We all know that God longs to move mightily among our children. It is an indisputable fact that God wants to pour out His Spirit upon each and every child in our ministry. Because of scriptures like Isaiah 44:3, Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17, 39, this isn’t even open for discussion! If this is true (and we know that it is), then why aren’t we seeing this in our services? Why isn’t there a widespread outpouring of God’s Spirit in our services?
I answered this question at our Ignite the Supernatural Conference last week when I spoke in a general session on the subject “I Will Not Be Denied”. In Mark 10 we read a very familiar story, the account of Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus. Before telling of Bartimaeus in that service, I shared an insight of what happened before the two connected. In verse 46, Mark records that the great Miracle Maker went to Jericho. Common sense would tell us that Jericho was just like any other city. It was FULL of needs. Like every other city, it had the lame, blind, possessed, etc. But notice this. After stating that Jesus went to Jericho, Mark immediate says “and as He went out of Jericho …” From this passage, we can see that nothing happened in Jericho. No blind were healed. No lame began to run. Not a single deaf person received their hearing. It was a great big ZERO for Jericho.
To save time, let’s fast forward and look at Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus’ encounter with Jesus was far from being a big ZERO. What was the difference? Rather than spend paragraph upon paragraph stating the obvious, please take a couple of minutes to read of this miracle. Even though you know this story, look at it again with fresh eyes. Allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate Bartimaeus’ desperation.
Let’
s bring this home. I am convinced that week in and week out in our services Jesus comes by to show that He is in the room. And yet He comes and then He leaves with no evidence of Him being present. Again, a great big ZERO! I trust that the person reading this blog entry wants to interrupt the travel plans of the Miracle Maker. There has to be someone (that’s you) who will put their desperation on display. There has to be someone who can’t be quieted by peers and religious tradition. This person who stops Jesus’ has a determination that they won’t be denied.
Is that someone you? Come on and join me. Let’s throw our dignity to the side and cry even louder for the Son of David to stop and do what only He can do. Let’s put our desperation on display in our private times with God. Let’s push aside tradition and passionately show our desperation in our services. This is the generation for a mighty outpouring of God’s Spirit and WE WILL NOT BE DENIED!
I live in a small town called Heidelberg and the Holy Spirit has been pouring out on our congregation over the past 4 years we have gone from 60 people in a service to having to hold 3 services on a Sunday because our church only holds 150 people, God is awesome……..