School, Work, and My Future

As some of you know, I have quit my job so I can go to school. A lot of you don't know why or how I'm going to provide for my family during this time. Here is a brief explanation.

I felt a calling to ministry 10 years ago. I have been waiting for the time of fulfillment for this call. We are called to be ministers, but I knew this would be a full time job for me. I've worked in the marketplace this whole time and used those experiences as witnessing tools. I never felt like my jobs were just for paychecks. God is my foundation. God is my provider. Jehovah Jireh can be translated as, "The Many Breasted One." He is my source of income. I may work at a 9-5 job but I'm not doing it for the paycheck. Just like God has called me to one day enter into full time ministry, He also called me to work in the marketplace for the past 10 years. But now it is time to take the next step.

I still am unsure of what my calling completely looks like, but I felt it was time to move on. The organization that I went to Brazil with is called Global Awakening. This is an international organization and it's headquarters are in Mechanicsburg, PA. This is only a few minutes from my house. I have been blessed by this ministry numerous times even before my Brazil trip. After my trip, I knew I needed to do so much more. I saw so many miracles and I watched God move in such powerful ways. I had a lot of trouble going back to work inside a cubicle for 8 hours a day.

My wife and I were praying about what to do. When both of us starting to think about Global School of Supernatural Ministry or GSSM for short. This school is a part of the same organization as I mentioned above. It is only a few minutes from my house and it is not very expensive.

This is not an academic school and it is not technically a college. This is a "hands-on" school that thrusts you into ministry right away. Basically everything I learned in Brazil over 2 weeks, I will be learning in more detail over 2 years. After 2 years, I will be ordained with their network of churches. God is a supernatural God and I want to learn more about that aspect of Him.

Rachel and I didn't really believe this was for us. It sounded great, but it was hard to believe that I should quit my job for this. There was no way for me to work my full time job and go to this school because the hours were simultaneous. After some spiritual confirmations, we started to take this serious. We tested this in every way we knew how, but God kept showing us this was His will. We talked it over with Godly advisors and they also felt this was God's will so I started the application process for the school.

Our plan was that I would work part time while going to school. I started to look for part time work. Even with a part time job, we wouldn't be able to pay the bills. We moved in with my in-laws back in March because we needed more room with my son being born in April. We wanted to save money to buy a house. We are not planning on living off of our in-laws. They do not have the extra money to do that. The money would have to come from God.

We believed that I never worked for a pay check and now that is becoming painfully obvious. God has to provide for us to do this. This is not everyone's call in life and I don't expect people to start quitting their jobs. But this does happen. Elijah lived off of ravens, Jesus had no place to lay His head, Israel lived off of manna from heaven. There are many more stories in the Bible of God providing for those that have none. Also, George Muller lived off of God back in the 1800's and Heidi and Rolland Baker live off of Him today. There are also many more modern day examples.

We continue to pray about this and we feel that I may not even work part time. That has not been completely decided. There is plenty that I can be doing with the church during non school hours and I also may begin to write a book. But whatever we decide to do, God will have to provide. He is the Many Breasted One. I know this is hard for some of you to understand. It goes against all logic. But Jesus said in John 5:19

I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

We feel this is what the Father is telling us. He gives good gifts and He doesn't bring confusion. Please pray with us during this time. He will meet our needs, but we need your prayers just the same.

Spiritual Readings

I have felt a call to full time ministry for 10 years now but God has not opened the door yet. So I have worked at different secular jobs to pass the time away. I have been at an insurance company for 6 years now. I have seen God do some pretty cool stuff. But last week, He did something new.

I sit next to a lady who is into New Age. Another lady came over to her desk to get some chocolate. The New Ager wasn't at her desk at this moment. I heard the other lady speaking to herself saying, "I should really get her to give me a spiritual reading sometime." I looked at a Christian coworker of mine and she looked at me. We knew that wasn't good.

I sat at my desk for a while and felt the tugging of the Holy Spirit. I'd love to tell you boldness came over me and I preached the Gospel, but it took me a while to work up the nerve. I thought about it some more and I decided that I wasn't going to let the enemy (not my coworker, but the devil) speak into her life. I was going to take back what the enemy has stolen. I wanted God to speak into her life.

I approached her and told her that I could do something like a spiritual reading. She seemed kind of freaked out and didn't talk to me the rest of the day. So near the end of the day I decided she was going to get a spiritual reading whether she wanted one or not. So I sent her a prophetic word through email. I prayed for accuracy. I sent it out and then went home.

The next morning, my Christian coworker told me she overhead this lady speaking to someone else saying, "Josh gave me a spiritual reading and it really freaked me out because it was very accurate." The other lady replied, "He just knows things."

Later in the day, some people called me over to their desk. As I came over, I noticed the lady I had given a reading to had printed out the word and was showing it to people. These two women she was talking to asked me to give them readings too. I said, "Sure, I'll send you an email."

As the day went on, more and more people asked for spiritual readings. What started out as the enemy trying to speak into one person's life, ended up being God's heart of love being spoke into 7 people's lives! And that was Friday. As I came back to work on Monday, I had more requests. It's only been four business days since this happened and I've already given spiritual readings to 11 people. I have found out that they are very accurate words which what I prayed for.

Most of these people haven't really been talking to me. I think I freak them out. Actually, I know I do. Several of them have told me that. I keep telling them it is God telling me His heart. But other Christians in the office have told me that these people are coming to them about the words. My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are able to take the ministry to the next level. What a great time! We truly can and should be ministers even if we aren't called to full time ministry.

Thirsty

I haven't had an entry since Brazil. I felt speechless. I've told my wife a lot about the trip, but I find it hard to share with others. I learned so much. My previous blog entries were just the tip of the iceberg. I understand what John meant when he wrote,

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. - John 21:25

I only experienced two weeks on this trip, and I feel it would take volumes to show everything I learned.

Being back has been different. I'm not satisfied with life as is. To steal an analogy from John Piper, it's like I grew up playing in a sandbox. My time in Brazil was like two weeks at a beautiful beach. To go back to my sandbox feels empty. I've seen more. I want more. And thank God, there is always more.

I can't wait to see what God will be doing at my church. I love my church and I know that God wants to pour Himself out on us. We've had two great services since I've been back, but I want more. I woke up in the middle of the night a few days ago and the Lord was calling me to pray. I was praying in my living room for more of God's glory. I saw a large waterfall coming down on central Pennsylvania. The Lord said, "This is only for the thirsty." Am I thirsty? I can always use a drink; but am I fighting to receive a drop from His hand?

In July of 2007, I went to Washington DC to spend the day with some friends. It was scorching hot. We were walking the mall and we couldn't take it any more. We found a small stand on the one corner and they were selling drinks. It was so hot and they were sold out of water. I hate gatorade, but I needed something. I was thirsty. I wasn't dying of thirst, but I was really dehydrated. I bought the gatorade and shared it with my wife. It was wonderful. It was still gross tasting, but quenching my thirst felt great.

I want to be thirsty for God. Even more than this story above. I want to thirst after Him like it was life or death. I have been challenged many times since I have been home. I will continue to be thirsty. I will continue to chase after His cup.

The best night

Each night has been better than the night before. Last night we were at a hungry church and every sick person was healed. We went to the same church last night. God said that tonight, He wanted to show them how hungry He is for them. I changed the message and spoke about the Father's heart. There were so many confirmations from the Lord that this was His message.

The night before we there were only about 50 people. Tonight there was 150 people. We healed about 15 people tonight. We also saw 17 salvations and 4 blastings. But the biggest miracle of the night was the emotional healings. We prayed for almost everybody and almost all of them needed emotional healing. We counted at least 50 people that received emotional healing, but you could probably count everyone.

We gathered in a circle around the pastor after the service and prophesied over him. He was so gracious. I have been to two churches in the past four days. I would love to see them again in a year or so to see what the Lord has done. Both churches have an amazing future ahead of them. God is so good.

This is a short post because I have to run. This might be my last post before I return home. I'll do another post when I return home. I can't wait to bring this fire home.

The fire has fallen!

Each night has been better than the night before. We went to a different church tonight and I preached again. Before we left for the hotel, I started to feel the presence of God. My face was beginning to go numb and I was getting a little dizzy. This may not seem like the Spirit to you when I describe these things, but I'm getting more familiar with how God moves. He moves differently with each person. But I know that when certain things happen to my body, I know He's present. As I'm typing this my face is tingling. You have to pay attention to how God is moving. He may not tingle for you, you just have to know what He's doing.

As we waited for our van to leave for the church, I began to have a strong desire to see God move differently tonight. I wanted to see salvations and healings, but I wanted God to come in an Isaiah 6 kind of way. On the van, I told the team to expect God to fall in a powerful way.

During worship, I could sense the hunger in this church. It was a church of about 50 and they were such a family. It reminded me of a smaller version of my own church. We played with the kids before the service as they had a special outreach with different games. They had a such a family atmosphere at this church. And this family was hungry. They kept repeating a phrase during one of the worship songs. i asked my interpreter what it meant. They were singing, "Look on me, Lord." This just confirmed the hunger I was already feeling.

I went up to speak and changed everything that I had prepared. I asked for the glory of God to fall. Everyone in the church felt the Spirit come in a powerful way. After a few minutes of crying out to Him, we did words of knowledge. Sometimes, without thinking, God will give you words while you speak. This isn't as common, but it does happen. It happened last night. We were saying the words of knowledge and one of the interpreter's were next. She didn't have a word. The microphone was handed to her, and without thinking she said, "Ana, eye condition." She actually said the name of a specific condition, but I don't remember which condition. She had no name and no condition in her head, but it just came out of her mouth. A girl name Ana stood up with that exact condition. She wasn't healed right away, but that interpreter prayed for her, she was healed.

I spoke for less than five minutes instead of an hour. That was all that was needed. We began praying for everyone and there were many healings. Out of 50 people in attendance, 23 were healed! I think every person that was sick was healed. God has lit a fire in that church and it will continue long after we are gone. We are going to that church again tonight. We plan on doing a fire tunnel. This is where we get in two lines and face each other. Than we have the entire church pass through while we all pray for them. It's going to be awesome.

Salvation!

I preached again at the surfboard church, Bola de Neve. It was even better than the night before. I got to got out and minister before hand. We saw two people healed and we blessed several more. God is really moving powerfully.

While we waited for the service to start, I noticed the worship team was playing It Is You by the Newsboys, but of course they were singing it in Portuguese. I went up to the mic and began singing it in English. They asked me to join them for the worship service. We sang several American songs. It was awesome. Worship was so powerful. What a great opportunity too. I have now led worship on three continents. God is so good.

We did words of knowledge and saw three people sovereignly healed. I then made a call to salvation before the message. I really wasn't expecting much and I wasn't sure if I was going to do it. But I stood amazed as 23 people came forward! There was only about 100 people there total! I guess there was a rehab clinic that came that night and all of them received Christ. And they were exited about it. They were yelling and they were full of joy. What an amazing night.

But it got better. After the sermon, we saw another 17 physically healed, 20 inner healings, 5 received calls into the ministry, and several received a powerful touch from the Lord. God is so good!

I won't go into all of the specific testimonies, but they are all amazing. I love God so much. I will do anything for Him. I can't wait until the Spirit falls on central PA like He's been doing for so many years in Brazil. William Penn prophesied over PA 200 years ago. The fruit of that prophecy is now coming. God will sweet over PA like He has done in Brazil. Now is our time!

The Power of God

Last night was my first night preaching. Since we are in the second phase of our trip, the schedule is a lot easier. I was able to sleep in some which is good because I was starting to get sick because of the physical stress on my body. The church we went to was another Bola De Neve church. This is the surfboard church I talked about earlier. This is another one of those churches, just smaller. It had about 100 people there last night.

The church is located along a strip that is full of shops and people. Before the service, we sent some of our team out to evangelize on this strip. We didn't have enough interpreters, so I stayed at the church with some of the team while the rest of the team went out. When they came back, they testified that they saw 17 physical healings, 5 emotional healings, 3 salvations and 1 person drunk in the Spirit. They took a video of that last one. They person was a worker in a department store and she was caught up in holy laughter. It was quite amusing.

We did words of knowledge at the beginning of the service where we call out certain diseases that the Spirit is letting us know is present. Three people were sovereignly healed at just the mention of the condition. Another two people were healed when I prayed over the congregation.

Next was the message. I had to use an interpreter which I have used before in Kenya. It went really well. There were two salvations in response to the message. Then we sent the team out to pray. There were about another 40 healings and another salvation. Since it wasn't a large church and we had a large team (about 20) I wasn't going to pray for people. But the pastor came to me and pointed to his knee. Without an interpreter, I prayed for his knee and it was 50% healed. I prayed again and it was 100% healed. It's great when even the pastor receives healing.

It was an awesome night and I know it's only going to get better. We are going to the same church tonight. I can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do.

While we were waiting to go to the churches, we were walking around the city looking for people to pray for. We prayed for two men who both felt lighter afterwards. I believe they were set free from oppression and they received peace from the Holy Spirit. The one man thought we were Mormons because he thought that all Americans were Mormons. Jesus brings healing. Mormons don't.