I Want To Get Carried Away In God’s River!

In the last post I shared some highlights of the mighty works of Jesus that I’ve seen this year, but I had to make another post to continue. We mentioned Jose, our ex-atheist friend who recently prayed and God opened blind eyes, and Karita, who no longer has to have her uterus removed and can have children. The week after Karita was healed, our group went on an outreach to Brasilia, about 4 hours away from here. We went on Saturday and came back on Sunday.

I felt a cold coming on and my throat was feeling sore before we went. I was also exhausted. But I have been in that situation before several times, gone on the mission in faith, and been healed and had a glorious time. So I went in faith and slept in the car.

We arrived at the church in the early afternoon and there was food waiting for us. I was already praying for the trip and I suddenly started sobbing as we were eating because I felt overwhelmed with God’s love. All that the Lord had been doing overwhelmed me. I was the combination of that, of expectation for what was about to happen, and knowing that none of it is my godliness or piety or deserving anything but God in his goodness keeps doing wonders. Actually, I was already teary-eyed and thanking God, but then I put out my hand and felt God’s glory as a weight in my hand so tangibly that I just started sobbing.

Then after we ate everybody introduced themselves and shared a little. And Karita told everyone how she felt heat on her uterus the week before and went back to the doctor, and he said she can have ten children. And I cried all the more, overwhelmed with God’s goodness and one miracle after another.

Another lady from the host church introduced herself and then pointed to me and said “I don’t know who this guy is, but I feel like I can’t stand on my feet when I’m near him, and it reminds me of when Randy Clark came here years ago.” And some of the people in our group said “He was with Randy Clark!”

I have often thought that people who see me sobbing like that might think I’m not all right and not realize it’s just being overwhelmed with God’s love. But with no words, she realized it was God’s presence.

That tells me that we carry an atmosphere and what is in our heart overflows. I would go to the Voice of the Apostles conference every year when I lived in the United States and see so many miracles that my heart would be overwhelmed. I would just get carried away by God. And then when I couldn’t go every year anymore, I couldn’t accept anything less and I started watching Mark Heman’s videos for hours until I would be completely overwhelmed. And in the last few years, I have been so bold and going on outreached that just what happens in my life overwhelms me. The lesson is that nothing is as precious as Jesus is, and we see Jesus in His mighty works, so value what is really important and do everything you can to see and experience what Jesus is doing until you are completely overwhelmed. And even when you are in another place and your heart goes back to the place of being overwhelmed with God’s presence, the same thing will manifest again.

You can get into a vicious cycle of doubt and unbelief that seems to confirm itself because nothing ever happens, or you can get into a virtuous cycle of praise, thanksgiving, and miracles. What you focus on will grow. When you get carried away with God’s love and it produces more miracles and a greater manifestation of God’s glory, which gives you more reason to praise and thank God and weep and rejoice! And that is really what I love and what I want…to be completely swept away with the God’s goodness. I was in Brasilia and my heart was in the same place as it was at those Voice of the Apostle’s conferences years ago, and that lady had no idea naturally why I was sobbing but she felt like she couldn’t stand on her feet just like when Randy Clark had visited the area.

One of my friends who knows Randy said that someone at a recent leader’s conference asked Randy how he has grown so much in God’s power. Randy said that it was humility and continuing to be thankful for what God does. People close to healing revivals in the past told Randy that those revivals ended because they started to take the miracles for granted and lost the thankfulness. Mark Hemans also shared a great message on this recently. Thankfulness is humility, and God gives grace to the humble. Recognize God’s goodness in your life. One of the meanings of grace in the New Testament has to do with power! I know that the overwhelming abundance of miracles in my life is not because I deserve it, but because God is full of goodness and radically generous towards me. It is not by my piety or godliness, but it is the precious name of Jesus!

2nd Corinthians 3:5-6 (NIV) Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The River Getting Deeper!

The Bible talks about the river of God in Ezekiel, and it’s an important lesson. Although I do not experience so many miracles because of my own merit, what I experience does have something to do with the way I think and believe. And I think very differently!

Often, people ask me “Why was I not healed?” Or “Why was that person I prayed for not healed?” Even “Why hasn’t God done it yet?” Those questions are completely out of my paradigm. They don’t even make sense to me. I never get caught up in them.

That is because I believe that God is all-powerful, but not all-controlling. He is overflowing with goodness and compassion, and His very nature is to heal, but He is a Spirit and is invisible. It isn’t that God didn’t decide to act, but that there is a way that God’s invisible Spirit is manifest tangibly, and it has do with with us entering into communion with His Spirit through Jesus. It has to do with our faith and what is happening in our heart. And it is important to understand that there is an increasing manifestation of God’s invisible Spirit, so if you haven’t seen God’s Spirit manifest in a situation, don’t get caught up in asking “Why?” Just go deeper in God’s river, the manifestation of God’s glory will increase, and more will happen! Get into the virtuous cycle of praise, thanksgiving, and miracles until you are carried away in God’s river.

The more affected your heart is by God’s presence, the deeper the river gets. The deeper the river, the greater the manifestation of Jesus. There are no limits if you believe God. Several times, I’ve seen scenarios in a group of about 50 people in which not a single person who received prayer could find any pain or symptom after. Or maybe only one. More than half the people present received some kind of miracle. It often happens as I am preaching and share testimonies until my heart just gets swept away and overwhelmed with God’s goodness. God’s river flows from your heart, so guard your heart! (We should have another blog post on that topic soon!) Don’t ask why! Thank God, jump in His river, and let His river flow through you!

Ezekiel 47:1-12 (NIV) The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side.

As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

The Swamps And Marshes Will Not Become Fresh

Many Christians never act in faith to let God’s river flow, because they are always asking “why?” They are caught up in the trap of self-pity, so they don’t let God’s river of love flow through them to other people. I’ve been caught in self-pity before, and I’m so happy to be free! If you are in that place, the best thing you can do is to get your focus off of yourself and let God’s river flow! Do you need a miracle for yourself? Go minister to someone else!

The reality is that until you start letting God’s river flow through you instead of focusing inward, your heart is like a swamp or marsh that never becomes fresh and you are caught in a vicious cycle in which doubt and unbelief produce disappointment by which you confirm your doubt and unbelief. You can choose to participate in the virtuous cycle of praise, thanksgiving, and miracles, or the vicious cycle of doubt, unbelief, and disappointment. Please understand me! I’m not saying if your life is like a swamp or marsh, it always has to be like that! There was a time when my life was like a swamp. I am saying that as long as you continue in the vicious cycle, you will keep getting the same results, so the way out is to get into the virtuous cycle of praise, thanksgiving, and miracles.

The Mighty Works Of Jesus In Brasilia!

We went on the streets and saw Jesus do miracles one after another. I can’t even remember everything that happened that day. It was too much. Many people were healed of pain. I prayed for several alcoholics on the street and sat sharing the gospel with them. One of them received healing in his back when I prayed, but I was just praying in general to bless him and he got up and found his back was healed. Then he received prayer again and his hearing was restored. People were also being healed of colds, sore throats, and sinus infections. We also baptized a few people who received Christ right there on the street, with water bottles! (I believe in immersion baptism, but there is something about baptizing people right away when they receive Jesus, and there wasn’t a pool right there. But we didn’t just sprinkle them. We dumped bottles of water on them!)

We were back at the church and a newly-baptized and now-sober guy who we found drunk in rags on the street hung out with us the whole time. I sat down and he started saying “I can never thank you guys enough for what you’ve done for me. I know you’ll go to heaven because of what you’ve done!” He still had the old thinking pattern of self-righteousness! And I said, “I’m going to heaven because of what Jesus has done, not because of what I’ve done!” And I explained that I had been messed up and seriously in need of a Saviour, and Jesus rescued me, and whatever good he was seeing in me was only because of God’s free gift of righteousness transforming me! And I explained how to walk in God’s grace rather than trying to please God with our own human effort. This is such a fundamental and important truth, but unfortunately, much of the church needs to re-learn it!

At night Jose and Karita prayed for a lady who had a disability. Her left leg was shorter than the other one. She had three surgeries and her ankle had atrophied and didn’t move. She could only move the tips of her toes. She used to walk only on the tip of her foot, but as they prayed she started moving her foot more and more and the pain left. Before that, she had pain in her knee, back, and whole leg with very strong cramping. She said that she didn’t experience one moment without pain and took medicine for pain 24 hours a day-150 milligrams. You can see her sharing her testimony and walking normally in the video below:

Miraculous Healings From Needing Glasses And More!

That night I was praying for a 15-year-old girl and suddenly felt the Lord leading me to pray for her to see without glasses. She took off her glasses and was soon seeing much better without them! I got excited and just felt the Lord’s power and grace in that moment to heal people of needing glasses, and I started looking for other people who had glasses. Several more people were either seeing much better or perfectly (In their words) without glasses! Most of them had a lot of heat around their heads and felt something moving in their eyes. Some suddenly felt pain in their eyes as we prayed, so I rebuked every spirit affecting their vision and it passed.

We saw more miracles the next day, and I was pretty much on the brink of tears the whole time. I prayed for a girl in our group to see without glasses, and her vision didn’t seem to change but she felt fire in her sinuses and was healed of a sinus infection. Why? Don’t ask why! Just keep going in God’s river and it will keep getting deeper! A little boy at the house we were staying at had a short leg that caused him pain when he walked or ran, and God adjusted the leg so it didn’t hurt anymore. We prayed for his mom and God’s fire came on her and drove out her cold, sinus infection, and sore throat. I had already forgotten about the cold that had been trying to come on to me the day before!

On Sunday, so much had happened that some people were joking about all the miracles. But I felt that it is very important to keep the thankfulness and sense of reverence for what God does and to never treat it lightly or take it for granted. The works of the Holy Spirit are precious.

On the way back, the guy driving the car stopped at his parents’ house. Both had colds and his mom had very bad vision and said she might need eye surgery. God healed both of them of colds and the mom felt God’s power in her eyes, took off her glasses, and said she was seeing perfectly without them! The driver’s wife received prayer, took off her glasses, and said she could see perfectly without them! And the driver took off his glasses and saw much better, reading what he could not read before. Still, he put them on again to drive. (We just report these things as honestly as we can without exaggeration.)

Jesus, Multiply Your Mighty Works Through Your Body The Church!

The next day, I prayed for the mother of one of our neighbors and she also testified that she was seeing perfectly clearly without glasses. A new guy, Pedro, had been on the Brasilia outreach and saw the miracles. The next week we visited an orphanage, and one of the orphanage directors was healed. Then we went out for burgers afterward. He asked me the classic question “Hey, how does that work?” Just like Jose and Matteus had asked. And I explained some simple changes in mindset, like knowing that the heavens are open because Jesus’ body was torn, and that we must see the perfect image of the invisible God revealed in Jesus. We have been trained to see God through life, but the only way we can really see God clearly and be sure of his will is by looking at Jesus.

The next day, Pedro prayed and a man got out of a wheelchair. I’m still waiting to hear more of the details.

Jose prayed for another person last Tuesday who was healed of needing glasses. On Wednesday, I visited the Men’s group for the first time in a few months and we saw several miracles and God’s fire coming on people. On Saturday, I went to the recovery house and there were more miracles, including a lady being healed of bad back pain and another lady who needed glasses and didn’t have them now reading very fine print in a pocket Bible (Which she could not read before.) Her husband said “Now you can’t say that you can’t read your Bible because the words are too small!”

Another guy at the recovery house asked for prayer, and I felt like God lead me to pray “Thank you Holy Spirit for fixing his teeth!” He had a tooth hurting badly and it stopped hurting and he said he felt it solidifying. Several other miracles happened. Then on Sunday, I was at an Easter party for kids and someone brought me a lady with bad pain in her legs. I asked my daughter Rebekah (8 years old) to pray for her. Rebekah touched her legs, prayed once, and the pain was completely gone! The lady was quite surprised and relieved.

Just Keep Going!

My throat was sore, I was feeling bad, and I didn’t have enough sleep the morning we were going to Brasilia. The solution? Keep going in God’s river and let it flow out of you! It will deepen. Let it deepen until it sweeps everything away.

I am wearing glasses right now as I share these testimonies. Do I ask why? No! Keep going, thanking God, and giving the riches of heaven to others! Do you get it?

By the way, here are a bunch of Bibles we bought with a donation. I decided to get them after talking to a lady we prayed for who had a cataract and vision trouble. Her vision improved but we didn’t see it 100%. Do we ask “why?” No! Keep going in God’s river, thanking God, and get her a Bible with big letters! And next time, pray again! The Bible on the top has giant letters. It’s especially for her!

And here is part of the hydroponic system that we’ve been building at the Casa da Paz recovery house, soon ready for planting!

Love you guys! Keep following Jesus!