say, “Bless the Lord, I don’t get what I deserve. I get what Jesus bought for me. I get the mercy of God. I get a miracle!”

Every time I think about refusing doubt and fear, I think about the story of Jairus. Initially, when he came to Jesus his daughter needed a healing. She was very sick and Jairus believed if Jesus came and laid His hands on her she would be healed. But before that healing could take place, Jairus’ daughter died. Suddenly the girl didn’t just need a healing, she needed a miracle.

Do you know that Jesus wasn’t disturbed by that? He knew that God could work a miracle just as easily as He could perform a healing. So he said to Jairus, “Do not be seized with alarm and struck with fear; only keep on believing” (Mark 5:36, The Amplified Bible). We know that this worked because the little girl was raised up whole.

That’s a good word for all of us who are positioning ourselves for a miracle. No matter what the devil says, no matter what circumstances may say, no matter what our natural senses might try to tell us, if we’ll refuse to doubt, refuse to fear and keep on believing God, our miracle will surely come!

Run Through Romans (3.22-31)

So far Paul has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that every human being has the same basic problem: our actions have made us guilty before God. This guilt is called unrighteousness. It means that when we die, we shall be judged by God, found guilty and be sentenced to hell. It also means we shall endure hell on earth as we have life without a relationship with the living God.

It has not been the most positive experience reading and studying Romans up until this point.  This is why many Christians can quote Romans 5 and Romans 8 a great deal, but they simply do not understand the context.  The context is this: Paul shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that you cannot be righteous yourself either by a good life or by religious rituals.

So when Paul now introduces a new way of becoming righteous –  a new way of becoming accepted by God and declared not guilty; a way of going to heaven when you die and enjoying heaven on earth –  when Paul introduces this new way of being righteous we jump at it.

The only way we will jump at righteousness by faith is if someone takes the time to explain and prove to us that we cannot be righteous by works.

Ray Comfort explains this by using the analogy of an aeroplane.  If you give someone on a plane a parachute and make him wear it for the journey, he probably will not because it will be uncomfortable and make the journey more difficult.  If however you take the time to explain to the person that the plane is about to crash and is completely unreliable, he will put the parachute on and be glad to wear it.

If you convince someone to put their faith in Jesus Christ for righteousness, without first showing them that their righteousness by their works and rituals and self-opinion is utterly worthless then they will eventually backslide right out of a relationship with Christ.

Before you tell a person to accept Christ by faith for righteousness, for entrance into heaven, you first must show them that their righteousness is worthless as Paul has done in Romans 1-3.  Some people are already convinced – they know that nothing good dwells in them.  People like that you simply share the gospel with and encourage them to trust the Lord Jesus Christ.  Other people still think that God owes them a favour or that God will judge their deeds with a giant set of scales and they think that the scales are tipped in their favour.  These people need to hear the message of Romans 1-3.  But once they have realize that they are unrighteous and nothing they could ever do will make them righteous, they will ask just one question – though it might be expressed in different forms: how can I be righteous?  how can I be saved?  how can I know God?

21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

After Romans 1.18-3.20, Paul is convinced that people will have realized that they are unrighteousness, that they are guilty before God.  So now, he explains the good news: there is another way to be righteous.  A way that has nothing to do with obeying the law of Moses.  In fact, in v. 21 Paul claims that this way is actually found in the law and the prophets – the Old Testament – which it is if you read it carefully.  Perhaps after we have run through Romans, I will show where the gospel is found throughout the Old Testament.  It is an interesting study to say the least.

22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

This is the revelation that Paul has being building up to – the crescendo of all the evidence that we are unrighteous and cannot be righteous by works – the fact that we can have the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ.  If we place our faith in Jesus Christ, irrespective of our actions, our sins, our lifestyle, we become righteous.  We can stand before God as if we never sinned, as if we lived a perfect lifestly.  We can stand before God and be declared innocent.  We can go to heaven when we die and enjoy heaven on earth.  And it does not come by working for it, it comes by faith.

23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Nearly every Christian knows Romans 3.23 and knows that our sin, which everyone has committed, mean we fall short of the glory of God.  Very very few Christians know Romans 3.24 which says that we are justified (made righteous) freely by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

Our sin cut us off from the glory of God.  Jesus Christ has now made us righteous if we believe in him, and we are now plugged back into the glory of God.

25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

This is some of the much powerful and beautiful truths in the Bible.  The word propitiation means: a sacrifice that deals with wrath.  Can you understand how powerful this is?  Jesus’ sacrifice has completely dealt with the wrath of God.  The wrath of God is the element of the justice of God that demands that every act of unrighteousness must be punished.  Jesus, on the cross, bore the entire wrath of God, the entire punishment for the unrighteousness of every single human being in the entire world.

If you believe in Jesus you are declared completely righteous – no matter whether you have been religious or not, no matter your background, your history or anything.

26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Remember that the word just means the same as the word righteous.  This verse paraphrased is saying: God is righteous and if you believe in Jesus, God will make you righteous too.

This is not a process.  This is an instant event the moment you place your faith in Jesus Christ you become totally righteous.  You become as innocent as God.  You become as right with God as Jesus was, as right with God as someone who has never sinned.  You will go to heaven when you die, and start to enjoy heaven on earth.

27Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

People who are self-righteous, the people Romans 2 was aimed at, boast.  They are people Jesus referred to who pray at night “I thank you I am not like…”.  But people who know the truth that they could do nothing to become righteous, but that they have received perfect righteousness by believing in Jesus don’t boast.

28Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

This is Paul’s argument and something that every Christian needs to meditate on: you are not right with God because of any deed or action, but only by faith.  Many Christians still feel that God does not love them because they have acted a certain way – rubbish! You are righteous because of Jesus, not because of your actions.

Many Christians are striving to do this and do that to make God love them, hoping that God will receive them.  Waste of time – God loves you and receives you on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus, and only on the sacrifice of Jesus.  You are righteous because of Jesus.  When you lay hands on the sick, don’t think “well, I have done this wrong this week, and lost my temper this week and done this and that, so God won’t come through” – that is nonsense.  Rather think, “I am right with God because of what Jesus has done, I can live in victory because of what Jesus has done, I can ask and receive because of Jesus.”

The devil and your own flesh will accuse you and pressure you.  To be a good Christian, to get your prayers answered you have to live right, you have to do this and that, and not do that and this.  It is all a lie.  The truth of the gospel is that you are loved and accepted by God and declared and made righteous, totally innocent before God, because of Jesus.  There is nothing you can do that will make God love you and accept you less; there is nothing you can do that will make God love you and accept you more.

It has nothing to do with your actions: you are righteous right now if you believe in Jesus.  His shed blood has made propitiation and satisfied God’s wrath.  You cannot and will not be punished in any way for any sin you have committed or will commit.  You are righteous.

29Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

30Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.

This process of being justified – made and declared right and innocent – is available to the Jew and to the Gentiles.  Whether you have been religious and a goody-two-shoes all your life, or whether you have been the most selfish scumbag who ever lived, you need and have access to the grace of God through Jesus Christ that makes you righteous before God.

31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Does this mean the law is now useless?  No – it means the law is in its right place.  It is not there to show you how to live right, it is there to show you that you cannot live right.  It is there to condemn you and show you that you are unrighteous no matter how religious you are.  It is there to shut your mouth and shut up all your bragging about how wonderful you are and to make you realize that you, just like me, just like every human on the planet, need a new way of being righteous.  The way of faith.

Tomorrow we will follow Paul’s argument as he convinces us from one of the most famous characters in the Old Testament that your actions have nothing to do with your right standing with God.  You are righteous due to the work of Jesus Christ.  You are completely righteous the moment you believe in Jesus and that cannot be added to or taken away from by what you do.

If you realize this truth, the truth will make you free.  Free from striving, free from fear, free from condemnation, free from feeling yucky, dirty and defeated.  Free to walk in truth and love.  Free to pray and know your prayer will be answered.  Free to lay hands on the sick and see them recover.  Free to be as bold as a lion.  Free to enjoy your relationship with God.  The price has been paid, the wrath has been satisfied.  You are declared innocent.

You will be in heaven when you die and enjoy heaven on earth.  Not because of anything you have done or ever will do.  But because of what Jesus has done on the cross 2000 years ago.

Praise His name forevermore!

Kenneth Hagin’s Forgotten Warning (J. Lee Grady)

Kenneth Hagin is a phenomenal Bible teacher.  His ministry was Scriptural, faith-filled and balanced.  Although he knew that Jesus was not poor and that we are redeemed from poverty, Kenneth Hagin did not agree with some practices making the rounds today.  This article by J. Lee Grady explains exactly what:

Before he died in 2003, the revered father of the Word-Faith movement corrected his spiritual sons for going to extremes with their message of prosperity. Charismatic Bible teacher Kenneth Hagin Sr. is considered the father of the so-called prosperity gospel. The folksy, self-trained “Dad Hagin” started a grass-roots movement in Oklahoma that produced a Bible college and a crop of famous preachers including Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savelle, Charles Capps, Jesse DuPlantis, Creflo Dollar and dozens of others—all of whom teach that Christians who give generously should expect financial rewards on this side of heaven. Hagin taught that God was not glorified by poverty and that preachers do not have to be poor. But before he died in 2003 and left his Rhema Bible Training Center in the hands of his son, Kenneth Hagin Jr., he summoned many of his colleagues to Tulsa to rebuke them for distorting his message. He was not happy that some of his followers were manipulating the Bible to support what he viewed as greed and selfish indulgence. Those who were close to Hagin Sr. say he was passionate about correcting these abuses before he died. In fact, he wrote a brutally honest book to address his concerns. The Midas Touch was published in 2000, a year after the infamous Tulsa meeting. Many Word-Faith ministers ignored the book. But in light of the recent controversy over prosperity doctrines, it might be a good idea to dust it off and read it again. Here are a few of the points Hagin made in The Midas Touch: 1. Financial prosperity is not a sign of God’s blessing. Hagin wrote: “If wealth alone were a sign of spirituality, then drug traffickers and crime bosses would be spiritual giants. Material wealth can be connected to the blessings of God or it can be totally disconnected from the blessings of God.” 2. People should never give in order to get. Hagin was critical of those who “try to make the offering plate some kind of heavenly vending machine.” He denounced those who link giving to getting, especially those who give cars to get new cars or who give suits to get new suits. He wrote: “There is no spiritual formula to sow a Ford and reap a Mercedes.” 3. It is not biblical to “name your seed” in an offering. Hagin was horrified by this practice, which was popularized in faith conferences during the 1980s. Faith preachers sometimes tell donors that when they give in an offering they should claim a specific benefit to get a blessing in return. Hagin rejected this idea and said that focusing on what you are going to receive “corrupts the very attitude of our giving nature.” 4. The “hundredfold return” is not a biblical concept. Hagin did the math and figured out that if this bizarre notion were true, “we would have Christians walking around with not billions or trillions of dollars, but quadrillions of dollars!” He rejected the popular teaching that a believer should claim a specific monetary payback rate. 5. Preachers who claim to have a “debt-breaking” anointing should not be trusted. Hagin was perplexed by ministers who promise “supernatural debt cancellation” to those who give in certain offerings. He wrote in The Midas Touch: “There is not one bit of Scripture I know about that validates such a practice. I’m afraid it is simply a scheme to raise money for the preacher, and ultimately it can turn out to be dangerous and destructive for all involved.” (Many evangelists who appear on Christian television today use this bogus claim. Usually they insist that the miraculous debt cancellation will occur only if a person “gives right now,” as if the anointing for this miracle suddenly evaporates after the prime time viewing hour. This manipulative claim is more akin to witchcraft than Christian belief.) Hagin condemned other hairbrained gimmicks designed to trick audiences into emptying their wallets. He was especially incensed when a preacher told his radio listeners that he would take their prayer requests to Jesus’ empty tomb in Jerusalem and pray over them there—if donors included a special love gift. “What that radio preacher really wanted was more people to send in offerings,” Hagin wrote. Thanks to the recent resurgence in bizarre donation schemes promoted by American charismatics, the prosperity gospel is back under the nation’s microscope. It’s time to revisit Hagin’s concerns and find a biblical balance. Hagin told his followers: “Overemphasizing or adding to what the Bible actually teaches invariably does more harm than good.” If the man who pioneered the modern concept of biblical prosperity blew the whistle on his own movement, wouldn’t it make sense for us to listen to his admonition?

The Midas Touch is available from Tree of Life Bookshop.

Restoration of Hope

Tree of Life Church believes that the wonderful news of redemption should be broadcast to the ends of the earth. Here is some information about a couple that have laid down their lives in service of the kingdom of God. They are true heroes:

Restoration of Hope began as a dream in the heart of Donatien Nahimana (Honda). After working for 6 years with African Revival Ministries as a driver, administrator and house parent to orphan children, in January 2004 he established Restoration of Hope with a vision to help the streetboys of Bujumbura – the capital of Burundi.

Honda’s vision was to take boys off the street and to completely change their environment giving them a family, a home, an education and introducing them to a God who has a purpose for their lives – a God who longs to restore their hope!

The project started when Libby (Honda’s wife) was followed home by 3 streetboys looking for food. These boys were soon living in the Nahimana’s home and were quickly joined by many others who required help.

7 months later the first Hope House was opened which is now the home to 13 boys who previously lived on the street. The second Hope House opened in October 2005 and is home to a further 17 boys. Restoration of Hope currently cares for another 21 boys providing food, education and essential medicines in times of need.

Restoration of Hope is funded by individual contributions and is supported by friends and family all over the world.

If you are interested in supporting some of the orphan boys, use this link. Think about this: for just £70 you could pay the school fees of an orphan child for one year. James tells us that if our religion does not help widows and orphans it is not pure. In case maths is not your strong suit, £70 a year is merely £6 a month. You could change someone’s life for £6 a month. Think about that!

Obviously there are so many needs in the world, and in this information age we find out about so many more than we could ever reach, and we know you cannot help them all.

But we know the Lord loves a cheerful giver, so if while reading about the Nahimana’s and their wonderful work you feel happy to help one of the orphans then ask the Lord if that is not His way of letting you know it is a great time to make a kingdom investment.

Blessings,
Ben

Honda and Libby and familyRestoration of Hope, BurundiClass in Session!

The Sower Sows the Word (Video)

You can now watch the full sermon of me preaching at Worshipville Christian Centre here.

I have tried to embed the video into this blog and completely failed. If anyone has the wisdom to help me achieve this, then I would be grateful.

The camera man has a job to follow me during the preaching – I do like to move around when I preach. In the next week I hope to add the sermon, and some others I have previously preached, to the church website as mp3 downloads.

Blessings,
Ben

Tree of Life Church – Our History.

In July 2007, we were in Sweden attending Ulf Ekman‘s church Livets Ord for a week’s conference. At the end of the conference, we travelled across Sweden from Uppsala to Gothenburg where we were flying back to the UK from.

We reached Gothenburg in the early evening, and our flights were not until 10am the next day. All day the Lord had been speaking to my wife and telling her that we were not to sleep until we knew what the next step in our destiny was to be. We looked around for a bed and breakfast to stay in for the night but every time we went somewhere the Holy Spirit let us know not to go there.

Eventually we prayed and asked the Lord what to do because He was clearly leading us somewhere. He spoke to the two of us – and our eldest son – and told us to go straight to the airport. So we obeyed. We arrived at the airport and didn’t know what to do so we just sat there and waited. At 10pm, they closed the airport for the night and we going to kick us out. We didn’t know what to do – surely we had heard God correctly? We looked for a taxi but they had all gone. Did God want us to spend the night wandering the streets around the airport?

Then a gentleman approached us – he was the airport manager. He said he had to hang around all night to finish his work. He took us to the VIP lounge and we stayed there for free. It was luxurious. He also fed us, and obtained some ice creams for our children.

In the morning, there was no rush to check in – we were already there. But when the children went to sleep, in the airport, I held God to His Word and I did not sleep and I started praying in the Spirit and in English, eager to know what the next step in my walk with Him was to be. After two or three hours of praying, the Lord spoke to me. I knew I was in the middle of a blessed provision, and the Lord provided not just a bed but a direction, a destiny and a destination. Praise His Name forever.

The Lord told us as a family to move to the east end of London. He told us to start a church. He told us it had to be unashamed about the fact that it loved the Word of God and knows the Word is the answer to every question humanity has. He told us it had to be based on cell principles – that everyone has to be equipped to minister in the supernatural.

He told us to hire a hall and start having healing meetings by the end of September 2008. He told us that this church had to be planted in the place where my father grew up.

We moved to London. It has not been an easy move – we have been attacked in ways we could never imagine. We started the first meeting in September 2008. I contacted the council and asked to hire a hall, after every church in the area turned us down, as did every school. They let us rent in the local library – which turns out to be around the corner from where my father grew up.

One person turned up at our first service. Some services we have had more than 10 people. Others I have preached to my wife.

Since September 2008, we have seen several miracles. Since then, we have seen people come in off the street. Attendance has not been large, and has not been regular, but this work is a new work, and we know God is the God of increase. We know that God is the God of multiplication and the hardest thing to do is to push the canoe into the river. Once it is in the river, people will jump in.

While praying in December for the Lord’s will for the 2009, the Lord started showing us some very exciting things. We are going to lay down the meetings in the library for four months, having cell meetings in our house instead. The Holy Spirit has said to turn the meetings over to Him, and He will reveal great and glorious things to us in those house meetings. We are looking forward to this a great deal.

In May 2009, we are going to re-launch the meetings in the library, this time as a more church-like meeting. God has told us to expect a worship-leader to come, to expect praying people to come, to expect a nucleus that wants to live the Word in an uncompromised manner, to follow Him no matter the cost, and to see His kingdom established in London. We will not stop. We will not quit. This is the revelation of God.

When we have a nucleus of about 12 people, we will start a cell group in our house on a Sunday evening. We believe this will be up and running by the end of 2009. We believe it will have multiplied to two house cells by the end of 2009, or be just about to multiply.

Once we have two or more functioning house cells, we will start looking for a venue for Sunday morning church. A celebration service of the life of God, where the worship is exquisite, the preaching is anointed and the people of God can enjoy the God of the people.

That is our future. That is Tree of Life Church. We value your prayers, we value your encouragement. When we moved to London, in the natural we thought it had enough churches, but the Holy Spirit told us: London needs more churches. We are not the answer, but we know we are part of the answer.

Blessings,
Ben