the Substance of Faith

Fire in the Hole

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

I had an incredible experience last night.

Lately, I have been wondering what it is that makes the gift of healing work. There seems to be something fundamental that I am not understanding about it. Why does it work sometimes, and sometimes not? There are times I can actually feel the anointing flow through my hands like a stream of oil right into the person I am praying for.  Sometimes not, but other times it was like an electric current. And just like that, they are healed!  And then sometimes, no matter how hard I pray, nothing happens.  I’ll even try to imagine it in my head in a vain attempt to make it happen, but when it doesn’t work, it just plain doesn’t work.  So what is missing?

I’ve often felt that if we could just get over to the other side to see the reality of the spiritual world and the unreality of the physical world, we would realize just how simple the working of faith really is.  The only problem with that is getting back over here to start working it.

Nevertheless, I’m missing something here, and I have to believe there is a simple answer.  I’m just stuck in this world looking through a glass darkly, as Paul wrote, and I just don’t get it.

But last night, I got a glimpse of it, and wow, was it powerful!  Simple, but so profound that I knew in an instant that it takes a piercingly spiritual revelation to just be able to grasp the simplicity of the answer.

I was at a revival prayer meeting that I go to every week where our focus is mostly for a true Holy Ghost revival for this area. While I am mainly focused on Africa because I firmly believe that the last great revival will start from there, I also feel that it is all interconnected. Pray for one, and you’ll get the other. Makes sense to me.

As the Spirit of God began to descend on us and the prayers began to get energized, I could feel the level of energy rise up in me, and pretty soon, I was praying with … how do I put this … a rock solid strength of conviction? Complete and total faith? Determined assuredness? All I know is that it felt like I was treading on a solid rock of utter faith and belief that was so sure that there was not even a shadow of doubt or wondering.  I was approaching the Throne of God with all the holy boldness of a warrior in God.  I had rights to the Throne of God that were established on nothing less than the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ, and nothing – NOTHING – could stop me!

This was not a matter of belief.  This was fact – a reality that transcended the Universe and beyond. The utter simplicity of it was astounding.  It was written. It was the Rock solid Word of God. It was Eternal Truth. It was beyond my physical being and was the very substance of Eternity.

I began to pray like a sledge hammer hitting an anvil of solid steel. I stood in a holy boldness that would have scared me otherwise. (It probably scared the people in the pew in front of me.) I challenged the Almighty God!  I commanded the power of the Holy Spirit! No compromise, no yielding, no retreat.  I claimed an answer from God before all the holy angels and the entire arena surrounding the Throne of God. I was not backing down. I absolutely refused to take “no” for an answer.

I had the incredible simplicity of Faith in His Word to demand – yes, demand – for God to move and fulfill His promises to me.  I felt like I was smashing through spiritual barriers as if they were spider webs. Nothing could stand in my way as I stood before the Holy of Holies and challenged Almighty God to do what He said He would do.

Man, I was hitting the target hard! Every time I’d slam down my demands, the Holy Spirit would hit me in a burst and I would start laughing again and again.  I was on a roll!

What struck me was that it was so simple.  If we could just pierce through the veil of this flesh that clouds our spiritual vision to see the reality of His Word, we would finally grasp the rock solid assuredness of His promises to us that, yes, we can move mountains by faith, we can raise the dead, we can ask what we will and He will do it for us.  But it takes a piercing of that veil to grab hold the substance of faith.

I believe that God wants us to pray with a holy boldness that has dissipated out of our churches over the years.  We had this kind of holy boldness once upon a time, but we have lost it to the enamor of modern Christianity and its sophisticated but anemic ways.  When God begins to move upon us again, I believe that we will see real Holy Ghost warriors rise up to meet the challenge and claim the birthright that we have long ago sold for a bowl of porridge.

And then we will see the greatest revival of all time because we were not afraid to stand in blood-washed faith believing and demand it of God.

Brother Dale,  http://revivalfire.org

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Individual Revival

During one of the services we had in Uganda, an old woman was healed of insanity while sitting out in the congregation. This happened during services. No one laid hands on her or prayed over her – the Lord just healed her right then and there.

I remember how excited she was, but the translator couldn’t keep up with her excitement when she tried to tell us about it, so I didn’t really understand what had actually happened. She went home for the lunch break and was so excited that her daughters thought she had completely flipped – and they thought it was our fault!  They tried to keep her from coming back for the afternoon service, but she broke out of the house and came anyway.

I saw her when she came in a bit late, but didn’t think much about it at the time.  But during the 2^nd service, the Lord washed through her again and completed her healing. This time we heard her story and were able to understand what a great deliverance she had had.

Imagine being immersed in a cloud of confusion as if your mind was completely under water. You can’t see straight; you can’t think clearly, and your entire perception of life is warped. Your life is spent in a mental torment. And then the Spirit of God washes through you and you are healed in an instant. You can think again. The fog is blown away and you can see clearly for the first time in who knows how long!  What in incredible life-changing experience!  Your world is suddenly filled with light and understanding, and you are free!

My primary passion has been to bring revival to the churches, and the vision set before me has been to break the hold of complacency on them and shatter the glass ceiling that limits their faith. Once those fetters are broken, the church is free to soar into the presence of the Holy Spirit and ignite with the fire of God.

But revival is personal.  How grand is the release of God’s mercy on us as individuals!  What rejoicing there is when a single person is set free from the misery and burden of sickness, torment, and sin. Jesus spent more of his time dealing with individuals rather than whole synagogues, but we focus more on the corporate body.

We talk about revival in great flowing terms while we attend seminars and conferences in a vain attempt to spawn a revival in our churches.  We read books and institute programs that we’ve been told will work for our church, we invite speakers to energyze our congregations, and we promote any kind of prophet who will encourage us that surely revival will come to our church, but Jesus pointed us to that one lost sheep for whom there is more rejoicing than for the 99. It for that one individual that He died.

Perhaps that is where we should place our focus. Perhaps instead of trying to legislate revival for the church, we need to change our definition of what revival really is.

For that one old woman in Uganda, it was that singular moment when God delivered her from a life of torment. What greater revival could there be than that?

 

Brother Dale,  http://RevivalFire.org

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