TENACIOUS HUNGER FOR GOD

A thought from Ps Randy Clark

I want to share with you a powerful story that impacted me when I first heard it. It is about tenacious hunger for God. 

In the early days of my time within the Vineyard, I remember an afternoon when John Wimber called for me to meet with him in his office. I remember walking in, only to see John leaning back in his chair with a giant smile on his face. I sat across from him, as he looked at me and said, “Randy, who is the most anointed person in all of the Vineyard when it comes to words of knowledge and healing?” I thought for a moment, and responded “Well John, besides yourself, it would be Blaine Cook.” John looked at me and said “Randy, let me tell you something about Blaine.”

He then began to recall to me a dream that the Lord had given him several years earlier. In summary, the dream was about a powerful outbreak of the Spirit that would sweep the Vineyard as a whole, as the church went to the streets and began ministering to the sick. John continued from there to tell me about inviting Blaine into his office and sharing the dream with him. I should also mention, at the time of this dream occurring, Blaine Cook was not someone with a reputation for being used in healing.

However, once John shared this dream, Blaine became ecstatic. Overwhelmed with a desire to see this move of God, he stood up from the desk, and began asking when they would start going out to minister to people in this way. “Whoah! Slow down! It’s not time for that just yet. The people aren’t quite ready,” John said to him. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do!” But Blaine disagreed. The attitude that Blaine held was one of tenacity. Even though he was not seeing a lot of healing yet, he began to ask John to pray for him, so that God would release an anointing for him to go and see people set free according to the dream. Continue reading “TENACIOUS HUNGER FOR GOD”

God’s Home Among Humans

2 Samuel 7:11-16

This passage about God’s establishment and protection of the Davidic kingdom was picked up for various purposes in the first-century world, perhaps most strikingly by the early Christians who applied it to Jesus. David’s impulse that God should have a grand house was right, but God had bigger plans than David had imagined. By coming in the person of Jesus, God made clear that the grand house of his dwelling is creation itself. God makes human beings in such a way that it will be appropriate for him to come himself in the person of his son and be a human among humans. This is the hope revealed at Advent.   N.T. Wright  watch more here

Sold into slavery in order to minister Christ to slaves

John Taylor, Missions Director at Bethel Church recounts in a Leadership Minute that Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf – of the Moravian church said this of  Christ …..  “I have but one passion: It is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.”

Johann Leonard Dober was a potter and David Nitschman a carpenter. Men with ordinary occupations, but possessing an extraordinary love for Jesus. From these seemingly insignificant two, the Moravian missionary movement was born, that ultimately catalyzed the Great Awakening. In 1732, they heard about the plight of African slaves on the island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean. These slaves had spiritual hunger but no one to share the gospel with them. Johann and David determined to go to them by any means necessary, and sold themselves into slavery in order to minister among the slaves. As they stood on the ship departing from the wharf, they raised their voice and cried,
“MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN
RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!” Continue reading “Sold into slavery in order to minister Christ to slaves”

Faith Without Hope is Weird

A blog by Steve Backlund  14th November 2023

The statement “faith without hope is weird” captures an important truth for those who want to have a healthy faith. 

Hope is an overall optimistic attitude about the future based on the goodness and promises of God. I am not a proponent of simple positive thinking, but I do ascribe to biblical optimism. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” Hebrews 10:23


Faith is very specific while hope is more general.
Faith says, “God is going to do this !” Hope says, “I don’t know what God is going to do but good things are coming.” 
Continue reading “Faith Without Hope is Weird”