The Radical Life

Testimony releases more of the same!

My last post was all about legs growing in my hands as I prayed and this is something that I have taken every opportunity I can to speak about and this week in Brasov Romania is no exception.

I have had the privilege this week of ministering with Hazel, my wife, at CCB Brasov and doing some leadership training and I had the honour of preaching in the main church meeting on Sunday too. Whilst doing the training I took some time to testify about recent events in my life which I outlined in my last post. Right after the session a lady came to me, having heard the testimony of legs growing, as said that she had one leg longer than the other and if I was wanted to I could pray for her.  This was another opportunity to see the Holy Spirit operating in power and so I asked someone who was travelling with us on this trip to come and pray with me. We sat the lady on a chair, I held her legs in my hands and we could clearly see that one leg was about 1.5cm shorter than the other. We prayed in Jesus name commanding  the leg to grow and before our eyes the leg grew. The lady walked away proclaiming “I AM A WALKING MIRACLE”

Ok, this might seem a little “weird” for some of you but it really happened! Last Sunday at Church I prayed for people with Bad Backs/Hips and as I had people sit down I saw two people who clearly had one leg about half an inch, to an inch, longer than the other – As I held their legs and prayed I saw the leg grow! True Story! Totally Amazing. Interestingly it was not the shock it was when it happened a year earlier as this time I totally knew it would happen … Let me explain.

About a year ago I was running a camp for deprived kids in Brasov, Romania and was preaching at Christian Centre Brasov one Sunday Morning and offered to pray for the sick. At that time I really wanted to pray for the deaf as I have hard lots of stories of the deaf hearing after prayer. What excited me about praying for the deaf was that it was verifiable there and then. If they could not hear before and then they can you know they have been healed – or not! Anyway, as we prayed for the many people that came up there were no deaf people at all. As all the people left the building and I was gathering my bible and preaching notes a lady came to me asking if she was to late to receive healing prayer. I put my stuff down and asked what was wrong hoping that she would say she was deaf in one ear or something. However that was not the case. She explained that she had a hip problem and was really suffering. Not knowing really what to do I asked her to sit on a chair and as she did so I took hold of her feet by the heel and saw that one leg was longer than the other. “Oh my” I thought, I was totally not sure what would happen now. Theologically I was, and am, convinced that Jesus can heal today by the power of the Holy Spirit but experientially that was not where I was at, and to be honest my faith was more hope to be totally honest. None the less I prayed and, keeping one eye open, I asked Jesus to heal her and, in my hand, the leg grew! It was totally amazing. I was totally stoked, and ready to pray for anyone and everyone but unfortunately at that point we were pretty much the only people left in the building.

So why is this important. Well, I have not seen any further miracles at my own hand since then but held a desire in my heart. As I was on holiday last week skiing we were at a small hotel with a group of people we vaguely know from a couple of Baptist Churches in Sussex. One evening I found myself with my two teenage sons, speaking to most of the teenagers fully expecting them to all leave once an old man like me sat down with them. Quite the reverse happened as they began to quiz me on various biblical topics ranging from free will to why church is so boring! During that conversation I found myself speaking to one girl saying to there the question of boring church was the wrong one to ask. As I explained that she should be asking herself if Jesus was who he said he was, did he do the things the bible said he did, did he die on a cross for her sin and did he raise again so that those that believe in him might have eternal life. I explained that until that question was answered her questions about boring church were not all that relevant. As we discussed this further I asked if she believed that miracles occurred today and she emphatically stated that she did not. The incident in Romania suddenly came to mind and so I shared it with her. She was still unconvinced although she was then in a predicament as she trusted me, but could not bring herself to believe.

During the holiday I had been reading “Face to Face with God” by Bill Johnson and was excited to read about some of the hearings that are occurring in Bethel church and wondered why this was not something that I saw happening in my experience or not that often. anyway, We arrived home last Saturday and on Sunday morning  I randomly received a FaceBook Video from someone about healing. As I watched it it was all about a guy in Redding California priaying for people in a mall. Every one of the healing was for people with one leg longer than the other. Needles to say I emailed it to this young lady but was really excited in my own heart about it too.

I happened to be leading the meeting at Kings Church Horsham that very Sunday morning and as I started the meeting and began to welcome people I felt the Holy Spirit whisper to me “You have talked a lot about legs growing and praying for the sick, but will you do it?” In the split second I knew I had a decision to make … Would I go for it or not. So before I handed over to the worship leader I told the congregation that I felt that God was wanting to heal some people this morning and that I particualrly wanted to pray for those with Back and Hip problems.

As the first song began people came to me for prayer. Each one I asked if they would consider sitting down so I could see if there legs were the same length. Some would not insisting that it was just a back issue so I prayed and moved on. Then one man said he knew that his right leg was shorter than the left and as he sat down and I held his feet by the heel I could see that it was. At this point I was so full of faith that I found myself saying to those worshipping near by “Watch this leg grow”. With my eyes fully open, expecting this miracle to occur I prayed and commanded the right leg to grow out …. AND IT GREW IN MY HAND right there and then with me and others watching. The guy was totally amazed and close to tears as he saw and felt the power of God move in his body. As I was leading the meeting I was able to tell the gathered church that a leg had just grown out before our very eyes! At that point others came up for prayer and sure enough I found another man with a pain in his back just above his right buttock. He agreed to sit down and sure enough his right leg was shorter than the left. Again, as we prayed a prayer of faith, not hope or wishful thinking, but faith, we saw another leg grow out. As he stood up he still felt an ache in his back so we prayed and he then felt intense heat in his side where the pain was.

How was that different from when I was in Romania? Well then I was just hoping that God would show up, and he did. This time I just KNEW that it would happen! Of course when I got home I emailed this young lady to tell her and she now wants to come and see for herself!

If you want to be encouraged a little more …. take a look at this too

Here are some great quotes from Bill Johnson’s book “Face to Face with God

“It is not possible to encounter one so overwhelming and maintain the status quo”. (1)

“Some of my brothers and sisters belittle such pursuits [travelling to where Signs and Wonders are happening], saying ‘Signs and Wonders are supposed to follow you, not you follow them.’ My perspective is a little different: if they’re not following you, follow them until they follow you” (1)

“When God invades a person’s life, things change. Not only that, but the impact of that life on the world also changes”. (1)

“I cannot live in mediocrity, content with merely knowing that there is more of God to experience and explore – and then do nothing about it. Truths that are not experienced are, if effect, more like theories and truths. Whenever God reveals truths to us He is inviting us into a divine encounter” (1)

Many people are content to live with the concept of the presence of God in their lives, but they fail to enter the intended experience. (1)

“The fundamental difference between authentic Christianity and religion is the issue of knowing and being known by God verses merely knowing about Him” (1)

“Being known by God is the most important thing in life, and it won’t happen without my surrender and response to him” (1)

“Seeing God is costly. Something in us always dies” (1)

“We need to give more grace to those who differ from us” (1)

“In order to gain a heart that longs to know God, we must sacrifice our need to be right, to understand or explain things” (1)

“This profound encounter with God [Baptism in the Spirit] is given to us so that we might be filled with His power and be enabled to authentically deonstrate the life of Jesus before this world” (1)

“the kingdom of God must never be reduced to talk, ideas and principles. The kingdom of God is power” (1)

“the sobering thing to realise is that our response to the move of the Spirit is not a response to the manifestations. Rather, it is a response to the face of God. to reject the move of the Spirrit of God is to reject the Face of God” (1)

“People are often tempted to look for shortcuts to kingdom benefits, resulting in Ishmaels instead of Isaacs – counterfeits instead of the real thing” (1)

“Its best to live from what you know to be true in spite of the mysteries that you can’t explain” (1)

“Jesus modelled what it looked like to grow in favour with God and man” (1)

“it was the intimacy that Jesus had with His heavenly father that became the foundation for all the signs, wonders and miracles performed in his three and a half year ministry” (1)

“we must press past intellectual awareness to hunger for heartfelt encounters that change and transform” (1)

“In the quiet part of our day, when no one is looking, the true desires of our hearts can be seen” (1)

“Leaders who lack passion cost everyone who follows” (1)

“gifts of the Spirit rest best on the fruit of the spirit” (1)

“God desires to release gifts to us more than we desire to receive them. He is just too merciful to release gifts upon us that he would have to judge us for later because we failed to carry them with integrity” (1)

“The fear of man is the heart and soul of religion – form without power” (1)

“Some teach of the balanced Christian life as though we need equal measure of joy and depression. Foolishness! The kingdom is one of joy. And I dont ever have to leave” (1)

“discovering who he is and when He is like is the great journey for the believer. it is an eternal quest: one that we will delight in forever. But in our discovery is the responsibility to make Him known. Do we do so by preaching the word? Yes. But He is also to become manifest through our lives. We are to become a portrait of God. This is part of what being the body of Christ means” (1)

“people who get breakthrough in the miracle realm face a temptation: its’ easy to pursue miracles for miracles sake. but the greater ambition ought to be that in all we do we display the love of God” (1)

“Powerlessness is such an aberration that we are either compelled to see for a fresh baptism in the spirit until the power that was promised becomes manifested through us, or we create doctrinal reasons to comfort ourselves in our powerlessness”  (1)

“it saddens me to see Christians who will not associate with unbelievers because they want to be separate from the world, yet their lifestyles are the same as unbelievers” (1)

“You know your mind is renewed when the impossible looks logical” (1)

“we fight from the victory of Christ. We do not warfare in order to win. Rather it is to enforce the victory that Jesus already won on our behalf” (1)

“For the believer most closed heavens are between the ears” (1)

“under the old testament, if you tough a leaper you become unclean. The primary message of that covenant was to reveal the power of sin. But the law of God was not the answer to the problem of sin … But in the new testament [because of the new covenant received though Jesus] we tough the leaper and the leaper becomes clean” (1)

“False Humility is the most dangerous form of pride as it is often mistaken as a virtue” (1)

“To avoid us becoming impartation junkies, He sometimes places His biggest impartation in something like a time release capsule.” (1)

“Our faith cannot depend on early our felt experience. It must be on the promises of God” (1)

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1. Johnson, Bill. Face to Face with God. s.l. : Charisma House, 2007. 978-1599790701.

I am very excited to have booked into the “When Heaven Invades Earth” conference in Tunbridge, Kent this May.

Bill Johnson is the Senior Pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California, where that are seeing what can only be described as amazing and outstanding miracles. What excites me about what I read in books like “When Heaven Invades Earth“, “The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind” (both by Bill Johnson) or even “The Ultimate Treasure Hunt” by Kevin Dedmon is that the culture of the church in Bethel is one that demonstrates the love and power of God not merely in the confines of the church, but outside too.

Whilst some, myself included on occasion, find the outworking of this teaching in some people produces things I find uncomfortable I have become convinced recently that “I should fear lukewarmness far more than I do radicalism (Stef Liston)” . I genuinely believe that the church, and therefore us as those who make up the church, needs to be far more radical than the sedimentary culture we have come to accept as “normal church life” currently dictates. (see our church recent sermon series – The Radical Life of the Normal Christian”

I am convinced that there is more to a Holy Spirit filled life than I currently know or may have experienced personally. I long to experience the tangible presence of God not simply in church (which I deeply desire) but in everything I do. I want to recognise the Holy Spirits presence in every action and learn to hear his voice and follow his lead even as I walk to the coffee shop. Will he speak to me every time? I don’t know to be honest, but I do know that if I don’t listen or if have no expectation that he might, then I will never hear him even if he did! In fact, this Sunday I will be preaching on this very thing … Listen to this FREE Sermon | Download this FREE Sermon).

Some have asked me “do you agree with everything Bill Johnson says” and my honest answer is “No, I don’t any more than I agree with everything Mark Driscoll or John Piper says” (both big hero’s of mine). I long for the preaching and communication skills of Mark Driscoll, particularly as that would be one of the gifts I believe God has given me, and I desire to study and understand the scriptures like John Piper. Would I build church like Driscoll? No, not entirely because, by way of example, whilst he is not a cessationist theologically, he is one in the practise of his church meetings and I would want and expect to see the Holy Spirit gifts operating in and through the congregation in our meetings. John Piper and I would differ in terms of how we perceive the “expectation for healing today” as I beleive that we should pray for the sick and expect them to be healed and that this is not something where we simply see glimpses of today but should wait for the fullness on Jesus return. (and I submit these differences very humbly and not saying that are factually correct, but are just my perceptions at this time). So “do I agree with everything Bill Johnson says”, No I don’t… but he is seeing something of the power of the Holy Spirit that I am, thus far, not seeing and I would be foolish to reject it simply because there are some areas of theological difference. As another pastor friend of mine recently said “We must learn to be discerning. How about following a biblical model like the Bereans of Acts 17:11 who are definitely among ‘the early church’. When they heard Paul’s teaching they examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were true.“  The Church in Bethel are seeing cancer healed, the blind seeing, the deaf hearing as they proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Are these miracles necessarily a reflection of their theology? Possibly not. Is their theology a reflection of their experience of the Holy Spirit? Maybe. Do miracles validate their theology? No I don’t believe so, but it does validate the grace of God! All I can say is that the New Testament clearly teaches that the power of God is demonstrated through the working of the Holy Spirit in signs and wonders and this is something I long for but am not yet seeing in my own life and ministry. So I guess I want it all, to know scripture like Piper, preach like Driscoll and demonstrate and know the power and kingdom of God like Johnson but most importantly to know it personally… a high expectation maybe but impossible? Why should it be?

So it is my desire is to see more of the demonstrated power of God, to experience personally the power and presence of God more deeply in my own life and to be a conduit for impartation of that  power and presence of God through my preaching, my leading, my praying or whatever I do. Right now am I seeing and experiencing that? No, not in any significant or regular measure and certainly not in the way Bill Johnson, for example, is seeing it. I am therefore continually searching the scriptures and prayerfully asking God for a greater measure of his Holy Spirit and a deeper experience of his presence. Is this the final objective? No, of course not. I live to worship him, my objective is always his glory. However as John Piper would say “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him” and so if my goal is his glory then as Psalm 16:11 tells us “in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” I can seek pleasure in him and find fullness of Joy in his presence. It is his presence that I find the satisfaction that most satisfies me and most glorifies him. I long to experience the Holy Spirit manifesting the presence of God and to see and experience the power of the Holy Spirit over sickness and much more besides. This is why I read the bible and books by Piper, Johnson, Driscoll and many others (You can see my most recent reading lists here). I look to many different people, in many different church and denominational streams in order to gain the elements of knowledge, wisdom and revelation that God has, in his grace, made known to them. I believe that that God, in his wisdom, has not given his whole reveleation to one man, or one denomination, but it is “through the church (the universal church) the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known” (Eph 3.10). No-one has a monopoly on the revelation of God. As Don Smith from NewFrontiers very famously said “Get milk from lots of cows, but churn your own butter“!

So it is for this reason that I am excited about going to the “When Heaven Invades Earth” conference in May as I long to have imparted something of the revelation that Bill Johnson has received and to mix it with the wisdom and revelation of others and with my own understanding, revelation and experience. I want to see, understand and hopefully experience and have imparted to me something of that Bill’s revelation, not simply intellectually but experientially and supernaturally. I am not throwing my theological convictions out the window nor will I cease to be discerning, but I am looking to add to my knowledge and experience something from those who are clearly experiencing something in God that, as yet, I am not!

Three amendments tabled by Baroness O’Cathain were passed by the House of Lords last night. The first amendment was voted through 216 votes to 178, the second was conceded by the Government and the third was voted through 177 votes to 172.

The Government also tried to pass an amendment which would have further restricted the freedom of Churches. Thankfully this amendment was defeated by 195 votes to 174 and the law has not been narrowed any further.

We at CCFON are delighted with the result and are thankful to all of you for your prayers and action in writing to peers and signing the petition. We are also thankful for the many Peers who supported Baroness O’Cathain’s amendments and spoke in favour of religious freedom throughout the debate.

Although the Government has consistently maintained that the effect of their provisions would not alter the current situation, it is the opinion of CCFON and many other Christian organisations that the proposed Governmental provisions contained within the Equality Bill would have further reduced the freedom of Churches. We are therefore grateful that the status quo has been maintained and the law has not been narrowed any further.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, director of CCFON said:
“This is a great day for religious liberty in the UK. We are thankful that the law has not been changed and the freedom of Churches to control their own affairs has not been restricted any further. The results show what can happen when Christians pray and take action. Let us be encouraged that even in an increasingly secular society, the voice of the Church can still be heard.”

Most of all we are thankful to God for answering our prayers. We serve a mighty God!

POST TAKEN FROM CCFON.ORG