April 2003
Page 1 - Gethseminary by Paul Anderson
Page 2 - "Let Anyone with Ears to Hear, Listen!" by Dallas Willard
Page 3 - Report from the Mid-Year Equipping Conference
Page 4 - The Process or "How do we get there from here?" by Paul Anderson
Report from the Mid-Year Equipping Conference -
Transition and the Journey of Faith
February 20-21, 2003Graham Cooke of Southampton, England was back with us again as the speaker at our Equipping Conference. Last year we had 550 in attendance-this year over 1,200 came.
After the Thursday evening session he asked those who had been struggling with a particular sin or other problem to come forward. He then taught us a key principle. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of something, or if we are having trouble overcoming something, we can have rest and confidence that the Father wants to give us a gift in place of that problem. If we are struggling with impure thoughts, and we confess and apologize for that, we can expect Him to give us a gift that corresponds to that sin-in this case, the gift of purity. The following is the prayer Graham offered after we identified and then asked forgiveness for areas in our life:
"Father, I pray for success in the name of Jesus. I pray for a divine energy to come upon us. Father, I ask in the name of Jesus, that there will be such a hunger in our hearts to comply with you. I pray that we will get revenge upon the enemy for everything that he has ever done. For every area where we have been a victim, I pray that you will turn that into a ministry in that area. That we can go and set other people free from that very thing that we had been subject to. And so we can get revenge. I pray that the favor of God, because this is what this is, this is the favor of God-that He would give you a gift in exchange for the very thing you loathe. This is the favor of God. I pray that the favor of God would come upon you. That the goodness and kindness of God will lead you to continuous changes of mind. That you would come into a whole new experience of Almighty God. That you would have breakthrough, after breakthrough, after breakthrough, after breakthrough, after breakthrough, after breakthrough, after breakthrough, after breakthrough. That you would become so accomplished at breakthrough that nobody around you is going to be safe - from a breakthrough. That which has become real and powerful in you, you will now give away, because it is the manifold good news of God. And I pray that your anointing for breakthrough will touch lives all around you. That truly, no one will be safe. And that as you break through individually on the right and on the left, so corporately, as the house of God, we will learn how to press in to our community and cause breakthroughs. That a breakthrough spirit would rise up in our churches and we would become the focal point for breakthrough in our communities and in our neighborhoods. We will see breakthroughs over our families, breakthroughs over our neighbors, breakthroughs over our work colleagues, breakthroughs in our community. And nothing will be impossible for us because we will recognize (God saying), I have a gift. I have a gift to give you. And the good news is, God has a gift for that problem. And this is what it is. He wants to give you this, so you can give him that. Father, in Jesus' name, I ask, that in these next months, a breakthrough spirit will come and rest upon us, in Jesus' name. Oh God, that we could become the good news, for Jesus' sake.
Amen."
