A time of repentance

A lot of time has gone by since the last post. Now and then I thought of writing a new one and this one has been sitting here for a month now, but it's okay. I think this is a good time to write two or three posts.

The last two months have been very different than the first.. Things have changed; whereas we went to the streets daily in the beginning and had many testimonies of healing, repentance and some baptisms, we then came to a time of focusing on holiness and truth.

For me it started when I was in Aarhus for the second time. The last post I wrote was 2 days before we went over there. The first day on the street was very strange; no one wanted to talk to us, people were rude, no one we prayed for got healed and to top it off one man that was healed the time before, even said he had pain again. We said to each other: "what is going on?"

We went somewhere quite to pray and then talked about what could be hindering us; then we repented of some things God showed us and we gave the time in Aarhus to God. Amazingly, when we got up to try again, people were open, got healed and when we met the man I mentioned, his pain was totally gone again.

At the same time, God was working this same thing of repentance in the people back in Aalborg. And for some weeks hardly anyone could go to the streets. We all needed time to let God show us our hearts; to learn that it is not about the signs and wonders and nice testimonies of what we do, but about knowing Him who is the Truth and knowing who we are in Him.

This is the Gospel, like I wrote in an earlier post. Initially you repent, get baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. The continuation of this is to repent constantly of every lie you believe in, all wrong understanding, all lack of love and all other sin. You choose to die to yourself and align yourself with the Truth and the Life. I'm not saying I have checked this off the list and am now completely perfect. I wish. It's a daily choice, the Bible calls it "putting on the new self", "renewing your mind" and "fixing your eyes on Jesus". That's what I want to write about in the next post. Salvation is not a one-prayer-deal, we live it out all the days of our life until that day; when we see Jesus face to face and know fully who He is and who we are. (1 Cor 13:12)

 

Prayer and fasting

Hey, I'd like to share some things about prayer and fasting, because I have experienced the power of it in the last weeks and days.

First a short testimony:

Yesterday night I was out with a friend. We talked with a young guy who said he had no pain anywhere. So I asked him what he thought about God, whether He ever experienced anything of Him and what his thoughts were when I said I see people get healed by prayer every day. He didn't walk away, so I kept telling him about the gospel; faith in Jesus, repentance, baptism and the Holy Spirit.

When I told him I'd just seen someone get healed 10 minutes before, he was all of a sudden more interested. I guess he started to believe that I believed what I was telling him. I asked him if he really didn't have anything. No. I got the idea to set him down on a chair and check if his legs were the same length. He had a small difference, which was quickly healed. Then he didn't say much anymore. So I told him some more about the Kingdom of God and that Jesus took his sins in the same way He took his sickness. Then just before he had to go he told me: "you know, I'm a bit overwhelmed by all this, cause I didn't tell you I had pain in my back when we started talking.. It has been gone since you prayed.." Haha, nice :)

Battle of the mind
In order to be led by the Holy Spirit, we need to be able to hear His voice. In order to hear His voice our minds must be clear and we must know the voice of the Shepherd. Furthermore, in case to be led by feelings that God can give us, we need to know the difference between natural feelings, deceiving feelings and God's feelings.

The enemy knows that we need a clear mind and no distractions in order to function in the Spirit, so what he does is attacking us with ideas and feelings that are not true. We need to discern between these things, or else we can easily be overcome. For a long time I was overcome and it's terrible, because it felt hopeless. I wanted to serve God, but didn't know where to start; I prayed sometimes, but was easily discouraged and distracted.

So I want to say some things about this battle and the weapons we have; fasting and praying.

Fasting & praying
Fasting is the most powerful of the two. Essentially, what you do, is denying the flesh. This is everything you yourself want, think and feel. You take back control over your body, rather than your body having control over what you do in a day. At some point, (after a week the first time you do it), your body shuts up complaining about hunger and emptiness and you can think much clearer as a result.

Discerning between the things of God and the things of the devil is now much easier. You can then destroy all fortresses and every lofty idea raised up against the knowledge of Christ, and take all thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. Additionally it is important that you are filled with the good stuff, so you dwell on the things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good reputation, excellent and praiseworthy. This is the type of prayer that is a weapon in this battle of the mind.

Praying
Praying without fasting is harder, because our body is not quiet. Satan can much easier distract us, by just making us think we need to eat something, or by making us feel tired. So it takes some more effort to ignore the distractions and continue praying before we break through the dark forces that are against us.

Freedom
Since I'm here the Holy Spirit leads me to fast very often, I think a bit less than half of the time. Maybe it's a sign of stubbornness :p, but I also recognize that I'm growing as a result of it. But the last two days have been a revelation for me when it comes to prayer. I felt down yesterday morning, but after we prayed 2 hours I was so free in my mind and spirit and was full of joy. We have prayed more that day and also today and I just feel free all the time. It is good!

If you are confused or if it's like you have a cloud in your mind that keeps you from focusing on God, it's probably time to fast and pray. A good way to start is also to ask others to pray for you, (speak truth and expose lies), because the hardest part of this is probably to get started.

Aarhus

Wow.

David (a Danish friend) and I went to Aarhus on Thursday to get a taste of the 'Luke 10' life. An Australian guy and a girl from Italy formed a second team. After 5 days we came back to the Aalborg yesterday to share testimonies with the rest, before we go back to Aarhus again in a week or so.

I'd like to share some things that happened and also give a general explanation of how God works when we follow His instructions in the Bible.

Friday
Friday morning we met with a woman who had a lot of battle going on in her mind. We talked and prayed and she had some revelation of the power in the blood of Jesus when we had communion together. We were able to encourage her to keep to keep fighting, trusting on what Jesus has already finished.

Then we went to the streets to pray for people and many were healed; one of those had a walker/rollator, she had pain from past broken ankles, pain in both knees, hip pain and back pain. She was completely pain free after we prayed.

Around dinner time I prayed that I would like to have 'words of knowledge' more often; right away I got a sharp pain in my foot for a few seconds, it was about the guy who was making our kebab.

In the night we went to something called 'street church' were we could talk and pray with people on the street as well. People were really touched and amazed when they got healed.

Saturday
On Saturday we went to the street all morning until 2PM and among others prayed for a lady in a scooter mobile. She used to have a lot of pain from arthritis in her whole body, but was set free from pain and got more strength and stability. At home she was going to try to walk without the scooter.

At 3PM we organized a gospel meeting with the other team; many people from Greenland came, through the contacts of one of our friends in Aarhus. Many were healed from pains and set free from demons and evil spirits. It was really amazing to be a part of that! There was a lady with astma and cramps in her stomach and the organs around it because of several operations. Because of a dinner appointment, David and I only had 10-15 minutes to pray with her. Right when we started praying it was clear that she had to be set free from spiritual stuff as well. So I prayed, "God, we only have 10 minutes, let's do this :)". She was coughing up slime for some time and the cramps were really bad at first, but after 10 minutes she was completely set free and free of pain. Great!

Sunday and Monday
On Sunday we had more time on the street and met some people at a church service. In the evening we met up to have dinner together. On Monday we baptized a man in someone's bathtub and we went to a home to pray for a man and his wife with dementia.

Our Australian and Italian friend had many meetings with people in their homes and experienced many other things during these 5 days.

It's real
What I mainly want to communicate is this; when we do what Jesus says we should do, just simply act in faith on what the Bible says, God will work through us. So the more you leave behind, the more God will provide. The more you stop planning, the more God will lead you. The more you deny yourself, the more you will see the Kingdom of God take shape in your life.

This time we did take some, we did plan some and I have certainly not totally denied myself, BUT we experienced so much already.

The Bible says we should forget what lies behind and press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus. Every time I look at myself, I can't see a way that this life will ever work, but every time I go out to do it, it works. I just know that I want to go the whole way.

The streets

Today I just want to write a short update about what happened on the street today and before.

I was out with a Danish guy for just 1 hour and we experienced a lot of healings:

• the first man we prayed for was deaf in one ear, but got completely healed with 4 or 5 times praying.
• the woman next to him had an allergy, so we prayed for that to leave her.
• then we met a girl with pain in her ankle and both elbows. She got healed.
• her friend had pain in his leg and got healed.
• a guy with a new tattoo got healed of the burning pain of the tattoo and the guy next to him I had something I don't remember.
• we then met 3 boys of whom, I think, two had pain somewhere and they were healed.

Then we went to Burger King and I wanted to pray for the boy that sold us the food. He came by our table to clean our trash, so I told him what we had just experienced and asked if I could pray. He got excited and said he is a christian and I could pray for him for happiness. So I prayed that the Holy Spirit would come and fill him with joy, peace and love, and He did. This boy was really touched by what happened.

If you would have been with us, you would have been amazed at how easy it was. We just prayed things like, "ear be healed and hearing be restored in Jesus' name, right now" and "pain go away in Jesus' name"), and people got healed. That's because we are not really doing anything except for speaking words of Truth.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5

My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

The truth is that Jesus has already carried all our sicknesses and in His beating He already healed us. So when we speak these truths over people, the deception is brought to light. Does that mean I see everyone healed that I pray for? No, not yet. But it means we need to continue going until we see the Truth take shape in front of our eyes. :)

Is it for today?

I don't really know how to do this. What I'm going to write about is so foreign to the current church culture...

Okay, just imagine you've never been in a church building, in fact, you never heard anything about 'what this or that Bible verse means in our society'. You're one of the 5.000 that have just been fed with 5 loaves and 2 fishes and then you went to Jesus to ask Him what you should do to follow Him. To 70 people He said something like this:

Luke 10:3-9

Leave everything behind. 

Go as sheep among wolves, two by two. But don't be afraid, because I, the Shepherd, will be with you.

Take nothing; no wallet, no bag, no extra shoes, no food, not even two sets of clothing.

You will find a place to stay and eat with someone. The moment you enter someone's house, say, "peace be to this house", and your peace will do something to the people in that house; they will either receive it or reject it. If a son of peace is there, stay until your work in the area is done. If not, move on.

Once you have found someone who receives the good news of the Kingdom, you will use their house as a 'base' from which you will reach more people with the gospel. In this way you're going to establish a fellowship of believers that meet in that house. 

When you go out on the streets, heal those who are sick, and tell them that you come to show them what the Kingdom of God is like.

Once you're done in one area, go to another and do the same. 

In the past I've either skipped over reading these verses or found reasons why they are not valid anymore. Yet I've come to believe this is still working, because this is the ultimate way of being a disciple of Jesus; Sell all you have, give to the poor and follow Jesus. Simply because all you do, say and receive from that moment on has to be in faith and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In little under 2 weeks we will start doing this. Until then we will receive teaching and train on the street. Now we have a place to sleep at the Jesus Hotel in Aalborg, then our beds will be used by other people. Now we get 3 meals a days, then God will provide. So exciting :)

I hope my reason for writing this will stay pure; to show you that this is really possible. So it's not about me at all, God will do everything, I just go with Him. I like this quote, and I believe it's what we're doing here.

"Rather than asking God to bless what we do, we should be doing what God is already blessing."

During one of the teachings, we made a little list of the qualifications a person needs in order to do this; check if you are qualified ;)

• the outcast
• the uneducated
• the broken
• the poor
• the weak
• the foolish
• the unloved
• the unloving
• the one with low self esteem
• the rejected
• the humble
• the needy
• the unwise
• the incompetent
• not noble
• not mighty
• not eloquent
• the willing
• the laborer

These are the people Jesus called.

What I'd like to do next is to answer some questions, if you have any. Can you post them as a comment below or on facebook?

The Gospel

During the first week, we've spent most time doing these two things:
- Hearing the gospel (morning)
- Going out to heal the sick and preach the gospel (afternoon)

The gospel
In the morning we had lessons about repentance, baptism in water and baptism with the Holy Spirit. And also about discipleship; how to be a disciple of Jesus. The reason we got this fundamental teaching is that we are to going to help people break through tradition and wrong teaching, to live the new life we read in the Bible.

These are the steps to enter this new life:
Repentance to the Father: turning away from sin and receiving a new heart with the law of God written on it.
Baptism to Jesus: to get rid of the old man, the sinful nature and of sin and its consequences. To die and rise again in a new life.
Baptism with the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of God comes to live in the new heart, starts speaking and starts leading instead of the flesh.

One of the questions was: what does it mean live this new life? The Bible says that being a believer is not just to believe that Jesus has lived, died and risen. It is faith that creates action. Faith is obedience. Faith is walking the way of the Spirit rather than the way of the flesh. Faith is to focus on God's truth rather than on what we see/feel/think in the natural.

Discipleship: To help people take the initial steps into the new life and to let them follow you as you live your life of faith that creates action. This model is used everywhere in the world; companies don't give new employees a textbook, they train them by people who have done it before. The goal is to become like the teacher. Somehow the church seems to have lost this approach, whereas Jesus did train His disciples in this way.

Heal the sick, preach the gospel
This is also the way we learn here. We've been out on the streets every day since the training started. (Because of practical work at the place where we stay we all went around 4 times last week).

Personally I've seen some people healed of back pain / knee pain / toe pain this week. Somehow there were not many who needed prayer for healing, but I have had some great opportunities to share the gospel and to become more confident in that.

Up next: the (radical) teaching of Jesus in Luke 9 & 10.

Luke 10

For those interested; at the moment I'm attending the Luke 10 training school in Aalborg, Denmark. I plan to write some things about what God is doing here, what I'm experiencing and learning and what we are up to with this Luke 10 training.

If you read the following Bible text, you'll get a pretty clear picture of what this training is about:

Luke 9

"And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing..." 

Luke 10

"Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’"

I will try to post something regularly, so that you can follow this if you want.