Monday Night Supernatural

We have been meeting every Monday Night for five months now. We started out in an 'upper room', which is quite appropriate for a class on the Supernatural.
It has been a wonderful and wild experience. It has become much more than a 'class'.

In March I was asked to start a new class for people who were interested in learning more about the supernatural gifts. Some people are hungry for revival. Many are interested in the 'things' they are hearing about in church.
There is a definite 'buzz' in the Body of Christ surrounding the move of God in the realm of the supernatural. Everywhere people are hearing about someone getting healed of major illness. The 'prophetic' gifts are being expressed in many of churches. Signs and Wonders are becoming common place. (if you are paying attention to that sort of thing).

The 'buzz' is not always positive. There is always the fear of weirdness and abuse. Still, the news of 'revival' is out there. People are curious.
There is coming a time when it will not be able to be ignored. But for now, it is enough to say that the 'revival' is being noticed. The 'fruit' of this renewal is touching many lives in a very positive way.

So I began the 'class' intending to continue for 10 weeks. We wanted to cover the various gifts. We had a special evening on the prophetic gift, then one on healing the sick. Some of our guest 'instructors' were regular folk who had a strong gift in some area. Most of them were members of the 'class' itself.
We never really advertised it. We sent out a few emails. Put a note in several church bulletins.
The response on the very first night gave a hint of things to come. We had more than 25 people show up and five churches were represented. This went on for several weeks. New people kept coming, the curious and the hungry, the questioners and the seekers. Before long we lost track.
(I have been told that we have had over 100 people come and visit the meeting over the past five months, they have come from 10 or more different churches, 30-50 return every Monday and new people keep coming).

The classes were, at first, instructional. We also had times for prayer and ministry. The fellowship was always good. But we soon realized that something else was happening.
The Holy Spirit was the One leading the meeting. The 'atmosphere' in the room could not be explained by good teaching, great fellowship or ministry.
Our 'worship' consisted of a couple of songs on CD or Video. The teachings on the various gifts were not given by experts or great speakers. But the Holy Spirit showed up every time, and we began to recognize that something extraordinary was happening.
Before the '10 weeks' were up we all decided that we were having too much fun to stop. We decided to keep the meeting going every Monday. After a while we realized 'this is no longer a CLASS'. (unless we were to admit that the Holy Spirit had become the Teacher). We recognized that there was some other dynamic happening.

This meeting had the atmosphere of revival.

I think it is important to recognize when the Spirit is at work. It is not something that allows us to claim special favor or blessing, rather, it is a attitude of 'honoring' His Presence and being grateful. In that light, I am very grateful for this moment.

We lay no claim to a 'revival atmosphere' like Azusa Street. Nor are we anywhere approaching the full measure of what 'revival' can look like. I have been to places like Brazil, Kansas City and Redding Ca., where the manifestations of His Presence are astonishing. I have been out of my own 'comfort zone' in some of these places. I have seen people touched by the Spirit in ways I cannot explain with any natural language.
Still, I sincerely believe that we must honor what we do have on Monday Night and not compare it to what we might think is 'better'. When we focus on what (we think) we 'lack' we inevitably dis-empower the very thing we 'have', and the result is that we get stuck there.

Honoring what God IS doing is extremely important. It is important as it pertains to our own growth in our own gifts, and it is important in our churches and ministries.
When we 'see' God's hand moving elsewhere, in one Christian or in another location, it is an invitation to 'go after that thing' for ourselves.
God never shows us something we 'lack', He only reveals something we can have. When we see something in the Spiritual realm that we desire, we 'press into' it, It is an invitation for 'the MORE' that is always available to us through the finished work of the Cross.

What we do have on Monday Night is wonderful. We have His Presence. We have community. We have people being healed of sickness. (a woman was healed of stage 4 ovarian cancer last month). We are seeing consistent manifestations of the prophetic gifts. Words of knowledge, Words of encouragement, Words of wisdom. Angelic visitations. People falling in the Spirit.
There are many reports of His tangible power in the form of heat and tingling throughout a persons body. And more testimonies of people being touched by a sense of His love then can be counted.

It is the atmosphere of revival.
To call it anything else would be dishonoring to what God is doing in our midst.

To illustrate this point Bill Johnson uses an apple orchard: In an orchard you could pick, of one tree, a ripe apple and find it full of flavor and satisfying fruit. Then you might find a small unripe apple on another tree. But to say it is 'not an apple' is untrue. It may be immature, yet it is still an apple.
Be thankful for the apple, it is full of potential !
Just as Jesus gave thanks for one boy's tiny lunch of loaves and fish, before it was multiplied to feed the thousands, we must thank God for what we have, bless it and watch it grow.
God always multiplies what we are thankful for!

I am very thankful for what God is doing on Monday Night.
But I realize that there is more going on than 'signs and wonders'.
I believe people are coming to Monday Night for more than the curious manifestations of His Spirit.
The atmosphere in the room is filled with His Presence because we focus on His Presence.
We expect it because we have come to understand something wonderful about our God: He is good.!
The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus, He loves it when the gospel is preached. And the gospel is a Person, Jesus.

When we focus our attention on the Finished Work of His Cross, we focus on Jesus.
When we take our eyes off ourselves, and even off the manifestations that touch us in the supernatural, we begin to 'see' the Kingdom. We can see the Kingdom of God best when we first recognize the King. (read my previous Blog: 'The Kingdom of God').

The message of God's grace opens up our hearts to understand why God would touch us with tangible expressions of His love. When He heals the sick, it is a touch of His love. When He gives a prophetic 'word' that reveals to a person something only He would know, God is saying, "I see you and I care to speak to you of my love".
We can understand why God would allow us to 'sense' or see the presence of His angels, and why He might let His Spirit fall so gloriously upon a heart that the person would 'fall' at His touch.
Even laughter and shaking, gold dust and feathers can be seen as the gentle revelation of His goodness. When we discover that He really is good.

He is good to us because He likes us. His goodness is expressed in His love.
The ultimate expression of love is the laying down of one's own life. So it is as Jesus defined it in John 15: 12-13.
It is interesting to note that Jesus used the word 'friend' when He spoke of laying down a life. Clearly He was referring to His own 'greater love'. And then, in context, He tells us that we 'are His friends'. (vs 14). He likes us!

I have noticed a wonderful thing.
I point it out simply because some people are sure to draw attention to the following words Jesus spoke in verse 14: "I call you friends if you do what I command you".

Some would say that this makes His love conditional. Some would point to this as an admonition to avoid (what some might call) 'the nonsense' of the supernatural. Some would say that we are not focusing on the command when we take pleasure in the supernatural manifestations of His love.

But the wonderful thing I have noticed is that the people who are touched by His tangible love are the very ones who are most likely to DO the thing Jesus said was His command, they tend to love one another. (vs 17). and they tend to demonstrate His love with real action and genuine expression.

I think people are coming on Monday night because they know that they are loved.
Loved.
By God, and each other.

We also know that, as 'friends' of God, we are capable of hearing what He is saying. We know that because of the finished work of the cross we all have access to everything Jesus paid for.
We are new creatures in Christ.
Supernatural ones. And because of His love, He does not play favorites.
We all are filled with His Spirit, gifted and called.
On Monday night we tend to remind each other of who we are in Him. Personally, I think that is what Biblical encouragement should really look like.

So it is, in our Monday Night meeting, that I find we have a group of people who are loving one another because He first loved on them with tangible expressions of His love.
Not to mention that they are taking His love to the streets, healing the sick and inviting the lost to discover a God of power and love.
Not to mention that in context of John 15: 14-17 that we are 'no longer called servants, but friends', and as such we are capable of 'knowing what the Master is doing'.

I think the Master is doing miracles!

And Monday Night is miraculous.