Extraordinary Ministry in Extraordinary Times - Selected Quotes
Table of Contents
Introduction
1 Characteristics of the Coming Revival
2 Walking in the Now and Not Yet
3 Who Are You?
4 Authority
5 Identity
6 Jesus' Identity and Ours
7 The First and Second Reformations
8 Tenacity
9 Fellowship with the Trinity
10 Three Elements of Ministry
11 Ministry in the Last Days
From the Introduction:
A few years ago, God began speaking some truths to me that at first seemed disconnected. Then, however, they began forming into a pattern that started shaking my world. I soon came to realize that this was the key to seeing the Second Reformation come in a major way. Furthermore, I began to see that underlying this was actually the same revelation that Martin Luther first came to realize in the beginning of his reformation, almost exactly 500 years ago. I will speak more about that later.
About Characteristics of the Coming Revival:
There is a phenomenal move of God starting to dawn. Time will tell if I am right, but I feel history is in the making. If you have not yet seen what I am about to describe, you will. It will come with the power of a tsunami, simultaneous with a shaking of the world, changing everything. It is available to all who would latch onto the Spirit. It is beginning with waves that we can now see, but the secret is that we must learn to ride these current waves, for only then can we be on top of the huge ones when they come crashing in.
About Walking in the Now and Not Yet:
When His disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray the way He prayed, He said, "Let Your Kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This describes His own desire and ministry, that the future Kingdom be demonstrated here and now. He was asking us to pray this into being—that the not-yet invade the now. In other words, we are praying that the river of heaven flow down the streets of the earth.
About Who We Are:
One morning as I was lying in bed, I got another piece of the puzzle. I felt the Lord telling me to consider the story of the sons of Sceva. The Lord posed a question in my mind: How do you apply this to your life? My first thought was that most people would say, "Those sons of Sceva were crazy. I would never do that!" I instantly felt, however, that this was not the answer God was looking for. I felt the Lord say, "What I'm looking for is that you must be able to answer, 'Who are you?'" That was the important question. Of course, the sons of Sceva, who were not in a relationship with Jesus, had no satisfactory answer to this and were left overpowered by the evil one. But we who are in a relationship with Jesus need to be able to answer this question as well. That way we can be the ones who do the overpowering.
About Authority:
Prayers of command, like those short prayers of Jesus, are directed at whatever needs to be changed. Like a police chief and his officers, He has given us authority to bring the Kingdom. We don't need to constantly ask the chief what to do when we see a criminal robbing a store. We just intervene. However, unlike this analogy of a policeman and his chief, we are filled with God's presence and are constantly in tune with His voice and heart, accessible to His telling us the best way to approach each situation. So we have both a general sense of the ways of the King burning within us, and also hearts and ears receptive to His heart and voice.
About Identity:
One of the ways the enemy and the world can suppress the Body of Christ is to chip away at our identities in the Lord, replacing them with false and destructive substitutes. It grieves me to see this, and I know it does God too. These negative identities can include recurring thoughts such as, "I am a failure," "I am worthless," "I am stupid," "I will never amount to anything," "I am rejected," "I am unlovable," "I am an outsider and can never have friends," "I am beyond help," "God cannot use me," and the like. But God has amazing things to say to us. And whose words can compare with His-He who created us and gave us life?
About Jesus' Identity and Ours:
The Bible shows that there was often considerable thought that went into names. There were many names given to God. And God would often change people's names, which represented the work He had done in their lives and identities. But we don't do that much anymore. So should names, or at least phrases depicting who we are, be important to us? Yes! Jesus has given us an amazing identity. We don't have to change our surnames, but we should think of what Jesus calls us when we think of ourselves.
About The First and Second Reformations:
Thus began the Reformation. The reformation became centered around the idea of grace and the Word of God coming into the people's hands. This was rightly so, for these are the avenues by which we obtain all of God's goodness. But, for Luther, what these avenues were toward was the righteousness we have in God—our identity. This was the spark of the first reformation, and it is interesting that, once again, it is a highlight of the current move of God. I believe it will be the spark of another reformation.
About Tenacity:
It's time to rise up. It's time to lead the way, demonstrating a tenacity, a sense of identity, an authority, and the spirit of reformation within us. Don't quit at the first sign of warfare: instead push back even harder. This is a time He wants to raise us up and many others like us. If, like Gideon, we have the willingness to be used, God will give us a new identity of men and women of uncommon valor. The Spirit will come on us, and we can push ahead, forcefully advancing the Kingdom. In both Gideon and Luther, one contender took on the enemies of an entire nation. You could ask, "If one contender could do that, what would happen if we all were contenders?" I say, "Let's find out!"
About Fellowship with the Trinity:
It is amazing how we, as mere humans, get to stand with God who created and fills the universe. This alone should cement our identity. It should let us know something of the realm of which we are ambassadors. And it should give us a new perspective of our role in the bringing of His Kingdom—how He partners with us and will do anything we ask in His name in order to show forth increasingly greater works. Everything about God has a dimension to it that, should He show us its extent, would blow our minds. So it is with who we are, and so it is with what He desires us to do—it is far more than we could think or imagine.
About Three Elements of Ministry:
I have been talking about the components of what I feel is a coming move of God. Now is the time to bring those together in the way we minister to others. In this chapter I would like to lay out what I think are three major elements of ministering in the Spirit. They are very evident in what is happening in the current move of God, and if you watch any of Darren Wilson's movies, such as Holy Ghost, you can see them in action. Those elements are (1) ministering with His presence, (2) listening to His voice, and (3) using His authority. I will also talk about displaying God's heart, which underlies all we do. Part of the identity we have been talking about is being Bringers of the Kingdom, and these are the ways to put that into action.
About Ministry in the Last Days:
I realize that the interpretation of end-times prophecies have led to much debate and division, sometimes over the smallest of details, and I don't want to get into that here. What is truly important is to be looking to the Lord and doing all He told us to do before He comes. That I do want to get into here. Like the events God has orchestrated in the past, I believe the events near the time of Jesus' return will have many foreshocks. Many of these the world has already experienced, and I am sure there are more to come. Are the foreshocks increasing? Yes, in many ways they are. Although this itself does not provide us with an end-times timeline, it should remind us to be about our commission.
The message in all of this is clear: even when times are hard, do not fear or retreat… these may also be times of the greatest ministry ever. One of the ways to prepare is to learn to minister in God's presence now. This is the preparation God is seeking. Rid yourself of anything that stands in the way of a pure heart and God dwelling in your life. Come now to know the salvation, power, and Kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Messiah.
From A Tale of Two Sisters:
Holly's Story: My principal would commend me for my talent and creativity, and then get out his special stamp: a smiley face with a mustache, just like the one on my principal's smiling face. It was his seal of approval. I remember working hard for that stamp, and having no greater joy than to have my work handed back to me with that smiling mustache-face on it. But then the Lord showed me that He too has a stamp, and He too stamps that with which He is well pleased. He marks it with His image, His seal of approval. But He didn't stamp my stories or my homework or even my college diploma. He stamped me.
Mandy's Story: God has taught me, and still is teaching me, to choose to agree with what He says. I am to hold up that shield of faith which quenches the fiery darts of the enemy, to fight for what I will believe, and to stand on His words about my identity. He invites me into this place of faith, and when I enter into it I become unshakable in the face of my circumstances, a force to be reckoned with in the face of the enemy, and a peaceful, joyful daughter before the face of my Heavenly Father.
