Willing in the Day of Thy Power?

My favourite post of the quarter arrived today – the Newfrontiers magazine! I must admit to being excited and surprised by the theme: “Healing – the L-plates are on”. I’m sure it will offend some, excite others and hopefully bring the majority to see the possibility of healing in a new light. Terry Virgo made it abundantly clear that the theme wasn’t chosen lightly; “I have wondered very seriously about the appropriateness of publishing an issue on the subject of healing. We are such novices. Our experience is so limited”. But Terry remains adamant; “It is no time for us to keep silent about such a theme”. Indeed it isn't! If the tidal wave is coming then God wants us exercising corporate healing in the Church. So the step of faith has been taken and it is absolutely key that this is one of the pre-Together on a Mission Conference 2007!

In writing about the great Healing Movement of the 1960s and in particular his friendship with William Branham, Dr Ern Baxter wrote;

“The existence together of spiritual gifts and sin can cause great disillusionment for the naïve in Christ. I had seen numerous supernatural manifestations but I had also seen gross irregularities in the midst of these impressive charismatic events … It is sad to see the ebb of a movement but I believe that until we learn the lessons that God is teaching us and has taught us, through past moves of the Spirit we will continue to grieve the Holy Spirit and see movements suffer the same fate. The gifts of the Spirit must not be divorced from the Word of the Spirit!”

I suspect that it has been God’s intention to withhold the dramatic demonstrations of His healing power until He has been confident that we will not make the same mistakes as the healers from the 1960s. Ern Baxter spoke of them as being; “Stars shining in their unilateral glory – until they came down like shooting stars”. Has it ever been God’s will to have anything but a community – the Church – exercising the supernatural gifts of miracles and healings? We know He uses men to pave the way – such as William Branham, Paul Cain, Rob Rufus, Lex Loizides or Terry Virgo. But surely these men are examples to us, to encourage us and spur us to step out in faith also?

So here is a summary of the April-June 2007 Newfrontiers magazine! This is becoming something of a tradition with me now. The summary of the Jan-March 07 Newfrontiers magazine is here (Theme: Authority) and the summary of the Oct-Dec 06 magazine is here (Theme: The Tide is Turning)!

1. A Foundation of Faith - Terry Virgo's Frontline.

As always Terry’s Frontline carries weighty truth to impart and it is always the first thing I read and read again. I have already quoted from him as to the dilemma between feeling inadequate in this great area of the miraculous but also knowing without a doubt that our fathers in the movement must speak out. He goes on to speak quite rightly about faith – and I was so challenged by the Lord’s anger not with weakness but with unbelief. Terry wrote;

“God delights in faith. Jesus seems staggered at the disciples unbelief when He asks, “How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:40) … Jesus was weary of His unbelieving followers. He could not be indifferent or complacent. He could not passively accommodate their failure … When Jesus rebuked their unbelief it was a revelation of His heart … He expected better from them! He wanted better from them! He found their unbelief unacceptable! His anger was pure, holy and appropriate! If their unbelief was not worthy of His reproach, Jesus would not have given it”.

I wonder how often today what I do or more importantly do not do for the Kingdom of God is linked to the statement, “It can’t be done”. Having written quite a bit on “Going into the Land” recently, I keep thinking of the account of the spies bringing back a bad report. It was not that the Israelites were incapable of going into the Land that stopped them. It was the fact that they said, “It can’t be done” and they contradicted God Himself who said, “You can”. Terry wrote;

“Jesus served His Father with red hot zeal and holy passion. He looked for the same in His disciples. When in Mark 9:28 the disciples asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”, Jesus replied “This kind can come out only by prayer”. Notice that He didn’t say, “This kind only come out if it is God’s will”. He said that they only come out if you pray. IF you pray it will happen. If you don’t – it won’t!”.

I would rather be accused by fellow Christians of being a fundamentalist and a maverick, than have to face the holy wrath and disappointment of God Himself on Judgement Day when He asks, “How is it that you have no faith?”.

2. “A Journey into Healing” by Terry Virgo.

I was extremely challenged and stirred some years ago at a Brighton Conference when the apostolic team began to speak of Terry moving out in faith into praying for the sick. With his usual characteristic true humility, Terry has said virtually nothing publicly about praying for the sick – he has just got on and done it! And the fantastic, faith-stirring, vision-enhancing testimonies speak for themselves. Here’s how Terry accounts for beginning to step out in faith;

“I felt that God had freshly commissioned me to pray for the sick, and instead of being confused by the rather strange and narrow area of confidence, I should simply press through it. I immediately began to offer to pray for people with back problems at the end of nearly every meeting and witnessed scores of people being healed.

One day I was laying hands on a number of people at the end of the meeting. Many testified to immediate relief. Then a young man asked for prayer for his knees both of which were damaged. This was a new frontier for me but I laid hands on his knees and he was immediately healed. He started jumping on and off chairs to celebrate his new-found freedom. The next guy said, “My shoulder blade is broken in three places”, adding that he had a metal plate in his shoulder and experienced severe pain. I laid my hands on him and the pain immediately disappeared”.

Some seem not only to get healed but at the same time have beautiful encounters with the Holy Spirit. I know that when I was healed from my back pain I was also very emotionally moved by the sense of God’s amazing kindness and love in healing me. One girl testified that she was baptised in the Holy Spirit at the same time and subsequently found that she was speaking in tongues”.

Terry doesn’t skirt around the difficult issue of the fact that not all seem to get healed. He writes with compassion;

“Do all get healed? That is not my experience … I prayed with another woman who began to sob because nothing had happened. What do you do? I told her that I was so sorry. I hate it but I still feel that I must press on”.

He ends the article with some points that he has learned through his ministering;

“I have noticed how faith seems to grow among a group of people where healings are happening … As I approached one lady and asked what the problem was, she said, “I have back pain but I won’t have it in a moment”. She was right – she was immediately healed.

I have noticed a greater intensity of Holy Spirit power on some occasions where it just seems to be “easier”. One lady testified, “It’s okay I have just been healed while you were praying for others”.

I am convinced that faith comes from hearing the Word … I know that for many years I have spoken with faith to inspire people to receive the Holy Spirit and also to be free and released to give large sums of money in faith. I want to learn to do that effectively with regard to healing also".

Note this one. We stand convicted!

“I have noticed that the English are more cynical than most and that in my experience healings seem to happen more readily, for instance in the USA”.

And finally;

“I love to enjoy the Presence of the Lord Jesus who promised us that He would not leave us as orphans but would Himself come to us. All the time that I am laying hands on the sick, I am aiming to enjoy His Presence and make room for the Holy Spirit’s activity”.

3. “Expecting the Miraculous!” by Lex Loizides.

I loved what Lex wrote; “I’m convinced that I am a charismatic, not because of my nature but because of the nature of God! I believe in miracles because I believe in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity!”. His whole article is deeply theological yet deeply faith-stirring (as the whole magazine is).

He wrote;

“Note three things:

1. The incredible patience of God in the way He deals with Moses reluctance. Stunning! Similarly God doesn’t accept our reluctance to step out in faith either! Fears, vulnerability, nerves – none of these seem to deter Him from leading us into more of the supernatural. There is a world to be reached and suffering to be relieved.

2. Moses reluctance should encourage everyone who feels he is an unlikely candidate to minister in the miraculous. But if God is speaking to you, turn aside to Him and hear His voice”.

3. When God desired to “authorise” His purpose, He decided (not Moses) to use supernatural means. Who thought of a stick becoming a snake? Why the leprous hand? Or water becoming blood? Why a demonstration of the Spirit’s power rather than wise and persuasive words? God’s desire is that our faith rests not on men’s wisdom but on His power”.

4. “A Healing King and a Healing Kingdom” by John Groves.

This article was probably the most powerful theologically-based resource in the magazine. Terry himself wrote; “I have been impressed by the Biblical arguments of John Groves’ excellent study which I asked him to include as our Leader’s article in this magazine”. What thrilled me is how he bases it within our foundational belief in restoration. He writes;

“God is restoring New Testament principles of church life that have been lost over the years. This process of “restoration” which has been going on for centuries has accelerated over the last 100 years or so. We are building on the basis of what others have restored and in some areas the church has become very strong, but in other areas are still in process, and one of these is the restoration of healings, signs and wonders”.

Thanks to a tip-off by Luke Wood, I sent John Groves a copy of my most recent transcript – Ern Baxter’s series “The King and His Army”. He was incredibly gracious and kind enough to reply and made mention of; “The Heavenly Game Plan – Renewal, Restoration, Revival”. God renewed His church through the Charismatic Movement among other outpourings of His Spirit. He is restoring His Church as John wrote and we are longing for and expecting and praying for a tidal wave of revival to come set the Church ablaze and bring millions of non-Christians in. I love it!

John Groves goes on;

“We have benefited from previous phases of restoration in church life. Often big battles were fought that cost men of God dearly at the time. Yet the things that were restored would have been happening in New Testament times when the church was first born. They had simply been lost through human frailty or demonic attack. We can take for granted some “restored” things that the church generally accepts today”.

He then goes on to ask some significant questions that deserve an answer;

“Are our senses the final arbiters in all that goes on around us? How much do we trust in science and medicine as opposed to prayer and the Holy Spirit? … What do we make of the Faith Theology that would encourage us to name it and claim it? How does this fit in with a Kingdom Theology which teaches us that the kingdom of God has a “Now” and “Not Yet” expectation? What about the sovereignty of God and human responsibility?”.

I was raised on a diet on John Macarthur’s “Charismatic Chaos” and Hank Hanegraff’s “Christianity in Crisis” and “Counterfeit Revival” and Alan Morrison generally – so I am well aware of the dangers and errors inherent in the Faith Movement. Yet I cannot escape a genuine admiration for their ardent faith in the fact that God has promised in His Word that healing should be expected. When Rob Rufus was preaching at Together on a Mission last year, he mentioned receiving from God during a Kenneth Hagin meeting. There were some people behind me who made distinctly loud and derisive comments. Clearly the mention of Hagin upset them. But is our faith so closed that we cannot believe or accept that God can work through men such as Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland? Rather than deriding them, judging them and writing books “exposing” them, why don’t we make it our mission to pursue the same levels of faith and expectation – and pray to exercise the same level of supernatural ministry that they have – yet with the Reformed doctrines that we love and cherish?

John presents ten important facts from the Word of God regarding healing;

“1. There is a lot of healing in the Gospels. 90% of Jesus miracles are healings or exorcisms for wholeness.
2. In the gospels Jesus appears to treat sickness as an enemy. It seems pretty clear that God is for healing and against sickness.
3. Jesus appears very willing to heal people. The fact is that we know sickness is bad and we want it to go. We want to be healed. This is not unreasonable and it is also not out of harmony with the heart of God.
4. Jesus relates healing to the message of the Kingdom.
5. Compassion was a strong motivation in Jesus healing ministry. Out of His infinite compassion He brought answers to the agonies of human life. Surely this is still the heavenly view of sin-sick humanity?
6. Jesus cares for individual needs.
7. Jesus never condemns people for being sick.
8. Rejoicing in suffering generally refers to persecution.
9. Healings are glorifying to God.
10. Jesus has already won our deliverance from sickness. The truth is we can taste the powers of the age to come now and we are encouraged to do so in the New Testament. The truth is the risen Lord passed on His authority to His disciples including the authority to heal in His Name”.

I cannot do better than close with the encouragement from John Groves;

“As disciples we are to go into all the world with the good news of the Kingdom of God. We are to assault the dominion of darkness in all its manifestations including demonic oppression and sickness of body. Let us determine to keep laying hands on the sick with an increasing faith and expectation that they will get well”.

The title of this post is; "Willing in the Day of Thy Power?". I'd like to present that as a statement but having been an evangelical most of my life - I'm not sure it is. I think we have become so obsessed with discernment that we quite frankly are not willing. This is the question that has been on my heart all today since I got the magazine through the post. "Are you willing?". Are you willing to step out? Are you willing to take a leap of faith? Are you willing to lay hands on that person and risk "nothing happening"? Are you willing to look foolish for My Name? Are you willing to just trust Me? Are you willing to give the money you saved for that holiday? Are you willing?

If The Tide is Turning, What Then Should Be Our Response? ... Okay I Submit!

Anticipating the arrival of the Newfrontiers magazine is becoming a 3 monthly exciting treat for me! The package from Brighton makes a wonderful change from bills ... bills ... bills. As always I am sure that it will be made available online here so panic not if it doesn't arrive at your church for mass distribution. I must confess that my excitement waned somewhat when I looked at the front cover and saw the theme. Suddenly a wave of tiredness swept over me ...

Authority.

However as with many other potentially distasteful subjects, Newfrontiers writers seem to have the knack of making it exciting and motivational by soaking it in lavish grace. When one reads the amazing articles contained in the magazine, you cannot help but begin to let down the barriers of defence and hear what they say.

What struck me especially was two themes from the last Newfrontiers magazine. The first was a question that Terry Virgo asked; "If the tide is turning what should our response be?". I tried to answer that question here and here. But Rob Rufus makes the link between the turning of the tide in our land with authority. What is it so essential? What is authority a non-negotiable part of our corporate life?

"This is the time to prepare for this visitation by building proper Biblical government and pattern into the church. A Biblical wineskin embraces three elements: Biblical authority structures which is proper government, based on what the Bible teaches, not on democracy".

So here is a brief review of this must-read.

1. Terry Virgo's Firstline.

As always this is my first point of call. As Newfrontiers grows it is to be expected that we will see Terry less and less as his apostolic call takes him to regions beyond, hence anything he has to say is important to me!

I was fascinated to read Luke's report from the recent Prayer and Fasting. Luke said that Terry reported that friendships were growing from within Newfrontiers across boundaries, not simply with other charismatic churches but with increasing respect within the Reformed evangelical world. Again I must confess that it didn't initially thrill me. Other efforts to cross boundaries often seem to result in compromise and it usually tends to be the charismatic dimension of church life. I have commented on this elsewhere.

Hence Terry's Firstline writing was a major reassurance that in his eyes the crossing of boundaries does not (for him) involve any compromise whatsoever on the importance of emphasis on the Holy Spirit's ministry. He wrote;

"The challenge remains for us to be enthusiastic in our embracing of the activity of the Holy Spirit and to be through in our commitment to Biblical truth".

Luke too wrote that Terry emphasised the same thing at Prayer and Fasting; "But other things have not changed: our devotion to Word and our devotion to Spirit". We don't have to choose! Terry said in an interview on God TV that for many of us there is no conflict between Reformed theology and Charismatic life. For me it is not a question of being 50% Reformed and 50% charismatic. If for example I go to a charismatic conference then I have to compensate the next year by going to a hyper-reformed one. Or if I happen to read an author like Benny Hinn then I do not have to reflect that by reading a diet of staunch cessationism! Rather I like the idea of being 100% charismatic and 100% Reformed! I love the Word of God! For in it I find the release and the authenticity to go for God and experience Him in ways I could not even dream.

2. "Okay I Submit!" by Terry Virgo.

Terry followed up his Firstline by writing an excellent article on the subject of authority. With his typical warm and fatherly candour he acknowledges all the hangups that I have had in my personal walk with authority. "We hate people telling us what to do!". But then he begins to relentlessly dismantle those hangups with Scriptural truth and example. He wrote;

"God's purpose is to bring us back to obedience not by imposing His will upon us, nor even by placing us under law, but by a gospel of grace that brings about obedience from the heart based on faith (Romans 5:17). God should be obeyed ... he wanted to win converts and establish communities of believers who gladly chose to obey God from their hearts because they had been fully restored to God. Having received a revelation of God through Christ and His Cross and His work of redemption, they would joyfully trust and obey Him".

However the article does not focus purely on the theology of obedience to God but gets intensely personal and direct:

"He (Moses) recklessly risked everything on trusting God. He genuinely believed that God knows best and it makes sense to live God's way. Let me invite you to the same adventure. Will you try it and then consistently live out such a lifestyle for the glory of God? Why don't you obey Him and prove Him absolutely trustworthy in the midst of an unbelieving world that has been lied to? That's what Jesus did. Let's run after Him!".

3. Three International Articles on Authority!

The magazine demonstrates the awesome privilidge of being in an international family of churches. It is to my shame that much of my theological upbringing and experience has been exclusively Western and I believe this has robbed me of much. Pete mentioned his recent acquisition of the "Africa Bible Commentary" and how he hoped this would benefit his devotions. Here again is the same principle.

Mbonisi Malaba from the River of Life Church in Zimbabwe wrote an excellent (Ern Baxter would call it "cosmic") article on "The Authority of God". He said that in some African cultures many king's huts are built with entrance doorways that are waist height. This is to ensure that noone can come into the king's presence without bowing and acknowledging his authority to rule.

David Fernandes from Living Word Church in Mumbai wrote a culturally relevant piece on how to honour authority at work without compromising your beliefs. He reminds us that it is God who places our bosses over us and our responses should be that of respect, fear, sincerity of heart and serving wholeheartedly.

Finally John Kpikpi from City of God Church in Ghana used another Ern Baxter-favourite word. "The Authority of Government". He reinforces David Fernandes article in helping to ensure that we do remain culturally relevant but without compromise. John wrote;

"The message here is this; the gospel holds priority of place in the heart and mind of our sovereign God. All that He had created and established (including governments) has been put in place to facilitate the delivery of this most precious of messages to all people everywhere".


4. "Spiritual Authority in the New Covenant" by John Groves.


This article was the most helpful on authority for me in a corporate sense. While Terry's article was vital for understand authority personally, we must admit and confess that a Christian can mentally affirm authority but remain out of church and resolutely independent of authority - despite the fact that John Stott calls this an abberration. It could only be a gifted prophet/teacher like John Groves who can address this - again soaked in lavish grace - but unashamedly with convicting truth.


John began with the death and resurrection of Christ as that is where the New Covenant was inaugurated. The curtain has been torn in two! Access is accomplished! The way is open! (Matthew 27:51). By sitting down ath the right hand of His Father He has won the priesthood for all believers. This foundational start was vital because John made the point that while we do believe in authority in church, we are NOT creating a "special" class of leaders who will stand between us and God. He wrote this;


"New Testament leadership is about gifting. The Holy Spirit gifts people to perform a function of serving the church through leadership and government".


So with that foundation in place, John then moved on to two principles on leadership that I found so helpful.


i. "Leaders are a gift from the risen Christ to His Church (Ephesians 4:7-11). The church, the people of God need to recognise them as this, namely a gift ... to bless and build up His Church".


ii. "Leadership is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:6-8). Spiritual leaders have to be gifted and called by the Lord Jesus, the head of the church ... We need to find ways of recognising who Jesus is anointing and appointing".


He deals with how spiritual authorities should behave towards the church and vice versa - how we should behave towards the spiritual authorities. Once again I felt so lovingly challenged and corrected on my cynicism and suspicion towards these men. This point in particular was helpful;


"Obey them whenever possible although it should be noted that submission is an attitude of respect towards authority but it doesn't always mean that you obey".


He ended by summing up in this way;


"The New Covenant is the covenant of the Spirit. We are always looking to submit to His work and His gifting in people ... God has distributed gifts according to His will just as He wants. Therefore He has given apostles, prophets, teachers, elders, deacons and numerous other ministries defined by gifting rather than any Biblical term. In the end all spiritual authority is to build up the church, bring her to maturity and make her effective in her mission in bringing the good news of Jesus Christ and His kingdom to this sin-sick world".


This quote in particular marries the subject of authority to the longed-for turning of the tide and prayed-for coming move of God. Spiritual authority is not put in place for the exalting of man's ego or for human recognition. "Riches I need not nor man's empty praise". Church leadership should not be viewed as a career where the ultimate promotion is speaking on a conference platform! Why else would the Bible say "Be not many teachers brethren for theirs is the greater judgement"? God has given and placed these ministries to take the good news to the ends of the earth and ensure that the Church becomes what she is meant to be.


5. Interview with Dr John Stott.

I need not say much about this interview because it might probably dominate the issue and that would be a shame. John Stott has long been a hero of mine and I was so honoured to meet him when he preached once at All Souls, Langham Place. Although he had a massive line of people eager to meet him, Dr Stott had the ability to make me feel like he was individually interested in me and delighted to meet me. I shall never forget his kind penetrating eyes.

As Terry said in his Firstline - there is sort of Papal feel to meeting the great man!


So what? While the theme of this issue of the Newfrontiers magazine may not excite me as themes like the Holy Spirit, His gifts, His work and Presence or Revival or Worship - I think that somehow it is going to have a beneficial effect in my life like no other. I remember once that Terry Virgo said, "Condemnation is a work of darkness - it accomplishes nothing!". That has been a helpful benchmark to me in realising that even some so-called Christian leaders are masters of condemnation and their counsel achieves nothing. This magazine did not leave me feeling condemned once but rather determined to throw myself into Church life and submit to leaders who I can trust and love.