Kingdom Stories

One of my favorite stories in the New Testament is in Luke chapter 5 where Jesus is in someone's living room teaching, and the Spirit of God breaks through to touch people. Luke 5:17 describes it like this:

"One day he was in the house teaching, and the power of the Lord was present to heal the sick."

Moments like this happen regularly throughout the ministry of Jesus. He walks into an environment, looks for what the Spirit of God is doing there, and simply joins up with that.
Luke 6 tells the story of Jesus standing outside and the power of God coming around him so strongly that people pushed through the crowds just to touch him. The results were phenomenal: people with all sorts of chronic conditions, illnesses and demonic obstacles in their lives were being healed by the manifest presence of the Spirit of God on Jesus' life. These are some demonstrations (or signs) of the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God into our world.

Well, our commission is the same as Jesus' commission: to announce the kingdom's presence and to do the ministry of the kingdom (make disciples, heal the sick, drive out demons, take authority over nature, care for the needy, show love and mercy, raise the dead, and all the other wonderful stuff of the New Testament). Now, I think if we're going to have any success at all in this mission we've been given, we'd do well to learn from Jesus and become sensitive to those times when the Spirit of God becomes present in a manifest way for a specific purpose (ie: healing the sick).

We've seen God move like this several times over the last couple of weeks:

-Daniel, the friend I wrote about in my last post who came to the equipping class at the Halifax Vineyard, just sent me a message yesterday saying that his doctor ran additional tests, and it's medically verified that he has been healed of diabetes. After more than 5 years with the disease, it is completely gone and his body is operating normally!

-Daniel and Evelyn's friend who had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer also found out she was pregnant. Doctors had little hope for her or the baby's future. But as a group of us came around and prayed for her and the baby, the power of God came on her. The prognosis has now changed for her and the baby. She's feeling great, and the baby is perfectly healthy and able to be born safely.

-I taught at a youth gathering last night where we told stories about Jesus' ministry today, and then invited the presence of God's Spirit.
The students got words of knowledge for physical conditions, they prayed for their friends' sicknesses and saw God show up.
Demonic oppression was broken: as one kid fell on the floor and was writhing in pain we spoke to the opposing force with the authority Jesus gives us, and it left immediately.
Other students were empowered tremendously by the Spirit of God, shaking as His power surged through them, filling them with His Presence.

God is actively at work all around us. We have been given the ministry of Jesus! Let's begin to look for those moments where the Spirit of God becomes manifestly present to demonstrate his rule to every group of people on earth.