So yeah, all this talk of miracles, signs and wonders is really getting me stoked for this generation's future. I have Kind of felt it coming. So I decided to look up some scripture pertaining to what has been discussed so far...(I know that there has been supporting scriptures with everything, but I wanna show some MORE!!! yeah?! ok.)
Isaiah 40:31
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
We read this and think, "Oh yeah, if we wait upon the Lord, our spirits won't faint and we can keep going on in our walks and not lose faith.."
Which is most certainly true!!!
But I don't see a reason we can't take this literally...
They that WAIT UPON THE LORD, shall renew their strength... I'm a coffee drinker. The Lord told me to lay it down and be dependant on Him to wake me up in the mornings. He's so much better than caffein!!!! Haha!
They that wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles... What are wings for? lol... good job. To fly.
They that wait upon the Lord shall run and not be weary; walk and not faint...
Freshman year in Highschool, we had to run up to our track and do some laps. The track is a couple footballfields away from where we were, and everyone runs. We usually race there.
So I start running, and I don't even know where I heard the scripture before, because I didn't know about isaiah 40, but the phrase, "...they will run and not grow weary" kept goin through my head, and i began to notice no fatigue in my legs or problems with breathing heavy... I was calm, ralaxed and running at a very nice speed. I beat everyone there.
Now, I certainly believe that OT miracles will occur on a regular basis... Things like Elija running faster than a chariot.
Anyone wanna give it a go to try and outrun a horse?? good luck. But I also believe that we will see BIGGER than that. Like Christian said, people outrunning cars!!! And not even becoming tired!!! People clearing buildings with a single bound.
I also think (now, this is my opinion, based off what i read in the bible about persecution on the church) that with persecution on the incline in these coming days, the body of Christ will NEED this stuff. dodgin bullets, maybe even not having to dodge bullets!!! I heard stories about some believers who were being chased by their persecuters with axes in hand. The persecuters finally caught up to them and started beating them with the axes, trying to chop them up. But to the persecuter's surprise, their sharp axe blades couldn't even pierce the skin on these people. Much less hurt them. The believers were so covered in the Glory, laughing in His drunken glory, filled with the new wine, protection of the Holy Spirit, that these guys couldn't even hurt them!! This kind of future is coming! And is here.
Joel 2:1-11
"Blew ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my Holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord comes, for it is close at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; THERE HATH NOT BEEN EVER THE LIKE, NEITHER SHALL BE ANY MORE AFTER IT, even to the years of many generations.
A fire devours before them; and behind them, a flame burns: the land is as th egarden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
"The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
"They shall run like mighty men, they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march everyone on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks; Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path; and WHEN THEY FALL UPON THE SWORD, they shall NOT be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a theif. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
"And the Lord shall utter His voice before His army: for His camp is very great: for he(us) is strong that executes His(Gods) word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible and who can abide it?"
Wow... seriously???
Yes. Seriously.
More??? YES PLEASE!!!!
Isaiah 54:14-17
"In righteousness shall you be established: you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear: And from terror; for it shall not come near you. Behond, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against you shall fall for your sake. Behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for His work; and I have created the waster to destroy. NO WEAPON THAT IS FORMED AGAINST YOU SHALL PROSPER; AND EVERY TONGUE THAT SHALL RISE AGAINST YOU IN JUDGMENT YOU WILL CONDEMN. This is the HERITAGE of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord."
So we read all this, and our eyes are drawn to the POWER and the MIGHT and the AWESOMENESS of this whole thing...
But look at the context. in RIGHTEOUSNESS shall you be established, they that WAIT UPON THE LORD, shall renew their strength...
You see, all this stuff (Flying, having a murderer attempt to kill you but fail, moving things by word of faith, stigmata, oil dripping from our hands, running on walls, running at high speeds, you name it) all this stuff will NOT happen unless we seek the LORD and NOT the works. I really DO want to emphasize this... that we be LORD seekers, not works seekers.
By the way, everyone, I'm seriously NOT accusing ANYONE on here for seeking works. We're just talking about our future as the body of Christ. So really, I hope no one takes this wrong at all lol.
The REASON all this stuff will happen, is because we'll be SOOO wasted in the GLORY from spending HOURS and DAYS in prayer and intimacy with the Father, we just won't be able to help it...
Mark 16:17 says, "These signs will follow them that believe. In my name..." Then it goes on talking of signs, wonders and miracles.
Notice the wording. These signs will FOLLOW them that believe. It will be a CHARACTERISTIC of them that believe. Not the other way around. It wont be the believers following the signs and wonders, thereby making BELIEVERS a characteristic of signs and wonders.
But instead, it will be a generation, having laid down their WHOLE lives and said, "God, I don't know what you have in store for me when I lay this down, I don't know what people will think, I don't know what I'll lose. But I know what I'll gain, and it's all I want. It's all I need. Lord, I need You, and I am willing to pay ANY price to have all of you, all that I am is yours."
I heard a song from Bethel Church's Jesus Culture conference. It's by Melissa Wise... this part stuck out to me...
"All we are is yours
all we are living for is all you are.
Is all that you are."
Wow, if that doesn't sum up everything I just said. haha!!
All we are is YOURS, no one else's. We don't belong to this world anymore because we have been bought with a price, the price of one life... the KING OF HEAVEN died for us.
All we are living for is all you are. That's all we want Lord, It's the reason we exist... for deep deep deep intimacy with YOU, our FATHER in Heaven. That ALL we would live for would be for ALL that He is... nothing held back.
let us be that people.
The bible speaks so much of crucifying the flesh. It makes sense. Jesus said, "He who does not take up his cross to follow me is not worthy of me."
Paul probably got some revelation from this...
If you pick up your cross... where are you going??? you're certainly not going to the market... And if you follow JESUS with your cross on your back, where do you think you're going??
TO GET CRUCIFIED, THAT'S WHERE, WITH JESUS.
Then Paul gets this revelation, and he starts speaking of crucifying the flesh, and that the flesh and the works thereof, if you are a follower of Jesus, have been crucified with Him on the cross.
Let us TAKE UP OUR CROSS AND FOLLOW JESUS TO THE CRUCIFIXION. It's time to live this thing.
THESE SIGNS WILL FOLLOW THEM THAT BELIEVE... I think that's gonna be my new signature... Christian says, "... raise the dead" I think this will be mine.
Hope you don't mind, my brother.
Okay, I have to point out a few more things. I'm so sorry this thing is becoming so long!!!
No i'm not. The things of God never require an apology. I always remember that.
Acts 2:43-47
"And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as every man had need, and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eath ther meat with gladness and sigleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with ALL the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
The main thing I get out of this, is that after pentacost, the ultimate outpouring of the past, all believers were in one accord. They had ONE heart... they shared everything and had favor, not only among themselves, but among ALL the people. These guys were looked up to!! People loved them, and many got saved DAILY. I think another thing that will mark this coming day, is the UNITY of all believers together with ONE heart, as one accord, having all things in common.
Another point... I think it may be my last. maybe second to last.
Acts chapter 5 will be the focus on these last two points.
5:12-14
" And by the hands of th apostles were many signs and wonders done among the people; (And they were all with one accord in solomon's porch. And of the rest did no man join himself to them: But the people magnified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both men and women.)"
By the hands of the apostles were MANY signs and wonders done among the people; It doesn't specify exactly EVERYTHING they did... I feel like this leaves room for just what it says... "MANY signs and wonders." We don't KNOW what they did. They could have flew across the sky.. they could have run like the wind, they could have moved mountains. We don't know. But signs and wonders are different from miracles. We have to remember this. Just because we don't see something written in the bible, doesn't mean it never happened.
I mean, people could have been kicked in the gut at these meetings... we really don't know.
So let's leave room for MANY signs and wonders.
K, my last point.. Ananias and Saphira...
We're all familiar with this.
The new church is experiencing great success, tons of people in town feel led to sell their property and all they own, and lay it down at the apostle's feet as an offering...
Ananias and Saphira come along and decide in their hearts to sell all they have, and keep some of it, while lying to the apostles to say, "We sold it all, and here's ALL the profits from it..."
Keep in mind, the setting in ACTS is POST resurrection, new covenant, death defeated, victory in the heavenlies.
Ananias and Saphira LIED to the Holy Spirit. They conceived in their hearts, to "jip" the Apostles for self promotion... "Look what we did... we sold ALL that we had and we give it all to YOU... what a sacrifice."
Long story short, Peter sees right through them and their deeds as revealed by the HOLY SPIRIT, and says to Ananias first, "Why has satan filled your heart to lie to the HOly Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?" he goes on to say, "...you have not lied unto men, but unto God." and at the sound of this, ananias drops to the ground, dead.
THIS IS NEW TESTAMENT OCCURANCES.
We think so many times that new testament means we get this softy God who tolerates everything and says, "oh, okay, i guess just this once... since your sins are covered..."
All new covenant means is that we now have a path paved for us through the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ, to have intimacy with the Father. It's on mass levels now. For God so loved the WORLD that He gave is only begotten son...
New covenant means everyone is included in the promise and inheritance of the Kingdom, gentile or jew.
We have the RIGHT to the fruit of the tree of life.
New covenant does not take God's justice away. He still punishes sin.
It's one thing to lie to a man. But could you imagine lying to the face of God??? eeesh...
I think I have made all the points I need to make. Just don't be surprised if stuff like this happens in the future. Also note: Peter didn't kill this couple... God did. All Peter did was tell them the wrong they did, then they dropped to the ground, dead and were burried next to each other.
K, one more point, YIKES!! I'm going crazy here...
WE MUST NOT FORGET LOVE. If we have all faith to move mountains, or to prophesy, or to have visions and dream dreams, or to give our bodies up for martyrdom, but we do not have love... it profits us nothing. (READ 1CORINTHIANS 13)
Even now, ask God to give you a foundation of love, that everything you do would be motivated from the Love of God. because God is love. And you can't have known God and not known love.
Amen....
...These signs will follow them that believe...
prpht4the1
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