Window of Acceleration for Kingdom Finances Part I

This week, we will be further examining God’s prophetic timetable regarding the seasonal shift of Shavuot (Pentecost), particularly in regard to releasing Kingdom provision for the end-time harvest. The following article corresponds with our recent series on power evangelism, and I would recommend that you read those teachings in our archives, to better understand the urgency of the hour.
As we have stat ed over the past few weeks, we feel that this year’s Pentecost marks a wholesale release of authority in the realm of power evangelism to the corporate body of Christ, but it also points to a number of other prophetic indicators. At a series of meetings we conducted on Shavuot earlier this month, there were a number of healings, including several unusual miracles: metal pins melted from someone’s body, several instant weight loss miracles occurred, the Lord healed blood-related diseases, etc. But of greater interest was this: We instructed everyone to check their pockets at the onset of the meeting, because often God will miraculously deposit money there when His glory intensifies during the meeting. Following the session, a lady approached me having found three, one-dollar bills in her pocket which were not there before. By the next day, we learned that several others had similarly found three, one-dollar bills in their pockets. Furthermore, in the offering plate, a sig nificant number of envelopes all had three, one-dollar bills enclosed!
In the weeks following those meetings, the Lord continued to download what we feel is a timely message regarding Kingdom provision.

Release of Resurrection Power in Finances
While the number three represents the Trinity, the Lord clarified to us that this sign represented third-day resurrection power in the realm of Kingdom finances. Interestingly, none of th e bills appeared to be crisp, new dollar bills, but rather, they were bills which had already been in circulation. It is as if God translated the money from somewhere else, and put it into these people’s pockets!
We feel that the Lord is bringing back the axe head that was lost. In 2 Kings 6, one of the company of prophets who was with Elisha had lost a borrowed axe head, which fell in the river Jordan as he was chopping wood. Elisha made the iron axe head to float, thus bringing back the thing that was lost. In the same way, we feel prophetically, that this is a season of the Lord restoring loss in the realm of finances for the body.
The Lord gave us Is. 42:22, “But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; they are for prey, and no one delivers; for plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore!’” This is a season to begin saying, proclaiming and declaring the word “Restore!” over your finances. God longs to pour out the provision to supply your vision for this last day harvest. Not only is he pouring out power in the marketplace, but also in your day-to-day needs and affairs. And there is funding needed to fuel the labor of the harvest fields.
At the beginning of 2006, we prophesied that this would be a year of cancellation of debt, as well as the repayment of debt. That God would provide means of escape from it. For many, instead of escaping, it seems that the debt has continued to pile on since January! However, we feel that the fulfillment of this word was reserved, to begin now in the month of June. Shavuot is the Feast of Weeks, marking harvest season at the end of a 50-week period. This is also prophetic of the 50-year jubilee cycle, in which debts were ordered to be cancelled in all of Israel. So prepare now for the turning of the tide! The Lord is also making it clear that he wants us all to succeed financially, not just for our own sake or our own little kingdoms, but to further HIS Kingdom!

The Floating Axe Head
When we look at the story of the axe head, it is important to recognize first of all, that the thing was borrowed. Borrowed, represents debt. And this was not just anyone in debt; it was a spiritual person – a prophet, in fact. One of the first things that Elisha asked was this question, “Where did it fall?” (2 Kings 6:6).
God does not just want to bail you out of your predicament. He also wants to give you wisdom, to understand how you arrived there in the first place, so that you do not fall into the same pit again. Where did you lose your axe head? Where did you first start to encumber debtor financial loss? Is there a pattern or a character issue at stake? Have you lacked an essential element of faith, or overextended yourself needlessly? Allow the Lord to first show you where the loss occurred: where it is rooted.
Next, Elisha cut a stick and threw it at the place where the axe head was lost. This means we must apply the cross to this area of our lives. The Jordan River also represents the cross, or the baptism of self-death. Once this happened, the axe head was restored, immediately coming up supernaturally to the surface. Resurrection power!
The time is now for resurrection power in our finances. In our Shavuot meeting, there were nine sealed envelopes that supernaturally appeared in the offering basket (from a relatively small crowd), each bearing three, one dollar bills. Nine envelopes – or three threes – represent God in His fullness, right now! Bob Jones told me since that time that this number represents a “right now” thing of God, not something for the distant future, but for the present. For this reason, we feel that there is a key window of opportunity for financial breakthrough and Kingdom funding in this immediate season.

Examine Yourself!
Do you have all the funding you need for the vision the Lord has given you? Are there areas of loss in your life that still await vindication and the justice of God? If it is indebtedness you struggle with, how did you get into debt? Let us begin to examine these areas sincerely, then apply the sacrificial work of the cross them.

Concerning debt, in particular, let us look a bit closer. In the Kingdom, there is a difference between laws and principles. There is no specific law against indebtedness, but there is a general principle in script ure that debt should be avoided. This is not to say that a mortgage or auto loan is unbiblical. But neither is it something we should enter into lightly without God’s direction. Some have leapt headlong into legalism over such issues, never borrowing anything at all. Others have borrowed carelessly. Sometimes God does direct people to incur no indebtedness whatsoever. There is no formula, except to rely on the voice of God and not give heed to the deceitfulness of the heart regarding riches. It is clear that we are expected to use wisdom in these issues, and hear clearly from the Lord.

Whe n the Lord begins to pinpoint an area where you lacked trust – perhaps where you stepped out on credit, rather than stepping out on faith – then it is time to apply the cross. And in the area of finances, the cross nearly always looks like giving.

God uses foolish things to confound the wise. One of the most “foolish” things we can do to escape debt is to sow into the glory. Of course, this is really not foolish at all, but it is the wisdom of God to deliver us from poverty and fear of lack.

Sowing into the Glory
We are not called just to invest in a person or a ministry, but into the very glory of God. This is where acceleration comes from. We don’t just sow into man’s projects, but we sow into the anointing – into the things God Himself is blessing – and then Miracle Gro is applied to the seed!

In Acts 4:36-37, we read of a man who invested greatly into the apostolic anointing:

“Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

First of all, the man Joseph should not have owned any land at all in Israel, since he was a Levite. The land may have been sold in Cyprus, or perhaps it belonge d to his wife. But either way, it very likely represented everything he had, as he sowed a very costly gift. As we follow the progress of the life of Barnabas, we begin to see the ramification of this sacrificial sowing into the glory. By Acts 13, this same Barnabas is recognized as a “prophet/teacher.” And by Acts 14:14, Barnabas is recognized as an apostle, right along with Paul! He reaped the very same mantle into which he invested his earthly treasure.

There are a number of keys here to pick up. First of all, we should recognize th at everything we own belongs on the altar, not just our tithe! Also, while we can never buy the anointing, as Simon the Sorcerer attempted to do, we definitely reap it when we sow into it sacrificially. Whenever I see a mantle on someone’s life that I respect and long to operate in myself, I love to sow into their lives and ministry, because it always rubs off when we partner with Heaven.
Furthermore, it is critical that we not just pursue provision or finances, but rather, pursue the anointing and favor of God on your life in the place of intimacy and relationship. It has been said that five minutes of God's favor is better than a thousand days of strife. As we learn to trust God with our needs and pursue His glory, it is His favor that will begin to open doors.

Next week, we will take some of these concepts further, as we discuss the favor of God, overcoming poverty and becoming a blessing in the Kingdom …

The Next Wave is Here: Power Evangelism (Part II)

Last week, we discussed the new wave of power evangelism that is right now being unleashed on the body of Christ. Because this is a monumental shift in the church at this time, we would like to further explore some of the implications, as well as give some practical tips for engaging the supernatural realm in the marketplace.

A Gospel of Signs and Wonders?
Many are afraid to pursue power, signs and wonders today because they associate any supernatural manifestation whatsoever with the miracle-working heretics the scriptures clearly warn about. But scriptures are even clearer about a last-day company of believers who will work true miracles for the glory of God, to usher in the last-day harvest. Are there false signs and wonders being worked in the world today? You had better believe it. Just consider all the New Age gurus, shamans and Far Eastern religions that are performing more legitimate supernatural acts than most average church-goers. These are “legitimate” in the sense that they are really supernatural (not just parlor tricks), however, they are demonically inspired acts of power. Demonic power is real – it is the heresy and lies which lurk behind them which are “false.”
If there is a false, counterfeit sign, then there must also be a true counterpart. Moses’ rod turned to a snake – the exact same miracle as Pharaoh’s magicians. If someone were to turn a stick into a snake in any average church service today, it is almost guaranteed that half the congregation would flip out and flee! This is a bizarre sign, and it looked just like the trick that the sorcerers could do. But Moses had a different power source: Almighty God! And Moses’ sign triumphed over the other counterparts, as his serpent gobbled up the rest.
We do not preach a gospel of signs and wonders. Nor do we preach a gospel of salvation only. Both are only partial truths that can lead to error if left to stand alone. We preach the same gospel that Jesus preached: the gospel of the Kingdom. The Good News of the Kingdom encompasses more than just salvation. And the Kingdom is much bigger and broader than just the church. Church is only part of the Kingdom. Salvation is just the door to enter into the Kingdom. And many people camp there. Many churches preach a salvation message every single week, and the flock never matures past an “avoid hell” mindset. Many never get past that door, never entering into the fullness of the Kingdom. And this is partly what Jesus meant, when he said that many in the religious order stand in the doorway blocking others from entering, even though they never enter in themselves (Matt. 23:13).
Like Paul, we must preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But we need to unfold the fullness of what that really means, and its implications are eternal and multi-dimensional. If the gospel you are preaching is true (not just theologically true, but also demonstrating the flavor, Spirit, character and nature of Jesus as you preach it), then God will back you up with power. Consequently, we must also recognize that miracles themselves are not a fail-proof litmus test of perfect doctrine. Many wonderworkers throughout history brought great glory to God through their miraculous lives, yet many simultaneously erred on certain points of doctrine.
Moses struck the rock, and God still blessed the people with a miracle. Water gushed out of it. But Moses was told to “speak to the rock,” not strike it. And so Moses was prevented from entering the Promise Land. Moses improperly demonstrated the nature and character of God as one who wanted to strike the people in disfavor. That was not the case: God was not angry with anyone. In this case, Moses erred, but nevertheless, God still used him to work a valid miracle. Many of the healing evangelists of the past century also worked tremendous healings and unusual miracles. They led many to the Lord and inspired many to a higher walk of faith. Yet many of these same men fell into strange and aberrant beliefs at times. This does not mean we should avoid miracles and supernatural power! It just means we should be stabilized in the word and the heart of God. I truly believe that intimacy with Jesus is the key to preventing even the grossest doctrinal error.

Pursue Power
I am fully convinced that there is no danger, whatsoever, in pursuing godly acts of power. The apostle Paul explicitly directs us to eagerly desire the greater spiritual gifts. Those who reject the true power of God will be most prone to succumb to the counterfeit when it is presented. The same is true for the prophetic. Those who most reject true prophetic insight from God are often the most prone to counterfeit prophetic. This is why we have a multi-billion dollar psychic industry today, and many of those calling psychic hotlines are Christians! Where there is a vacuum for the true prophetic, people will eat anything, even garbage. Even in the church today, there are various pseudo-prophetic materials that are extremely popular, but they are not inspired revelation from the throne! They are just guesswork ideas of how the end-times will unfold, and many of the eschatological ideas presented there are not Biblically based. God doesn’t want us trying to figure out the future analytically. He wants to reveal it Himself. If we just get into the Word and into God’s presence, we are not left behind guessing and confused.

Increase Your Faith Level
There is a simple formula for stepping into power evangelism: Believe!
If we just believe the scriptures, then all things truly become possible. Although we tend to agree intellectually with the validity of wild miracles in the Bible: the parting of the Red Sea, the calling down of fire from Heaven on Mt. Carmel, etc. – the truth is, we really don’t have a deep, heart-level belief that much of this is true. Otherwise, we would begin to emulate it in our own lives!
Furthermore, the greatest thing we must come to believe is in the reality and close proximity of God at all times in our everyday lives, no matter how we feel. Diving into the Word, and becoming saturated with His glory presence will propel us to a greater degree of supernatural manifestation.
Signs haven’t followed our message, because the church has not believed. I do not speak of “saving faith.” Salvation is not based on the miracles you do or do not perform. There are degrees of faith. And to the degree you believe, so will your life demonstrate the miraculous. Faith is increased by hearing the word of God – both the written logos and the inspired rhema.
Are there levels of faith? “According to your faith let it be to you” (Mt. 9:29). “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel” (Mt. 8:10). It is clear that Jesus quantifies faith. It comes in exponential levels. “If you have faith as a mustard seed …” Clearly, our faith must be increased, in order to press in for the higher realms of the miraculous. One little mustard tree grows a mighty tree. But how does this happen? Overnight? No. Faith must be partnered with patience. It is by faith and patience that we inherit the promises. Many give up praying for healing after only a couple of tries. Their faith lacks patience. Patience will test your faith, to see if it is real. Satan lacks patience. If you keep your faith in tact, you can often wait him out.
So there is faith, but there is also patience. There is faith, but there is also love. These virtues overlap, but they are also distinct. I am convinced that if we pursue the love of God first and foremost, then faith will be added to us. Love conquers all.
We should also understand that seeing is believing. Do not forget the testimony of miracles that you have already seen, because these testimonies serve to bolster your faith in the future. So we honor small miracles, and keep them in remembrance, in order to build our faith for bigger ones. If I see one little miracle, it becomes a platform for me to step up on that same level of the miraculous and beyond. If I watch someone get healed of a broken arm at a revival meeting, then seeing is believing. I can tap into the remembrance of that testimony and believe for healing the next time I am praying for a sick person. For God, there is no difference between healing a head cold and raising the dead. Both require the same substance of faith.

Divine Alliances Being Forged
Along with this outpouring of power evangelism, divine alliances between ministries will allow the body of Christ to strategically pinpoint cities and regions. People will travel from miles to sweep entire cities, where literally everyone in a large metropolitan area will hear the gospel preached at once – often within a day’s time. The prophet Joel tells us that the Lord’s army will literally take nations in a day. Imagine when the church functions efficiently in such unity and power, responding to the “now” words of the Lord to such a degree that massive offensives can be launched at a national scale. Not just someone saying, “I am a national-level prophet.” But I’m talking about an outpouring where everyone hears and responds on such a broad scale, regardless of denomination, title, rank or position, that thousands of believers buy plane tickets and converge en masse on a foreign nation armed with the power of the gospel. Truly, the Lord is about to be head over his church again, by the Spirit, in the same way that He desired to lead Israel without a king. And we will respond corporately and strategically to His voice without the need for hyped programs that are really just geared to build up someone’s individual ministry.

We will see churches populated overnight. There have been individuals in scripture, like Jonah who took a city in a day and Elijah who turned a nation in a day. But there have also been foretastes of this scale of corporate mobilization in the church as well. John Dowie, who built a whole city in Illinois based on divine healing, consistently assaulted the city of Chicago in the late 1800s, sending in so many teams of healing evangelists that every single door of the entire city had been knocked on by someone empowered with the healing anointing. Dowie was known coast-to-coast.

Part of the setback has been your focus on your own region!

To be a truly effective body, we must learn not to be territorial. God does not care what title is on your building. In fact, He does not even care what flag is waving over your yard. The church is about to identify more with its citizenship in the Kingdom than its citizenship and affiliations on earth. Then, we will not just be focused on getting our own house, our own neighborhood or our own city saved. We will have a much broader Kingdom vision. Though we may be called to a specific geographic area or people group, we never want to get myopic. Often, God will call you to sacrificially focus on cities and regions outside of your own, in order to achieve breakthrough where you live. It’s the principle of losing your life for others, in order to find your own life. It’s the same spiritual principle, only it is broadened to a macro scale for regions. Sacrifice for the life of another’s region, and you will receive breakthrough in your own.

I was raised in the state of Georgia, but left years ago for ministry work in Alaska, as well as the many other places the Lord has carried us to around the world ever since. Just recently, the Lord called us to return back to Georgia, and it is amazing to experience the level of breakthrough here, now that I am returning to the region. We have experienced a tremendous level of miracles, favor and provision. Since our focus has been and remains outward and mission-minded, the Lord is now granting favor on the home front.

I was amazed to see that one of the churches in our home town here had grown from 450 members to 3,200 in just a few years! It is truly the only “mega-church” in town, with a very large percentage of them being new converts. And interestingly enough, the pastor there attributes the tremendous growth and favor of God on this work to their continual focus on mission work outside of the immediate region.

God knows we all need him to touch our respective cities and regions. And He is so pleased when He sees that we have a heart for our home lands to be reached. However, He wants to expand our love to the foreigner as well. On an individual level, this principle especially true, as evangelism of any sort requires us to step out of our own comfort zone to reach out to others.

Francis Xavier, the great missionary to India and Japan in the 1500s, operated at an intense level of power evangelism. He led 700,000 to the Lord, with many dead raisings and 500 pages of firsthand documented miracles recorded at the time of his death. Xavier regularly levitated off the ground during communion, and once an entire town was instantly healed of a deadly plague just because his boat pulled into shore that day at the dock!

Although Xavier’s primary work was the mission field, he also had a dramatic impact on his own homeland of Spain. His letters and revival reports from his Far East exploits paved the way for taking ground in his own home region for the Kingdom.

But sacrificial mission work, though noble -- and church growth programs, though well-devised -- are not enough. We need comprehensive and daily strategy from the throne room of God, we need the manifest hand of His power and we need a generation that walks in bridal intimacy like never before, in order to bring in the last-days harvest.

The voices of the prophets must begin to come into strategic alignment so the body is not flailing. It is imperative that we know the times and seasons for specific regions. We are coming to a day when God will say “now is the time for Indianapolis.” All of the prophets will agree, and ministries from around the nation and beyond will pour resources and planning into taking Indianapolis in one massive offensive. There is commanded blessing in the place of unity.

Tips for Engaging Power Evangelism

Obviously, there are no formulas to working miracles. The only formula is to get anointed! You must be utterly dependent on the Holy Spirit. However, there are a few practical pointers I would like to suggest that the Lord seems to be using with us:

>>Stay full of the Spirit! – as I said before, this is foundational for the miraculous. Lots of people flop and crunch and manifest and wiggle because God shows up in a church service. But how consistent is their walk? Does God disappear when they are at the grocery store, or are they no longer “drunk as you suppose?” (Acts 2:15). The apostles were not afraid to have physical manifestations of the Spirit of God right out in public. Lots of people leave their ecstatic experiences with God in the closet, or in places where it makes them look more “spiritual” (in a conference, meeting, etc.), but not in places where they could be mocked or persecuted. This often disqualifies us for the “greater glory” that could show up when we follow His River into the streets. I like to drink in public.
Not everyone experiences God with manifestations, but everyone can know His presence. It is actually His presence that brings the boldness you need to approach people. In Acts 4:31, after the apostles prayed, “the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” The infilling brings boldness. It is the wine of God that enables you to say things confidently, because you are so inebriated in His presence that you don’t care what other people think.

>>Seek Signs & Wonders! – Jesus says that a wicked generation requires a sign to believe. But He never said that He wouldn’t give them one! I would suggest that it is a wise people who seek signs, in order to convert a wicked generation around them. A lot has to do with motives. Do you seek God’s power just to be entertained, or because you love Him and want to demonstrate and experience His glory? For those who believe it is wrong to seek signs and wonders, they may have a few doctrinal conflicts with the apostles of the faith who prayed, “Now, Lord … enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:29-30). To enter into the things I am talking about will require much more than a casual, “Well, if God wants to do it, then His will be done …” That kind of fluffy garbage – waiting on a lightning bolt – is why much of the church is so apathetic today. We should have read the scriptures enough to KNOW what His will is. And we need to be full enough of Him in order that we can step up and fulfill His will with our delegated authority. We must aggressively pursue the miraculous.

>>Go two-by-two – I now understand a very practical reason why Jesus commissioned his missionaries to go out in pairs. It keeps us accountable to the vision and the common goal in mind. This way, when your waiter comes to the table in the restaurant, you don’t back down and think “Maybe it’s not really her time to hear and see the gospel.” Your partner is there to remind you that you are on a mission, and someone just swam into your net!
I find that I am much more effective in evangelism when I am with someone else. And spiritually, your combined presence drives more demons to flight, because when two or three gather, there is Jesus in the midst of us.

>>Get around anointed people – Find someone who already moves in this stuff and hang around them. Watch them. Let the anointing rub off on you. Healing and the working of miracles, much like the prophetic, is a transferable anointing. Don’t be foolish and say, “Well if God wants to move, he can do it here on my turf.” Go to where God is moving. If it means traveling 800 miles to a conference or making a pilgrimage somewhere outside of your own back yard, do it! I have met many people who refuse to go to conferences or spiritual watering holes because they have no perception whatsoever of how resident or transferable anointings work. It boils down to their arrogant presumption that if God is truly moving, it must involve themselves first and foremost. They have problems receiving from others, either out of pride, jealousy or hurt. That is why God will often use foolish vessels to carry his greatest power, because it requires us to humble ourselves all the more in order to receive from them!

The Next Wave is Here: Power Evangelism (Part I)

Shalom!
Yesterday evening, June 2, 2006, marks the beginning of Pentecost-Shavuot on the Jewish calendar on a year that corresponds to the 100th anniversary of a latter-day “Pentecost” outpouring on Azusa Street, Los Angeles in 1906. This weekend marks a most strategic release for the Body of Christ as the Lord is beginning to extend a baptism of fire like the church has never before experienced at this level of intensity.
I am writing to tell you today that the next wave is here. And it is called power evangelism. The church has been in a beautiful season of renewal and refreshing over the past decade, as the Lord has been restoring tenets of intimacy, soaking and the first-love art of practicing His presence. But unfortunately – and quite frankly – many have begun to fall asleep while “waiting on the Lord,” and it is time for the next move of God to shake us and wake us into action. There is truly an awakening wind sweeping from coast to coast, and the signature mark of this next wave of the Spirit is supernatural demonstrations of power in the streets. There is a release of signs and wonders – healings and various miracles – available in the marketplace today like the church has not seen since the Voice of Healing revival in the 1950s or the Azusa outpouring a century ago, when parishioners spilled out of William Seymour’s old horse-stable church literally going door-to-door through the city streets with bottles of anointing oil to heal the sick.

“It is time to launch an all-out assault”
As this awakening wind begins to blow, we will see that the kingdom truly suffers violence and the violent will take it by force. We have noticed a drastic increase already in the power afforded us on the streets. Just the other morning in fact, a lady who was deaf from birth began to feel her ears begin to crack and pop open as I cast a deaf and dumb spirit out of her in the middle of a small, crowded breakfast café in rural Georgia. Later in the day, the Lord spoke to me and said, “It is time to launch an all-out assault.” We are living in a time when we can no longer afford to hesitate. Today, the Lord is giving His church marching orders to carry His power to the marketplace.
Lately, in our meetings, the Lord often has us commission everyone two-by-two at the ends of the service, once they are brimmed to overflowing with the Spirit. Then we launch them right out of the meeting with some activation homework: Go get a soul! We have people spill immediately into Wal-Mart, Denny’s or whatever is open late, in order to keep up with God after He leaves the meeting.

Importance of Shavuot
We have been anxiously awaiting this weekend, and the entire month of June in fact, since meeting with Bob Jones earlier this spring. Bob told us to be on the look out for the strategic timing of June 2, and that the entire month of June will be one of the best times ever for the church at large. We believe this is intrinsically connected with a fresh Pentecost outpouring for power evangelism.
Traditionally, Pentecost/Shavuot (which literally means the Feast of Weeks) is the date when Moses received the commandments on Mt. Sinai. Later, in the book of Acts, it was this same time that the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and the same law was written on their hearts by the power of the Spirit. Pentecost represents a full release of the Word of God, mingled and connected with the Spirit of God. It represents the two latter-day mantles coming on the church: the Law of Moses and the power of the Spirit of Elijah. Both were foretold by the prophet Malachi.
On Shavuot, the people of Israel were commanded to wave two loaves of bread as an offering before the Lord. Unlike other bread and grain offerings, the two loaves of Pentecost were explicitly required to contain yeast. Yeast is this case is representative of sin. All other bread and grain offerings represented the coming sacrifice of Jesus, who was pure and blameless. However, these two loaves on Pentecost represent YOU – a sacrificial people, who pay the price to walk in the fullness of the Spirit and the Word. The two loaves are also Moses and Elijah, the mantles of the two witnesses coming onto the church (see Zech. 4 and Rev. 11). The last day church will walk in the purity of the word (not legalism), as well as the power of the Spirit. And Revelation 11 tells us that we will do the same signs as Moses and Elijah – at times even calling down fire, releasing plagues, etc.!
The power that God is releasing in this next wave is phenomenal. However, the anointing is a costly oil. It costs everything you have and requires a lifestyle of becoming a living sacrifice, dying daily as Holy Spirit increases in your life. You must become a wave offering. And believe me, it’s well worth the cost! When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, three thousand people were killed because they transgressed. But in the Book of Acts, on the day of Pentecost, three thousand were added to the church and they were given life as their old nature was crucified with Christ. There is a massive wave of harvest released when we step into this level of anointing.

The Wave is Here
In his Shepherd’s Rod for 2006, Bob and Paul Keith Davis state that, “All that has taken place in this hour is part of the preparatory process for a wave of harvest that is to come. The next major outpouring of the Spirit will be for ‘power evangelism.’”
I feel that this current move of God is on the level of the next Toronto, or the next major outpouring, but it will effect exponentially more people directly. We have already been swimming in this thing for a while, but it is about to catch like wildfire throughout the body. Individual believers and pockets of groups everywhere will start their day by getting drunk in the Spirit (the apostles had to get loaded before the miracles exploded!), get directives for the day, and then launch out to the marketplace in signs and wonders. To those who were faithful to build on what God released in this past renewal (soaking, intimacy, Holy Ghost drinking), He is now taking them to the next level of raw demonstrations of the miraculous. For those who refuse to move forward, they will get stuck in an old wineskin of just laying on the floor – and even risk losing what they have.
It is important to get filled up before you try this stuff. Intimacy in worship enables you to hear revelatory instructions, and when you follow that instruction, that’s when demonstrations of power happen.
This is why the time directly after our miracle services is a great time to immediately snatch souls from coffee shops, grocery stores or whatever is still open after hours. Because people are full! Just a couple weeks ago I went to Wal-Mart after a service and the first person I approached was struck with the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord. He was a big guy, but after I approached him for prayer, horror struck his face. He jumped into his car and wouldn’t roll the window down again, even as I tapped on it! That night, we led about six people to Jesus in one fell swoop. A guy’s back was healed on aisle four, and he recommitted his life to the Lord. Another man with a limp leg was healed in the automotive section, doing squats right in the middle of the store!

Signs are the Litmus Test for the True Gospel
The early apostles never preached a gospel that was not backed by power. Acts 4:33 says that, “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace (favor!) was upon them all.” When the Holy Spirit shows up for harvest, His presence is always marked by supernatural boldness and miraculous power. Miracles are not always the seal of approval for sound doctrine, however, the gospel will always be marked by power when it is preached in its fullness. Consider again, in Acts 14:3, as Paul and Barnabas spent time in Iconium, they were “speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.” Holy Spirit is the “enabler.” When we seek Him first, stuff happens. Notice in the passage above that the miracles were given, in order to “confirm the message of His grace.” For too long, there has been a charismatic focus on trying to convince the unbelieving element of the church that miracles and healings are for us today. But this focus keeps us stymied. Miracles are not just given to convince other Christians that miracles are for today. This is a circular exercise in futility. Miracles are given for a higher purpose than simply to point to their own existence. Miracles are given to “confirm” the message. They are given to prove and illustrate Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.
Anyone who does not operate in signs and wonders is not completely illustrating the gospel. Ouch! Jesus said in Matt. 10:7-8, “As you go, preach this message: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” The message of the Kingdom is much broader than the message of salvation only. And it is a message that can not just be talked about, because the “Kingdom of God is not just a matter of talk, but of power” (1 Cor. 4:20). It is a message that must be demonstrated and clearly seen.
The church is now moving from an age of talk to an hour of display. Instead of just hearing about supernatural stuff, we are seeing it. When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask if Jesus was truly the Messiah, Jesus responded in Matt. 11:4, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” Jesus did not just have them speak of what they heard, but what they saw with their own eyes. They didn’t just rattle off some teaching they heard. They didn’t tell John just about a miracle they “heard about” that someone else performed. They didn’t even tell John a personal word they “heard” from God in prayer. They shared firsthand accounts of what they had seen, with their own two eyes, in addition to what they had heard. Outward display. Physical manifestation of the unseen realm.
We will continue with more next week!