Archive for the ‘power’ Category

What the Obama Inaugural Means

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Watching the inaugural today was a very emotional experience for me. I lived in Washington, DC from 1962 to 1968. I walked that mall back then during that March on Washington (August of 1963) at the mall when King spoke and gave his I Have a Dream speech. The emotions of that moment still flood my mind. It is still amazing what happened from that astonishing non-violent action.

Then JFK was shot (November 1963) and I was caught up in the emotions of Washington with the loss of this leader with his vision of a coming Camelot and our responsibility to make it happen . Part of that vision was to put us on the moon. And that we did. I got to be a part of that vision. After three astronauts died when their capsule caught fire, my company sent me to Houston to check out things there for ideas on how to make those flights safer.

I remember walking the streets of a poor part of Washington one day much later and not seeing not a single person. Off in the distance somewhere I heard shouts. I finally found a lonely walker and asked what was happening. One of the Kennedys’ (probably Bobby Kennedy) was moving down the street in (probably an open) car, and the people were shouting greetings with hope in a coming Camelot.

Then Martin Luther King was shot in April of 1968. Again the emotions of another leader’s death shook the city. I was working at the coffeehouse of a church in the inner city that night, and calls were coming in to us that the city was burning just a few blocks from where we were. We stayed at the coffeehouse. And not even a single window was broken there that night as we worked.

Then, a few months later (June, 1968), we saw the death of Bobby Kennedy. Camelot never came.

Today, again, at this same mall we see the visions that these leaders held in the past beginning once again to break loose of the bondage that has held them for years. The most important thing about President Obama’s inaugural speech, however, is that the President only used the word “I” about three times. What really happens here in this change is up to us. It wasn’t “A change I can believe in” but “A change we can believe in”. The responsibility for leading is with us – not President Obama. What are you going to do about it?

Prayer and the Website

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

We have opened up a new catetgory on the main menu on prayer. Lots of good stuff there. The city-reaching stuff is still there under the church. Enjoy! Within the next few days, we’ll add more to the prayer resources.

Changes and Transformation

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

I like to talk about change, and during the next few months you will see some changes here I think you’ll like. Here are some of these you can expect to see:

  • Main menu changes to include The Journey, Prayer, Healing…
  • Better usability, such as interactive buttons.
  • The addition of professional graphics
  • The updating of resources
  • Additional cool content from Carl.

The changes will be slow and over time. I stay very busy with clients and this site is a ministry of love and calling. My financial resources limit what I can do in a given time frame. We need a new and faster computer as well as additional financial support to put more time here. We pray for that!

Favorite Books on Prayer and Healing - 2006

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007

During the last year I lost a great friend and mentor to cancer, and today I have three other friends battling major diseases for their life. Man was created by God in the Garden free of disease, and disease entered the world when Man disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden tree. Jesus had authority over sin, and could bring healing to all he met. I’m always astonished by the power of prayer and healing in many leaders of the past century that have now gone on to Glory. Jesus healed all that came to him, but because of sin in the world they all eventually went on to Glory.

Here are our favorite books from the past year, with all of them having to do with prayer and healing. Other Portland healers have included Harry Thompson and John G. Lake. Lake had over 100,000 documented healings in the Spokane area - so many they had to close a hospital there and the Surgeon General of the U.S. said Spokane was the healthiest city in the U.S. as a result of his ministry. There was no count of the number of Portland healings from him when he lived here.

Ever Increasing Faith by Smith Wigglesworth ($5.50)

A classic from 1924, now reprinted, that teaches some of the secrets of healing with prayer. Wigglesworth was a simple plumber and then went on to have miraculous results with worldwide travel. He even came through Portland here. His basic philosophy of his success was simple - always claim it in faith in the name of Jesus. Over a million copies sold by the time my 1971 edition was printed.

If You Will Ask: Reflections on the Power of Prayer by Oswald Chambers ($7.99)

This is another classic from 1958 and now reprnted. My copy was reprinted by the Billy Graham Association. Like Wigglesworth, you see the leaders in in personal healing (and even those leading city transformations) are humble and child-like in their faith.

The Metabolic Plan by Stephen Cherniske, M.S. ($10.17)

I’m not sure where Cherniske’s faith is, but this book was gifted to me this year and is really astonishing. Medical doctors in the U.S. generally have little training in natural healing. Our bodies were designed by God and were designed for a hunter-gatherer society in which the diet had lots of unprocessed and fresh fruit and vegetables. We live now in cities and eat food stripped of the nutrients that the body was designed to need. The body has to build 300 billion new cells every day, and the body doesn’t get what it needs to do that. As a result, the brain starts telling the body that we are choosing to shut it down. Cherniske tells how to reverse that. Cherniske is a nutritional biochemist and directed the nation’s first FDA-licensed clinical laboratory specializing in nutrition testing, advised the U.S. Olympic team, and is well known for his research. This book, however, is written for a layperson’s knowledge level (for the most part). Some of his insights, such as on DHEA, will surprise you. (Don’t jump to conclusions here - too much is as bad or worse than too little of many nutrients and harmones.)

Notice that all of these books are inexpensive and are in paperback.

What the Church Needs

Monday, December 18th, 2006

On December 4 I had the privilege of sitting in a conference with Tom White and George Otis as they shared about their perception of what God is doing today. The place where we met was a Rodeway Inn, and functions to the world as a part of that larger chain. In reality, it’s a church that draws over 500 for worship on Sunday, with businesspeople staying there the weekend finding Christ before they head on home from the nearby airport. A few years ago, the motel was the largest center of prostitution here in Portland. Some of those same rooms now serve as half-way housing for kids on the way for finding jobs, Christ, and directions in life.

Tom White had been responsible for getting George in – a challenge in itself with George’s busy schedule. Tom introduced some issues for George, but it was Otis that really dropped the dynamite on us.

In summary, Otis said that we are at a very dark time in history. A time when strange leaders have weapons of mass destruction with the intent to use them and other leaders seem powerless to stop them. A time when political, economic, social, and the rest of our human systems are failing us. And this is not just at national levels, it also true in cities and regions. He’s releasing a video in about two weeks detailing this, but it is short – probably 20 minutes or so. The video shows the story of how we’ve built human institutions with time (League of Nations, United Nations, etc.) and these have all eventually failed us. The world, Otis said, faces almost certain destruction without a supernatural intervention from God.

The Good News, Otis said, is that this supernatural intervention is happening. When Otis did his Transformations I video back in 1999, he had identified about 12 cities worldwide that were totally transformed by the power of God politically, socially, spiritually, and economically – any way you could measure it. Moreover, these were sustained transformations involving the entire city that continued there over time. (Only one was in the U.S.) The video showed what happened in four of these cities.1 A few years later I asked him the count at that time and he told me had about 24 cities. This week is said the count is now over 250 cites and growing very rapidly. This is not just revival, but a supernatural outpouring of the Holy Spirit with stories you would not believe. George spent Monday night telling us some of the stories. Moreover, he has identified some 550 what you might call “salty places” where the fire has begun to burn and already has begun to explode. Like an appetizer for a meal, in these places there is already a deep hunger for the main course.

Thousands of cites have contacted him to come and help them get started after seeing the first video. George says he has no program. He’s only researching what is common to all of these and reporting what he sees. George says you can’t imagine yet what God wants to do. Moreover, he says taking our coffee into the Sunday Service and doing our chit-chat isn’t going to do what needs to happen. It won’t happen until there is a deep, deep, deep hunger for the coming of the Holy Spirit. In these cites people became desperate for spiritual awaking. Then the Holy Sprit comes. Moreover, here is an interesting quote from him:

The greatest breakthrough today is where the Spirit of God comes down and attaches Himself to the broken and humble. It’s where God goes when He wants pleasure.

At various conferences I’ve met several of the pastors that have led these transformations in the cities. They all fit this definition, even to the extent of these pastors being ridiculously humble. Otis says what he is seeing is much like Ezekiel 8 and the supernatural story there and the humility of Ezekiel.

To hear the sessions:

http://www.prayersummits.net/?pageid=59321

Authority and Power in Strategic Prayer

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006

Carl will be speaking on Authority and Power in Strategic Prayer at a Men’s Breakfast at Christian City Church (formerly Bethlehem Church) in Lake Oswego, Oregon near Portland on October 21 (Saturday) at 8 am. The breakfast is free, but you may wish to donate something for the food. Email or call Carl ahead of time (503 697-4773) if you plan to attend so we have enough food. (Leave a message if he isn’t there.)

What Isaiah Tells Us

Sunday, August 20th, 2006

Isaiah made an interesting prophecy (Is. 49:1-3 NKJV)

“Listen, O coastlands, to Me,
And take heed, you peoples from afar!
The LORD has called Me from the womb;
From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.
And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword;
In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me,
And made Me a polished shaft;
In His quiver He has hidden Me.”
“And He said to me,
‘You are My servant, O Israel,
In whom I will be glorified.’

There are four interesting points here:

You are called to purpose.

Isaiah was called to a purpose from his mother’s womb - He was named before birth. Isaiah means Jehovah and deliverer. His purpose, or calling, was defined before birth. The word purpose (1 Tim. 1:9) comes Thesis implies authorship. God creates us before birth for a purpose and calling. That purpose will be completed. It is already completed in te heavenlies. We are called to complete it on Earth. This petition is in the Model Prayer as given by Christ: May your purpose be done on earth as it is already done in heaven.

The spoken word - God’s purpose - has power and authority.

The verse says that Isaiah’s word is spoken as a sharp sword. It has both power and authority to accomplish God’s purpose. The Greek refers to this as the rhema word, a word that acomplishes that for which it is spoken.

The rhema word is protected and hidden.

This passage states that this word, spoken with power and authority, is hidden to protect it from the Enemy.

God’s purpose is to glorify His name.

The whole agenda has the purpose of glorifying God’s name.