Posts with the category “year-on-fire”

If you are having trouble loving someone, the problem may be more of a spiritual issue than a relational issue.  Read More

There are not many times in the Gospels where we find Jesus this impressed with someone’s faith.  Read More

God loves faith. He looks for faith. When Christ was physically here on earth, He was able to spot faith a mile away. It was as if He had a faith-Geiger counter inside His chest that would start to vibrate whenever He got close to faith.  Read More

Faith is not self generated; it is God-given. Most of us have faced dark moments when we have beaten ourselves up for having weak faith. We reason that since faith is required in order to get anything from God, when we are desperate for a miracle, we think we need to pump up our faith into a heightened state of optimism.  Read More

As you grow in Christ, you grow in faith and as you grow in faith, you grow in Christ. It’s not one without the other, but it is one in front of the other. When it comes to faith-building, you want Jesus to go first.  Read More

There is nothing more robust than new faith, and there is nothing more faith-building than the promises of God.  Read More

On this day, March 22, in the year of our Lord 1758, Jonathan Edwards died. He has been called by many the greatest American theologian who ever lived.  Read More

God wants to grow your faith. During Jesus’ discipleship ministry, He did not rebuke His disciples often. In fact, there is only one reason for which He ever rebuked His disciples—because of their unbelief. He rebuked them three times for being, “an unbelieving, sinful generation.”  Read More

On this day, March 20, in the year of our Lord 1858, Burton’s Theater in New York City, New York, was filled with the manifest presence of Christ. Three thousand people were miraculously converted in a single service. What a day!  Read More

That short prayer is a good one for all of us to use periodically. “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” Jesus must have liked it—look at how quickly He responded!  Read More

The impact of your prayers does not depend on the size of your faith, but on the size of your God.  Read More

It is unfortunate Saint Patrick is known only for shamrocks, leprechauns and tall drafts of beer. While history has forgotten the important facts, it is time for us to recover the real story.  Read More

Some people pray with a whimper. Some casually knock. Some seek if they have nothing better to do. Others, however, ask as if their life depended on it; they strain every nerve as they are seeking, and they knock until their knuckles are raw.  Read More

Everyone prays, but not everyone is devoted to prayer. A person who dabbles in prayer dabbles in the manifest presence of Christ. Anyone who dabbles in God’s presence has obviously missed the point. Those who are devoted to prayer are normally those who are devoted to God’s presence.  Read More

God wants to build your faith muscle. He not only wants you to want what He wants, He wants you to go after it with all your heart. There is nothing more relevant to muscle-building faith than asking for the nations. Asking for the nations is part of the maturing process of prayer.  Read More

When God’s manifest presence came to Jonathan Edwards church in North Hampton, Massachusetts, in 1734, the move of God started with young people. Many revivals throughout history stirred among young adults.  Read More

Do not sell your children short when it comes to their ability to know God and to encounter His manifest presence. More than simply raising good kids, we want to raise godly kids—champions who forcefully advance Christ’s Kingdom.  Read More

Control central in the entire universe is not in Washington, D.C. -- nor is it in the Oval Office nor on Capitol Hill. It is not the Ayatollah in Iran, nor the Kremlin in Russia, nor the Parliament in England, nor the European Union. The New Testament shows us that control central in the entire universe is the upper room in heaven from which God carries out His will through the upper room on earth.  Read More

On this day, March 10, in the year of our Lord 2001, Armin Gesswein died. Today we honor the one whom many people called, “the apostle of the modern prayer movement.”   Read More

The fear of a church split has stood like a curse over too many pastors and their people. It’s time to break the curse.  Read More

Your church may not be as small as you think it is. The key to determining the size of your church is this -- in whose hands is it? Is it in your hands, or have you truly put it in God’s hands?  Read More

Welcoming the fire of God’s manifest presence sounds intimidating—even threatening. Perhaps if the thought of God setting your church on fire does not strike a healthy degree of fear in your bones, you may not have a clue what is at stake.  Read More

It is common to envy others and wish we could consistently pray with other people. The best way to learn to pray, however, is to pray with people who are right where you are.  Read More

If you want fire, you need to ask for it. God loves to come where He is invited. He loves to manifest the reality of His flaming presence when we ask Him.  Read More

Church does not work without the manifest presence of Christ.  Read More

Imagine first time guests walking into your church on Sunday and saying with wide-eyed wonder, “God is really among you!” That is what happens when the manifestation gifts are properly used.  Read More

Psychologists tell us that it’s impossible to feel intimate with anyone with whom we feel guilt. When our inconsistent prayer life makes us feel guilty, we are defeated before we get started. If the very environment of meeting with God makes us feel guilty and thereby prevents intimacy with God, we are obviously in serious trouble.  Read More

The Holy Spirit is always telling the truth. Always.  Read More

A good Christology will save you from virtually every other heresy. Jesus warned us in the last days many will claim, “’I am the Christ.’ And they will deceive many” (Matthew 24:5). Christology is the issue.  Read More

Those of us who consistently hear God’s voice need to be careful of self deception.  Read More

Today, God wants to give each of us clarity in recognizing His manifest presence. In His landmark book An Humble Attempt, Jonathan Edwards wrote perhaps the clearest defense of encountering God’s manifest presence ever written.  Read More

Don’t be afraid of making promises to God. Is it possible that we have become so addicted to failure that we are afraid to even establish godly goals and resolutions? It may be time to take a lesson from Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758).  Read More

Ambrose Whaley was a retired blacksmith and a Methodist lay preacher. He was known in his community as a mighty intercessor. When Armin Gesswein met him at a red barn in the countryside, Armin introduced himself and said, “Uncle Am, I would love to pray with you.”  Read More

Pearl Lotte Goode, the legendary personal intercessor of Billy Graham, was a personal friend of prayer-revivalist Armin Gesswein. When she first attended the Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles in 1949, she not only listened to Billy Graham preach, she went to the tent across the street to pray. Armin Gesswein was leading that prayer meeting. Armin was impressed by her conviction, her burden, and her spiritual muscle.  Read More

On this day, February 22, in the year of our Lord 1972, Mrs. Pearl Lotte Goode died. The last twenty-three years of her life, she had been the legendary level 1 personal intercessor for Billy Graham.   Read More

When the Spirit of God moves, He moves people to pray.  Read More

Today, New Jersey and New York are known for their highways, smoke stacks, industry, and sky scrapers. A hundred years ago, they were known for the presence of God.  Read More

When we encounter the manifest presence of Christ, it is only natural to long for His presence to fill our neighborhoods and our region—to want the water level of the Holy Spirit to rise around us.  Read More

Every revival and every great move of God in one way or another involves a fresh encounter with the manifest presence of Christ.  Read More

It was February 16, in the year of our Lord 1989, Armin Gesswein wrote this letter that cuts to the heart of his upper room theology:  Read More