Generally speaking, Christianity can be divided into two camps regarding the supernatural gifts of the Spirit.  Paul discusses these extensively in 1 Corinthians 12-14.  He adds another list of spiritual gifts in Romans 12:6-8 and a few are mentioned in other places. Nearly everyone agrees that the Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts to believers.  The divide comes when discussing certain gifts and whether the Holy Spirit still distributes those in 2026.

The Apostle Paul lists gifts such as mercy, encouragement, service, administration, faith, generosity, wisdom, knowledge, hospitality, teaching, and leadership.  Nearly everyone is comfortable with these gifts because they are familiar. People who are not even followers of Jesus display these qualities in the natural realm.  They have natural temperaments that lean toward mercy, compassion, hospitality, wisdom, etc.  Others display qualities of leadership, effective communication, organization and so forth, that often carry the adjective “gifted.” 

We frequently use that adjective when we talk about gifted artists, athletes, musicians, writers, singers, and actors.  We mean they have exceptional abilities in their field relative to the average human being.  In fact, many believers think of spiritual gifts as differing little from these natural abilities. We appreciate these gifts, enjoy them, are comfortable with them.

However, Paul lists other spiritual gifts with which we are not so comfortable since we don’t see them exercised in the natural realm.  He lists gifts such as prophecy, tongues, miracles, healings, the interpretation of tongues, and distinguishing between spirits.  These are often delineated as supernatural or power gifts.  Many Christians hold the position that the Holy Spirit no longer grants these gifts to God’s people, but only the gifts that already function in the natural realm.

Let me challenge that assertion for a moment.  First of all, every gift listed in these texts is given to believers…not unbelievers.  Paul says, “Now about the gifts of the Spirit … to each one (each follower of Jesus) the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good’ (1 Cor. 12:1, 7).

In this section, the Greek word charismata is translated as “gifts” (1 Cor. 12:4). Churches that place an emphasis on all the gifts of the Spirit are called “charismatic churches.”

Paul clearly states the Holy Spirit distributes these gifts to the church as he sees fit. Since the nature of these gifts is spiritual and since they are given only to believers, they must differ in some way from natural talents or giftings.  I believe that these gifts bear spiritual fruit that make an impact in the spiritual realm.  In some way, they point people to Jesus and draw them to the Father.  They differ from natural talents. I remember a woman who served in a church on the west coast.  She shared that a well-known evangelist was coming to her church to preach and she was excited to hear him as she anticipated deep and moving sermons. When the day came, he preached and she said she was never so disappointed.  His sermon seemed dry and flat and totally uninspiring.  However, when the invitation was extended, hundreds came forward. He had a gift of evangelism that triggered something in the spiritual realm that wasn’t particularly evident in the natural. I believe all spiritual gifts are like that.

Since the exercise of spiritual gifts bears spiritual fruit and is uniquely given by the Spirit to God’s people, by definition these are all supernatural gifts. Supernatural simply means above or beyond the natural. Therefore, we can’t dismiss some gifts “because they are supernatural, ” since all the gifts are supernatural.

In the same way, believers who discount these gifts of the Spirit do not believe God intervenes in miraculous ways today…especially through the exercise of spiritual gifts.   And yet, in just about every prayer we are asking God to intervene in the natural order of things to bring about a good outcome.  Why would we ask God to do something that is going to happen naturally anyway?  Do we pray each night that God will cause the sun to rise in the east in the morning?  Do we pray earnestly that God will not irradicate the Law of Gravity? No…because that is the normal, natural order of things that we can all anticipate happening with or without our prayers.

When we pray, whether it is for “small” things or “big” things, we ask God to intervene to make sure things that often happen in the natural do not happen or pray for things that rarely happen to come to past.  Either way, when we ask God to intervene in the natural order of things, by definition, we are asking for a miracle.  So why should we try to exclude gifts that are more apparently miraculous when they are all miraculous at some level.

The theology that dismisses God’s supernatural intervention was born in the 1600’s when science, inventions and discoveries were burgeoning in the west.  Science was based on the “scientific method” which required truth to be measurable and reproduceable in a lab.  Science was deemed to be the new savior of mankind.  Supernatural views were labelled as superstition. Human reason and accomplishments (humanism) were touted as the future of all mankind destined to bring in the golden age (How are we doing so far?).  Theologians began to dismiss the miracles of the Bible as mythological and fictional or simply misunderstood by the ignorant cultures of the past. Some theologians found a middle ground where the miracles recorded in scripture did happen…then, but not now.     

However, what justification is there to simply cut out certain gifts of the Spirit when the texts seem to make no difference in the gifts.  A supernatural Holy Spirit gave them all and logically still gives them all unless we approach scripture with a presupposition that miracles and supernatural activity no longer function in a modern world. 

But Satan is still alive and well on planet earth.  Paul explicitly states our battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:12).  You cannot wage war against spiritual powers through natural means.  Spiritual power and weapons are required and those are made available to God’s people through spiritual gifts…including and necessarily gifts such as prophecy that alerts us to the strategies of the enemy, healings that include deliverance from evil spirits, or miracles that immediately demonstrate that Jesus is greater than Satan or any false god.

One of Satan’s greatest triumphs was to remove from the arsenal of the church the gifts that most directly confront his kingdom by removing our belief in those gifts.  As that theology caught on, the notion of a supernatural realm intersecting with the natural faded away.  As a result, like the invisible man, Satan could operate at will while the world looked everywhere but at demonic forces for causation.

Jesus declared in John 14:12 that whoever believes in him would do the same works he had been doing and would actually do even greater things.  John also told us the reason Jesus came was to destroy the work of the devil…sin, disease, brokenness, bondage, injustice and so on (1 Jn. 3:8). The gifts of the Spirit are required if we are going to do what Jesus did…all the gifts.  Satan was most often confronted through the miraculous.  For us to fulfill his mandate, the charismatic gifts and their exercise are imperative.  Paul commanded believers to eagerly desire spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14:1).  Why?  Because they are all necessary to fulfill the mandate of the kingdom and to do what Jesus did. 

If you have never considered the supernatural moves of God through his people in 2026, I hope you will reconsider and even begin to eagerly desire them.

The Apostle Paul declared, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (1 Cor. 4:20)!  How many Christians in America and Europe experience power in their faith? They may experience God’s goodness, God’s peace, and even his provision. But if you asked them about the power to heal, the power to deliver, the power to set people free from bondage, most would not know there is such a thing.

And yet, at the core of Christ’s ministry and at the core of Paul’s ministry, a demonstration of power was always present.  If you examine the gospels, a pattern of evangelism immerges – preach the kingdom of God and then demonstrate its present reality.  Jesus would preach, then heal the sick, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, and raise the dead.  Preach it, then demonstrate it.  Sometimes, he demonstrated the kingdom before he preached it.  But they were always inextricably linked.  When he sent out the twelve and then the seventy, they did the same.  Paul did it and the church did it through the supernatural gifts of the Spirit.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus made a declaration that should trouble all those who are content with a gospel that demonstrates no power.  He said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (Jn. 14:12-13).

“Those who believe in me will do the works I have been doing.” Jesus is clear throughout the gospels that the works he had been doing were the miracles that demonstrated the reality of the kingdom on earth.  He made it a mark of faith in him.  He put no shelf life on that promise.  I would also say that anyone who reads the New Testament without any previous preconceptions, would not put it down thinking that God would not continue to do miracles for and through his people until Jesus returns.  The Book of Acts describes what should be normative behavior for believers and the church as a whole.  We should expect miracles, the powerful working of spiritual gifts, dreams and visions, and powerful moves of the Holy Spirit. To do less and expect less is not what scripture calls for.  To do the works Jesus did brings glory to the Father.

Yet, the largest part of the contemporary church in America is content to ask God to work in natural and ordinary ways, live a moral life, and depend on secular science, secular medicine and secular therapy to meet their needs.  But haven’t you felt the yearning for “more” in your faith?  Haven’t you felt the yearning to see people healed and set free just as you read about in the New Testament?

My first twenty years as a pastor was in churches who did not believe that the supernatural power of God operates today.  I felt the yearning for “more,” but believed the patriarchs and Bible scholars in my circle of churches, who told me God no longer operated in those ways,  He no longer healed the sick through gifts of healing, he no longer spoke to his people except through the written word, he gave no prophetic messages, and we didn’t consider the present day activity of demons…even though the pages of the New Testament were filled with these realities.

In my own ministry, I felt very inadequate to help people with serious issues in their life.  We offered the best counsel we could using secular approaches to counseling and prayed the best prayers we could.  We did not have remarkable results. But we were blinded by our own preconceptions about the spiritual realm that was impacting our churches and our people.

Despite the fact that Paul clearly warned, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground” (Eph. 6:12-13), we really did not take that seriously.

Every church talks about the armor of God.  But if you are not having to actively stand against demonic attacks, then why do you need it? If you do need it, you are under attack and natural approaches to problems will be woefully inadequate. If a demon is manifesting as disease in your body, medicine won’t help.  If depression or suicidal thoughts are being generated by demonic influence, therapy will not set you free.  If a spirit of pornography is constantly stirring your mind, a twelve-step program is inadequate.  We could go on, but some things in this modern world are still beyond the reach of secular solutions.  The “divine weapons” of 2 Corinthians 10 and the power of God is still needed.

Some churches will say that the idea of deliverance from demons, divine healing, and prophetic words are deceptions by the enemy.  I think the theology that God no longer works through these means is the deception…and what a deception!  A few years ago, I ministered to a young woman who had been involved in witchcraft but had left the coven.   I asked her what had drawn her into witchcraft in the first place.  She told me her life had been in chaos and she had sought help in churches.  When none of them could help her, she looked for another source of help…some power that could overcome her challenges. She found some in witchcraft until the demons turned on her. The powerless church made her fall prey to Satan.

The gospel Paul preached was a gospel of power, not just words. He wrote, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Cor. 2:2-5).

If you sense a yearning for “more” in your faith.  If you sense something in missing in your faith as you read the gospels and the book of Acts.  If you know in your heart that you need a powerful intervention by the Spirit of God in your life…don’t give up.  Go find it. Find a church that balances Word and Spirit, a church that is not dead but is also not weird. They exist.  Read some books that will open those doors and point you in the right direction.  Satan still has power. But Jesus has more and he wants that power expressed through his people.  Don’t settle.  Don’t give in.  Seek, ask and knock.  Ask the Lord to lead you to a place where you can find all he has for you – everything Jesus died to provide. 

One place to start might be my book Transformed that was released yesterday.  It is not the only book out there on God’s transforming power, but if you are in a church full of good but powerless people like I was for years, this book might be helpful.  It’s available on Amazon, Books-A-Million, and other major providers. 

If you yearn for more, God always has more for you.  Pursue it. A gospel without power, is no gospel at all.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb. 10:23-25).

When I was a kid, we had numerous “family reunions.”  I grew up in Amarillo, Texas and had one set of grandparents there and the other set in Arlington, Texas when Six Flags was still red-dirt farm land.  These get-togethers were usually on a holiday or in the summer when all the cousins were out of school.  Some of the people that came I knew and enjoyed.  Others, I barely knew.  Some I didn’t enjoy. Some were “well off” while others were barely scratching a living. Some were a little odd and their lives were a mess.  Everyone knew it, but no one brought it up.  Sometimes there was tension between brothers and sisters or in-laws, but all that was laid aside at the reunion for the sake of “family.”  Even with all the crazy dynamics, getting together was important and gave us a sense of belonging and history. 

Sometimes, there were family members who chose not to attend. Everyone who did attend felt a little rejected by those who did not.  Others were concerned and assumed something was amiss in their life or they would have been there.  They were called and invited, and nearly always said they would “try to make it,” but they always found an excuse not to be there. Eventually the family that did gather together quit calling because it was clear those who didn’t come did not value the family.  Some worked out their differences and reassumed their position with the family once again. Being there not only connected them to brothers and sisters and cousins, etc., but also honored the patriarch and matriarch of the family…the grandparents.  Others were not willing to work things out and simply became a distant memory for many family members.  Looking back, my biological family was a lot like spiritual family.

It was amazing how many believers began “attending” church via television during the Covid shutdown.  That was understandable and in some locations was mandated. What is more amazing is how many continued to be part of the electronic church rather than returning to their local churches on Sunday. Somewhere along the line, American Christians started believing that God doesn’t care if you attend a local church or not as long as you believe in Jesus.  Of course, there is some truth to the notion. You can be saved without attending an organized church and church attendance does not save us.  Both of those are true.  But it would be better to ask, “What would God want me to do?” Being Lone Rangers, separated from other believers while I profess my love for God, was never his idea.  In fact, John says that if you don’t love the brethren, you don’t love God (1 Jn. 4:20).

The truth is, churches put a demand on you. They ask you to show up regularly, give financially, serve others, and connect with other people for whom you will be asked to pray, study the Word, care for one another in crisis, share your faith with the lost, love the unlovable, and do life together. Sometimes we stay away to avoid the demands.

Like biological families, a spiritual family is sometimes irritating and inconvenient. But Jesus, being told his mother and siblings were outside waiting for him, said his true mother, brothers, and sisters were those who did the will of God (Mt. 12:48-50).  You may feel that your biological family is the most important thing in your life, but Jesus declared that spiritual family should be given precedence over biological.  Hopefully, your biological family is also part of your spiritual family.  I’m not saying you should abandon your biological family when you become a follower of Jesus, but I am pointing out the importance Jesus places on God’s household.

Staying away from your local church isolates you. Satan loves for believers to become isolated.  They are like soldiers separated from their platoon and trapped behind enemy lines.  A few make it out, but most are caught and many are killed.  We are at war with Satan.  If you have God’s mark on you (the seal of the Holy Spirit), he considers you his mortal enemy.  His desire is to kill you.  When you are at war, you are safest when you are with other soldiers…the more the better.

You may say, “I don’t go to church, but I still have Christian friends I meet with and I am part of a small group or house church.”  Being with friends is great.  Being with Christian friends is even better.  But let me tell you what I have noticed through the years when people leave the local church for a small group meeting in a house or just stay home watching a church service on television. They stop growing,

The group makes few demands. The electronic church males none.  You really don’t have to serve anyone (unless they meet at your house).  The group or the stay-at-home believer is unsubmitted to any spiritual authority.  A small group separated from a local church bears little fruit.  They don’t have the resources or the vision. Sometimes, they meet, talk, and criticize the churches they used to be part of and feel spiritually superior. But,  very few have changed the world from their living room. There is a clear synergy of the Holy Spirit’s power and fruitfulness when many believers meet, exercise their spiritual gifts, and expand the kingdom together. When only a few gather together, that synergy does not exist.

Paul spends a great deal of time talking about the body of Christ and how each believer is crucial to the whole as they use their gifts to minister to one another (1 Cor. 12).  Your body needs every part in order to function well.  If a few parts decide they want to stop functioning with the other parts, the body as a whole begins to suffer.  God has designed us to need one another and to meet one another’s needs.  That is the essence of love…caring for each other and meeting one another’s needs. Jesus said the world would know we are his disciples, when we love one another.  When we break off and connect with only a few other followers, our capacity to love others is limited

The New Testament is full of “one another” passages.  Love one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, protect one another, admonish one another, teach one another, accept one another, forgive one another, etc.  In summary, I believe these “one another’s” are the working definition of love.  When we stay home on Sundays or just fellowship four of five other believers, we rob our spiritual family of the love we could be giving them each week. God usually loves his people through other believers.  As he prompts us to minister to their needs, he loves them through us.  When we isolate, we rob God of his opportunities to love his children though us. We rob him of the opportunity to love us through them. It is not unusual to meet believers who picked up offense against their church, because when sick or some other crisis arose, no one called or checked on them.  When visiting further, however, you discover they were uninvolved, rarely attended, and told no one about their crisis. If we want to be loved, we must also be present and loving.

In the New Testament,It is hard to imagine any believers who isolated themselves and never met with the larger group within their city. In Acts 2:42, Luke describes the church in Jerusalem this way: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47).

They were devoted to the fellowship they had with other believers.  They met together or assembled together weekly as well as meeting in homes.  Small groups should be part of any local church, but not instead of the local church.  The synergism of the Holy Spirit in each believer produced signs and miracles, provision for every needy person, and awe in the community as they saw what the church was doing.  As a result, large numbers came to faith. That can’t happen if we stay home.  That can’t happen with a small group isolated from a larger church

Sundays, or whenever a church comes together, is a weekly family reunion.  There are people you know well and don’t know well. Some you connect with while others seem hard to get close to. Some are odd and their lives are a mess.  Some have tension between them that they set aside for the reunion. Coming together honors the patriarch…in this case, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When it comes to impacting the world, an army of five cannot do what an army of five hundred or five thousand can do

Local churches aren’t perfect.  They are made up of imperfect people just like your family.  Some are sweet, some are sour, some are servants, some are snobs, some are shy, others are social. Some are healed, some are hurting.  Some are mature, some are still spiritual infants.  What a hodgepodge.  Of course, it’s family. It is God’s family and the very people Jesus died for.    He loves them.  He wants you to love them too. 

Let me encourage you. If you have stayed away, go back.  If your last church wasn’t your cup tea, find another.  If you were part of an unhealthy church and experienced church hurt, find a healthy church. If you were offended, forgive. Work it out or just get over it for Jesus’ sake. Don’t rob your spiritual family and yourself of what you bring to the table and don’t limit God from loving others through you or loving you through them because you didn’t show up. Sooner or later, times will get hard. You need your spiritual family.  Blessings in Him.

Prophetic Words are in abundance today. Social media is saturated with men and women who have podcasts dedicated to earth shaking prophetic words from the Lord they receive daily.  Social media is also full of accusations about false prophets or fallen prophets. The atmosphere around many churches is one of suspicion and disbelief when it comes to the supernatural gifts of the Spirit.  Of course, Satan spearheads these failures and accusations in an attempt to discredit churches and leaders who operate in the gifts of the Spirit because these are part of our God-given arsenal of divine weapons with which we oppose the enemy.

The abuse and misuse of spiritual gifts is not new.  Paul, especially, had a great deal to say about the misuse of spiritual gifts in his letters.  In fact, he wrote enough corrections on the topic of tongues and prophecy to make up three chapters of his first letter to the church at Corinth. What we need to notice is that he did not order the churches to no longer operate in the gifts because of their abuse, but he instructed them on how to operate in those gifts in godly and productive ways.

Paul wrote about prophecy in a number of texts.  A few are (I have added emphasis):

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. (I Cor. 12:7-11)

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy:” (1 Cor. 14:1).

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. (1 Cor. 14:39-40)

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test them all; hold on to what is good. (1 Thess. 5:19-21).

In summary, Paul says that prophecy is a gift of the Spirit to be desired and practiced in the church.  But, because it is a spiritual gift and spiritual gifts have to be developed, there may be some prophetic words from honest, loving Christians that somewhat miss the mark … “We know in part and we prophecy in part.” There may also be false prophets who are not speaking out of a desire to encourage God’s people but who are trying to draw followers after themselves.  Because of both reasons, Paul tells us not to quench the Spirit but to test the prophecies, and having done so, hold on to the good.

So how can we know if what someone tells us is actually a prophetic word from God? Sometimes we are too quick to reject or accept a prophetic word when we haven’t yet done the hard work of testing it. Here are some guidelines to test prophetic words.

Does it line up with the word of God?

What does the Bible have to say about the word you just received? Is it consistent with scripture or does in contradict the Word of God?  If it clearly opposes the Word, you can reject it immediately. If it is not something the Bible talks about directly, you may need to assess it with these other guidelines.

Does it reflect the Spirit of Christ?

Test the prophetic message against the character and attributes of Jesus. Does it reflect the Spirit of Christ?  Does it encourage, comfort and strengthen you (1 Cor. 14:3)?  Does it draw you to Jesus or push you away (Jn. 15:26)?  Does it clarify or confuse (1 Cor. 14:33)?  Does it call you to righteousness or sin?

Does it resonate with the inner witness of the Holy Spirit?

When the word hits your spirit is there resonance? Is there peace? Does something inside you agree with what was spoken, even if you may not understand it intellectually yet? The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit so be sensitive to His leading about the word

Share it with trusted counsel.

Another way to test prophetic information is by getting spiritually wise counsel. Seek “spiritually” wise counsel because you are dealing with spiritual information. You may submit the information to close friends, mentors, or leaders whom you know have spiritual depth in their walk with God. Their opinions should not make your final determination, but sometimes in the process of interpreting spiritual information we need a few people with enough distance from the situation to be able to speak objectively and spiritually.  They can confirm that is sounds like or does not sound like a word from God.

Seek confirmation.

Does the prophetic word confirm at some level what God has already been showing you? Often a word simply clarifies something you have already been sensing in your spirit. As we grow and mature in our walk with God, His voice and His word should be our primary source of direction. The prophetic word may then come as confirmation to what God has already been trying to show you. However, he may also use the word to open you up to something new he is beginning to do.

A danger in the realm of prophetic gifts, is that we can start running after prophetic words instead of cultivating our own ability to hear from God. In other words, the prophetic should usually supplement what we are already speaking about with God.  If the word is calling you to drastic action, you may ask the Lord for a supernatural kind of confirmation before you act.

Does it reflect a spirit of love?

All spiritual gifts are to operate out of love.  If a word is not given in a loving way, it may not be from God.  Prophecy is primarily a gift used to encourage, comfort, and strengthen a person (1 Cor. 14:3).   Occasionally, a word may bring a warning or rebuke, but those should be given in private…still with a spirit of love and concern.

Do you know the prophet?

God usually entrusts his word to those he trusts…men and women who have a close walk with him and who speak with integrity.  We can expect men and women who have spiritual wisdom and discernment to bring a more accurate word from the Lord than those who don’t. It’s not that a stranger can’t bring a word to you, but we can have more confidence in those we know or who are known and trusted by someone we know and trust.  Speaking of prophets, Jesus said we will know them by their fruit (Mt. 7:16). “Their fruit” includes a history of accurate prophecies, good character including humility, and a good reputation among those who know them best.  If you don’t know the person who brings the prophetic word, you cannot know their fruit.  So, take more time to test the word from those you don’t know.

In summary, do not quench the Spirit out of fear or constant distrust. Encourage and desire the gift of prophecy.  But test the word you hear.  That is your responsibility.  A prophetic word is a powerful gift that encourages you in touch times, strengthens your faith and comforts you when you have been wondering where God is in your life.  Test it and if it passes the test, hold on to it.  If it does not resonate immediately, don’t reject it out of hand but set it aside and pray about it.  When you test the word and believe it is from the Lord, pray into it and take action to step into it.  That is our part of the word.

This message comes from Randy Clark, founder and president of Global Awakening.  I thought it was worth posting for those who read my blog.  So enjoy.  Tom Vermillion


If grace has no limits, how much is grace? 

Some of us have entered the Kingdom by faith, and we believe we have been forgiven. We understand we are sinners saved by grace. This is wonderful, but we will limit our victories if we camp here.

You see, grace that brings you out and causes you to be born again takes you to the door of what grace actually provides. Not only does Jesus save, but He takes the signet ring of the Father and gives it to you.

If we just come to the door and say, “I’m forgiven,” we’ll live like spiritual paupers. We need to understand that we are more than forgiven—and that is by God’s grace. Grace not only forgave us but put the ring back on our finger. Now, in the authority of the Father’s name, we can make decrees.

Jesus did not just die to forgive you but to welcome you into the Kingdom as children of the Most High with all authority and power to use on His behalf. He puts His own Spirit within you so you can walk right into the taverns now and begin to prophesy. You now have access to God as your beloved, your Father, and a best friend. More than that, He grants us the grace for impartation, spiritual gifts, and supernatural empowerment in our Kingdom callings. Healings, miracles, the five-fold ministry—these Kingdom works are the grace of God in our lives.

I really believe that if we could get a full understanding of grace, we would not need to go through most of the issues we face as Christians. If we could get grounded in throne life at the beginning of our Christian life, we could walk in victory a lot more. Too often, as Bill Johnson says, we’ve repented—changed the way we think—enough to get into the Kingdom but not enough to walk in its power. 

Don’t stop at the doorway. He loves you. We can’t comprehend how much He truly loves us. More than that—He has abundant grace for us. He wants us to rule and reign with Kingdom authority so we can go into all the world and disciple, heal, deliver, and walk in victory.

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  James 5:13-16

The promises for healing are numerous in scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments.  As God established his covenant with Israel, he promised, “There the Lord made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you” (Exodus 15:25-26.)  David wrote, “Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” (Ps. 103:2-3). 

In the Old Testament we see the healings of Hezekiah and Naaman.  Job is healed after Satan’s assault on his health.   Elijah restores life to a dead boy. Several women who were unable to have children were healed and given children. We are told in Psalm 107:20 regarding those who were suffering affliction, “He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.” There are numerous other instances and promises that health would be the condition of those who loved God and kept his commandments.  Even when sickness came because of rebellion, health was restored when those individuals repented.  In several Messianic prophecies, God pointed to a Messiah who would bring healing to his people.

In the New Testament one of the marks of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God was the innumerable people that Jesus healed.   Not only did he heal, but he gave power and authority to his followers to do so.  (Mt. 10:1; Lk. 9:1; 10:8, 18-`19; Mk. 16:16-18.) The Holy Spirit gave gifts of healing to the church (1 Cor. 12:9).  We are also told that by the wounds of Jesus we are healed (1 Pet. 2:24). From a natural reading of the New Testament, it seems that healing was the rule and not the exception. When someone wasn’t healed, the church searched for a reason. .  It is clear that God’s heart and will for his people is health. Jesus said if we have seen him, we have seen the Father. Jesus healed out of love and compassion.  So does the Father.

Then we come to James and the passage at the beginning of this blog.  If anyone is in trouble he should pray.  If anyone is happy they should sing.  These are responses of the individual to God.  But when it comes to healing, we are instructed to call others to pray over us. In this case, we are instructed to call the elders or the spiritually mature to pray over us. He doesn’t say keep it to yourself and plead with God.

I think there are several lessons we might garner from this text.  One is that God desires interdependence among his people.  Paul uses the analogy of the body and different parts of the body with different functions in reference to the church.  We aren’t the same as the others and we can’t get along without the other parts.  We might live, but we will not be all we could be.  In the same way, he gives different spiritual gifts to the church. Where I have a weakness, I need someone else’s gift to operate in my life through that person and vice-versa. We need one another and God often answers our prayers and meets our needs through his people.  I am blessed by others and they are blessed by me.

We must note that James instructs us to call on others, especially when we are sick.  He also directs elders to anoint us and pray over us and declares the prayer of faith will raise up the sick person.  This does not always promise immediate healing, but that healing will come. Notice the faith in this passage is the faith of those who are praying, not necessarily the one who is being prayed for.  He goes on to say, if he has sinned, he will be forgiven and healed.  Sometimes illness comes to us because of unconfessed and unrepented sin.  That is not the only source of sickness, but it can be and someone needs to be there to hear a confession and pray for forgiveness.  James tells us. “Confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed” (Ja. 5:16).  The word translated as sin can also mean failure, fault or error.  The corollary of that verse is that if you don’t confess and have others pray for you, you won’t be healed. 

The value of involving others is the power of multiplied prayers.  Jesus declared, “I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Mt. 18:19-20). In addition, when you have shared a spiritual struggle with others, they can continue to support you as you overcome that issue in your life.  Confessing sins or weaknesses is humbling, but it is the humble whom God raises up.


God has designed the body of Christ so that we need one another. We are not made to function spiritually as Lone Rangers isolated from the body claiming that we need only God,  because it is through the body that many of our  prayers will be answered and many of our needs will be met.

This doesn’t mean we never pray for our own healing, but that our prayer will be more effective when coupled with others.  And, if sin is the root of the illness, I definitely need others involved. There are also times I need to borrow faith from another believer.  If I am very sick that may be especially true.  So, when you are sick, involve other believers. Call on someone…an elder, a believer with healing gifts, or simply a brother or sister with faith.  James suggests that God has made healing a team sport, and not just an individual enterprise…so don’t try to go it alone.  Be blessed and be healed.

Every believer’s birthright in the Kingdom of God is freedom and healing – both physical and emotional. Scripture emphatically declares that Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted and to set captives free from every form of bondage (Isa.61). It also declares that by the stripes or wounds of Jesus, we are healed. If that is true then …

• Why are so many Christians still in bondage to anger, addictions, depression, and relational brokenness?
• Why do destructive behaviors still devastate Christian families from generation to generation?
• Why do so many Christian marriages end in divorce even after dozens of sessions with Christian counselors and therapists?
• Why do so many Christians experience minimal life transformation after coming to Christ?
• Why do so few Christians experience God’s supernatural healing?

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you possess a birthright of healing and freedom that too many Christians have yet to experience.  Many believers are unaware that healing and freedom are blood-bought promises that come to us through the cross.  My first twenty-five years as a Christian, I was taught the powerful and supernatural works of God were true, but were limited to the first century.  Once Jesus was confirmed to be the Son of God by his miracles and once the apostles were confirmed to be God’s anointed for writing most of the New Testament and establishing the first century church, the miracles were no longer needed and faded away.

After that era of miraculous validation,  we were told God began to work only through natural means and every believer was then left to receive direction from God only through the written Word, to live a moral life with some ambiguous help from God, and to face hardships like any other human.  The only real difference between believers and unbelievers was  faith that when the struggle was over, you would be rewarded with peace and blessings in heaven. 

Interestingly, we are told that scripture teaches us how to live.  We are to pattern our lives after men and women in scripture so that we might live the same life of faith as they did.  And yet, from Genesis to Revelation, there is an emphasis on the mighty works of God and his miraculous intervention for his people.  Genesis points us to numerous miracles.  Exodus reveals the miracles that brought Israel out of Egypt and sustained them in the wilderness.  Joshua begins with the walls of Jericho collapsing and the conquest of Canaan as God intervened over and over again for the armies of Israel. Judges is filled with God’s miraculous touch on ordinary men and women whom God raised up to lead the nation.  The prophets are filled with miracles and then the New Testament records all the works and miracles of Jesus as well as the twelve and many others.  So from Genesis to Revelation, God calls on his people to trust him for miracles…but suddenly, when we have received a Better Covenant through Christ, God goes out of the miracle business and the Holy Spirit no longer works through supernatural gifts.

There is something wrong with that view.  The argument that God no longer heals and delivers supernaturally is based on the absence of such miracles. ” We don’t see them anymore so God must not do them anymore.”  In scripture, when God’s people did not see miracles,  it was because they were either given over to idolatry or had no faith for miracles.  If we have no faith, then we are not asking for miracles and, therefore, will certainly not see them.  If we are given over to idolatry, we are looking for other sources to meet our needs rather than the supernatural hand of God.  Therefore, we also will see no miracles.  

Any natural reading of the New Testament with its emphasis on miracles and spiritual gifts, would never lead a person to believe that God was going to pull the plug on miracles and supernatural functions of the Holy Spirit.  You have to approach the scriptures wanting to prove that premise rather than finding in its the scriptures as a clear doctrine. If God were going to make such a radical shift in the way he irelated to his people. surely he would have been as clear about that shift as he was about the shift from the Covenant of Law to the Covenant of Grace. Yet you have to search for scriptures that might suggest God isn’t serving up miracles anymore and then interpret them to say much more than they actually say in context.

Too many of us have accepted the idea that the power we see on every page of the New Testament faded away centuries ago.  Yet Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.  The Spirit in us is the same Spirit that brooded over the face of the waters in Genesis, that empowered the prophets, that rested on Jesus, and that raised him from the dead. .  He has not changed and He is a Spirit of power. Jesus did not die on the cross so that we could merely manage crippling and destructive issues in our lives, but so that each of us could be set free from bondage and brokenness. The promise is this: “So if the Son sets you free, then you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).  Don’t settle or live with a sense of resignation in the face of pain and brokenness. Go after everything Jesus paid for.

When God began to deliver Israel from Egypt with a series of plagues, there were a few of the plagues that Israel had to deal with as well as the Egyptians. But then God began to exempt Israel from the plagues in order to demonstrate that his relationship with Israel was unique. We are in a unique and covenant relationship with the Father and he wishes to demonstrate that difference through our healing and our freedom that come through the power of the Spirit and the supernatural works of God. Any theology that denies that truth, is keeping us from the very things Jesus died to provide.Someone once said, “A gospel without power is no gospel at all.” I agree with that. Don’t settle. Go after everything he has provided because the wonderful works of God bring glory to him.

When family is unavailable, nothing highlights that empty place like the holidays when every movie and television show is marked by gatherings of friends and families sitting around a roaring fire or a large family table lined with happy people anticipating an amazing holiday meal together.  Some of the most poignant stories orbiting the Christmas season embody the return of a prodigal on Christmas Eve or the restoration of some long-lost relationship. Those stories seen to be the ones most filled with hope.

I think in our hearts we all long for reunion. Solomon said that God has placed eternity in each person’s heart.  Whether we recognize it or not, out on the edge of our consciousness, there always seems as if something is missing that we can’t quite put our finger on.  What we are missing is our home in heaven.  In quiet moments when we are alone, we all have a very vague or not so vague feeling that something is incomplete… as if we have been alienated from someone we love or from a place we belong. I believe that longing is God calling us home to our spiritual family where there will never again be a sense of loss or alienation or an empty place at the table.

Christmas reminds us that our Father in Heaven has made a way to gather us all back home. Without the birth of Jesus there would have been no sinless life, no sacrifice, no merciful high priest, and no resurrection.  There would be no hope.  But God came in search of us and Christmas heralds that truth every year. He came to gather us into a spiritual family that will last forever.  

Matthew records a moment when Jesus speaks about this reality. “While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are mybrothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:46-13:1).  Our biological families are temporary unless they are all believers.  Our spiritual family, created in Jesus, will be eternal.  

The good news is that I can lose my entire biological family but still find another family in Christ that will never dissolve. Will it be a perfect family?  Heavens no! How boring would that be? On this side of eternity, we are all flesh and blood, weak and weary, and are all in a process of becoming like Jesus.  Even the best of families disappoint. Sometimes they fight. There are critical bossy sisters and annoying little brothers. In the best of families, siblings can be very different which often leads to misunderstandings. Communication is hard.  Problems aren’t always solved.  But what we hope for is that time and maturity will allow us to love one another and have each other’s backs when needed.  What we want is to gather for Christmas and feel safe and at home. Spiritual family is no different.  

What I hope is that if you have abandoned the “organized church” or stepped out during Covid and have not returned, you will choose to come home for the holidays and then continue to reconnect with your eternal family afterChristmas has passed.  I’m not sure it is okay with Jesus if you spurn his bride. I know many have church hurts so find another church. The idea of a walk with Christ that does not include other believers in a local church (big church or house church) is foreign to the scriptures.  How can we love one another, serve one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, or even forgive one another if we are not together.  Jesus died for the people you may be rejecting.  

You won’t find a perfect church because every human is imperfect.  All the churches that Paul, Peter, Luke, and John wrote to in the New Testament were filled with problems. What we find is a perfect Savior who is working in his imperfect church to make it better.  But the glory of the church is just that…God loving, saving and maturing people whose lives are a mess because the blood of his Son has covered their imperfections. God has gifted every believer and if you are missing from the ranks, the picture of Jesus presented by the church to the world will be incomplete.  The amazing synergism of God’s people working together will not bear the fruit it could have born. Without you being present and plugged in, the body of Christ will have to function without your assignment being fulfilled. 

As Christmas and the New Year approaches, I encourage you to reconnect, to reconcile, and to actively become part of your spiritual family again.  Don’t stay home. Don’t stay away. But come home for the holidays.  

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.” So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere (Lk.9:1-6).

In the passage above, Luke tells us of the moment Jesus gifted the twelve apostles and sent them out on their own.  I think there are two important lessons we can draw from this account. First, the twelve had been living with Jesus and seeing him heal the sick and cast out demons on a daily basis.  Perhaps, he had invited them to do some of those things themselves as he was training them to carry on his ministry after his departure.  But the presence of the Master had been a security blanket for these followers of his.  If they stumbled or fell short he would instruct them or pick up where they had failed and finish the job.  

But now, it was time for them to try their wings.  Not only was he sending them out without him, but he was telling them to take no staff, no bag, no bread, and no money as they went. The crucial result of this outing would be for them to learn that the Father would provide and  work through them supernaturally as they preached, healed and delivered.  Many of us, and perhaps myself as well, have rarely been put in a position in which we would fail, be imprisoned, starve, or die without his miraculous intervention.  When we do find ourselves in those circumstances and see the Father keep his promises in supernatural ways, our faith can blossom.

We actually need to let the Holy Spirit put us in those positions more often that we normally do. Sharing our faith with someone hostile to the gospel, sharing a word we believe is from the Lord with a stranger at our favorite coffee shop, or praying for a man we just met at the grocery story to stand up and walk away from his wheel chair are moments in which we will be foolish failures, unless God shows up. The axiom is true that unless we take risks, no faith is required.  But when we do risk, faith grows.  Even if our prayers do not heal on that occasion or if the “prophetic word” simply leaves the recipient puzzled, God is pleased that we stepped out in faith and that we risked failure doing what we believed he wanted us to do.

Remember when Peter saw Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee and impulsively leaped from the boat to join his Rabbi.  He took a few steps of faith, but then allowed the crashing waves to take his attention off Jesus.  Of course, as he sank, Jesus pulled him out of the water.  We may think Peter was foolish for doing such a thing, but as many have noted, no one else in the boat was even willing to try. I have to believe Jesus was more pleased with Peter at that moment than with the eleven others who huddled inside the boat.  

Faith only grows when we see Jesus deliver us from difficulties that we know we would not have survived or succeeded in without his intervention. We need to look back and recognize his deliverance in our past but also be willing to step into risky situations in the present to do his will.  As we do, faith grows and our spiritual gifts increase.

A second lesson here is more subtle.  The text tells us that the twelve were given power and authority to heal, cast out demons, and preach with power.  Judas was among those twelve and so we must assume that he also healed, cast out demons, and preached.  The question becomes, “How could he have experienced those amazing manifestations of God through him, and still betray Jesus?  Sometimes giftings run far ahead of character.  Not only did he betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities, but we are told he also stole from the money people gave to fund the ministry of Jesus.  Great gifts, no character.

As we seek to grow in spiritual gifts, we should seek even more to grow in character…to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  Some men have been thrust into notoriety on the basis of their extraordinary gifts…preaching, healing, prophecy, and so forth.  And yet, the weight of their “success” was more than their character could support.  It’s not to say that true men of God cannot be ambushed by the enemy in a moment of vulnerability, but when influential leaders have been hiding sin for years, there is a flaw in their character.

Sometimes, the enemy convinces gifted people their notoriety, their large churches, and their leading roles at huge conferences are marks of God’s approval so they minimize their sin or somehow believe that God will give them a pass for their transgressions.  Sometimes, they choose not to confess and deal with the sin because they believe it would cost them the notoriety and influence they love. However, God does not approve and eventually will reveal the sin if the man or woman does not confess and repent.  The lesson is…in the kingdom of God, the fruit of the Spirit is always of greater value than the gifts of the Spirit.  We must make sure the fruit always runs ahead of our gifts.

Last week, we began a brief look a the gift of tongues, which has been a stumbling block for many who were considering the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. I have visited with a number of individuals who actually attend our church from faith backgrounds that minimized the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Many of them are cautiously open to prophecy and healing and even deliverance but balk at the idea of tongues because to them it seems so “weird.” Actually the word “weird” is defined as unusual, unexpected or not natural. So, tongues, as well as any other gift of the Spirit, qualifies as weird. But the question for most is, “What is the point of tongues?”

Last week we looked at the manifestation of tongues as a human language not known previously by the speaker…such as on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. The advantage of such a gift for evangelism is clear. But what about the manifestation of tongues as a “spiritual language” that is not understood as a human language by anyone? This form is what some have called “ecstatic utterances” and these utterances are directed to God rather than men. Paul says, “For anyone who speaks in tongues does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit” (1 Cor. 14:2).

He goes on to say that we may pray in tongues as well as speak in tongues. “For this reason, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding” (1 Cor. 14:13-15). In summary, Paul will command the church to only speak in tongues (speaking to the church), if there is someone present who has the gift of interpretation of tongues. Otherwise, no one is strengthened or encouraged because they have no idea what has just been said and all gifts are given to build up the body of Christ. So why tongues at all?

The value of tongues is found in the phrase, “they utter mysteries by the Spirit.” In other words, it is the Spirit himself who is prompting our utterances. It is the Spirit who is speaking through us or praying through us. Remember in Romans 8, Paul declares, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Rom.8:26). When we speak or pray in tongues, we are stepping aside and surrendering control to the Spirit. We are letting him speak to the church or pray through us. Sometimes, the Spirit is praying for us as we pray in tongues and sometimes he is prompting us to pray for others that the Lord wants to touch. Either way, tongues makes us more sensitive to the Spirit and allows us to practice submitting to him and letting him have his way,

When tongues are interpreted for the church, everyone is built up in the same way a prophetic word for the church builds them up. When we pray in tongues, we are built up personally as the Spirit prays for us and intercedes for us. Paul teaches us that speaking or praying in tongues edifies (builds up, strengthens, encourages) the speaker (1 Cor. 14:4). Jude 20 also suggests that we build ourselves up by praying in the Spirit. So as we speak or pray in tongues, we are “edifying” ourselves. The Greek word is oikodomeo. It means to build as a house, repair, construct, strengthen, promote growth, make more able, or embolden. It appears that as we surrender our mind and tongue to the Holy Spirit, he is doing a work in us that matures, emboldens, and even repairs some things that need his touch.

As we surrender to the Spirit through the gift of tongues, we also experience an intimacy with the Spirit that may come in no other way. We sense his leading and even his emotions as he speaks through us. In doing so, I am more aware of his move at other times. I will also confirm that when I pray in tongues on a regular basis, my understanding of the word increases along with my recall of scripture. My times of praying with the understanding seem more effective and wisdom in counseling seems more readily available. Praying in tongues is a way to actively spend time in the presence of the Spirit so that our anointing increases as well.

There is much more I could say about tongues, but this is sufficient for now. The gift of tongues has a ministry aspect as well as a personal edification aspect. The ministry aspect may not be a gift everyone receives, but I am convinced that God wants each of his children to have the gift of praying in tongues. If you do not have a prayer language (praying in tongues), I would encourage you to seek it. Ask the Spirit to release that gift in you. Ask others who already possess a prayer language to lay hands on you and ask the Spirit to give you that gift. It is the only spiritual gift that is specifically designated to build us up as we exercise it. It is also a gift that requires surrender to the Spirit in a way that aids us in surrendering to him at other times. If you ask for it, but don’t receive it right away, keep asking. In the kingdom, those that are hungry get fed. If you hunger for all God has for you, you will keep asking and he will answer.

Blessings in Him and in His Spirit.