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THE FATHER’S BLESSING by John Arnott

Published by Charisma House
A Strang
Company 600
Rinehart Road
Lake Mary, Florida 32746
www.charismahouse.com
This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—
electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without
prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by
United States of America copyright law.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy
Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984,
International Bible Society. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the

King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James
Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson,
Inc., publishers. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked TLB are from The Living Bible.

Copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers,
Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1995 by John Arnott

All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-068309

International Standard Book Number: 978-0-88419-404-0
08 09 10 11 1 – 10 9 8 7 6 5
Printed in the United States of America
To my precious wife, Carol.
God used you to heal and restore me,
and you taught me to love and forgive.
To the people at Jubilee Christian

Fellowship of Stratford, Ontario, on whom I
practiced for twelve years, endeavoring to
learn how to pastor and discover the
principles of the kingdom of God.
To the people of the Toronto Airport Christian

Fellowship. You’ve welcomed this fresh move
of the Holy Spirit and have excitedly and
lovingly taken the main load of ministering
to the nations and endeavored to “give it away.”
Without you “the Toronto blessing” would
not have been possible.
To Christians, pastors and leaders who have

traveled to Toronto in search of more of
the grace of life and have found refreshing,
healing and renewal at the touch of the Master’s hand.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Billy Graham and his organization who

brought me to Christ forty years ago with the
help of my mother and grandfather.
To the Pentecostal churches in Toronto who
taught a Baptist boy that there was more.
To Kathryn Kuhlman who showed me
God’s loving power in action.
To Benny Hinn who loves Jesus and the
Holy Spirit more than anyone else I know.
To Mark Virkler who helped me hear the voice of the Lord.
To John and Paula Sandford who evangelized my heart.
To John Wimber who taught me anyone, even me,
could move in the power of the Holy Spirit.
To Claudio Freidzon who prayed
for me and imparted faith and power.
To Randy Clark who brought great blessing to Toronto.
To Christians around the world who have
relentlessly prayed for revival in our day.
To Christina Williams who took my
transcripts and made them all make sense.
To our Lord Jesus Christ who is my Savior and
friend who sticks closer to me than a brother.
To the Holy Spirit who, even when
I am unfaithful, is faithful still.
To God the Father who, according to His sovereign
wisdom and love, planned it all and has given us
“the Father’s blessing.”
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................. 8
PART I: FOUNDATIONAL ISSUES OF THE HEART
1 GOD’S LOVE: THE BOTTOM LINE.................................................................................... 12

2 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT....................................................................... 31
3 ABUNDANT JOY................................................................................................................................ 42
PART II: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RENEWAL
4 EVALUATING THIS MOVE OF GOD............................................................................ 56

5 DECENTLY AND IN ORDER.............................................................................................. 71
6 RECEIVING THE SPIRIT’S POWER....................................................................................... 87
7 FEARS: ROADBLOCKS TO RECEIVING................................................................... 102
8 PRIDE: HINDRANCE TO INTIMACY......................................................................... 120
9 THE PHENOMENA: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS................................................... 134
10 THE PHENOMENA: REVELATIONS OF WHO GOD IS................................ 145
11 THE PROPHETIC: ANIMAL SOUNDS AND INSIGHTS.......................................... 168
PART III: SPREADING THE FIRE
12 VALUING THE ANOINTING........................................................................................... 186

13 GO FOR THE KINGDOM.......................................................................................................... 195
14 THE COST OF THE PARTY............................................................................................ 206
15 SPREADING THE FIRE.............................................................................................................. 216
NOTES................................................................................................................................................................ 234
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................................... 237
7
I N T R O D U C T I ON
S
ince you are reading this book, you have probably heard
of “the Toronto blessing.” This term was coined by some creative British
But really, it’s “the Father’s blessing” because this won-

derful outpouring comes from Him. Thankfully, it’s not
confined to Toronto.
As pastor of this church, and with the nightly meetings
we’ve had for a year and a half, it has been difficult to find
8
time to put my thoughts about everything that’s been
occurring on paper. But I am delighted to have this
opportunity to share with you what God is doing in our
midst.
We know that controversy has accompanied this move of
God. I can understand people feeling cautious because I
felt much of that same apprehension at first. But as I saw
the fruit, as I understood previous revivals in church history
and as I reread certain biblical texts, I became convinced
that we were and are in the midst of a powerful move of
God.
Now this anointing is being carried to England,
Switzerland, Germany and the rest of Europe; it has gone to
Australia, New Zealand, India, Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan,
Zimbabwe and South Africa just to name a few places.
Thousands of pastors come to be refreshed by God, then
they take this back to their churches and pour out the
refreshing on their people. It is a fire that is “gloriously”
beyond our ability to contain.
I have written this book to share the wonder and awe of
the Father’s blessing and manifest presence with you. I
want you to know what He’s been showing us. The first
section is about the foundation we need to build this
renewal on — God’s love and joy, the person of the Holy
Spirit and the value of humility. The second section is about
what has been happening in our church — the phenomena
you’ve been hearing about and the fruit of these phenom-
ena. The last section tells how to make the Holy Spirit feel
welcome, what you can do to enter in and how this
renewal is spreading around the world.
Throughout the book I have included first-hand testi-
monies of people who have visited us. I know you will be
astonished at how God has loved and healed His church. I
hope you will choose to enter into this renewal with us.
Admittedly, this book is speaking more to the heart than
the head. So much more would need to be written if I were
9
THE FATHER’S BLESSING
attempting to say all that should be said about every topic.

Writing on the Holy Spirit alone would require several vol-
umes before it could be called thorough in any way.
This book is not an attempt to address manifold and
complex theological issues, nor do I wish to imply that we
have all the answers or that this renewal is without prob-
lems. Much of what the Holy Spirit does and why He does
it is still very much a mystery. For the present we see
“through a glass, darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12, KJV).
This book is an attempt, rather, to awaken your heart to
realize that our God is an awesome God and that the
church desperately needs a revival. God is never limited by
circumstances; however, He is moving in great power
around the world in every nation and denomination. He is
pouring out His Spirit on all flesh, and His sons and daugh-
ters are prophesying and dreaming dreams (Joel 2:28), and
they are being transformed in their hearts.
This renewal is primarily a call to the “weak ones”
rather than to the “wise.” It is a call to the thirsty to come
and drink of the waters of life freely, to partake of that
which is revealed to babes (Matt. 11:25). Our Father is
calling His children who deeply desire more of God and
who will come in childlike faith to enter into the kingdom
(Matt. 18:4-6) and receive the Father’s promised blessing
(Acts 1:4).
This is a season for “wise virgins” to buy oil from those
who sell (Matt. 25). May you be filled with all the fullness of
God and powerfully prepared for the harvest.
1
PART I
FOUNDATIONAL ISSUES OF THE HEART

C H A P T E R 1
GOD’S LOVE:
THE BOTTOM LINE
I
had met him two days before. His name was David,
which was appropriate since he was a pastor in Israel.
David was skeptical about what was happening in our
church, but he spent fourteen hours on the plane to
come to Toronto anyway.
David was touched in a way he never dreamed possi-
ble.When I interviewed him in front of the church that
night, he told us, “I’ve been pastoring for about six years.
It’s been so hard, especially where I live in Israel. There’s
tremendous resistance and spiritual warfare. I was just
1
GOD’S LOVE: THE BOTTOM
drained and exhausted. I came here really desperate. I

couldn’t carry on anymore.”
David was shaking and his knees were buckling intermit-
tently as he described what happened to him in our church.
“I felt like the Father was holding me in His arms, playing
with me, tossing me on His knees...just waves of love.” He
started crying softly as he told us, “He’s telling me that He
loves and He cares for me.”
LOVE IS NUMBER ONE
David met the God of love in person that night. That was
just what David needed. Love is what we all need, isn’t it?
Even God wants to be loved (Deut. 6:5), and He wants to
put His love in our hearts.
Jesus confirmed that love is the bottom line when He was
asked what the greatest commandment was.
Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all

your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on
these two commandments” (Matt. 22:37-40).
Jesus did not pick one of the Ten Commandments as

being the most important. Instead, Jesus revealed that the
greatest, most valuable thing we have been given to do is to
love the Lord and love one another. We are in the business
of building the kingdom of love. Will we love Him with all
of our heart, soul, strength and mind, and will we love one
another?
What does it look like when we love the Lord with all
our heart and soul?
1
SERVICE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR A LOVE AFFAIR
The question now is, How do we love God when we

cannot see Him? How do we love Him when it is difficult to
get in touch with Him intellectually and mentally, let alone
emotionally? I think this challenge often leads us to substi-
tute serving God for loving God.
We think, “If I work hard for God, that means I love
Him.” Our culture promotes this. We are a very goal-setting,
results-oriented people. But that is not all the Lord had in
mind. When Jesus summarized the law in two sentences,
He was saying, “God wants to have a profound, emotional
and meaningful relationship with you, and He wants you to
have the same with others.” He is calling for heart-to-heart
relationships, not merely head-to-head.
If we will enter into these kinds of relationships, every-
thing else in the kingdom of God will fall into place
because the whole law and the prophets depend on how
loving and lovable we are. Relationship takes precedence
over service. Our good works do not prove we have an inti-
mate, heartfelt love affair with Him.
I recently spoke at the Intercessors for Canada confer-
ence in Hamilton, Ontario. During the testimony time, Pearl
MacNearney from Nova Scotia told of a vision she had
during the ministry time.
Jesus and I were in my mother’s hayfield. We were

holding hands, and I was skipping along beside
and in front of Him. I was about eight to ten years
old with my hair in pigtails. He was absolutely
delighted with me, as I was with Him. I could
hardly believe He was enjoying Himself. Every so
often I would turn around and look at Him as if to
say, “Is this OK? Am I allowed to do this?” His
eyes, filled with love, said, “I am as thrilled with
1
you as you are with Me.” Something pierced my

heart during this vision. He revealed Himself to
me as friend and brother.
After Pearl shared this vision at the conference, I prayed

that she would never work for the Lord again, but work
with Him. Pearl wrote me, “The Lord is doing a work in His
body, restoring His people to love Him and Him alone. He
is replacing the work ethic with the love ethic!”
How do we know Jesus wants this love relationship?
Listen to His message to His church in Ephesus:
I know your deeds, your hard work and your

perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate
wicked men, that you have tested those who
claim to be apostles but are not, and have found
them false. You have persevered and have endured
hardships for my name, and have not grown
weary (Rev. 2:2-3).
This sounds like a very hard-working church, doesn’t it?

Jesus praises them for their good deeds, their hard work
and perseverance. They were discerning about false
prophets and wickedness in their church. They endured
hardship without falling away or getting tired of it. What a
great church! They had it all together. Many of us would
love to be in a church like that, right?
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken

your first love (v. 4).
Jesus tells them that, regardless of their great actions, they

have forsaken — left, walked away from — their first love,
their love for Him.
Remember the height from which you have fallen!

(v. 5).
1
Jesus reminds them that they used to be up in the heights

of romance. Now they have fallen down. They used to be
radically in love with Him, but now they are just working
for Him. His solution?
Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do

not repent, I will come to you and remove your
lampstand from its place (v. 5).
This does not sound too good to me. What little light
they had was going to be removed if they did not return to
Jesus as their first love.
It is not work and achievement that please Him; being in
love with Him pleases Him. Then we will work for Him as
we used to when we first fell in love with Him. I believe
that people who are in love with Jesus will outperform
others, don’t you? Love is crucial.
He is examining the motive of the heart, not merely the
works of the hands.
Let me put this in practical terms. How would you feel if
you asked someone to marry you and this was the reply:
“Yes, I’ll marry you. But I do not want any of that emotional
stuff. I do not like it when you put your arms around me or
kiss me or that kind of thing. I just want to be practical. I
will work for you, make money, take care of the house and
the kids and everything else, but do not try to kiss me or be
intimate with me.”
Would you be anxious to marry that person? Is that what
you want in a spouse? No. It isn’t what Jesus wants in His
bride either. He wants a bride who loves Him and then
serves Him because she loves Him.
DOCTRINE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR A LOVE AFFAIR
It came as a tremendous revelation to me several years

ago that the Christian faith is all about love and “romance”
1
or intimacy. I used to think it was all about understanding

the truth and getting our doctrine straight. I believed if we
could only have the purity of doctrine the early church
had, that would bring God’s presence and power. But the
early church didn’t have their doctrine totally together
either.
Paul rebuked Peter publicly for vacillating on whether he
was under Jewish law or free from it (Gal. 2:11-14).
Disputes arose about customs regarding circumcision and
eating, and the early church members had questions on
several issues, including whether the Gentiles could be
saved. They did not have their doctrine all figured out. Why
do you think we have thousands of different denominations
today? It is because people believe their doctrine is more
right than the next person’s. But that does not emphasize
love. So what is pure doctrine, anyway?
God is love. That is pure doctrine. That is truth.
Don’t misunderstand me. The truth that is in Christ Jesus
is very important. It is the truth that sets us free (John 8:32).
But if ever we have truth without love, we no longer have
the truth (1 John 4:8,16).
We look for words that best describe God — holy,
omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. These all sound very
theological, but do they touch your heart deeply?
God is love. He is your Wonderful Counselor, your
Everlasting Father who never leaves you or forsakes you
(Is. 9:6). He is the Father Himself who tenderly loves you
(John 16:27). His unfailing love for you will never be
shaken (Is. 54:10). Jesus is the Binder of broken hearts, the
Comforter of all who mourn, the One who gives beauty in
exchange for ashes, gladness for mourning and praise for
despair (Is. 61:1-3). He is love itself, and He wants to love
you on a personal and emotional basis.
This is a call to “romance,” a call to having a deeper inti-
mate relationship with Jesus. Being in love with Jesus is
more important than having pure, perfect doctrine. As we
1
grow with Christ, our doctrine changes, in hopes that it will

mature and get closer to the truth. But continually striving
after perfect doctrine without generous portions of grace
and love will only turn us into pharisaical legalists who
fight continually with one another.
I notice that as the Spirit of God sweeps over people, it
doesn’t seem to matter which church they belong to.
Catholics, Anglicans, Pentecostals, Baptists, United Church,
Methodists — you name it — come to our church. It makes
no difference to the Holy Spirit. He comes and touches
them all. He is the only true source of unity. He enables us
to hold our distinctives without breaking fellowship. His
unity is based on relationship, not on sameness and
conformity.
Many people who come to our services receive a
revelation of God’s love for them. That was what Eleanor
Buckingham wanted when she and her husband, both former
pastors, traveled from Washington to visit our church in
September 1994. She told us in a letter, “My cry for a
long time had been to love God with all my heart, but I just
felt a blockage.” My wife, Carol, prayed for her husband,
then for Eleanor, who relates, “While I was on the floor
(jerking), I saw and felt the river of life and love flowing
from the throne into my life and returning again to Jesus,
but branching out on both sides in compassion and love.
The cry of my heart was answered and I realized for the
first time what it meant to
love Jesus because He first loved me.”
Eleanor saw it, she felt it, she experienced it. This is a
foundational issue: being profoundly in love with Jesus.
SITTING AT HIS FEET
What would you do if Jesus and at least twelve other men

showed up at your house and they looked hungry? Two sis-
ters, Martha and Mary, faced this situation. What did each
choose?
1
“Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to
1
be made” (Luke 10:40). She ran around checking the roast,

setting the table, trying to get the meal ready.
What was Mary doing? “Mary...sat at the Lord’s feet
listening to what he said” (v. 39). Mary was resting at the
feet of Jesus, saying, “Ahhhh, what wisdom. Jesus, You’re
wonderful!” Martha became angrier and angrier until finally
she demanded that Jesus tell her sister to help her get the
meal ready. She needed to make Him see that this was not
fair at
all. But Jesus responded:
Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about

many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary
has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken
away from her (vv. 41-42).
What Mary was doing was more important than scurrying

around getting food prepared. It was more important than
being a good hostess, more important even than eating.
Take time every day to sit at the feet of Jesus. He is the
Lord of the harvest, but He is also the Lord of the Sabbath.
We are so busy trying to stay on top of the details of life
that somehow we get things all mixed up. We think that
loving God equals studying the Bible for hours or sacrific-
ing time and money for ministry or some other form of
good works. But as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, without
love, all these works and sacrifices amount to nothing. It’s
not so much doing good things that please Him, but rather
our motives and reasons for doing them. (To understand
this further, please read and study 1 Corinthians 13 in two
or three different versions as a devotional.)
Let’s look at Revelation 2:5 again, this time from The
Living Bible.
Think about those times of your first love (how

different now!) and turn back to me again and
work as you did before.
2
Do you remember what you were like when you were

first saved? Do you remember how things looked and felt
the next day? The grass was greener, the sky was bluer;
every person on the face of the earth was a wonderful
human being. You were seeing through eyes that had
freshly fallen in love. This is what Jesus wants for you.
JESUS WANTS A LOVE AFFAIR WITH YOU
When renewal started happening in our church during the

ministry time on January 20, 1994, almost 80 percent of the
people were on the floor, laughing, rolling and having the
greatest time. I thought, “Lord, this is great. I am glad we are
getting a little happier and more joyful. We needed to
lighten up, but let us get on with the job of getting people
converted!”
Others would even say to me, “This is supposed to be a
move of God? How many people are getting saved?”
“People are being saved. We had five saved last night,”
I responded.
“That’s not a revival. A revival is when hundreds of peo-
ple get saved and the community is impacted!”
At first I agreed. I told the Lord I wanted to see people
come to Jesus, to see them healed. So I started preaching
more on salvation, but after the sermons, I noticed that the
ministry time was difficult.
I didn’t understand that. The Holy Spirit was not
flowing, and the people were not receiving from the Lord
the same as before. The number of people who came to
Christ was not as great as it was when I had talked about
the joy of the Lord or the love of God or phenomena in
the Bible. I asked the Lord why. I was surprised by His
response:
“It is because you are pushing Me.”
“Lord, I don’t want to push You. What do You mean?”
His reply floored me: “Is it all right with you if I just love
on My church for a while?”
2
That kind of response causes us to wonder: “Why

would He want to love us? We know what we are really
like.”
It seems that God has a great desire: to love and to be
loved.
This kind of romance cannot be explained. Why does
my wife, Carol, love me? I ask her all the time, “Honey,
what do you see in me? Why do you love me?” She gives
me all of her reasons, but they don’t totally satisfy me. I am
still puzzled. Most of us do not think we are lovable, but
Jesus is radically in love with you, and He wants to come
and fill your life, bless you, transform you and fully win
your heart.
We as a people have proven we’re not good at loving
Him, and we are worse at loving one another. But since Jesus
desperately wants a bride who loves Him with abandon-
ment, He’s graciously filling our hearts beyond capacity. As
a result, our love for Him is constantly increasing. Love must
be experienced before it goes deeper; it cannot stay in the
theoretical realm. The Holy Spirit is bringing this experience
to us now. When He fills you with His love, you will become
a lover, too — His love will pour out of you to others.
Dr. Margaret Poloma, a professor in the sociology depart-
ment at the University of Akron in Ohio, is presently doing
a study on our church. She pointed out to me that religion
is not an objective institution only with particular doctrines
and rituals, but also must involve subjective, emotional
experiences. In summarizing Abraham Maslow, a late
renowned psychologist who wrote a book in the sixties
titled Religion, Values, and Peak Experience, Margaret says
that “institutional religion is about non-peakers teaching non-
peakers about the peak experiences of others.” In other
words, people who place no subjective, religious experiences
for themselves are teaching others who likewise are
skeptical about emotional responses to what they pro-
fess to be learning. What are they studying? Christians are
2
often pondering and discussing the peak experiences of

great Old Testament figures like Abraham and Moses or
New Testament disciples like Peter and Paul.
There is a major flaw in their logic. The Christian church
desperately needs a reality check. We are suggesting that
we need to be both objective and subjective if we are going
to have an intimate and personal relationship with Christ.
Someone once summarized it this way: “It is better felt than
‘telt’.”
Nicki Gerster of Frankfurt, Germany, came to our meet-
ings and had her own experience with God. This is how
she described what happened to her one night during
worship:
I fell in love with Jesus afresh. It was like a

moment of looking straight into His loving eyes.
I’m still stunned by this experience.
God is not trying to trick you into a life of servitude, say-

ing, “Aha! I’ve got you now. You made a commitment at the
front of that church. It is all written down in heaven, and I
am going to hold you to your word.” He is not trying to con
you into going to farthest Africa or some place to die in the
jungle for the gospel — but His love might call you there.
He wants to draw near and win your heart.
THE FATHER’S LOVE
Most of us are gun-shy about this kind of love and

closeness; we don’t know what to do with it. It makes
people very uncomfortable when we start preaching about
intimacy. They say, “Come on. Don’t give us that mushy
stuff. We want to hear the gospel.”
But the funny thing is that this really is the gospel. You
can read it in John 3:16.
2
For God so loved the world that he gave his one

and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life (italics added).
I don’t know anybody who would give up their son for

someone else. Abraham was willing, but God actually did it.
God, the Father, so loved us, so loved me, so loved you.
Why did I miss it for so many years, not knowing how
incredibly loving the Father was? I thought “Jesus is OK, but
watch out for God because you can never please Him. He
has a list, and wants to talk to you. He’s upset because you
didn’t do it better or you didn’t do enough.” I thought of the
Father in abstract, theological terms. I knew God was love,
yet my heart expected Him to be harsh and demanding.
But the Father is just like Jesus. Isn’t that what Jesus said?
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father

(John 14:9).
Jesus was in essence saying, “The Father and I are the

same; We are one. We have the same heart, the same emo-
tions, the same Spirit; if you have seen Me, and if you love
Me, you will love the Father also.”
The greatest revelation I hear night after night is that God
has come to people by the power of the Holy Spirit and
revealed His love to them personally, often through visions
and dreams and prophecy. They say, “I know now that my
heavenly Father really loves me.” Joel 2:28 is being fulfilled
before our eyes.
Virginia Smith, a pastor’s wife from The City Church in
Bellevue, Washington, became newly acquainted with the
love the Father had for her on the day of her birthday at our
church. One of our staff pastors, Ian Ross, asked Virginia to
put her hands over her heart. Then he prayed for healing of
her broken heart — a heart broken by the father-images in
her life. Ian told Virginia that God would never reject her,
2
that she was accepted by Him. He said that God loved her
perfectly, and nothing she could do would make Him love
her more. Virginia later wrote to us and said:
These were not new thoughts to me; I had taught

these same truths to women for years. What made
this encounter with God so life-changing was the
transfer of knowledge from my mind to my spirit.
All of a sudden I felt God’s love and total accep-
tance — so much so, I found myself bent forward
at the waist, weeping deeply from my innermost
being. The tears were not tears of repentance or
feelings of self-pity, but cries of joy and gratitude
that God could love me so completely.
As Virginia wept, two members of the worship team

came and sang over her while a violinist accompanied
them. She found herself “paralyzed” by God’s anointing
in the midst of this circle of worship and love.
I have never experienced such power and healing.

I finally had to ask God to stop because my physi-
cal body could no longer tolerate such over-
whelming love. I was immediately conscious of
my frailty before the Lord and just how little of the
Holy Spirit I could contain. Totally exhausted, I
dropped to my knees and fell on my face. I felt a
great desire to humble myself and rest in His pres-
ence. I walked in hungry to know Jesus more inti-
mately and walked out full and overflowing with
the goodness and love of God.
Do you know what that experience is worth? It changes

everything. We will gladly surrender control to a Father
who loves us so profoundly. That revelation breaks the
strategy the enemy has so painstakingly built into our lives
2
— the idea that not even God could love us or that God the
Father is not really loving. The lie is exposed and instantly
evaporates. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. It is a revela-
tion of the heart.
The Holy Spirit will call you and endeavor to win your
heart. He is usually not going to force you; it is an invita-
tion. He knocks on your heart and says, “How would you
like to take part in the best thing that has ever been offered
to the human race? It is a kingdom of love, a place where
everybody loves everybody from the King on down.”
But to many people, love is just another four-letter word
they don’t relate to. I have asked hundreds of people if they
ever heard their fathers or mothers say the words “I love
you, son” or “I love you, daughter.” So many say no.
You might answer, “I know my father never said it. He
could not articulate those kind of things, but I know he
loved me because we ate every day and we had a home to
live in.” He worked to support you, but you needed more
than that. You may be able to rationalize it intellectually,
but in your emotional understanding, no loving, caring,
providing, nurturing, affirming father was there for you.
This left a deep vacuum. If parents would only
emotionally touch and hold and affirm their children, they
would grow up much better prepared to respond to the
love of God.
Our hearts need to know how wonderful God is and
how much He really cares for us. This revelation needs to
reach deep into our inner beings.
Kim Beadman found this out when she went to our Catch
the Fire — Down Under conference in June 1995 in Sydney,
Australia. After being prayed for one night, Jesus came to
her in a vision. Kim describes what she and Jesus did in the
vision:
We were running through really beautiful long

yellow grass...I noticed I was a little girl again
2
because my hair was very fair, and as I’ve gotten

older, my hair has become dark.
We were laughing and running with our arms
spread wide like airplanes. Then we walked
through a pond. When we reached the other side, I
found myself playing at God’s feet with Legos (toy
building blocks). God was watching me, and then
He was lying beside me playing with them, too. He
then took me up and sat me on His knee, and He
started to curl His finger around strands of my hair.
You see, when I was a little girl, I always wanted
Legos, but my mum could never afford them. I
had also longed for someone to play with my hair
when I was a child. It was such a precious
moment for me; only God really knew how much
it meant to me. The most wonderful thing about
this vision is that I had forgotten those things that I
had really longed for as a little girl. But He
showed me that He is my Daddy, and He never
forgets. My heavenly Father has shown me that He
has always been there; I know He loves me and
He knows my deepest needs and desires.
We have tried so hard to be men of God and women of

God and never really learned to be children of God. We
have emotional needs, and we need to be loved emotion-
ally. Emotions came from our Creator. God has them; He is
emotional, and we were made in His image. He wants to
love us emotionally; He wants us to love Him emotionally
with all our hearts, our souls and as well as our minds
(Matt. 22:37).
A LOVING BRIDE
We have a wonderful story in Genesis 24 of Abraham’s

servant, Eliezer, going to get a bride for Isaac, Abraham’s
2
son. This is an allegorical picture of the Holy Spirit going

into the world to get a bride for Jesus.
Eliezer traveled to Abraham’s old home in Mesopotamia
to find Abraham’s brother. There he asked God to show
him the girl He had chosen for Isaac. Rebekah came to the
well with a jar on her shoulder. Eliezer asked her for a drink
from the well. Rebekah gave him one and offered to water
his camels, too.
Can you imagine how much water ten camels who had
just plodded across the desert could drink? I checked with a
zoo, and they told me a thirsty camel can gulp down thirty
gallons of water at a time. Thirty gallons times ten camels is
three hundred gallons of water. Rebekah was really work-
ing! Eliezer was surprised and shocked that she did it. But
Rebekah had a servant’s heart of love, and that was what he
was looking for.
Eliezer met her family, then asked if she would go with
him and become the wife of his master’s son. It was like,
“Just leave everything, change your whole lifestyle, forget
about what you wanted to do. Leave tomorrow and become
a wife to someone you’ve never met. Yes, that’s right. Will
you do it?”
It’s astounding, but that’s the Christian faith. The Holy
Spirit comes to you and says, “Will you leave everything
you’re doing and become a bride to the Master’s Son?”
If you agree, there are precious gifts for you, but there’s
also that camel ride back to Israel. That is where most of us
are right now.
Have you ever ridden on a camel? When the camel gets
up, it almost throws you over its head. You just catch your
balance when it gets up on its front legs, and you almost go
over backward. When it’s all the way up, you feel like
you’re twenty feet in the air, and you’re thinking, “Help,
Lord!”
The ride is no picnic, but it is symbolic of our lives as the
2
body of Christ on earth — a camel ride across the desert

back to where Jesus is. We are on our way to Him. The Holy
Spirit called you and brought you gifts, all to be a bride
for the Master’s Son. It’s all about romance, intimacy and
relationship. Jackie Gantea and her family drove from
their home in
Pennsylvania to our church in Toronto. They attended
several meetings, and later she wrote me:
I really felt as if I spent a honeymoon with Jesus.

Even though my precious husband, Lee, was with
me and we are united in Jesus Christ, I did not
sense Lee’s presence. I only sensed Jesus as my
groom. He danced with me. He walked with me
and talked with me.
I used to picture Jesus way up there. Now, I
close my eyes and I can picture Him right next to
me. Sometimes He is holding my hand or has His
arm around me. He is always loving me.
We are talking here about the King of the universe, the

most wonderful person in the world, the kindest, gentlest
Lamb of God. Yet, He is the Lion of Judah who is the
strongest and the toughest there is, and He is radically in
love with you.
BUILDING HIS KINGDOM OF LOVE
One day I was thinking about how much I loved Jesus,

and I said, “Jesus, living for You here on earth is great, but I
can hardly wait to see You. I want to look into those eyes
that are like flames of fire. When we meet, I would like to
have twenty-four hours with You so that I can ask all the
questions I have ever thought of.”
Then I asked Him what He would like to do when we
meet, and He answered, “Oh, John, I just want to wash
your feet.” His answer totally undid me; I was not
2
expecting
3
that. It destroyed me for about two hours. I wept and wept

and wept, saying to Him, “What kind of a king are You?
You who hold the universe in the palm of Your hand, yet
are so loving and caring that You would count the hairs on
our heads and wash Your disciples’ feet. Lord, I am in. You
have hooked me; You have captured me. I want You. I am
Yours forever. Never again will I doubt You.”
I finally understood that loving us is a priority for Him.
People will tell you that the most important thing in the
kingdom of God is to get the lost saved. I am not saying
that it is not important. It is certainly a flaming passion of
my heart, but it is not the most important. The most impor-
tant thing in the kingdom of God is to develop a loving
relationship with the Lord, getting to know Emmanuel —
God with us. Christ in you is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).
Loving your neighbor comes after this.
The Holy Spirit is the One who is building this kingdom
of love. This move of the Spirit is first of all about a renewal
and refreshing for Christians, finding out what a wonderful
loving Savior we have; second, it is about loving our
neighbor — evangelism.
When the love of God impacts your heart to the fullest,
no mountain is too tall, no ocean too broad, no valley too
deep that you would not go through it for Him. That kind
of love will cause you to serve like nothing else can.
Then, rather than working for Him, you are working with
Him to reach the nations of this world.
I recommend you take all the striving, all the performance
and everything you try to do to win His approval, set it
aside, and get real with God. Say to Him, “Lord, this is what
I am really like on the inside. This is the honest truth. I am
going to admit it to You and to myself. I am bankrupt inside.
I desperately need to know You love me. I desperately need
to be refilled with the Holy Spirit. I am not going to try to
fool You or anybody else. I want to get real and be filled
3
with Your Spirit. I’m tired of trying to bring Your kingdom

to earth through self-effort (Matt. 6:10). I only want to do
what I see You doing (John 5:19). I only want to say what I
hear You, Father, saying (John 12:49).”
I pray for you now the prayer the apostle Paul prayed.
Maybe you will see it in a new light, knowing that it’s pos-
sible to know — really know — God’s immense love for
you.
I pray that you, being rooted and established in

love, may have power, together with all the
saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and
deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love
that surpasses knowledge — that you may be
filled to the measure of all the fullness of God
(Eph. 3:17-19).
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C H A P T E R 2
THE FELLOWSHIP OF
THE HOLY SPIRIT
W
ho is this Holy Spirit who fills people’s hearts
with love for Jesus? What is He like? The Holy
Spirit is referred to in Scripture with many
metaphors. He is wind; He is water, rain or
rivers; He is oil; He is fire.
All of these symbols help us understand this wonderful
person whom we cannot see. Jesus said the Holy Spirit is
also another Counselor who is with us just as Jesus was
with the disciples. The Holy Spirit is to be with us forever.
Jesus told His disciples just before His crucifixion:
3
If you love me, you will obey what I command.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another Counselor to be with you forever — the
Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him,
because it neither sees him nor knows him. But
you know him, for he lives with you and will be
in you (John 14:15-17).
Jesus knew His disciples had the law and the prophets.
He knew those of us who would believe later would have
the testimony of the disciples and other witnesses to tell us
what they heard, saw and experienced about Jesus. But He
wanted us to have more than the Word of God — He
wanted us to have His Spirit living in us.
Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to

you; but if I go I will send him to you. When he
comes, he will convict the world...He will guide
you into all truth...He will bring glory to me. (John
16:7-8,13,14).
Those scriptures call the Holy Spirit “He.” The Holy Spirit
is a person; He is not an “it,” and He is not just a power.
The Greek word for spirit, pneuma, is a neuter word,
meaning neither male nor female grammatically. 1 So to be
correct here, the text should have used the word it when
talking about the Spirit. But it seems that the rules of
Greek grammar were broken to show that the Holy Spirit is
a person.
The Holy Spirit is not a phenomenon or a manifestation
or an experience. He is God, the Holy Spirit. God the Spirit
desires to come and rest powerfully on you, dwell in you,
heal you and transform you, so you can see everything
through different eyes and from a different perspective. He
is for everyone, and He is for you personally.
Sarah Berry of Moretown, Vermont, received a personal
3
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY
lesson from God on who the Holy Spirit is. She came to our
services in February 1995. One night during prayer ministry
Sarah was on the floor in the Spirit when Jesus came to her
in a vision. He replayed for her a long forgotten lecture
from an ancient history class she had taken in college. Her
professor was describing a special servant who was only in
the homes of wealthy Athenians around the fifth century
B.C. This servant’s only job was to stay with the son and
heir of the family from his boyhood until he became an
adult. He was responsible for delivering this son safely into
his father’s hands at his coming-of-age. Sarah goes on to
describe this servant.
This special servant never left the boy’s side. He

slept in his room, ate with him, walked him to the
gymnasium, to school, to meet his friends —
everywhere. His job was so important that he held
a special position of respect and honor in the
family that no other servant enjoyed. Frequently
this servant and the son would form such a close
relationship that after the son had gained his
inheritance, and the servant’s job was finished, he
would stay on with the family in an honored
position.
As Sarah watched, the professor told the class the Greek

word for this servant: parakletos. Parakletos means advo-
cate and comforter — which is just what the Holy Spirit is.2
The Holy Spirit is not just a power, but a precious, caring,
loving, wonderful person who is filled up with a consum-
ing passion: He wants to reveal Jesus to you in a greater
and more wonderful way. That is His heart. He wants you
to be healed of life’s hurts so you can tell others what
Jesus did for you. He wants to empower you and fill you
with more of His anointing, His power and His presence
so you can share the love of Jesus with a broken, hurting
3
world and do it with powerful signs following.

Most people know about the trinity — the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit — but they are not clear on who the Holy
Spirit is and what He does. He is the presence of God right
here, right now, on the earth. The Holy Spirit convicts us of
sin, righteousness and judgment. He brings the power that
changes lives and introduces people powerfully and per-
sonally to Jesus.
The Spirit gives us boldness, anointing and giftedness
and increases our love for the Lord Jesus so we will take the
good news to the ends of the earth. The focus needs to be,
“Oh God, heal me, then empower me so I can give Your
grace away.”
THE SPIRIT AND THE WORD
Sometimes people who love and study the Word of God

fear that those who pursue the Holy Spirit are going to lose
the Word in the process. Others fear that if we become too
theological, focusing on the Scriptures, we will become
legalistic and “mind-oriented,” losing or quenching the
Spirit in the process.
God is calling us to flow with the Word and flow with the
Spirit. They will complement each other. It is not either/or;
it is both. The Word and the Spirit must go together. Both
the Word and the Spirit will always point to Jesus. The
Word lays out God’s truth before us, but it is the Holy Spirit
that gives us revelation.
We need the Holy Spirit as we read the Bible because:
He has made us competent as ministers of a new

covenant — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for
the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).
Does that mean if you read and follow the Bible, it will
kill you? No. Paul is saying that the law of God reveals that
3
no man is able to keep this law, so everyone is destined for

the death penalty. The law is constantly reminding us that
we are in a hopeless situation. We will never be good
enough to satisfy a perfect God.
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was

engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so
that the Israelites could not look steadily at the
face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it
was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even
more glorious? (vv. 7-8).
The ministry of the Spirit will produce life in you. You

and I die to self and are raised to a new life: “Christ in
you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). You can go on in
newness of life, and the Word of God becomes something
that is alive for you and produces life in you.
Have you ever been reading the Bible, maybe during
your quiet time in the morning, and all of a sudden a verse
just jumps off the page? Those words become alive to you,
so you underline them, thinking, “I did not see that before.”
That is the interaction of the Holy Spirit and the Word of
God, making the Word live for you (2 Cor. 3:6).
That’s the promise, and that is the hope we have. When
the written words are breathed upon by the Holy Spirit,
they produce life and not death.
The words I have spoken to you are spirit and

they are life (John 6:63).
Pastor Emmons from London, Ontario, came to our

church conference on the Word of God With Power in
March 1995. In his own words, he says:
I didn’t shake, rattle (laugh) or roll, but the living

Christ came with such power as I sat under the
3
Word that He, the Holy Spirit, gently renewed,

refreshed and restored my fractured life.
Initially, the Word of God renewed my mind,
then gave me such a clear focus and the ability to
know the mind of Christ and hear His Word — His
voice — again. As the Spirit soaked me in His
Word, a tired and broken inner man was refreshed
and then restored. Restored, not only in my
confidence, but a new, restored faith to trust Him
more.
We need the Word and the Spirit. If we have only the

Word, the letter of the law without the Spirit, we are usually
left with some form of religion devoid of that breath of God
that makes it alive. And if we have only the Spirit and lose
the Word, we can get out into extremes.
Some people have thought, “Now that the Holy Spirit is
here, we don’t need the Bible anymore. We’ll just be led by
Him.” But history has proven those people get farther and
farther from the truth. They begin justifying sin; then they
are in sin, and then they deny things like the divinity of
Christ.
Of course, the problem is not with the Holy Spirit, but
with us. We see (and hear) “through a glass, darkly” (1 Cor.
13:12, KJV). We need the written Word as our road map,
our anchor, our guidepost, our North Star that never
moves, that we can steer by. The Bible is sure, steadfast, a
rock imbedded that shall not move. The Holy Spirit will
never be contrary to God’s Word, and we need the Holy
Spirit to breathe life into the Word and into the church.
We need to remember also that the Bible is not a person;
it is, in fact, written by the person of the Holy Spirit (2 Pet.
1:21).
3
THE WORD AND THE SPIRIT GLORIFY JESUS
Jesus told the Jews who were persecuting Him:
You diligently study the Scriptures because you

think that by them you possess eternal life. These
are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you
refuse to come to me to have life (John 5:39-40).
From that verse we discover the Word of God testifies

about Jesus.
When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to

you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes
out from the Father, he will testify about me
(John 15:26).
This verse tells us the Holy Spirit also testifies about

Jesus. The Holy Spirit wants no credit for Himself. He is not
saying, “Hey what about Me? I’m here too, you know.” He
doesn’t do that. He always glorifies Jesus.
The purpose of both the Word and the Spirit is to point to
Jesus — always. Can you see how they work together? The
Word points to Jesus; the Spirit points to Jesus. The Spirit
breathes on the Word of God making it alive, always point-
ing to Jesus. The Word is a check and balance tool, correct-
ing and fine-tuning what we believe the Spirit is saying.
New doctrines need to be weighed very carefully. One
thing that thrills me so much with this new outpouring of
the Holy Spirit is that no new doctrines are being taught.
There is nothing new here. The Holy Spirit is simply coming
in ways that glorify Jesus, making truth alive in our hearts.
I’ve interviewed hundreds of people since this renewal
started. I’ve asked them, “It’s great that you fell and shook
and laughed and rolled and jumped and everything, isn’t it?
But what’s it done in your heart? What’s happening inside?”
3
And almost everyone has said, “I’m more in love with

Jesus than I’ve ever been before. The Holy Spirit will wake
me up in the middle of the night, and I find myself praying
for all my friends. And one other thing: I can’t put the Bible
down — I’ve just got such a hunger for the Word. I’m under-
standing it now as I never have before. I just love His Word.”
Shawna, an eighteen-year-old from the little town of
Arthur, Ontario, started coming to our meetings with her
family in October 1994. She wrote me about all that the
Holy Spirit did for her: “God poured out His love into my
life in a new way. I just soaked in God’s presence and
laughed; I got drunk” (overcome by the Spirit).
She told me that in the weeks following God began to
weed out things in her life that no one else would have
thought were wrong. She feels set free and writes, “God
has been developing my time with Him, I have an
increased hunger for the Word of God, and God gives me
such revelation when I read the Bible!”
You see how it works — the Word and the Spirit, they
both glorify Jesus. And as I said, if you only pursue the
Word of God, you’ll dry up. If you only pursue the Spirit,
forgetting the Word, you’ll blow up. But if you take the
Word and the Spirit together, you’ll grow up — in Jesus.
MORE OF JESUS
The Holy Spirit is on earth gathering up a bride for the

Lord Jesus Christ. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life,
do you know what will happen? You will look more like
Jesus. You will remind Him of the kind of person Jesus is,
full of the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, gentleness,
meekness and self-control.
During prayer time in our meetings we ask people,
“What would you like God to do for you?” “Oh, I want the
power,” some say. Although there is nothing wrong with
that, I redirect them just a little. It is the Holy Spirit whom
4
you want, not just power, not just an anointing. He is a

precious, sensitive person who loves Jesus with everything
that He is. Pray this way: “Oh Holy Spirit, come and make
me more like Jesus. Come and make me a child of God
who will honor the Word, honor the kingdom and honor
heaven. Come and fill me. Lord, it is You who I want, not
just Your gifts.”
This is the heart of the Holy Spirit, to bring you and me
into that kind of relationship. The Holy Spirit is calling you
to desire Jesus with every atom of your being, with every-
thing that is within you. You don’t have to be afraid to ask
your loving heavenly Father to give you more of the Holy
Spirit. He will not give you a stone if you ask for bread
(Matt. 7:9). He loves you so much that He ransomed your
life with the life of Jesus.
LIVING WATER
After a hot desert journey, Jesus and His disciples finally

arrived at a well, thirsty and tired. There Jesus talked with a
Samaritan woman. The Jews despised the Samaritans. (They
had the wrong idea of God. They worshiped at the wrong
mountain and the wrong temple.) They had many wrong
beliefs, but at the same time they loved God, too.
Jesus asked this woman for a drink of water, then told
her one of the most profound truths He ever spoke to
anyone.
If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks

you for a drink, you would have asked him and
he would have given you living water (John 4:10).
It is interesting that He offered her “life” rather than cor-

rection, isn’t it?
Living water — what does that mean? Jesus is saying that
the Holy Spirit is like water which is alive. What does water
do? It refreshes. It causes plants and trees to grow. All of
4
nature is dependent on water. Jesus says, “I would have

given you the life-giving water of the Spirit.”
If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
streams of living water will flow from within him
(John 7:37-38).
Out of your innermost being, rivers of living water will

flow. We tell people all the time, “You cannot give away
what you have not first received.” You need to soak in this
and let the Lord make a deposit deep within your inner
being. Let Him “marinate” you in the Holy Spirit. Then
allow Him to flow out of you in words and acts of life and
blessing, giving His anointing away to everyone you meet.
There is plenty for you and plenty to give away.
Lynn Beyler from Madison, Wisconsin, wrote us about a
vision she had while attending our first Catch the Fire
conference.
I was before a huge golden door, and glory was

streaming out of the top, the bottom and both
sides of it. The Lord said, “The glory you are being
touched with now is only what is leaking out of
the door. I am gently getting your physical being
ready to stand when My glory is present. Soon I
will open the door.”
He encouraged me to come in farther to
receive all He has for me. The glory was a stream
of love coming out from the door. The Lord
showed me a box like a shoe box. I knew my old
life was in that box. He said that was where I
used to keep Him. He tossed the box into the
stream of glory and love, and it flew away.
“Now,” He said, “You are free to love people
the way I love them. Because you were willing to
4
take Me out of the box and put your old life in it, I
am able to bring you closer to Me. Now we are
one together forever. This stream of love is for all
mankind to flow in with Me.”
Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? “If anyone is thirsty, let
him come to me and drink,” Jesus said (John 7:37). Jump
into the stream!
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS FOR YOU
You can go to God today and ask for more of the Holy
Spirit.
Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has

been pleased to give you the kingdom (Luke
12:32).
What is the kingdom?
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating

and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17).
Ask your Father. Open up your heart. Drink of Him, love

and worship Him.
How much more will your Father in heaven give

the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13).
Get alone with God. Desire more of Him. Have a

trusted friend lay hands on you right now and believe for
the promise of the Father — which is the Holy Spirit.
Come, Lord! Come, Holy Spirit. Give more of Your
presence, power and love!
He will come and fill you and immerse you in the Holy
Spirit, and out of your innermost being, rivers of living
water will flow, transforming your life.
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C H A P T E R 3
ABUNDANT JOY
I
have been a pastor since 1981 and have been a
Christian since 1955. Yet I have never had so much
enjoyment pastoring as I am having now. When this
invasion of the Holy Spirit and joy began at our church,
we were shocked, to say the least.
We never had to preach over the noise of people laugh-
ing, crying and shouting before — yet it was as though the
people could not help it. They were so filled with joy.
We were thrilled because God showed up, but we were
puzzled about what was happening and why. It took me a
4
ABUNDANT
while to understand that God absolutely wants His people

filled with joy. I didn’t know that God believed in parties,
but it turns out that He throws the best party in the whole
universe!
THE HOLY SPIRIT BRINGS JOY
The Bible says the Holy Spirit is our down payment on

heaven (2 Cor. 2:23). And we know that heaven is full of
joy. The Holy Spirit and joy go together.
The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and

drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17).
When a pastor’s wife from California came to our Catch

the Fire conference in October 1994, she had been weep-
ing and travailing in the Spirit for months. She said she was
a very “serious and heavy” person, so the desire of her
heart when she came was to be filled with laughter. She
prayed:
“Lord, I will truly believe this is You if I could

only laugh.” Most of the leadership, my family
and friends have all told me to lighten up and
relax...I’ve tried. Please believe me, I am (or
was) normal and would laugh when appropriate,
but I could never, ever, ever make myself laugh.
On the last night of the conference, a woman from the

prayer team asked if she wanted more. She said yes, and
the woman prayed for her. She writes,
The God of glory gave me laughter as I have

never laughed before in my entire life. As I realized
what God was doing, I was weeping for joy. Tears
4
of joy were flying out, and the heartiest, fattest

sense of love, joy, exuberance and liberty came
over me. I think this went on for at least a half
hour. Thank You, God. You save the best for last.
Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). So it should

be no surprise to us that people who are filled will the
Holy Spirit are full of joy! We may not understand it, or
we may not want to be a part of it, but the joy of the Lord
is filling those who come to Him as His children.
JOY COMES TO THE CHILDREN OF GOD
The apostles were filled with joy when they returned to

tell Jesus what God had done through them after He sent
them out to minister in the countryside.
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord,

even the demons submit to us in your name.”
He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from
heaven. I have given you authority to trample on
snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the
power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to
you, but rejoice that your names are written in
heaven” (Luke 10:17-20).
If your name is written in heaven, you are a success

already. Jesus told the disciples that was the best reason to
rejoice, then He thanked His Father in heaven.
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy

Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because you have hidden these things
from the wise and learned and revealed them to
little children” (v. 21, italics added).
4
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Jesus is “full of joy through the Holy Spirit” as He shares

in His disciples’ joy.
When He thanks God, Jesus is not despising knowledge
that the wise don’t understand, but He is despising the
pride of man that comes from having knowledge. He is
delighted that God reveals things to His children. Can you
be a little child, without having to know all the whys and
the wherefores? Can you look past some of the strange mani-
festations and realize that God is impacting the hearts and
lives of the people with this wonderful joy of the Lord? If
you can receive that, He will transform you.
FULLNESS OF JOY
Though I have studied the subject of joy in Scripture

many times, I am still amazed at how often the Bible talks
about it. The Psalms, Isaiah, the Gospels — the Bible from
one end to the other is full of this concept of joy. It must
be something God wants us to experience all the time in
our walk with Him.
We can almost hear David’s excitement in Psalm 4 as he
exclaims:
You have filled my heart with greater joy than

when their grain and new wine abound (Ps. 4:7).
The psalmist is trying to express the tremendous joy that

filled his heart. Imagine the joy of a family when their long
awaited harvest of grain and wine are finally in. The joy of
the Lord is greater!
God can fill us with joy that’s greater than the joy that
comes with material abundance, new cars, pay raises or
promotions. Or how about a restored marriage — how can
the joy of that be measured against material things?
One visitor to our Catch the Fire conference wrote that
she and her husband were “hanging onto the last thread”
in
4
their marriage. They had been living in separate rooms and

were utterly defeated, seeing no hope for their marriage.
She notes, however, that she knew “all things are possible
in Christ.”
While in Toronto, they stayed in the same room together.
The second night they were sitting at the little table in their
room, talking.
Then the precious Holy Spirit came upon us, and

for forty minutes we laughed. We ended up on the
floor laughing so hard. Oh, what healing and
restoration has come to our marriage. And that
was just a taste of what God had for us. We
believe a miracle in our marriage had taken place.
Praise God.
Jesus wants our joy to be complete, or full.
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my

love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands
and remain in his love. I have told you this so that
my joy may be in you and that your joy may be
complete (John 15:10-11).
Until now you have not asked for anything in
my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy
will be complete (John 16:24).
Jesus wants to take us from joy to fullness of joy.

We’ve watched it in hundreds of people — a tremendous
release of joy and laughter that is initiated by the Spirit
and brings great healing and freedom. He wants us to have
fullness of joy that comes through answered prayer.
When the Lord brought back the captives to

Zion, we were like men who dreamed.
4
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Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues

with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has
done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us, and we are
filled with joy (Ps. 126:1-3).
Some would say that laughter is not joy, but we can all
agree that laughter is a very common expression of joy. He
wants us to have joy that fills our mouths with laughter.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and
even though you do not see him now, you believe
in him and are filled with an inexpressible and
glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your
faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Pet. 1:8-9).
This joy is so rich, so good, so powerful that you cannot

even begin to describe it.
The pastors from a church in Pennsylvania wrote me that
an “unusually quiet” woman in their congregation went
home after a service and laughed in the Spirit for an hour.
The woman then realized that it had been five years to the
day that her sister died from cancer. The Lord told her that
she would never grieve her sister’s death again. Joy is a
healing balm, too.
The ransomed of the Lord will return.

They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy
will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow
and sighing will flee away.
I, even I, am he who comforts you (Is. 51:11-12).
4
Jesus wants to heal our wounds and bring us joy. This

blessing of joy from the Father is biblical.
PLAY “WEDDING”
Sometimes we aren’t sure about joy — is there such a

thing as too much? Should we be stern and disciplined
instead? Jesus addresses those in His generation who
weren’t sure what to believe.
To what can I compare this generation? They are

like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling
out to others: “We played the flute for you, and
you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did
not mourn” (Matt. 11:16-17).
These children played funeral, but their friends wouldn’t

cry. They played wedding, but their friends wouldn’t dance
and be happy.
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and

they say, “He has a demon.” The Son of Man
came eating and drinking, and they say, “Here is a
glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors
and ‘sinners.’” But wisdom is proved right by her
actions (vv. 18-19).
I want you to understand what Jesus was telling them.

John the Baptist gave them a serious, no-nonsense
message of repentance — “turn or burn.” But they said,
“No, too strict. We want something a little more to our
taste, something a little more balanced. We don’t want
something that serious.”
Jesus then came with joy — eating, drinking, healing,
feeding and celebrating with them. Yet they called Jesus a
glutton and a wine-drinker, a friend of publicans, harlots,
5
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sinners and tax collectors. Why do you think they called

Him that? Because He was different from all the other reli-
gious people of His day. He was out meeting people and
enjoying their social gatherings — their weddings and
feasts. He was a part of their lives and a member of their
culture. Jesus was full of life. Jesus enjoyed people.
But what did the religious people say? “No, not serious
enough. Too frivolous. This is not taking the things of God
seriously. There is too much happiness here, too much
laughter. I want something a little more balanced, a little
more middle-of-the-road.”
The religious people didn’t want what John the Baptist
offered or what Jesus offered. Some wanted then, just as
some want now, the kind of religion that suits them instead
of what God wants for them.
Isn’t it interesting that the kingdom was offered in two
extremes — John as a funeral and Jesus as a wedding? Jesus
doesn’t offer us a comfortable, middle-of-the-road type of
Christianity. What He offers is not really socially acceptable;
in fact, it is often a stumbling block to some people. Not
everybody is going to like it, and many will not like it
whether it’s a funeral or a wedding. The church is often
caught in this same dilemma.
Well, I believe that the church has played funeral long
enough. It is time we played wedding for a while. Let the
joy and laughter flow along with all the excitement of the
gospel of life.
Dick Schroeder, a campus minister at Montana State
University, came to Toronto in January 1995 with some staff
members. He described his week with us as “a week in
heaven.” On his last day here the Holy Spirit came on him
with visible shaking. The Lord reminded him of the scrip-
ture in which the mother of James and John went to Jesus
to ask if her sons could sit at His right hand and His left
hand in the kingdom (Matt. 20:20-23). Jesus then asked
5
them if they could drink the cup that He was going to

drink. They said they could. Dick writes:
The Lord was asking me the same question, “Dick,

are you willing to drink the cup that I have for
you?”
I realized that there is a cost to all of this. There
may be a loss of reputation, a great chance of
being misunderstood in this whole renewal move-
ment. The Lord may ask us to do things that are
out of the ordinary and unusual. I thought about it
and said, “Yes, Lord, I will drink the cup.”
In my mind, I saw the Lord giving me a cup,
and I assumed that the cup would have something
bitter in it like vinegar — it would be a tough one
to drink because it was going to be a cup of suf-
fering and misunderstanding. As Jesus gave me
the cup, I looked back at Him. There was a twin-
kle in His eye. I looked into the cup. Instead of
being vinegar, it was a cup of joy! An eruption of
laughter came forth from my innermost being. I
fell back and laughed and laughed. I shouted, “It’s
a cup of joy! Hallelujah! It’s a cup of joy!”
Dick remembered that the Bible says, “for the joy that
was set before Him [He] endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God” (Heb. 12:2, NKJV). Dick says he knows there is a cost
to it; God is going to require things of us. “But,” Dick
knows now, “He is giving us His joy.”
LET THE PARTY BEGIN
Take a fresh look at the story of the prodigal son. This

son demanded his inheritance from his father, then he
went to a distant country and squandered it. He ended up
5
ABUNDANT
destitute, feeding pigs and wishing he could eat what the

pigs were eating. But he wised up and said to himself:
How many of my father’s hired men have food to

spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set
out and go back to my father and say to him:
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against
you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son;
make me like one of your hired men. So he got up
and went to his father (Luke 15:17-20).
Now his father must have been looking for his son’s
return every day, because when his son was still a long way
off, he saw him, was filled with compassion and ran to
meet him. The son confessed his folly, and his father
responded:
“Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put

a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring
the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and
celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is
alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they
began to celebrate (vv. 22-24).
Meanwhile, the older son was in the field working. When

he found out about this celebration, he was angry. He told
his father:
Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and
never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave
me even a young goat so I could celebrate with
my friends. But when this son of yours who has
squandered your property with prostitutes comes
home, you kill the fattened calf for him!
“My son,” the father said, “you are always with
me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to
5
celebrate and be glad, because this brother of

yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and
is found” (vv. 29-32).
This is such a profound story. The older son would not

join in, even though the father pleaded with him. The
older brother did not like parties. The younger brother
liked them, but what a surprise to learn that the very best
party of all was back home all along. Sin is forgiven,
shame is removed; only love, acceptance and great joy are
flowing.
The older son did not understand that everything in the
father’s house was his. He could have had a party any time
he wanted to. It was just that he did not want to. He never
did realize that everything of the father’s was now his. He
thought pleasing his father was the same as working for
him. Yet the father was longing for relationship.
The older brother was content to “play funeral” while
the father threw a party for the younger son. I’m glad that
the younger son was first met by the father and not the
older brother.
You may be like the older brother. I believe that there is
a little of the older brother in all of us. Realize that the
Father will share everything He has with you. You can
have a party any time you want. Everything the Father has
is yours.
Reverend Margaret Knight and her husband, George,
from Chorleywood, U.K., came to our meetings in June
1994. Before they returned to Britain, they left us a note.
The Reverend Margaret said this about her Christian
walk:
I had been like the eldest son who was obedient

and dutiful. I was dutiful, facilitating others’ cele-
brating, but glancing in while continuing to go
about my duties.
5
ABUNDANT
Then Reverend Margaret said she decided to enter into

the party at our church. Her heart cry for intimacy with
the Father was answered, she says, adding this final
statement of joy: “Whoopee!”
The prodigal son found out that the very best party of all
was right there in his father’s house. That is what we are
finding out, isn’t it? The very best party of all is right here in
the Father’s house. That is why in Isaiah God describes the
party saying, “Come, buy wine and milk without money
and without cost...Your soul will delight in the richest of
fare” (55:1-2).
The Holy Spirit is so excited because a harvest of lost
sons and daughters is coming in. Some older brothers are
offended, but we must celebrate. This is a time of dress
rehearsal as the church gets ready for thousands of prodigals
— the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame and the
oppressed — who will return to their Father’s house.
Jonathan Bernis, director of Hear O’ Israel Ministries, is a
Messianic Jew who now lives in St. Petersburg of the former
Soviet Union. He is holding meetings all over Russia in
which thousands of Soviet Jews are accepting Jesus as
Messiah. Imagine the great joy in the Father’s heart as these
wayward or lost sons of Israel come “home.”
There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels

of God over one sinner who repents (Luke
15:10).
This is what the joy and laughter is all about. The Father
is excited and pleased, and the Holy Spirit is pouring this
joy out on the church. We do well to remember that it is the
Father’s idea to celebrate (Luke 15:23). None of this is
birthed in the will of man.
Let the Lord fill you with His joy. It is a sign of the
Father’s presence.
5
In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right

hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11, NKJV).
It is His presence that brings us joy. The Holy Spirit is

God’s presence with us. That’s why the best party, the best
celebration, the most joy is in our Father’s house. Will you
join in?
5
P A R T II
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RENEWAL

C H A P T E R 4
EVALUATING THIS
MOVE OF GOD
M
any people have asked me what led to this out-
pouring of the Father’s blessing. They want to
know, Why Toronto? Why us? That’s something
I’d like to know, too.
A pastor from British Columbia told me that after he
heard about the renewal in our church, he pondered visit-
ing us but thought, “Why do I have to go somewhere for
revival? Can’t God revive us right where we are?” He said
the Lord came back with, “Why Azusa Street? Why Angelus
Temple? Why Wales? Why not Toronto?”
5
EVALUATING THIS MOVE OF
Obviously, it is a sovereign work of God. We take

absolutely no credit for praying this down or deserving it in
any way. Let me explain how it came about.
THE BEGINNINGS OF THIS RENEWAL
Carol and I had run dry on ministering in the way we had

been. We had a significant “hospital” in our church —
people with whom we spent a lot of time counseling and
working on inner healing and deliverance. People were
maturing and changing. It was wonderful, but it took two
or three years for people to become relatively free inside.
We always saw something else that needed to be done.
Our focus was on the people, the troubles and the healings
needed instead of the Lord. To us, it became as though the
devil was too big and the Lord was too small. Our solutions
for helping people centered around dealing with the dark-
ness, trying to cast the demons out and heal life’s hurts
instead of receiving more of the Holy Spirit’s presence and
power as a main emphasis.
In the fall of 1992, Carol and I went to a meeting in
Toronto conducted by Benny Hinn, who is originally from
Toronto and has been a friend of mine for twenty years.
Benny loves Jesus more than anyone I know and is power-
fully used by the Holy Spirit. During this meeting we
were jarred into remembering that we truly have a big
God who is able to save a thousand people in a night and
heal the wheelchair-bound and dozens of seriously ill
people.
We purposed in our hearts that we must have more of the
anointing, so we began to seek God in a fresh new way.
We invited several guest speakers to our church. It didn’t
matter what their denominational background was. If I
heard they were anointed by the Spirit and used by God, I
wanted them to come because maybe we could learn
something from them. The Bible encourages us to desire
spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14:1), and that is what we did.
5
In October 1992, Carol and I started giving our entire

mornings to the Lord, spending time worshiping, reading,
praying and being with Him. For a year and a half we did
this, and we fell in love with Jesus all over again.
Intimacy with Jesus is what we signed up for. I did not go
into ministry so I could be the CEO of a religious organiza-
tion, but that was what happened — we had overwhelming
administrative loads and no time either to be with people or
to be with God. I believe this happens to many pastors and
leaders.
We heard about the revival in Argentina, so we traveled
there in November 1993, hoping God’s anointing would rub
off on us somehow. We were powerfully touched in meet-
ings led by Claudio Freidzon, a leader in the Assemblies of
God in Argentina.
Claudio prayed for Carol and me. I fell down, then
started analyzing the event as I usually did. “Lord, was this
really You? Or did I just fall because I want You so badly?”
Carol receives from God so easily, but I have always had a
difficult time.
After I stood up, Claudio came over to me and said, “Do
you want the anointing?”
“Oh yes, I want it all right,” I answered.
“Then take it!” He slapped my outstretched hands.
“I will. I will take it,” I said.
Something clicked in my heart at that moment. It was as
though I heard the Lord say, “For goodness sake, will you
take this? Take it, it’s yours.” And I received by faith.
We came back from Argentina with a great expectation
that God would do something new in our church.
We had a taste of what the Lord had planned for us dur-
ing our New Year’s Eve service as we brought in 1994.
People were prayed for and powerfully touched by God.
They were lying all over the floor by the time the meeting
ended. We thought, “This is wonderful, Lord. Every now
5
and then You move in power.” But we did not think in

terms of sustaining this blessing.
We invited Randy Clark, a casual friend and pastor of the
Vineyard Christian Fellowship in St. Louis, Missouri, to
speak because we heard that people were being touched
powerfully by God when he ministered. We hoped that this
anointing would follow him to our church.
Yet Randy and I were in fear and trembling, hoping God
would show up in power, but uncertain about what would
happen. We were not exactly full of faith — but God was
faithful anyway.
On January 20, 1994, the Father’s blessing fell on the 120
people attending that Thursday night meeting in our church.
Randy gave his testimony, and ministry time began. People
fell all over the floor under the power of the Holy Spirit,
laughing and crying. We had to stack up all the chairs to
make room for everyone. Some people even had to be
carried out.
Before Randy and his team came, they prayed. The Lord
gave them a vision of a map with a fire breaking out in
Toronto then burning up the whole map. God fulfilled this
vision. Within days, the word spread that God was visiting
us powerfully. But this outpouring didn’t look like we
thought it would.
We had been praying for God to move, and our assump-
tion was that we would see more people saved and healed,
along with the excitement that these would generate. It
never occurred to us that God would throw a massive party
where people would laugh, roll, cry and become so
empowered that emotional hurts from childhood were just
lifted off them. The phenomena may be strange, but the
fruit this is producing is extremely good.
OUR RENEWAL SERVICES
Let me tell you what our renewal services are like. Six
nights a week we start at 7:30 P.M. and worship for about
5
forty-five minutes, then we welcome visitors. We like to see

how many people are here for the first time, how many
pastors and leaders have come and where everyone is
from. We then interview people who wish to testify to
what God has done since they’ve arrived. After an
offering and announcements, the Word is preached for
about thirty to forty-five minutes.
We always give an invitation for people to receive Christ.
We ask for people who want to be born again, and we
invite prodigals who want to return to Christ. Five to ten, or
even up to thirty to forty people, make commitments or
recommitments every night. Most of them are not even from
our area. I can hardly believe that people who are not
ready to meet God, who are not saved or who are severely
backslidden would come to these meetings. But they do,
and God meets them.
After that comes the prayer and ministry time. First
people come for prayer related to the message. If the mes-
sage was on unforgiveness, for instance, we invite people
who are struggling with unforgiveness to come. After this,
anyone may come for prayer, and our ministry teams will
pray for them. We ask that people line up in an orderly
manner in the back of the auditorium and wait on the Lord
in prayer while waiting for the laying on of hands.
Some of our ministry team people have to go to their jobs
in the morning, so they usually leave around 11:00 or 11:30
P.M. Others stay until well after midnight, and the doors
aren’t usually shut until after 1:00 A.M.
We are still a “hospital,” but now God is truly the Great
Physician. We are seeing people come as children with their
hearts open for prayer. As they are touched by God, they
are suddenly more loving than they have ever been. They
have a fresh revelation of how much God loves them.
When that truth hits the heart, what a difference it makes!
So how should we correctly evaluate what we see? Let’s
6
assess this current move of God according to three criteria:

The Word of God, church history and the fruit. Let’s look at
each of these.
IS IT SCRIPTURAL?
These questions need to be asked when evaluating a

spiritual experience: Is this in the Word of God? Is some-
thing similar in the Word? Is this prohibited by the Word of
God? Is it within the character of God as revealed through
the Bible?
When we ask if something is biblical, we’re really asking
if it’s from God, aren’t we? We don’t want to be deceived,
and we have been given the Bible to show us who God is,
what He is like and what kinds of things He does. So we
evaluate things according to the Bible, as we should. Yet as
we see the Spirit of God doing more and more, we may see
some things that no chapter and verse in the Bible specifi-
cally describes. Why?
God did not intend to describe every act He would ever
do in the Bible. John said at the end of his Gospel:
Jesus did many other things as well. If every one

of them were written down, I suppose that even
the whole world would not have room for the
books that would be written (21:25).
What we need to watch for is God’s character, His ways.

How much better to know His ways than His acts! David
asked of God:
Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths

(Ps. 25:4).
Just as you know the ways of your spouse or your par-

ents or your children, we need to know the ways of God. If
6
someone tells you that your spouse did something or other,

you know immediately whether that sounds like something
he or she would do. You cannot know every action your
spouse takes, but as you get to know your spouse better
and better, you can know his or her ways. You will then be
able to know if something is out of character or not.
The Bible is a record of people’s experiences with God.
Theology is the reflection on these experiences. The theol-
ogy that Scripture reveals and establishes is essential. But
we also need personal experiences with God, just as the
people in the Bible had.
Every manifestation of the Spirit, every phenomenon we
accept as from God must conform to God’s character and
His ways. Throughout this book you will find many biblical
references that associate a scripture with what we see hap-
pening. This is critical; the Bible keeps us from falling into
error. I’m convinced the bulk of what we are seeing in this
current renewal is from God.
HAS THIS HAPPENED BEFORE IN CHURCH HISTORY?
The second criteria we use to evaluate this move of God

is to compare it with church history. What has happened in
previous moves of the Spirit? What did they look like? What
were the results then? What did those involved conclude?
When God started visiting us powerfully, I did not have
any idea that the Holy Spirit’s presence could cause such an
uproar, and that people would get so excited and fall, shout
or roll on the floor. I didn’t have a doctrine for that; I didn’t
understand its history or purpose.
When we read about revivals in church history, we tend
to skip over the manifestations of the Spirit and go straight
to the large number of people coming to Christ or being
healed supernaturally by God’s power. We skip over the
means — the way God brought people to Christ — and
study the end — the number of people saved. But throughout
6
church history, revivals saw the Holy Spirit moving in ways

similar to how He is moving here and now.
Richard Riss, an author and friend of mine who is a can-
didate for a doctorate in church history, has done extensive
research into revivals throughout church history. He docu-
ments sixty-two different revivals since the 1200s. Many of
these had similar manifestations: falling, shaking, visions,
trances, and to a lesser degree, laughing and “drunkenness”
in the Spirit.
In Jonathan Edwards’ day, 250 years ago, the people being
moved by the Holy Spirit were accused of being disorderly.
Dr. Guy Chevreau, a great friend who has a doctorate in his-
torical theology from Wycliffe College, University of
Toronto, has written an excellent book, Catch the Fire, which
includes the account of the revival Edwards experienced. We
know that revival as The Great Awakening, but then it was
called The Great Clamour.1 Some people hated it.
However, Jonathan Edwards’ wife, who was a melan-
choly woman — godly, but very introverted, nervous and
frail — experienced what we would call being drunk in the
Spirit for at least seventeen days. After that they stopped
documenting. It could have gone on longer; we do not
know.
A typical incident during these days was this one:
These words THE COMFORTER IS COME were

accompanied to my soul with such conscious cer-
tainty, and such intense joy, that immediately it
took away my strength, and I was falling to the
floor; when some of those who were near me
caught me and held me up.2
On the seventeenth day, Mrs. Edwards testified:
I felt such intense love to Christ, and so much

delight in praising Him, that I could hardly forbear
6
leaping from my chair and singing aloud for joy

and exultation. I continued thus extraordinarily
moved [for two and a half hours].3
Several years earlier George Whitefield, the great

Methodist revivalist in the 1700s, was barred from preaching
in any Congregational Church during his second preaching
tour to New England. Why? Because of the seemingly disor-
derly uproar that accompanied his meetings. Whitefield is
one of the heroes of the faith, a great evangelist. When he
preached, people fell, they laughed, they rolled, they
shouted. They had manifestations similar to those we see,
and a lot of folk did not understand. People said, “This can-
not be God because it is not decent and in order.”
Bill DeArteaga shows in his book Quenching the Spirit
that, throughout church history, every time there is a move
of the Holy Spirit some people come against it. It upsets
their traditions, it moves them out of their comfort zones, it
takes away their jobs or positions. So people find them-
selves fighting against the move of God, much like the
Pharisees did against Jesus Himself.
Sometimes this pharisaical religious spirit rises up so
powerfully that the move of God is eventually argued out of
existence (1 Thess. 5:19). When the Holy Spirit is quenched
in the church, we are left with just traditions and doctrines,
aren’t we? And traditions and doctrines alone don’t bring
the good news to the world.
Jonathan Edwards’ critics were saying, “If all this is God,
as you say, then why is all this garbage and debris happening
over here?” Now, that is a valid question, isn’t it? Edwards’
reply was classic: “It is probable that many of those who are
thus waiting, know not for what they are waiting. If they
wait to see a work of God without difficulties and stum-
bling blocks, it will be like the fool’s waiting at the riverside
to have the water all run by.”4
6
We have to look at the main body of the movement, at

the thousands of people who have been blessed, not at the
few who have missed it for whatever reason. We don’t think
less of salvation because some lose their relationship with
Christ. We don’t throw out the Bible because some of the
cults have wrongly interpreted it. Why abandon revival
because a few folks misinterpret manifestations?
Our brief look points to the fact that church history con-
firms our experiences. However, for a thorough examina-
tion of this subject, I recommend Guy Chevreau’s Catch the
Fire and Patrick Dixon’s Signs of Revival.
THE FRUIT OF THIS RENEWAL
The fruit produced in a person’s life is the third way to

evaluate a spiritual experience. I often ask people, “Do
you think it was Jesus? Was it the Holy Spirit? What has
happened in you?” These same questions were asked to a
man God touched almost two thousand years ago.
One Sabbath, Jesus healed a man who was born blind.
The religious leaders complained saying, “This man is not
from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath” (John 9:16).
They asked the formerly blind man who healed him and
what he thought about the Man who did this work — yet
they rejected his response. But the man who had been
healed explained to the leaders that this good fruit was
from God.
We know that God does not listen to sinners. He

listens to the godly man who does his will.
Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a
man born blind. If this man were not from God,
he could do nothing (vv. 31-33).
The man born blind summed up his encounter with Jesus

in these simple, childlike words: “One thing I do know. I
6
was blind but now I see!” (v. 25). He knew the fruit was
good.
Throughout this book you will read testimonies of the
results of this renewal in people’s lives. People typically tell
me that they are more in love with Jesus, and they know in
their hearts how much He loves them. They have a
renewed hunger for the Word, and they have a broken
heart for the lost. Their prayer life is more vital than ever.
They are now looking for ways to serve Him.
As this move of the Spirit spreads around the world,
sooner or later you will talk to someone who has been
touched by it. Tens of thousands now have a story to tell,
often with a similar theme: “I don’t understand why I
shook, fell, laughed, cried, rolled, jerked or whatever. But
one thing I know, I used to be fearful; I used to be crippled
inside; I used to be ineffective as a Christian; I used to have
to use all my energy to keep my emotional strength up just
to live another day; I used to be bound by hurts and fears.
But now I am free, because the Spirit of God came to me
and released me.”
Why are people offended by what the Holy Spirit does?
Why were they offended with Jesus’ ministry? Because God
is always doing something different from what people
expect Him to do. Even John the Baptist began to wonder if
Jesus was the one. Perhaps things were not going as John
expected. From jail, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He
was the Christ.
Jesus told them to tell John about the fruit — the lame
walking, the dead being raised. And as if to say, “Oh, by
the way,” He added: “Blessed is he who is not offended
because of Me” (Luke 7:23, NKJV). By this He encouraged
people to judge the impact and not be offended by the
means.
For months and months now, we have been saying, “Oh,
Holy Spirit, would You please come and give Your people
6
more?” Then He comes, and people do the funniest things

which we might say are not necessarily decent and in
order. But when they get up, they are full of joy, their
hearts are healed and they are in love with Jesus. The fruit
is wonderful.
As an introduction to the results of this renewal and the
wonderful testimonies you will read about in this book, let
me introduce you to Bill Subritzky. I met Bill in the early
nineties in conferences in England and Hungary at which
he was the keynote speaker. He is a widely known and
very well respected Anglican evangelist and lawyer. I was
pleasantly surprised to see him and his wife, Pat, at our
meetings in Auckland, New Zealand, in June 1995. He was
powerfully touched by God.
The next day, on his national radio program, he told the
nation of New Zealand what he had experienced. It
impacted a lot of people. It is so thrilling to see God come
in sovereign power and so completely bless a man of his
stature and reputation in the body of Christ. Carol and I
knew that not only were he and his family profoundly
impacted, but his own ministry would have a greater
anointing to see the kingdom come in greater power to
win the lost for Christ.
Here is Bill’s story in his own words.
Prior to John and Carol Arnott’s visit to New

Zealand, I had received many letters and faxes
from around the world asking for my view on “the
Toronto blessing.” I refused to make any comment
until I had personally observed what was happen-
ing. So I went to John and Carol Arnott’s meeting
with a completely open mind. I told the Lord that I
would receive anything He had for me.
At the first session, I sensed that the power of
God was present as John spoke in his very calm,
6
yet anointed, way. At the conclusion of the meet-

ing they prayed for people. As Carol approached
me, laid hands upon me and began to pray, I
sensed the power of God falling on me in a
mighty way. I must have rested in the Spirit for
nearly two hours, with both Carol and others
praying for me. Toward the end of this time I
suddenly felt a surge of joy which flowed up
from my belly into my mouth, and I laughed
heartily for probably thirty minutes. I knew the
real joy and peace of the Lord.
During my twenty-four years of ministry, I have
conducted crusades in Africa, South America,
North America, Europe and around the Pacific
basin. It has been my privilege to see tens of thou-
sands of people fall under the power of the Holy
Spirit in these crusades. Yet in all of these years, I
had never fallen under the power of the Holy
Spirit myself.
Yet when I was asked to testify on the platform
the next morning, I was able to get only part of
my testimony out before the power of God fell on
me again. I spent the next two hours lying on the
platform. That night the same thing happened.
The Lord gave me the words, “And they say this is
not of Me.” I barely uttered them before deep
laughter came from within me, and again I spent
the next two hours resting in the Spirit.
The effect on me has been dramatic. While I
was on the floor the Lord said to me very clearly,
“You have given out for years, now I am giving in
to you.” As an evangelist, I have prayed for tens of
thousands of people in all sorts of situations —
and I realize now just how weary I was. The
scripture in Acts 3:19 about “times of refreshing
6
may come from the presence of the Lord” (NKJV)

has become a tremendous reality for me. I am
being continually refreshed with the presence of
the Lord.
There remains therefore a rest for the people of
God. For he who has entered His rest has himself
also ceased from his works as God did from His
(Heb. 4:9-10, NKJV).
I never fully understood that scripture before,
but now I have entered God’s rest. The peace of
God has filled me completely. I am much more
relaxed in the Spirit, and I can hear the voice of
the Lord more clearly. I have a greater thirst for
God, and I have become a gentler person.
When I was born again, I had never seen the
grass so green, the trees so beautiful or heard the
birds sing so wonderfully. The morning after I had
received this refreshing, I felt exactly the same
way. As I looked around me I could not get over
the vividness of color. Everything seemed to take
on new life.
I now sense a new vitality and freshness in my
preaching. I have ceased working in the flesh and
have relied totally upon the Holy Spirit. Whereas
in the past I was worn out after three nights of
crusades, I have been able to conduct four major
crusades with thousands of people present, plus
conduct major seminars.
My evangelistic messages have taken on a new
dimension, and the anointing has increased dra-
matically. I have been privileged to see many peo-
ple mightily touched under the anointing of the
Holy Spirit as I have prayed for them.
Two weeks after this experience I was in
Papua New Guinea conducting crusades, and as I
prayed
6
for fifteen leaders, these reserved people all fell

under the power of the Holy Spirit. Everybody
except one person immediately received the gift of
laugher. They were on the floor for several hours
and had to be stirred in time for the crusade. It
was quite apparent from the expressions on their
faces that they had a mighty touch from God.
I have always believed that men should not
cry. However, since I have had this experience, I
have found that often as the power of the Holy
Spirit comes upon me, I have wanted to weep. I
know that a great cleansing has been taking place
within me.
The Lord has also dealt with deep things in my
life. When I was eight years of age, my five-
year- old brother died. My mother never got over
his death. For the next fourteen years she grieved
until she herself died. However, all her grief was
suppressed, and I was always taught to suppress
my grief and my feelings. God has given me a
mighty healing in my spirit and that grief has
been replaced by His joy.
The Word of God has become even more vital
and real to me. As I read the Word I feel I am
being bathed and refreshed. I have a greater thirst
for God and know His peace in a special way. The
reality of His presence is quite overwhelming.
OPEN UP TO GOD
As you read on, please evaluate everything by Scripture,

church history and the fruit. I am confident that by the end
of the book you will be ready and willing to open yourself
up to the Lord and receive everything God has for you.
7
C H A P T E R 5
DECENTLY AND IN ORDER
O
ur church was praying for revival, just as many of
yours are. We realize now we forgot to ask what
revival would look like. We thought God would
come and somehow, quietly and reverently, large
numbers of people would be converted and healed.
The church would grow, and there would be joy, but
everything would be somewhat subdued at the level we
were used to and comfortable with.
But when the Spirit of God came, it was like an explosion.
We saw people literally being knocked off their feet by the
7
Spirit of God — when no one else was near them. Others

shook and jerked. Some danced, some laughed. Some lay
on the floor as if dead for hours. People cried and shouted.
Lives were dramatically transformed. A young man
named Steve who was always on the fringe of church life
began to shake and prophesy and is now a vibrant witness
for Jesus. And his story of renewal is repeated over and
over in the lives of many who have visited our church.
We were so dry and desperate, we were willing to accept
what God was doing in fear and trembling. Now that we
understand how good and sweet the experience of the
Holy Spirit is, we love it and say, “More, Lord.”
WELCOMING THE HOLY SPIRIT
The atmosphere in our church services is electric —

charged with the presence of God. At times, the intensity of
the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in our meetings is
frankly shocking. Occasionally, we found ourselves having
to speak over the noise of people laughing, groaning or
crying out, though usually things are quiet during the
preaching of the Word.
When all of this started happening in our church, there
was a great temptation to try to keep things “tidy.” I won-
dered how all this fit in with 1 Corinthians 14:40.
Let all things be done decently and in order (KJV).
Were we “decent and in order”? We wanted everything

to be in accordance with this scripture. The church needs
to function in an orderly way so the body of Christ is
edified and the people are blessed, and so there is not
mass confusion. Yet we have seen times when the Holy
Spirit has come on everyone so strongly that He has
almost taken over entirely. I have felt that I might as well
sit down and let the Lord take it because such power and
7
DECENTLY AND IN
blessing was being poured down on the people.

The Holy Spirit reserves the right to fall upon the people,
even during the preaching of the Word. He did this to Peter
in Cornelius’ house (Acts 10:44).
Because of our fears or pride, we want to be in charge.
Pastors and leaders are prone to try to be in control of
what happens in their churches. They don’t like somebody
coming along and rocking their boat — even if it’s God
doing the rocking.
Because we’re human, sometimes things are done inap-
propriately, and we need the wisdom of God to integrate
renewal into our communities and churches. But the real
question is this: Who is in control? I think Jesus wants His
church back. He wants to take control.
Stephan Witt, pastor of Rothesay Vineyard Christian
Fellowship in New Brunswick, Canada, talks about this very
thing. While on a prayer walk during a sabbatical in North
Carolina, Stephan felt God ask, “Who is the priority in your
church, the Holy Spirit or people?” It was an appropriate
question because for the past two years, Stephan had been
working on making the church “user friendly” and “seeker
sensitive” focusing on welcoming the people more than
welcoming God.
Their church is in a new building in a visible location.
Stephan explains:
We had a large billboard announcing our services.

We had coffee in the lobby, proper signs directing
visitors to appropriate destinations. Visitors
received a handwritten letter from the pastor,
visits and a free worship tape just for “being with
us today.” A visitor was assured of an abbreviated,
but quality worship time followed by a culturally
relevant message that would get them back on the
road again before they started feeling
uncomfortable.
7
So when God asked him who had priority in his church,

Stephan was deeply challenged. When he responded that
he wanted the Holy Spirit to be the priority, God replied,
“Then make the church a place where I feel welcome.”
Stephan confesses that their church spent much effort in
making the visitor feel welcome, but had not considered
how they might make the Spirit feel at home. “Just when
we thought it was safe to bring someone to church —
dum, dum...dum, dum — like the shark in Jaws, the Holy
Spirit shows up!”
This is a wonderful challenge for all of us to answer. Are
we really welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives, individu-
ally and as a body? Are we welcoming what is occurring —
that which the book of Acts calls “times of refreshing”?
(3:19). During these times the Lord comes sovereignly and
does things that none of us have had any experience in or
even seen before. But similar phenomena are recorded in
church history.
So the question really is, Whose understanding of
“decently and in order” should we use — yours, ours or
God’s? Let’s see what God’s definition is — and isn’t — by
looking at our assumptions about how God moves.
FALSE ASSUMPTION #1: I HAVE TO

UNDERSTAND IT OR IT IS NOT GOD
Sometimes God does things that are hard to understand.
Some of the phenomena we are seeing in this renewal are
hard to understand. Yet the experiences of the people in
the Bible show us that when it is God moving, and strange
or unusual things happen, there is good fruit and people
are blessed.
God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, the son God
had miraculously given him (Gen. 22). Abraham must not
have understood why, but he followed God anyway. How
many wives would have said to Abraham, “Well, OK,
Honey,
7
DECENTLY AND IN
whatever you think the Lord is saying.” No, they would

have been on the phone, dialing 911. “Someone get over
here quick — my husband has flipped out. He is a religious
fanatic!”
We know now that God provided a ram to sacrifice
instead of Isaac, but Abraham didn’t know that would hap-
pen. That is why the Lord says that Abraham believed God
and it was counted to him as righteousness (Rom. 4:3). He
trusted God about something he couldn’t understand. Issac
was an amazing type of Christ and the Father offering Him
for mankind. It makes perfect sense, looking back over the
perspective of time, with Isaac as a type of Jesus and
Abraham as a type of God the Father.
Consider again the healing of the blind man recorded in
John 9. Jesus spit on the ground, made mud and spread it
on the blind man’s eyes. He told the man to go and wash,
and the man came back able to see. Why didn’t Jesus simply
lay hands on the man, or anoint him with oil? Why this
bizarre practice of spit and mud and washing? We are left to
wonder!
We have a tendency to skip over these events because
they happened long ago and far away. We don’t stop to
think about what they would look like today. But what if
something similar happened in your church next week?
Would you recognize it as God if it really was?
We have the same God today people did then — the God
of the whole Bible. This is the God we need to welcome
into our hearts, lives and church services. This is the God
who is continually doing new things, the God of variety.
P. J. Hanley, an elder from a church in New York,
described his first meeting at our church, which he came to
rather skeptically.
It was like walking into a heavenly insane asylum.

People were laughing uncontrollably, weeping
7
uncontrollably, shaking uncontrollably, bounding,

roaring, flopping...bodies on the floor, all being
powerfully impacted by the Holy Spirit. The pres-
ence of God was so wonderful and the worship
was unlike anything I have ever experienced.
Although there was still some resistance in me
(because of the weirdness of it all), I knew that God
was doing something wonderful in His people.
The testimonies were so powerful. Whole lives
and churches were transformed. And the ministry
of the Word was so pure and sharp that it cut my
soul like a knife. I began to really open myself to
the Lord and seek Him that He would fill me up as
He was obviously doing with others.
What would have happened if Mr. Hanley had decided

not to pursue this because he didn’t understand it? He
pushed through his discomfort and lack of mental under-
standing and received from God.
The man without the Spirit does not accept the

things that come from the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand
them, because they are spiritually discerned (1
Cor. 2:14).
This is not to say that people who do not accept this

renewal do not have the Spirit — absolutely not. But it does
show us that our natural minds, our rational beings, are
never going to completely understand the things of the
Spirit of God. They will look foolish. God chooses the fool-
ish things to shame the wise, so no one can boast before
Him (1 Cor. 1:27-31).
This new move of God is in line with the Word and with
church history. It produces good fruit — Jesus is glorified.
Given all that, it seems less important that we cannot
7
DECENTLY AND IN
understand with our minds all the ways God chooses to do

by the Spirit.
FALSE ASSUMPTION #2: THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL

NEVER DO ANYTHING AGAINST MY WILL
The people who come to our church want to receive
from God. Many eventually say, “Whatever You want,
God.” Their hearts are open to what God has for them, but
sometimes what He does seems “against their will” since
they are not making their bodies shake or fall — yet it
happens. And sometimes God sovereignly overrules a
person’s will — because He’s God!
The apostle Peter experienced something from God that
went against his will.
Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became

hungry and wanted something to eat, and while
the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance
(Acts 10:9-10).
Now we are talking about Peter, the apostle of Jesus

Christ, falling into a trance. What does that mean? It
means, he fell into a trance! Was it Peter’s will to fall into
a trance? No, but it was God’s will. No doubt he
cooperated.
Peter then had this glorious vision of a sheet being low-
ered with all kinds of unclean animals in it. Peter was
astounded. The God of the Bible, the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, was telling him to do something that is
contrary to Scripture as he understood it, to eat unclean
food — which interpreted meant to preach to the gentiles
and allow them to enter the kingdom. Now that is a very
puzzling thing, but it is one of the ways of God. God was
doing a new thing, and He went against Peter’s will and
beliefs to show it to him.
Zechariah also discovered that God can act against a
7
man’s will. He was a priest who went into the temple of the
Lord to do his term of service. Suddenly an angel came to
him and told him that he and his wife would have a son.
Zechariah questioned the angel’s words. He was probably
thinking, “This is pretty unlikely, angel. We are getting old
and have no children, so how is this going to happen?” The
angel responded by taking away Zechariah’s ability to
speak until “the day this happens” (Luke 1:20). This was
obviously done against Zechariah’s will, yet it was from
God. What if this happened to a senior couple in your
church today? Are you going to explain to the rest of his
family that he thinks he has seen and heard from an angel
of God, yet he cannot talk? Or are you going to say, “This
can’t be from God because it goes against this dear old
man’s will”? Remember, Zechariah was unable to speak
for nine
months!
These are manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s power. Why
would God do things like this? Well, these are the ways of
God.
Steven Thauberger, a hearing-impaired man, came to our
church because his sister invited him. He was not a
believer, so when she told him what was happening, he
said, “Yeah, right.” He didn’t want to be rude, so he came
with her.
He became nervous when he saw the dancing and laugh-
ing. Then someone came up and asked if he wanted to be
prayed for. He said sure. Immediately, he fell down.
He thought to himself, “That was really neat.” He got up
and asked someone else to pray for him. He fell down
again and started tumbling around in circles. “After that,” he
states emphatically, “I believed.”
I asked him why that experience caused him to believe.
He replied, “I have no answer for that. I just know. Some-
times I feel His presence...I don’t know how to explain it.”
As he was trying to find a way to describe what happened
7
DECENTLY AND IN
to him, he started shaking and went down again. When this

man fell, it was not something he willed to do; yet it was
from God, and he did not resist it.
Let’s look in the book of Acts at the story of Ananias and
Sapphira. They sold all their property and kept part of the
money for themselves instead of giving it all to the church.
That was OK, but then Ananias and Sapphira conspired
together to lie about it. Peter confronted Ananias about
lying to God, and Ananias fell down and died.
The same thing happened to his wife, Sapphira, when
Peter questioned her and she lied also.
At that moment she fell down at his feet and

died. Then the young men came in and, finding
her dead, carried her out and buried her beside
her husband. Great fear seized the whole church
and all who heard about these events (Acts: 5:10-
11).
Ananias and Sapphira fell under the power of God, too

— and against their wills. The difference was, they didn’t
get up. The power came in judgment. Was this move of the
Spirit against their wills? Yes. But was it God? Yes.
If that had happened in your church, what would you
say? “Oh, they have gone too far now. Two people died in
the service this morning.”
So not only did God move in a way that went against
Ananias and Sapphira’s will, but also His actions brought
great fear. Why is it then that people often think they will
have no fear in God’s presence?
FALSE ASSUMPTION #3: IF IT IS TRULY GOD,

I WILL NOT BE AFRAID
Whenever God appeared throughout the Bible, people

were told not to be afraid.1 Why? Because people are afraid
when God shows Himself. We sometimes think, “Why am I
7
feeling afraid? I know this is not God because I feel nervous

in this meeting.” Yet feeling afraid might just be the way
you truly know it is God, because every time God showed
up in power in the Bible, people were afraid.
Terry Virgo, the international overseer of New Frontiers
Churches, wrote to me about his visit to our church. Earlier
Carol and I were with him in Brighton, England, in October
1994. At one point he was lying down with one of us at his
head and one at his feet, soaking him in the power of God.
He was saying, “My whole body is on fire. I have never
been this high before. I don’t know what to do.”
When I asked him later, he said he was afraid and, “My
whole body was on fire. I felt that there was a driving hail-
storm right in my face.” Is it any wonder that he shook a lit-
tle bit? Is it any wonder he was afraid?
After this and other similar experiences, Terry is now
ministering the gospel in a whole new level of power.
God showed up in a powerful vision when Daniel
prayed to the Lord about his people, the Israelites, who
were in exile in Babylon. The Bible says the men that were
with him were terrified.
As I was standing on the bank of the great river,

the Tigris, I looked up and there before me was a
man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest
gold around his waist. His body was like
chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like
flaming torches, his arms and legs like the
gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like
the sound of a multitude. I, Daniel, was the only
one who saw the vision; the men with me did
not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them
that they fled and hid them-
selves (Dan. 10:4-7).
Why do you suppose the Bible speaks of the fear of God

353 times?2 Every time God shows up, we read, “Fear not.”
8
DECENTLY AND IN
Why? Because it scares us to death when God shows up.

The men with Daniel did not see what he saw, yet they ran
away in terror and hid themselves. Daniel was left alone,
gazing at the vision.
I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale

and I was helpless. Then I heard him speaking,
and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep,
my face to the ground (vv. 8-9).
Why would God do that when He comes? I don’t know.

We are not used to God’s coming in that kind of power.
Someone might have said to Daniel, “You don’t look so
good. This must not be God. Would God do this? Is this
what He calls ‘decent and in order’?”
Daniel lay paralyzed on the ground. He describes what
happened next:
A hand touched me and set me trembling on my

hands and knees. He said, “Daniel, you who are
highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I
am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have
now been sent to you.” And when he said this to
me, I stood up trembling.
Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel”
(vv. 10-12).
Why was Daniel afraid if it was really God? Because He is

an awesome God, a powerful God.
Lillian Boycott of Windsor, Ontario, attended a pastor’s
conference at our church in July 1994. At a noon meeting,
she was up at the front shaking when she got scared and
forced herself to stay still. At the meeting that night she
was walking back to her chair when she realized she
didn’t need her cane anymore. The arthritis in her left
knee was healed. God’s power had moved in her; she
felt it and it
8
scared her, but the anointing did its work anyway. I was in
contact with her a year later, and she was still walking with-
out her cane.
When God showed up on the mountain, the people of
Israel trembled, telling Moses to go talk with God himself,
and they would do whatever God told them. However, they
wanted to stay at a safe distance (Ex. 19).
Do you remember what God told Moses? “You cannot
look on my face and live. I will have to cover you till I pass
by, and then I will show you my glory.” Moses saw the
glory of God as it was going away from him; he did not see
the brightness of His face (Ex. 33:19-23).
Even though Moses saw only the back of God, his face
was glowing and shining like the sun when he came down
from that mountain. He had to be covered with a veil
because people could not stand looking at him (Ex. 34:35).
It was like, “Please, Moses, cover your face. We cannot take
it.” That was God’s power on him.
We are not talking about some slight thing here. The
Holy Spirit of God comes in incredible power. When we
first experienced the increase of the Holy Spirit’s power, the
Lord told us, “I am going easy on you now so that when
the real power shows up, you will not be terrified.”
Comparatively speaking, we have not really seen any-
thing yet. If we can’t participate when the power is low,
what are we going to do when the real power shows up?
What we see now is just the hors d’oeuvres being served.
Realize that God is awesome, and don’t be surprised if His
power overwhelms you.
FALSE ASSUMPTION #4: GOD IS TIDY AND PROPER
We associate reverence and respect and quiet with

God. But if we really look at some of the ways He often
moved in the Bible, we will see the exact opposite. When
8
DECENTLY AND IN
phenomena start happening in a church service, the ten-

dency is to stop them and keep the service tidy and
explainable. Why? Because they quickly take us out of our
comfort zone. But if we do that, we may be shutting down
the Holy Spirit. Did anything happen in the Bible that con-
firms this idea?
We find in Luke 8 that Jesus crossed a sea, endured a
storm and accepted censure and rejection simply to set one
man free from the bonds of the devil. But it was a noisy and
confusing affair.
This man lived in the tombs, naked and possessed.
Broken chains dangled from his wrists. The community was
helpless to deal with him, so they completely ignored and
shunned him. He was left living among the dead, crying out
and cutting himself in the misery and torment of demonic
possession.
As soon as Jesus’ boat hit the beach, everything
exploded. Jesus commanded the evil spirit to come out of
the man as he was charging down the hill screaming. Jesus
asked, “What is your name?” The man replied, “Legion, for
we are many.” The demons were ordered out and they
begged Christ to let them enter the pigs feeding nearby.
The whole herd then rushed down the steep bank into the
lake and was drowned (Luke 8:33).
The keepers of the pigs, the herdsman, ran in great fear
back to their village. The people came out and begged
Jesus to leave. Why? Because they were terrified. This
was not a neat and tidy event. Two thousand pigs died,
and people were supposed to believe God was in this?
Suppose this happened in your church. It would need to
be a country church with some pigs nearby, but think of
all the screaming and shouting going on. Jesus, then the
man, then the demons, then the pigs and the villagers as
well! How could this be God? It’s so loud and perplexing.
Had those been your pigs, what would you have thought?
8
You just lost two thousand times, let’s say, $250 or so —

around a half million dollars just went into the sea. Your
community would be split about whether this was God or
not, whether this was a good work or not.
But, if you had asked the mother of that young man if
she thought this was the work of the Holy Spirit, what do
you think she would have said? If you had asked the young
man what happened to him, what do you think he would
have said? Would he have wondered if everything was done
“decently and in order”? No. Instead we read that he was so
grateful and awestruck that he asked Jesus if he could go
with Him. But he was to go home and tell his family and
friends how much God had done for him (vv. 38-39). Jesus
wanted him to be a witness to God’s work.
Some others, however, will always react negatively,
especially when it hits them financially. But that does not
mean it is not a work of the Spirit. God works in His order.
He is not subject to our rules for tidiness and proper
behavior.
Consider the divine rescue of Paul and Silas while in jail
at Philippi. They had been stripped and beaten for healing
a demonized girl and subsequently starting a riot in the city.
At midnight, a violent earthquake struck, shaking the very
foundations of the prison. But this was no ordinary earth-
quake — it was the Holy Spirit visiting the prison and set-
ting all the prisoners free.
The hardened jailer was converted as he cried out in fear,
“What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:29). His faith did not
rest on the wisdom of man, but on the awesome power of
God (1 Cor. 2:5). Philippi was shaken that day — physically
and spiritually. It was not a neat and tidy event.
When Stephan Witt, the pastor from New Brunswick, and
the other leaders in his church returned from services in our
church in Toronto, they had a Saturday night debriefing
meeting with other leaders in their church. When they
8
DECENTLY AND IN
prayed, people fell and laughed and experienced God’s

manifest presence.
Stephan relates thinking, “What if this breaks out tomor-
row morning in church?” It concerned him because it
appeared chaotic and messy. Stephan continues:
I was wondering what some of our new people

would think if they saw our leaders doing what
they had done the night before. The explanation
for this phenomena is not carried in our visitor’s
packet. Lord help us if we have to carry people
out! I made a very important decision at that time
— who cares!
And the results the next day? Stephan told me:
When the dust settled, over one hundred people

were doing “carpet time,” and the Holy Spirit
wasn’t finished. We finally concluded the morning
meeting at 3:30 in the afternoon, having seen
massive laughter, joy, peace, deliverance and such.
We immediately called for meetings every night
to soak in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
I’ve discovered that if the simple, humble yet powerful

ways of the Holy Spirit offend us, then we will find
some logical reason to tidy it up — and pretty soon we
will not have to worry about His ways bothering us any-
more. I’d rather have the Holy Spirit come on His terms
than mine, even if at times I am uncomfortable and do
not understand.
TRUST GOD
Here is the bottom line. If you know that God is a God

of love and that His heart is for you and not against you,
8
you can come to Him in childlike faith and ask for the
fullness of His Spirit, can’t you? And if you ask a loving
God for more with a right heart and a right motive, what
are you going to get? More of Him.
Is that what you want? Then don’t allow things you can’t
quite understand to keep you from being healed and
renewed. God is fearsome, awe-inspiring and sometimes
perplexing. He doesn’t always act within our culturally
acceptable parameters of proper and polite behavior. Oh,
but when He acts, when He works, don’t let anything keep
you from entering in.
It can be a fearful thing to totally trust someone. But do
you know something? You can totally trust the Holy Spirit.
You have a loving Father who has promised to send the
Holy Spirit to you. Open your heart to Him. He’s faithful.
Trust Him.
8
C H A P T E R 6
RECEIVING THE
SPIRIT’S POWER
C
arol and I are a study in opposites when it comes to
receiving the things of God. As a general rule, when
someone prays for me I do not feel anything. Carol,
on the other hand, receives very easily.
If you were having a rather bad day and wondered if
God were still with you, you could pray for Carol and she
would receive wonderfully and probably fall down. You
would feel better, knowing that God was still with you and
answering prayer.
Whenever Carol and I went to a meeting where the Spirit
8
of God was really moving — like at a Benny Hinn crusade,

a John Wimber meeting or a good prayer meeting — Carol
would receive the Spirit, fall down and say, “Oh, what I feel
is so wonderful.”
I would ask, “Honey, what do you feel?”
“Oh, it’s so wonderful,” she would say. I would be
thrilled for her, yet at the same time I would be aware of
my own unfulfilled desire for refreshing. I have previously
felt God’s presence powerfully at my conversion and my
Spirit baptism and on one or two other occasions, but until
this renewal, I had not felt His overwhelming nearness for
many years.
If I was prayed for and I happened to fall down, I was
never sure if I fell because everything happened so fast or
because catchers behind me pulled me back. Maybe I had
been pushed over or hit so hard on the forehead that I was
knocked down, or perhaps I just wanted God so badly that
I fell over because that was what was expected of me. I
would lie there on the floor thinking to myself, “I don’t feel
anything, and I don’t want to make this up or hype it. I
might as well get up right now.”
Carol and I went to Rodney Howard-Browne’s meeting in
Fort Worth when we were visiting our daughters in June
1993. He called for all of the pastors to come forward. Carol
was with me, and I was right at the end of the line. A cou-
ple hundred of us were all around the front of the church,
and Rodney went along praying, “Fill, fill, fill.”
While I was standing there I chose not to watch. I was
just in God’s presence. Rodney came along to me said, “Oh
Lord, fill this man, come to this man.” He did not push me.
I felt he honestly tried to impart the Holy Spirit to me, but I
felt nothing. And he went on.
When I opened my eyes, I saw that one other man and I
were still standing. That’s when a person might think, “Well,
I am just not given to this sort of thing.”
8
RECEIVING THE SPIRIT’S
RECEIVE BY FAITH
All of this caused me to relearn an old lesson: We receive

everything from God by faith.
When we pray to receive the Spirit, He will often be very
gentle, almost so that one may wonder, “Am I imagining
this, or is this really You, Lord?” That is when the step of
faith is required. At this point people can resist or submit.
This is the time to get out of the boat and walk on the water
in childlike trust.
I had to start receiving that way — by faith instead of by
feelings. That’s how I should have received all along. So
after I started exercising my faith, I got to the point where
experiencing the manifestations and feelings was not
important to me, which is a good place to be. Everybody
could fall except me, and I really did not mind. I was
receiving the things of God, whether I felt I was or not.
If you are one of those who are frustrated because you
don’t seem to be feeling much of anything, you must accept
this fact: When you ask, you receive the Spirit of God
whether you feel anything or not because the things of God
are received by faith. The feelings are great, and I love
them as much as anybody, but everyone receives by faith.
The righteous will live by faith (Gal. 3:11).
I love to tell the story about Jim Robb, a Vineyard pastor
from Washington, D.C. He came to our meeting in April
1994 because he wanted to receive the power of the Spirit
in a refreshing new way.
Jim stayed three or four days and nothing much hap-
pened. He phoned home to say he was staying longer.
Twenty-three days later he went home discouraged because
his perception was that he did not receive an anointing or
refreshing from God. He had felt or manifested nothing.
Sunday came and Jim said to himself, “I will pray for the
people anyway, as I always used to do.” But when he went
8
into ministry time at church, the Holy Spirit hit like a tidal
wave. It was incredible. People were strewn all over the
floor — some laughing, some crying. It was so wonderful
and totally unexpected by him.
Pastor Robb was now excited. He did not phone or fax
me, but got back on an airplane and flew to Toronto to tell
me face-to-face that he really had received after all. Because
he had persisted in prayer for twenty-one days, God had
filled his life. It became obvious when he ministered in his
church. To fall, shake a bit or to laugh was not the issue. He
had really received by faith.
Let’s look at some things that help us receive by faith.
TAKE RISKS
We are called to diligently seek God. We are called to

come in humility. We are called to come like a little child,
not holding back in fear and not playing it safe. If Peter had
played it safe, he never would have stepped out of the
boat. You might say, “Well, he sank, didn’t he?” Yes, but he
walked too, didn’t he?
John Wimber says the way to spell faith is R-I-S-K.
If you wanted to find out what it was like to walk on
water, you would have had to ask Peter. Why? Because he
tried something the others were afraid to do — he got out
of that boat.
Press into God by faith — risk saying, “Lord, I want more
of You. I want more of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 11:6). I am
willing to let You take control.”
Michael Szabo of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, wrote me
about what happened when God moved this renewal into
his church, Dayspring Fellowship. For the first three weeks
Michael attended the new Tuesday night services, but he was
full of doubt and skepticism. He watched people fall, shake
uncontrollably, laugh, weep and “act silly.” But he admitted
he sensed the presence of God and His Spirit stirring inside.
9
Within a few weeks Michael allowed people to pray over

him, but he still resisted God.
At last I surrendered to the Lord and fell under

the presence of the Holy Spirit. For forty minutes
I lay on the carpet, unable to speak or move, yet
fully conscious of all that was happening around
me. While on the carpet, I began to have visions
and eventually saw Jesus extend His arms and
hug me. I remember weeping with joy and did
not want this time to end. I knew I had been
touched by God’s loving hand and would never
be the same.
Michael took the risk, and now he says, “I must witness

at every opportunity and not only walk as a Christian but
also speak of His love.” What happened to him was God.
Both his grown daughters accepted Jesus as Savior at our
church in August 1995. Michael is still praising God for this.
BE PERSISTENT
If we want what God has for us today, and more of it, we

must be persistent. We must keep pressing in, keep seeking
God’s face and not allow ourselves to become discouraged
if God does not do what we expect. God will honor perse-
vering prayer and the steady pursuit of intimacy with Him.
Elisha set a high value on persistence. He knew he was
called to succeed Elijah as prophet, to take on his mantle (1
Kin. 19:19-21). When the time came for Elijah to depart, he
tried to put Elisha off. It was a test — how badly did Elisha
want more of God? Elijah tells Elisha:
“Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” But

Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you
live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to
Bethel (2 Kin. 2:2).
9
The prophets at Bethel told Elisha that his master Elijah

would be taken from him today. This same thing happened
in Jericho, then at the Jordan. Elisha pressed through
Elijah’s test of “You wait here.” I believe he had always
been a very obedient young man when he was with Elijah,
but not this time. He sensed that this was a test. He was
persistent. He pushed through, and he followed Elijah.
When they got to the other side of the Jordan, Elijah
asked,
“Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken

from you?”
“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,”
Elisha replied (v. 9).
Elisha knew what it meant to be persistent, and he

received what he had pressed in for — a double portion of
Elijah’s anointing. He highly valued the anointing of God,
and he pursued it diligently.
Terry Appell was persistent. He is the senior pastor of the
Christian Life Centre Mona Vale in Sydney, Australia. He
said to his church, “There’s got to be more to Christianity
than what I’m experiencing.” This desperation led to
persistence. When he saw the article in Charisma magazine
about the Father’s blessing here in Toronto, first he called
us, then he faxed us — then in desperation he got on a
plane and came. A fellow pastor, Jeff Beacham,
encouraged him to
come, and his persistence paid off.
In our meetings Terry wept and wept and wept. He had
grown up in an orphanage where he had been placed
when he was two years old, and God took him through his
inner pain. He tells us:
When I thought I’d had enough, God would show

me more. He showed me myself as a two-year-old
baby, crawling up into my own lap [as an adult]
9
and accepting myself for the first time. I under-

stand now the pain that children go through. I had
shut it up for forty years.
Terry said that when people came to him for counseling

he said, “Repent. Next.” He just couldn’t feel people’s pain.
“But now,” he declared joyfully, “I’m a new man.” He
described through tears the first thing he planned to do
when he got home: “I’m going to take my son in my arms
and just love on him.”
Terry’s persistence paid off.
COME AS A CHILD
In order to receive by faith, we need to come to God in

trust and humility, just as children come to their parents.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked,

“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
(Matt. 18:1).
That is a good question. Inside, don’t we all want to be

great in the kingdom of heaven, heroes in godly things,
successful?
He called a little child and had him stand among

them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you
change and become like little children, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore,
whoever humbles himself like this child is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever
welcomes a little child like this in my name wel-
comes me” (vv. 2-5).
Jesus is saying that unless we change and become like

little children, we cannot even enter the kingdom of God.
9
He places a high value on simplicity and trust.

When was the last time you became like a little child? I
don’t know about you, but that idea bothers me a bit. You
know what kids are like, don’t you? If you have children or
have been around them, you know that they are often
playing when they should be doing their chores or their
schoolwork. They love to play around. They don’t take life
seriously enough.
In this scripture, Jesus is calling us to receive the king-
dom like little children. Yes, there is a time to become a
man and put away childish things, but we are never to
become so sophisticated that we can no longer receive sim-
ply from God. Don’t get so theological and so full of pur-
pose and strategy and your own agendas that you cannot
be like a little child, have fun and be simple, trusting,
uncomplicated, open and honest before God.
This is a call to get real and to stop playing religious
games. It doesn’t matter how good we look on the outside,
if on the inside many things are wrong. If you are having
marriage problems, if you are having problems with lust, if
you are having financial problems, if you are having a prob-
lem sleeping — whatever kind of problems you might have
— bring them into the open. A little child would come and
say, “Mommy, I am having nightmares” or “Daddy, I need
your help.” We must come as little children.
If you have needs or secrets, get them out into the open
— tell some trusted friend. Don’t pretend they’re not there
because people will disapprove. Be vulnerable and open
with your needs, just as children are.
A little child would take what the Lord wanted to give
even if it was packaged with falling, speaking in tongues or
shaking. We can say, “Lord, just come and do what You
want to do. I am not going to set the terms. I am not going
to set the agenda here.” God is going to give you the desire
of your heart when you come in childlike faith.
9
PRESS IN AND TAKE WHAT GOD OFFERS
Most of the things that we receive from the Lord begin in

the natural and end in the spiritual. Before you panic about
being in the flesh, just think about it.
When you come to worship, you may not always feel like
worshiping. But you have learned how to enter in, so dur-
ing that first or second song, it is 90 percent you and 10
percent God. You make yourself raise your hands, and as
you give more of yourself to God, that ratio turns around
and eventually becomes 90 percent God as you feel His
wonderful presence on you and just 10 percent you. Do
you understand?
Reading the Bible is the same way. You might not feel
like reading the Bible. When you start it is 90 percent you
and 10 percent God. But once you get into it, you get so
blessed. The percentage turns around.
Similarly with prayer, most people do not feel like praying
when they start out, but they press in — 90 percent them, 10
percent God. As they keep going, it turns around and
becomes 90 percent God and 10 percent them. The Spirit
takes over as we yield to Him, yet we must come in faith.
Receiving the Spirit’s power and refreshing is often the
same way. It can be 90 percent you at first, standing there
saying, “Well, I think maybe I feel something on me, but I
could resist this.” Yes, you can, but do not. Let Him come
upon you. Let Him take you and fill you. Do not expect
instant visions and dreams or other powerful manifestations
that other people you may know about have had. You will
have your own unique experience with God. Just let Him
continue His work in you.
SOAK IN THE SPIRIT
Our ministry teams are trained to pray for everyone

individually. That is why I don’t just pray en masse saying,
9
“Come, Holy Spirit,” and only see ten or fifteen percent of

those present receive. We’ve learned to soak people in
prayer, to keep praying for them, saying, “Give them more,
Lord. Give them more.”
Intimacy takes time, and so it is the same with God. We
don’t receive all God has for us with one quick touch. Our
team prays for people while they’re standing and
continues to pray while they’re shaking or laughing and
even after they’ve fallen. People who fall usually start
thinking about getting back up. But we encourage people
not to get up quickly, but just to lie there and take another
wave of the Spirit.
As our ministry teams continue to pray for people, they
are led by the Spirit concerning what to pray for each per-
son. They pray that what God wants in people will go in
and what He wants out will come out. Pain, fear, hurt,
depression, sin — even demons — may come out. Peace,
joy, love, refreshing may come in. That is the kingdom of
God — some things in, some things out. We are strength-
ened as a result.
We call this whole process of continuing prayer “soaking”
someone. The person is getting soaked in prayer and in the
Holy Spirit. This may go on for ten minutes or two hours.
Soaking prayer seems to help people receive more and
more of God. We want to marinate them in the Holy Spirit.
Some are surprised when I ask them not to pray in
English (or whatever language) nor in tongues, while they
are being “soaked” or prayed for. They wonder why. Prayer
is a giving out ministry. It is hard to be pouring out while
the Holy Spirit is pouring in. When people pray in tongues
while we are praying for them, it is unlikely that they will
receive more of God because when they are focused on
giving, they are not receiving. It’s difficult to pour out
(pray) and let God pour in at the same time — just like it’s
hard to drink and talk. Receive first, then pray later.
9
A pastor from British Columbia learned this at one of

our meetings in May 1994. John Overholt, pastor of
Willow Point Foursquare Church in Campbell River,
faxed me his experience. He came hungry and expecting,
but found himself trying too hard to receive. One of our
ministry teams’ members encouraged him to relax and for
the moment, stop praying in tongues. John relates:
I then started to take note of all my resistance and

striving. I also felt the presence of the Lord so
strong you could cut it with a knife. I was deter-
mined that if I was going to be moved, it was
going to be God who did so and not man. It didn’t
take long before my knees started to buckle and I
was prostrate on my back with what seemed like
waves of the Holy Spirit rolling over me, and yet I
was very peaceful.
Then the Lord started to show me some things
about myself — my controlling nature, my com-
petitiveness, my judgments toward other churches.
So I repented of these things. I understand that the
Holy Spirit is indeed a wonderful Counselor. After
a few hours on the floor I started to fall more and
more in love with the Lord and gained a greater
passion to seek more of Him.
Often we need this preparation of soaking prayer to

receive all God has for us. Jesus compared us to wineskins
holding new wine.
No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he

does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine
will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No,
new wine must be poured into new wineskins
(Luke 5:37-38).
9
What is a wineskin? In ancient times, people took a

goatskin and made a leather bag out of it. They worked and
prepared the leather, then filled it with new wine. The
wine, of course, was fermenting; therefore, it would stretch
the bag. When the bag became empty, it would be flattened
out and put aside.
What happens to a leather bag that is used to being moist
and then is folded up and put it away somewhere? It
becomes dry and stiff. The leather bag then needs to be
renewed by soaking it in water — thoroughly immersing it.
That is what the Holy Spirit is doing with some of us — just
soaking us! That is why we believe in soaking prayer.
After the wineskin had been soaked, it softened again.
They would inflate it, rub olive oil in it, and it would
become resilient again. It was ready for the new wine.
We became new wineskins when we were born again.
Maybe some of us were involved in the charismatic renewal
twenty-five years ago. But just like the church at Ephesus
that lost her first love, so had some of us. Our wineskins
became stiff and dried out. Now God is renewing them.
I have watched many kinds of people. For some, at first,
it seems as if there is no riverbed in their hearts; the anoint-
ing cannot flow. Others are so dry that the anointing seems
to run off at first. But as they continue to “soak,” the
riverbed is cut into their hearts, and it opens more and
more until there is a flow. When we soak people in prayer,
it is almost as if their hearts open up more and more, and
then more of God’s presence and refreshing can flow in.
As we “soak” people in prayer, we often see two phases
of God’s moving in them. First, they are refreshed and
healed and fall in love with Jesus again. This often then
transitions into a phase of empowering for ministry.
The Holy Spirit brings in peace, joy, cleansing, transfor-
mation and healing. Then comes empowerment. They
may speak in tongues. The empowering may be for
prophecy,
9
healing or evangelism. It is often accompanied by shaking

as great power flows in and through them.
We have observed that with this new move of the
Spirit, our capacity to receive from God is tremendously
increased. Before, only a few would receive something
deep in the Spirit. Now many receive a high-powered spiri-
tual experience which causes them to ask us to explain
what happened. They are surprised by the intensity of the
Holy Spirit’s power.
God wants us to continually be filled with the Spirit —
and know that we are. He wants us to minister out of an
overflow rather than with our spiritual tanks about empty.
So we keep praying, “More, Lord.” And He keeps giving
more of His Spirit to us in an intimate way.
Why not pray for one another at home? Put on your
favorite worship music and let your heart soak in the pres-
ence of the Lord. What a wonderful way to spend an hour
or so with God. Allow Him to fill you again and again.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?
I continued to receive by faith whenever people prayed

for me, yet God caught up to me one day, and I received a
fresh touch of the Spirit! Carol and I went to Hamilton,
Ontario, during the freezing cold January of 1994. We were
invited for meetings with Pastor Bruce Woods at Hamilton
Christian Fellowship. Renewal had only just broken out in
our church. At the end of the meeting, one of their worship
leaders came and gave me a prophetic word in perfect
rhyme.
I remember wondering how this was possible — revealing
the secrets of my heart and making it all rhyme poetically
— and it was all happening so fast. I felt like a watermelon
that had been cut right down the middle and laid open,
exposed and vulnerable to Him.
“Oh God, You found me!” was my reaction. “God, You
9
found me. You came and You cut right into my heart.”
I grabbed hold of a column I was standing beside, and I
spiraled down to the ground. Some who were watching
laughed and laughed, finding it hilariously funny. My heart
was engaged with God, yet I was thinking, “If this is really
God, how come I can still think? I am still aware of the
room and everything that’s going on.”
My expectation was that I would be out if God came
upon me powerfully and not aware of things around me.
But most people are very aware of the room and the other
people around. I certainly was, yet I went down because I
could not stand up. The Holy Spirit came powerfully on
me. Later we went to the parking lot to go back to the
motel.
It was 1:00 A.M., and the laughter hit me right there in the
parking lot. Our ministry team kept talking about it and
cracking up in laughter. Whenever they mentioned it, that
same laughter hit me again, and I laughed and laughed. My
mind, however, was saying, “What are you laughing at?
What is so funny? There is nothing funny at all.” I didn’t
know, but I was falling apart with laughter.
Eventually we got in the car, started the motor, and it all
hit me again. My mind did not understand what was going
on. We went into McDonald’s, and it hit me again, but by
now it was becoming great fun. I was aware of God’s
presence and peace. It has happened a couple of times
since then.
This presence and fellowship of the Holy Spirit is for
everybody. He is a love gift from God the Father to you —
and not just once, but day after day after day you can be
continually filled with the Holy Spirit. My prayer is, “God, I
must have more of You.”
TRUST GOD WITH YOURSELF
In our meetings we have a ministry team who lays hands

on people; the blessing is transferred and the people are
10
filled with God. It is a “jump start” to get things going. It is

wonderful and helpful.
Yet I believe your best and most meaningful times with
the Lord will be alone in your prayer closet, praying to your
Father in secret. The Father who sees in secret will reward
you openly (Matt. 6:4).
Be vulnerable with God. Sometimes I tell people to leave
the meeting and go back to their hotel rooms to be alone
with God. Whatever it takes for you to open your heart up
to Him, do it. Choose to walk toward Him in faith and say,
“Lord, I am going to come to You. I am going to believe
that You are the rewarder of those who diligently seek You,
and I am going to ask You for bread. You won’t give me a
stone. You are going to give me the bread of heaven.”
Understand that you can totally trust the Holy Spirit. I
have often said, “Listen, if there is a person in all of the
world that you can trust, then that person has to be the
Holy Spirit.” You can trust Him. You can go to Him and say,
“Holy Spirit will You please come and fill me, touch me,”
and be perfectly safe in so doing.
Find that secret place of the Most High; abide under the
shadow of the Almighty and start to love Him. Begin to
know His heart. Get to know Him relationally, because it is
not merely about an experience — it is about an intimate
relationship with God. If you have this kind of a powerful
and personal time with God, when you come down from
the mountain top, people will receive the Spirit when you
pray for them, too.
Having said all this, be aware that the Holy Spirit is a
powerful reality. When Peter and John joined Philip for
ministry in Samaria, the reality of the Spirit was so evident
that a leading sorcerer wanted to buy the power (Acts 8:18-
19).
1
C H A P T E R 7
FEARS: ROADBLOCKS
TO RECEIVING
W
hen we come to God with an open, surrendered,
childlike heart and ask for the Holy Spirit, we will
receive Him because we receive everything
from God by faith. But sometimes things in our
hearts block our ability to open up completely
to God.
I discovered that the crux of my inability to receive more
freely from God involved two basic issues: fear and pride.
In this chapter I’ll discuss the hindrance that fear is. Then in
the next chapter I’ll go into pride and how to get it out of
your path in order to have intimacy with God.
10
FEARS: ROADBLOCKS TO
Because we are afraid of certain things, people or situa-

tions, we put controls in place that safeguard us against
becoming vulnerable or getting hurt again. Many of us con-
tend with fears that control us and keep us from going
ahead with God in faith.
Southern Baptist Pastor Gary Folds from Macon, Georgia,
found out about fears and intimacy when he visited our
church in December 1994 at the urging of some trusted
friends (Jack Taylor and others). He admits he came
“filled with apprehension, doubt and some fear.”
Pastor Folds was somewhat overwhelmed during the
first meeting — lots of praise music, people dancing all
around the room, a few hundred people lying on the floor
after prayer. He did not go up for prayer, but instead
listened, walked around and watched curiously. He
observed, “There were a few like myself who didn’t know
what to think of all this, but we were in a vast minority.”
Pastor Folds admits that normally he would have been
very critical about what he saw, but he felt the peace of
God and the presence of the Holy Spirit very clearly.
With each passing day I found myself drawn

more and more into the presence of the Lord and
a relationship with Him. I began to be a little
jealous that everyone seemed to be having
special encounters and I wasn’t.
Then it was as if the Holy Spirit spoke to my
heart and confirmed that I might just be having the
greatest manifestation of all. I was in the midst of
what at one time would have caused me to turn
tail and run, but now I was enjoying what I sensed
to be the presence of God’s power. My tendency
to criticize was gone. I was not anxious, nor was I
in a hurry. I was experiencing perfect peace in the
midst of what at one time would have been storms
10
to me. With each passing day the time became

more and more precious. I began to look forward
to spending time in His presence in a way that I
hadn’t before. My, how good our God is.
How beautifully God allowed this pastor to press through

his fears into intimacy.
GOD IS BIGGER THAN OUR FEARS
The Christian church, and particularly the charismatic

movement, is in a major reaction to fear right now. Books
and articles documenting every form of spiritual abuse and
every wrong theological tangent have left us extremely
“streetwise” and without childlike trust and faith. Elaborate
documents claim that most of the church has been seduced,
penetrated and corrupted by Satan through the New Age
movement, Eastern mysticism and false doctrine. Some
Christians seem to think Satan is stealing away Christ’s
church while the Holy Spirit just sits and watches.
Some of us have become afraid to trust in anything we
are taught because someone somewhere has torn that
teaching or experience apart. We want the truth, but we
have lost our nerve to look for it.
Some years ago when I read some of those books, argu-
ments and articles, I felt hopeless for several days saying,
“What’s the use? Why don’t we quit? There is no way we
can win. God doesn’t care. Everybody is lost. We might as
well do something else, make some money and hold up till
the end, just trying to survive.”
I had forgotten how big God really is. It took me three
days to say, “Wait a minute, we have a big God. We have a
great, big God!”
God is the One who holds the universe together. Think
about how big the universe is. Our planetarium in Toronto
had a map at one time with the galaxies, stars and planets. It
10
was a huge chart that covered a whole wall. On it was a

little sign that said, “You are here.” Earth was a tiny speck
on the chart, and it made me think, “Look at the size of the
universe compared to earth.”
Yet God, our Father, holds the whole thing in the palms
of His hands. He holds it together by His powerful word
(Heb. 1:3). Do you think He can take care of this tiny little
planet? Do you think He can take care of His church? Can
He take care of you and me? Yet we fret, “I wonder if God
will see me through?” Many of us have a wonderful theol-
ogy of the sovereignty of God, yet we can believe that
Satan could steal God’s church.
I love that song we used to sing which said, “He is big
enough to rule the mighty universe, yet small enough to
live within the heart.”1 God is so big — and yet small
enough to be interested in the number of hairs on our
heads (Matt. 10:30). Now, I really love my wife; I tell her
every day, but I have never counted the number of hairs on
her head. God has though.
We have a big God who tenderly cares for us. We don’t
need to fear. Fear will shut down our faith and cause us to
withdraw and play it safe. Let’s uncover these fears and dis-
cover how to move past them and receive all God has for
us.
FEAR OF EMOTIONS
Who gave us our emotions? God did. Why? Because He is

good. God has emotions, so we have them because we are
made in His likeness. Obviously they are good.
Yet we have a fear of being emotional. We are cautioned,
“Be careful. I hear they get real emotional over at those
meetings. Watch out for emotionalism.” Fear of being emo-
tional may be causing some of us to avoid seeking after
God wholeheartedly.
Do little children fear being too emotional? When was the
10
last time you saw a six-year-old who was afraid of being

too emotional? Children don’t worry about that. They sim-
ply laugh and cry and take life as it comes without denying
who they really are. God told us to come to Him as little
children. Some of us need to “get real.”
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentle-
ness and self-control. Against such things there is
no law (Gal. 5:22).
What would love be like without the emotional compo-

nent? It’s almost impossible to imagine just a cold commit-
ment. How about peace? Peace is a feeling of well-being.
And where would our joy be contained if not in our feelings?
These characteristics are not merely intellectual,
psychological or only from the will. Kindness, gentleness
and joy, each involves emotion.
When the Holy Spirit comes He brings these qualities into
our lives. What kind of a person is the Holy Spirit? He is
loving; He is joyful; He is peaceful; He is gentle; He is
patient; He is kind; He is good; He is faithful; He is con-
trolled. That is His personality.
You cannot get too much joy. You cannot get too much
peace. We don’t say, “Oh, you are over the limit; you have
too much peace. You are sinning now.” There is no law
against these virtues. Maybe you are thinking, “What about
self-control?” Well, the Holy Spirit brings us self-control to
use against sin, not against the things of God.
Some have argued that people who laugh and shake,
unable to stop, are “out of control”; therefore, they say, it
cannot be from God. But the scripture in Galatians is refer-
ring to the fruit of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life — the
results of an encounter with God, not the encounter itself.
You cannot simply take a “snapshot” of people having
powerful, religious experiences and then accuse them of
10
being out of control. You must make a “movie” of their lives

and in the aftermath, evaluate.
Do we reprimand Paul for having no self-control when
he was knocked to the ground by God on the road to
Damascus? (Acts 9). Was Peter out of control when he fell
into a trance and had a vision from God? (Acts 10). Or was
Zacharias, who could not talk for nine months? (Luke 1:20).
We are not told what these experiences looked like, but it
must have appeared strange, to say the least. If we are
seemingly “out of control,” it doesn’t necessarily follow that
we are out of God’s control. What were the results in these
men’s lives? God was glorified. The fruit was of the Holy
Spirit, and it was good.
James Clinkscales, financial minister of Lake Country
Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, Texas, came to our church in
March 1995 and attended four nights of services. In his
hotel room, the Holy Spirit convicted him of his lifelong
control of his emotions, especially toward those he loved.
But he left disappointed that he had not had a more
powerful encounter with God. James had decided by the
last night that all the people on the floor were faking it,
and he felt almost numb. He booked an early flight back
on Sunday morning and left. He later wrote and told me:
Somewhere at thirty-one thousand feet above St.

Louis, I realized my unforgiveness toward my pas-
tor of thirteen years and purposed to ask his for-
giveness if I could get back to church before the
morning service ended. Suddenly, the awesome
presence of God’s love and peace overwhelmed
me as I sat on the aisle seat on the crowded air-
plane. My body vibrated with spiritual electricity
for at least thirty minutes, and the Lord “rewired”
my brain, soul and emotions. I wept openly and
shook but didn’t care who saw me. My Jesus
10
became so very, very real. As I listened to a wor-

ship tape on my Walkman, I lifted my hands in
praise. After the energy flow stopped, I tried to go
back to the rest room but could barely walk.
Mr. Clinkscales got to church by 11:30 A.M. and went to

the front to describe his plane ride and ask his pastor to
forgive him. Glory filled the church as most of the 150
people cried and applauded. He told me, “During the last
two weeks the church office, where I am the business man-
ager, has been filled with joy, praise and prayer.”
This servant of God from Texas discovered that letting go
of his emotions to God brought healing and release.
The Holy Spirit wants to touch you deeply, influencing
and affecting your heart. If you fear releasing your emo-
tions, then when you begin to experience the emotion of
love from the Holy Spirit you may shut right down.
Paul Reid, a pastor from Belfast, Ireland, wrote me about
an older lady who had been taught to stay away from emo-
tional things all her life. Now that she is filled with the Spirit
and has a radical love affair going on with Jesus, her emo-
tions have been set on fire. She is so in love with Him, but
she is upset saying, “Why didn’t somebody tell me before
that all of this was available to the Christian? I have gone
through my entire life thinking that God was not in favor of
our having emotions like this, and I steered clear of every-
thing that looked like it might be emotional or perhaps
even be fun.” How tragic for her. Her fear of emotionalism
blocked the blessings for her.
We do not want to be led and controlled by emotionalism,
but neither do we want to take the emotional component
out of the Christian faith and be left with only a cerebral the-
ology. Christianity is much more than that. It involves a full
range of emotional and relational interactions with God.
Pastor Brian Lucas and his wife from Christian Life Center
10
in Sydney, Australia, testified in one of our meetings. He

knew little of his father because he had been listed “miss-
ing, presumed dead” in World War II when the British navy
ship he was on went down. His family always hoped he
might still be alive, even after the war. Pastor Lucas was a
little boy when this happened, and whenever he heard
footsteps on the street, he’d rush to the window, hoping it
was his father returning.
After this pastor had been in several meetings in Australia
in which he was touched by God, he was watching
Shadowlands, a movie about C. S. Lewis, the famous author
whose mother had died when he was a child. The person
interviewing him wondered whether he ever expected to
hear his mother’s footsteps in the hallway. Upon hearing
this, Pastor Lucas was reminded of his father, and he burst
into uncontrollable sobs, crying for twenty minutes. He
confesses:
I realized that I had never grieved for my father

because we never knew if he was dead. It just sort
of petered out into nothingness, and he didn’t
come home. God really healed me that night of
the grief that was tied up inside. He’s released a
lot of the emotion in me that I’d kept a really tight
grip on in my life. He’s taken the lid off that, and
I’ve experienced some emotions that have been
really hard to handle since then — but some have
been really good.
I then asked his wife to confirm this. Family members are

the ones who really notice changes. She admitted:
I’ve noticed that he gets angry, and he never got

angry before. He’d always kept it in, and he’s
having to learn how to handle that. It might
sound really weird, but to be able to let that
anger come
10
out and let the Lord deal with it has caused a

tremendous change in him, and I praise God for it.
Now that’s a new one, isn’t it? This lady is happy because
now her husband has learned to get angry. It’s all part of
being set free as a human being. Give yourself permission
to let your emotions be expressed. Be real!
FEAR OF BEING DECEIVED
Nobody wants to be deceived, but neither do we want to

overreact in fear, which we Christians sometimes do. “Did
you pray through your house again today? Did you put oil
on the bumpers of your car? Watch out that you don’t get
deceived. Watch out about this, watch out about that. Be
careful.”
I met a man some years ago who had a marker contain-
ing olive oil. Everywhere he went he made little crosses on
everything. If he came into your house he marked every-
thing from the door knob on. You may laugh, but I think
that if the devil cannot stop you, sometimes he will push
you too far. Many Christians have this fear of being
deceived. When we take a biblical practice such as anoint-
ing or rubbing on of oil and push it to extremes with no
fruit, we are apt to bring reproach on the Lord.
When you come to receive something from God, you
can’t ask in faith if you’re half expecting a counterfeit. We
have to have more faith in God’s ability to bless us than in
Satan’s ability to deceive us. We have a great big God. The
devil is very small in comparison to God!
Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give

him a stone? (Matt. 7: 9).
Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish,

will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an
1
egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though

you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father in
heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
(Luke 11:11-13).
If you ask for the Holy Spirit, you won’t get a demon. If
you fall down and shake and rattle and roll after you ask for
the Holy Spirit, have you then received an unholy spirit?
No. You received what you asked for according to Luke 11
— the Holy Spirit.
How do you know that you will not get a counterfeit?
Well, tell me about your heart. Do you know that your
heavenly Father loves you? “Well, I think so.” Do you know
what kind of a wonderful Father He is? “I think so.” Well
then, why would you think that if you asked Him for some-
thing good, He would allow Satan to give you a counterfeit?
It’s really so simple; it’s simply a matter of trusting God. The
manifestations are not the proof. The fruit in the heart is the
proof! (Matt. 7:16).
Carl Buffington, rector of the Episcopal Church of the
New Covenant in Winter Springs, Florida, wrote in his
church newsletter after visiting us. He talked about seeing
some flesh, some “acting out,” but he continued:
After being there, I have to say, the presence of

God and His unconditional love dominate the
atmosphere! It is the ambiance of the Holy Spirit.
If the devil is behind it, as some say, he is doing
himself in, because people are falling in love with
their Lord and He is letting them know His love
for them.
What spirit produces greater love for Jesus? Only the

Holy Spirit. Remember what Jesus said after the teachers of
the law accused Him of having a demon:
1
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom

cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself,
that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes
himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end
has come (Mark 3:24-26).
If people think they could be drawn into a deceptive

web and then out of nowhere Satan will come and let
them have it saying, “Gotcha, sucker,” then think they have
given Satan too much ground. Instead, we are to believe
the scripture that says we are in the Father’s hands and no
one can pluck us out (John 10:29).
P. J. Hanley, a former skeptic from New York, said of this
renewal:
If it is of the devil, then the devil has had a con-

version experience. Since when has he been in
the business of increasing love for God and exalt-
ing the King of kings? Since when has he been the
source of peace, joy and righteousness? I have no
further doubt in my mind that this is the beginning
of a significant move of the Holy Spirit which we
have all been waiting for. My advice to those of
you who are skeptical or troubled by it all is to
examine the fruit. Taste and see for yourself.
If we do not know God’s heart and His ways, and if we

do not trust Him, we may think something we do not
understand is from the devil, and we will quench it. It is not
wrong to quench things, but it is wrong to quench the
works of the Holy Spirit.
It is amazing how the fear of deception will short-circuit
the faith of many who desperately need a fresh touch from
heaven. Attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan is a
very serious offense. If there is even a small chance that
something may be of God after all, we would do well to
1
consider the pharisee Gamaliel’s counsel to the Sanhedrin

when they brought Peter and the apostles before them.
Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their

purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.
But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop
these men; you will only find yourselves fighting
against God (Acts 5:38-39).
God loves us. He is faithful, and He will not give some-

thing false to us. We have to come to Him in faith. We are
not coming expecting a counterfeit. We are not coming
expecting to get deceived. We are coming to God and
expecting to receive more of the Holy Spirit!
Without faith it is impossible to please God,

because anyone who comes to him must believe
that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek Him (Heb. 11:6).
FEAR OF PHENOMENA AND MANIPULATION
Some of us are afraid that the unusual phenomena

we’ve heard about might happen to us!
A Lutheran pastor came to a pastors’ meeting in early
1994 and said to Carol, “I am so afraid of falling. Would you
mind if I just lie down on the floor?” She was surprised but
said, “No, go ahead.” The man lay down on the floor. Then
she prayed for him, and the Spirit of God came upon him
powerfully. He got the whole issue of falling out of the way.
Consider the effect simply lying down had on this pastor.
When my wife first told me about this incident, I felt
something was not real with it. But as I reconsidered, I had
to admit that nothing in Scripture would prohibit lying
down to receive prayer. This pastor’s motives were obvi-
ously right, and God came to him wonderfully. He had
1
simply dealt with his fear in an acceptable, childlike way.

Some people are afraid of the phenomena because they
don’t want to be vulnerable. Have you noticed that you are
out of your comfort zone when you are lying on the floor
or when you are shaking? You feel like everybody is watch-
ing you. You feel vulnerable. You think that somebody
could step on you or that you look foolish.
Faith, vulnerability and humility are necessary ingredients
to receive more from God. We need to say, “Lord, whatever
You want to do, I am open to it. I want more of You.”
Carl Kinbar, a pastor from Kingston, New York, pressed
through his anxiety about manifestations and met God. He
wrote me that he was the one who had rebuked me for not
preaching repentance in a meeting he attended. He added:
What I didn’t tell you, and couldn’t admit to

myself at the time, was that I was in great conflict
over what I had seen that evening. I had come to
those meetings specifically to confirm to myself
and our church that this “laughing thing” was defi-
nitely not from God. And yet I couldn’t deny that
what I had seen was real and supernatural.
That night Pastor Kinbar prayed and read through a book

about past revivals. He became convinced that this was
from God. He had never imagined what it was like in the
midst of one of those meetings with all the manifestations
and such. When he came to a pastor’s meeting the next
afternoon, he had an intense hunger to be touched by God.
He was not disappointed. He spent two and a half hours on
the floor with the Holy Spirit convicting him deeply of his
need for more of Him.
He showed me that I was deeply wounding my

teenage son with my words (I wept for perhaps
half an hour). He led me into gut-wrenching
1
intercession for my friend’s backslidden son, and

then filled me with the most incredible peace and
joy that I’ve ever known. This visitation has
changed my relationship with my God and with
my son.
Pastor Kinbar stumbled at the manifestations until God

broke through. Maybe for you it’s not manifestations but
manipulation you fear. In the past you may have encoun-
tered an evangelist or pastor who did not think he looked
good if you did not fall over, so he wanted to help you fall.
Some evangelists have just developed a forceful style, and I
suppose that is OK. But when that has happened to me, I
have felt manipulated.
If I was standing there expecting something from God
and somebody pushed me hard or subtly kept increasing
the pressure on my head until I fell over, my mind became
focused on my own balance. Then my focus was on me.
Where should it have been? Yes, on Jesus.
This manipulation can make people afraid of experienc-
ing any manifestations from God. Yet there are times when
the Holy Spirit comes upon people so strongly they feel like
they were pushed, even though they weren’t. If that happens
here in our meetings and the person thinks we pushed him,
I say, “Let’s do it again and I will pray from three feet back.”
Then he knows it was God who touched him.
A pastor from Arizona came to Toronto grudgingly, led
by God just “to look.” He had been prayed for and pushed
backward before in his life, and he was “repelled” by that.
But he promised the Lord he would stay the week in
Toronto regardless of what happened.
He went to the back of the church for prayer as instructed
and waited for someone to pray for him. He tells what hap-
pened next:
Something, someone had jerked me off my feet,

and I landed on my back and my feet went
1
straight up in the air. God showed me that He’s

doing whatever’s happening here. It doesn’t take
someone coming by, necessarily, and placing a
hand on you or even getting near you. The prox-
imity of a human is not necessary. My attitude
changed quickly.
This pastor cried as he told our church that he had been

pastoring for thirty years and had come to the point that he
hated ministry. He quit three years ago. “I didn’t like peo-
ple,” he confessed. Everyone laughed gently with him as he
added, “and that’s bad for a pastor.” Through his sobs he
told us that through the prayer here, he’s already beginning
to like people again.
From our perspective, we don’t care if you fall and mani-
fest something or not. What is really important is that you
have a meaningful touch from God that deeply impacts
your heart.
Press in to Jesus and confess your fear of the phenomena
or of being manipulated. Let Him release you from that, and
then receive on His terms.
FEAR OF BEING HURT AGAIN
Hurts and fears in our lives have taught us not to trust.

When I suggest to some people that they open up to God,
they think, “No way! I’m not going to be vulnerable to any-
one again.”
People who have been abused in some way have an
even more difficult time trusting God with control of their
lives. Many have been abused physically, emotionally or
sexually. Often there is a nagging fear controlling them, and
they feel if they ever let things get out of hand they are
going to get hurt again. They have become very streetwise
and suspicious, and that is the opposite of childlike faith.
If this has happened to you, get help to work through the
1
fears and the feelings toward the people who abused you.
Then you can forgive. Forgiveness is the only way out of
this prison. Get untangled so you can come in simplicity to
the Lord. Learn to trust Him so you are not always wary,
“What is the catch here? Why do they want me to fall over?
What do they want from me?”
Everything we receive from the Lord works by faith.
What does that mean? It means we have to trust Him. We
have to put our hand in His hand and say, “Father, I really
trust You. I trust You with my life. I will let the Holy Spirit
take charge. I will give You control.”
As I said before, if there’s anyone you can trust in the
whole world, it’s the Holy Spirit. Surrendering to God will
be the best thing that ever happened to you. Give God con-
trol. He wants to heal your hurts, not hurt you more.
FEAR CAUSED BY WRONG THEOLOGY
Many of us have been taught against manifestations of

the Holy Spirit — speaking in tongues and so on. We have
heard that Satan can show up in power, but the Holy Spirit
can’t or doesn’t. Everything has been called into question.
When leaders who do not understand what God is doing
write and speak against it, they can create the fear of
deception in the hearts of people. Then people will not
press into God, instead they back away from what they
think is extreme and fanatical. This fear can crush revival
— in hearts and in cities. It happened in Lystra a long
time ago.
Paul and Barnabas went into Lystra and, among other
things, healed a man who was born lame. The people were
recognizing the wonderful fruit that resulted from the mani-
fest presence and anointing of God. They attributed the
fruit to Paul and Barnabas though and were going to make
sacrifice to them, thinking they were gods. However, Paul
and Barnabas prevented that, but there was still great joy in
the city.
1
The very next day some religious leaders showed up —

people with no power, no anointing, no good news, only
arguments. They won the crowd over, causing the people
to draw back, fearing that what they had experienced was
a counterfeit. That fear drove the crowd to act.
They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the

city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples
had gathered around him, he got up and went
back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas
left for Derbe (Acts 14:19-20).
So Paul and Barnabas left town. That is the real tragedy!

Lystra missed a great move of God that came to them.
Revival missed that city. What might have happened if the
people had not been talked out of believing what they had
seen with their own eyes?
The same thing happened when Jesus went to His home
town, Nazareth. The townspeople were going to throw
Him off the cliff because they did not believe that He
could be the Messiah (Luke 4). Revival in the hearts of
those home- town folks might have come if Jesus had
been welcomed there.
Allowing wrong teaching and wrong theology to paralyze
you and bring fear into your heart can stop your own
personal revival. Instead, be like children, pressing into
God with simple faith, asking your heavenly Father for
bread. For further study on this, obtain the teaching tape
from Jack Taylor entitled “Confessions of a Pharisee.”2 It is
an excellent word.
FREEDOM FROM FEARS
I encourage you to come to God with absolutely no

agenda. If you have been manipulated before, forgive the
person. Ask God to heal your heart on these issues and let
1
them go. If you are afraid of shaking, laughing or falling on

the floor, talk to God about it. Explore the reasons you fear
these manifestations. Then ask yourself, “If God is really
doing this, am I willing to let Him do this with me?”
When we get fearful, we stop taking risks and start trying
to tidy up everything that might offend. We take control.
Ask God to forgive you for submitting to controlling fears,
even unconsciously. Repent and choose vulnerability. Tell
God, “I will risk being vulnerable with You. I’m choosing to
trust You.”
As long as you set the parameters and decide what you
will give into and what you will not give into, you are limit-
ing what He can and cannot do in you. Go with intimacy
and let Him come and touch you profoundly and fill you
and fill you and fill you. You can analyze it and test it
later.
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C H A P T E R 8
PRIDE: HINDRANCE
TO INTIMACY
T
here is something within all of us that likes to boast
about our superior knowledge, position or abilities.
It’s called pride. Pride is very destructive to an inti-
mate relationship with God. It keeps us in control
instead of God. It prevents total surrender to Him.
Pride causes us to avoid doing things that are beneath
our dignity or can cause us embarrassment or losing favor
with our peers. It cries out for justice when we are hurt by
others: “I deserve better than this.”
But we are called to humility, to take the lowly seat, to be
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PRIDE: HINDRANCE TO
the servant of all. If we hold onto our pride, we exclude

close relationship with God because the scripture says,
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”
(James 4:6).
In my case, I wanted to stay in control. I wanted to ana-
lyze what was happening. But my understanding and
approval of what He is doing are not God’s requirements
for intimacy with Him. Intimacy will always require us to
surrender our controlling pride in order to unite with Him
in simple trust.
A pastor from Seattle, Washington, who visited our
church in fall 1994 told me that he had always been conser-
vative and professional. However, in a Sunday morning ser-
vice he experienced “rolls of glory and laughter” while he
was on the floor.
This pastor told me God restored him, “a pastor on the
way out.” But he was willing to be humbled, to have his
pride broken, to receive from God.
Let’s examine the different ways pride can invade our
lives.
PRIDE OF BEING “COOL”
Our culture puts a very high value on being “cool.” What

does being cool mean? It means not reacting emotionally to
things and appearing to be in control. Being “cool” means
conforming your life, not to what you want, but to what
your peer group thinks you should be like.
But this is a denial of our basic makeup. We were
designed by God to express love, joy, peace, sorrow or
anger. This crippling fear of not being “cool” will shut us
down emotionally.
Years ago, Carol and I attended a church where they
sang, “If you want joy you must sing for it; you must
shout for it; you must jump for it.” I used to hate that
song, but Carol really got into it. As they sang, “you must
jump for it,”
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she jumped way up in the air, as high as she could jump —

and I stood there watching her.
One day I said to her, half teasing but half serious too,
“Honey, do you know what? It is really not cool to jump.”
She was shocked. She was in the presence of the Lord,
and I had just poured a bucket of ice water over her. But
she responded, “What? Well, I don’t care. I want joy!”
You know, that smote my heart as if a sword went into
me all the way to the hilt. I responded, “But wait a minute!
I want joy, too.” She looked at me with one eyebrow up
and said, “Well...jump then. Get free. You’re too concerned
about what others might think.”
This desire to remain emotionally flatlined is a major bar-
rier to receiving the Holy Spirit because He will not play
your game. This belief is called stoicism; it came from the
Greeks. They denied their emotions in an attempt to
become free from passion so they would not be moved by
either joy or tragedy. That way they were protected against
deep sorrow when all of the sorrows of life came. The
Greeks believed that life was basically a tragedy.
This belief that being without emotions is “cool” has infil-
trated deeply into Western culture and thinking. Many
believe (especially men) that to show emotions is to show
weakness.
I think Jesus thought it was cool to enter into the Father’s
presence, do the Father’s will and worship the Father in
Spirit and in truth. Let’s be true to ourselves and to Jesus
and not worry about being cool in other people’s eyes. Let’s
call it what it really is — pride.
PRIDE OF THE MIND
You’ll never find the heart of God with the mind; you
find Him with the heart. It took me years to figure that
out.
The mind of man is a marvelous tool. And the theology
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PRIDE: HINDRANCE TO
we go by is vitally important. But it’s used as a check and

balance to make sure we’re still on track. Our minds should
not take the place of God; we should not throw away
everything we can’t figure out.
We have this notion that we need to understand every-
thing God does before we “buy into it.” Why do we base
truth on our observations and understanding of things?
Paul told the Corinthians:
My message and my preaching were not with

wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstra-
tion of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might
not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power
(1 Cor. 2:4-5).
First, we see the power of God; then we receive the

wisdom of God. That’s the correct order. First you get
impacted by God, then you ask, “What happened to me?”
That’s when you can get wisdom and understanding about
what happened.
Can we dare think that something is not right and that
it cannot be God unless we understand it? What kind of
arrogant pride is that? Rather, we must have faith in God
and what He does even when we do not always under-
stand.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither

are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts” (Is. 55:8-9).
A delightful woman came to Toronto from Bonn,

Germany. She came from an extremely theological and
intellectual background — “too much thinking,” she said.
While under God’s power she had a vision. Much to her
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surprise, Jesus took her through events of her childhood,

and they relived them together.
This woman used to play soccer, and Jesus told her
gently that she took the glory for herself. So she wept and
repented, then they played soccer together. She laughed
and laughed at His long robe, then she asked Him to be
the goalkeeper. He was so strong, He knocked all the balls
away. But then He let her have a goal, and she laughed
some more.
Then Jesus told her she always acted like a boy. She
said this was true because her father wanted a boy, and it
hurt her. But Jesus showed her that He wanted her to be a
girl. She explains that she saw, like a movie before her
eyes, the yard she used to play in as a child. She had a
pretty flowered dress on, and they danced together, and her
hair blew in the wind. Jesus told her, “You know, forever —
I wanted you as a girl.” And she cried and cried. “It was so
wonderful because He planned me to be a girl. It was so
beautiful.”
Another evening Jesus showed her herself as a baby,
and He tickled her. She laughed and laughed, and baby
noises came out of her. Another time, she was one year
old. She was holding a toy, but she couldn’t play with it
because she didn’t know how. And she looked into the
eyes of Jesus and asked Him to explain how to play with
this toy. And He took time and told her. She concluded,
crying:
From all of my background, I’m thinking, “Playing

with Jesus — that’s the worst.” But that’s so won-
derful and so healing. I’m so glad. I know that I am
not the same now. I have a brand new relation-
ship with Jesus. He’s so good; I didn’t know that.
Jesus led this woman through an experience that offends

the intellectual. It’s hard to understand — playing with
Jesus. But it was God. Let us agree here and now that we
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PRIDE: HINDRANCE TO
are not going to understand everything that God is doing

for a long, long time.
This sort of experience sounds a lot like Joel 2, doesn’t it?
Dreaming dreams and seeing visions as the Holy Spirit is
being poured out (v. 28).
When God is moving on you, your rational mind will
often feel left out. The Holy Spirit is saying, “That’s right.
You yield control because this is a heart issue, and I am in
control.” That is the surrender part.
PRIDE OF ANALYZING AND STAYING IN CONTROL
That whole rational reasoning process can block you

from intimacy and from receiving the Spirit’s power. In my
case it did because I was always analyzing.
Carol has often prayed for me, and I would stand there
trying to receive from God, yet not feeling anything. I
would say, “Honey, is the Holy Spirit flowing in?”
She would say, “Yes, just receive.” Then she would say,
“Whoops, where did you go?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you went somewhere, and God’s anointing for you
came back on me.”
Some of you who minister know what that feels like.
When you are praying for someone else and they do not
receive, the anointing comes back to you and you just
about fall over — either you or the person who is helping
you.
I asked Carol why I didn’t receive, and she told me that I
was trying to stay in control. I argued with her, but she was
more convincing: “You will not surrender; you will not give
yourself to God.”
I was trying to surrender with everything that was within
me, but I became aware that often my mind was on things
other than loving the Lord.
I realized that I was continuously monitoring my balance.
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Since I have been pushed before, I was saying to myself, “I

am not going anywhere unless this is really God.” I would
think, “I feel like I’m waving a little bit. Why? Is it because I
have been standing so long? Or is God actually touching
me?” I was unconsciously taking control and analyzing the
entire process.
The Lord asked me one day, “When you go somewhere
with three or four friends, who drives?” I responded,
“Well, usually I would drive.”
“Why?” He pressed.
“I guess I have learned that things go better when I
drive.”
Can you see how subtle this desire to control is? Do you
prefer to drive when you are going somewhere with others?
Perhaps for you, it’s not driving — it’s eating. You want to
be in control of what’s for dinner or which restaurant you
go to. Or maybe it’s free time — you want to decide what
to do with it, not let others — or God — decide.
I became self-reliant at an early age. My father was sel-
dom around. Oh, he loved me — he told me so many
times. I loved him, too, but he was just never there. He
would make promises that he would not keep. And I
learned in my heart of hearts that if I wanted something
done, I had to do it myself.
The lesson is not all bad, but it didn’t lead me into a
trusting dependency on my heavenly Father who does
deliver on His promises and who is really there for me.
You might ask, “What if God makes me do something
foolish? What if I get embarrassed? What if I let go of con-
trol and God requires difficult things of me?”
Well, we have to know the character of God, don’t we?
We have to know that He is trustworthy, that He wants the
best for us. You see, God wants to “drive.” Isn’t that strange?
He wants to be God. He wants to be in control, and we
have to hand over the wheel, give Him the right to decide
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PRIDE: HINDRANCE TO
what we are going to do. This is where faith and trust come
in.
An Anglican vicar, Reverend Mike Houston from
Buckinghamshire, England, came to our services in
February 1995. He had no previous experiences with any
manifestations of the Holy Spirit and only agreed to come
out of general interest and to support members of his con-
gregation who were interested in this “real and exciting
stuff.”
After the first night meeting, he felt that what he saw was
of God, but it was not for him. In fact, he was pleased that
he had survived without succumbing. At the next morning
service during worship, he began to feel the presence of
the Holy Spirit. He explained:
We were all on our knees in prayer, singing

“Mercy is falling like sweet spring rain,” when
feelings of such joy and peace overwhelmed me
that I had no choice but to slip elegantly sideways
amongst seats and feet, onto the carpet. It was
unexpected but a truly wonderful, humbling
experience. I knew at once that I was loved and
affirmed. I no longer doubt.
Though this vicar struggled to maintain control and not

“succumb” to God, when he did let go he discovered that
God loved him. All doubt fled. God is indeed trustworthy;
His character is good.
The best thing we can do with our minds when we’re
receiving from God is to focus on Jesus. Worship helps
you receive and enter into intimacy. Do not take control,
do not resist, do not analyze; just surrender to His love.
You can analyze the experience later; just let it happen.
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PRIDE OF SETTING THE TERMS WITH GOD
Thousands of years ago Naaman was a commander in the

army of Aram (Syria), a pagan nation. He had leprosy. His
wife’s maid was an Israeli girl who had been taken captive.
She told Naaman’s wife about Elisha the prophet, saying
that he could heal Naaman.
So Naaman set out to find Elisha, bringing with him gold,
silver and clothing, thinking that these gifts might help him
get healed. He came to the prophet of God and knocked on
the door. But Elisha did not meet with Naaman; instead he
sent out his servant with the unusual instructions for
Naaman to take a bath in the Jordan seven times in order to
be healed.
But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought

that he would surely come out to me and stand
and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave
his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.
Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of
Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel?
Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he
turned and went off in a rage (2 Kin. 5:11-12).
Naaman was insulted that Elisha did not even have the
courtesy to answer the door himself. Elisha didn’t make any
religious motions over him, and he had the nerve to tell
him to go take a bath in the muddy Jordan for his cleansing
and healing.
But Naaman wanted to set the terms. What Elisha had told
him didn’t make sense. Why the Jordan? Why not the rivers
near his home in Damascus? Yet this was the Word of the
Lord for Naaman. These were God’s terms, and Naaman’s
healing would depend on meeting these conditions.
People often tell me they almost missed the Father’s
blessing by not coming to Toronto. They felt God had
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PRIDE: HINDRANCE TO
spoken to them to go to Toronto and be blessed, but they

reasoned, “God, if You want to bless me, You can do it
right here at home.” Well, theologically, that is true. But if
God says, “Go,” then you’d better go. We must be humbly
obedient and not let pride steal our blessings. Isn’t it amaz-
ing how we want God to meet us on our terms?
Naaman went off in a rage, but thank God for Naaman’s
servants. These men must have been humble because they
recognized the value of what was going on here. They
diplomatically said to Naaman:
If the prophet had told you to do some great thing,

would you not have done it? How much more,
then, when he tells you, “Wash and be cleansed”!
(v. 13).
Naaman probably expected to be told something like,

“Go to Mount Sinai, walk around it seven times, climb to
the top, sacrifice seven bulls, come back here, give me all
your money — walk — do not ride home, then you will be
healed of your leprosy.”
Hard tasks would have made sense to Naaman. They
would have been reasonable “payment” for this miracle.
They would have satisfied his pride. But God set His
terms — the act God requested would demand humility
and vulnerability.
So Naaman went to the Jordan and dipped himself once,
twice. What was going through his mind, do you think?
“OK, I will bathe three times, but I am not going to do
this seven times.” After the fourth time with no change,
maybe he thought, “This is ridiculous. I am making a fool of
myself.”
Naaman is being humbled, isn’t he? Maybe he was almost
naked before all his servants and attendants. That means he
revealed to them the extent of his leprosy. I can hear his
servants saying, “Wow, his leprosy is much worse than I
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thought.” Would they respect him again now that they

knew?
We don’t know how advanced his leprosy was, but it was
certainly a serious problem for Naaman. We do get a clue,
though, when Gehazi later inherits Naaman’s leprosy and
becomes “white as snow” (v. 27). What is obvious is that
Naaman is being humbled and made vulnerable by this
experience.
The seventh time he dipped, his flesh became like the
flesh of a little child. All he had to do was go and dip in
the Jordan seven times, and he was healed.
You see, if we want more from God, we have to let God
set the terms. Maybe God’s terms are going to the front of
the church, having somebody pray for you, falling down
on the carpet and lying there for a while. But some of us
sit back and say, “I am not doing that. That’s dumb, and I
don’t want to do it. I want You to bless me, Lord, while I
am sitting right here in my chair. Lord, You come to me
on my terms.”
You may feel stupid lying on the floor in front of a whole
lot of people, especially on a dirty floor. The devil is saying,
“What a fool you are making of yourself.” That’s exactly
what he was saying to Naaman as he got into the water. But
Naaman wanted healing so bad that he persisted through
the humbling, through being exposed as he really was.
When our desire for more of God supersedes our pride, we
become willing to come on God’s terms.
Sometimes I say to my wife incredulously, “Every night
now we preach, we pray for people, and they fall down on
the carpet. Every night of our lives, this is what we do.”
Isn’t that the craziest thing you ever heard?
But what is so amazing is that when people get up off
the carpet, their “leprosy” is gone, and their hearts are
transformed.
An Australian Christian school principal and his wife
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PRIDE: HINDRANCE TO
came to our services in early 1995. This woman had been

suffering with chronic fatigue syndrome for years. Plus, she
had gone from enjoying the presence of God and being
interested in her family to being emotionless, with no sense
of God’s presence. This principal wrote me, “We came here
desperate, but believing God would meet us.”
God worked with both husband and wife, bringing
healing to each. This husband said:
God was systematically tearing me apart. The time

for me was one of tears and repentance. I had to
repent of ten years of doing full-time ministry my
way. Moreover, the Holy Spirit showed me how
insensitive I was to Him and how often I
quenched Him. More tears and repentance.
This newly humbled husband shared with his wife what

God showed him — that he quenched the Holy Spirit —
and she said, “That’s what you do to me. I wonder if God
will now give me that emotional release.”
During the week they were here, they visited Niagara
Falls. As they viewed the falls, this wife cried out, “It’s hap-
pening. I feel so free and light inside. I know God has
released me emotionally.” Then she pointed out that
Niagara Falls is often referred to as “the honeymoon
capital of the world.” They had never had a honeymoon.
Her hus- bands writes, “God had met us and confirmed
His love for us. He was honeymooning with us. We have
been transformed and will never be the same again.”
This husband was willing to be humbled, to quit doing
things his way and let God set the terms. Therefore God
broke through into their lives. You see, the things of God
are beautifully simple, wonderfully childlike. We need to
focus on Jesus, be children and enter in.
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INTIMACY WITH GOD
During one season in my life years ago, I would become

aware of God’s presence close to me when I was praying.
When I felt this I would quickly get out my “needs list.”
“Lord,” I would say, “we need a newer car, a bigger
building, money for the church.” But I noticed that His
presence would draw back. I wondered why.
Years later, while reading in Exodus, I related to the deep
and searching prayer of Moses, “Show me your glory”
(33:18). I immediately cried out, “O Lord, why are You so
hard to find? Why is it so difficult to be close to You?” I was
thinking in terms of His holiness and my unholiness.
But He spoke to me in my heart, and His answer was one
of the most precious things I ever heard God say to me:
“When I reveal my heart to someone, I become very
vulnerable.”
I had never thought of God as being vulnerable. I
thought of Him as omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent,
which, of course, He is. But He was sharing with me His
own desire for fellowship, relationship and intimacy — and
I was surprised. That’s the nature of love — it needs to be
freely and willingly reciprocated. He drew near to have fel-
lowship and intimacy with me, and I was deeply hurting
Him by immediately asking for things.
Then He spoke again saying, “Many of my people have
married Me for my money.” That devastated me. I wept and
wept. I repented for inappropriately asking Him to bless my
programs and agenda. “Lord, I’m so sorry! I don’t just want
Your stuff! I want You! I want intimacy and relationship
with You. I want to be a son, well pleasing unto You.”
Through this experience I realized that intimacy is based
on humility, vulnerability and trust. We are often oblivious
to the fact that God wants an intimate relationship with us.
Intimacy cannot be a one-sided love affair. It flows out of
humble, vulnerable hearts.
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PRIDE: HINDRANCE TO
FREEDOM FROM PRIDE
Being free from the control of pride is not merely to be

willing to fall on the floor or shake. The purpose is to be
released to have the intimacy that accompanies those and
any other experiences the Lord wants to take you through.
Repent of pride and choose to move into intimacy. Can
you forget what people think? Can you expose yourself to
God? Are you willing? He is trustworthy. He may humble
you, but He will raise you up changed.
God, of course, can meet you anywhere. One of the best
places is right at home, or wherever you are right now.
Shut yourself in with God. Put some worship music on,
and ride the worship right into heaven. Take half an hour
or an hour and seek God. Enter into His presence and give
Him your heart. Just enjoy God. Let Him bless and fill
your life. Then you can analyze it — later.
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C H A P T E R 9
THE PHENOMENA:
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
D
o they offend you and me?” I was thinking about
all the phenomena we have seen in our meetings
— everything from severe shaking to graceful
dancing to being out cold for hours — and my
reaction to it.
Then I remembered the time when Jesus asked His
disciples that same question. He had just told them they
needed to eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to
enter His kingdom (John 6). Can you imagine what the
disciples thought? “Has He gone mad? How can we
follow a man
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THE PHENOMENA:
who says things like this? That’s outrageous! People will

think we agree with these kind of crazy statements.” Jesus
knew what they were thinking. He asked:
Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of

Man ascend to where he was before! (vv. 61-62).
Many of Jesus’ disciples quit following Him after that. He

let them leave. Perhaps He knew that what lay ahead
would be more than they could take if they were offended
at this.
I returned in my mind to my original question: “Do these
manifestations offend me?” They certainly took all of us by
surprise. This wasn’t the quiet and reverent move of God
we’d expected when we started praying for revival. Yet
again and again, we have been astounded at the accounts
of transformation in the hearts and lives of people which
occur in the midst of all these manifestations.
“No,” I decided. “They do not offend me.” I love the
manifestations because I know they’re from God, and He’s
doing a great work in people when they occur. I want
God’s people to be free to respond to Him.
WHAT CAUSES THESE PHENOMENA?
We use the terms phenomena and manifestations to

describe the unexplained things that happen to people
physically during a powerful encounter with God. We
may wonder if the Holy Spirit is actually causing what we
see or if the phenomena are humans reaction to God’s
powerful presence. I believe it can be both.
Often when people fall down it is not because they are
knocked down by the Holy Spirit, but rather their own
human strength was overcome by the Spirit’s overwhelming
presence. Sometimes, even the powerful shaking is not
because the Holy Spirit is deliberately shaking them, but
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rather they are reacting to His power and presence.

On the other hand, the Spirit can directly cause certain
manifestations within people, such as striking the apostle
Paul blind for three days. Manifestations of the Spirit like
the gifts referred to in 1 Corinthians 12 are the deliberate
intention of the Spirit, as seen in Acts 2:4 when the apostles
spoke in tongues and prophesied according to Joel’s
prophecy (Joel 2:28).
Precisely what is taking place within a person is often dif-
ficult to discern. I believe it’s possible for the Holy Spirit to
come powerfully on a person and for demons to react to
the Spirit’s presence and be driven off. The flesh may
respond inappropriately while a wonderful, sovereign and
even prophetic work is being done in the person.
The gift of distinguishing of spirits should be something
we continually pray for so we can discern the demonic
from the human from the Holy. The astonishing thing is that
again and again, as we trust God and allow Him to work
within us, the end result is wonderful Christian fruit.
Keeping our eyes on the manifestations themselves is not
the correct response. The manifestations are only the out-
ward part of the Holy Spirit’s work — the inner work is
what’s important.
Our God is powerful; He knows how to transform a
heart, heal a body, cleanse from sin and release from fears.
Current Christian thought may not allow for a God who
works through noise and laughter and falling under His
power. We must look at the God of the Bible — our God —
not necessarily the God of twentieth century Christian
thought. And our God does do these kinds of things.
THE FLESH AND THE DEMONIC
As I already pointed out, discernment is very important.

Church leaders are particularly responsible if they allow the
flesh and demonic activity to go on. A weighty
accountability
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THE PHENOMENA:
is on us to know what is from God and what is not. If we

do not stop wrong manifestations, people can possibly be
led into deception. But on the other hand, if we quench the
Holy Spirit, we are in bigger trouble. There is a real call for
care here.
Most people would agree that the phenomena we see
have only three possible origins. They are either demonic,
the flesh or the Holy Spirit. Our experience has been that
manifestations of the flesh and the demonic are actually
rare, though they tend to get all the attention. By far the
majority of the manifestations in our meetings are the
results of the Holy Spirit interacting with a person — body,
soul and spirit. We need to create an atmosphere that wel-
comes the Holy Spirit and allows Him to do whatever work
He wants to do.
But here is the challenge: That which is demonic must be
dealt with — hopefully the person can be delivered from
demonic influence. That which is the flesh must be pas-
tored through correctly and redirected. That which is of the
Holy Spirit must be embraced. Sometimes the manifesta-
tions look almost the same. Two people can be on the floor
doing exactly the same thing, but one is under the anoint-
ing and the other person is wishing he was under the
anointing. So, we need the Lord’s wisdom, don’t we?
If someone fakes it, saying in his heart, “I am going to fall
down so that others will think I am receiving and that I am
just as spiritual as anybody else,” is that wrong? Yes. That is
religious pride and a denial of reality.
Someone else may come for prayer then deliberately fall
down just because he truly wanted God so desperately. His
method may be wrong because he is trying to make it hap-
pen, but in his heart he really wants God. Is that so wrong?
When hurting people, as many of us are, get together and
seek God, even if we do our best, everything won’t be per-
fect. The flesh is nothing to fear but just something to deal
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with in the Lord’s wisdom. Let’s not throw the baby out
with the bath water.
A pastor told us that as he was walking back to the hotel
after attending a service here, he prayed, “God, surely You
don’t like fleshly manifestations. Why don’t You do some-
thing about it?” The Lord gently spoke into his heart: “When
you get to the point where you have no flesh for Me to
judge, then I’ll set you free to judge theirs.”
The point is, every church has flesh to deal with. People
fall asleep during meetings. They refuse to give financially
to God’s work. They criticize and find fault with one
another. These are all manifestations of the flesh.
The fleshly manifestations associated with phenomena
are often much easier to correct than these other areas I’ve
mentioned. We often tell a person, in love, not to do a cer-
tain thing, and by and large, they respond positively. But
correcting the fleshly manifestations of not giving to God’s
work or criticizing each other — that’s much more difficult.
Sometimes we have asked people to stop a manifestation
when we feel it is in the flesh. But even when someone is
in the flesh, it is rarely 100 percent in the flesh. God is mov-
ing in them in some way, and they are learning how to deal
with that. We try to err on the side of grace and help people
learn and receive from God. Remember, He rewards those
who seek Him diligently (Heb. 11:6); they will find Him.
That’s a promise from God.
A missionary to Russia commented after attending a
Catch the Fire conference here: “I appreciate the tender
pastoral atmosphere at the conference. We felt protected
and cared for in a merciful way — for example, those who
were on occasion out of the Spirit didn’t get a ton of
bricks on their heads.”
Very rarely do we see a strong demonic manifestation. If
this happens, we immediately command the demon to be
quiet. We then urge the person to refocus on Jesus, to start
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THE PHENOMENA:
again and receive more of the Holy Spirit. If the commotion

continues, we take the person out of the service and work
with him or her separately. We do not allow demonic mani-
festations to disturb the services or grab the focus and atten-
tion, but as I said, they are very rare.
I asked a group of pastors who were visiting our church
what was the worst thing that could happen in a service
like ours. They answered that the demons would display
themselves instead of God. Then I asked them, “Well, if this
is happening, I have one further question, are they coming
in or going out?”
You see, if they’re leaving, that’s what we want, isn’t it?
That’s what the Holy Spirit wants. In fact, we pray that what
needs to go out will go out and what God wants to come in
will come into people. It’s simpler than we sometimes
realize.
Pastor John Overholt, whom I mentioned before, wrote
that a great release is happening in their church, Willow
Point Foursquare Church in Campbell River, British
Columbia. He points out, “Our people are being set free from
long- standing bondages. We’ve had some major
deliverances. It seems that when the Holy Spirit starts
moving on people, any deep-seated demonic captivity is
exposed and then flushed out.”
How do we know if a manifestation is demonic or not?
That’s where the gift of discernment comes in, but it’s usu-
ally not difficult. When people are being moved on by the
Holy Spirit, we can still talk to them. We ask, “How are you?
What’s going on?” They are free to respond, telling us what
is happening inside, how the Lord is moving on them.
But demons will be hostile to questions and prayer. They
will be threatening to those praying for the person. They
manifest strongly, sometimes with an attack against the
ministry team. So it’s not usually difficult to tell the differ-
ence.
It is helpful to know that God is taking some things out
13
of people and putting some things in. But He is the one

who is doing it. He is in control. Somebody might scream
and it’s demonic, and the demon leaves. That’s all right if
the Holy Spirit does it.
That happened to Jesus, you know. He preached in the
synagogue, and a man started screaming (Mark 1:23). Why?
Because God came. God’s presence caused an encounter
with the demon; it was being flushed into the light. Jesus
ministered in such a great anointing that it only took a few
seconds, which I hope is where we are heading.
We must remember that the natural man cannot under-
stand all the things of the Holy Spirit. I do not understand
why God would do some of the things He does. You might
ask, “Are you sure everything is totally God?” No, I am not.
We are never going to have “pure God” in this life, are we?
None of us reach perfection this side of heaven.
Remember, we need to have more faith in God’s ability to
bless us than in Satan’s ability to deceive us.
As Guy Chevreau has so aptly said:
What we see is always a mixture of flesh and

Spirit. At times, some people may get a little goofy
for God, and we’ll see something like what
Jonathan Edwards called “great imprudences and
irregularities of conduct.”
But at least in my experience, it’s far easier to
correct and disciple someone who outsteps him-
self in fleshly zeal for the things of the Spirit, want-
ing more of God and getting a little silly in the
process, than it is to try to work with someone
who is carnally faultfinding and judgmental,
especially when it comes to things of the Spirit.
That’s just as imprudent and irregular in terms of
godliness — and often it’s so very unteachable.
I would rather have that, too. I would rather have a
14
THE PHENOMENA:
church like that — filled with the Spirit and the power of
God — and we have one here now. But it’s not perfect.
Someone once commented, “If ever you find the perfect
church, don’t join it.”
THE FRUIT OF THE PHENOMENA
I am well aware that when God’s Spirit moves, the devil

can counterfeit things. But what the devil cannot counterfeit
is the work of grace that is done inside a person: the life-
changing love affair with Jesus. That’s why it’s impossible to
talk about the manifestations without talking about the fruit.
People who come to our meetings for the first time and
watch may say to themselves, “What possible good could it
do to fall down on the floor and lie there? What is that all
about? Did it help them? Were they healed, or just what has
happened exactly?”
We cannot judge what is happening inside a person by
what we see happening on the outside. Remember, that
would be like taking a photo of a man in the middle of a
manifestation and saying, “This is bizarre and out of order.
How can this be God?” No, instead we need a video of his
life from that time on. How has his personal life with Christ
been affected? How about his family? Do they notice any
changes? What about at church or on the job?
We would not take a snapshot of Jesus chasing the
moneychangers out of the temple — whip in hand, birds
flying, animals scattering, money showering down (John 2)
— and try to prove that He had no self-control.
Neither would we take a picture of the blind man with
mud smeared on his eyes and say, “Is this ministry really
from God?” No, we would say, “What happened as a
result?” The point is that when he washed the mud off he
could see, even though what happened seemed to violate
acceptable religious protocol (John 9).
If you ask people who have been touched by God with
1
manifestations such as falling, laughter and shaking, they

will have stories of intimate love to tell. Some would tell of
anger released, some of oppression lifted, of joy and laugh-
ter breaking out of them — or just peace, peace, wonderful
peace. Others would share visions or prophecies, for them-
selves or for the church. Most would say they have a fresh
closeness to God.
If you had seen Camilla Douglas lying on the floor in our
service, you would wonder how this is making a difference
in her life. But if you talked to her afterward, she would tell
you as she told us:
I came over from Britain with one main desire —

to know how much I was loved by Jesus Christ. I
have been walking with Him for twenty years and
have felt His power many times, but the cry of my
heart was to know His love! Of course, I did know
He loved me — because Christians know that! But
somehow when I said it to someone, it barely con-
vinced me, let alone them!
On Thursday night, after an amazing session on
the floor, I experienced the love and intimacy of
Jesus in a mind-blowing way. Even on my own,
whether at work or at home, I sense Jesus with me
in the most beautiful way, which I pray will never
go.
So many I have talked to say, “The manifestations and

phenomena were worth it. They are not really the issue. I
would not trade what God has done in me, my family and
the church for anything in the world.” They are just so
excited about it.
Why does God do these things? Why do people shout out
and fall down and shake, roll or laugh? I’m not 100 percent
sure. Often they are reacting to the power that is going
through them or the revelation being given to them in
14
THE PHENOMENA:
visions and dreams. People are seeing all kinds of glorious

things, and their physical bodies are responding. They are
excited about the fact that God in His grace has come.
We pray so long for God to come and revive us again.
Then when He comes in power, because we do not under-
stand everything, we fight against it and try to stop it. Have
you ever heard of anything so stupid?
It used to take two to three years of teaching, counseling
and praying with people to get a truth to move from their
head to their heart. We would say, “God loves you.” The
Bible says, “God loves you.” But until that truth gets into
the heart, nothing changes. It is merely head knowledge.
Yet we have seen the Holy Spirit take this truth from the
head to the heart in minutes simply while people are lying
out on the floor! I do not understand it all, but I know it’s
wonderful.
I am at the point where I say “God, come and blow our
doors off. Lord, just come, let Your presence come, let it
come, let it come. I welcome You.” I cannot tolerate the
way the church has been losing ground year after year.
We are the laughingstock of the world — derided by the
media, ridiculed by those in authority — but now things are
changing. God is beginning to make us the head and not
the tail. I like this a whole lot better.
There is another wave of the Spirit coming, and the peo-
ple who get on board with this wave are going to love what
is coming next. It will be a wave of great power. I cannot
think of anything that would be more exciting than to say,
“Let’s go to the hospital this afternoon and empty it out.”
Wouldn’t that be fantastic!
Lives are being changed for now, and here is the most
wonderful part about renewal: the ministry of the Holy
Spirit is being given back to ordinary people like you and
me. Does that guarantee that we won’t abuse it? Does that
mean that some folks won’t go off the edge one way or the
14
other? No, but what we are seeing is this: The main body of
Christians are flowing with the Father’s blessing, getting
healed themselves and then giving it away to others, again
and again.
Our prayer for you is that you would not focus on the
manifestations and phenomena. I want you to get past that
quickly. Yes, they are biblical. Yes, the Holy Spirit does
them, and yes they are wonderful. But the manifestations
are not what we seek. If you come with humility of heart
for the bread of heaven, the Holy Spirit is going to fill you
and fill you with the reality of God.
14
C H A P T E R 1 0
THE PHENOMENA:
REVELATIONS OF
WHO GOD IS
T
he phenomena we see and hear in our services
really grab people’s attention. If you had heard noth-
ing else about this new move of God before you
picked up this book, you probably heard about the
laughing, the shaking and the falling down.
That’s why I am excited about having the opportunity to
tell you about these unusual manifestations, especially as the
people who have experienced them have come to
understand them. Maybe you will learn to appreciate them as
we do once you know what God is working out in the lives
of individuals.
14
DRUNK IN THE SPIRIT
Why did people think the disciples were drunk on the

day of Pentecost (Acts 2)? What were they acting like? They
must have poured out of the upper room onto the streets.
Maybe they staggered around as they declared the wonders
of God in languages they did not know.
The people in Jerusalem heard the sound and crowded
around the disciples. Some were amazed and awestruck,
while others were disbelieving and critical, saying this
could never be God.
“These men are not drunk, as you suppose” Peter
informed them (Acts 2:15). The 120 disciples of Jesus had a
wonderful day. That day the gift of God was given to them.
You know, God is full of surprises. He wants us to be
happy, to enjoy His Spirit and His presence with us. Did
you know that?
I received a letter from Pasteur Dave V. Vairogs of the
Centre Évangélique de St. Hyacinthe Inc. in Ste-Rosalie,
Québec in September 1994. He excitedly proclaimed,
“There is revival here!” He described children and adults
being “drunk” in the Spirit, laughing all night long. When
they got up and were prayed for again, they went back
down. This church has had to start a program to drive some
of these people home after the services!
Every time they go down, it’s like they had

another glass of booze, but it isn’t that at all. It’s
the Lord’s Spirit. If it was just limited to that, I
guess that would not necessarily be special in and
of itself, but it goes much, much further. While
people are under the Spirit, they are delivered of
all sorts of problems. They go to the heavenlies.
They come back, and they are no longer the same.
They are transformed.
14
THE PHENOMENA:
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to

debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit
(Eph. 5:18).
Paul said that instead of being drunk with alcohol, which

leads to excess, we should be filled with the Spirit. If we
look at the original Greek, we discover that Paul is telling
us, “Keep on continually being refilled with the Spirit.” That
gives new meaning to the verse, doesn’t it? He implies that
being filled with the Spirit will affect us somehow, yet the
effect is desirable, and we should seek it repeatedly.
This is not a one-time experience, but rather something
we should desire again and again. What does it look like
when people are filled with the Spirit repeatedly? At times it
looks like what happened on the day of Pentecost or in the
house of Cornelius (Acts 10).
Occasionally people become so overcome with the Holy
Spirit that they act and appear to be drunk. The first thing
we need to say is that nothing in Scripture forbids us from
being filled to capacity with the Holy Spirit. In fact, we are
encouraged to be filled with Him. But would such a person
appear to be drunk?
Jeremiah the prophet is so disturbed about the false
prophets of Israel that in his continual prayer for the nation,
he testifies to the following:
I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by

wine, because of the Lord and his holy words
(Jer. 23:9).
Why are you like a drunken man, Jeremiah? “Because

of the Lord and His holy words.” Because of the Lord’s
presence and the words spoken to Jeremiah. Because of the
effect of God on his life.
The surprising thing is that we do not react more when
God comes in power. Perhaps being inebriated is getting
14
off lightly, in response to His grace and love.

In Mystical Phenomena, Albert Farges wrote, “There are
even more violent transports, such as those so often
observed in St. Francis of Assisi, St. Philip Neri, St. Joseph
of Cupertino, St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi, and many other
holy mystics, whose jubilation or spiritual inebriation
showed itself outwardly in actions which astonished and
even scandalized the weak and ignorant. Such were their
sighs, cries, ardent and broken exclamations, abundant
tears, and even laughter, songs, improvised hymns, tremors
agitating every limb, leapings, impetuous movements, the
violent outward expression of enthusiasm and love.”1
Eddie Ensley wrote about drunkenness in the Spirit and
holy laughter associated with jubilation throughout almost
two millennia of church history. He wrote that St. Teresa of
Avila likened “jubilation as a prayer that is supernatural and
may last all day, and as a form of spiritual inebriation.” She
said, “It may last for a whole day, and the soul will then be
like one who has drunk a great deal.”2 Much is being
gleaned from church history and being documented and
circulated at present that tells us over and over of similar
manifestations both before and after the Reformation.
Being “drunk” in the Spirit sounds negative to many
people, even though Paul implied that term. Maybe saying
“joyously overcome by the Spirit” describes the
experience better.
I’ve observed that the strong-willed, “cool,” in-control
type of people often find themselves drunk in the Spirit. I
think it’s God telling them that He’s the boss, that He’s an
awesome God. It can be a humbling experience and makes
one very vulnerable, but people are thrilled afterward
because of the intimacy with God and changes of heart.
JOY AND LAUGHTER
When some people come into contact with the anointing

of the Holy Spirit, they experience explosive joy and
14
THE PHENOMENA:
laughter. What is the purpose and benefit of holy laughter?

My observations have been that intense laughter often
accompanies emotional healing. People may laugh, then
cry, then laugh. When asked later what they were going
through, they tell of Jesus revealing hurts and healing them.
I have discussed this joy and laughter with Dr. John
White, a psychiatrist from Vancouver, Canada. He observed
that this new found joy so fortified and strengthened a per-
son with the love of God that, in many cases, they were
then able to deal positively with some very serious hurts
and issues from their past. These Scriptures bear out this
truth:
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but

heartache crushes the spirit (Prov. 15:13).
All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the

cheerful heart has a continual feast (Prov. 15:15).
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed

spirit dries up the bones (Prov. 17:22).
Vic and Kathy Anfuso of Portland, Oregon, said they

were “raised in the public eye and trained from birth to be
dignified.” They often heard the phrase, “They’re watching.”
Now their friends are surprised to see them “on the floor
doubled in laughter.” They write, “As we yield our
‘dignified’ persons to God, He has given us a deeper
freedom, worship, healing and intimacy. We know it is
ever-growing as we are ever-yielding.”
I remember a young mother in her late thirties named
Julie who went home to Brighton, England, dancing. All she
could do was walk on her toes the whole time she was at
our meetings. I would say, “Julie, come here.” And she
would come tip-toeing over to me. I would ask, “Why are
you walking on your toes?”
14
She would answer, “I don’t know.” She didn’t know,

but told how the Lord was speaking to her and saying “I
want you to dance before Me.” In the early seventies,
when Julie was first baptized in the Holy Spirit, she had
expressed herself in dance. But this had been quickly
squashed by lack of understanding in fellow believers. The
Holy Spirit was now restoring it.
Well, she went back to her family, and they thought it
was really strange at first. But then they started to like it;
it became fun. Later she wrote me, “This has brightened
up our whole house. Everybody loves it. The Spirit of the
Lord keeps falling on us, and we are having a great time
loving Jesus as we have never loved Him before.”
I saw Julie a year later. She was with her family, and they
were all radiating the joy of the Lord.
FALLING
Prior to the renewal, we placed little value on people

falling over. In fact, we used to say, “Hold them up.” We
were so anxious not to sensationalize anything that we
almost went to the other extreme. Since then we have had
to deal with the fact that thousands have fallen down and
have arisen testifying to a wonderful work of grace. We set
a high value on people receiving the things of the Spirit,
and that often involves the manifestation of falling down.
Yet we continue to emphasize the inward blessing.
Many people have had bad experiences with falling
“under the power of God.” Some, like myself, have previ-
ously been pushed or pulled or otherwise manipulated
into falling down, so we try not to make falling down a
big issue. It’s similar to raising your hands during
worship. It can facilitate intimacy with God.
Remember the first time you saw people worship with
their hands in the air? You may have thought, “Boy, this is
weird. I am not doing that.” After a while you noticed that
15
THE PHENOMENA:
no one was paying any attention to you. You thought, “I

wonder if it will help if I put my hands up?” So you looked
around and put one hand up.
After a few weeks, you put both of them up, and it
became no longer an issue for you. Now you worship the
Lord with your hands up or with your hands down (Ps.
28:2; 63:4). It is immaterial; you are just worshiping Him.
What does it mean when people put their hands up? It
means surrender; it means, “I am willing to be vulnera-
ble.” It lends itself to intimacy with God. Falling down is
much the same. I believe God sees it as surrender to His
lordship.
Also we have found that people are usually more com-
fortable lying down if they are going to be out any length of
time. If they are sitting, they may slump over on someone
else, and that person will become distracted. If people are
lying on the floor, they are usually safer. It’s as simple as
that.
Carol and I were in Buffalo, New York, in September
1994 doing a program there with the TBN station. We had a
great one-hour program, and afterward they wanted us to
pray for the staff, so we did. They received prayer, and
many were all over the floor laughing and crying. One lady
was visiting, and I soaked her in prayer for five to ten min-
utes as she stood in front of me. Finally she opened her
eyes and said, “I can’t stand up any longer.” I responded,
“That is why people fall down.” I love how Randy Clark
responded once when asked why people fall down. He
said, “It’s because they can’t stand up!”
If you want more information on this phenomena,
Francis MacNutt, a former Catholic priest and well-known
minister in North America, wrote a book called Overcome
by the Spirit which goes through all the issues that are
related to falling. It is most helpful.
Throughout the Word of God, people fall down when God
1
shows up. When He shows up a little, perhaps they have a

say in the matter. But when He shows up a lot, they do
not. They simply cannot stand up any longer, so they go
down. The same thing is happening in this current move
of God.
Throughout the Bible, we see instances of people falling
down when they have a revelation of who God is. The
soldiers came to arrest Jesus and asked which one He was.
“I am He,” Jesus replied, and they fell over backward to the
ground (John 18:5-6).
When Solomon dedicated the temple, the cloud of
God’s presence came in, and the priests could not stand to
minister (2 Chr. 5:14-15). Do you know what that
means? If they could not stand because of the presence of
God, then they fell.
The human body is just not geared to withstand this kind
of power. That is why God allowed Moses only to look
upon His glory after He had passed, but no one could look
fully on Him and live (Ex. 33:20-23).
Jesus gave the apostle John a vision of the end times.
John saw Jesus in all His glory (Rev. 1). Even in his vision,
John fell down in the presence of the Lord.
Through the thousands of testimonies we’ve heard, we
have discovered that when people fall, God often ministers
to them in intimate, healing ways. But this amazing account
shows us that falling in itself can produce fruit.
Ché Ahn, pastor of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of
Greater Pasadena, California, was speaking at a meeting at
the Evangelical Formosan Church in San Diego. A young
Chinese man named Allen was in the prayer line. He said,
“I just want proof that God exists.” So Ché said, “We’ll pray
that Jesus will make Himself more real to you.” Without Ché
even touching Allen, he went down to the ground. Then he
immediately got back up and wanted to be prayed for
again. Allen wanted to make sure what he just experienced
was real.
1
THE PHENOMENA:
This time Allen braced himself, and he went down again.

When he got up this time, he said, “I want to give my life to
Jesus Christ.” They prayed together, then Allen said, “How
can I get baptized?” Ché suggested meeting him tomorrow
at his hotel and baptizing him in the swimming pool, but
Allen wanted to get baptized immediately. So Ché got a
Snapple bottle, rinsed and filled it with water, went to the
restroom and drenched him!
God used this experience of falling under the power of
God to show this young man that He was real.
Perhaps I should comment that there are those who say
falling forward is biblical and of God, but falling backward
is not. I find that Scripture records some falling forward, a
few backward and many where it just does not say! We
have witnessed the same person fall forward one time and
backward another. The same positive fruit is evident in
either case.
SHAKING
People often shake when the power of God hits them.

Why are we so surprised that physical bodies react to God’s
power? It is a wonder to me that we do not explode and fly
apart. God’s power is real power — the dunamis of
heaven.3
Suppose I handed you two bare electric wires and said,
“Would you please hold these tightly? Take one in each
hand and hold on while I plug it in.” How many of you
think you might shake a little bit? Can you imagine some-
body saying at that moment, “Now, now, take it easy. You
do not have to shake like that. You can take control of this
thing. You can be quiet. You don’t have to get all that
excited.”
A woman who had been with a campus ministry for five
years came to our meetings in July 1994. She was burnt out
with all the rejection she’d received from students. At first
1
she could only cry when she got prayer, as she had for the
three months previous. A few nights later, the leader spoke
on fear. That struck a chord within her, and she went for-
ward. She describes what happened:
I was focusing on the cross and how Jesus’ death

and resurrection broke the power of death and the
evil one. My right hand started mildly shaking. I
lifted up specific fears to God (being passed by,
rejection, not being used by God). Each time I
prayed I increased in shaking till both arms were
violently shaking. Then it was like really strong
sparks or shocks were coming from my fingers,
and I cried, “Oo, ow,” continually.
Our team prayed for her, and after two hours, she
started laughing with joy. The next day she said, “I feel
lighter and free and eager to see what God will do when I
go home.”
People often don’t shake at first. They lie still and gently
receive. As the Lord starts to win their hearts, just as He
did this woman’s, they realize, “This is really You, Lord.”
They accept the experience because they trust that it is
God. Their hearts open up, and He floods in. Often the
experience with God becomes so powerful, they shake
spontaneously.
Remember the prophet Daniel? He shook when He
encountered the angel of the Lord (Dan. 10). Why was he
trembling? It wasn’t merely that he was afraid. God’s power
was on him. The God we serve is a very powerful God.
We may see a shaking-type manifestation, realizing it is
something powerful, yet we never know what is really
happening inside the person unless we ask him. Dick
Schroeder, the campus ministry director in Montana, shared
what was happening inside him while he was shaking.
15
THE PHENOMENA:
As Steve (a fellow minister) prayed for a greater

anointing, something unusual happened. I felt a
twitch in my right arm. It twitched again and
again. I was aware that I had a choice to make.
Either I could yield to Jesus and trust Him or I
could resist by holding my arm stiff. I chose to
yield to Jesus.
My arm continued to twitch and flail for
approximately ten minutes. That is what Steve saw.
Internally, however, I was aware of something
else. I saw Jesus come and take a sword that had
already been in my hand and replace it with a
larger sword. What appeared on the outside to be
a flailing arm was actually the Holy Spirit teaching
me to wield a bigger sword of spiritual authority.
Shaking for the most part is a person’s response to the

intense power of God going through the body. God’s
higher purposes are not usually obvious immediately. Many
testify later to increased power and boldness to live the
Christian life. We have often seen shaking accompany
words of prophecy which were being given to individuals
or congregations. The person shaking often has a height-
ened awareness of God’s presence and therefore there is a
release in faith and anointing.
OTHER ASTONISHING MANIFESTATIONS
Occasionally there are manifestations that we have never

seen before. God says, “See, I am doing a new thing!” (Is.
43:19). They are intimately designed for that person.
A visitor from Essex, England, experienced a simple but
lovely and unusual manifestation. Julian Reddihough told
us he constantly smelled a beautiful perfume all around
the conference hall and surroundings. He said, “I was told
that all Christ’s ‘robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes
1
and cassia’” (Ps. 45:8). What a beautiful and unexpected

manifestation of God’s presence.
I was sharing at a pastors’ meeting in San Antonio in
the fall of 1994, and the power of God came on a man
from Venezuela. I knew in my spirit that he had been
fasting, and it was later confirmed that he had just finished
a forty-day fast. He was desperate for God. He was
dressed in a double- breasted jacket and tie. It was hot in
the room, but he wanted to dress right and be presentable.
He was trying to take notes.
Suddenly the fire of God hit him. Away went his tie,
away went his jacket, away went his notes. I think his shoes
even came off. He was so on fire, we thought he was going
to explode. We said, “Lord, thank You for touching him.
Please give him more.” The man started jumping up in the
air and shouting, “My feet are on fire! My feet are on fire.”
He was leaping about and didn’t know what to do. Finally
he ran around the room shaking his head and saying, “My
hands are on fire; I am on fire.”
The next night we had another meeting, and the same
thing happened — the Holy Spirit came on him again
with fire. He was leaping, jumping, running and
stomping his feet. He felt so on fire that he took his shoes
off and ran faster.
His precious wife was three months pregnant, and she
started shouting, “The baby inside me is jumping.” Carol
put her hand on the woman’s stomach, and it felt like the
baby was jumping, jumping, jumping. The baby seemed to
feel God’s fire as well. This mother was so thrilled. It was
the first time she felt the baby move. She said, “This is what
happened to Elizabeth when Mary arrived and the Holy
Spirit touched John while he was still in the womb.”
This couple shared that the love they felt from Christ was
overwhelming. They received what they came to God for.
The Holy Spirit changed that man right before our eyes. He
fell in love with Jesus — passionately and excitedly. It was
15
THE PHENOMENA:
not just refiner’s fire; it was the passion of romance that

came into his and his wife’s heart. They were totally
transformed in an instant by the love and the fire of God.
I watched him after the meeting in the hotel lobby. He
was excitedly telling unbelievers that Jesus had just come
on him with the fire of God. People were saying, “OK, OK.
Stay away from me.” He thought I had something to do
with it. He kept thanking me, but I said, “It’s Him. It’s Jesus.
He really loves you; I am just the delivery boy.”
HEALINGS
When we think of healings, we think of physical heal-

ings. And we have definitely seen physical healings. But so
far in this renewal we have seen many more inner healings.
You have already read several testimonies about these.
Many wonder about the value of inner healing today.
Wasn’t everything completed at the cross? Why then do we
need further works of grace? It is often assumed that all our
problems can be solved through the Christian disciplines
alone, and that we must use our self-discipline to see us
through the further works of sanctification. At one time I
even felt that to suggest the need for further works of grace
was to imply that the finished work of Christ on the cross
was insufficient. This, of course, is not the case.
Multitudes of Christians, however, are not leading victori-
ous Christian lives. One of the leading reasons for this is
deep emotional wounds from the past which have left them
struggling to stay afloat. These people are prisoners of their
own broken hearts.
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because

the Lord has anointed me to preach good news
to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim freedom for the captives and release
1
from darkness for the prisoners (Is. 61:1, italics

added).
Is it not just like Jesus to come and rescue His wounded

lambs, to bind up their hurts and fill them with inexpressible
joy? That is inner healing at its best. The sovereign Lord
comes and heals people inside so they no longer focus
most of their energy inward in a “poor me” survival mode,
but they are now glad to be alive and looking for ways to
bless others. Manifold testimonies declare this to be true.
Pastor John Overholt wrote me about an inner healing
God did in him. He was resting in the Lord and was taken
back to a baseball game he played in when he was fourteen
years old. It was his final game of the season and a special
one because his dad was in the stands watching for the first
time all season. John did what all kids dream of — he
scored the winning run while his dad was watching — and
he was thrilled. John continues:
As the Lord brought this all to mind, I realized

that I had a deep-rooted hurt in my life over the
lack of time spent between my dad and me.
Then the Father spoke a truth into my heart that
set me free. “John,” He said, “I was at every
one of your games. I saw every strikeout and
every hit. I was
there all the time.”
With that simple revelation, it was like a dam of
hurt just crumbled and rivers of joy came gushing
forth. I was overcome with laughter well into the
evening because I was so liberated by the simple
revelation that my heavenly Father had time for
me.
This is the Father’s blessing to us — healing the broken-

hearted, binding up our wounds. What a loving heavenly
Father we have! He wants to heal us inside and out.
15
THE PHENOMENA:
Aryanne Oade of London, England, suffered from back

problems most of her life. At an early age she was thrown
from a horse and later in her teens had endured an injury to
her neck playing soccer, which added to her problems and
pain. She went through years of therapy, medication and
doctor visits. Her muscles and bones seemed fixed “out of
shape,” and she had to be careful not to move about or
stretch too much.
In October 1994, she went to see Sarah Bright, a Christian
osteopath. During that first talk Aryanne saw how certain
life issues, which God had been helping her with, were
inextricably linked to her back problems. These issues were
largely borne out of pain and fear which had caused her to
physically and emotionally curl up inside herself. Sarah pre-
scribed exercises which began to help.
That next February Aryanne came to Holy Trinity
Bromption in London where I was speaking. At the end of
the night, I asked if anyone wanted prayer for physical
healing, so she came up. When I prayed for her, she told
me she felt a warmth traveling up and down her spine. The
second time I put my hand on her head, she fell over and
was out in the Spirit for a short time, during which she felt a
realigning in her pelvis.
When Aryanne got up off the floor she started to prod the
joint in her lower back which had been so painful. She said
touching this joint used to produce a sick pain, but now she
felt no pain. She pressed all the surrounding areas. Still, no
pain. Aryanne felt very excited but refused to leap to any
conclusions, sticking to what she knew for sure — at that
moment there was no pain. Several days later her osteopath
examined her and pronounced:
I’ve never seen anything like it. You have a model

back. Your pelvis is no longer anteriorly rotated.
In all the places where the ligaments were soggy,
15
they are now strong. The Lord has done me out of

a job.
Since then Aryanne has had no pain whatsoever in her

back or neck. She testifies:
I now routinely do movements which I would not

have contemplated doing before. I have no fear of
overstretching or hurting myself, and I feel a
strength in my back that is new and reassuring. I
move about with complete freedom. My posture is
no longer marked by an S-shaped stoop. My pelvis
sits where it should, without the backward tilt it
once had.
I’ve seen God repair me emotionally, and as
He has taken fear and pain out of me, physical
healing has come.
So we see that God heals emotionally and physically, and

in Aryanne’s case, they were related.
One remarkable physical healing we witnessed involved
a young girl. Thirteen-year-old Heather Harvey from
Kentucky was prayed for in one of our meetings. Heather
has had dyslexia all her life. She was totally out for an hour.
When she got up, she told the amazing story of a vision she
saw while out under God’s power.
She had been on an operating table in a cold room. (Her
mother tells us that Heather has never been in the hospital
and wouldn’t have known that operating rooms are cold.)
Angels were doing brain surgery on her, making connec-
tions in her brain. She heard God orchestrating the surgery.
Heather then had a second vision of going back home and
praying for her friends who had dyslexia.
After this experience, Heather could immediately read
better and didn’t mix up her letters when she typed.
When she got home, she prayed for her friend, Monica
16
THE PHENOMENA:
Morgan-Dohner, who then fell out and had a similar vision

of angels working on her brain, “pulling out parts that were
dented in.” But Heather hadn’t told Monica yet about her
own “angelic surgery.” Afterward, Monica’s tutor said she
no longer has dyslexia. Now these girls will pray for anyone
who has dyslexia, anywhere, anytime.4
Since physical healings were so much a part of the
ministry of Jesus, I believe that we will see many more of
them as renewal turns into revival. Healings will be one of
the things that fuel multitudes of conversions.
VISIONS
Saul was a very religious Pharisee who went to Damascus

to arrest the followers of Jesus. He was a servant of Jehovah,
and he wanted to stomp out this new “cult” that had arisen.
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly

a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to
the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul,
Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he
replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you
will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:3-6).
The men traveling with Saul heard the sound, but saw no
one. Saul had been knocked to the ground by the power of
God, and when he got up and opened his eyes, he was
blind. Ananias, a disciple of Jesus, had to pray for him so
Saul could receive his sight again.
Let’s bring this into the twentieth century. Suppose that
one day a man who is known as religious, very zealous,
eager for God and very legalistic, comes to church. Suddenly
he is on the ground, and people heard something, but they
do not know what to think. He says, “I have seen a vision
and
1
heard a voice,” and yet he is blind when he gets up off the

floor. What will you tell his mother?
Later this same man, now named Paul, writes about other
“visions and revelations from the Lord” he has had. He
admits he didn’t know if he was in his body or apart from
his body when he had them. But he was caught up to “the
third heaven” and “paradise” (2 Cor. 12).
When Mahesh Chavda, a delightful and well known
evangelist from Florida, visited our church, he had a vision
one night in his hotel room. He saw Carol and me come to
him. I prayed for him, saying, “More, Lord,” while Carol
touched his feet. He was shaking. The bed was shaking,
and Mahesh was afraid it would wake his wife, Bonnie.
During this time, he received some wonderful encouraging
words for Carol and me.
Mahesh’s description of this sounds like Paul’s: “It was a
dream, a vision — I do not know. But it was in the realm of
the Spirit, and it was so real.”
On the day of Pentecost the apostle Peter explained,
quoting from the prophet Joel, that people in the last days
would experience visions and dreams (just as Paul did).
In the last days, God says, I will pour out my

Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters
will prophesy, your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams. Even on my
servants, both men and women, I will pour out
my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I
will show wonders in the heavens above and
signs on the earth below, blood and fire and
billows of smoke (Acts 2:17-19).
What we’ve had so far is only the introduction. We’ve

seen visions and we’ve had prophecies, but we haven’t
seen blood and fire and billows of smoke. But it’s coming.
16
THE PHENOMENA:
CAROL’S VISION
Our church prayed for Carol and me before we went

on an outreach trip to Eastern Europe in February 1994.
She fell down on the platform. We saw her hands and feet
moving, and every now and then her feet went up into the
air and she made running movements. Then she lay quietly
again until she repeated the actions. We were wondering
what was happening to her. Later she related the vision she
had — it was her first.
As I was lying there, I felt the presence of the Lord

come on me. Suddenly I saw this beautiful
meadow with all kinds of flowers scattered in it. I
wondered where this was. Jesus came by and
handed me a bouquet of lilies of the valley, which
have a special meaning to me because John gave
me some years ago when I was going through a
very difficult time. The Lord had told me then,
“Carol, lilies of the valley only grow in the valley.
They do not grow on the mountain tops. When
you go through the valleys of life, you need to
find the lilies that I have placed there for you.”
They were a reminder of His faithfulness during
life’s darkest hours.
In the vision, Jesus and I skipped along and
talked heart-to-heart. We began to run and play
and have a wonderful, intimate time together. As
we were sharing, He stopped and said, “May I
have the bouquet back?” I said, “Oh, OK,” and I
reluctantly handed the bouquet back to Him. He
went around and gathered all different colored
flowers — red, purple, white and yellow — and
formed them into a floral wreath. He then wove
the lilies of the valley into the wreath and put it on
16
my head. I watched as He attached a very long,

white wedding veil to the wreath.
The scene changed, and I was walking, holding
His arm. I kept looking around thinking, “Gee, I
don’t recognize this place. I wonder where I am?
This doesn’t look familiar at all.” Then I happened
to look down, and I thought, “Oh, it’s gold! Oh,
my goodness, I am walking on the streets of gold.
This is heaven! I’m the bride of Christ. I am marry-
ing Jesus. This is the wedding day. Lord, this is
incredible.”
What happened next tenderly reminded me
how personal the Lord is to each one of us. When
I get discouraged or weighed down by life’s
business, I like to go see baby calves or colts or
other animals, and it fills and refreshes me. I have
always said, “Oh Lord, I can hardly wait to get to
heaven so I can hug a tiger.” I want to put my face
right in its fur and give it a big hug.
As the vision proceeded, along the way all
these animals were there, and they were all bright
and chipper. There were tigers and lambs and
baby colts — and even my two pet dogs. It really
blessed me.
Then the scene changed again, and we were
in a huge room. Table after table after table was
laid out with linen and crystal and silverware as
far as the eye could see. There were candelabras
and beautiful floral arrangements and the most
gorgeous platters of food, like something you
would see at a king’s coronation — absolutely
gourmet and elegant. I realized that this must be
the wedding feast. “I married You, and this must
be the banquet.” I marveled. “But I don’t see any-
body, Lord. Where is everybody?”
16
THE PHENOMENA:
As I turned around, I saw many people. They

were absolutely gorgeous, attired in the most
incredible wedding gowns you have ever seen.
Their faces were glowing and I said, “Oh, Lord,
who are these people?” He answered, “They are
the naked and the outcasts and the wretched and
the downtrodden and the broken. I have com-
pelled them to come into My wedding feast.”
I was standing in an open spot when Jesus
walked up and said, “Carol, may I have the first
dance?” I thought, “Oh, no, I can’t dance. My wed-
ding veil is too long.” As soon as I thought that,
out of nowhere came cardinals and blue jays — all
these little birds — and they picked up my veil,
and I danced with Jesus.
I later found out that while I way lying on the
platform, my friend Shirley Smith came and began
to sing over me. But in my vision, it was Jesus
singing to me. He was singing that I was His trea-
sure, His chosen one; He sang all the scriptures
He had spoken to my heart when I was first
converted.
When the vision finished, I thought, “Wow,
Lord. Was that just for me? It could not just be all
for me?” He said. “I want you to get up and share
the vision with the people. When you have
finished, I want you to tell them that My wedding
feast is almost prepared — it is almost ready. Tell
them that they are not to be like the five foolish
virgins, but they are to be like the five wise
virgins.”
“This is a time that I am pouring out My Spirit,”
He continued. “I am pouring out the oil they can
buy, and they can be filled and filled and filled.
This is the time for My church and My bride to be
filled with the oil of My Spirit. When they become
16
filled, I will spill them out into the highways and

byways. I will spread them all over, and they will
not have to evangelize like they used to. Being so
filled with My Spirit will compel the naked and the
wretched and the broken to come in to My king-
dom. Then I will come for them.”
I thank the Lord that this experience was so intimate,

precious and life changing for Carol. Not only did it bless
her immensely, but retelling it has blessed thousands of
people. The wonderful revelatory and prophetic edge to
visions such as this strengthens, encourages and comforts
the body of Christ (1 Cor. 14:3).
May the Lord again visit His people with many visions
and dreams and remind us how glorious the kingdom is.
May He come on us now and increase His signs and
wonders among us and give us glorious revelations to our
hearts.
THE FATHER’S BLESSING IS FOR EVERYONE
The physical and outward signs, although part of the

package, are not what we seek. I don’t care if you fall down
or not. I don’t care if you laugh, cry or shake. What I care
about is that you are impacted heart-to-heart by the Holy
Spirit’s power. When that happens there is life-changing
fruit produced in your life. I thank God for so many new
Christians who have started their Christian life experiencing
the power of God — we have had well over five thousand
to date. What a privilege to begin with a profound revela-
tion of God’s love.
Purpose in your heart to receive a fresh outpouring of
the Holy Spirit right now. God is fulfilling the promises of
Joel 2:28-30 all over the world, in every nation and in every
denomination. The Spirit is being poured out on all flesh!
Begin to seek God earnestly for more. He is filling the
16
THE PHENOMENA:
hungry with good things, but the rich (those already satis-
fied) He sends away empty (Luke 1:53).
One of the best places to receive more from the Lord is
right in your own home. Begin to spend quality time with
Him. Love Him. Worship Him. Ask, seek, knock and you
will receive.
Sometimes it is helpful to have others you trust pray for
you with the laying on of hands. Find a meeting nearby
where the fire of God is burning and go catch the fire. We
encourage people coming to our church in Toronto to
come for at least three days so they can “soak” in the pres-
ence of God. We want to marinate them in the Holy Spirit.
As this happens, they invariably experience a time of
refreshing from above.
Set aside your busy schedule. Give God a few days of
intimate time and soak in His presence. Do whatever it
takes, but don’t miss the blessing the Father has for you!
16
C H A P T E R 11
THE PROPHETIC:
ANIMAL SOUNDS
AND INSIGHTS
I
couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Did you say
someone roared in the meeting last night?” I repeated. I
was in St. Louis with Randy Clark about five months
into this renewal, and I had called to see how things
were going at home.
“The meetings are going great,” I was told. “Oh, and
someone roared like a lion last night.”
I was shocked. “Did he hurt anyone? Was it demonic? Did
he attack anybody?”
“No.”
16
THE PROPHETIC: ANIMAL
“Well,” I asked, “did you stop him?”

“No. We felt it was from the Lord.”
I was dumbfounded. “Please, Lord. It has been so wonder-
ful up to now,” I whispered to God. “Don’t let it go weird.”
When I arrived back in Toronto later that week, the man
who had roared was still at our meetings. I interviewed him
in the front of the church. He was Gideon Chiu, a promi-
nent Cantonese Chinese leader from Vancouver, Canada, a
pastor’s pastor, very honored and well-respected.
He shared what he was feeling and how he had come to
Toronto desperately hungry for more of God. Suddenly this
meek and mild pastor started roaring again, right in front of
everyone. He moved back and forth across the front of our
church, roaring and lunging like an angry lion, crying, “Let
My people go! Let My people go!”
Then he came back to the microphone and testified that
the Chinese people have been deceived by the dragon for
hundreds of years, but now the Lion of the tribe of Judah
was coming to set His people free. Our church immediately
exploded into volumes of praise as they bore witness to
what the Spirit of God was saying.
Since that night, we have occasionally seen and heard
what has come to be called “animal sounds” in our church.
As I’ve observed this phenomena, I’ve come to some
conclusions.
FACTS ABOUT ANIMAL SOUNDS
The first thing you need to know about the animal

sounds in our meetings is that they are very rare. We can go
for a week or more with none occurring, and fifteen hun-
dred people attend nightly meetings here six nights a week.
The next critical fact to know is that the people who have
had these peculiar manifestations are for the most part
largely credible leaders. They are usually people who are
tried and proven in ministry or people of spiritual integrity
16
whom I — or others — have known for a long time. They

have hearts for the lost and have cried out to God for the
nations.
Third, you need to know that these sounds are most
often made in the context of prophecy, vision and revelation.
They usually occur after lots and lots of soaking prayer.
We don’t have the time or ministry team members to do this
volume of praying with many people. I believe this is better
suited for a private place with trusted friends. Yet, some-
times God allows them to occur in public meetings for
everyone to see and contemplate.
THE PROPHETIC WORD — ACTED OUT
Assuming these sounds are prompted by the Holy Spirit,

what could He possibly be doing?
Prophecies from God can be about the future — what
He has in store for us or for the world — or words of
building up and encouragement for the body of Christ.
Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without

revealing his plan to his servants the prophets
(Amos 3:7).
Either this is true or it isn’t, and since we believe the

Bible, we believe this is true. There are still prophetic peo-
ple around who hear the word of the Lord, and He wants to
reveal His plan to His servants.
The gift of prophecy is for the New Testament church.
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual

gifts, especially the gift of prophecy...everyone
who prophesies speaks to men for their strength-
ening, encouragement and comfort...prophecy,
however, is for believers, not for unbelievers (1
Cor. 14:1,3,22).
17
We were used to words of prophecy given in the conven-

tional manner — someone prompted by the Holy Spirit
speaking out in a church service. If someone in your church
gave a prophecy which started, “I am coming like a roaring
lion to deliver My children,” would people accept it? Yes,
they would test it by the Word, and if it agreed, they would
accept it with joy.
What if God chose to have someone act out the prophecy
— complete with sound effects — in addition to speaking
the words? It is likely that the message would stay with
people; they would not forget it before the service was
over. In this manner, I’ve observed that animal sounds are
often part of an intense acted-out prophecy.
This idea of showing instead of just telling should not
seem foreign to us. Jesus took advantage of situations to
show, not only tell, His disciples truths. He called a child to
stand before them, then told His followers they had to
change and become as children to enter the kingdom of
heaven (Matt. 18:1-6). He broke bread to teach them about
the sacrifice of His broken body for them (Matt. 26:26-29).
He cursed the fig tree and it immediately withered to illus-
trate the power of faith (Matt. 21:19).
God often had prophets of the Old Testament act out
messages to His people. For example, the Lord told Isaiah
to strip, take off his sandals and go around like that for
three years. God explains why.
Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and

barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent
against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will
lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian cap-
tives and Cushite exiles (Is. 20:4-5).
Sometimes God chooses to show us things instead of

telling us with words.
When people in a meeting act like or make sounds like
1
an animal as part of a prophetic word from God, afterward

they will tell us how empowered they felt during the
prophecy. Often they feel great strength going into them,
perhaps similar to Samson’s anointing for strength.
I can just imagine what sort of noises Samson made when
the Spirit of God came on him and he carried the city gates
to the top of the hill. I doubt he said, “Oh well, let’s do this
quietly.” Empowered by God’s Spirit (Judg. 16:3), he proba-
bly made a great roar in the middle of the night as he tore
the posts out of the ground and carried them to the top of
the hill.
The atmosphere surrounding these manifestations is
often one of confrontation — a warfare mode of aggres-
sively defeating the enemy or explosively displaying God’s
wrath. Part of the bravado that goes along with any battle-
field scenario is all the yelling and noise. It is a natural
impulse when people are going to war. If people are fight-
ing hand-to-hand with swords, there’s going to be yelling. I
think that is an impartation of power and strength, and a
declaration of war. When these manifestations occur there
is often the intensity of a warrior accompanying them.
ROARING OF A LION
Perhaps the reason that the roaring of a lion has been

the predominant prophetic sound we’ve heard is that Jesus
is coming back in triumph. He was already the sacrificed
Lamb; the next time we see Him, it will be as the
victorious King — the Lion of Judah.
In Revelation, we see the Lamb taking the scrolls to open
them and initiate the pouring out of God’s wrath on the
world during the end time. As John is watching, an elder
explains, “See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of
David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its
seven seals” (5:5).
Jesus is returning soon as the victorious Lion of Judah.
1
The lion has roared — who will not fear?

The Sovereign Lord has spoken — who can but
prophesy? (Amos 3:8).
In this scripture Amos makes a direct comparison

between God speaking and the lion roaring — and people
prophesying. The prophecies we hear in our church that
are associated with roaring often do reveal God’s plans.
I have never roared like a lion. I do not know for sure
exactly why it occurs, but I think the most valuable way to
approach this phenomena is to ask the people who have
done it what happened, what they were seeing and feeling
within and how it affected their lives. They will invariably
give us helpful insights.
Senior Pastor Byron Mote of Eaglemount Family
Ministries in Lewisville, Texas, had an unexpected
experience with roaring. At a pastor’s meeting in Lewisville,
this very proper pastor in a starched pink shirt with a nice
tie was roaring and walking around like a lion in front of
two hundred other pastors. He said he was thinking, “O
Lord, please do not let this get out of hand. Please, no; I
don’t understand this.”
A similar experience happened to him the following
night. Later Byron told us of the vision he was seeing at
the time.
An army was marching against the gates of hell,

which surrounded the city [of Lewisville, Texas].
We seemed to march for a long time before we
approached the iron gates. As we came in range
of the gates, the demons sitting on the gates
began to shoot their fiery darts at us. They cast
darts of greed, lust, pride, independence,
religion, power
— all the weapons that had worked so well before.
However, this time they had no effect. In fact, they
only seemed to strengthen that army. God said,
1
“What Satan means for harm, I will use for good.”

During this time my wife, Jan, was praying at
my feet, and John’s wife, Carol, at my head. Jan
was having a vision of marking off the city, and I
was marching around those blocks to claim them
for Jesus. Just as the Lord said, “It is finished, the
city is Mine,” I let out the roar of the lion, and she
saw the demons flee from the city.
As we got right in front of the wall, I heard the
Commander-in-Chief say, “Roar, Judah, roar.” I let
out several loud roars while lying on the floor as I
continued swinging my arms and moving my legs
in a marching motion. As I did, I saw the gates of
hell vanish! They did not fall down; they just van-
ished! I then saw the people of the city on the
other side. It was as if their eyes were opened and
they could see spiritually for the first time. I heard
them say, “Ahhh, this is the true church and there
is the Lord.”
I said, “Lord, why have they not repented?” He
said, “You must now travail and cry out for them
to repent. I have opened their eyes, now travail
for them.” I asked, “How do we do this?”
The Lord explained Byron’s roaring to him as he lay rest-

ing in the Spirit on the first night.
“The roar is as the cry of My people for the lost.

Many have prayed for the harvest, but it is not
with a broken heart; it is to build churches. Until
My church cries out for the lost with such fervency
and purity that I will hear it as the roar of the Lion,
they will not see the harvest.
My people must cry out as desperately as Israel
cried out for deliverance from Egypt. My people
must cry out as desperately as a parent would cry
17
out for a dying child. They must see and hear the
reality of hell. They must lie broken and weeping
for the lost. This is the heart that I am looking for.
These are the people who will stand in the gap for
the lost.”
The second night, as Byron lay on the floor, the Lord

told him how the travail would come. He said that this
recent move of the Spirit is the Lord romancing His church.
Then His church would become spiritually “with child,”
conceiving a deep burden for the lost. He said this could
not occur by natural means, but must come from Him. Then
His church will labor in prayer to bring forth the harvest
of souls.
I told the Lord, “I love the vision, but couldn’t You have
given it to him a little...you know, differently?”
But those types of visions necessarily go along with an
outpouring of power. Byron then got up and started pray-
ing over other people who were lying on the floor. He
says:
During this time I realized that the physical and

strange manifestations were often prophetic. I
would begin to pray over people who had strong
manifestations and God would show me what was
happening. Sometimes He would tell me to
prophesy over them. Not only did this seem to
increase the manifestation, but it also brought
understanding to those who were watching. Now,
instead of this just being strange or possibly even
a “turnoff,” it brought meaning to what was
happening.
Incidentally, pastors from different churches in the

Lewisville area are now meeting together to pray. There are
weekly renewal meetings with twelve to fifteen churches
1
involved. Byron notes, “The army is being formed and

beginning the march on the city. The churches are sanctify-
ing themselves to resist the fiery darts of the enemy.”
I saw this in August of 1995 at a Catch the Fire confer-
ence in Dallas, Texas. It was a powerful time together,
and the meetings were sponsored by local pastors.
Byron’s vision is starting to be fulfilled.
Others have had reservations about the animal noises
made in our services. John Moore from Montana had previ-
ously heard demonic spirits make a wide range of noises
including sounds of animals. He came to Toronto with
some caution. The third night he was there the Holy Spirit
came upon him powerfully. He says:
I was soon on my hands and knees crawling on all

fours with visions of lions running through my
head.
At one point I definitely sensed the Spirit sug-
gesting I roar. I did not, thinking it would be best
to test the spirits. Perhaps I tested them too long,
for soon I realized I was meant to roar but had
been disobedient.
Although His presence stayed upon me mightily
for at least another hour, the inclination to roar
never returned. I tried to stir it up (not mimic it) a
time or two and felt rebuked by the Lord each
time.
Any manifestation of God is wrong when it is
copied in the flesh, but there is absolutely no
doubt in my mind that the anointing on me to roar
was from God.
John said he had missed a blessing by being overly

cautious.
The Bible says the Lord will roar out like a lion and His
children will follow Him (Hos. 11:10). When that happens
17
will we, His children, be overly cautious and miss His

blessing?
LION, OX, MAN AND EAGLE
Some people say that since human beings are made in

the image of God, making animal sounds is degrading;
therefore, the Holy Spirit would never be behind them. Yet
God Himself had no hesitation in describing Himself using
animals that symbolized certain characteristics. Jesus is not
only called the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of
the world (1 Pet. 1:19-20; Rev 13:8), but also the Lion of the
tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5).
In the very throne room of heaven, we see animals used
in the descriptions of the four living creatures who con-
stantly worship God.
In the center, around the throne, were four living

creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in
front and in back. The first living creature was like
a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a
face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.
Each of the four living creatures had six wings and
was covered with eyes all around, even under his
wings. Day and night, they never stop saying:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who

was, and is, and is to come” (Rev. 4:6-8).
These living creatures are covered with eyes. They have

eyes in the back of their head, under their wings, over their
wings and everywhere else. What does that mean? They can
really see, which probably signifies they have prophetic
ability. I believe this is an indication of the high value God
puts on the gift of prophecy.
God wants a prophetic church. He tells us to seek the gift
1
of prophecy (1 Cor. 14:1). Moses wished that all the Lord’s

people were prophets and that the Lord would put His
Spirit on them all (Num. 11:29). Again in Joel 2:28 as the
Spirit is outpoured, there is much prophecy.
Many theologians believe that these four living creatures
who worship God continually also represent the different
ministries of Jesus: The lion — king over all; the ox — faith-
ful, hard-working servant; the eagle — prophetic, visionary;
and man — Jesus as the Son of Man.
It is no coincidence that we have seen people propheti-
cally acting like lions, oxen, eagles and even warriors. In
Steve Witt’s church in St. Johns, New Brunswick, I saw all
four of those manifestations happening at the same time —
the ox, the eagle, the lion and the man (warrior). The lion
and eagle manifestations accompanied prophesying. The
man who was acting out the part of the warrior had both
hands gripped together around the hilt of a sword, and he
was swinging it. These warrior actions give the observer a
real feel of battlefield action. The people who were doing
this were mostly credible pastors or leaders. I was aston-
ished but sensed the awesome presence of God.
One lady who played keyboard and weighed about 115
pounds was on all fours, snorting and pawing the ground
like an angry ox or bull. It was obvious that she was sur-
prised and a bit frightened by what was happening, but at
the same time she seemed determined to follow the
Spirit’s leading.
For about an hour and a half this lady gave the most
incredible prophetic word. She expressed the anger of the
Lord against what Satan has done to God’s church, His peo-
ple, His cities and communities. She said the powers of
darkness were being pushed back and new boundaries
were being set.
Since that meeting, the pastor of the church says signifi-
cant breakthroughs have taken place in their city. Many
17
teenagers have come to Christ. The church is moving pow-

erfully in renewal. In addition, the woman who gave this
prophecy has since grown in Christ very significantly. Now
she is an encouraging prophetic voice in that church.
When people see this, their first inclination is to say,
“This is demonic.” Remember, that’s how I reacted, too.
This is too simplistic a view, however. Our past experiences
with demonic manifestations is that they will try to attack
those attempting to minister to the person. We know these
animal sounds and manifestations are not demonic because
we have never been attacked by anyone. The anger of the
Lord shown through the people making these sounds is
often directed toward the works of darkness. The works of
Satan are being torn down by God through this, not built
up.
I do not deny that sometimes it could be the flesh. Every
now and then somebody on the fringe did not get what he
came for and will try to fake something. We had one guy
imitating the roaring of the lion. I had to tell him, “Stop
doing that. You are too broken. You need your heart healed
first.” I suggested to him to listen to some of John and Paula
Sandford’s teaching tapes on inner healing.
If you, as a pastor or leader, know the person’s heart,
integrity and reputation and they are in your fellowship,
you are much more able to discern the situation. You will
realize it is most probably the Holy Spirit empowering the
person, not the flesh or the demonic.
Keep in mind, too, that all prophecy — acted out or spoken
— needs to be tested (1 Cor. 14:29). We need to judge it by
these standards:
1. Is it scriptural?
2. Does it glorify Jesus?
3. Does it edify, exhort or
comfort the body of Christ?
1
We’ve seen and heard many prophecies that relate to

what God is doing on earth today and will do in the
coming days.
PROPHECIES OF GOD’S COMING WRATH
The Lord is going forth like a warrior today.
The Lord will march out like a mighty man, like a

warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he
will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his
enemies.
“For a long time I have kept silent, I have been

quiet and held myself back.
But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I
gasp and I pant.
I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up
all their vegetation.
I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools.
I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them and
make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do; I will not forsake
them” (Is. 42:13-16).
We have seen God going forth like a warrior in a

prophetic context. People who are under a powerful
anointing will stand and shout and yell as though they were
full of anger as we continue to soak them in prayer and ask
for more.
The first time I saw this happen, it intimidated me. A big,
strong youth leader was yelling and shouting like an angry
warrior. I thought, “Dear Lord, I hope this is You. Please let
this be You, Holy Spirit, because if this is demonic, we are
18
going to need about ten men in a hurry.” But it was the

Lord; He was venting His anger and His fury through one of
His people. It was a statement — a powerful, powerful
statement. God was announcing His intentions to move
powerfully over the earth.
I tell you God is angry at the way the world has become.
He is angry about so many starving children, motherless
and fatherless teenagers, homeless people and those with-
out hope. He is angry about crime and drug and alcohol
abuse. It is because of demonic greed and sin, and He is
angry about it all.
Also, it should not surprise any of us that we do not
always understand what God is doing. Make sure it is God
by evaluating it as I have explained, and then trust Him.
Sometimes in His mercy He lets us in on what is happening
and what it is all about. Often He’ll tell us later, but not
knowing everything is part of what being a little child is all
about.
OTHER MANIFESTATIONS
The Holy Spirit has come to bring incredible glory to

Jesus. He wants the power of the kingdom of God back
on the face of the earth, and He is doing it like a lion with
power and authority. Renewal is going forth like a wild-
fire everywhere, and these peculiar manifestations are a
part of it.
Carole Baerg is a registered nurse from the Toronto area
who has been coming to our meetings since the beginning.
One day I asked her teasingly, “Carol, have you roared yet?”
She said, “No, but I have crowed like a rooster.”
I thought, “Oh no, Lord. Why did I ask her?” Then I said
to her, “Because I know your heart and that you love Jesus,
I know you would never be swept away by emotionalism.
You are pressing into God as you never have in your life;
you’ve been healed physically and emotionally, and you are
1
just not the same person. Have you any idea what it
meant?”
Her answer shocked me. She said, “Yes, I know exactly
what it meant. There is a new day coming.”
I thought, “I should have figured that out.” God moves
creatively but so simply.
There is a call going out today to “eat” His flesh and
drink His blood, to partake of who Jesus really is to find out
about His kingdom of love, and to let the love of God come
in and be the answer. If this and some of the accounts I
have been sharing offend you, then maybe they were
designed to. We have found most of them to be God.
GOD WILL OFFEND YOUR MIND TO REVEAL YOUR HEART
John Wimber preached a message several years ago in

the context of prophetic ministry that really impacted me:
God will offend your mind to reveal your heart.
What sort of things offend us? Things about the way the
church is? The way the world is? The way our own hearts
are? The things that offend us reveal our inner hearts — and
there we often find considerable unbelief.
When we counsel people, we often look at the things
that make them angry. That’s because our angers are win-
dows into our hearts. When we explore why we overreact
to something, we discover the deeper issues or hurts that
need to be addressed.
The same dynamic happens when our minds are
offended. We need to ask ourselves why, then peer into
that window which reveals the heart. Maybe it shows us
past hurts or the fear of losing control. Whatever it is,
knowing about it is the first step toward change.
When I heard John preach this message, I had to say,
“Lord, my heart is so full of unbelief about prophecy. But
I know it is biblical; I do not want unbelief to be there.”
When I explored why I was afraid of prophecy, I realized
18
it was because I had seen it misused. Words spoken in truth

but without love had injured people, leaving them exposed
and wounded. Understanding this allowed me to choose to
trust God again with the gift of prophecy.
Our minds are constantly being offended by the things
that God is doing, just as Jesus’ words and actions offended
the minds of the people in His day.
OUR RESPONSE
Critics have talked about the manifestations and animal

sounds so much that they have been blown out of propor-
tion. I have had to spend large and disproportionate
amounts of time discussing and explaining them. One day
I said to God, “This has been such a wonderful renewal,
Lord. If only You hadn’t brought in these animal sounds
and this strange prophecy.” The Lord responded, “Would
you like Me to take it away?”
After contemplating for a few moments I had to say,
“No, Lord. I want all that You have for us — even what I
don’t fully understand. I want to be humble and willing to
be humbled. You are the sovereign Lord, not me or my
understanding.”
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P A R T III
SPREADING THE FIRE

C H A P T E R 12
VALUING THE ANOINTING
I
n the sixties when I was a young Christian attending the
Queensway Cathedral, my pastor Alec Ness said to me,
“If you are serious about going into the ministry, watch
out for three things: women, money and issues of
power and control.” That was such helpful advice.
Others have called these snares “the girls, the gold and
the glory.” How many times have we seen anointed people
of God fall because they have succumbed to one of these
temptations? The fall is often great, and in full view of all,
bringing reproach and much pain on the body of Christ.
18
VALUING THE
This anointed renewal is a holy and breathtaking gift

from God. In order for the Holy Spirit to remain with us, we
need to place a great value on His manifest presence. We
need to be protective of the Father’s blessing, living holy
lives and keeping our eyes on Jesus.
SET A HIGH VALUE ON THE ANOINTING
Remember how Elisha wouldn’t leave until he received

Elijah’s mantle of anointing? He kept following Elijah; he
was persistent and wouldn’t leave Elijah’s presence until he
got a double portion of Elijah’s anointing (2 Kin. 2).
Elisha put a very high value on the anointing, much higher
than Samson did. Samson had the anointing handed to him;
it was his from birth. He did not know what it was like not to
have the anointing. Ultimately he took it for granted, not
valuing it like Elisha, who had to press in, be persistent and
pursue God to receive it. Therefore, Elisha was a better stew-
ard of this precious treasure than Samson was.
When it came time for Elisha to pick an assistant, he
picked someone who was very diligent, faithful and hard-
working. That young man’s name was Gehazi.
Gehazi had seen Elisha do many miracles, such as raise
the Shunammite woman’s boy from the dead and remove
poison from food. Gehazi had seen him provide for a
prophet’s widow with a miraculous supply of oil (2 Kin. 4).
Gehazi had seen many supernatural things because the
Holy Spirit was at work in the life of Elisha.
Then testing came Gehazi’s way. Would Gehazi attach a
high value to God’s anointing? Or would he treat it as a
light thing?
A TIME OF TESTING
Remember the story of Naaman? This was the time

Naaman traveled to Elisha to receive healing for his leprosy.
18
Elisha told him to bathe seven times in the Jordan river,

then he would be healed. Remember, this was a test of
faith, humility and obedience for Naaman and when he
finally obeyed, the Lord healed him totally.
Now Naaman was a very wealthy general, and he
returned to Elisha to offer gifts of thanks, saying:
Now I know that there is no God in all the world

except in Israel. Please accept now a gift from
your servant (2 Kin. 5:15).
You see, Naaman knew that Elisha’s God was the one
true God because the personal and intimate power of the
Holy Spirit had touched his life and healed him of his lep-
rosy, which no other power, no other god, could do. So he
wanted to make an offering. But Elisha answered:
“As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will

not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman
urged him, he refused (v. 16).
Now isn’t that interesting for a man of God? Most of us as

men of God take up an offering every chance we get, don’t
we? The kingdom always seems to be so short on funds,
and if a rich man comes along and says, “Let me give you
several thousands dollars,” we are very thankful and take it.
Elisha felt led by God to decline. God was testing his heart.
Gehazi also knew what it was like to be short on money.
Elisha carried on the training of the young prophets that
Elijah had begun, and he had hundreds of young men
under him. Gehazi was probably often asked, “How are the
finances at the school in Jericho or the one in Bethel?” It
must have been an important issue to him that there be
enough funds, including enough for his own needs.
If we are not careful when it comes to money, we can
lean on our own understanding rather than being
dependent
18
VALUING THE
upon the person of the Holy Spirit and the anointing of

God.
Since Elisha wouldn’t accept any gifts, Naaman left,
extremely grateful to God for His healing.
After Naaman had traveled some distance, Gehazi,

the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to him-
self, “My master was too easy on Naaman, this
Aramean, by not accepting from him what he
brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after
him and get something from him.”
So Gehazi hurried after Naaman (vv. 19-21).
What was going on in Gehazi’s heart? He wanted some

money, right? He was tired of being poor. Maybe he was
thinking of getting some vineyards and olive groves for
himself. He must have figured that Elisha would not find
out since Elisha did not always know everything that was
going on.
Gehazi had gotten used to the anointing, used to being
around the supernatural. He had seen miracles happen;
they were no longer astonishing to him. Gehazi decided to
take matters into his owns hands instead of honoring the
word of the Lord through the prophet. Naaman saw
Gehazi running after him, and he got down from his
chariot to meet him.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.

“Everything is all right,” Gehazi answered. “My
master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the
company of the prophets have just come to me
from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give
them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing’”
(vv. 21-22).
A talent of silver was about seventy-five pounds, probably
18
worth thousands of dollars, and it was only a small part of

the present that Naaman had brought. So, to get a portion
of it Gehazi lied.
Naaman urged Gehazi to take two talents, which he did,
along with two sets of clothing. Naaman’s servants carried
them until they were almost home, then Gehazi took them,
put them away in the house and sent the servants away. He
went in to his master Elisha as though nothing had hap-
pened.
Can you see how this whole thing played right into his
greed — and probably his need? Gehazi’s whole future was
on the line.
“Where have you been, Gehazi?” Elisha asked.

“Your servant didn’t go anywhere,” Gehazi
answered.
But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with
you when the man got down from his chariot to
meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to
accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks,
herds, or menservants and maidservants?” (vv. 25-
26).
All the things that he desired — flocks, herds, servants —

that was not the time for them. That is why Elisha had said
no, yet Gehazi fell right into the trap. Look what happened
to him.
“Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your

descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from
Elisha’s presence and he was leprous, as white as
snow (v. 27).
How tragic! Critics have a valid point when they con-

demn people who put their own needs for popularity,
glory and their own agendas ahead of the preciousness of
the anointing. These issues cause many to fall away,
19
and it
19
VALUING THE
grieves the heart of God. Gehazi was snared by his greed

for money. Is this a trap that would tempt you?
As the Holy Spirit brings renewal, people are joyous and
blessed, and often they give very generously. Leaders must
not take advantage of them. We need to be good stewards
of God’s finances and flow together in love, being led by
the Spirit in these areas.
TRUE RICHES
When the Holy Spirit imparts His anointing to the body of

Christ today, testing will come to see if we are going to
value the anointing or not. Are we going to treat Him as
true riches and not just as someone we can exploit? Jesus
tells us that true riches are the things of God.
Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be

trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with
very little will also be dishonest with much. So if
you have not been trustworthy in handling
worldly wealth, who will trust you with true
riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with
someone else’s property, who will give you prop-
erty of your own? (Luke 16:10-12).
Jesus is speaking of the true riches — the things of the

Spirit.
No servant can serve two masters. Either he will

hate the one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve both God and Money (v. 13).
I want to remind you how precious the gift of the Holy

Spirit’s anointing is that God is offering to you and me
today. True riches — that’s an understatement.
1
WILLING TO PLAY, WILLING TO PAY
As we move closer to God, the cost goes higher because

the anointing becomes greater. The more we are in love
with Jesus, the more we need to be honoring the things of
the kingdom of God — the true riches (Luke 16:11).
We are pressing in to God saying, “Lord, increase Your
anointing. We thank You that Your Spirit comes in power.
Thank You that people go under God’s power and shake
and fall, yet also fall in love with Jesus. But now empower
us with prophecy, empower us with gifts of healing,
empower us with intercessory prayers of the Spirit,
empower us with evangelism so we can go out and get the
job done.”
As we are asking Him, He is answering our prayers. But I
want you to know that the price goes up. As your relation-
ship with Him gets more and more personal, more and
more intimate, you must not only “talk the talk” but also
“walk the walk.” We all need to remain meek and teach-
able. In marriage it is important not to take intimacy for
granted. Neither can we take for granted the Lord’s anoint-
ing, treating it casually.
Sometimes Christians seek power as the latest “kick.” But
they don’t allow God to do His full work in them; their lives
don’t change. People cannot come to these meetings day
after day and play in the anointing, then go back home to
sin. We may get away with it for a little while, but the day
will come when there will be a reckoning with the Lord.
That is like playing Russian roulette with your soul.
STAY ACCOUNTABLE AND TEACHABLE
You and I are accountable for the wonderful anointing

the Lord is giving us. Now that should be exciting. Don’t
you want to be faithful with this? Don’t you want to be a
good steward of the true riches that He is placing in your
19
VALUING THE
hands? Let us remain teachable and correctable; let us stay

humble and in fellowship with one another. We want to
stay bolted down to the deck, not become loose cannons
that fire off unpredictably and damage God’s kingdom.
If you are not accountable to yourself and others, you are
putting yourself at great risk by asking God for more of the
anointing. Let me say it again, if you are not accountable,
not teachable and not willing to be known heart-to-heart,
and yet you are pressing in for more of the anointing, you
are putting yourself and the church at great risk.
There are two attitudes that set themselves up against
God’s anointing — quenching the Spirit through fear and an
“anything goes” approach to flowing in the Spirit. Though
these two are opposites, either can grieve the Spirit. We
must value the anointing so much that we stay moldable in
God’s hands, not set in our own ways — at either end of
the spectrum.
Get into a small group somewhere if you are serious
about wanting the Lord to use you. Begin to pray with
your friends. Say to them, “If you see things in my life
that are not right before God, speak to me as a brother and
a friend. Will you bring correction if you think I need it?”
Be accountable to one another. As we do that, we will find
His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Valuing the
anointing is not a hard thing.
Great reproach must have come on Elisha’s ministry
when Gehazi became a leper. Leprosy in Scripture was
often a symbol for sin, and certainly Gehazi did sin.
Our hearts grieve every time we hear of another person
falling, much as Elisha must have grieved when he made
that pronouncement over Gehazi. I can see him with tears
running down his face as he asked, “Gehazi, did my heart
not go with you when you ran to meet Naaman?” Gehazi
lost his perspective on what was valuable, and he was
ruined.
19
The anointing of the Holy Spirit is given to glorify Jesus

and bring in the kingdom of God. In His mercy and His love
He comes to fill us with true riches so we can partake in
what the world desperately needs — intimacy with God,
intimacy with Jesus, the reality of His presence — and then
give it away. The prayer in my heart is that you would flow
in a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit and bring incred-
ible glory to Jesus Christ — every place you go, in every-
thing you do and in everything you say.
We dare not use the anointing to gain riches or glory or
credibility for ourselves in any way. Let Him use us for one
purpose and one purpose only — that Jesus, the Son of
God, be honored and glorified through your life and mine.
God has already promised to supply all of our needs
according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19).
Let’s trust Him with everything and not let the girls, the gold
and the glory become a snare to us.
Lord, help us to value the true riches You have put
among us, the precious presence of Your Holy Spirit. May
we not use it to further our own agendas, may we not mar-
ket it, advertise it or package it and sell it. We just want to
come and do what You want to do in us and through us so
that the kingdom of God can spread all over the world.
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C H A P T E R 13
GO FOR THE KINGDOM
P
astors have come to me and said, “John, God’s pres-
ence wonderfully broke out in our church, and we
had some great meetings for three or four weeks, but
then it all stopped. Why do you think that happened?
Did we do something wrong?”
For a while I did not know. I would just say, “Come on
back, get refilled and take it home again.” That is still good
advice, but I think I have some answers now to those
nagging questions.
We are in our second year of renewal in Toronto (twenty
19
months at the time of this writing). Do you know when this

move of God will end? It will end when the presence of the
Holy Spirit stops coming in this way.
If we want God to continue moving as He has, and if we
want to allow Him to take us further, we must love to see
God do things His way and not attempt to steady the ark
(1 Chr. 13:9).
STAY HUNGRY FOR MORE OF GOD
We read about Peter, James and John answering the call

of Christ in Matthew 4:
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee,

he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his
brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the
lake, for they were fisherman. “Come, follow
me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of
men.” At once they left their nets and followed
him.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers,
James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They
were in a boat with their father Zebedee, prepar-
ing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately
they left the boat and their father and followed
him (vv. 18-22).
When we read this, we think, “What happened there?”

These men had lives, businesses and families. Yet when
Jesus showed up and called them, they went just like that.
Isn’t that amazing? But there is more to this story.
In the Gospel of Luke, we read about a prior encounter
Jesus had with these future disciples. Jesus had gotten into
one of Simon Peter’s boats and asked him to push it a little
way from shore. Then He started teaching the people who
were there.
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GO FOR THE
After He finished, He told Simon to let down his nets

for a catch. Simon protested, saying they’d already been
fishing all night, but had caught nothing. Then he relented
and responded:
“But because you say so, I will let down the nets”
(5:5).
We could speculate here about Peter’s tone of voice. He

may have sounded impatient. He was frustrated because he
knew a little bit about fishing — more that Jesus did, he
probably thought. Nevertheless, he chose to obey, and they
caught so many fish that their nets began to break. They
had to get help to bring all the fish in.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’

knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a
sinful man!” For he and all his companions were
astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,
and so were James and John, the sons of
Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid” (vv.
8-10).
Why was Simon Peter afraid? Because the power of God

showed up, and he got the greatest catch of fish he had
ever seen. Peter was astounded by the supernatural power
of the Holy Spirit. That is why Peter left his boats and nets
when Jesus said, “Come and follow Me.” He didn’t even try
to reason with himself about it because he knew he’d seen
the power of God. His family, his business, his partners —
everything dimmed in the blazing light of God.
Peter was so impacted by this miracle that he walked
away from everything he owned. He was hungry for God. If
His touch came upon you, would you be willing to leave all
to follow Him?
1
You and I have been given a wonderful opportunity to

partake in something that is beyond our wildest dreams and
greatest expectations. God is moving powerfully by the
Spirit and offering this anointing to whoever will accept it.
Are you so hungry for more of God that you will run with
it, forsaking all?
COUNT THE COST, THEN PAY THE PRICE!
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in

a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and
then in his joy went and sold all he had and
bought that field (Matt. 13:44).
A man is out poking around — maybe he bought a trea-

sure map somewhere — and he discovers an incredible
treasure in a field. He thinks to himself, “If I liquidate my
assets, I could buy the whole field. Then the treasure would
be mine.” It cost him everything, but he got the riches.
If you want the true riches, it is going to cost you some-
thing — probably everything. You must embrace the cross.
Your lifestyle will change. Carol and I canceled our morn-
ing agendas and gave our mornings to God. We “sold” our
mornings, “buying” the treasure of intimacy with Christ.
How badly do you want to run with Him in this? Will you
go for the kingdom?
Desiree Torrie of Willowdale, Ontario, thought that what
she’d heard occurring at our church sounded “a little
spooky.” But in the spring of 1994, she had a dream about
her Aunt Judy (who attends our church) holding a large
gold bar, which turned into a very bright white light as
Desiree went closer to examine it.
For several months Desiree tried to figure out this dream.
She asked others about our church, but people discouraged
her from going, saying that they’d never go there. “Since
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they were much more religious than I, the advice was worth
listening to,” Desiree says. “However, I was curious.”
That July a friend of Desiree’s wanted to visit our church,
so they arrived together, “very intentionally with no pen to
sign our names to anything.” Desiree didn’t want to pay the
price of risking, of laying down her reputation. But she
pressed through that. She marveled at the people she saw
worshiping: “The nations were there. The young, the old,
the rich, the poor, the learned, the uneducated. It did not
take long for me to realize that this was real. There was no
superstar, there was no hocus-pocus.”
She allowed her Aunt Judy and a pastor to pray for her,
and he told her to forgive the person who rear-ended her
in an automobile accident several years ago. She explains:
As soon as I heard the word forgive, I fell to the

ground and entered into a two-and-a-half hour
exchange with God. As I began to forgive others, I
was being forgiven. Brought into my mind for for-
giveness was everyone, including my childhood
friend who at five years of age broke my china tea
set.
A man from the ministry team praying over her announced

what he was seeing: “It’s beautiful. It’s a very tight flower
bud which is beginning to blossom.” Desiree confesses,
“The vision was correct. My Christian walk had always been
a bud. I just never knew that it could blossom.”
Several months later, Desiree reported that God had
given her opportunities to witness to and intercede for
several people, six of whom gave their lives to Jesus —
including her husband.
Desiree counted the cost and took the risk. Her lifestyle
changed; it blossomed. She walks in joy and freedom, using
every opportunity to tell others about Jesus, but it cost her
something — her old lifestyle.
20
Desiree found the treasure and bought the field. She is

joyfully living for God.
STEP OUT IN HIS STRENGTH
God doesn’t want saying, “We did this ourselves, we

prayed this down. We organized ourselves and strategized
for this and brought in the best of speakers. Aren’t we
great?” The Lord wants to be able to say, “I took the least
among you and did the greatest work.”
The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many

men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In
order that Israel may not boast against me that her
own strength has saved her, announce now to the
people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn
back and leave Mount Gilead.’” So twenty-two
thousand men left, while ten thousand remained
(Judg. 7:2-3).
God eventually pared this army of Gideon’s down to

three hundred men. He wanted everyone to know this
victory was from Him, not by the strength of human
resources.
This renewal is not going to work with the arm of flesh
— with strategies and programs. Nor will it work if people
let fear slow them down as they try to keep it tidy. The
Spirit of God today is coming in power, and it is going to
become greater, much greater. And it is His sovereign work.
We need to step out in faith and continue calling on Him as
He leads and directs.
Reverend Les Barker and his wife, Bonnie, of St. Ninian’s
Anglican Church in Scarborough, Ontario, have been com-
ing to our services regularly and serve on the ministry team.
In November 1994, they visited with clergy friends at St.
Luke’s Episcopal Church in Akron, Ohio. Their friends
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unexpectedly invited Les and Bonnie to give their testimony

about this renewal. Then they prayed for people. Les
describes what happened:
During prayer ministry about 15 percent of the con-

gregation came for “more.” It was so
exciting...most were drinking deeply and being
filled with the love of God. One young woman
remained on the floor “receiving” for about an
hour. When she got up she said to me, with
sparkling eyes and tear-streaked face, “He is real!
He is still holding my hand.”
Bonnie and I feel so humbled, privileged and
excited about being used by God to light this fire.
Les and Bonnie stepped out in God’s strength and He

was there to meet them.
When the manifest presence of God is among us like this,
it is the time to rise up and run. Do not run if God is not
among you. But when God is among you, run with every-
thing that is within you — run, run, run, run!
The Holy Spirit is saying, “Is it not enough for you to have
Me powerfully in your midst? Is it not enough for you to
have the mighty presence of the Lord? Does that not so
encourage you, give you boldness and favor, to enable you
to go for the kingdom as never before?”
We’ve got to go for the kingdom of God wholeheartedly.
We are going to sell out and buy the field because we want
the treasure. We want Jesus. We want the power of God
and the kingdom of God to come, and we are going to sur-
render to Him and the things He wants to do.
This is a call to run with the Holy Spirit who is upon us.
Are you going to lean on His strength and go for it with
everything that is within you?
20
ASK GOD FOR ANSWERS, THEN RUN WITH THEM
To tell you the truth, when the Lord began to pour this
out I was afraid that I might somehow offend the Holy
Spirit and His presence would not come anymore. I asked,
“Lord, what do I do?” He gave me one word: “Ask.” Before
we go charging ahead taking things into our own hands,
we must remember to ask, “Lord, is this You? Should we go
ahead with this?” And if He gives us the OK, run with it.
That was David’s heart.
Once more the Philistines came up and spread

out in the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of
the Lord, and he answered, “Do not go straight
up, but circle around behind them and attack
them in front of the balsam trees. As soon as you
hear the sound of marching in the tops of the
balsam trees, move quickly, because that will
mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to
strike the Philistine army.” So David did as the
Lord commanded him, and he struck down the
Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer (2
Sam. 5:22-25).
David asked God what to do, then he ran with what God
told him. He had the confidence to do that because he
knew that God had gone out ahead of him.
I can hear the sound of the marching in the treetops. A
supernatural, heavenly army is present in our meetings,
going out ahead of us. If we ask and obey God, we will be
led by God, by His army marching ahead to lead the way.
I hear the supernatural sound of the army of the Lord in
my spirit — the internal sensing and awareness of His pur-
poses. God said, “When you hear that, run for it with
everything that is within you because God has gone out
ahead of you.”
Are you ready to run? Or are you going to play it safe and
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GO FOR THE
say, “I know the kind of problems that will come up. I had
better be careful.” Listen, when you hear the sound of
marching in the top of the balsam trees when you sense
that the Sovereign Lord is with you, then it’s the time to run,
because if you do, the victory will be yours.
GO FOR THE KINGDOM!
The nation of Israel had just come out of Egypt by the

powerful hand of God. No one amongst them should have
had any doubt about God’s provision and protection. They
had watched the Egyptian army who pursued them disap-
pear in the waters of the Red Sea. Now God led them
through the desert with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire
by night. They were fed morning and evening by His super-
natural hand.
When they arrived at the land God had promised them,
twelve men were sent to spy it out for forty days. When
they returned, they brought back a wonderful report on
how fruitful and productive the land was. But they were
afraid of its powerful inhabitants and its fortified cities.
Caleb, however, knew that with God they were more than
able to conquer. He alone had the eyes to see and the ears
to hear that God was with them, and they were invincible.
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses

and said, “We should go up and take possession
of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
But the men who had gone up with him said,
“We can’t attack those people; they are stronger
than we are.” And they spread among the
Israelites a bad report about the land they have
explored. They said, “The land we explored
devours those living it. All the people we saw
there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim
[giants] there (the descendants of Anak come from
the Nephilim). We
20
seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and

we looked the same to them” (Num. 13:30-33).
So the nation of Israel missed their great opportunity to

possess the kingdom of God. Because of fear and unbelief,
the Lord told them that they would spend the next forty
years in the wilderness — one year for each of the forty
days they spent exploring the land (14:34). How tragic!
God came along with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,
and few saw it. Why did only Joshua and Caleb trust God
fully and want to do great exploits in His name? What was
the matter with the rest of them? Couldn’t everyone see the
cloud, the pillar of fire? Didn’t they remember the Red Sea
and the waters of Meribah that were healed? Did they not
eat the manna every morning? God was with them!
Caleb’s heart said, “If God be for us, who can be against
us? Let us go and get them. They will be bread for us. We
will eat those men alive.”
But everybody else was saying, “Now let us not get car-
ried away here; let us use a little wisdom.” They looked at
the circumstances and quickly forgot how big and capable
God really is.
Right now God is giving you and me an opportunity to
participate in the greatest revival opportunity I have ever
seen in over forty years as a Christian. Let’s go for it with
everything that is within us. Yes, there are problems; yes,
there is the flesh; yes, we miss it sometimes. But the power
of God is being poured out here and around the world.
Let’s not miss this opportunity to be a part of what God is
doing.
Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the

prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I
have longed to gather your children together, as a
hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you
were
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not willing. Look, your house is left you to deso-

late (Matt. 23:37-38).
They did not know the hour of their visitation from God.
They didn’t recognize the time when He was among them.
Bill and Melinda Fish, pastors of the Church of the Risen
Saviour in Trafford, Pennsylvania, wrote to tell Carol and
me about Melinda’s last experience in our services here in
Toronto. God touched “a dry place” in her heart, and she
laughed, wept and cried out over and over, “This is the day
of visitation! It was as though the Lord was having a good
time making me say it like a teacher would make a mischie-
vous student write it on a chalkboard a thousand times!”
Do you know what is happening in Toronto and around
the world? This is the day of visitation! The Holy Spirit of
God is actually coming and touching people. As long as we
welcome Him, as long as we love His ways, as long as we
honor Him, as long as we’re not embarrassed by Him, as
long as we are radical enough to go for it and not play it
safe, He will keep coming. But He is looking for a people
who are full of boldness, people who will leave their boats
and nets and follow Jesus; people who will buy the field,
who will enter the promised land. Will you risk your
resources and reputation, and become one of these?
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C H A P T E R 1 4
THE COST
OF THE PARTY
W
hen all of this began, I had no desire for
Christians to fall down, roll around and laugh. I
had seen people do that before. I was asking
God for His power to come, and save the lost,
heal the sick and expand the kingdom.
That’s the direction I wanted to see God move. It never
occurred to me that the Spirit of God desired to bring a
tremendous wave of joy to flood over His people so they
would laugh and get excited and enjoy His presence.
Therefore, when all of this started happening, I was startled
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THE COST OF THE
because those being powerfully touched were all our

church people. I knew them. I knew that they wouldn’t
fake this! They were solid in their faith, and many of them
were able ministers in the Spirit themselves.
So it took me a little while to say, “This is very good.” It
took me a while to be grateful because it was not what I
was expecting or praying for.
Then, as we discovered the biblical and historical basis
for what God was doing, we realized God was doing a spe-
cial work of renewal and said, “OK, Lord, if You just want
to love up on us, then we will enjoy what You are doing
right now.”
Now I see that it is vital for the church to fall deeply in
love with Jesus again. When you are really in love, you may
act a little bit crazy, but nothing seems too great, nothing
seems insurmountable. I believe we need to be restored to
that place. That is what Jesus is calling us back to — our
first love.
AN ABUNDANCE OF NEW WINE
To understand the joy and the “party” we are experienc-

ing now, let’s see what happened at another party — a
wedding that Jesus attended.
The host ran out of wine early, and Jesus’ mother told
Him about it. Then she instructed the servants to do what-
ever Jesus told them. That is really good advice.
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used

by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding
from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants “Fill the jars with
water”; they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and
take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so,
and the master of the banquet tasted the water
20
that had been turned into wine. He did not realize

where it had come from, though the servants who
had drawn the water knew.
Then he called the bridegroom aside and said,
“Everyone brings out the choice wine first and
then the cheaper wine after the guests have had
too much to drink; but you have saved the best till
now.” This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus
performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his
glory (John 2:6-11).
His miracles still reveal His glory. Jesus has saved the best
till last. New wine is being poured out in the body of Christ
in these last days, and it is the best we have ever tasted. It is
so full of joy, so full of power, so full of life. It is fabulously
fantastic. It is also very contagious.
People come here from England or Australia or Japan and
have a party for three or four nights and get drunk and
overcome in the Holy Spirit. Then they take it home and
start pouring it out to their friends. Isn’t that amazing? Yet it
happens, time and time again.
Why were those water jars filled to the brim? So there
would be plenty for all. Jesus had the servants set aside 150
gallons of water that had the potential to become wine.
They simply had to dip and pour. They could have partied
all week on that amount of wine. There is an abundant sup-
ply with the Lord Jesus, an abundant supply.
Many people hang back and say, “Let someone else have
the prayer. There are other people who need it more than I
do.”
An Anglican minister’s wife came to our Catch the Fire
conference in October 1994, tired and resentful at how busy
they were. She knew she was not seeking the Lord’s face;
she let her husband do all the “spiritual stuff.” She said she
was good at observing and would spend most of her time
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THE COST OF THE
watching and not receiving. However, that changed when

she came to Toronto. This is how she described what hap-
pened to her at our conference:
Over these past four days I have been on the car-

pet...I feel I have been revived, gently corrected
and empowered. I have had prophecy prayed
over me. I’ve seen it happen to others, but now
I’ve submitted to His hand and will for my life.
P.S. Before I was a Christian, I drank a lot. My
dad is an alcoholic. I feel God has allowed me to
drink the new wine and be drunk in Him. Oh, it’s
so much better than the old wine!
Listen, God has provided an abundant supply; we have

tapped into the ocean here. Here is all the new wine and
the new life you will ever need. You do not have to con-
serve it. You do not have to be careful. There is even wine
to waste. All you have to do is dip your jug in, pour it out,
and — wow — it’s wine.
How many of us have dipped in for years and every time
we pulled out the jug it was just water? Carol and I are
doing all the same things we had been doing for years, but
when we started pouring it out in January 1994, suddenly it
was wine. It shocked us, really. It took quite a while to get
accustomed to it; in fact, we are still not used to it. I can
hardly grasp it now. All I know is, He has saved the best till
last, and there is an abundance for the thirsty.
JESUS PICKED UP THE TAB
Not everybody likes what we do here. Some think we

are crazy and do not want any part of this. I believe they
are missing out on a tremendous blessing of God. People
are having a wonderful time in the presence of the Lord.
The changes and fruit that results are brilliant testimony
to the
21
glory of God, but would God throw a party?

I did not have a theological framework for “parties” when
this started. I had to relearn facts like, the angels rejoice and
“party” every time one sinner repents and comes into the
kingdom of God. Just think, there are thousands of them
every day, so it must be a continual party in heaven.
But parties are expensive. We do well to ask, “Who is
paying for this? Who is picking up the tab?” Jesus has paid
for it all.
They came to place called Golgotha (which means

The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus
wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it,
he refused to drink it. When they had crucified
him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.
Above his head they placed the written charge
against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews
(Matt. 27:33-37).
They crucified the One who had never done anything

wrong in His whole life. He raised the widow’s dead son;
He healed the woman with an issue of blood; He raised the
dead daughter of the religious leader; He healed the servant
of the Roman centurion. Everywhere He went He gave life
and blessing and peace and joy. It was the greatest party
that country had ever seen.
But they took this precious Lamb of God and stretched
out His hands and nailed them to the cross with huge
Roman spikes. Then they drove another one through those
precious feet and put a mocking sign over His head, “This
is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” They stripped Him and
hoisted Him up between heaven and earth. There, at a
busy intersection, naked and in tremendous agony, bleed-
ing from His head, His back, His hands, His feet, hung the
precious Son of God. Why? For you and for me.
21
THE COST OF THE
This is the cost of the party. He was nailed to the cross,

the most hideous instrument of torture ever devised by the
demented minds of men. He had to pull Himself up, work-
ing those wounds afresh in His feet and hands, just to take
another breath. Six hours of this — naked, humiliated — all
for you and me.
This is what they said of Him:
Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his

right and one on his left. Those who passed by
hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and say-
ing, “You who are going to destroy the temple and
build it in three days, save yourself! Come down
from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”
In the same way the chief priests, the teachers
of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved
others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s
the king of Israel! Let him come down now from
the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in
God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for
he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
In the same way the robbers who were cruci-
fied with him also heaped insults on him (Matt.
27:38-44).
He was utterly rejected by men. In His most helpless, vul-

nerable hour, He was mocked and insulted.
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness

came over all the land. About the ninth hour
Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani?” — which means, “My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?”
When some of those standing there heard this,
they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of
them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine
2
vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to

drink. But the rest said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see
if Elijah comes to save him.”
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud
voice, he gave up his spirit (vv. 45-50).
He hung up on that cross, and that precious blood from

that perfect life poured out and dripped down to the foot
of that cross. When His life blood was all but drained out,
the Father came with your sins and mine and placed them
upon that broken body that was marred more than any
man. Then the Father quickly turned away.
Jesus could have come down from the cross. He could
have called the angels to free Him. It was love that held
Him there, not the nails. He knew that He was to offer His
perfect, sinless life as a ransom, an exchange for our guilty
sinful lives. That would satisfy God’s justice and provide a
basis for God’s mercy and forgiveness. When you and I are
enjoying this wonderful “party” and release of joy, may we
be ever mindful of the cost.
HIS BLOOD CLEANSES US
Years ago I talked with God about the cross. “Father, I

know You love Jesus so much. Why then did You allow such
an agonizing death for Him?” I reasoned that John the
Baptist was beheaded, which was quick. So were the deaths
of many of the saints. “Why did Jesus have to suffer so
much?”
The Father showed me something very precious. During
His crucifixion, I believe Jesus actually bled to death. All
those hours on the cross, His precious blood flowed from
those fresh wounds until the moment arrived when He
was about to pass out from the loss of blood. At that
moment, the Father took the sins of the world and placed
them upon that broken, emaciated body, and Jesus
became sin who knew no sin.
2
THE COST OF THE
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so

that in him we might become the righteousness of
God (2 Cor. 5:21).
The Father, who could not look upon such horror, turned
away, and Jesus cried out in the midst of that terrible sepa-
ration, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
(Matt. 27:46). It was the first time in all eternity that their
intimate fellowship was broken. What a tremendous price
to pay. (Read Isaiah 53 to begin to understand Jesus’ agony
over carrying the sin of the world.)
Yet we need to see something else. He had been bleed-
ing profusely for six hours. His blood had already been
poured out before the sins of the world were placed upon
Him. That holy blood was never contaminated by the sins
of the world. His blood remains holy, untouched by your
sins and mine. It is as pure and holy as ever, full of mercy
and life. It was His body that was broken and contaminated.
That is why the book of Hebrews says the blood of Jesus
cries better things than the blood of Abel (12:24). The
blood of Abel was crying out for revenge: “God, do
something. My brother has murdered me.” But what does
the blood of Jesus cry? “Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do. For these guilty people, Lord, I
will provide the way to mercy. I will take their place.
Let mercy be given
them.” In essence He said, “I am trading My life for theirs.”
When we are having the party of a lifetime, as we have
been for all these months, we need to remember who is
picking up the tab. It is Jesus, our glorious King. There is
not another king like Him on the face of the earth or in all
of heaven. Kings have come and gone, but not one of them
has loved his people enough to die for them.
But death could not hold Him. Power entered that tomb,
and He was raised from the dead with the same power that
is filling us today, the precious Holy Spirit. Life came into
2
that body, and He was resurrected. He lives today; He lives

forever, making intercession for you and me.
Jesus gave Himself so you and I could enjoy the glory
and the joy, the blessing and peace of heaven and all that it
holds. He delights to come and win your heart. Isn’t He
wonderful? Isn’t He precious? King of kings and Lord of
lords. He has restored us into a living, loving and vital rela-
tionship with the Father.
FROM DEATH TO LIFE
It may be that you have never been born again. You need
to give your life to Jesus Christ and make Him Lord. He did
not die just for the world; he died for you. He is offering to
become your personal Savior, and He will take your place at
the judgment of God if you ask Him, allowing you to be free.
Or you may have known Jesus at one time, but some-
thing has destroyed that relationship. Perhaps you got care-
less or you were offended by something. You said, “If that
is Christianity, you can keep it.” You walked away from the
Lord of life, got mad at God and decided to punish Him by
sinning. Don’t play into the enemy’s hands; he just wants to
destroy you. Jesus came that you might have life and have it
more abundantly (John 10:10).
The good news of the gospel is that you can be com-
pletely forgiven, completely welcomed into the family of
God, into the kingdom of love, by a free gift of grace. You
can have eternal life by faith.
Admit that you’re guilty. Tell Him you’re sorry for hurting
Him and others. Ask Him for His mercy.
You may feel the Holy Spirit drawing you and tugging at
your heart right now saying, “You need to give your life to
Jesus Christ. You need to have your sins forgiven and have
Jesus rescue you from the certain judgment of God.” If this
describes your situation, please pray these words out loud
right now:
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THE COST OF THE
Dear heavenly Father, I know that I have sinned. I

know that I have done many things wrong in my
life. There have been occult sins, sexual sins and
violent sins. I have sinned greatly against You and
against others. I owe You a great debt, and I have
nothing to repay You with. I need Jesus, Your res-
urrected Son, our Savior, to pay it for me. I know
He died so I may live. Come into my heart and
life, Lord Jesus. I want You to be my King and
Lord forever.
God’s Word defines why we are to pray this out loud.
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is

Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is
with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are
saved (Romans 10:9-10).
You will be saved. The Bible clearly says in John 3:16:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one

and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life.
That is why the gospel is such good news. Christ’s work is

a finished work. There’s nothing for you to do but believe.
I’m not saying, “Get yourself together, become perfect, then
come and see if God will accept you.” No, He takes you just
as you are and gives you the gift of eternal life based on
what Jesus has already done for you.
You have just passed from death to life if you prayed that
prayer and meant it in your heart. You have gone from
nothing to everything. If you know Jesus, your life is
already a success.
2
C H A P T E R 15
SPREADING THE FIRE
I
t’s now exciting to go to church!” That’s what the letter
said that I received from a man who visited the Airport
Christian Fellowship with his wife. “Well,” you may
say, “that’s nice. What’s the big deal?” Well, the big
deal is that he’s the pastor!
When Pastor Charles Babcock and his wife were in
Toronto, they had no “startling manifestations,” although he
reported that he felt overwhelmed with God’s love for him.
On the airplane ride home, however, they both questioned
whether they had anything to take back to their church,
21
SPREADING THE
Bouquet Baptist Church in Santa Clarita, California.

On the first Sunday back they shared about their trip and
asked if anyone wanted prayer for refreshing. Pastor
Babcock relates what happened:
Ninety percent of the church came forward, and

we spent the next hour praying for them.
Immediately God began to set some free from
terrible childhood experiences and heal the
memories of their pain...Much to my delight, the
first person God dealt with in that way was our
worship leader. He’s a totally new man, and our
worship has taken a dramatic turn for the better.
This pastor’s story is repeated many times, the world

over.
THE WORLD OVER
After God showed Himself powerfully in our services, the

word spread, and people started coming. After a couple of
months, we had people attending our services from all over
the world.
Our average attendance in 1994 was about one thousand
people a night and in 1995 fifteen hundred people per
night. In any given meeting one-third will indicate they are
first-time attendees. A total attendance of over 750,000 peo-
ple have come to our meeting to date. Every meeting we
ask all those who are pastors or church leaders to stand,
and the average is about 10 percent of the people present.
We estimate that twenty-five thousand different pastors and
leaders have visited.
These people have taken the Father’s blessing back to
their countries. For instance, this renewal has spread rapidly
in England. Eleanor Mumford, the wife of John Mumford,
senior pastor of the Southwest London Vineyard, came to
2
our church in April 1994. On returning home she told of

her experience in Holy Trinity Brompton (Church of
England) in London, and the renewal broke out there and
continued spreading throughout England.
I was thrilled when Gerald Coates, leader of the Pioneer
Churches in Britain, told me that there are five to seven
thousand churches in the U.K. now that are flowing in the
Spirit’s power (there are forty-nine thousand churches
total). If there are only ten people in each church on the
ministry team praying, including the pastor, that means
there are at least fifty thousand people in Britain beginning
in a new way to do the works that Jesus did. That is excit-
ing. Oh Lord, bring us more, bring more, bring more!
The church in Great Britain has undergone tremendous
change in the last fifteen years, which has contributed to
this renewal in a remarkable way. The house church move-
ment, John Wimber’s influence, the March for Jesus event,
Spring Harvest events with thousands participating, the
Alpha courses — all of these are part of the changes in the
body of Christ in Britain.
Perhaps most important are the incredible efforts toward
church unity by Clive Calver of the Evangelical Alliance and
by Gerald Coates of the Pioneer movement. These efforts
have brought most of the nation’s church leaders into fel-
lowship and working relationships, so the church was
strongly networked and ready for renewal to come.
This renewal is strong not only in Britain but now in
Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, South
Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Korea, Indonesia
and even Japan. Some of the hot spots in North America are
Pasadena, California; Seattle, Washington; Dallas, Texas;
Melbourne, Florida and New England. In Canada renewal
has broken out strongly in Victoria, B.C., Ottawa, Ontario,
and on the east coast in St. Johns, N.B. We believe this is
just the beginning.
21
SPREADING THE
Many countries are experiencing a move of the Holy

Spirit totally independent of us, such as Argentina (which
has been in its own orbit for several years), India and
China. But the same themes prevail — falling in love with
Jesus again, unity of all believers, a hunger for more of God
and a new enthusiasm for bringing in the lost.
The Holy Spirit is not limited. He can be with us here in
Canada and also be in Britain, in Australia and everywhere
else — all at the same time. This refreshing of God is being
multiplied over the whole earth. The works of Jesus Christ
and works of the kingdom of God are rapidly going ahead
right before our eyes. What glorious days we live in! I can
barely grasp the current impact of it all, let alone the future
implications.
SPREADING THE FIRE THROUGH PASTORS
During the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Azusa Street,

many people were freshly touched and empowered.
Nevertheless, Azusa Street is not particularly known for all
the conversions that took place there. It is known for pas-
tors and leaders who were powerfully touched by the Holy
Spirit who then took the blessing home to their churches
and started revivals locally. That is where the harvest came
from. Azusa lasted only three years, and yet that revival is
still going on. The Pentecostal movement started in April
1906, and according to Vinson Synan, now there are 460
million Pentecostal/charismatics worldwide — 25 percent of
all Christians.1
We have a thick file with faxes and letters of apprecia-
tion from pastors and leaders testifying that God has trans-
formed their lives and ministries. The fruit that we have
seen is so wondrous, so healing and so life-giving. We are
astounded. Pastors and leaders are coming from the
United States, Britain, Europe or elsewhere overseas, not
to be saved, but to catch the fire and take it home. The
22
anointing is being carried around the world.

For Carol and me personally, this has been the greatest
blessing of all. We believe this is a church-based, pastor-led
renewal. It is of the utmost importance that this move of
God is led by “ordinary” pastors in a local setting. We need
thousands of them, rather than ten, twenty or even one
hundred well-known evangelists who only come though
areas occasionally. We need pastors who are on the job
daily, moving under a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit,
and they need to train their people to do the same. It will
take all the leaders and every church and even then:
The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out
workers into his harvest field (Matt. 9:37-38).
Oh, Lord, give us an army of workers who move in the

power and anointing of God! Too many times pastors have
been left out of the “loop” of the newest blessing to go
through their church. They need to be the first to know. But
the word is out now. Tens of thousands of pastors are
attending meetings like ours around the world, and they are
“catching the fire.” They often come cautiously to see for
themselves, then end up receiving the greatest blessing of
their lives.
We had an Anglican pastor here who said, “I was so
down that I was seriously contemplating taking my own
life.” That is how desperate some men of God are. They are
so discouraged by trying to work the program, keep the
traditions of the church and make everybody happy. There
is no life or love in that. He got filled with God, and when
he got up off the floor, everything was changed. He was in
love with Jesus and ready to go home and impact his city
for the Lord. That is good fruit.
Carol and I are not particularly interested in holding
large crusades all over the world to see if we can pack out
22
SPREADING THE
a stadium somewhere. Our main focus when we travel is

to be with pastors and nurture this in churches which have
already caught the fire. We want to encourage this new
move in local churches. Only the church of Jesus Christ
worldwide is large enough to contain what God is wanting
to do, and He wants to use all of us.
GOOD REPORTS OF THE FIRE SPREADING
A great many ministries, denominations and churches

have been impacted at some level through what God has
been doing here at the Airport Christian Fellowship. In
addition, many other churches have had an outpouring of
the Spirit quite independently of anything we have done.
God is going forth with a vengeance to bring His kingdom
to the planet. As quoted before:
The Lord will march out like a mighty man; like a

warrior he will stir up his zeal with a shout.
He will raise the battle cry and will triumph over
his enemies.
For a long time I have kept silent, I have been

quiet and held myself back.
But now like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I
gasp and I pant (Is. 42:13-14).
God is on the move today! The City Church in Bellevue,

Washington, reports that they have “enthusiastically
embraced the renewing movement of the Holy Spirit.” They
have seen miracles, marriages being restored, prodigal chil-
dren returning to God, emotional and physical healings and
regular salvations. “God is accomplishing in minutes by His
Holy Spirit what would have taken us decades, if ever, to
accomplish in our own strength.”
Gerry Plunkett and his wife, Marcia, pastors of Église
2
Chrétienne de l’Ouest in Pierrefonds, Québec, faxed me

that things have changed since they attended services at our
church. Gerry says, “I love Jesus as never before. Our
prayer life has changed, our married life has changed, our
relationship with our children has changed, and boy! has
church ever changed! A lot of carpet time and a lot of trans-
formed hearts!”
Gerry tells me about a woman, Linda Girard, whose
father had been brutally murdered in August 1994 for the
“fun” of it. The Sunday after Gerry and Marcia attended our
Catch the Fire conference in October 1994, they prayed for
this woman, and she fell backward and was trembling on
the floor for an hour and a half. She told them that during
that time the Lord showed her a briefcase full of all her nega-
tive feelings about the murder. He went through every file
with her, one by one.
A month later she testified to the congregation that she
was set free and held no animosity against her father’s
killer. Gerry was impressed to pray for her again, and she
went down again, this time for two and a half hours. The
next Sunday she reported that the Lord poured His love
into her heart for the man who killed her father. She is
going to forgive him in person as soon as the Lord directs.
Bill and Melinda Fish, pastors of the Church of the Risen
Saviour in Trafford, Pennsylvania, wrote that their church
has “begun to revive from the dead.” People don’t want to
miss a service — they want to see what God will do. They
have begun renewal weekends once a month to spread this
renewal to others in the Pittsburgh area. “There is such an
excitement and hunger for God that it is to the point that
people who were on the verge of giving up are hungry for
the Lord.”
From the Czech Republic and missionary organization
ACET Czech Republic, we heard the account of a man
named Peter who was saved in a tent meeting the previous
22
SPREADING THE
summer. They prayed for him, and he “stood in a trancelike

state for about one hour.” When the meeting was finished,
with people chatting around him, he suddenly crashed to
the ground. Later he got up “quite happily, with a beatific
grin on his face.” Missionary Stuart Angus adds, “Peter is a
salesman for Coca-Cola. He’s finally found the real thing!”
Stuart tells us that in a week-long youth festival in which
350 Czech youth attended, the Holy Spirit “swept the meet-
ings, with people experiencing laughter, crying, shaking
and falling down.” Stuart relates that the meetings lasted
from 7:00 P.M. until 3:00 A.M., and the youth still wanted
more and more! “Non-believers attending the festival were
converted and great enthusiasm was present.”
Reverend H. Petrus Nawawi from West Java, Indonesia,
wrote to tell me that after their visit to our church in
Toronto in January 1995 their whole congregation experi-
enced “the same thing.” On his first Sunday back, he shared
about their visit here, and the Holy Spirit came in a mighty
way, with people laughing, falling down and weeping. He
decided not to preach his sermon but ask for more anoint-
ing. They canceled their regular services and held renewal
meetings all week.
A week later during a meeting of twenty-eight leaders
from all over Indonesia, they waited on the Lord. All the
leaders experienced renewal; some were unable to speak;
some were drunk in the Spirit. According to Rev. Nawawi,
this has now spread “all over Indonesia.”
Pastor John Overholt of Willow Point Foursquare Gospel
Church in Campbell River, B.C., reports:
I’ve never experienced such a oneness coming

into the body of Christ — and what keeps amaz-
ing me is that it’s not letting up. We’ve had our
attempts at revival meetings in the past, but noth-
ing like what’s been happening here. A group of
22
us pastors has been meeting for prayer once a

week for the past four years, but since May [1994],
it’s like we’ve been knit together. Getting together
before was a good thing, but since this renewal
we’re actually getting together because we like
each other, and we like being around each other.
Local church competitiveness has gone way down,
and we are truly working together more as it says
in Mark 8:35: “for my [Christ’s] sake and the
gospel’s.”
Ken and Lois Gott came to Toronto in August 1994 and

were thoroughly “blasted.” They went home to their
Assembly of God church in Sunderland, England, and have
had continuous nightly meetings ever since. God is pro-
foundly impacting their city with many conversions and
much blessing.
Terry Moore, pastor of Sojourn Church in Dallas, Texas,
and members of his staff came to our church in March 1994
after hearing amazing reports about what was happening
here. Although Terry relates that he did not have any
unusual manifestations, he and his staff all experienced a
refreshing of the Holy Spirit. They felt a much greater reve-
lation of the Father’s love and a greater sense of the pres-
ence of the Lord than ever before. They were deeply stirred
to grow in intimacy with God.
Upon returning to Dallas, they shared their experiences
with their church. Terry asked for those who wanted to be
blessed to come forward, and people literally ran to the
front to receive prayer. The Holy Spirit empowered them,
and they ministered for hours.
They met every night for the following few weeks and
eventually to one meeting a week. People experienced mir-
acles, healings, inner healings and deliverances; they
received the joy of the Lord, the peace of God and His
22
SPREADING THE
wonderful love. Terry and a team from his church traveled

to Vietnam and Cambodia that fall. Everywhere they went
the same things happened. People received the Holy Spirit
in the same manner as he saw in Toronto. In May 1995,
Terry and his wife traveled to Switzerland, Romania and
Spain. He relates:
Again the Holy Spirit was poured out. What an

unbelievable experience to see God move in peo-
ple’s lives even when we could not speak their
languages. These trips just reinforced to me what
God is doing and wanting to do in a much greater
way.
“The Toronto blessing” has increased our
awareness of the work of the Holy Spirit in us
and through us. We will never be the same. It is
so much fun to be used to touch people, knowing
that it is not you but the Holy Spirit who is want-
ing to love His people in a real and intimate way.
EVANGELISM AS A FRUIT OF THIS RENEWAL
As Carol related when talking about her vision, this

renewal seems to be the beginning of a large outpouring.
The final phase, so to speak, will be gathering in the lost.
We are already seeing some of this happening, though not
in the numbers we expect to see later.
In our church we have seen about five thousand people
respond to the invitation to commit or recommit their lives
to Christ since this move started (January 1994 to September
1995). About 20 percent of those were first-time commit-
ments — people being born again. In terms of the amount
of people who have come through here, (250,000 different
individuals) that is not a lot. Still, it represents many more
than we ever had previously. In fact, we saw more commit-
ments in the first two or three months than we had in our
22
entire previous fifteen years of pastoral ministry.

Evangelism, though, is also being done on a one-to-one
level by people who are overflowing with God’s blessing
and by people who have a new love for the lost.
Regina Frohms came to Toronto from her home in
Germany and returned with a deep love for God in her
heart. On her next trip here for a conference, she told us
what else God did. Regina received a compassion for the
lost. In one meeting she cried for a couple of hours for
those outside God’s kingdom.
A few weeks after Regina returned home, she went with
her daughter on a King’s Kids missions trip. Her twelve-
year-old daughter told her, “Mommy, at first I thought
you were crazy.” Then her daughter began to cry. She was
on the floor for almost an hour, crying. When she got up,
she said, “I can understand now what Jesus felt for the
lost.” Regina told us through tears:
It was the greatest joy for me to see my children

take this love. We had an experience that same
day where we led a young drug addict to the
Lord on the street together. It was so amazing for
me. It’s my deepest desire to keep this love for
Him and bring it to the lost.
I am surprised when people who are not even saved

come to one of our meetings, but it happens. A committed
Christian woman from London, England, who was on the
ministry team of her church came to our meetings. Her
unsaved husband said, “I do not like the idea of you going
to Canada alone. I will go with you.” She never could get
him to go to church in England. He was a very nice man,
but he was not Christian.
Well, he came to the first meeting because he wanted to
see what she was involved with, and the Lord hooked him.
He came every night, and about the third night, he gave his
22
SPREADING THE
heart to Christ. Of course, that was the highlight for her.

Many people have told us that they can’t help telling peo-
ple about the Lord after being here. Sometimes the manifes-
tations continue after they leave our meetings. Eighteen-
year-old Shawna Hull wrote me that she continued to have
trouble standing and made weird noises — “at the mall, the
restaurant, on the phone, even at school.” She added, “I’ll
tell you one thing, when that starts happening to you in
public, God comes into a conversation quite quickly.”
David and Lin Saunders, pastors of the Anglican Church
in Cullompton, England, became involved in ministry at
Exeter Prison after receiving a vision at our church. They
are now seeing “hardened criminals coming to Christ —
amongst others, murderers, kidnappers, rapists and drug
smugglers.” What seemed impossible and took years to
accomplish is now taking place in an hour. While these
men are out in the Spirit on the floor, God is working in
them. Many of the men fall on their faces, often with tears
of repentance. David and Lin say, “Many of these converted
prisoners are maturing quickly and becoming effective
workers for Jesus, often with pastoral oversight of other
prisoners.”
Ché Ahn is now having renewal meetings five nights a
week in Pasadena. Youth pastor Scott Ross of the Monrovia
Vineyard brought his youth group to a meeting and said
none of them really got touched. But the two non-Christians
they brought with them fell on the ground under the power
of the Holy Spirit. When they got up they said, “We want to
give our lives to Jesus Christ.”
If the Lord can get His presence into our hearts so we
become filled with His love, we will then start to give it
away and bless one another. Then the love and life of God
will flow. When this happens we will see multitudes of lost
souls coming into God’s kingdom. Remember, it is a king-
dom of love!
22
WHAT’S NEXT?
Mahesh Chavda and his wife came to our meetings in

January 1995. Mahesh is a well-known evangelist and has
preached to hundreds of thousands in Africa and seen
twenty-five thousand come to the Lord at one time.
Mahesh told us about a time he was preaching in Africa
when he felt the clear wind of the Holy Spirit come on him.
God told him there was a man at the meeting whose son
had died that morning, yet God was going to raise him
from the dead. Mahesh spoke this word to the crowd, and a
man came running forward. Mahesh prayed for him, and
the Lord resurrected his son in the hospital.2 Then he
explained why he was telling us this:
When I came here this week, I came into an

atmosphere of the Holy Spirit that...it was like, I
had not seen anything yet. This anointing is even
purer and more glorious than what I had experi-
enced.
One night during the time Mahesh was here, he was

touched by God all night long. From that time, he relates:
He told me to tell the pastors to dream great

dreams. He is so great. We have not had a revela-
tion of His greatness. It’s no longer time for just a
few superstars, but Jesus is the Superstar.
God just wants to commission an army who will
go out from here — an army of thousands who
will resurrect the dead. Not just a few, but a new
realm of God’s anointing that He is loosening on
earth right now.
We are seeing virtually every nation and denomination

coming to worship God together and seek Him for more of
22
SPREADING THE
His blessing. Not only are all different denominations

coming, including the Anglicans, Catholics, Pentecostals and
Baptists, but we have also noticed that there is very little
competition among any of the churches locally.
In Toronto, we are in relationship with about four hun-
dred different churches from southern Ontario who are a
part of the Metro and Ontario Renewal Network. This group
is planing cooperative ways in which to spread renewal
across the city of Toronto and beyond.
Often a group of churches will form a steering committee
and invite Carol and me to come visit. Such is the case with
Ché Ahn in Pasadena, California, and the recent Catch the
Fire conference in Dallas, Texas. Similarly, it was a group of
diverse churches that invited Randy Clark to Melbourne,
Florida, that began meetings there.
What’s happening in the U.K. is a story in itself, with
churches uniting for renewal and different denominations
getting together for large nation-shaking events. Christians
are uniting in similar ways in Australia and New Zealand.
Major changes in the renewal since its beginning are
the widespread expansion and increasing intensity. At first
there was a wave of criticism that slowed things down in
the United States, but I think the critics have, for the most
part, been answered. Guy Chevreau pointed out that the
very same issues that are raised today by the critics were
in fact wonderfully answered by Jonathan Edwards 250
years ago. New apologetics have been written as well, such
as A True Revival by Don Williams Ph.D. and Renewal
Apologetics by Derek Morphew Ph.D. from South Africa.
By May 1994 the secular press picked up on the story,
particularly in the U.K., and for the most part have written
and given very favorable media reports. This has informed
more and more people what is going on. It has helped
pique the interest of thousands around the globe. In addi-
tion, thousands of leaders are traveling and “spreading the
23
fire,” both in large conferences in many nations, as well as

in literally thousands of local churches throughout these
nations.
Articles and books supporting the renewal are abound-
ing, such as Chevreau’s Catch the Fire and dozens of oth-
ers. In addition, fifty to sixty top leaders have been touched
in a powerful way; even some who were initially against it
are now in total support of it — and the fire is blazing out
of control. All I can say to that is, “Have mercy on us,
Lord, and give us more.”
I think that proportionately we are seeing increasing con-
versions. There is an increase in physical healings as well.
The anointing is increasing, and more and more centers of
renewal are opening up. Glowing reports from both indi-
viduals as well as churches continue to pour in. As the crit-
ics are answered and the fear of deception is dialed down
in God’s people, I see an increasing hunger for personal
renewal as well as a growing desire to serve in the kingdom
in many and varied ministries. More, Lord!
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of

the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea
(Hab. 2:14).
THE HARVEST IS COMING
God is indeed raising up an army, full of love and grace

and the Holy Spirit. Suddenly a trumpet will sound: “Go
forth and bring in the harvest,” and the church will see a
victory like we have not seen in two thousand years. It’s
coming. I believe a great and abundant harvest is at
hand.
Consider the following four scriptures:
The harvest is the end of the age, and the har-

vesters are angels (Matt. 13:39).
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SPREADING THE
In this life, good and evil co-exist together. But at the

time of the end, there will be a great harvest in which even
angels are involved.
Then another angel came out of the temple and

called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on
the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the
time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth
is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud
swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was
harvested (Rev. 14:15-16).
These scriptures clearly teach that a massive harvest will

indeed come in supernaturally during the end times.
He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the

workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest,
therefore, to send out workers into his harvest
field” (Luke 10:2).
Jesus is saying that the harvest is abundant, but the labor-

ers are few. The saints of God, the born-again church, are
the ones called as harvesters, and we are to pray that God
will raise us up.
Some do not hold in faith the expectation for this
harvest. They are expecting things to get worse and worse.
They have a “hold the fort” mentality in which the small
remnant of the church is to hang on until rescued by the
rapture.
A lady in Switzerland asked me about this very issue.
“Doesn’t the Bible teach that there will be a great falling
away?” I assured her it did, but asked her, “Don’t you think
we are in that time right now?” The once “Christian” West is
now almost totally secular-humanist in its beliefs. If that’s
not a great falling away, then I don’t know what is. We’ve
had the great falling away. We’re in it.
But God has promised us a harvest. I believe that in the
2
last days there will be a glorious, overcoming church that

will be on the job to bring in the harvest. He will find faith
on the earth when He returns! The gates of hell will not
prevail!
In the third world nations, the evangelical church is
growing tremendously. Ralph Winter and the U.S. Center
for World Mission report that one out of seven in the world
today is an evangelical Christian. This ratio is higher than
ever before in history and increasing rapidly.
Now, finally, in the Western nations also, the Spirit of
God is again moving like He has not moved in ninety years
since the Pentecostal revival swept the earth. In our meet-
ings in Toronto, we have witnessed thousands of believers
being transformed by the power of God, strengthened and
healed and becoming ready for Christian service. The bless-
ing is spreading rapidly into every nation and denomina-
tion.
God is up to something big. I believe it is the greatest
harvest of souls the world has ever seen.
PASS IT ON
This new move of the Spirit is for everybody, not just

pastors and leaders. This is the ministry of the body of
Christ. The Holy Spirit wants to fill you and enable you to
take this renewal everywhere you go — not being weird or
super-spiritual, but being “naturally supernatural.” In the
course of going to work and going to school, you can share
your faith out of the power of this anointing and the love of
Christ.
A man visiting our meetings from England wrote that
while he was resting in the Spirit on the floor, he heard a
voice repeating, “Give it away.” He confessed that he feared
attempting to “give it away” in case it did not work.
Upon leaving the building that night, he was stopped by
a woman who asked, “Aren’t you going to give it away?”
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SPREADING THE
That did it for him. He prayed for her and her husband, and
to his astonishment, the man fell to the floor and had an
experience with God. This man is convinced now to give it
away.
We are called to be faithful stewards of the things of God,
and He is offering them to us freely and in abundance.
When people come to our meetings or to a similar one else-
where, they can soak in the anointing. If they continue to
receive the Holy Spirit’s presence and power, He will fill
them to overflowing and transform them. When they go
home and begin to minister, the same anointing goes home
with them.
The Holy Spirit is falling like fire on the church, and
when you and I catch fire, it begins burning in our hearts.
When we minister to others, they, too, can catch the same
fire and anointing we have. It burns in their hearts, and it
multiplies to others. Such is the nature of this Person called
the Holy Spirit.
We are saying, “Oh, Holy Spirit, we are not satisfied with
what we have. It is wonderful. You have increased the
anointing. You have increased the power, but oh God, let
there be more. Let people be so filled with You that we will
see the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead
raised and the poor of the world have the gospel preached
to them.” That is where the heart of the Father wants to
take us.
Your full potential is to go out and do the work that Jesus
did (John 14:12). Press in with us. Receive the Father’s
blessing, then go for the kingdom and spread the fire!
23
NOTES
Chapter 2
The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit
1. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible

(Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 1984), Greek
Dictionary of the New Testament, #4151.

Chapter 4
Evaluating This Move of God
1. Guy Chevreau, Catch the Fire (Toronto: HarperCollins,

1994), p. 116.
2. Ibid., pp. 82-83.
3. Ibid., p. 83.
4. Ibid., pp. 109-110.
Chapter 5
Decently and in Order
1. See Gen. 15:1; 26:24; Ex. 20:20; Josh. 8:1; Judg. 6:23.
2. Craig Rairdin and Parson’s Technology Inc.,

QUICKVerse (Hiawatha, Iowa: Parson’s Technology,
1992-1994).
Chapter 7
23
Fears: Roadblocks to Receiving
1. Words from song “How Big Is God?” by Stuart

Hamblen, copyright 1959. Sheet music available from
Hamblen Music Co., Box 1937, Santa Clarita, California
91386.
2. Teaching tape “Confessions of a Pharisee” by Jack

Taylor can be obtained through the Toronto Airport
Christian Fellowship bookstore, 272 Attwell Dr., Toronto,
Ontario, Canada M9W 6M3.
Chapter 10
The Phenomena: Revelations of Who God Is
1. Albert Farges, Mystical Phenomena (London: Burns

Oates and Washbourne, 1926), p. 155.
2. Eddie Ensley, Sounds of Wonder (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist

Press, 1977), p. 94

4. Heather and Monica have seen God heal many people

of their learning disabilities. A few people have had
angelic visions, many have seen God doing something
with their brain, and some have not seen anything but
did experience God’s healing. Heather and Monica know
they serve a really big God! If you would like more
information, you may contact Pastor Graham Harvey
at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, P.O. Box 754,
Hopkinsville, Kentucky 42241, phone: (502) 885-7414;
fax: (502) 886-6640.
Chapter 15
23
Spreading the Fire
1. Statistics from the World Evangelization Research

Center, P.O. Box 129, Rockville, Virginia 23146.
2. A full account of the testimony of the resurrection is

available in Mahesh Chavda’s autobiography, Only Love
Can Make a Miracle, available through Mahesh Chavda
Ministries, P.O. Box 472009, Charlotte, North Carolina
28247, phone: (800) 730-6264.
23
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chevreau, Guy. Catch the Fire. Toronto: HarperCollins,

1994.
DeArteaga, William. Quenching the Spirit. Lake Mary, Fla.:

Creation House, 1992.
Deere, Jack. Surprised by the Power of the Spirit. Grand

Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1993.
Dixon, Patrick. Signs of Revival. Eastbourne, England:

Kingsway, 1994.
Jackson, Bill. What in the World Is Happening to Us? This

booklet of nineteen pages can be obtained through
the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship bookstore,
272 Attwell Dr., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M9W
6M3.
Morphew, Derek. Renewal Apologetics. This position paper

can be obtained through the Toronto Airport Christian
Fellowship bookstore, 272 Attwell Dr., Toronto,
Ontario, Canada M9W 6M3.
White, John. When the Spirit Comes With Power. Westmont,

Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1988.
Williams, Don. Revival — The Real Thing. This booklet of

fifty-four pages can be obtained through the Toronto
Airport Christian Fellowship bookstore, 272 Attwell
Dr., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M9W 6M3.
23
THE TORONTO AIRPORT
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
John and Carol Arnott are the senior pastors of the

Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, also commonly
known as Toronto Airport Church. At the time of publica-
tion the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship is holding
nineteen meetings per week.
• Sunday morning: Worship service
• Monday evening: Alpha

(a course on evangelism)
• Tuesday through Sunday: Renewal
meetings each evening
• Monday through Friday: Pastors and
leaders’ information meeting each morning
• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and
Satur- day: Prayer and intercession each
afternoon
• Wednesday: Ontario Renewal Network
(prayer/sharing with two hundred
local churches)
The Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship has planted five

new satellite churches since renewal started. The church has
doubled in size from 360 attendees in 1994 to about one
thousand in regular attendance in 1996. It has a weekly out-
reach to help feed and clothe the homeless. A ministry train-
ing school for people age eighteen through thirty from
around the world was established in September 1995. People
will be trained in renewal and then sent to the nations or
back home to plant churches and “fan the flames.”
If you would like to contact the author
or learn more about the church
you may write or call:
Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship

272 Attwell Dr.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M9W 6M3
phone: (416) 674-8463

fax: (416) 674-8465

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Most STRANG COMMUNICATIONS/CHARISMA HOUSE

THE FATHER’S BLESSING by John Arnott

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the

Scripture quotations marked TLB are from The Living Bible.

Copyright © 1995 by John Arnott

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-068309

To the people at Jubilee Christian

To the people of the Toronto Airport Christian

To Christians, pastors and leaders who have

To Billy Graham and his organization who

PART I: FOUNDATIONAL ISSUES OF THE HEART

1 GOD’S LOVE: THE BOTTOM LINE.................................................................................... 12

PART II: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RENEWAL

4 EVALUATING THIS MOVE OF GOD............................................................................ 56

PART III: SPREADING THE FIRE

12 VALUING THE ANOINTING........................................................................................... 186

But really, it’s “the Father’s blessing” because this won-

attempting to say all that should be said about every topic.

FOUNDATIONAL ISSUES OF THE HEART

drained and exhausted. I came here really desperate. I

LOVE IS NUMBER ONE

Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all

Jesus did not pick one of the Ten Commandments as

SERVICE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR A LOVE AFFAIR

The question now is, How do we love God when we

Jesus and I were in my mother’s hayfield. We were

you as you are with Me.” Something pierced my

After Pearl shared this vision at the conference, I prayed

I know your deeds, your hard work and your

This sounds like a very hard-working church, doesn’t it?

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken

Jesus tells them that, regardless of their great actions, they

Remember the height from which you have fallen!

Jesus reminds them that they used to be up in the heights

Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do

DOCTRINE IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR A LOVE AFFAIR

It came as a tremendous revelation to me several years

or intimacy. I used to think it was all about understanding

grow with Christ, our doctrine changes, in hopes that it will

SITTING AT HIS FEET

What would you do if Jesus and at least twelve other men

be made” (Luke 10:40). She ran around checking the roast,

Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about

What Mary was doing was more important than scurrying

Think about those times of your first love (how

Do you remember what you were like when you were

JESUS WANTS A LOVE AFFAIR WITH YOU

When renewal started happening in our church during the

That kind of response causes us to wonder: “Why

often pondering and discussing the peak experiences of

I fell in love with Jesus afresh. It was like a

God is not trying to trick you into a life of servitude, say-

THE FATHER’S LOVE

Most of us are gun-shy about this kind of love and

For God so loved the world that he gave his one

I don’t know anybody who would give up their son for

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father

Jesus was in essence saying, “The Father and I are the

These were not new thoughts to me; I had taught

As Virginia wept, two members of the worship team