Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Do Something Unexpected!!

I have a confession - I am a major "Heroes" fan. I love everything about it - the drama, the superpowers and the character development of the various people coming to terms with their powers - such as learning they can fly, learning they are invulnerable, learning they can paint the future, learning they can freeze time or time-travel - but most interestingly (and the character I am fascinated with the most - Peter Petrelli) learning that he can absorb the abilities of anyone else that he is around - or in other words an empath. In Series 1 of "Heroes" Peter Petrelli goes through some training with another character who can make himself invisible. He realises he has numerous abilities but does not know how to control them.

Watch this video clip to give you an idea of what the training involves;




I was gripped by that phrase; "Do something unexpected!". I have just been typing up Rob Rufus's sermon; "The Administration Of Healing Authority" and was again impacted by something that he said during the course of the sermon;

"I believe I am releasing the faith that you have already got. When you come to pray for the sick, don't have an Old Covenant mindset. Old Covenant mindsets always think; "I haven't got enough or I need more or I'm not ready or I'm not prepared". New Covenant mindsets - you are ready! You are in Christ! The Spirit of life is in you! He knows what to do - you have ENOUGH! You are ready! Don't let the devil say to you; "You have got to fast to get this demon out". You do NOT need to fast to get that demon out!".

I must admit, despite my years of being a Christian - this is a new concept for me. I've come from the more traditional revivalist belief that we should be constantly praying that He would "rend the heavens and come down" and earnestly be seeking to be "filled with the Spirit" like a leaky cup! While I still believe that has it's place and there most definately are climates where God falls on a community, a church or on people (such as at Lakeland) - this shouldn't become an excuse for us to not pray for the sick but to sit back waiting for some "power" to fall on us and boot us out to go and do the job that God called us to!

So where does "Heroes" and Rob's quote come together? That comment; "Do something unexpected!". The invisible man forced Peter Petrelli into a state where he HAD to do something - where he HAD to demonstrate a power or an ability to stop himself from being beaten by that stick. I think when I heard that quote of Rob's, I suddenly began to walk with a new awareness about myself. And it's my prayer that everyone who reads this blog will begin to do the same. It's this truth;

" ... what is the surprassing greatness of His power towards us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule amd authority and power and dominion , and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put ALL THINGS in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church".

When we are presented with that absolute power and authority then suddenly the truth of sickness or cancer or blindness or deafness or paralysis or even death itself doesn't seem to be much of an obstacle at all. Yet that "surpassing great power" is towards US! Who believe! And we have that very Holy Spirit within US who raised Jesus from the dead! It's there already. Within us. And every prayer we utter to God pleading for "more" surely is grieving to the wonderful precious Person of the Holy Spirit.

Like Peter Petrelli off "Heroes" - it seems to me all that is waiting for us to do is "something unexpected"! Who knows - the next blind person we pass, the next cripple we come across, the next cancer victim we encounter just could be the one that stands up healed and praising the power of God!

1 comment:

Chris Welch - 07000INTUNE said...

The only time that sort of power has really operated outside of a meeting context...it was totally reflexive and unthinking. i do know I had positioned myself beforehand , by an obedience of faith...an obedience to what I'd heard in my spirit concerning going to France to learn French.....I plan to keep positioning myself. But the other side of things is definitely what Rob is preaching. You know when you showed the clip of John Mcarthur...I pursued the histories of some of the missionaries he had mentioned. Some of these guys were praying weeks and months with fasting to obtain internal confirmation of being saved. We would feel this was totally unnecessary now. When we were establishing a church near Paris, there was an evangelical group doing all nights of prayer on Fridays to seek to be filled with the Spirit. John G Lake was similar. Nowadays in Churches that are really filled with the Spirit, we would think this is unnecessary, and we would pray for people maybe during the worship, or may be expect for the Spirit to fall on people if they come to the front to be prayed for. So I think the same is true for the things we find hard now. The real truth is healing and power ministry is equally available for us...but some how we're still making a fuss...and wanting to do all night prayer meetings....when the reality is I'm sure we can have all this now...as Rob is saying.
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Anyhow...have you seen that Jamie is asking me to do a list of must-read books. Well , I wondered what yours, Peter day's,Julie,and Lydia Joy and Don's would be.

It throws up things like...
what do we want our books to do?
If it is for background info on Bible Lands, or Bible history, or Church history...then that is going to be one type of book.

I have been, (as I have thought about this,) pretty single-minded on hunting down books which explain to me how Christian growth works...be it in an evangelical context, or charismatic.

personally I have kept clear of books on inner healing for example.
Not because they are all invalid...but I suppose at the same time I have been in committed Christian relationships which have at times really got down to brass tacks in my life.

I have huge gaps which I expect Peter Day and perhaps yourself would not have, being trained or so aware of reformed literature.

I think a big desire would be to learn Greek and possibly some Hebrew. I did languages after all.... You'd love Mark Stibbe. He did a phd thesis entirely on the Gospel of John, which is a landmark text to this day.

What would you guys choose?
And thinking of waymarks for others to follow, would it be a good idea to create a combined list as a resource...with also a brief comment about why we consider each one so valuable?