Friday, April 3, 2009

MOVING FROM THE FLOOD TO THE FLOW

In Fargo, North Dakota, the Red River recently exceeded it’s banks by almost forty feet and if not for the sand bag levees and thousands of volunteer man-hours there would have been one of the biggest floods in recorded history. Thankfully floods are a seasonal phenomenon after which the river recedes to it’s normal flow.

Last summer, the Golden Gate Outpouring experienced a massive flood of the Holy Spirit and hundreds of believers gathered nightly for 73 nights, to channel the living waters of God to their personal lives and their “home” churches and ministries. Since the fall began, the river of God has been slowly receding but is still continuing to flow in a way that is stronger than any of us have experienced in over a decade. As we move from FLOOD to FLOW we must not stop pressing in. Flow times are essential for preparing for the next floods of the Spirit.

THE RIVER IS STILL FLOWING…

The Golden Gate Outpouring is still flowing in the presence of God Thursday through Sunday nights. Every night God is ministering healing, freedom, and salvation in an awesome Spirit-led atmosphere. Every night there is amazing prophetic ministry both publically and personally through words of knowledge and wisdom. God is continuing to equip his people to bring revival and a great awakening to our region.

In the first six chapters of Acts there were floods and flows as well. On the day of Pentecost, there was a major flood and the Church was born. In chapter four, after the healing of the man at the Gate Beautiful, another flood occurred and thousands more were added to the kingdom. In Acts 5:14 God moved powerfully through the apostles and everyone was healed. This added thousands more to the Kingdom.

In Acts 6:7 another flood brought a tremendous harvest and “the Word of God spread and the number of disciples MULTIPLIED”. Prior to this, in each flood, God merely “ADDED” to the church but after this flood, addition turned into multiplication. Two plus two is similar to two times two, but ten times ten is very different than ten plus ten. God wants to move us into a season of multiplication.

TO MULTIPLY THE HARVEST, WE MUST MULTIPLY THE HARVESTERS

The reason God was able to use this “Act 6 Flood” so powerfully is found in verses 1-6. In the midst of the growing pains of the early church, the apostles made a critical and wise decision to focus on prayer and release more ministry to other leaders within the Body. This released the possibility of a flood becoming a multiplied harvest. At Promised Land, we just commissioned Sean Scheper and Jake and Amber Winslow as Pastors in response to this principle. In a similar way, as you may have noticed, Sean is taking an increasing role in GGO leadership. But we can’t do it without YOU. The key to maximizing the floods and enjoying the flows is delegation. We are asking God for 300 revivalists to carry the ministry of GGO with us. We are also praying for 30 leaders who will serve on various nights to help host the presence of God in the heart of our region. Please pray about joining the GGO leadership team and talk to Sean Scheper about your interest. God wants to flood us again; let’s prepare ourselves to bring the multiplication that Jesus died to give.