Seven years ago, I was sitting with some Christian friends at a restaurant.  The main conversation was talking about their vision and their passion for God.  As a very young Christian, I couldn’t understand everything but when I heard them want to give up their jobs to go on the mission field to serve God, my first reaction was, “You guys are crazy!  I can’t even find a job.  Do you know how hard it is to find a nice job that pays well?  Many people out there are struggling to find a job and you guys want to quit a job that pays well?  This is too extreme — I do not want to be this kind of Christian that gives up everything.  I just want a job and a nice family.  I will fellowship and go to church on Sunday regularly.  I only want to be like most Christians who attend church on Sunday, but nothing too extreme”.  I determined in my heart just to be a Sunday Christian, but little did I know that God had different plans.

One Encounter

On a normal Friday night, I was visiting a church.  I was impressed by the worship but had no clue what the sermon was about.  I just remember at the end of the meeting that the pastor asked if we needed prayer to come down to the front.  My friend asked me to go with her, so I did.  I saw many people crying, laughing and speaking in a language I never heard of.  What was this?  I was very curious of what I saw and heard. A young girl came to me and laid her hand on me.  I started feeling a warm sensation of love in my body and began crying because I had never experienced love like this before.  It overwhelmed me.  “Wow, Wow, Wow, this feels so good!  I want stay in this place forever.”  That encounter brought a change to my life — something shifted in me in that very moment and I would never be the same.  I became hungry and wanted to know more of this God that I believed in.  From that day, I went to every church meeting I could find in the area.  Regardless if I understand the sermon or not, I just wanted to be in the place where God was.  I was so drawn by the presence of God that I found myself worshipping Him all the time and waiting on Him.  That hunger eventually lead to exciting adventures in the later years.  The boot camp had just begun…

A Child-like Faith Leads to More

I remember sitting in every meeting — in the end there always an impartation and prayer time.  Many people went to the front saying “yes” to the altar calls and to receive impartations.  Just like a child, the first thing that came to my mind was, “Whatever that is, it must be good and I am going to the front to get some.”  Don’t you think that’s what a child would do?  When a child sees something is popular, they want it.  They do not know what it is for or if they really need it, but they understand, it must be good because everyone wants it.  As simple as that, I went to the front to receive all the impartations that I could get without really knowing the meaning behind them.  People may think that’s not wise, but I realize this was the smartest thing I did.  Something was deposited in me, seeds had been planted.  My hunger increased daily, my heart started to changed, and my spiritual understanding was growing fast.  A child-like faith opens up the door and receives more of what God has in store for us.

Falling in Love with Him

“My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”   During this seeking and receiving period, I found myself crying out for more of Him.  Deep calls to deep and I could hear Him calling me, wanting to reveal things to me.  He gave me a desire to set time apart for Him and He made it so easy for me.  I could not wait to spend time with Him everyday.  We talked and dreamt together.  He started to reveal my destiny to me.  I started seeing myself going to ministry training, speaking and praying for people.  In the beginning I had only wanted to be a Sunday Christian, but now this was exactly the thing that I did not want anymore.  The better I knew Him, the more I fell in love with Him.  I knew His heart was to set people free and heal them.  Love is a powerful weapon.  He made me fall in love with Him, He changed my heart, and I was more than willing to do anything He wanted me to do.  I could not resist His requests or say no to the one I loved — this is what love will do to you.  It is not difficult at all; you will find yourself wanting to do even more for your love.  It was easy because He had deposited His desires in me and gave me passion to do anything He called me to do.

Take a Step to Take a Risk

From having an encounter with God, to having a relationship with Him and falling in love with Jesus, I took a big risk.  I did the thing that I never wanted to do — give up everything to follow His heart.  I quit the job I loved, left all my friends behind, and moved to a small city in Redding, California to attend Bethel’s School of Supernatural Ministry.  It wasn’t an easy decision but this risk became the best thing in my life.  Through two years of training, I have learned more about taking risk, bringing God encounters to other people’s lives, and seeing many people get healed and set free by the power of God.  Now I love to take risk and let God surprise me.  Every time I take risk, I see more of Him and His heart for us.  I am not afraid to take risk because I know in my heart He is very pleased with me that I take a step of faith and believe in Him.  I trust in Him because He is in control.  I see how He loves us and see His wonders.  He is more than happy to touch people and heal them.  It’s so much fun to partner with God.

Become a Supernatural Risk-taker

I want to encourage you if you have never encountered God to seek and ask for an encounter.  It will change your life.  Hunger and desperation attract heaven.  I was open and hungry and did not understand anything when I let that young girl pray for me.  Then I met Him at that moment.  He wants to meet you and touch you more then you can imagine.  You will never be the same once you have an encounter with God.  Let Him change you; let Him to do the work in your heart.  You don’t have to strive and do it yourself.  He will never call you to something that you do not want to.  He will able you and give you the desires to do all things.  Be childlike. You do not necessarily need to understand everything but just learn to trust.  Trust that the Father has good things to give to you through impartations.  Impartations take you to the next level of breakthrough and anointing, they speed up the process — you do not have to spend the same amount of time to get there.  Other people’s breakthrough is our breakthrough, receive from people’s anointing and take to higher level to do even greatest things for Him.  Most important thing is to be in love with the One, love is powerful weapon.  Without love, we will not be able to the things that He calls us, everything we do should be out of love and out of intimacy.  It’s much easier for us to take risk when we operate in love not our own strength.  What are the keys to take risk?  Have an encounter, be hungry, receive impartations and be so in love that you be turned into a supernatural risk taker.

Written By:
Vivian Lo

My boyfriend, Joe, and I took your Healing AMT in 1st year last year. In July, I was visiting Joe in NY, and his aunt told us about a friend who had throat cancer. They couldn’t afford to go to Bethel, so we brought Bethel to them!
Joe and I went the man’s house to pray for his healing, but he was pretty skeptical. We started praying and God’s presence was so thick! After a while, the man began to feel heat and electricity. We sat there praying and praising God, and then I remembered your song, “It’s the end of my pain…” I sang it, and had him sing it over himself. We both started laughing, and the atmosphere there completely shifted.
I had to go back home to San Diego a few days later, but Joe got a call about a week later. The man went in for surgery, but the tumor was gone! He’s completely cancer free!
Your teaching was so great! It has helped me a ton. Thanks!
-Stephanie

Several of us had Sonic Burger, and others had Walmart.  Since Sonic Burger is right in front of Walmart, we decided to walk over to Sonic Burger where we met a lady with her Junior High soccer team.  We asked her if she needed prayer, and she said she suffered from migraines all the time (that was one of our clues on our Treasure Map).  She explained that she couldn’t tell if there was any change, since she had just taken medicine, although she said she felt peace.

We then asked the team of boys with her whether or not they had any pain.  One of the boys spoke up saying that his ankle was hurting (another clue on our Treasure Map).  He said it was about a 8 for pain level, so we prayed and it went down to a 2.  We asked if we could pray again and he said the pain was gone.

Another boy spoke up and said he also had pain in his left ankle.  He was wearing yellow shoes, which one of the team members had on their list of clues, so we invited the other boys to come and pray for their friend.  They laid hands on him, and all the pain left. The boys were utterly surprised that their friend had been healed as they prayed!

At that point, another boy said that he had pain.  The friends prayed, and his pain went away as well.  Meanwhile, one of the Treasure Hunters saw a boy hunched over in pain and asked if he had problems with his gallbladder, which was another clue on our Treasure Maps.  He said yes, and after prayer, all the pain left his body. He started moving around with no pain!!!!!

A lady came and sat down at one of the tables next to us.  We asked if she needed prayer and she said no.  We noticed she had a hearing aide, so we shared the testimony from a couple of weeks ago, in which a lady who had been deaf for 54 years, after her eardrum had been removed, was healed after a very short prayer.  She was touched by the story and allowed us to pray.

She had been deaf since birth in her right ear and had only 20% hearing in her left ear.  We asked her to take her hearing aide out and said a quick prayer.  We started backing up, having her declare how much Jesus loved her, and how he was healing her.  She was able to repeat everything, as we got about 3 to 4 ft away, and then followed our verbal commands at 12 feet.  It was so amazing!  She had come for food on her lunch break, and God interrupted her lunch, and completely healed her.  She was also given a prophetic card, which had a picture of a rainbow and listed Gods promises.  It was so great to see the Love of Jesus invade her life and heal her ears!!!!!  Yeah Jesus!!!

We finally went to Walmart and found a lady with a “yellow shirt”.  She had a daughter named Mia (we had that name on our list), who had Kidney failure, so the team prayed for the little girl, Mia.  Her mother was so overwhelmed with all the clues listed on the Treasure Map, saying how that she now knew that God really did love her that she began to cry.

Afterwards, we saw a statue of a Wintu Dancer.  Since one of the Treasure Hunt team had dance, we waited a short time until a man with a red shirt (another clue) was heading into Walmart.  We showed him our map, shared with him what we were doing, and asked if he needed prayer.  He shared how that he had been in pain for over two years with a back problem that affected his sciatic nerve (also clues).  So, we prayed, and his pain completely left.  He started bending over, while jumping up and down.  It was so amazing to see the joy all over his face, as he realized there was no more pain.  We saw him several more times in the store as we prayed with others for healing, and each time he confirmed that he was indeed healed…Praise Jesus!

We saw another lady walk by who had a brace on her wrist, and several of the team members went tracked her down as she weaved through the aisles.  She explained that she had sprained her wrist from a sports injury (another clue) and after we prayed, all the pain left.

We found another lady wearing “red,” whose husband was a retired pastor, and had been hunched over from a back injury for over 50yrs.  He was able to stretch his back up for the first time after we released the presence of God on him.

After we finished, we decided to meet back over at Sonic Burger to get a bite to eat before heading home.  Upon arriving, we found another family, as we were in line getting ready to order.  We asked if one of the women had back pain, to which she responded, “no,” but you can pray for our hearts because we just came from our aunt’s funeral who had died of cancer (another clue).

One of the Treasure Hunt team had “lost family member” as a clue, so we showed them our Treasure Map, which opened up a door to minister to the entire family.  That’s when God showed up!

They explained that they were on their way home from Oregon, and decided to stop to get something to eat.   After a few more minutes of ministering, we asked again if anyone had back pain, and the woman who had previously said “no,” confessed that she had suffered from back pain for more than 10 years, and had not lived one day without pain.  She also said that she had scoliosis, and invited us to pray.

All of her pain left, and she began to cry, as she felt the love of Jesus.  She had previously walked around hunched over to take some of the pain away.  She starting moving around and felt no pain.

Her mom could not believe what she was seeing, because she had been praying that her family would be touched in a real way by Jesus and this was the day!  As we showed them the rest of our clues, the whole family began to cry, as they saw the word “pie” in our unusual category of the Treasure Map.  That name just happened to be the nickname of the aunt who had just past away.

A few minutes later, the mother said she normally had migraines, and so we declared that the Lord was going to touch her, and that her head would begin to tingle as a sign she would have no more migraines.  All of a sudden, her head began to tingle, and she related that she felt tremendous peace.  She also started to cry again, as the presence of God came upon her.

In the midst of all of this, one of the ladies’ husband’s called from Iraq.  We were able to minister to him, and prophesy over him.  We also shared how the Lord was going to touch him right there in Iraq, and that his hands would start to get hot.  Immediately, he shouted, “My hands are getting hot, my hands are getting hot!”

So, God rocked the whole family, even over the phone with the love of Jesus.

Another Treasure Hunt team member gave a braclet to one of the ladies…She was so touched.   It was so amazing to see the liquid love of Jesus turning their mourning into dancing.  They left so full of joy.  It was priceless.

There were so many more who were touched with love encounters!  God showed up in such a powerful way, displaying so many “treats” for so many people on this Halloween.

God is so Good!
Kristina Waggoner, Treasure Hunt Leader

Soaking in the Holy Spirit: “Drinking”

This is a HUGE key for me to see the supernatural on a regular basis.  I try to constantly set my heart and mind on the Holy Spirit until I physically feel Him on my body.  This normally makes me feel either very joyful or somewhat intoxicated.  We all have the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead living in our bodies.  Not a different Spirit, but the same one and He loves to manifest Himself to you!  Normally, as I do this I will begin to hear from the Holy Spirit what people need prayer for.  I will either see a “mind’s eye vision” or feel something on a specific area of my body.

For example, one day I was finishing up a satellite job, and I asked God to show me how to pray for the homeowners upon my leaving.  I saw a vision of what looked like a shadow of a body with light coming from the right ear, the back and the right foot.  As I was preparing to go, I asked the two ladies if they had any problems with their right ear, back and right foot.  Both of them, surprised, said “YES!”  I prayed for them and the pain disappeared.  One of the women, however, had her spine fused to her neck with metal rods and she could not physically turn her neck to the right or left, regardless of how hard she tried.  The first time we prayed for her she still could not move her neck.  So we prayed again and she moved her neck completely to the left and right like nothing had ever happened to her!  God miraculously restored her movement!  AMAZING!

Renewing my mind

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this worked, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”.  This is something I practice daily!  Once we are saved and filled with the Holy Spirit we are not in need of God to do something else for us in order for us to see the supernatural.  We have a responsibility to renew our minds and to think like He thinks.  Past Bill says it this way “Most people’s closed heavens are in between their ears”!  We have been given power and authority to heal every disease and cast out demons.  We must renew our minds to believe that!  We are God’s answer to the world’s problems; we are Kings and Queens of Heaven with all of Heavens power backing us up!

One day I was at a job putting a satellite in, for a middle age couple.  I happened to not be feeling very “supernatural” that day.  So I went outside and kind of shook myself up, reminding myself that I was a miracle worker filled with the Holy Spirit.  Then I went back inside and asked the man if he had any problems in his body that I could pray for.  He said yes, his index finger had terrible arthritis in it from the military and was in constant pain.  So I prayed for him and it INSTANTLY disappeared.  He started freaking out.  He then asked if I would pray for his wife, who suffered from severe sleep apnea and was unable to sleep through the night and therefore is tired all day.  So I went to his wife and she did look terrible. She was also a Mormon.  I told her that Jesus was going to heal her, but He is not the same Jesus she believed in at the Mormon Church.  He is the Jesus of the Christian Church and when He healed her she needed to believe in Him and not Mormonism.  She said okay and so I prayed for her and then went home.  The next day her husband called the office and said that his pain never returned to his finger and that for the first time in 10 years his wife slept all the way through the night and woke up early that morning totally refreshed!

Risk: the “do it” factor

This is practically the biggest key to seeing the supernatural.  Risk! Taking the risk to step out of your comfort zone and believe God to back you up.  That is real faith.  Taking God at His word and believing Him when you lay hands on the sick that they will recover!  You are his sheep and you will hear his voice!  I simply make a determination to step out and pray or prophesy over people daily!  Therefore my life is surrounded with supernatural stories, because “God rewards faith…. Risk!”

My first miracle ever was released as I took bold risk. I used to run a Christian rehab and there was a young man in there who had STDs from shooting heroine. There was also a young man in there who was a bold atheist. One day I asked the boy who was an atheist what it would take for him to receive Jesus. He said if God healed the young man with STDs, he would do it. Scared to death I said “Okay, God is going to heal him so that you will know He is real”.

The young man with the STDs had a doctor’s appointment the next week. I prayed for him the day before his appointment. The next day he went in for some tests.  As he was waiting for the results, he checked himself out and noticed the sores on his body from the STDs disappearing in front of his eyes. Then the doctor came out and told him that they couldn’t find any trace of the STDs. When I heard this, I was ecstatic and went right to the young man who was an atheist and he received Jesus.

Take these keys and put them into practice.  Every day will be an extraordinary supernatural day!  You have what it takes.  Just GO FOR IT and see Jesus move in your life!

One of the teams found a guy who had injured his knee and had a leg brace on. He was unable to bend his knee due to the injury. When they prayed for him he felt fire go through his leg and when he removed the knee brace, he discovered that movement had been restored to his knee.

Our team was lead to the certain area downtown by various clues (indicated by the bold letters), and we found a family “sitting around a table”, near the “fountain”. When we approached them and explained that we were on a treasure hunt and that God had led us to them with words of knowledge because He wanted to bless them, the “father” immediately threw up his hands and gave thanks to God. He told us that they had left their hometown to get away from a bad lifestyle and try to make a new start. They had loaded up everything they owned in a Uhaul van and two cars and headed north. They drove as far as they were allowed to with the mileage restrictions on the Uhaul and ended up in Redding. They had spent the previous night in their vehicles and then started looking for a place to rent that morning.

We started going over our list of clues with them. The youngest daughter had “dark hair and blue eyes”. The older daughter had a “scar on her face”, “abdominal pain”, and a “tattoo”. We prayed for her and her pain left, and she felt peace as the presence of God touched her and all of her stress left. Her boyfriend had a “soar throat”, and “jaw pain”. We prayed for him. The “father” who had a “ponytail”, was suffering form a “bad right knee”. When we prayed for him, he felt heat going into his leg, and most of the pain left. We discovered that the mother had “cancer” and was “bipolar”. We prayed for her, and ministered to the rest of the family through prophecy before they had to leave for an appointment to look at a house.

This whole family was amazed that God had showed us so many things about them and that we found them just as they were in desperate need for something good to happen in their lives.  We gave them directions to the church, got their contact information and are looking forward to seeing God completely transform this whole family!

Billy

county down and my treasure was two Canadian witches God had given me clues about!

I testified to them for 2 hrs about Gods love and prophesied restoration

and His love into their lives.

I brought out your book and the ‘healer’ witch as she called herself

started shaking and said she felt such power and authority from it!

I gave them the book, reversed the curse on them and brought them into

the KINGDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay God !

Thank you for all you have imparted into my life and the lives of SO

many through your books and teachings!

It is important for us to realize that when we declare God’s Kingdom coming, we are releasing Heaven to earth with our words.  In fact, the Bible tells us that we have the power of life and death in our tongues (Proverbs 18:21, James 2).  The reason Jesus warned us that we would be judged according to the words we speak is that our words make a difference in people’s lives and circumstances — our words can either curse or release the Kingdom to bring blessing.

Recently, I was backpacking in the Tahoe Desolation Wilderness area with some of the other pastors of Bethel Church.  As we arrived at the trailhead, we were told by a group of guys who had just finished a week in the wilderness that we would not catch any fish.  Everyone they met had shared the same sad tale.  Without hesitation, I declared, “But we have favor!” Everyone laughed.

Amazingly, when we arrived at the first lake, the first cast produced a miraculous 14-inch rainbow trout!  In fact, we caught so many fish every day that anything under 12 inches was thrown back.  They were so plump that we were able to filet them into trout steaks.  Each delectable bite resulted in rowdy rejoicing as we were reminded of the extreme favor we had experienced from God through a simple off-the-cuff declaration.

It is important to keep in mind that our words, like those of Jesus, have authority.  Often, Jesus simply spoke to a situation or circumstance and Heaven invaded and brought change.  In Matthew 8:26, He spoke to the storm, and the wind and the waves stopped.  The disciples responded, “What kind of man is this?  Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

The Roman centurion understood the authority Jesus carried when he said, “Just say the word and my servant will be healed.  Jesus declared, “Go!  It will be done just as you believed it would (Matthew 8:5-13).”

Jesus spoke to the paralytic, saying, “Pick up your mat and walk,” and the man did so and was healed.  Jesus stood outside Lazarus’ tomb and spoke, “Come forth,” and Lazarus was raised from the dead.  Our words (our declarations) create an avenue by which Heaven’s resources and power are released.

I’ll never forget an occasion in which a woman, who was completely bald and gaunt from many radiation chemotherapy treatments, approached me at a conference at Bethel. She explained that the doctors told her that they could do nothing else for her, and that she had approximately one month left to live.   I immediately looked her in the eyes and declared, “I don’t even need to pray for you.  The glory of God is all over you, you’re going to be just fine!” I went on to explain that my declaration over her was in response to a gift of faith that had come to me as I heard about the destiny of doom the doctors had declared over her.

Five months later, at another Bethel conference, a shorthaired woman approached me with a grin from ear to ear.  She jubilantly shared that she was the woman I had declared life over.  Thanking me profusely, she shared that not only was she obviously still alive, but she had no cancer in her body to the amazement of the doctors!

As royal priests, representing God on earth, our declarations make a difference.  Our declarations determine our destiny and the destiny of those around us.  Our declarations unlock Heaven.

I was playing golf with a pastor in Yuma, Arizona, along with a medical doctor friend, who was very skeptical of the reality of supernatural divine healing.  The pastor had arranged for us to golf together so that I could share testimonies that would convince the doctor otherwise.

By the sixth hole, we had not made a whole lot of headway in convincing the doctor, despite sharing several testimonies of people being healed in God’s presence.  The pastor teed off on the par three hole and hit a great looking shot headed right toward the flagstick.  Amazingly, and sadly, his ball struck a bird about twenty feet in front of the pin, causing both the ball and the bird to fall onto the green!

At first, we were joking around about the pastor getting a literal birdie, but after realizing that the bird was lying on its side with it’s wing fixed straight up without moving, we became concerned that the bird was dead.

Meanwhile, the doctor and I hit up onto the green, while the bird continued to lie motionless.  As we drove our carts toward the green, the other birds landed near the dormant bird.  Once we got to the green, all of the birds flew away, except for that one bird, still lying on its side.

Observing this, the doctor pronounced the bird dead, to which the pastor expressed that he should dispose of it since being a doctor he seemed the most qualified to deal with the carcass.  At that, I responded, “No way.  Let’s raise it from the dead.”  I then declared, “I release you into new life.”  Just when I got to “re,” the bird jumped up and flew away!

The doctor looked at me in total shock, as he witnessed the supernatural power of God first hand, as the bird was seemingly raised from the dead!  Regardless of whether the bird had been dead or just knocked out, the reality was that as I declared God’s Kingdom come, the bird recovered, and the doctor had no more problems with the issue of supernatural healing.

God is just waiting for us to co-labor with Him in releasing His Kingdom.  Living naturally supernatural is simply unlocking the doors leading to breakthrough with the Kingdom keys we have received.  Partnering for breakthrough, then, requires us to take responsibility to release God’s presence, power, and resources into every situation and circumstance in which people need His intervention.

That is the power of partnership.  When we pray (declare), He comes.

We have been given the keys to the Kingdom to be able to unlock Heaven whenever we need His presence and power.  In Matthew 16:19, Jesus promised, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom….” In other words, we can unlock the door to the resources of Heaven to get whatever we need, whenever we need it.  That is an amazing privilege!

I oversee several ministry responsibilities at Bethel Church, which require that I have several different keys to access needed rooms and resources.  There are several people on my leadership team who need to have the same access as I do.  There was a time, however, when I was the only one with the keys.

Each time one of my team needed to access a room, he or she had to come to me and borrow the keys, and then afterwards would have to bring them back.  Sometimes, he or she would forget, and I would have to go out of my way to track him or her down when I needed to access something.  It got to be such a hassle trying to juggle one set of keys between our entire team that I finally wised up and got them their own keys!

Jesus did not say, “I will lend you the keys.” Jesus gave us the keys, meaning He no longer has them.  It is now up to us to open up Heaven so that His presence and power can be released through the opening we have made for Him to come.

How often do we hear Christians pleading with God to open up the Heavens and rain down His power to intervene, when all along, God is pleading with us to use the keys we have been given to release His rule so that intervention can come?  We cannot expect God to do what we are expected to do in the partnership.

When we do what is expected of us to unlock Heaven, then He faithfully does His part.  It is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32).

Often, as I begin a conference, I announce that there will be many miracles and healings.  The reason I am so confident is that I have been given Kingdom keys to unlock Heaven in order to access the resources needed.  In reality, when I pray, He comes, and when He comes, He does good things because He is a good God in a good mood!

The natural question, then, is if we have the authority and power to represent and bring God’s Kingdom to earth, why don’t we see more breakthroughs in the miraculous?

Many Christians wrongfully believe that God just sovereignly intervenes in our lives whenever He chooses, or does not.  Their response is, “Well, I guess it was just God’s will that I remain sick, debilitated, or dying.” As a result, many Christians do not pursue divine intervention or they stop short of getting the breakthrough they desire.

Many Christians believe that God chooses (predetermines) who will be healed and who will not be healed.  They state that God is sovereign — that He is in control of everything — and therefore, nothing happens outside of His predestined will.

Therefore, if someone becomes sick, it must be God’s will because nothing happens outside of His sovereign control.  As a result, the prayer, “Your will be done…” is a concession to accept whatever God has sovereignly predestined, instead of a declaration:  “…on earth as it is in heaven.”

People all around us are waiting for Heaven to come to earth.  God is waiting for us to bring Heaven to earth.  I want to encourage you that you have the ability to make a difference in someone’s life and the world around you.  Your declarations make a difference!

It is true, drunk people do crazy things. They will say the craziest things to anyone who will listen (even if they won’t listen). They will laugh out loud, oftentimes for no apparent reason, and without any sensitivity to their surroundings whatsoever. They will dance, fall on the ground, sway as they walk, and completely sacrifice their personal dignity. Why? Because they are drunk.

They are not concerned with what people think about them at the moment. They have lost all fear of man, not concerning themselves in the least with the aftermath of humiliation that is sure to follow their actions. They therefore express themselves freely. They will even attempt the dangerous, like driving a vehicle or jumping off cliffs into shallow water, crazy things that they would never even dream of doing if they were sober. Why? Because they are drunk. Drunk people do crazy things!

In Ephesians 5:18, the Apostle Paul gives this instruction to Christians: “Do not get drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (NIV).

This word “debauchery” means to be so influenced by the effects of alcohol that one loses all inhibition, so that they do things of negative and evil consequence that they would not do if they were sober. In other words, debauchery is doing crazy things that you are really ashamed of the next morning.

Being filled with the Spirit, on the other hand, causes one to do crazy things, but the difference is that those things are things that you are proud of the next morning. Interestingly, the phrase, “be filled”, is not a one time event. In the Greek, this is a present tense verb, which has a continual sense associated with the action. So, more accurately, Paul is instructing the Church to “be continually filled with the Spirit”; to drink everyday, the “new wine” of the Spirit. Why? Because drunk people do crazy things!

On the Day of Pentecost, in Acts chapter 2, the Church was filled with the Holy Spirit. In verse 13, the crowd made fun of them and said “they have had too much wine”. Peter’s response to this accusation is found in verse 15: “These men are not drunk as you suppose…”. Notice, he does not deny the fact that they are drunk, or at the least, acting drunk. He simply lets them know that they are not drunk in the way that they think that they are drunk. The source of their drunkenness is not due to the wine of the world, but rather the new wine of the Holy Spirit. He explains all of this in verse 17, as he outlines the fulfilled prophetic promise of Joel that God would pour out His Spirit on all people.

Notice that Peter got out of the box, crazy, as he found the courage to stand up to address the crowd of onlookers. This is the same Peter that denied the Lord three times! And now he has unabashed boldness to preach the Gospel to the same angry crowd that had earlier crucified Jesus. The only thing that can explain this uninhibited behavior is the fact that he was drunk. Drunk people do crazy things. And I’m sure he was very proud of his actions the next morning, especially when he realized that 3,000 people had been saved as a result of his boldness under the influence of the Spirit!

Jesus has commanded us to do crazy things like heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons; to preach the message of the Kingdom (Matt. 10:7,8). He has commanded us to be His witnesses in the whole earth as his ambassadors (Acts 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:20). He told Ananias, through a supernatural vision, to go to Saul’s house on Straight Street and lay hands on him to receive his sight, which was a crazy proposal given the fact that Saul was arresting Christians and giving approval for their executions (Acts 9).

I used to never pray for the sick. Not because I didn’t believe in healing. I taught on healing. I just didn’t believe that I had what it took to pray for people for them to be healed. I used the excuse that I just didn’t have the “gift”. Interestingly, after learning to let the Holy Spirit influence my mind, I began to live under the influence (LUI), I began to do things that I would ordinarily never try like praying for someone to be healed. Amazingly, people started getting healed. I started to drink and drive, and when I would get to my destination, I would find supernatural boldness to step out and take crazy amounts of risk to pray for the sick at supermarkets, airports, or at family gatherings. And guess what? People started getting healed.

I have found that most people have a hard time stepping out in risk in the Kingdom because they are too intimidated by what others will think. I want to suggest that you try getting absolutely drunk on the Spirit of God until you have no inhibitions left, and just see what kind of great “crazy” things God can do through your life. Remember, drunk people do crazy things!