The power of dreams

Joel famously that  “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,  and your old men shall dream dreams;”

I’m sure old men is just used for illustrative purposes and not exclusive – at least I hope that is the case because ever since my wife prayed for me over a year ago I’ve had a lot of dreams! I mean for someone who NEVER used to dream – a lot!

For example, the other night had a dream that I was getting new glasses and the optician was a local church of England vicar. Strangely we were in the USA at the time and I was scheduled to head back to the UK. The new glasses hadn’t arrived and when I asked for them I realised that I hadn’t chosen the frames – the vicar had chosen them for me. He said – I’ve got them here that I can show you. They were ridiculous – round glasses with no frame at the top. I thought I’ve just wasted £200 and there’s nothing I can do. Woke up

I asked Caroline, the dream guru in our house, and to her the meaning was clear. I need a new way of looking at things – a new spiritual perspective. It might seem strange or even bizarre to me at first but God is going to use someone outside of our stream to open my eyes to see in a new way. Wow – I think she’s right. In fact it lines up a lot with things I’ve been praying about!

Here’s what I’ve learned about dreams

1/ Having and interpreting dreams is a spiritual gift. Daniel (dan 7:1), Joseph, Paul all had the gift.

2/ Like all gifts it can be imparted through the laying on of hands (2 tim 1:6) . I used to rarely remember dreams before Caroline prayed for me and suddenly I’ve had probably 30 significant dreams in the last year or so.

3/They often need interpreting using scripture , prayer and godly counsel (dan 2:26). Often the interpretation is found within scripture. For example travel or transport is often to do with ministry – like Paul’s call from Macedonia. Gold is often the things of God as we see from the temple. Husband or wife can be literal or can represent Christ & his church etc etc.

4/ As Bill Johnson says, ‘God doesn’t hide things from you, He hides things for you’. A good Father, he always gives good gifts.

5/ They dry up if you don’t do anything with them. I’ve found that the more I take them seriously, the more I write them down, the more I pray and talk with friends and seek to understand, the more dreams I have.

6/ Like prophecy, they can be from God, our own self or the enemy and so need testing against scripture. You know the score.

So, are you listening to your dreams?

You can’t say it better than that – John Piper on responding to the economic downturn

I preached recently on our response to the economic downturn – it’s a key consideration right now for all believers. Fear or faith, truth or lies – our life and witness will hang on these things. So when I came across this 7 minute clip from John Piper on our response to the downturn I thought I’d pass it on to you guys – outstanding!

Thank God for the miracles of 2008

I was reflecting the other day on some of the outstanding healing miracles we saw in 2008.

There was the guy with the upper back & neck injury from ten years ago. After a word of knowledge about someone with neck pain her responded, was prayed for and immediately felt dizzy. He felt the same way for the rest of the meeting and it wasn’t until he walked out of the building that he realised that he was pain free for the first time in ten years. Thank you Jesus!

There was the lady who had 6 percent vision. After prayer (literally mud on her eyes) she grabbed a hymn sheet and read it! This happened in another church in Bedford but we loved the story so much we asked her to come to KA to tell it (listen here). Thank you Jesus!

There was the girl with flat feet who literally felt them stretching during prayer and by the time they had finished praying suddenly had arches in her feet where before there were none (listen here)! Thank you Jesus!

And the guy who had back pain for 30 years and now has none! Thank you Jesus!

There were the six students healed at freshers fair (listen here). In 2007 we gave out tins of beans – in 2008 it was time for something better! Thank you Jesus!

There was the guy who’d bitten off the end of his tongue and had been told by the surgeon that it could not possibly grow back because it was a muscle. God disagreed and instructed a team member to pray for it to grow back – and it did (listen here)!  Thank you Jesus!

There was the lady healed of endometriosis (listen here) Thank you Jesus!

And the other lady healed of tinitus (listen here) Thank you Jesus!

And the torn ligaments healed during worship (here) Thank you Jesus!

And the lady set free from post natal depression (here) Thank you Jesus

And not forgetting the seven teenagers healed on the streets (here) THANK YOU JESUS!

We serve an awesome God. He’s unstoppable. And He’s on the move!

Here’s to 2009! Don’t stop going for it. Expect more. COME ON!

A strange start to a new year

I’ve had a month off blogging due to a crazy December and needing a bit of a break over Christmas. Blogging, twitter – it all went to pot when things with the building went up a gear. But I’m back in action now -we’ll see how it goes!

We arrived back in Bedford after Christmas and were greeted with the sad news that Angie Simco, long term member of the King’s Arms, had died that morning. Her battle with cancer was over. She was an awesome lady who loved Jesus, loved his word and lived and died well. Some of her last words to me were that I must promise her that we would not stop going for it in praying for the sick – she wanted us to pray for her right to the end. She knew that she might not get the healing she wanted but also that she was going to a better place if she didn’t. It was a win-win for her. For those of us who remain it’s always a mixed bag – grief and sadness mixed with joy. Angie was a real example to us all and many will miss her but we have joy that she’s with the one she loved. As i said to Angie, cancer will be beaten in Bedford – if not with her then we’ll keep going after it until we see it come crashing down. She heartily agreed.

On another note, we had some awesome news just before Christmas concerning our building fund. As you might know we’re trying to raise £1million to refurbish the old crayola warehouse on the south side of Bedford. In our November 2007 gift day we raised £526,000 – an incredible amount which blew us away. But then – get this – in the space of 2 days right before Christmas, we were given £101,000! Unbelievable! One guy phoned up our offices and asked if we knew of a church in Bedford going for a building. Our administrator said that we were! He explained that he had never been to Bedford or heard of our church but that morning God had told him to send some money to a church in Bedford going for a building. He’d found us on the web. He sent us a cheque for £1000. Come on!

So, in the midst of credit crunch chaos, God is on the move providing for his kids! Whatever adventures you’re on this year – go for it!

PS I’ll fill you in on some treasure hunt stories next post, but for those of you asking, the next treasure hunt training day is Saturday 21st March and you can sign up here