The Order For The Church!

This week-end I had a wonderful experience. I experienced the glory of the New Testament Church as I attended the “My Tribe, His Glory” Conference at Christian Life Center, South Bend, Indiana. It was a replication of what I believe the early believers experienced as they came to follow The Way:

¹³ If any of you is in trouble let him pray. If anyone is flourishing let him sing praises to God.

^14-16a If anyone is ill he should send for the Church elders. They should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord’s name. Believing prayer will save the sick man; the Lord will restore him and any sins that he has committed will be forgiven. You should get into the habit of admitting your sins to each other, and praying for each other, so that if sickness comes to you, you may be healed.

^16bTremendous power is made available through a good man’s earnest prayer. James 5:13-16 (Phillips)

Prayer, praise, worship, preaching, comfort, healing, repentance, salvation, infilling of the spirit and breaking bread together, – all of this was evident at this conference. It was a refreshing that could only come from the presence of the Lord! It was action-packed, no stones needed to cry out for anybody! What a blessing it was to those who attended. However, Pastor Doug gave an analogy of what else was going on – he said that just as you get an inoculation in the arm, the vaccine does not just stay in the arm, it goes through the entire body to do the work it was sent to do. So too, when one house gets’ visited in a powerful way by the Spirit of God, there is an infusion throughout the body of Christ to do the work of the Holy Spirit.

I believe this. Revival is coming to the body of Christ. It may start in a church in South Bend, and another one in Dallas, and another in Toronto, Canada. I don’t know how or where the Spirit of God will visit His people and stir them up to BE THE CHURCH; but I know that whenever and wherever He moves, people’s lives are changed and they can’t keep it to themselves. Glory be to God!

You may ask, how can it come to my church? The answer is so universal – look at the passage above from James and do what it says – particularly the part which has to do with prayer. Get a prayer partner, or maybe a small group together and bombard heaven to send His Spirit to stir the hearts of all you are praying for. He is as good as His Word – He will do it!!!

Maria