November 07, 2006 The authority of prayer
Something really incredible happened to me tonight (between 2:00 and 2:30 am on 07 Nov 06) that I would like to share with you.
It may be necessary that I mention what has been preached by Lilo Keller on last Friday: She asked how many people wake up in the middle of the night for seemingly no reason. Lots of hands went up into the air, including mine. She then said that this is the Holy Spirit, waking us up to get us into prayer and that we should follow His invitation.
This past night was exactly one of those. Before going to sleep, I spent a good while in prayer. Lately, I have this deep urge to really get to know God better and also learn to listen to His voice, giving Him more time.
I went to bed around midnight and went asleep. All the sudden, I woke up, and while still being half asleep, I started to pray. While I was praying I heard a couple in the neighborhood fight (verbally), they were shouting at each other. All the sudden, I felt something come down on me, I know it must have been from God because it felt good. Showers of warmth flooded me.
After that, I acted automatically. I went down on my knees and started to praise and worship the Lord for His greatness and Holiness. While praying I still noticed the couple fight. This is not the first night I heared this couple fight. After having spent a while in worhsip and praise, I got up and went to the toilet.
When I came back, The Holy Spirit had me pray loud and standing upright for that fighting couple and I started to cast out those evil and destructive spirits in the name of Jesus Christ, while asking the Lord to send His wisdom and love, and touch these people’s hearts to make them repent.
When I ended my prayer, there was no more shouting. Thank the Lord for His authority.
I then went back to bed, thinking about what just happened to me and how surreal this whole thing felt. Even this morning, when I got up, it took me a while to figure out whether hve just been dreaming or whether this was real.
November 09, 2006
God’s boot camp
Thursday. I had the day off. Ok, I decided to spend the day with God. I got up and since I always wondered how fasting feels, I decided to try it. No solid food all day, only drinks. No TV either. Simply concentrate on the Lord all day. The day went on, I read literature, prayed, read the bible, worshipped and so on. At one point, I went online to search for the armour God provides that all Christians should put on. As I did so, I happened to come across a web page designed by some previously involved in esotericism. It was a real eye-opener, displaying the dangers of esotericism. As I read this truth, I could all the sudden feel a demonic attack, a kind of pressure in my head. I know how it feels from my previous experience. Later in the evening, I went to join the bible study group and I shared my experience with them. We couldn’t figure out the root for this attack, but my brothers and sisters from our bible study group all prayed for me. It got a better and almost disappeared for the evening. Friday, I was back to work and because fasting seemed to go well, I decided to continue for another day. During the day in the office, nothing spectacular happened except that I was able to have a very intense conversation about religion and faith with a work colleague (thank you Lord for that opportunity). In the evening, I could feel the attack happening again and getting stronger. I had been so proud about the experience on Monday night and the authority I had been given, and still, I couldn’t fight this attack off. What was happening? I decided to really get into prayer and ask the Lord what was happening. I was tired of being attacked and wanted to be freed from it. I went into prayer and found the key: After a while, I was able to let go of my pride and surrender completely to God, since I do not have any power. He has all the power. I am nothing, He is everything. Without Him, I am nothing. I realized that and asked Him to take this pressure away. Immediately, He did and I was free. Wow, how amazing. Combined with what had happened on Monday, it was an important lesson to learn. Sometimes, God gives au authority in His name. But it is always His power, it is always His strength, never ours.
November 12, 2006
Getting ready for baptism Sunday, November 12, 2006. Rosi, her sister (who just arrived one day earlier from Brazil and who only speaks Portuguese) and I joined the evening service at CZB (Christian centre Buchegg). On Sunday evenings, they celebrate a Latin service in Spanish, translated to Portuguese. As it happened, it turned out to be a special celebration. New brothers and sisters in Christ were being baptised. At the end of the service, the pastor asked that those who, after receiving his message and witnessing the baptism, were ready to be baptised. I waved my hand excitedly since I felt the Holy Spirit had given me a “green light” – that I am ready for baptism now. I had been praying to the Father for a while now that He will show and guide me also in regards of my “readiness” in terms of my baptism. After returning home from church that Sunday evening, I immediately wrote an email to my pastor, telling him that I felt ready for my baptism. Tuesday, November 14, 2006. Great things happened. Again, the Lord set up everything. I was going to be out all day to help a friend of mine do some work. Before leaving the apartment, the Lord urged me to take along my new pocket bible that I just purchased last Sunday after the service at CZB. Not knowing the purpose of taking it along, I thought to myself: “He probably will lead me to a store where I can purchase a protective case.” Good thought, but all wrong as I was about to figure out. As soon as I arrived at my friend’s place, he asked me if I could visit a pub in Bülach later that day to take care of some technical difficulties they were experiencing with their multimedia system. In the early evening I arrived in Bülach to take care of that problem. Just as I was about to finish, my pastor from the church I attend and which is also located in Bülach, called and asked if I was available later that evening to join the baptism seminar. Imagine, I was already in Bülach when my pastor called me, about one hour before the seminar would start. I even had my bible with me. In this church I attend, it is a custom that those who will be baptised attend a baptism seminar that consists of three evenings of learning some fundamentals. Despite today being the last of these three evenings, my pastor obviously had an urge to get me involved. Finishing up at the pub, I packed everything up, drove over to the church and got there just in time. After greeting the pastor, I took a few minutes to pray to the Lord - laying down my day and thanking Him for this unexpected opportunity. Since I was new to the group, my pastor introduced me to the other two participants of the seminar. He explained that he had been praying that the Lord may bring more people to be baptised. The Lord put my name in his thought, he actually mentioned my name when praying for that last Sunday. That very same Sunday, only a few hours later, the Lord confirmed to me that I was ready. Last Tuesday evening, the Lord answered my pastor’s prayer. He sent me there, seemingly unprepared, simply packed with my new pocket bible and with a fire for Christ in my heart. On December 3, 2006, I will be baptised.
December 3, 2006
Baptism (pictures here)
Let’s start a few days earlier. Tuesday, November 28, 2006. Ernst-Gerhard, our pastor, asked us to think of something we would like to ask the Lord at baptism. A few days earlier, a friend sent me a book called “Only love can make a miracle” written by Mahesh Chavda. I thought the best way to know what to ask for from God was by asking God Himself. Wednesday, I was reading the mentioned book and His answer jumped at me: “Ask for baptism in the Holy Spirit”. Frankly, I didn’t know what that meant, but the Lord told me that I didn’t need to know now. A few minutes later, the Lord gave me a word from Luke 4: "18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour." (Refer also to Isaiah 61: 1 & 2)
Our pastor assigned assistants to each candidate for baptism. To me, he assigned Urs, my small group leader. Urs and his family had just recently moved from their old apartment to their new house. The apartment is now empty and not used, as they are looking for a buyer. Two days before baptism, Friday, December 1st, 2006, they went for a routine check on the apartment as they normally do every two weeks. During their absence, the apartment on the 3rd floor is locked. What they discovered on one of the windows on this routine check left them wondering: they found a white dove painted on the outside of the window, as you can see in the photograph. Urs prayed to the Lord to solve this mystery.
Sunday, December 3rd, 2006: Baptism day. Before baptism, the candidates, the assistants, and the pastor sat together to pray, to discuss the progress, and to advice the assistants of our “special requests”. When I told Urs what I was asking God for, he received his answer! You find it in the gospels, for example in Matthew 3 The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John.14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptised, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” Praise the Lord! Later in the evening, I decided to join the evening worship service at ICF Zurich to thank the Lord for this great day. The Lord took the opportunity to let me sniff some heavenly air. He provided me with a tiny extra portion of His great love and I finally understood all these statements about the beauty and the glory of heaven. I realized that in His love, colours appeared more intense, people became more beautiful and I simply couldn’t do anything but love. There was no room for negative thoughts or feelings. Thank you, Lord, for this great experience. How awesome is our God.
December 6, 2006
Speaking in tongues / Spiritual gifts
First, I would like to explain to you that God equips us with different spiritual gifts once we receive His Holy Spirit within us (as you can read in U-Turns, this happens once we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ and accept Him as God and Saviour). As our relationship with God intensifies, these gifts become more evident. These gifts can be multifaceted, such as speaking in tongues, the gift of prophecy, the gift of distinction or others (see below).
Many believers receive the gift of “Speaking in tongues”. Speaking in tongues means that the Holy Spirit can talk through these people using a unique prayer language, which is mostly used to praise and worship the Lord. The language used by the Holy Spirit is mostly a non-human or a non-earthly one, while it can also be an earthly one.
While most other people cannot understand what the Holy Spirit is saying when a person speaks in tongues, some receive the gift of interpretation. These people will be able to understand that language and interpret / translate it. All spiritual gifts given to believers by God have one common goal: to glorify and edify God.
What I witnessed this early morning was something new to me. Two people talked to each other in tongues, switching back and forth between talking in the Spirit and normal Swiss German. They say they understand each other when they are speaking in tongues.
How amazing is our God.
As a Christian, you may ask the Lord for these spiritual gifts. You may receive them according to His plan for you. A believer can receive more than one of these gifts. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit according to the Bible are as follows (1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28):
- Word of Wisdom
- Word of knowledge
- Faith
- Gifts of healings
- Working of miracles
- Prophecy (1 Cor 12:7, 14:31)
- Discerning of spirits
- Different kinds of tongues (1 Cor 12:10, 28-31; 13:1-3; 14:2-32).
- Interpretation of tongues
To conclude, the Bible says those baptized with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost “began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). This means they spoke the words that the Spirit gave them. The Holy Spirit gave the words, but the apostles and disciples voluntarily responded. There was action based on faith, not merely passive acceptance of the blessing. That is the way it is with God. God is offering the baptism in the Holy Spirit to people who need only to reach out and take it and then enjoy the blessing. ("Spirit Filled Life Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991", page 1998 "Spiritual Answers to Hard Questions" under the sub-title "Questions on Spirit-Filled Living: 5. How do I receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit?" written by Pat Robertson.)
Let’s praise our Lord for His glory, be it in our human language or in tongues!
December 27, 2006 Learning to walk
It was Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006. Have you ever been involved in a discussion with the Holy Spirit? I have. On that day. He taught me an important lesson about free will. That we have to respect free will. In short, I didn’t, and that got me into this discussion.
This Wednesday was also the day when God took my diapers off. At first, I thought I just had turned away from God, but after He had assured me that I was forgiven but still the fire and the warmth in my heart did not return, I knew something had changed. I pleaded to God to give me this intense feeling of warmth back, that assured me His presence and kept my thoughts on Him - but He didn’t. Instead, I had to learn that even though now I couldn’t feel Him anymore, He was still here.
God basically put me on the ground and told me to make my own steps. He will still be right here with me, but I will not feel Him that intensely anymore.
On December 5th, 2006, I told God: If you want me to join the morning prayer (starting at 6 am), please wake me up at 5 am. The next morning, again a Wednesday, He promptly woke me up at 5 am. I got myself ready, drove to the church and joined the morning prayer. It was a great experience.
A week later, I was taught my second lesson in regards to walking independently. Again, on Tuesday evening, I sincerely prayed to the Lord and asked Him to wake me up the next morning. Despite waking up multiple times during the night, He did NOT wake me up. Of course, at that point, I couldn’t explained what He wanted from me. Of course I immediately asked Him. And got my answer a day later through a Christian friend.
Through my friend, He told me clearly, that I should be independent in serving God. The real lesson was: I am here to serve God. God does not have to serve me, I have to serve Him.
December 28, 2006 The wish list
While browsing Friendster profiles, I came across a members profile that contained a list of wishes. Looking through the list, I had to comment on it and send a message to that specific member. May the Lord touch this person’s heart through my writing.
Here is the list with my comments. I edited the list and removed some personal points or such that I didn’t include in my comment.
Couldn’t this list be anyone’s?
1. A peaceful world.
2. I want the war to end.
Here is what I experienced and what I realized. The key to all the above is Jesus. Only in Jesus, real peace will ever happen. The best example is the middle east conflict.
These first two points are exactly Jesus’ project. The question now is: Would like to take your part on this project? Would like to help Him build the Kingdom of God?
Here is what you will be doing in the process if you start living for the King of kings:
(3. deleted)
4. I want to be happy.
5. I want to be rich - spiritually, but material values won’t matter much anymore
6. I want to sing.
7. I want to dance.
8. I want to be smart - He will give you wisdom
9. I want to be pretty - He will make you pretty in a whole new way
Interested? Ask Jesus, how you can help Him build His kingdom. Ask Him first though that you want to get to know Him, ask Him to reveal Himself to you.
Once you start building a personal relationship with God, this is what will be fulfilled:
(10. through 12. deleted)
13. I want to be crazy in love - with God
(14. deleted)
15. I want to be love - see above
16. I want to non-stop talking – pray, bring everything to God, spend as much time with Him as possible
17. I want to be with someone who can really make me madly in love - again, it’s God
18. I don’t want to be hurt - God loves us humans so passionately, it’s incredible. We only have to take His hand. He does not hurt nor does He disappoint us.
19. I want someone who is nearly perfect (hey, no body is perfect) - Well, be with God... He is perfect.
20. I don’t want to have limits - live your life for God, give yourself to Him fully. No limits! This is the truth.
21. I want to do crazy things. - Starting to live your life for Jesus will take you into a whole new wonderland, I can speak from my experience.
(22. deleted)
23. I want to sleep without worrying about the darkness.
24. I want to be successful - God blesses and supports His children, but not necessarily by material means
Well, I guess the choice is yours. I am not making the things up that I am writing here. I started to live for God about 9 months ago and I am still at the beginning. I can tell you, He certainly turned my world upside down.
Basically as a free gift, once you start a personal relationship with Jesus, you will also gain understanding of there few things:
- What we are doing on this planet
- Why we are here
- The meaning of life
- What will happen once we die
Happy discovering!
God bless you.
January 3, 2007
Learning to speak
I really feel like a baby. What do babies in this world do as they grow? First they learn to walk. I already wrote about that. Then they start talking. This is basically the logical next step. And so it is for me as a baby Christian. Learning to talk.
You may ask: What do you mean by “learning to talk”? It is all about the spiritual gifts our Father in heaven wants to give us. One of these gifts is “speaking in tongues”. In short, it’s the Holy Spirit speaking to the Father in a “secret” language – well, at least I don’t understand it.
I had been praying for this gift for a few weeks and could feel that at times my mouth became somewhat gummy. Despite that, I never had faith to just “let it speak”. Then I got to read a little booklet that encourages us believers to speak in tongues. Again, it’s a leap of faith. We have to believe that the Holy Spirit wants to talk.
And so it was. On that Wednesday evening, I again read through the “instructions”: pray, believe, speak, keep on going. And I did. I was completely amazed and listened to the voice coming out of my mouth. I (or rather: the Holy Spirit) must have prayed in tongues for about one hour or so.
You can do it, too. All you need is faith in our almighty God. Believe that He wants to give you so much.
- Pray to our Father in heaven, according to these promises in the scripture:
Luke 11: “9 So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Ask for the spiritual gift of “speaking in tongues”
- Believe in what Jesus promised, according to John 14, 14: “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
- Now begin to speak in the new tongue given to you. Don’t even try to speak in a known language.
- IMPORTANT: During the first few minutes, the devil will try to discourage you, telling you that you are just making things up. Simply disregard the devil.
- Go on, speak. Best is to articulate the words loud.
How can you tell that you are not making it up? When the Holy Spirit speaks in tongues, you are allowing Him to use your mouth (part of His temple). Your mind, however, is completely free. While the Holy Spirit speaks in tongues, you can think of something completely different. You couldn’t do that if it was you speaking.
The devil will try to discourage you to speak in tongues. You will get thoughts that you are inventing the language yourself, doubts about what you may say, and so on. Just believe that what God gives you is good. Our God is a loving and caring God. Read Luke 11, 11 again.
Speaking in tongues is personal build-up. As mentioned above, it’s the Holy Spirit speaking through us to the Father. It’s not for us to understand what He is saying, but it does build us up in faith and spiritual strength. It is worship.
Holy Spirit, I thank you for living in me. I am honoured that I can be your temple. All praise goes to the most high God, our loving Father in heaven. Thank you for being here every day. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
February 26, 2007
The Power of the gospel - Hear the Good News
Last weekend (24 and 25 February), I was able to witness the power of the gospel healing many people. It was a conference with Charles Ndifon (Christ Love Ministries International). He is so full of life of Jesus Christ, that he reached the level of authority to heal anything in the name of Jesus Christ. It was a completely new level for me and brought a whole new understanding on taking the scripture literally.
Some facts that I learned:
- It is the will of God for EVERYONE to be healed.
- Jesus is LIFE and LIFE cannot coexist with death (sin, disease, demonic powers).
- There is POWER in the gospel if it’s not watered down.
Some of the miracles I witnessed (among dozens others):
- Healing of throat cancer. A woman wasn’t able to drink anything, it would immediately create a mucus in her throat and block it so she could not breath. Also, whatever would go down the throat would make her vomit immediately. She got healed and it took her a while of convincing to take a sip of milk. When she finally did, everything went well and she drank the whole glass.
- Healing of lung cancer. A woman had lung cancer. She could hardly breath. She got healed, could breath normally and even run up and down the stairs without getting short on breath.
- Healing of diabetes. A woman came up to the stage on Saturday morning. She didn’t know Jesus Christ and the gospel. She was taught of the freedom and life in Jesus Christ and received healing. Immediately, her blood sugar level started to drop even though she forgot to take along her insulin injection on that day.
- Healing of a crippled. A man who could not walk without crutches was healed and told to go outside to walk. He came back and testified that he even ran around.
- Healing of the deaf. At least 3 women could hardly hear and needed hearing aids. They all only could understand when being yelled at. They all got healed and could hear a normal conversation without any hearing aids from across the room.
- Healing of an eye cataract. An older woman could hardly see. She was healed from her cataract and as a result could read from the bible.
Praise the Lord. Isn’t He great? Isn’t He truly a God who loves us and who cares for us? And it is all right here, in His wonderful, powerful word.
In 1st John 4, verses 9 and 10, we read: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
In Psalm 103, verses 2 to 4, we read: “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion...”
Our Father in heaven loves us so much and He loved us first. We can be in His presence and just enjoy His love. But not only His love. Among others, also His healing.
Let’s see what Jesus did when He healed. Let’s check some references in scripture.
Matthew 12, 15: “Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill.”
Matthew 14, 36: “…and begged him to let those who were ill just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.”
Mark 6, 56: “And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed those who were ill in the market-places. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.”
Luke 4, 40: “At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of illness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.”
Did He heal some of them? Half of them? Did He reject anyone? The truth is, Jesus healed all of them. Whoever believed in Him.
Did Jesus change in time? Jesus said of Himself that He was before the world began. (John 17, 5: “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”). Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever (Hebrews 13, 8). No, He did not change.
If the word of God is true, according to John 17, 17b: “Your word is truth.”, Jesus has not changed and is still the same. He healed all then, so He still heals all today.
Let us now see what Jesus did for us when He went on the cross. Did you realize how hard it was for Jesus to follow the Father’s instruction to go to the cross? Jesus knew what He would have to endure before He was arrested. Matthew 26, verses 37 through 42: “…and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ’My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ’My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’ Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ’Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?’ he asked Peter. ’Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ He went away a second time and prayed, ’My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.’”
And still, He obeyed. He had a free will too. He could have been disobedient. Obedience is important. Please remember to be obedient whenever God ask you to act.
The divine exchange
(Excerpt taken from “The divine exchange” by Derek Prince, Derek Prince Ministries)
Jesus’ death on the cross was a huge miracle. Without going into details, here is what this miracle includes:
- We are forgiven
- We are healed
- We are made righteous
- We have life
- We can live in prosperity
- We are honoured in His name
- We are accepted by the father
- We are blessed
Because Jesus brought everything to cross, He took our punishment, our injury (sickness), our sin, He died for us, He lived in poverty, He took our shame, He was turned away by the Father for us, and He took our curses.
Thank the Lord Jesus for His great and unconditional love! The bible says in John 3, 16 and 17: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
Jesus is LIFE (John 14, 6: “Jesus says: I am the way and the truth and the life.”). He brought everything to the cross so we can live in victory. Start looking onto Jesus, then you are looking at life. Start living in victory. Remember, Jesus is your oldest brother, He is the one to call when you are in trouble. Remember to be obedient. Jesus is also our King and God. Jesus gave EVERYTHING for us, so we can be free. He gave Himself for you! Seek Him and you will find Him (Jeremiah 29, 13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”). You are royalty, you are a child of God.
Thank you for your grace, Lord Jesus. May your will be done. Amen.
If you don’t have Jesus in your life yet and would also like to know who your Daddy in heaven is, please click here .
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