Come get a glimpse of the Burning Ones Internship on Monday January 23 @ 7p.m.!  It will be an amazing night to meet the interns and staff, ask questions, see the building and worship with us! Invite a friend!

Burning Ones

230 N. Broadway Ave

Shawnee, Ok 74801

PSALM 27 PRAYER GUIDE

1. You will release Light & revelation that causes me to live fearless
Vs. 1—The Lord is my light…whom shall I fear

2. You are my savior from every attack, temptation, weakness, & insecurity therefore I will be full of faith!
Vs. 1—The Lord is my salvation…whom shall I fear?

3. My adversaries and my enemies (name them______________________) will stumble and fall in 2012.
Vs. 2 My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fail

4. I will be confident and fearless in the face of great opposition to the prophetic words and promises of God for my life in 2012.
Vs. 3—Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear; though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident.

5. I ask that you make me a man/woman of One Thing this year!
Vs. 4—One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

6. I was made to dwell continuously in the presence of the Lord and enjoy intimacy with God. Lord give me more!
Vs. 4—That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life!

7. I was made to see, experience and encounter the Beauty of the Lord. I ask for a pure heart to see more and to have supernatural revelations of the glory of Jesus.
Vs. 4—To behold the beauty of the Lord and meditate in His temple

8. I declare that when things start shaking you will conceal me and protect me
Vs. 5—For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle.

9. I declare that I sit with You high on a rock far above my enemies. Teach me to see and pray from the high places of Christ’s victory over all my enemies.
Vs. 5-6—He will lift me upon a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me.

10.Release Joy and New Songs of Praise!
Vs. 6—I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord

11. Give me Grace and a heart that contends for answered prayer. (What are you contending for?)
vs.7—Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, and be gracious to me and answer me.

12. Give me ears to hear and the desire to answer the call to seek you face! Give me a pursuing heart.
Vs. 8—When You said, “seek my face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.”

13. Give me a face-to-face, supernatural encounter with You!
Vs. 9—Do not hide your face from me

14. I declare you will be close to me, nurture, protect and provide for me like a Father and Mother. Reveal more of your Father and Mother heart to me.
Vs. 10—For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up.

15. Teach and empower me to live like you! Teach me to live in the limitless, impossible realm.
Vs. 11 Teach me your way Oh Lord

16. Remove every obstacle to me pursuing you with all my heart and walking and living like you in the earth.
Vs. 11 Lead me in a level path because of my foes

17. Deliver me from the accusations and lies of the enemy tsent to deceive me from believing who I am, who you are and what you have promised.
Vs. 12—Do not deliver me to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breath out violence.

18. Expose and Break off every accusation against my heart and destiny
vs.12—for false witnesses have risen against me…

19—Give me revelation and faith in the goodness of the Lord that breaks off despair and hopelessness.
Vs. 13—I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

20. Give me grace to wait for the Lord and rest in His sufficiency
vs. 14—Wait for the Lord…

21. Pour courage and strength in my heart to contend for the fullness of God to be released in my life and my city.
Vs. 14--Be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.

I just wanted to give you a quick update and testimony of what God is doing through the Burning Ones internship and what is ahead for the coming season.

We graduated 9 blazing, fiery radical young adults from the first full time internship in May of this year! These pioneers helped us decode the DNA of the discipleship aspect of the Burn and helped us gain new ground for hundreds of young adults that God will send to the Burn to be discipled, equipped and sent to impact the nations.

The stories of healing, deliverance, growth and life-change are too numerous to recount. This small community of young adults found restoration for their hearts, forged their character and released their gifts and anointing in 15 U.S. cities and two foreign countries--including one month of ministry in Israel.

We are so excited to announce that the next internship class will start in September 2011! We are now accepting applications! Please pray about joining us!

 Blessings, David Fritch

Take a Minute to leave a comment to tell our 2010 Graduates how proud you are of them. If God gives you a prophecy, word of encouragement or just a hearty "Congratulations!" you can do that here!

What happens when you put nine unique, fiery, and passionate, young adults together for nine-months to give their lives, full-time, to pursue the “one thing” that really matters in life? Our journey as the Burn 24-7’s first pioneer, full-time internship is an experience that has forever changed the lives of those that have given their lives to this for the last year. However, this journey to the place of radical life-change was full of death to self, awkward relational conflicts, getting gut wrenching honest, facing fears, disciplining our flesh & winning and losing the battles against doubt and accusation. To be a part of this experience and to witness first hand the stunning transformation of these young adults has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.

Established in Love
I remember our first week of the internship, everything was so new, so exciting and everyone was so eager to give their all in every activity that we did—especially worship. One morning during worship the presence of the Lord was so thick that it was overwhelming. Many were weeping, and some were standing in stunned silence as God was revealing his love to us. At the end of worship each intern shared the most amazing visions, and words that God spoke to them. However, I noticed that one of our guys was visibly upset…almost mad.

He began to share his feelings of rejection and anger that he feels like he never encounters God like everyone else. As he was speaking I saw in my minds eye a picture of a veil over his heart. The Lord reminded me of 2 Corinthians 3:16 that speaks of the veil that covers the hearts of people whenever the law is read. In an instant the Lord said to me, “whenever anyone tries to approach me by living by the law, and thereby trying to earn my love it is as if a veil covers their heart and they can’t see clearly who I am or who they are to me.”

This ministry time was a moment that is forever ingrained in my heart and it was the beginning of a journey of understanding God’s overwhelming unconditional love for us even in our weakness and immaturity! When someone feels love it changes everything about them. It changes the way they walk, talk, and how the prioritize their life! It has been so beautiful to see the amazing transformation on the faces of these interns as they are discovering they are God’s treasure!

Humility displaces the Devil
About half way into the internship God began to deal with us about the sin of presumption and pride. As a result of this sin the general atmosphere of the internship house was heavy, apathetic, irritable and many began to complain that they felt burnt out.

One night during worship the Lord led us into corporate repentance for not listening to his voice, for depending more on our gifts and talents rather than operating out of a place of intimacy and anointing. We had become experts at having good prayer meetings, and ministering to others but had failed in our first priority—intimacy and dependency on the Lord. The spiritual attack during this time was extremely intense and many were struggling emotionally and financially in big ways. The day after we repented and realigned our heart to the Lord we saw instant breakthrough in finances—in fact several thousand dollars came in the next day. We also saw an overwhelming and dramatic shift in people’s emotions. People were lighter, they were reenergized, and full of joy.

From then on we decided that we would do nothing without consulting the Holy Spirit! There are too many stories to tell here of the healings, break-throughs and fruit that has come as a result of this—the main one being joy! Ministry and life is so much more fun when you do it with the Holy Spirit leading!

Healing from Hurts

Deep issues of un-forgiveness, bitterness, self-hatred, fear and depression seemed to almost instantly break off of people as God set them free from the shame of their past. As God has been healing the interns many of them have said that many things we taught at the beginning of the year they never comprehended until God healed their heart.

From Law to Love

During the last month of the internship God has been teaching us not only to receive his unconditional love and grace in our weakness but to also learn to love each other with this same kind of grace. I believe the only way to have effective relationship in this life is to be full of grace. Grace means that we are no longer concerned about punishing people for their shortcomings or for falling short of our expectations but that we are more concerned about our relationship with them. How do relationships work outside of the law—outside of having to punish people when they fail, or fall short of our expectations?

If you transgress me and I punish you then I am saying I am the one in control of the relationship. But under grace if you transgress me, and it’s not my responsibility to punish you or change you then we free the person to be convicted by the Holy Spirit, take responsibility for their own actions and to deal with the consequences of their sin with integrity. One of the greatest freedoms we have experienced is the being liberated from the lie that we can change or control anyone! We can’t! So they have to be responsible to change themselves. We are only at the beginning of this journey but our love and respect for each other is escalating!

On May 28, nine-radically transformed young adults will make history as they become the first full-time Burn 24-7 intern graduates. The best is yet to come!

Leave a Comment & Word of Congratulations for our graduates!

The past couple of months in the internship have been refreshing, healing, and freeing. The atmosphere here has shifted immensely as we have moved into deeper levels of dependence and trust in the Lord. It seems that one of the major things that has been totally surrendered to the Lord is the schedule. Not that we dont have a schedule and we have quit doing everything, but it seems that our agenda has become completely subject to change according to what the Lord wants to do. An example of one change is the evangelism time on mondays and thursdays. Evangelism was a two hour period where we would wait on the Lord for direction before hitting the city to minister to the lost. We have seen the Lord do amazing things during evangelism, but the last few times of evangelism have had nothing to do with evangelism at all. The Lord has asked us to wait on Him and surrender those two hours to Him. So far what we have experienced in this time has been healing, refreshing, restful, informative, and intimate.

There is a real sense of peace and rest amongst the group. We are all so thankful for what the Lord has done and is doing in the last few moments of this semester and for our faithful supporters and leaders. The bottom line is that God is doing great things in our midst and continues to move and heal and restore and teach. We have entered into an exciting season of real encounter with our beloved Jesus. 

If we aren't careful we can stop enjoying this amazing journey of life with the Lord and things become routine, mundane and worst of all a drudgery. However, God did not intend for us to walk alone and to do things in our own strength. He didn't intend for us to function without his oil--the oil of Joy (Is. 61:3).

The oil of joy is makes life so much easier! Joy is surely our energy and life that keeps us moving forward toward the purposes of God. If you enjoy doing something you can do it for hours and never know where the time went. Just recently we were on a ministry trip to Arkansas and had just spent ourselves in hours of intense intercession and everyone was physically exhausted, a little whiney, and ready for bed. When we got back to our host home I thought surely our interns would immediately crash until they saw something across the room that completely changed their countenance. When they saw the x-box game system their eyes twinkled, they started laughing, they got animated and their energy level went through the roof! I knew from then on that it would be a truly long and enjoyable night. They stayed up til 6 a.m. playing games and said in the end they only thought they'd been playing for an hour!

This is what joy does! It lubricates everything! It makes life easy and enjoyable. It makes ministry a pleasure! It makes relationships fun and exciting! Of course life can't only be spent playing video games or doing only the things that bring us pleasure. Is it possible to enter into this kind of joy, enjoyment and pleasure in everyday life? If it is then why do we not seem to enter that joy very often? If it is possible then how do we get it?

To enter this joy then we must understand that joy is supernatural, it comes from the Lord and is not dependent on outward circumstances. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5) and is cultivated as we spend time in his presence. David understood this when he said, "you fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand" (Psalm 16:11). Joy is found in being with a God who is always victorious, is never depressed, is never overwhelmed and is always joyful! As we learn to live life in the presence of God then everything will change!

To enter this joy we must let go of our agenda and choose to be led by His Spirit. Jesus said that "his yoke is easy and his burden is light" (Matt. 11:28-30) There is joy in co-laboring with the Lord. Most of the time we are carrying the weight of life, ministry, family, and finances with our own strength, wisdom, gifts and insight. When we step out of the pride of living life in our own power then we will enter the supernatural realm and this realm is where true joy is! Life is never boring if you are led by the Spirit. There is so much joy in letting the Holy Spirit lead your day and your choices. The Spirit-led life is one of adventure! David said, "I have set the Lord always before me...therefore my heart is glad...(Psalm 16:8-9).

Even in simple decisions I am learning to trust the Holy Spirit's leading. A few days ago I ask the Lord to order my day and I felt that I needed to go pick up our posters for a conference we are doing. As I picked up the posters I ran into two young adults who the Lord told me to give money for an event they were trying to raise money for (a divine appointment for them). As we were talking a lady who I rarely see came up and poured out her heart to us and shared how she was far from the Lord and needed deliverance! We prayed for her as she wept and returned to the Lord.

Then on my way to drop off some posters to a local pastor I dropped by Walgreens to get some supplies for our upcoming road-trip and ran into someone who was at a very important cross-roads in their relationship with the Lord. We prayed together for almost an hour and I watched God do an amazing work of healing and restoration!

Not all days are filled with this many divine appointments but being led by the Spirit has postured my heart to expect God to lead and move everyday that I live.

As we let go of our own way then we are prepared to receive His supernatural joy that will sustain us in every circumstance of life. Joy is supernatural, it comes from his presence and it can be asked for and entered into by the grace of God. David said, "you fill me with joy" (Ps. 16:11). We can ask the Lord to fill us with His joy to us and he will. I think most of the time we run empty on Joy and need a fresh touch from the Lord!

God is desiring to release an explosion of joy that brings ease to life, softens our hearts, smoothes the rough edges and brings pleasure back to everything we are doing. I believe this next season will be one of joy and delight and we will see God break-through in everything we do! With joy we are moving away from being driven to being led!

Its 12 a.m. Saturday morning and there are group of desperate radicals crying out to the Lord prophesying that "He is Coming!" The atmosphere is absolutely electric with prophetic expectation of the coming in-breaking of His power into the earth. Young people are dancing with wild abandon as if an unseen hand is shaking them as the band is singing, "Wake up!" "Wake up!"

Seasoned intercessors are swaying and groaning with intercession! "He is coming!" the band cries out! The atmosphere is pregnant with expectation of the awakening! In the midnight hour He has a remnant hidden away, crazy enough to pray all night and prepare the way for the coming of the King! "He's Coming! He's coming"--the band proclaims!

A shift! A Break-through! Surely the Great awakening is upon us!

We will be Burning til 9 p.m. Saturday Night March 6 at Living Word Church in Shawnee! Don't miss it!

On a lighter note, we also visited an amazing international church in Haifa (an hour north of Galilee). Pastored by an ex-New York actor by the name of David Davis. He has been in Haifa for thirty years and has a congregation of Jews, Arabs, Russians, Africans, and more that I don't remember. The atmosphere there was very positive. It was sort of our refuge from the battle field back in Jerusalem. We had a 12 hour burn over night there in Haifa. We got to experience worship from the different nations represented. This is yet another moment I will treasure for the rest of my life! That night we took the stage and released the life giving sound of heaven in Gods beloved nation. 

We are so happy to be home and excited to impart to our friends and family what was imparted to us on the hill of the Lord. God bless! 

By Kevin Wood

I guess I am undergoing somewhat of an awakening--an awakening totruth! If God's word is true then we should be seeing it's effects andresults in the real world--right? When I was in 7th grade I playedbasketball for the Lexington Bulldogs. We won exactly 1 game the wholeseason but our pep rally's were amazing! We had the whole school in afrenzy of excitement about defeating our opponents and becoming thebest team on earth. Yet our excitement never translated to actualvictories. Sometimes I feel as if our church services are like peprally's for a team that never wins.

We preach, foam at the mouth, sing, shout, and talk a lot of theoryabout the power and glory of the Kingdom but yet there seems to be adisconnect with the amount of emotion we manage to stir up and theactual results our message has in every day life. And so we leave ourChristian Pep rally's somewhat satisfied only to be moved emotionally.Then we face Monday Morning and people in our lives stay unbelievers,stay sick, depressed, poor and in bondage to something. Wait! Thisisn't what I signed up for.

Lately, our interns have been actually daring to believe the things wepreach. So 12 of us nervously set out for Wal Mart to pray for the sickand proclaim the good-news of the kingdom. We left with greatexcitement and returned with zero testimonies of actual healings orsalvations. Most of our encounters were awkward attempts to share thegood news. In spite of this our hearts were stirred because we wereactually practicing what we say we believe. We counted this as asuccess because we figured we ended up bringing encouragement, hope,and the light of the gospel to dozens of people that day. I feel asthough God smiled on our awkward attempt to share His love.

This first experiment was about "getting over ourselves" and the fearof man! The next day at Wal-Mart doing a fundraiser for our trip toIsrael and as the people streamed in our group couldn't help but prayfor people that obviously had physical problems. What happened nextblew our minds and has forever changed our lives and will foreverchange our city.

The first person that got prayed for was a lady in a wheel chair!Nothing like running toward the giants! I was thinking, "couldn't westart with praying for a head-ache?" They prayed for one of her legswhich was in pain and which had limited mobility. As they prayed thelady started exclaiming that she felt intense heat in her leg and thenthe pain was gone! She kept saying, "there's no pain!" "I came in withpain and now there's no pain!". The fundraiser got abandoned when thishappened! They began praying for everyone they saw with physicalproblems and as a result they reported 7 healings! One lady had a tornACL and got completely healed. Arthritis, and back injuries were amongother notable miracles that day.

Even after such amazing testimonies I found myself defaulting to myChristian Atheism! My unbelief still taunted me with thoughts like,"Was that person being polite by saying they feel better or did theyreally get healed?" Well God is so patient with me and was gracious toconfirm a couple of these healings.

Apparently word started getting around town. I heard from a friend whosaid, "I ran into a lady from church and she said she got completelyhealed when one of your interns prayed for her at Wal-Mart and she hasbeen posting her testimony all over facebook!"

The next day we found ourselves in Wal-Mart again following severalwords of knowledge about a person with hearing loss. The first personwe talked to surprisingly enough had hearing loss in her left ear. Shewore a hearing aid and said she has been believing for healing for along time. With our new found faith we laid hands on her and commandedher to be healed. As we were praying she said she could feel an intenseheat on her ear. Then when we asked her if she was any better she said,"everything is louder! It's as if everyone is talking really loud! Ohmy gosh I can hear that lady over there really clearly!"

To put it lightly our lives are being wrecked by our amazing God. Lastnight we were reliving the glory moments and someone said, "what havewe been doing this whole time?" "How many people could've been healed,saved and encouraged but weren't because we didn't really believe?"

Life can never be the same and we are so thirsty to see people getsaved and encounter our beautiful Jesus and his power to heal, forgive,and deliver! Stay tuned!

By Rachel Williams

Today I am literally sitting in the fulfillment of dreams and prayers have prayed for years.  Years ago I saw visions of a young company of prophets that would give themselves to the place of prayer, worship and the study of the word and would take the gospel with power to the ends of the earth. In prayer I would see pictures of young people in a big house. I saw them in various rooms worshipping, praying, fellowshipping and prophesying. I saw them going in teams to unreached nations and prophesying to the dead and watching them live again. The vision gave me hope but as the testing and trials of life came the revelation would seem like a pipe dream. 

In January of this year the seeds of this dream began to come to the surface and take shape. Early this year we began an internship for young worshipers and intercessors out of my 1000 sqft. home with five brave pioneers. We worshiped, and prayed four hours a day. We gave ourselves to study the beautiful face of Jesus and then we poured ourselves out in ministry. We traveled the USA, ministered to the poor, and launched prayer furnaces.  Needless to say, sacrificing my home to hours and hours of ministry every day wasn’t easy and I learned some valuable lessons from this. However, I believe God took our willingness to step out in faith with the resources we had as a sacrifice and blessed the work of our hands. Yet I knew the time had come and we had outgrown my home…thank the Lord.

This summer I started prayer walking my neighborhood and came across an 8 unit apartment building for sale. When I saw it I started seeing visions of it filled with young people, singing, praying and encountering God.  After looking at with the real estate agent I realized this building was way out my league but it was perfect for what we needed.  Daily I prayed over this building for over two months, asking God what he wanted to do with it. Then one day the Lord told me to lay hands on the building and claim it as mine.

To make a long story short the owner agreed to let us lease the building for a minimal fee! We took possession last week and today I am writing to you from the three-bedroom house adjacent to the apartment building that came with the property. The window is open and I can hear the sound of interns worshiping  coming from the apartment building and filling the streets and catching the attention of people passing by. 

I still have to pinch myself when I look at what God gave us and what he is doing! We have 10 interns from all over the USA and one from England! These guys are a sign and wonder to me that God is indeed restoring David’s Tabernacle that the rest of humanity may seek Him (Amos 9:11).  They don’t have the language, the theology or the knowledge for the anointing they carry yet but this grace upon them is powerful and I believe that they will go from here and bring the light of God’s love to the darkest places on earth!  What is God getting ready to do in the earth? We have no idea!

For most of this week our new building has been empty with the exception of a few air mattresses. The reality of the expenses of this venture has provoked plenty of fear and worry. However, every time I release it to the Lord he seems to bring in a wave of provision. Just in the last two days the community has rallied and we have filled the place with bunk-beds, tables, and couches! God is faithful! I believe God is going to give us this facility! I don’t know how he is going to do it but I know the finances will pour in like a river when it is time! 

I heard Graham Cooke say that there is a place between our prophetic word and its fulfillment, called the desert, that we must endure before we are ready to inherit the promise.  He gives us the prophetic word to sustain us during the testing and trials. I feel as if I have I have crossed over into the fulfillment of words spoken over 10 years ago and the beauty is that I want Him more than I want anything He has given me! He was the real prize given at the end of the race!

Ever have one of those moments where you find yourself asking, “How did I get here?” Today was one of those days. Today I found myself in Kurdistan, giving English equivalency tests to members of the I. Democratic party in one of Sudam Hussein’s former Castle’s. I sat face to face with the men of this party who many in the international community consider to be t*rr*rist, giving them English proficiency tests. These men had no doubt seen much suffering, blood-shed and heart-ache in their fight to find freedom from dictators, and the tyrrany of militant Islam. Thousands of their people, the Kurds, had been boiled alive and slaughtered in this very castle, by Sudaam Hussein, only a few short years ago and now the place of their destruction has become a symbol of hope for their freedom.

The open door and favor for us to be with the leaders of this movement can only be attributed to God and His desire to reach these beautiful people. Here we were a group of Psalmist being given access to some of the most influential members of the I. Democratic party. Why did God send us? He could have sent people in with great strategies, plans, influence and finances to help these people but he sent a bunch of singers, and lovers of Jesus! This was what they needed!

After our English testing was over we sat on the veranda of this aging, broken down Castle of a former terrorist singing prophetic songs over about 80 of these freedom fighters. As I sat strumming my guitar and looking into the hardened faces of these warriors I saw a longing for freedom and a hunger for truth being awakened as we sang. The lines on their face softened and smiles abounded as we sang and as they intermittently broke out into traditional Kurdish dancing. They clapped, laughed and wept as we sang prophetic songs over them, and declared that their time for freedom, healing and love had come. The atmosphere was absolutely electric and the sense of God’s awesome presence was so real. The flute and saxophone seemed to mesmerize these men. It seemed as if they had never heard these instruments before but it could of been that what they had never heard was the sound of hope and love radiating from the music.

While playing and singing the Kurdish television cameras showed up to get footage. They requested that we join them in another room where they could get better footage. So here we were all sitting on a beautiful Persian rug in the aging rubble of Sudaam Hussein’s former castle singing prophetic songs and declaring the coming awakening to thousands of hopeless Kurds all over Kurdistan. In one moment God took the sound of worship, and the song of freedom that we sang to a few men and sent it like an arrow into the homes of thousands of people who have never heard the gospel one time in their lives.

After we sang for the camera’s the soldiers thanked us profusely and said that this was the first time that this Castle had ever heard music like this. They said that they could feel the spirit of the music in their hearts that our music sung to our God had turned a very somber place into a place of joy and hope. They didn’t have the language to say that what they felt was the presence of God! They encountered real hope! Not the hope of a political force that would maybe one day set them free but real, tangible hope from a God that could do more than give them political freedom—A God who could even set their hearts free!

The hunger among these people is surely a sign of the great work of the Holy Spirit that is preparing them find true freedom in Jesus Christ! It is only a matter of time before we see the Spirit of revelation break through and a flood of the Spirit come like a tidal wave to the dry and barren land of Kurdistan!

(we just got an invitation to come back and do a concert tomorrow night at a banquet in our honor--Wow!) Keep us in your prayers---we are believing God for the fire to fall!

If the gospel is true then when was the last time we personally saw it transform someone’s life? When was the last time you prayed for the sick and they got healed? When was the last time you shared this glorious gospel and someone turned from a life of sin? When was the last time demons actually manifested and departed out of someone in your presence? If you are like me I definitely hang my head low on some of these answers.

I realized on my trip to Israel that for all intents and purposes I might as well be an Atheist. Let me explain. God put me next to a Jewish man on our flight to Israel. I had a captive audience for 10 hours so I decided to open the conversation about Jesus. I spent 2 hours wrestling with this man’s mind and swapping doctrine for doctrine and to no avail. I mean after all I have a Master’s degree in Practical Theology and I have read a thing or two about what Jews believe…shouldn’t I have the upper hand? After this flight the Holy Spirit began to deal with me. He showed me that if I lived in the reality of the resurrected Christ I would have been joyfully proclaiming the truth of this and not trying to win an intellectual wrestling match.

For some reason we have equated right doctrine with Salvation, therefore we spend much of our time trying to get people’s brains straightened out and we spend even more hours trying to train people how to witness to unbelievers! Do you think Lazarus needed a 16 week course on evangelism after he was raised from the dead? When Jesus sent out the 70 he gave them so little instruction and resource that it was laughable to our modern methods (Luke 12). They didn’t even know how to pray yet but when they came back they came back shouting because the sick were healed and demons were exorcised! They were not effective because of their training, and eloquent speech. They were effective because they believed what they were sent to preach!

This Jewish man I sat next to on the plane didn’t need a thesis on Jesus as Messiah! He needed a witness! He needed to hear someone who had met the Messiah and had been raised from death to life! Teaching and discipleship come after the moment of encounter! I am not discounting the role of scripture and preaching in salvation but rather I am making a distinction between speaking from a stand-point of faith rather than unbelief.

This exposure of my unbelief has opened my eyes and has stirred my heart with excitement! Why? Because if He’s real and he’s alive I get to be a part of this great adventure of seeing His kingdom come to earth every day! If he’s real, why not pray for the lady in wheel chair at Wal-Mart? Or share his life-giving power with everyone I meet? Why would I withhold this glorious good news?

The rest of my trip to Israel I was a new man with a new perspective but the real test came when I got home! My first day home I went to Wal-Mart with eyes wide open looking to see who Jesus might want to heal or save! I kept asking, “Where are you moving?” and “What are you doing today Lord?” As I was leaving the store I saw I woman using a walker. I immediately started the wrestling match in my mind over how stupid I might appear etc. etc. Then I “manned”up and decided that if He is real then He can heal! Why wouldn’t I extend the mercy of God’s healing to this woman if I had the answer?

As I approached her I was surprised by my own boldness! I did believe! This is real! I told her that I am a believer in Jesus and that he heals the sick and I would like to pray for her healing. To my surprise they were very grateful and asked me to lift up their two children who were going in for surgery the following day. I really sensed a surge of faith as I prayed. When I was done I assured them that Jesus heard our prayers and that he was indeed moving for them and for their children. They were so blessed by what I did and kept thanking me.

I saw no visible sign of this woman’s instant healing but one thing I do know is that she encountered a different voice in her life that day! She encountered a voice of hope and life! How many people have just assumed that she would have to stay crippled? How many people ever challenged the spirit of infirmity in her body? Maybe no one! I believe this woman encountered Christ and I am expecting to see her again at Wal-Mart walking without any assistance!

Later that week I encountered an Indian woman limping towards her garage to get a wheel chair. I approached her with my new found confidence in the simplicity of the message of the cross. She said she woke up with severe pain in her leg. I told her Jesus is alive and he heals and she agreed to let me pray for her. After the prayer I asked her to test her leg for pain and to the glory of God she reported that the pain from that morning was completely gone. Once you see Jesus move you really begin to think differently every time you pray for someone!

Last night I prayed for a woman with several physical ailments including a extreme pain in her right foot! To make a long story short Jesus did it again! All the pain was gone after prayer and this woman’s faith was boosted to receive total restoration for other needs she has in her life!

“The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (1 Cor. 4:20). He’s alive! He has risen! If He is real then we must repent of our Christian Atheism and begin to prove the works of the Kingdom every day that we live and allow the Holy Spirit to do the convincing, and healing!

The Burning Ones on top of Sharp Top. Sharp Top is over 4,000 feet above sea-level. We wanted a hike...we got one. When we got to the top we began to pray over the region of Roanoke Valley. They forgot to tell us how windy it was.

The Burning Ones...