Things on my mind... :)

"I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done - by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ" ~ Romans 15:18-19. 

Paul proclaimed the gospel, but accompanied His words with signs and miracles. There are numerous occasions in the scriptures where Jesus and Paul and other disciples perform miracles, and people believe the gospel that they had heard because of the signs that they had seen. In fact, most of the times the gospel is proclaimed in the gospels and Acts, miracles accompany it. It seems the Word teaches that "fully" proclaiming the gospel involves more than just words. I am a follower of Christ, and the Spirit of the living God dwells within me. I believe the Bible teaches that Jesus forfeited His divine powers when He became fully human. Every miracle He performed, He performed through the power of the Spirit. He sought God the Father in prayer before every decision He made. We all know Jesus spoke to God the Father, and I fully believe that the Father spoke right back to the Son. Jesus assumed full humanity here on earth. He promised that His followers would do even greater things than He did. Jesus raised the dead!!! His disciples raised the dead! I have the same Spirit dwelling within me that dwelt inside Jesus and His disciples. Do I believe what Jesus said is true? Heck yes!!! He said that if I pray for a sick person to be healed in His name and believe it will happen, then it will. He said I have the authority to cast out demons in His name(are only people in third world countries or people on the streets influenced by demons or have we, as Americans, been blinded by the enemy to the very real supernatural warfare that is waging all around us?). He said that when He gave me the gift of the Spirit, He gave me a spiritual tongue. Whoa! What?! I'm southern baptist... I'm scared of tongues. Umm... but I'm also reading the book of Acts where tongues accompanied and even proved that believers had been given the Spirit. So I am admitting, or rather, proclaiming, on the internet that my Lord gave me a gift for my birthday. I was praying loud on my way to Seattle the night before my birthday, and the Spirit prompted me to pray for things I hadn't really prayed for before.. with sincerity anyway. He prompted me to ask for the gift of tongues... and He told me to ask Jesus to give it to me for my birthday.. so I did. I went dancing that night and forgot about it. The next morning, I woke up early and spent time with the Lord. As I prayed, the Holy Spirit brought words to my mind that He gently pushed me to speak aloud. I was hesitant for a moment, but then experienced the sweetest peace and intimacy as I spoke words, not gibberish, that I did not know. The Holy Spirit overwhelmed me with His presence, and my heart cried out to Jesus. I knew some of what my heart was conveying, but not the words I was using. It was sincere and flowed, and I didn't want to stop. My spirit cried out to the Lord's Spirit and I felt the sweetest ecstasy in His presence. I did not try to do this or even think about it before it happened. I only remembered that I had asked the Lord for this gift as I was driving home. What a thoughtful, sweet God I serve. I have never wanted a tongue because I thought it was weird and uncomfortable, but God rocked me and gave me this sweet gift for my birthday. Wow! Feel free to ask me about it.. I know I'd have lots of questions if I was reading this about one of you. :) Anyway, all that to say I have been asking the Lord for an abundance of faith. If the Lord would have me heal or raise the dead or whatever, then that's what I want to do. Christians did miraculous things throughout the scripture. I am praying that the Holy Spirit would unleash his power and ignite believers' hearts with a passion to live extraordinary lives embracing the vast power and authority we have been given. I want people to be healed in the streets, and people raised from their coffins by the power of Jesus. I want people enslaved to addiction to be set free in a moment through the power of the resurrected Christ. I refuse to accept the status quo. Abortion will NOT always be with us! Young people in prostitution and addiction will NOT always be enslaved! How powerful do we believe the gospel is?! Jesus not only can, but will, set His people free in a moment. If we as believers don't believe it, how can a lost world ever hope to? And if we believe it, how can we not change our lives and our prayers and start praying crazy prayers of faith over the sick and lost and expect the power of God to fall??!!! Ok, so I could keep going, but I have to go now. The Lord is opening my eyes to truths I have always claimed to believe, but have never lived out. The Bible is exciting when read through unfiltered eyes. Thanks for reading my rants friends. Love, me. :)