Charis Bible College is amazing! Year 1 DONE!

Wow, it's honestly amazing how fast this year has gone! It has flown by! Wow! Am I different, um YES! I know there are definitely people who come to this school, they sit under the Word for the entire year and remain unchanged but for me that just isn't possible. The Word of God means so much to me and I CRAVE it. I CRAVE listening to awesome men and women of God talk about Jesus and how He has changed their lives and things that He has taught them! One of my favorite teachers here at CBC is Barry Bennett. He references SO MUCH WORD in his teaching and I love his organization. Probably because I am also a teacher and he clearly has the teaching gift. (here is a link to his site with some of his articles in English, they are also in Spanish! http://www.barrybennett.org/contenido/english-articles).

When you get a hold of the LOVE of God, you honestly can't get enough of Him! You want to listen to music about Him, talk to people who love Him and listen to people teach about Him!  I have entered into some unfamiliar territory in my life. I've never truly understood the love of God and trust me I haven't arrived but I've left (as Andrew often says). I feel almost as if I'm at the edge of the cliff of His love and I'm ready to take a DIVE into the ocean of His love and I'll never EVER be the same!

The Bible tells us God is Love (1 John 4:8).  If this is so, then LOVE is a person.

John 8:32 says, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free".  Truth is a person.

LOVE and TRUTH are descriptions of God. There are so many more but I want to highlight those two for now.

People talk about experiencing the presence of God. When they do, they experience LOVE and TRUTH.  These are who God is. Love is not an emotion, it's a state of being.  When we say "oh I love that movie" and so on, love is not the right word. Of course, we know what we mean. We mean we really like it. However, love is a description of God, therefore a description of us!

Romans 8:11 in the JB Phillips translation says, "..once the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you he will, by that same Spirit, bring to your whole being new strength and vitality."

I like that!  We have the same power within us that raised Jesus from the dead!  That power is the power of God! We have God living inside us. Wow. No wonder the Bible says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" Philippians 4:13. If that is true that I can do all things THROUGH Christ and Christ lives in me...... then wow, I can LOVE unconditionally as He does. I am LOVE! Since God is LOVE, so am I!  Since God is TRUTH, then so am I!  I reflect the image of Christ everywhere I go. God is Love and Truth. I am Love and Truth. That should be obvious to those around me!

As I continue feeding on the Word of God, I am recharging myself spiritually, if you will. Now technically, yes, your spirit has everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). HOWEVER, not everyone knows that, therefore, they are not experiencing what is available to them through Christ! It is so important to be constantly filling yourself with the Word, to not only discover what belongs to you and WHO YOU ARE! but also to "recharge". Proverbs 4:22 tells us that God's word is life and health unto all our flesh. As you read His word, you are actually being healed. It is THAT powerful!

I'll end with this, my version of John 16:13 is "you have the spirit of truth living on the inside of you! He guides you into ALL truth AND shows YOU things to come." Thank God for Jesus! Jesus said he wouldn't "leave" us per say but that He would send another comforter (John 14:16) which is that Spirit of Truth! The Holy Spirit! We are NEVER left alone people! We have the author of TRUTH and LOVE living on the inside of US! We have ALL we need! As you read His word, that LOVE and TRUTH is stirred up within you, so to speak, and you will notice you are operating in more LOVE and more TRUTH every day!

Feed your Spirit, Spirit food, the WORD!

IDENTITY!

If you don't identify with God, the world is RIGHT there to tell you who THEY think you are.... and give you an identity, a false one that isn't a true reflection of who you are in CHRIST!

The Bible Heals-It's Powerful Yo.

Good morning. Can't sleep due to the 3 hour nap I took earlier today, so I figured instead of laying in bed trying to sleep, I might as well blog from bed :)

I guess over the course of my past 2 year journey with the Lord I've heard people say that the Word of God (aka the Bible) is powerful. However, I never realized just HOW powerful it is. Until now! (and I believe I've only just begun.....)

Proverbs 4:20-22

"My son (that's us!), attend to my words; consent and submit to my WORD. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who FIND them, HEALING and HEALTH to all their flesh."

Do you want to know how powerful the Word of God is? It heals your flesh. Aka your body. Let's think about this. God spoke the world into existence, right?

Genesis 1 "and God SAID, let there be light." "God CALLED the light Day...." "God SAID, God SAID, God SAID."

So God created this entire world we live in PLUS the animals and people here by SPEAKING His Word. Everything God SAID came to pass. And this is still true today. If we SPEAK the Word of God (the Bible) into our lives..... it comes to pass. Why do you think the devil works so stinkin hard to keep you from reading and studying the Word for yourself? Because it's POWERFUL!

Testimonies: In Ephesians 3 the Bible mentions us being FULL of God. That has a whole new meaning for me now that I'm in Bible College, listening to the Word of God for roughly 4 hours a day. Plus the studying, reading and listening of teaching I do outside that 4 hours.... plus the ministry I give on the phones for the ministry which is ENTIRELY based on the Word of God. It adds up to a TON of my day being spent in the Word of God. So here's what's happening with me, and as previously stated, it's only just begun!

1. I've lost weight.

Now I'm not talking about a diet plan, exercise plan or what have you. I seriously was NOT trying to lose weight. I didn't pray about it. I didn't ask the Lord to take my desire for food away. I didn't even consult Him on the matter. So, here's how it's happened...... As I became FULL of the Word of God (Eph. 3) my fleshly desires went away. This is going to sound strange to you if you've NEVER been submerged in the Word for extended periods of time. But I'm telling you, the Word WORKS! As I grow closer and closer to Him through His Word and relationship with Him, my desires of the flesh disappear. Yes, I'm still eating, but food is no longer my REFUGE, SAFETY, or COMFORTER. It apparently used to be, since I gained a lot of weight in the past 4 years. God is now my REFUGE, SAFETY and COMFORTER. And He doesn't make me gain weight :) hehe

2. I'm happy :)

John 6:63 "It is the Spirit Who gives life, the flesh conveys no benefit. The WORDS that I have spoken to you are spirit and LIFE."

John 10:10 "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that they might have life and have it in abundance."

What is your definition of a good life? Mine is: happiness. The Word of God brings life to you. Makes you come alive. Makes you joyful, happy, and excited!

3. My mind is being healed!

Ephesians 4:23

"And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude)."

Romans 12:2

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the entire renewal of your MIND....."

Wow, this revelation literally came to me tonight as I ministered to someone over the phone from 2 Timothy 1:7 about having a "sound mind". I have not always been well in my mind. I guess the one area I kinda thought I couldn't keep the devil out of was my mind, so I had, in a way, opened my mind up for him to play. Without going into too much detail and making this 14 pages long..... the major thing I realized tonight was that all throughout school, I knew I learned things differently than others. In order for me to "study" I've had to read and re-read my notes many times to retain anything. If I had text book reading, I had to be in a super quiet room with zero distractions and even then I had to read it multiple times to retain anything. It always frustrated me that I couldn't read with anyone around making noise. Also that I had to read things many times to understand them. What a waste of time! I also would tune out most teachers and hear nothing they said. This got a bit better once I got to college because I was able to choose my classes and study things I was interested in, so I paid a little more attention.

Now that I've been in Bible class for 2.5 months, I notice that I don't have these issues as much anymore. My mind has been healed! I have closed the door to the devil and the Word is healing the parts of my mind that he destroyed. The best part is it's a painless process, the same with losing weight. The word is healing my flesh and it's completely without my cooperation! Pretty powerful!

--Thank you God for the Bible! Thank you that this blog inspires people to research more scriptures that talk about the POWER of your Words! AMEN!

Perhaps I'm not as "great" at blogging as I previously predicted.....

Well, be sure to thank "Praying Medic" from FB for finally getting me to update this blog! I've been saying I'll update for the past month when people have asked me, but he wanted to share other people's blogs on his Facebook page so his readers would be encouraged and I posted my link and said "yup, I gotta update it now, don't I?" Haha, it's not that I don't enjoy writing, because actually I really do..... I think it's just the TIME that it takes me. Anyway, here we go!

A lot has happened since the last post. God continues to bless me (as He does ALL His children) in ways that amaze me :) So I'm going to start by speaking of more recent things and we'll see if I opt to make this super lengthy or not.....

(on a side note: July 21st-24th the Power and Love Conference was here in CO Springs, my friend Dawn flew out here to see me and to see Todd White, Dan Mohler and Bob Hazlett at this conference and she and I were changed FOREVER, wow, talk about powerful.... I should probably do a post just on some of the truths we learned from these awesome men of GOD.)

Ok, finances.... oh finances..... Andrew just spoke to us on Finances Thursday at school. It was powerful. One of the things he said that struck me was "if you aren't faithful with little, you won't be faithful with much" He was referring to Luke 16:10. He spoke about how trusting God with your finances is the smallest use of your faith. It should be step 1 in our Christian walk. If we can't trust God with our finances, how can we trust Him for healing, deliverance, job provision etc. We've got sowing and reaping which is a proven tactic when it comes to finances, so we need to be trusting God with money before we can TRULY trust God with anything else. Andrew spoke about how our hearts are attached to our wallets. We're always fearful that someone might take our money and it's hard for us to give it away, especially when we think we need it most.

Well, I moved out here to Colorado 2 months ago. I had saved money from my great teaching job this past year, so when I first got here I was thinking "oh this is fine, I trust God, it's going to all work out." Really though, I wasn't trusting God in that sense, I was trusting the number in my bank account. I KNEW that I had enough money for a few months. The month of July was a breeze, it was gone before I knew it. I felt confident with that "large" number in my checking account. Now I knew I was going to pay for the first year of Charis Bible College in cash, so technically that amount was spoken for, but still the number deceived me because once I paid the tuition, and got my last check from my teaching job..... I realized quite quick that this wasn't going to last me like I thought. I trusted in the wrong thing. I didn't trust in God. So I determined to change. After I paid some bills, I looked at that number and did some quick math and realized "hmmm I better go find a job." Well I searched in apparently "all the wrong places" because after 3 good weeks of applying places and not getting hired my lightning fast mind, as Andrew would say, realized something was wrong. I asked the Lord what I should do and I heard Him tell me "just rest and stop looking". Pffffff that wasn't what I wanted to hear. So I kinda justified myself to the Lord saying "well ok God, if you've got that perfect job for me, then cool, but it's not going to hurt if I still keep loooooking.....". Wow, what a waste of my time that was, note to self: listen to God next time. Looking for a job, when you're not supposed to be looking for a job, is a major let down. I knew I wouldn't be hired at any of these places because in my heart God had told me to rest and to stop looking. Somewhere in the beginning of this 3-4 week process, my roommate had forwarded me an add from Craigslist looking for tutors. I had told the Lord I wanted nothing to do with teaching this year because I was burnt out. Well, usually when you tell the Lord "I won't do blah blah blah, He has you do that." haha, and really it's because you know in your heart He's leading you to do "that" but your flesh doesn't want to. God blessed me with the ability to teach, so duh, makes sense He'd use me in that here :) So I applied to be a tutor because I looked at the hourly rate compared to the hourly rate of the "other" jobs on Craigslist and was like "well yeah my degree might as well pay for itself here...". I got a reply right away saying this company was interested in me. I set up an interview and was hired on the spot. It's a "temporary" tutoring job, so I continued looking on Craigslist and found yet another tutoring company, applied with them, they offered me a job. I went into Wells Fargo, chatted with the bank teller, found out her daughter needs a tutor and gave her my number. So, yeah God is providing, but not in the way that I thought He would. Funny how that works, isn't it?

Now, God has also been teaching me to not depend on the number in the bank account. That's subjective. It can change at any moment. According to the account I don't have enough money to last me this month. According to God I have MORE THAN ENOUGH. Some of you might be thinking "Oh Amie, that's a nice thought, but you might want a plan B incase God doesn't come through." You don't understand..... there is no plan B. God is plan A and there are no other plans. I have to trust Him, I have NO other options. And guess what? He's coming through for me, as He ALWAYS will because I TRUST HIM. Without faith, you cannot please God (Heb. 11:6). I have faith. I didn't have faith in God for my finances before, I had faith in myself and my bank account and my good job.

So the tutoring companies have told me I won't start tutoring until mid to end Oct. And like I said above, my bank accounts (where they are at right now) will not last until then..... so here's how God has provided so far and He's NOT DONE! The one tutoring company that is "temporary" called me and wants ME out of all the tutors (yay!), to accompany them to promote the company at a "tutor fair" next week a few days and I'll get paid to do it! That check will come JUST in time! I'll get money in other ways too..... the thing is, I'm NOT WORRIED! Worry is the opposite of faith. And remember FAITH pleases God!

It's really nice resting in God. There is a peace here that I'm not sure I can really explain, you kind of have to experience it yourself. I suppose it's a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). No one can shake me out of this peace and this rest. Not my bank account, not friends, not family, not the devil. NO ONE can shake me. I stand on the solid ROCK of Jesus Christ. Man this is a great place to be.

God's provision, wait, is it for ME? You can't mean ME? Really?

Ephesians 1:7-10 (MSG) Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people-free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of EVERYTHING, PROVIDED for EVERYTHING we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

Wow- isn't that powerful. I emphasized a few important words there. EVERYTHING and PROVIDED. God has provided everything. You see, I chose to go to Bible college because I heard the Lord suggest it to me in Oct. 2009. However, God began making provision for me before I was even born. God took DELIGHT in making the plans for my life that He wanted me to follow! How cool is that?! Pretty cool :)

I now know I am walking in that plan that God took delight in making for me. How do I know? His provision is here. I am blessed beyond what I could even fathom. Now this isn't to say that God doesn't provide for you if you're not walking according to His plan. He does bless all of His children and He is constantly trying to get us back on "track" in the plan He so intricately designed for us. As Andrew Wommack says "God's at least as good as a GPS, He can recalculate" :)

But let me tell you, when you know that you know that you know that THIS is what God wants you to do RIGHT at THIS MOMENT..... it's probably the best feeling, ever?! So, how do I know? Let me tell you.....

1) I feel complete and total peace being here.

Col. 3:15 AMP: "And let the peace of God (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ's] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always].

2) I have a GREAT apartment to live in, all my "things" fit in the apartment and I have the sweetest roommate and neighbor!

Psalm 37:4 AMP: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

Eph. 1:11-12 MSG: "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. (Gosh that's good) Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had His eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone.

You see, my roommate is someone that God worked out FOR ME! She is part of God's plan for ME! He loves me SO much! (He loves you just as much, fyi ;) )

3) I got free internet.

Gonna go with Psalm 37:4 again on this one! I desired the internet. It's one of the ways I am growing in Him. I am on Facebook a lot and my Facebook is ALL ministry. I Skype with people and I pray for people over both FB and Skype. God knows this. He knows all things. He KNEW I would need internet at my apartment in order to continue doing these things.

After I spent a day driving around trying to decide how I was going to get internet, I came home, sat down and decided to stop thinking about it. Went over to my neighbor's apartment that evening and she says to me as she opens the door, "Amie, the Lord just told me to give you my wireless password so you can use my internet for free!" I offered to pay half and she said "no, no I want to bless you." Well, ok then! Thank you JESUS!

4) I've already made INSANE connections at the college with the "RIGHT" people. I put "RIGHT" in quotes because they aren't "right" for everyone ;) God has a purpose for ME, remember! All of the "important" people for me to meet in regards to the Bible College and the prayer ministries that I want to be involved with just "happened" to be in the foyer of the conference I attended with my neighbor Friday evening. They were all there AT ONCE. Coincidence. Nope, no possible way.... that has GOD written all over it. My neighbor introduced me to all of these people and I spoke with them.

2 Corinthians 9:8 AMP: "And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work].

5) I've received money from a few people who want to "plant a seed" by helping me out!

2 Corinthians 9:8 and Philippians 4:19

So, am I "worried" about money, housing, jobs or anything else the "world" worries about? No way. Why?

Philippians 4:19 AMP: "And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

You see, God WILL supply every need I have. In fact, He already HAS supplied every need before I even have the need. That's my God. That's my Abba. That's my daddy :) He's got me covered. Oh what peace that brings, to KNOW that God loves me unconditionally and has taken care of me totally....... forever.......

Until next time, in which I just KNOW I'll be able to add more examples of how God has blessed me, I trust this blessed you! God LOVES YOU! He'll do the SAME for you as He has for me...... if you believe :)

How Amie decided to go to Bible College!

This is my first attempt at a video..... we'll see if it works and if you can see me! I'm sorry it got so long.... I tried to redo it and kept messing up, so this is what ya get for now until I learn iMovie :)

This video basically goes quite well with my previous post.

Amie's journey with healing!

It's been too long my friends, I apologize. It is the end of the school year and this group of children is particularly challenging. But hey, I have 12 teaching days left! I CAN DO IT! :)

Ok, so I wanted to write out my journey with healing and how I got started. Perhaps it will help you, or you can relate. This is also for myself so that years down the road if someone asks me how I got started, I can simply find this post and remember "all" the details :) Blogs are awesome!

Once upon a time...... or as one of my students wrote once a pond a time....... Amie graduated college (2007) and chose to move to Kansas City, Missouri to teach. (switch from 3rd person to 1st)

I felt a lot of peace about moving from Minnesota. At the time I didn't know that it was "peace" I felt or what it was exactly, but I KNEW that the Lord wanted me in KC, MO. So, I moved in with my fantastic Auntie for a few months in KC. I immediately got my first teaching job, miraculously, and taught summer school for 8 weeks. I also worked part time at Linens N Things (may it rest in peace, bankruptcy). August rolled around and I didn't have a teaching job for the "school year" yet. I was thankful I wasn't paying rent.... and that I had a part-time job at LNT. The entire time, I wasn't worried about getting a job. That is what was "strange" (it was God, obviously) about the whole thing. I wasn't worried.... I had this confidence in my God, that He would provide for me.... He always has. I've never experienced "lack" in my life and I've always been protected.

I was at summer school one of the last days and I had a missed call and voicemail on my cell phone. I listened to the VM and it was a principal of a school in KC asking me to interview. I called him back and he asked me if I could come in Saturday at the school to interview with him. It was for a 4th grade position. I said "YES!" and met him that Saturday. We sat in the flippin hot school (no AC in Missouri.... in August....) and he interviewed me, telling me that he would know by the end of the interview if he wanted me or not. It was a bit of pressure. I immediately liked the man and he hired me right after the interview! He then showed me around the school and this is where I began my teaching career.

Amie, what does this have to do with healing? Ah, let me tell you!

So while in Kansas City, I got hooked up with a church and met my girlfriends. We started hanging out and I was so grateful to God for these girls! Carrie, Danielle, Noe, Jess, Jennifer, I owe this journey to you! Thank you for helping me grow in the Lord!

Alright, so there is one friend in particular who helped me in my journey. Carrie, I'm forever grateful. Thank you for loving me enough to show me the TRUTH! Carrie and her fantastic mom brought me to a church over on the Kansas side once that preached about healing. I hadn't really been taught anything about healing.... so I didn't have any preconceived notion either way, so I was open to it. I immediately got hooked on this teaching! The pastor graduated from Rhema Bible Institute and I began listening to other people from that "realm" such as Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Charles Capps and Willie George. After being in this church for a few months I noticed these people prayed in "tongues". I had heard of that, but didn't know what it was. I asked Carrie and her mom if they prayed in tongues they said "oh yes! It's wonderful". I began to wonder and a few weeks later, I went up to a woman at the church and she prayed over me to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I began to pray in tongues. Carrie's mom gave me a teaching from Willie George on praying in tongues, and I listened to it and saw the truth. I prayed in tongues all the time for a few weeks.... it was good!

As I listened to this teaching on healing.... I questioned..... I wondered and I believed with all my heart that it was true. I saw things in the scriptures that I didn't see before. Scriptures jumped off the page at me, I had never really experienced this before like I did in Kansas City. My pastor taught that healing WAS God's will..... every time. That everyone should be healed. I had the typical questions that anyone new to this or anyone reading this who isn't healing has..... "why are there sick people?, why isn't everyone healed? why aren't pastor's preaching this?" etc.

Well, I was in the church for about 6 months (2009) before I felt the need to move BACK to Minnesota. I moved back, got a teaching job (God appointed) working in North Minneapolis 5th grade. I found a church near by that taught on healing and speaking in tongues, so I attended there and they introduced me to Andrew Wommack. As soon as I discovered Andrew's teaching of the Word, I couldn't stop listening..... I loved this truth. I had always felt like sickness and disease was evil and I never, NEVER thought it was from God. I'm so grateful that I never was sucked into that lie, that God gives people sicknesses to teach them things.... how awful. Not my God :)

Ok, so I attended this awesome church for a year (2009-2010).... but I still wasn't healing others. I was just healing myself. I realized that God wanted me well, so I spoke to my body and told it to be well. I had heard Andrew talk about commanding and telling the sickness to go, so I was doing that with myself. I had also begun networking on Facebook and finding people who believed that healing was FOR us and that we COULD operate in it. I was pumped. The things I healed myself of were : Asthma, hip pain, knee pain, numerous sore throats, numerous headaches, back pain and other random pains that would come and go. But I hadn't tried healing anyone else. I was scared.

The summer of 2010 is where things skyrocketed for me in regards to healing. I mentioned that I had started networking on Facebook. I went to Andrew Wommack's FB site and started befriending people who went to his college (Charis Bible College). I befriended Brian Doolin. Brian and I started chatting about healing and he shared with me how he was out healing the sick everywhere he went. I asked him how he was so passionate about this and how he decided to just "get out there and do it". He introduced me to John G. Lake Ministries (JGLM) and I began listening to this teaching called the DHT (Divine Healing Technician) training. I LOVED it and realized it was the truth! Just like how I had felt when I listened to Andrew Wommack. This Curry Blake guy who taught the DHT sparked something inside of me..... inside my spirit. I realized I HAD to help the world. Our purpose in life was to help and impact the world. We're not just dropped here on the earth so we can make a mess of our lives and then die. We're here to preach the gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons (Mark 16:15-18). I was determined to override my fear of approaching others in public. It's now been almost a year and I am still overriding that fear, but it's easier every time..... practice definitely helps!

In October 2010 I found a "life team" here nearby and I had just decided to no longer attend my church I was attending, so I began attending this "life team" on Thursday nights. Now before I get into that I should mention that I met the McCoys through Facebook and went to stay with their family in Iowa in October. I blogged about that experience.... it was life changing. Thank you McCoys. That experience pushed me over the edge, if you will, with healing other people.

It is now May 2011 and I've had quite a lot of healing under my belt. My confidence in the Lord grows every time I see another person healed, every time I read the Word and every time I share the truth with someone! This life team is so incredible. These amazing men and women of God preach the gospel and desire the truth from God and only the truth. They research things, they challenge me and each other, we study the Bible together to determine, what the truth is for us here in 2011 :) I am so thankful for all of these people that the Lord has placed in my life to help me grow! He is so good! I have had many friends who have helped to steer me in this path when I seemed to get a bit off track, so to speak.... Thank you! They know who they are :)

As I sit and reflect on the past 2 years of learning about healing, I realize how the Lord worked it all out to teach me. He knows me better than anyone else, obviously. The Lord just slowly introduced me one baby step at a time.... so I wouldn't freak out and say this stuff isn't real. Thank you Lord :)

Catholic Convention Miracles

So I get invited by my friend Jeanne to be on the prayer team at this Catholic conference. Now, I'm not Catholic and have always viewed Catholics as "excluding" people, meaning that you can't go to their church if you're not Catholic etc. Then there's the whole Mary, mother of Jesus and Saint so and so business that I never really got. Shouldn't Jesus be our focus? So anyway.... I had to PUSH all of that aside to agree to be on the prayer team. Then I had to take a few thoughts captive. Thoughts like "they'll find out I'm not Catholic and kick me out" or "they'll think I'm weird, I don't exactly pray the way that they do..." but I quickly cast those out and actually was quite looking forward to going. I arrive in record time, listening to rap, traffic was zero and personally I think God translated me a bit.... that'll be a talk for another time.

I walk in and find Jeanne, she was going to speak for 30 minutes at the conference and be on the prayer team as well as one other man. There were about 40 Catholics at this convention. I'm telling you ALL of this background stuff about me to let you know that there is no "perfect" way of going about this. I make mistakes. I have pre-judgements I shouldn't have. Despite my weakness of the flesh from time to time, God is still able to work through me!

I had the BEST time at this conference. I was met by extremely friendly and receptive people. I was able to lay hands with Jeanne, on at least 10 of the 40 people there, get them healed..... then be able to lay hands on 3 people to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues! Way cool. Had never done that before. Also had never grown out legs.... so let's begin with those testimonies.

First guy, named Mark (yay I remembered one name....), he was a sweet, quiet man and his friend had to persuade him to even come over for prayer. We greeted him warmly and he told us that he was in extreme pain. His entire back and he was just denied Social Security benefits, and now has to figure out what he can even do for a job to make some money. He had some depression hanging on him. He looked miserable. Jeanne and I started commanding his back to line up and Jeanne got a Word of Knowledge that his legs were uneven. So she told him to sit down and give me his feet! He had cowboy boots on :) So I grabbed his feet, notice one leg was shorter and pretty much as soon as I started to say "leg grow in Jesus name...." it popped out. Even legs. Boom. God's so awesome. He goes "whoa! I felt that!" Then we had him stand up and bend over to see if the back pain was gone. It wasn't, so we ministered again and he said he felt tingling in his back. He was able to bend and was smiling! PRAISE JESUS!

Then came Jeanne. She said, "check my legs" she had one shorter, so as soon as I touched her legs she said "oh I feel it, there it goes"! Her hip pain was gone!

Oh gosh, then one of my favorite testimonies was this woman named..... oh dear.... I've forgotten. This woman comes over and tells us she had a collapsed lung, needed a new heart, had pain in her knees, hip pain and something else.... I think. Oh gall bladder, it had been removed through surgery. Her husband was saying awful things to her out of fear, such as "you're holding me back since I have to take care of you and you can't do as much anymore". So first we ministered regarding her marriage. Prayed and let her know that he most likely was experiencing fear because he didn't know what to do since she had health problems. So then we started the healing! Jeanne got another word about uneven legs, so I took her legs and sure enough, uneven. This is why she had hip pain. Grew the legs out, she was shocked, then we got the knees healed. The first time we commanded them to heal she still had major pain when kneeling down. We did it probably 4 more times and she crouched down after each one and kept saying the pain was less and less. Until finally it was GONE! We hit the missing gall bladder, commanded it to regrow, commanded the lung to reform and the heart to beat with the rhythm of life! This woman realized just how much God loves her. She went from crying because she was so depressed to being so joyful as she hugged us both several times, then left!

One woman had a daughter who was not walking for the Lord, we'll say. In fact, she would get angry when the word "God" was spoken. Her mom, Christine, was at the conference and came over for prayer. We prayed quiet extensively for her daughter. Christine was crying and by the end felt so much peace. We reminded her that she is a LIGHT for God. That she doesn't need to say the name "God" out loud, that she represents God everywhere. We commanded the demons trying to keep her daughter from God to flee and let her go. Then we found out that Christine needed healing, not only in her relationship with her daughter, but for her blood pressure and some weird allergy of eggs, oh and damaged intestines. We began commanding and as soon as we said "blood pressure normalize" she said she felt this weight just lift off of her body. Now that is COOL! She left with so much peace and joy about everything!

Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now I have never done this before for others. I have it and I pray in tongues and I KNEW the first person I laid hands on to receive it would receive it, but I hadn't done it..... until today! Since I know that tongues is for every believer, I have no issues finding the confidence to expect God to bring it forth. It's nice to be at that place. I'm working on getting there with healing. I'm to the point now where everyone I lay hands on "feels something" which is pretty awesome! I'm excited as I grow more and more into WHO I AM IN CHRIST!

Ok, so tongues. Well, the man who explained the baptism to the people confused them. Heck, I was confused and I have the baptism already. I was NOT sure how it would go or if anyone would even WANT it after his confusing talk.... but people came forward. There were 4 groups of people praying for individuals to receive the baptism. Jeanne, myself and a man named David were a team. We were able to get David healed of tightened muscles (sore) uneven legs and hip pain, after ward. But anyway, we had 2 men first. The first man wanted direction from the Lord on what he should do with his life. We prayed for that first, then we asked him if he spoke in tongues because God gives you answers to things when you pray in tongues. He said he didn't and that he'd like it. So, we got him praying in tongues. Man was he blessed! He hugged us, we said a "Hail Mary" and he left.

Then a second man came up. He was my favorite. He just wanted the Holy Spirit and boy did he get Him! Haha, he was so great. He was so overjoyed as he spoke in tongues. He felt the power! He hugged us then, and again later he found us and hugged us AGAIN! He's changed! PRAISE GOD!

Ok, then Jeanne and I saw this woman who had so many great questions about tongues. But they weren't answered from the confusing talk before hand, so we tried our best to quickly help her as we walked into the room to get people praying in tongues. Well, after we prayed over the 2 men I realized this woman had already come forward and been prayed over by a different team. We asked her afterward if she spoke in tongues. She said "no" regretfully. She so wanted to. We told her that we'd pray with her and that she will speak in tongues. She said "ok!" We explained a little more about what tongues is and she was ready. We found David, so he came and prayed with us (that man just went from praying over a lot of people in the past for tongues and none spoke in tongues to 3 in a row and all 3 spoke in tongues, COOL BEANS, he's changed). So she took a bit longer 5 minutes or so but finally she like TOOK OFF in tongues. It was crazy! She was SO SO SO excited! She wanted it so badly and probably felt like it was her fault or something that she hadn't spoken in tongues yet. She was BLESSED and walked away. Well another woman came up to Jeanne and was thanking her for her talk (which was awesome by the way) when this same woman who just took off in tongues grabbed Jeanne's hand and said, "I'm sorry but I need you." and pulled her away from the other woman. Haha, it was perhaps, a bit odd. Turns out this woman and her husband have a son who was not walking with the Lord and he was in Vegas gambling but spent all his money and had no way to get home and they had tried to reach him for days but to no avail and they were so worried. The woman wanted us to pray. Me and the other woman who had wanted to talk to Jeanne came over and the 5 of us grabbed hands and prayed for this boy to CALL home in JESUS' NAME! For peace to overtake the parents. For the boy to have supernatural protection and a way to get home! You could literally see the parents bodies change as we prayed. Weight was lifted. They were changed. Their son will call. Thank you Jesus that you are REAL and that you show up in a REAL way when people need you!

Oh, so you remember the guy who gave the tongues talk that was confusing. He was also super critical of Jeanne and I since we weren't Catholic. (Jeanne was.... but isn't anymore). We broke the spirit of religion off of him, and later, he came over and told us to pray for his back to be healed. We measured his legs, one was shorter. Grew it out, his hip pain went away but he still had some pain on the left side of his back. We prayed but then he had to go up to give that talk on tongues, so we stopped. Later he came over and told me that all the pain was gone and God bless us! How awesome! He realized that perhaps you don't have to be Catholic to do good in the world.... :)

I thank God that He gave me this opportunity. I have a new respect for Catholics now. They are good people who want to PLEASE GOD more than anything! That's awesome! Thank you God that you've made us all different and that we all can learn from one another!

I pray that the people reading this are blessed and can learn from me and I from them! In Jesus' MIGHTY name! AMEN!

(ps- I have more testimonies.... but perhaps a later time, this is plenty to post!)

Miracles! Miracles! You mean miracles happen TODAY?!

Yup. They sure do. I want to encourage anyone reading this that you, too, can see miracles if you have Jesus living inside you :)

In Oct. 2010- I went to a good friend's wedding. Was sitting with my friend Danielle. She mentioned she had a headache (she had to cancel hanging out with me before the wedding since she wasn't feeling well). I told her I'd pray quick, so I placed my hand on the back of her neck, commanded the headache to go. Mind you, she had this headache for HOURS before seeing me and within that hour it was gone. I didn't ask her how quickly it left, but she came up to me at the reception telling me it was all gone! PRAISE GOD! I love His goodness :)

Also in Oct. 2010- I went and visted the McCoys (visit their blog http://i-took-the-red-pill.blogspot.com/). See my post from Nov. 5th about that trip!

Jan. 2011- A co-worker had a toothache due to a cavity. She had a dentist appt. scheduled for a few days later. Another co-worker and I went and laid hands on her cheek and commanded the tooth to heal and pain to go. She said it was much better but there was still a bit of pain. We commanded the rest to go in the name of Jesus and it was all gone. She jumped for joy! She couldn't stop smiling! God is so good, and he touched her! She believes He is real and loves her!

Jan. 2011- My friend Jenny had twisted her ankle at work. She was in quite a bit of pain. We were walking around and she was limping. I offered to pray. She accepted, I took her hand and commanded the ankle to heal and be pain free. She walked around and said it felt a little better. I did it again, she said it was much better. I did it a third time and she was nearly 100% but had to go due to the -10 degree weather and we were outside :) I asked her later how her foot was and she said it was all better!

Feb. 2011- My friend Jenny's little boy had a cold. He had been coughing for days, so she asked me to pray. I called her that evening when he was with her and she held the phone between them and I commanded the cough to go and all remnants of that cold to GO in Jesus' name! The next day she told me he didn't cough at all that night and slept great! He was healed!

Feb. 2011- my dog is 11 and has been physically fit (so to speak) always. All the sudden one day, I got home from school and she could barely stand up. Her hips kept giving out and she appeared to be in a great deal of pain. I laid hands on her and commanded her hips to be healed and to work the way they were designed to work from God. She got better the next day but had a slight hesitation to walk normal, so I kept commanding life to her hips. The day after that she was totally healed! Right after that I was petting her abdomen and noticed a huge protrusion on her rib cage. It was hard and seriously was 2 inches by 2 inches. I just immediately commanded it to leave. Nothing causing my dog pain belongs, so I stood on the word of God that I lay my hands on THE SICK and THEY do recover! Woke up the next day and felt her and it was completely gone! I love that Jesus will heal EVEN a dog. So good!

March 2011- cast out my first "known" demons. I'm pretty sure I've done it before for different sicknesses but anyway.... a friend was battling diabetes and had many complications regarding that. A good friend of mine and I went to visit him in the hospital. As we began commanding diabetes, pain and his body to line up with God's WORD, his body began to twitch. He would jerk this way and that. Every time we'd say "spirit of Diabetes GO!" his body would jerk immensely. His face was twisting and his teeth would bare like a dog. We cast them out and he was so relaxed. He said he had no idea what had happened, he was just asleep. He was able to go home from the hospital the next day and was up and walking! PRAISE JESUS!!!!!

The other demonic activity was with a friend of mine. She wanted me to command her eyes to be healed so she didn't need glasses. I began to minister and she said her eyes were zooming in and out like a telescope. Things would be clear, then blurrry, then clear then blurry. She lost vision in her right eye for a few minutes, then it returned. My other friend came over and all the sudden her muscles in her arm began to cramp and spasm and she was in quite a lot of pain. Then it moved to her side of her abdomen and she was in pain. All the while, my friend and I just kept commanding it to leave her body and within 5 minutes she began to lean forward and burp. And burp. And burp. That was the demon/demons leaving! She's FREE! Thank you JESUS :)

March 2011- A woman named Tiffany had severe tooth pain. She knew she needed a root canal because the dentist told her she had a cracked tooth. She told a friend of mine about it and my friend said "hey you should come to my life team and get prayed over". Tiffany was skeptical but said ok. She came and 3 of us laid hands on her. She felt tingling around the area of pain and the pain began to leave. The next morning she woke up with no pain. She was elated. She went to the dentist and they did an x-ray on her teeth to verify what was going on and they said "we don't see any need for surgery, your teeth are perfect!" She was blown away! She came back to the life team a week later because she had a tiny bit of gum pain (don't know if it was in the same area or a different area) but we laid hands and all of that left too and now she's got perfect teeth and doesn't need the dentist at all!!!!! Thank you Father!!!!!! Oh man I just get so excited!!!!

March 2011- had lunch with my amazing cousin Amanda. She had been sick for several days with a sore throat and headache. This was her 3rd sore throat (I think, Amanda???) in like a month. She also has been unemployed for months and really needed a job. We enjoyed lunch, I talked about the power of God and she told me what was going on in her life. At the end, we joined hands and I prayed. I prayed that her interviews she had the next day went well and that God would give her the right words to speak to receive a job. Then I commanded the sickness to leave her body. She was blessed. I saw her a few days later and she told me she GOT A JOB!!!!! Oh and she was feeling great :) God loves her sooooo sooooo sooooo much :)

I could write probably 2 pages of healing I've experienced in my own body, but let me leave you with the most recent one.

This was a few weeks ago, so the end of Feb. 2011. It was a Tuesday at school and I got my period. I was immediately in quite a lot of pain, but it subsided for the morning, then it spiked right before I brought the kids to lunch. I dropped them off and practically ran back to my classroom and locked myself in. I felt like I was going to throw up and have diarrhea. I laid down on the floor of my classroom and commanded life into my own body. Told my body that this was unacceptable and I reject any complications from having my period. I almost passed out at one point while lying there and within 20 minutes the pain subsided and I felt good. I was able to make it the rest of the day without pain. I even felt so GREAT I went to my life team that night to pray for others!

PRAISE GOD!

He gave all authority over sickness and disease to Jesus (hence the reason Jesus healed ALL who were oppressed of the devil). When I became a Christian Jesus came to live inside me (the Holy Spirit). What makes you think Jesus has changed? He's the same yesterday, today and forever the Bible says. If He healed then.... He still heals now!

Who do you follow?

I'm a follower of Jesus Christ.

-Oh ok, so wherever you go, it's because you're following Jesus?

Um, well no....

-Jesus doesn't direct every move you make?

No, not every move....

Everywhere you go, Jesus goes. He lives inside you. Exactly who is following who?

Luke 9:23 "And He said to them all. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, daily and follow me."

It seems to me, that if Jesus lives in me (HALLELUJAH!!!), that in a sense.... He is forced to go everywhere I go, right?

Christian is defined by dictionary.com as "christlike" and "a person who exemplifies in his or her life, the teachings of Christ."

I watched a series of youtube videos called "Lord save us from your followers". It was eye opening. As a Christian, I had no idea how people who weren't Christian felt about the body of Christ aka Christians. Watch it if you have time... or at least start. Each segment is 10 minutes long.... it'll benefit you to watch.

What does it mean, then, to "follow after Christ"? There were many definitions for the word "follow" but the one I want to emphasize is "imitate or copy". If we are followers of Christ, His disciples, saints..... then we are supposed to be imitating or copying Christ. WHOA!

Ok, so what does that mean?

Let's start with things Jesus Christ did not do. He didn't judge. Now, Jesus spent a lot of His time with non-believers aka sinners. Their lives were not being lived for God and Jesus showed them the unconditional love of the Father and they became believers! He preached, teached and healed I heard someone say once. Notice how He didn't judge. I would say He was firm and perhaps a little "mean" in today's standards in convicting His followers of doubting.

In Mark 9:19 Jesus is speaking to His disciples after they could not cast a demon out of a little boy "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him (the boy) unto me." The boy was healed and Jesus told the father of the boy and the disciples that anything is possible to the person who believes. Basically, He's saying they didn't believe.... which is why they couldn't cast of the demon and heal the boy.

Is that judging? The definition of judge is: to form a judgement or opinion of; decide upon critically. Personally, I think Jesus just spoke the truth. In fact, I know He did.

Christians get accused of "judging" others a lot. And maybe we do. Maybe we go about saying what we believe to be true in the wrong ways. Jesus came and judged the world of sin. He in fact, took all our sin (and sickness) to the cross, so we don't have to bear the judgement of sin or sickness. We're free from it! GLORY!

But the world isn't free from it. If they aren't Christians. Some Christians choose to live in sin.... notice I said choose. because it's your choice to sin when you're a Christian. Before you were a Christian, sin was not a choice. You had to do it because you were of your father... the devil. Now you're of God, as a Christian, and you should choose Him and His ways! You might miss the mark from time to time, but you should feel bad when you do, thank the Lord for His forgiveness and move on! You also decide to not do that particular sin again. That's repentance.

Whoa, I've gotten off topic..... the point of this blog post is to challenge you and I, as Christians, to be very aware of this Christ we are portraying. Is it the Christ from the Bible, or some other christ we've made up? The Christ in the Bible, the One that I serve, went to the poor and broken hearted and fed them, clothed them, loved them, treated them with kindness, healed them, and showed them His Father's love. They believed on Him because of what He did. His fruit... the works He produced, represented who He followed! Jesus followed God. God lived in Him and went everywhere that He went. God did everything that Jesus did. They were One. Galatians 3:28 says we are One in Jesus Christ. If He lives in us and we follow Him.... then He also follows us since we are ONE together! If we are ONE, then guess what..... I do what He did while He was on the earth because He's STILL on the earth! He's on this earth via ME!!!!

So, once again, the Christ in the Bible, the One that I serve, went to the poor and broken hearted and fed them, clothed them, loved them, treated them with kindness, healed them, and showed them His Father's love. That's the Christ that I am ONE with. He lives in me, and I live in Him..... therefore, I do what He does and He does what I do. I don't want to mis-represent who He is by doing something that He doesn't want to do.....

Healing in Iowa with the McCoys!

Two weeks ago I drove down to Iowa City, Iowa to visit the McCoy's. This was probably the best decision I've made in a long time! They are amazing people :)

FRIDAY night Rachelle and I drove to the mall, walked into the food court. She told me that they like to command the spirit of unbelief and doubt that might hinder healing to leave, so she did that as we walked to the ice cream shop. She got ice cream. We sat near this couple who were also enjoying a treat. Rachelle and I talked for a few minutes before she said, "ok, let's go!" She got up and approached the couple. She asked them if they needed healing anywhere in their body or if they had any pain. They looked at us strangely and said, "nooo??" Rachelle explained why she had asked. Then she asked them if they believed in Jesus or thought that He is real. The guy said that he used to go to church and the girl said that yea, she believed Jesus is real. Rachelle talked to them for a little while longer, then we left!

We then approached two teenage girls. They both said they were pain free and that they believe in Jesus. The one girl kind of ended up telling Rachelle that "her religion was her own personal business" and it was clear they wanted us to leave, so we did.

We began walking down a crowded section of the mall and there was a man sitting on a bench. As we passed the Holy Spirit gave Rachelle a word of knowledge about his back. She veered around and went back to him. He said that yes, he was in pain, this was why he was sitting down. Rachelle asked if she could pray for the arthritis to leave, he said yes. She laid her hands on him and commanded the arthritis to leave. He stared at her :) Then she asked him if it was any better. He said no. She told him to be blessed and we moved on.

In the kids play area we approached 3 different people. Two of which had pain and agreed to prayer. The first lady told us she was healed and believed that Jesus was her healer. That was cool. The next guy and his wife ended up totally edifying us and building us up. They were Christians and the guy writes Christian poetry. He asked if we wanted to hear two of them. We said yes! They were wonderful :) Then before we could lay hands on him, he suddenly had to leave, so Rachelle grabbed his hand and blessed him real quick!

The third person was this man who smiled at Rachelle like he knew her. I personally, think he had been watching us the whole time and just wanted us to come over to him :) So we did, he said Rachelle looks like someone he knew. Anyway, he told us he had pain all over his body because his job is really stressful. We both laid hands on him and Rachelle commanded the pain to leave and peace to come over him. He said he felt better and asked his kids if they wanted to go to church on Sunday :)

SATURDAY we got to hang out and spend time fellowshipping and praising God before heading out to pray. After lunch, Bryan came over to join us and we went to the "pedestrian mall" which is an area full of bars, homeless people and drug dealers. Turns out there was a HUGE football game going on and all of the college students were at all of the bars and hanging out in the walkways between. Rachelle and I approached several VERY drunk guys, who coincidentally, were pain free..... but we were able to bless them and I know they felt the love of God flow into them. Jason waited with the kids while we prayed and Bryan wandered around praying for different people. Rachelle, Bryan and I approached a girl with Cerebral Palsy. She was very hesitant to prayer. She said she had been prayed for sooo many times and sooo many strangers had approached her but that nobody had in the last few years. She asked who we prayed to. We said Jesus. She made it apparent that she believed in Him along with other gods.... so as long as we were praying to the "divine being" all was good. She said she was very "at peace" with her condition. Rachelle said she didn't want to disturb her peace, but that we'd really like to pray for her. She consented. So Rachelle laid her hands on her, commanded sickness to leave. The girl said "ok, thanks, bye" and quickly left with her friend. I forgot to mention that meanwhile, as we approached this girl it began to POUR rain, so Jason commanded the rain to stop. It did, so we could finish :)

Then Rachelle stayed with the kids, who were enjoying running through a water fountain and playing on a playground. They chose not to heal the sick that day :( It's ok though, they're amazing kids and they've got incredible parents!!!!!

Jason prayed for a drunk girl who said her wrist hurt. She said it was better. Then Jason took me over to this area where the homeless are. There is one woman that Jason and Rachelle have been ministering to for weeks, so we went and talked with her! She was AMAZING! She is saving money, and almost has enough, to move to CA with her dogs and a few of the other people there to begin a new life :) Jason blessed her with money. I do hope she's on her way there now. Anyway, she had been healed of many things in the past month, but now she said her legs were sore from bike riding. Jason commanded the muscles to loosen. They did, but not all the way, so then I took a turn. She stood up and said it felt a lot better. We prayed a 3rd time before leaving. There was another woman there, Gene, who had an ear infection that was huge and close to her brain. She had to have surgery in a few days. She wanted healing for a headache though. So, we commanded the headache to go, she got kind of woozy under the power of God and said the headache was gone! Then we asked if we could command her ear to heal so she wouldn't need surgery. She said sure, so we did! I trust, she cancelled the surgery :)

SATURDAY NIGHT Jason and I drove 45 minutes in POURING rain, which we commanded to stop and it let up for us to finish the drive safely, to a small town where Kat and Roger live. Jason and Rachelle are teaching Kat and Roger about healing the sick, so they were a good couple for me to minister to! Jason told me I was going to do it all, and I was excited :) We RAN into the house, as the rain picked up again. Kat told us she felt something shift in the spirit realm as we approached. COOL!!!!!! We talked with them briefly before getting them healed. Roger was first. He had knee pain (something with his meniscus), arthritis in his fingers, back pain and a wound on his foot, I think he twisted his ankle or something. So, he sat in a chair and I commanded healing to flow into his body. He immediately began shaking under the power of God. The devil was leaving :) He stood up and said he felt about 60% better (?) so I hit it again. This time mainly his hands and the arthritis. He was able to make a fist with his right hand, which he couldn't do before! Hallelujah! He then went to the stairs with Jason to test out his knees while I prayed for his wife, Kat. Kat is an AMAZING woman :) She had knee pain as well, sinus issues and hormone irregularity. I commanded it to leave and she sat back under the power of God. She didn't move for a few seconds and just kept saying, "wow... wow....wow" Then she stood up and went to the stairs to see if the knee pain was gone. It mostly was. And she could feel her sinuses draining. She sat down and I hit it again. She felt a lot better and the knee pain was totally gone! GLORY!

Meanwhile, Jason was praying for Roger some more. He worked on commanding all spirits that don't belong to leave and so on. Roger got BLASTED with the Holy Spirit! haha, it was amazing!

We then sat and had brownies and ice cream with them afterward! Wonderful people!

As Jason and I drove back to Iowa City, I realized I was no longer the same. I had taken the red pill (The Matrix) and I now had a new reality. I no longer live like the rest of the world. I am officially different ;) PRAISE GOD!

I did not want to leave the wonderful presence of the McCoys. They blessed me with a beautiful prayer before I headed back to Minnesota.

The McCoys are raising up 4 beautiful children in the CHRISTIAN lifestyle! The kids are already experiencing the power of God in their dreams, visions and experiences with their mom and dad. Seeing the way Jason and Rachelle live life, was the BEST experience for me! I needed this trip and it was gooood for me! I am so thankful to them. They opened up their home to a complete stranger from Facebook and welcomed me like family :) AMAZING!

What do my dreams mean?

Ok, now, don't be thinkin I'm about to go into dream interpretation. No way. But this guy does and what he has to say is really interesting:

http://mobileintensiveprayerunit.blogspot.com/2009/03/power-of-dreams.html

I do want to share with you two dreams I have had that were very interesting! Before I go into the dreams, let me tell you who I am. I don't describe myself as being 5'8" with brown hair and blue eyes... that's my flesh. Those things are true about me, but that's not WHO I am. I am the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinth. 5:21). I am healed (1 Peter 2:24). I am redeemed from the curse of the law, which is sickness among so many other things (Gal. 3:13). I have the power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead living in me (Romans 8:11, Eph. 1:18-20).

Ok, now that last scripture describes the power that lives in ME in my Spirit. I became a born again Christian and what makes you born again is God replacing your human spirit, which is evil and giving you a NEW spirit which is God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit all in ONE! GLORY! What can God do? Anything. What can Jesus do? Anything. What can the Holy Spirit do? Anything. Therefore, what can I do? Anything.

With that being said... let's look to Jesus, our example! In the Bible, in a matter of 3 short years, He preached the Gospel, raised the dead, cleansed the lepers, calmed storms, and took authority from the devil and gave it to us. In the book of Mark, chapter 16 Jesus had already died and been raised from the dead but his disciples STILL didn't believe. He appears to them and this is what happened:

He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.^d

15And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. 16Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.^e 18They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

19When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 20And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.

These are Jesus' last words to His disciples, the people He spent the MOST time with. Notice the words in RED. This is WHO I AM! I am a disciple of Jesus. All born again Christians are considered the saints of Christ! So saints..... I can do the above mentioned signs and so CAN YOU!

Ok, so now onto my dreams..... the first dream I had sometime this summer, I don't exactly remember when. Anyway, in this dream I was in a house on a bay of water, alone and I could see people everywhere outside freaking out and running for shelter. There was a tornado. I was watching the TV satellite and seeing that yes indeed, there was a tornado. In this house there were windows on the roof, kind of like a giant sun roof and I could see a funnel cloud overhead. In the dream, I initially was scared and ran from room to room looking for the safest place to hide. (I guess there was no basement?) I finally decided standing in a doorway was the safest idea, so I did. Then something came over me, I got angry and stood and rebuked the storm like Jesus did (Luke 8:24). I saw the funnel cloud disappear. The clouds moved out and the sun appeared. I remember I went outside and everyone was hopping on boats to go back out and enjoy the day. I got onto a boat with some people but I remember I was still scared. I kept watching the sky. The dark clouds were off in the distance, but for some reason I thought they might come back.

I learned a lot about myself from this dream. First of all, the obvious. I commanded a TORNADO to stop and it did! GLORY! But secondly, I was scared. People, in this world, we should not be the scared ones. Satan and his posse should be the scared ones. We have the real power, the final authority in the earth. We should make satan regret his decision to fight against us. We fight for GOOD. Good prevails. Anyway, I learned that I have some more work to do on my heart to get fear out. Fear isn't from God. In God we have confident trust. We can rest in peace. If you don't have peace when you're commanding a storm to stop, then you're not totally depending on God.

I was with my friend Racheal and it was raining really hard. She commanded the storm to stop and the rain to lessen. It immediately did. In July this past summer, it was raining really hard as my parents were driving me out of Minneapolis. So much so that the couldn't see. I commanded the rain to lessen and it did.

Second dream: Just had this dream 2 days ago. In this dream, I was in a house/building of some kind with someone else and a few children. There was a big snake trying to attack us. We started running, it was catching up, so I turned around, put my hand out and said "NO STOP". (I don't remember my exact words, but it was something like that). The snake recoiled and hissed at me. We kept walking away and it just stayed there looking at me. Then I lifted the children onto some ledge where they were safe and me and this other unknown person kept running. The snake came at us again, and I stopped and turned it into a purple harmless snake. It slithered away.

The devil is referred to as a "snake" in scripture. Snakes are not highly looked upon in the Bible. Moses picks up snakes and shows his dominion over them. Mark 16 says we shall handle snakes with safety. Psalm 91 says we will tread upon serpents. The devil is under our feet. We have POWER over him. In my dream, I believe this snake is representing the devil. He's always out to get us and harm us. That's his mission. Our mission is to DESTROY his works. TO FREE THE CAPTIVES. TO SET PEOPLE FREE of this devil. In my dream, I had power and authority over the snake. I was more confident in my authority in this dream, than I was in the storm dream.

More dreams to come..... I would imagine. I have yet to raise the dead or heal the sick in my dreams.... that's coming!!!!!

It's US against the World

As God works on me more and more each day, I realize more and more how I am not supposed to "fit in" with the world.

Before you read on, ask yourself this one question: is it blatantly OBVIOUS (exceedingly clear) to every SINGLE person that I meet out in the world, that I am a Christian? Do people come up to me and say "you're a Christian aren't you?" or are people surprised when you tell them you're a Christian?

God has shown me in the past month JUST how much it matters what I look like and what I act like when I'm out in the world. Let me begin with a true story: Amie Goes To the Dentist.

I should begin this story by telling you that I do NOT like the dentist. And by dentist I'm referring to the whole experience, not the actual doctor, he's fine, I just don't like what the hygienist ladies do to my teeth and mouth. Anyway, as I parked my car and began my walk into the dentist's office, I realized I could either be pouty about the whole experience, or I could GROW UP and put up with the fact that free insurance=free teeth cleaning (even if it's painful). I decided on the latter. As I sat in the waiting room, I forced myself to smile at an adorable child sitting next to me and chatted with the secretary about the humidity of July in Minnesota. As I waited, my friend Carrie W. called me, I don't even remember what she called about exactly, all I remember is that I was quoting scripture to her when the hygienist walked in to get me. I quickly ended the convo with Carrie and headed back with her. I greeted her with a huge smile, like I always do, and she just kept staring at me. I thought it was a bit odd, but didn't care, so I started asking her about herself. She told me a bit about her, then she started probing me about myself and told me that I have the most beautiful eyes and smile! Meanwhile, she still has not begun my teeth cleaning, only prolonging my time in the dentist's chair..... I mentioned that teaching is my "calling" from God and that I'm teaching one more year of inner city, then heading to Bible College. At this point, she very loudly declares, "I KNEW YOU WERE A CHRISTIAN." After that, we talked about mission trips she had taken the past few years and what her son was up to in the Christian walk. Good chat. Took twice as long for my teeth to be cleaned, but hey, I'd say it was worth it.

I can't even tell you how many random people have began talking with me as I'm waiting in line at the store or am just walking through the store for that matter. It never fails that I end up in conversation with the person at the checkout of wherever I am. Stayed a few minutes longer in the Wendy's drive through yesterday because the man at the window struck up a convo with me. All of this has happened within the past month and a half.

Proverbs 3:4 "Then you will find favor and much success in the sight of God and humanity."

Matthew 5:16 "In the same way let your light shine in front of people. Then they will see the good that you do and praise your Father in heaven."

In my previous post, I talked a lot about how 1/3 of you is JESUS. When you and I go out into the world (outside your house) we should be RADIATING the LIGHT of JESUS! He's INSIDE OF US PEOPLE!!!!! Since he's only 1/3 of us, that leaves 2/3 of us that is NOT Jesus. Unfortunately, most of the body of Christ (in my personal opinion) is letting their soul and body (the other 2/3 of them) rule how they look, feel and respond to others.

Well, how does one let their spirit dominate their soul and body? By reading the Word. I mean, it's that simple. Romans 12:2 tells us to continually renew our minds to the Word. Why? because if we don't read the Word EVERY DAY (yes every day) then it's real possible our flesh or our soul will begin to dominate us. If you ever feel like you're in a "bad mood" or that you're "cranky" I've got news for you..... your soul or flesh is dominating you. You gotta get your Spirit back on top! By reading the Word!

From my dentist adventure, you can tell that my FLESH wasn't thrilled about being there. But it was VITALLY important that I be there for the hygienist to experience God's love. If I had been in a bad mood and not been smiling, who knows where our conversation would have gone. In the deep end most likely.

Before I exit my car to go into a store, I remind myself that I am JESUS' way to reach the world. I am His vessel. If I choose to not show Him to the world, who knows when the next time someone that I see will experience God's love from someone else. It's up to me. Now, yes, I suppose that's a whole lot of responsibility, but hey, Jesus died on the cross and suffered to the point of being UNRECOGNIZABLE so that I could live in freedom and dominion over the devil. I'd say, I can GLADLY exercise God's love to every single person I meet for the rest of my life. It's the least I can do.....

As I was driving home today, this thought hit me "what makes you look different than the world?" So I pondered it. When I got home, I got on FB and saw Trip Lee & Pro did an interview about their song "Covenant Eyes". This song is about the struggle for Christian men in this world when there are half dressed women prancing about. I mean, that's roughly it. They're both married and are trying to stay pure. They discuss how hard that is with TV, secular radio, movies and just walkin the streets.

Ladies, Godly ladies, we have a very important job to do for all the men on this earth. Our job is to NOT tempt them to lust after us. I remember hearing from a Christian man who had done some research on the way that men are wired. Men are much more visual than women. Meaning, they NOTICE the way women look. Now, it's one thing to think a woman looks beautiful and it's another thing to think about what's under her clothes because they can pretty much see what's under those tight, short, see through clothes.

Fashion trends have changed and continue to change. However, I won't change with them. Thank God the low rise pants with the short shirts that barely meet the waistline are out.... for now. Still see a few ladies sporting that ensemble. Long shirts are in at the moment. And the short short skits seem to have potentially taken a break. Ladies, I don't know if you understand what short skirts and low cut shirts do to men. Even GODLY MEN. Now some women, I've heard it, say, "well, if he's a man of God, he'll just divert his eyes, I can wear whatever I want." Nope, I'm sorry, that's not the right attitude at all. We should not tempt them. Sure, they should divert their eyes, and I'd like to think a majority of them do, however, we have a GREAT role to play in the purity of men.

Growing up, I would judge what I wore based on everyone around me, rather than what the Word says. I'd look at everyone in church and I'd think, oh well if they're wearing that, it's ok for me to wear that. I've had a few low cut tops myself. It got worse living in Kansas City and working with well-endowed African American women, who say "if you've got it, hunny, flaunt it!" Hmmmmm, I don't want my breasts hanging out, my GOD, those are only for my husband to see.... that's it. NO BODY ELSE. I've given most of those tops a rest, I wear a t-shirt under the ones I still want to keep. High cut shirts have become my friend. Knee-length skirts too, and I am proud to say I don't own ANY shorts. Every pants item I have at least come to my knees.

For a while, I considered it a compliment when I'd wear tight clothing, or a cute short dress with heels and men would stare at me. I used to like that. My self confidence was wrapped up in the way I looked rather than what God says about me. Now if I catch a man looking at me in an inappropriate way, I majorly reflect on what I'm wearing and I typically get rid of that outfit. This doesn't mean I can't wear cute clothing. It does mean that I don't want to be the one who makes a man sin. When you think sexual thoughts, that's sin. Even if you don't act it out, it's sin to even have those thoughts. I'm not going to cause others to sin.

So back to the original question, "do you stand out in the world"?

John 15:19 "If you had anything in common with the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But you don't have anything in common with the world. I chose you from the world and that's why the world hates you."

Do you realize what that says? We shouldn't just blend into the world. We shouldn't "fit in" with everyone else. Remember in Junior High when you just wanted to fit in, well you should NEVER want to fit in. You should DESIRE to be different. The Bible tells us we are different. We are not like the children of the world. We should NOT love the world or anything in it. The world should hate us. Wow.... who wants to be hated? Well, nobody in their flesh desires to be hated. We need to get past seeking everyone's approval because the ONLY approval needed is God's. Is He approving of how you live your life? That's all that matters. It doesn't matter what name brand you wear, or what car you drive, or if you own 5 TV's and if they're the latest and the greatest. How much do you "look" just like everyone else in the world? Do you stand out as different? Are you easily identified as a Christian, which will make some people hate you? Look at how much Jesus was hated, He was killed for YOU. What are you willing to do for Him?

You're a sinner. Excuse me? No I am NOT. Let me explain.....

I had a friend tell me that her church recites a prayer (not based on the Bible) in which they confess "I'm a sinner, I'm unclean" and most likely "I'm unworthy" (that's a common one too).

I'm here to counter all three of those statements and tell you that if you are a born again Christian, each of those statements is a LIE. If you say them, you are lying. Which is a sin. Fyi.

Think back to before you became born again. For some of you, it's more recent than others. For me, I honestly can't remember anything before the day I invited Jesus into my life (I was 7). So for this, I'll have to give examples from people I know since I don't have these myself. When you were not born again, you were what the Bible calls a "sinner". Before you knew Jesus, the devil was your father. Perhaps you struggled with alcohol, depression, sicknesses, sex outside of marriage, addictions, lying, cheating, stealing, cussing, gossip and so on. All of these are sinful acts that "sinners" commit. You may not have done all of them, goodness, I hope you haven't..... anyway, to call yourself a "sinner" means you identify with the above mentioned sins and you literally CAN NOT help but do those things.... they are something you have no control of. This is why as Christians, we should never be mad at a sinner for their behaviors. They know not what they do (Luke 23:34). They are simply listening to their father and obeying what their father, the devil, tells them to do.

At this point, some of you are thinking.... "but Amie, I'm born again, Jesus lives in me but I've still done some of those things you mentioned... I know I've sinned. Doesn't that make me a sinner, then?" Answer: nope. Here's why: now you are as 2 Corinthians 5:17 in the amplified Bible says: "ingrafted into Christ, a new creation; the old has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!"

Every person, whether born again or not is a 3 part being. Spirit, soul and body. When you're a sinner (not born again) your spirit is filled with the devil. When you become a Christian, your spirit is yanked out (gently by your NEW father, God!) and replaced with the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is Jesus and God (the Trinity). You are now "born again" your spirit literally died and was buried and now you have a BRAND new spirit, the Holy Spirit! So now, 1/3 of you is Jesus. That 1/3 of you controls your soul and your body. Now, we do have a majority of Christians who let their soul (mind, will and emotions) or their body control them. I hope you are not one of them. Your spirit is meant to rule! Let it!

So since 1/3 of you is born again, this means you are no longer, by definition a "sinner". You have God on the inside of you. You have been raised to newness of life! You are now: righteous (in right standing with God), you are holy, you are healed, you find favor everywhere you go, you have joy, peace, patience, self-control, love etc. etc. This is who you are. This is who God sees.

When you say that you're just a "sinner" and you're "unworthy" or "unclean" you're basically slapping Jesus across the face and saying "what you did for me, wasn't good enough." OH MY. People, what He did for us on the cross was WAY good enough. In fact, it was PERFECT. He took all of our sin and sickness upon Himself, so we can be FREE. We are FREE! Take a moment and thank Him for this..............

Now, as a born again Christian you may still commit sin. This does not mean you are a sinner. It means you are a born again Christian who messed up. You repent, forgive yourself, and you move on knowing God isn't mad at you. In fact, He forgave you the instant it happened! If you feel any condemnation or guilt from your sins, it isn't from God. It's from the devil. he always tries to bring us down and he's really good at bringing all your past sins right in front of your face, just hoping he can make you feel like a "sinner" like you're "unworthy" and that you're "unclean". James 4:7 says to resist the devil and he WILL flee from you. DO IT! Say "devil, Jesus bore all my sin and all my sickness on the cross, what He did IS GOOD ENOUGH, I don't need to think about my sin any more. Flee from ME NOW in the name of Jesus!" You have the right to do that. You have the authority to do that. Jesus gave us (man) his authority in the earth. Adam had this authority to begin with, but then he gave it to the devil in the garden of Eden. When Jesus came, He restored our authority and power back to us humans! His perfect creation :) Oh He loves us so much!

Your conscience convicts you when you sin, as a born again Christian. This is normal and should happen. It shouldn't feel good to sin. But let me tell you from personal experience, if you sin once, it gets easier to sin the next time and the next time and the next time. Pretty soon, you no longer feel convicted from your sin and God will somehow get you back on track. He's trying to get you back all the time. He loves His children (that's us!!!!). What kind of a parent sees their child making poor decisions in life and just says "well, forget him/her, I'm moving on"? Gosh, no Godly parent would do that. Why do people think God does that? He is ALWAYS trying to get you back into the Kingdom! Back to where all those blessings, I mentioned above are! You need to be walking with God to walk in His promises. The Bible is full of His promises for us. It's up to us to CHOOSE to operate and take those blessings. They are all located inside of us (that 1/3 of you that is born again), but it's your choice to let them flow into the other 2/3 of you.

Let me end with this:

What are you letting come out of your mouth as a born again Christian? Remember, that if you are not saved, you literally can not control what words come out of your mouth. So I'm not talking to the unsaved here.

Born again Christians, what words are you speaking? Proverbs 18:21 says "death and life are in the power of the tongue, those that love it with eat the fruit of it (either death or life)."

Death = satan and Life= God, Jesus, Holy Spirit.

If you're saying "I'm a sinner, I'm unclean, oh I'm so unworthy Lord, why do you love me?" You're confessing death with the power of your tongue. those words are not LIFE words. Speak LIFE.

What is in your heart is what you say out of your mouth (mark 11:23). If you believe you're a sinner, then that is what you'll say. Romans 12:2 tells us to renew our minds to the Word of God. When you renew your mind, you're READING THE WORD and finding out what the Bible says you are. Let God's Word paint the picture of who you are. Not the world around you that is so full of sin and sinners.

Shocking realities.....

I promised I'd post something new, so here is a "tease" if you will.

Over time, I have copy pasted great statements that are clearly inspired by the Holy Spirit. I'd like to share those with you! Enjoy :)

"FOR IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING" - (Acts 17:27)

To be one with God (1 Cor 6:17) is the GREATEST reality ever! And to "be" as Jesus in our lifestyle! "For as Jesus is so are we in this earth" (1 John 4:17). Jesus said, "Those who believe in Me shall do the works that I do and even greater works" (John 14:12). For "anyone who claims to abide in Him should even live as He lived" (1 John 2:6).

Who are those people? look at the way they carry themselves; they're so bold, there's compassion in their eyes, they fear nothing, they have selfless desires, there passionate, never depressed, full of authority and power, but they don't want the things of the world! -Chad West

Many claim they are Christians, but can they show it, can they prove it? Those good works are the works of Christ, the same and greater, and those who believe in Jesus will do them, not maybe :D Acts 10:38 says God anointed Jesus Christ of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, and HE went about doing good, healing everyone that was oppressed of the devil, because God was with Him. The good Jesus did, are the good works the Bible says we were created in Christ Jesus to do (see Eph 2:8-10). -Brian Doolin

Be like Jesus; read His Words, study His Words, obey His Words. By the Spirit of God we can live the life Christ lived, because He did it by the Spirit of God.

"Heal the sick through doctors, bury the dead, counsel devils, and feel sorry for lepars; freely you have received, so freely tithe." (Mt 10:8 Today's Christian Version)."Some authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. If you'd like, go into all the world and build churches, huddle in them, and pray for me to return." (Mt:...28:18-19 Today's Christian Version) - Leo De Siqueria

If its God's will for you to be sick, then you are in rebellion asking Him for healing. -Andrew Wommack

If God didn't want you well, He never would have given you an immune system. Stop attributing to God the works of the devil. -Revival or Riots

If God sends sickness for our blessing, then the devil would have to become a healer in order to oppose the works of God! Start believing that sort of nonsense and you'll be as mixed up as a termite in a yoyo. Let's stick with devil gives sin sickness and death. God gives righteousness health and life. Note God gives righteousness, we don't produce it by our work or effort.