What will the end time church look like? I believe it will mirror the first century church. It will be "strong and doing great exploits" (Dan.11:32). Signs, miracles and wonders will be the norm. Which begs the question, where are the signs, miracles and wonders at in today's church? God gave me a dream on March 13,2002, that brought to me great insight as to why we rarely see signs, miracles and wonders in the modern-day church. The dream has been shared with many people in church settings and has been received with a very positive response.
In the dream I was coming out of a church with my family. As we were coming out we saw the pastor (who looked like Oral Roberts, although it wasn't him), on his knees in some mud beside a church bus; even his suit was soiled with the mud, and he was crying very loudly. I went to him and asked what was burdening him so badly. All he could say was "where are the signs, miracles and wonders?" I replied to him, we no longer see them because of: 1)a lack of faith; 2)a lack of a spirit of anticipation; and 3)sin in the camp. Then God gave me Duet.23:14. The pastor looked like Oral Roberts although it was not him. Then I awoke and received the interpretation.
Why is it in the New Testament we read about the lame walking; the dumb speaking; the deaf hearing; the dead rising up to life; and many other miracles, yet today we see very little of this in the church? Where is it to be found in scripture that God was going to remove signs, miracles and wonders from His people? Nowhere!!
The first reason for our not seeing signs, miracles and wonders is our lack of faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please God." For example, when we get sick, what do we generally do? We take medicine. If it is bad enough we go to the doctor. If it is a sickness unto death, we pray. We then will go to the elders of the church and ask to be anointed and prayed for that we may receive a miracle healing. What's wrong with this picture? Its all done backwards. If we are a people of faith why did we not go to God first? This should be the normal response of a person of faith, we trust God first. If we desire to see signs, miracles and wonders we must increase our faith.
The second reason that we no longer see signs, miracles and wonders is our lack of a spirit of anticipation. Do we come to church expecting to see God show up? Judging by the fact that so many come to church late and desire to be seated in the rear of the sanctuary and dressed like they are going to a picnic instead of anticipating a King to show up,I would say we aren't expecting to see anything out of the ordinary. If we were anticipating God showing up to do great things among us, we would be sure to arrive plenty early to secure a front row seat so we would not miss seeing a sign, miracle or wonder or whatever God would choose to do. I remember attending World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, with my family back in the late 1980's. We arrived about an hour early for the morning service and we still had to sit in the very back of the church. After the service we asked an usher how early we should arrive for the evening service in order to secure a good seat. He told us to be sure to be in line by 3PM. The doors did not open until 5PM with the service starting at 6PM. We arrived at 3PM and there were already a few hundred people in line . These people were anticipating a holy visitation and they did not want to miss it.I wonder how we would worship and praise God in our church services if we were expecting a holy visitation? If you want to see signs, miracles and wonders in your church, as well as in your life, start having a spirit of anticipation.
The third reason that we do not see signs, miracles and wonders is there is sin in the camp. Duet.23:14 states, "For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your CAMP, to DELIVER (signs,miracles,wonders) you and give your enemies over to you; therefore, your CAMP shall be HOLY, that He may see no unclean thing among you,and turn away from you." Nowhere in scripture do we read that we are to bring sinners into the church. In fact the bible tells us just the opposite. But the bible does say that we are to GO into the highways and byways, into every nation, to the sinners and present them with the gospel. The church should be the last place that we should find the unsaved. The very presence of God would cause them to come under conviction to the point that they would either have to repent and get saved or run out of His presences. Maybe sinners are comfortable in our churches because there is no Holy Spirit present. It seems that the church today goes out of its way to make sinners comfortable in our services. We use the world's music so they will feel comfortable with a music they are used to. We avoided using words like sin, hell, judgement,etc. We will avoid naming sins. We would not even thing of calling people to an open altar (we don't want to embarrass anyone). We pray their pray for salvation for them, then tell them that they are saved and loved. They leave without repentance and confession with no change in their life, deceived with a false hope of salvation.
The Holy Spirit will not co-habitate with sin. If we want to see signs, miracles and wonders we will have to have faith, have a spirit of anticipation and get rid of the sin in our lives.
The bus in the dream represents our programs used to attract people to our churches. Just as the buses are used to bring people to our churches, so our programs are designed to do the same. Many times we use our programs in place of the presence of God because He departed or isn't made to feel welcome.
The pastor looked like Oral Roberts meant that this was a pastor who had known what it was like to experience signs, miracles and wonders. The mud represents the sin that the church was sitting in. The fact that his suit was soiled with mud indicated that he himself had sin in his life, thus quenching the move the Holy Spirit in his life and the church.
The end time church will be flowing in signs, miracles and wonders, doing great exploits. But first God will have to clean His house, and He has started!
Do you need a miracle? Do you want to witness them in your church? You must have faith! You must develop a spirit of anticipation! And most importantly, you must get the sin out of your life and your churches.
In the dream I was coming out of a church with my family. As we were coming out we saw the pastor (who looked like Oral Roberts, although it wasn't him), on his knees in some mud beside a church bus; even his suit was soiled with the mud, and he was crying very loudly. I went to him and asked what was burdening him so badly. All he could say was "where are the signs, miracles and wonders?" I replied to him, we no longer see them because of: 1)a lack of faith; 2)a lack of a spirit of anticipation; and 3)sin in the camp. Then God gave me Duet.23:14. The pastor looked like Oral Roberts although it was not him. Then I awoke and received the interpretation.
Why is it in the New Testament we read about the lame walking; the dumb speaking; the deaf hearing; the dead rising up to life; and many other miracles, yet today we see very little of this in the church? Where is it to be found in scripture that God was going to remove signs, miracles and wonders from His people? Nowhere!!
The first reason for our not seeing signs, miracles and wonders is our lack of faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please God." For example, when we get sick, what do we generally do? We take medicine. If it is bad enough we go to the doctor. If it is a sickness unto death, we pray. We then will go to the elders of the church and ask to be anointed and prayed for that we may receive a miracle healing. What's wrong with this picture? Its all done backwards. If we are a people of faith why did we not go to God first? This should be the normal response of a person of faith, we trust God first. If we desire to see signs, miracles and wonders we must increase our faith.
The second reason that we no longer see signs, miracles and wonders is our lack of a spirit of anticipation. Do we come to church expecting to see God show up? Judging by the fact that so many come to church late and desire to be seated in the rear of the sanctuary and dressed like they are going to a picnic instead of anticipating a King to show up,I would say we aren't expecting to see anything out of the ordinary. If we were anticipating God showing up to do great things among us, we would be sure to arrive plenty early to secure a front row seat so we would not miss seeing a sign, miracle or wonder or whatever God would choose to do. I remember attending World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, with my family back in the late 1980's. We arrived about an hour early for the morning service and we still had to sit in the very back of the church. After the service we asked an usher how early we should arrive for the evening service in order to secure a good seat. He told us to be sure to be in line by 3PM. The doors did not open until 5PM with the service starting at 6PM. We arrived at 3PM and there were already a few hundred people in line . These people were anticipating a holy visitation and they did not want to miss it.I wonder how we would worship and praise God in our church services if we were expecting a holy visitation? If you want to see signs, miracles and wonders in your church, as well as in your life, start having a spirit of anticipation.
The third reason that we do not see signs, miracles and wonders is there is sin in the camp. Duet.23:14 states, "For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your CAMP, to DELIVER (signs,miracles,wonders) you and give your enemies over to you; therefore, your CAMP shall be HOLY, that He may see no unclean thing among you,and turn away from you." Nowhere in scripture do we read that we are to bring sinners into the church. In fact the bible tells us just the opposite. But the bible does say that we are to GO into the highways and byways, into every nation, to the sinners and present them with the gospel. The church should be the last place that we should find the unsaved. The very presence of God would cause them to come under conviction to the point that they would either have to repent and get saved or run out of His presences. Maybe sinners are comfortable in our churches because there is no Holy Spirit present. It seems that the church today goes out of its way to make sinners comfortable in our services. We use the world's music so they will feel comfortable with a music they are used to. We avoided using words like sin, hell, judgement,etc. We will avoid naming sins. We would not even thing of calling people to an open altar (we don't want to embarrass anyone). We pray their pray for salvation for them, then tell them that they are saved and loved. They leave without repentance and confession with no change in their life, deceived with a false hope of salvation.
The Holy Spirit will not co-habitate with sin. If we want to see signs, miracles and wonders we will have to have faith, have a spirit of anticipation and get rid of the sin in our lives.
The bus in the dream represents our programs used to attract people to our churches. Just as the buses are used to bring people to our churches, so our programs are designed to do the same. Many times we use our programs in place of the presence of God because He departed or isn't made to feel welcome.
The pastor looked like Oral Roberts meant that this was a pastor who had known what it was like to experience signs, miracles and wonders. The mud represents the sin that the church was sitting in. The fact that his suit was soiled with mud indicated that he himself had sin in his life, thus quenching the move the Holy Spirit in his life and the church.
The end time church will be flowing in signs, miracles and wonders, doing great exploits. But first God will have to clean His house, and He has started!
Do you need a miracle? Do you want to witness them in your church? You must have faith! You must develop a spirit of anticipation! And most importantly, you must get the sin out of your life and your churches.
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