What if God is not Reforming the Old as much as He is Birthing the New?

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

CREATE IN ME A NEW HEART

I read a Bible verse this morning that caused me to approach prayer differently in this unique season. In Psalm 51, David is responding to the Lord after he got exposed by the prophet Nathan for his sin with Bathsheba. In his repentance and longing for reconnection, he cried out to the Lord and said, 

 “Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Psalm 51:10 (NIV)

As I looked a little deeper into this verse, I discovered that the word used for “create” (bara') here matches the one used in Genesis 1:1 (בָּרָא) where God created something out of nothing in the very beginning. Psalm 51:10 in The Message Translation reads like this:

“God, make a fresh start in me,
    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.”

David was not simply asking God to reform and reshape his heart. He was not asking God to redeem what had gone wrong in his heart or to restore it to make it whole again. He was also not asking Him to fix what had been broken. From a place of repentance, David was pleading with the Lord for a new beginning, for a fresh start, for a brand-new heart. Psalm 51:10 in The Passion Translation says, “Create a new, clean heart within me.” David was asking God to create a brand-new heart to replace the old. He was willing to let the past die, never to be resurrected again, and instead receive a new heart. He was willing to be rebirthed into a new season. This was all in the context of wanting to be in closer relationship to God.

As I continued meditating on David’s prayer for a new heart, I was also reminded of the following verses:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NIV)

LETTING GO OF THE OLD TO RECEIVE THE NEW

In these verses, God promises to give us brand new hearts. There is a removal of the old and a reception of the new. This is such a radical exchange. Reading these verses stirred my heart and made me wonder if God wants to match this new epoch we’re stepping into with a brand-new heart. In the midst of this pandemic, one of my prayers up until now has been, God please reform my heart. Refine it to become like gold. Change whatever needs to be changed in my life and ministry so that I am in perfect alignment with Heaven. I invite the fire of God to come and purify my heart, thoughts, motives, and passions. I sense there is more not just for me but for us all. God, give us a Reformation.

Reform means to “re-form” or reshape something that already existed. Jeremiah 18 is a good example of this as the Potter decides to reform the clay that has been marred. Instead of throwing out the old clay and starting over, he chooses to reshape the existing clay. Thank God for this! And while that passage in Jeremiah 18 was a very significant “now word” for me a couple years back, it feels as though God is emphasizing a new word for me, and maybe for us, in this new season.

What if in this season, God is actually creating the new rather than reforming the old?

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love, teach on, and have been marked by Reformation fire; it indeed has had its significant time and place in history. I’m actually a trained revival historian who has given my life to research past moves of God. I’ve seen how history can prophesy into our future. But what if in this unique season, God wants to take us beyond Reformation of the past because He is creating something brand new? What if rather than reshape existing structures, mindsets, heart postures, He actually wants to do a new thing? What if He is waiting for us to surrender the old so that we can receive the New?

I think in this unprecedented time, we need to be open to the possibility and even expect God to do something never done before.  Maybe God wants to match this unprecedented storm with an unprecedented new move of God.

POSITIONING FOR THE NEW

Today, will we make room for God to birth a new thing within our hearts, families, and churches? Will we let go of the old to receive the new? Will we let go of what’s safe, for something that’s dangerously outside of our comfort zones? Will we lean in close to the Father’s heartbeat to hear what new thing He might want to birth in and through us in this season?

What if on the other side of this pandemic, we don’t just have reformed hearts, but we have brand new ones instead? Or what if the church isn’t just reformed to become a better model of the one it was before the pandemic, but it becomes a brand new wineskin so much so that people don’t even recognize it because it’s so fresh, vibrant, and able to steward the new wine of the season? What if the following Scripture is actually a “now word”? 

“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)

What if in our present times, God is wanting to do something so completely new that we have never experienced or even heard of in our lifetime (Joshua 3:1-4)? What if the new thing God wants to do is so different from what we’ve seen before, so outside of our boxes, that it’s even offensive to some because they have no grid, box, or program it will fit nicely into (John 12:3)? What if the Holy Spirit wants to lead our lives, ministries, and churches beyond all of our best plans, strategies, visions, histories, and agendas in a whole new way that looks nothing like what we’ve ever experienced before?

I am not saying all of this so that you throw away everything you’ve spent your life building up until now. But I do feel that our generation is pregnant with birthing the next great awakening. Indeed, the billion-soul harvest has already begun for those who have eyes to see. Don’t be surprised if the next great awakening comes in a way we’ve never seen throughout history before, or even in the midst of or on the other side of the Covid-19 crisis and economic downturn. Be prepared just in case God wants to completely transform, turn upside-down, set new foundations, and radically transform everything you’ve done up until this point. Don’t be surprised if everything in your world looks different soon, this actually might be the work of God.

A TIME TO RISK LIKE NEVER BEFORE

There is no other time in history where the entire world been affected as it has today. There has been a global pause or reset for many of the people not on the front lines. I feel that now, more than ever, is our moment to press in for a mighty move of the Spirit no matter what that might look like. Now is our time to dream outside of the box, courageously follow our hearts, and move beyond reforming old ways so that we can lean into receiving and helping to birth the new thing on God’s heart.

It’s time to lean into intimacy with Jesus and to move wherever the Holy Spirit is leading, even if it’s into uncharted territory. There needs to be a yieldedness and willingness to move wherever the Spirit leads in the smallest of details to the greatest even when we don’t understand why. There’s never been a more opportune time to risk on the other side of this pandemic.

Enough time has now passed, change is inevitable. Normal will never look the same. I feel that the reformation of heart we have leaned into has prepared us precisely for this moment in history. I believe that we are currently in a birthing season and that God wants to move beyond reforming what has already existed into birthing something new.

On April 9, 1906, the Azusa Street Revival was birthed when a small group of family and friends gathered in a home with one agenda, to encounter more of God. This ignited the Pentecostal movement that has since impacted the world in a tremendous way. Just months before this revival, on November 16, 1905, an intercessor in Los Angeles named Frank Bartleman felt a stirring similar to what many of us might be feeling today. He said,

“Pentecost” is knocking at our doors. The revival for our country is no longer a question. Slowly but surely the tide has been rising until in the very near future we believe for a deluge of salvation that will sweep all before it…

Heroes will arise from the dust of obscure and despised circumstances, whose names will be emblazoned on Heaven’s eternal page of fame…Brother, sister, if we all believed God can you realize what would happen? Many of us here are living for nothing else. A volume of believing prayer is ascending to the throne night and day. Los Angeles, Southern California, and the whole continent shall surely find itself ere long in the throes of a mighty revival, by the Spirit and power of God.[i]

Truly, we too will see “heroes will arise from the dust of obscure and despised circumstances.” Even if what God is doing in this new season feels uncomfortable because we’ve never seen or felt Him move like this before, remember that in this season, God is doing a New Thing. He’s inviting us to lean in close to His heart so that we can see and receive the new thing He has or us. 

PRAYER FOR A NEW HEART

This is my new prayer. If your heart resonates, feel free to pray this as your own.

God, I ask you in this moment to give me the strength to let go of every structure, discipline, strategy, reputation, previous success or failure that I’ve held dear to. Give me the grace to come to a place of absolute surrender of the old in my life. Help me to lay it all on the altar and to ask for Your fire to come. As I surrender everything I’ve known and lay my life at Your feet, I also invite the Holy Spirit to come and fill every cell in my body with Your power. Give me the courage I will need to welcome the new that You have for me in this season regardless of what it looks or feels like. I want more of You Jesus no matter what the cost. Let me heart explode with love for You and Your people like never before. Help me to recognize my need for You today.

God, create in me a new heart for this new season. Give me a new wine skin for the new wine You are pouring out. Give me a new mind to know You more. Fill my life with new hopes, dreams, visions, and a new reality of Your amazing love. Give me a new capacity to connect more deeply with You than ever before. Lord, Create in me a new heart and birth a new thing through me for such a time as this. Yes, and amen and let it be so for the glory of King Jesus.

Be blessed by this song based off of Psalm 51:10 written by Keith Green

Also, this is a beautiful song about God releasing new wine through our lives.

Resources

For practical tools in learning how to Position yourself for the Incoming Harvest to fully step into what God is doing in our generation, read Positioning for the Incoming Revival, join us in one of our upcoming online Live School of Revivals, or go through the Pioneering Revival Ecourse below.

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NOTES:

[i] The word used for “new” here is chadash which also meant fresh. Chadash comes from the root word “renew” that was used in the second part of Psalm 51:10 to renew a right spirit in me. This word was also described as “to polish a sword or cutting.” From Old English, the word new meant "made or established for the first time, fresh, recently made or grown; unheard-of, different from the old; untried, inexperienced, unused."

[i] Frank Bartleman, How Pentecost Came to Los Angeles: As it Was in the Beginning. 2nd edition (Los Angeles, CA: Frank Bartleman, originally April 1925), 39 and now printed by Christian Classic Ethereal Library (Grand Rapids, MI) accessible http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bartleman/los.pdf (accessed January 25, 2016).

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

I don’t know about you, but at the start of the year I remember hearing so many significant prophetic words for what God wants to do in 2020. I even prophesied that 2020 would be a year of Unprecedented Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. However, as we have stepped into the first few months of this new decade, instead of the fulfillment of those words we have been faced with another unprecedented move, an invisible enemy that’s sought to kill, steal, destroy, and isolate this generation.

I have a confession to make. Even in the midst of this world crisis we find ourselves in that feels completely opposite of the prophetic words released, I still believe God’s heart for 2020 remains the same. I believe that what was prophesied over 2020 will still come to pass. His words and purposes over this year remain the same, even in the midst of this horrific resistance we are facing today.

Our now feels like an arrow being pulled back in the opposite direction of where it’s destined to fly. Or like the tide that’s being pulled back before a huge tsunami wave of revival is about to be poured out. Everything is being stripped away. I believe that the tide will turn and that what the enemy meant for evil, God will take to the other extreme and turn it around for our good as we partner in prayer, hope, and faith in action.

In this time of reset and reformation, I believe that something powerful is being shaped within us as we continue to worship Jesus even in the midst of this unprecedented world crisis and economic instability. Our hope is in JESUS. He never changes even when our circumstances do. Our new normal on the other side of this pandemic must not remain the same as it was before. We will be formed into strong men and women of resilience and hope.

I don't want to minimize the extreme cost or devastation that's upon us because I feel that the sickness, death, widespread fear, record breaking unemployment, and isolation breaks the heart of God. However, I believe that on the other side of this storm is a mass harvest of souls and a reformation of the church. I believe there is a restoration of family and a new renaissance of creativity that will be birthed in this time. I believe that leaders will arise from the dust of obscure and despised circumstances to bring solutions, radical love, and profound transformation.

Since the beginning of time, God purposed that we would be alive for such a time as this. As Christians in the midst of this dark season, I believe it's our time to arise and shine (Isaiah 60). He has entrusted us to carry hope to the hopeless, peace to the fear stricken, and healing to the brokenhearted.  

I believe that those prophetic words that were released in the beginning of the year are just as true today as they were before we entered into this season of world shutdown and pandemic. The enemy doesn’t want any of those prophetic words to come to pass because he knows that it’s “Go Time” for the church in a massive way. He knows that shutting down the entire world makes the most sense to try and sideline the great awakening upon us. Attempting to disconnect the Body of Christ and bring a spirit of fear and death over this generation is not going to work. We will arise and go in the opposite spirit. On the other side of this moment in history and attack against our generation is a people of hope arising to see God’s kingdom come. We are being prepared to see the Holy Spirit poured out like never before and are being positioned to steward a billion soul harvest that’s already begun.

I still believe God’s words over 2020 ring true today and that He is positioning us for a massive great awakening. In the midst of this Corona virus and world shut down, I want to remind you of God’s heart over this year and share with you a word I released on January 1, 2020 entitled:

2020 A Year of Alignment, Synergy, and Unprecedented Outpouring of the Holy Spirit

While I saw 2018 as the Year of Family and 2019 as the Year of Focus, I see 2020 as the Year of Alignment, Synergy and Unprecedented Outpouring of the Holy Spirit building upon the previous years’ themes. Last year was a time of uprooting, relocating, and then re-planting. It was a year of God moving people around as if on a chess board getting them into perfect position for His next great move.

2020 is Go Time. It’s the due date. It’s check mate. It’s a time of alignment, synergy and convergence. God has repositioned His people to be in perfect alignment for what He’s about to pour out next, His Spirit in unprecedented measures.

Alignment means “arrangement in a straight line, or in correct or appropriate positions or a position of agreement or alliance.” Synergy means “the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.” The word Unprecedented means “never done or known before” and Outpouring means “something that streams out rapidly.”

We’ve seen God do so many incredible things throughout history. I believe, pray, and declare that 2020 will be a time of the greatest outpouring we have ever seen at such an unprecedented level that we won’t even be able to compare it to any of the previous revivals. The Momentum of the Ages is upon us. So many have laid down their lives to launch us into a greater spiritual inheritance. It’s our turn and our time to step into the momentum that is now set before us.

I believe God is pouring out His Spirit in such a massive way that everybody who is hungry, no matter where they are, will be able to embrace it. All throughout the earth, revival and a fresh outpouring of the Spirit is in the air. God has positioned His people and is ready to make His next move.

We can position ourselves to ride this next wave of revival, this unprecedented outpouring of the Spirit and billion soul harvest by remaining full of the oil (Matthew 25). And if we have eyes to see, we can recognize that revival is already upon us. We’re not simply waiting for one massive new move of God; we’re already swept up in it. It has already begun. The Momentum from all who have come before is great. God’s Spirit is already being poured out in all the earth in increasing measures. Vision 2020 is also about recognizing what we’ve had in Jesus all along rather than just reaching into the future trying to grasp for something unseen. The more is coming but we also need to remain present in the now of what God is currently doing all around us.

The revival we’ve been praying our whole lives for is already upon us. It began this past year with God consecrating and setting us apart to be burning ones, wholly His. We grew in learning how to walk in unity and love. We chose to throw off everything that hindered to run fully after Jesus with nothing holding us back. He has been waking us up and setting us apart in wholehearted surrender. He has been getting us, the Church, ready. He has been knitting us together with other believers who look and even think differently from us but who exalt the Name of Jesus above all others. He knows that each one is needed to link arms to be the net to capture, carry, and disciple this massive incoming harvest. We are continuing to be awakened to recognize the wave of revival that’s already begun. He is inviting us to dive in even deeper to His heart.

Some practical ways that we can position ourselves to welcome and steward the incoming outpouring of the Spirit in 2020 are (with some added tips I wrote today on March 31, 2020 since the world crisis):

1. Stay full of the oil of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 25). When this tidal wave of His glory is poured out and revival awakens people, it will be easy to get busy doing great things for God. In the hype, favor, opportunities, (and even in the midst of this present world crisis), we must never neglect time ministering and connecting with Jesus in the Secret Place. Prioritize the sabbath rest and spending time with Jesus in the secret place in the midst of great momentum and outpouring, (and in the midst crisis). Everything must flow from Him our Source. We minister from a place of intimacy and rest (John 15).

2. Stay deeply connected and knit together with the Body of Christ (Ephesians 2). The amount of people who will get saved will be so many that we will need to link together with the Body of Christ to be able to disciple and steward the great harvest. Make sure not to neglect family and important relationships in the midst of favor and revival. (Our current crisis provides us with an opportunity to develop these key relationships more intentionally right now).

3. Make space for God in your schedule, in your heart, in your home. Allow God to interrupt your agenda and to rearrange your plans. Make space for God in your quiet times and in your meetings. Whenever we make room for God, He comes. (This has now happened at a global level. Everything is slowed down and there’s more time to seek God if we allow ourselves to).

4. Expect the unexpected. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Be open to God moving in new ways through those least expected. Don’t criticize what you don’t understand or what’s uncomfortable. Be open to search it out and also receive the more of what God is pouring out even if it’s coming from someone unqualified or in a way you’ve never experienced Him before. (Perhaps revival will flow on the other side of this pandemic in unprecedented measures. Now is our time to get ready.)

5. Discernment (Hebrews 12:1-2). Don’t say yes to every opportunity or open door. Good is many times the enemy of the best. Only take on what God is asking you to take on now. Don’t bring into this new season what you were called to carry in the last one. Don’t be afraid of offending or disappointing others to remain obedient to Christ. Don’t settle for silver when you’re meant for gold. Throw yourself into what you’d be willing to die for. (Now is also a time to redefine our values and refine what will become our new normal on the other side of this).

May all of your fruitfulness flow from a place of intimacy with Jesus and connection with family. Blessing you as you cling tight to Jesus and stay knit together with the tribe of riders He’s connected you with in 2020. I believe we’re in for the ride of our lives and that it’s already begun. Surfs up.

Today, I still believe every word of this declaration over 2020 released above is true regardless of our surrounding circumstances. I declare the blood of Jesus to cover and protect you and for the resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead to permeate every single cell in your body with His healing power. May He guard your heart and mind from all fear and anxiety, and I pray that more than anything, you would experience the nearness of Jesus during this time like never before and that His peace that passes understanding would guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. May you arise and step into the assignment God has placed on your life for such a time as this. May you seek His face even more relentlessly in this season.

Jesus is Lord over every sickness and disease. God is with us in our time of need to bring a mighty deliverance. And when that deliverance comes in its fullest measure, be prepared, for one of the greatest moves of the Spirit will shortly follow. Now is our time to get ready. We were born for such a time as this. Each one of us plays a crucial role in this world revival. Blessing you during this unprecedented time and thank you for joining me on this journey.

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D. Excerpt taken from Ignite Azusa: Positioning for a New Jesus Revolution

One of the greatest movements in history that contributed to the rapid spread of Christianity began when God crashed in on a handful of family and friends who were hungry for more of God. The Azusa Street Revival actually began as the “Bonnie Brae Street Revival” before it contributed to the spread of global Pentecostalism. The fruit that was released from this little tribe who gathered together in a home on Bonnie Brae Street is incredible. There is something significant about seeking God together with friends and inviting Him to invade even the intimate spaces of family.

Revival begins and is sustained in family

In this next era, Christianity will burst from the seams of churches, communities, homes, families, and intimate spaces and be carried over into the world. The Sunday morning worship celebrations will be important to testify and share more widely about what God is doing in the city, the region, and the world. The place of intimacy and connection will also need to be cultivated in smaller communities as more people enter into the family of God.

Being intentional with community will be an important factor in stewarding this next move of God like it was for those at Azusa. Doing life together with a small tribe of our people will be an important aspect of stewarding and discipling this incoming harvest. Staying known in a close-knit community with others who burn for Jesus is a key for sustaining revival and finishing well. Evan Roberts, a prominent leader of the Welsh Revival, isolated himself many times from community, and the revival died down shortly after. Healing evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman got herself into some marital trouble when she wouldn’t listen to her friends. Cultivating healthy community is important for continuing to burn—and to not burn out.

Preparing to Steward the Next Great Awakening

In the wild, no matter how strong a zebra is, if it is away from the pack when the lions come, it gets picked off and killed. It’s not the weakest that fall; it’s the ones who stray from their tribe. We need each other to fulfill our truest destiny. We can’t do it alone. There are keys to our destiny that are hidden within the lives and hearts of those whom God has positioned us to run with in each season. The way to access these keys in each other is to intentionally do life together, be vulnerable, love each other well, and go after the things of God together.

As we begin to go after praying for stadiums full of people being saved, at the same time, we need to realize the importance of going deeper with the few. We can only go deep with a handful of people at one time. Jesus had the twelve, but then He also had Peter, James, and John, with John as His most intimate friend. They lived together, traveled together, ate together, ministered together, and did life together.

There is something important about doing life together in God’s presence. Close community was crucial to the beginnings of the Azusa Street Revival just as it was for Jesus in His ministry. Homes represent intimate spaces of family and deep friendships. It’s easy to blend in with the crowd in larger settings and slip out without really letting anyone in. People can’t hide or avoid the deeper things of the heart in a home or small community.

The keys to our destiny are found in intimacy with Jesus and in family

Examples in history of this include the Moravian community in Herrnhut, Germany which started the 24/7 prayer movement and also those in the Jesus People Movement who opened community houses for the new believers to name a few. Family hosts the fire of God in a greater way than an individual can do alone.

I wonder what it would look like to invite God into the home in a greater measure today. What does it look like to cultivate a burning fire within the context of family? And what might be the potential effects for the world when that happens? What does it look like in our ministries or churches to become family, to do life together, to be present in intimate places and spaces with people? How can we cultivate that in this season?

I encourage you to ask God to highlight a few people in your life right now who you can pursue deeper connection with. Then, I challenge you this week to take a risk, be bold and courageous, and pursue deeper connection and vulnerability with at least one person highlighted to you. Watch and see what God wants to do in your midst in and through your community.

As your fire for Jesus burns even brighter, I pray that you would burn with other burning ones and that God would place you in family and in covenant relationships so that you are known, loved, championed, and never alone.

*Copyrighted material, excerpt taken from Ignite Azusa: Positioning for a New Jesus Revolution by Jennifer A. Miskov with Heidi Baker, Lou Engle, and Bill Johnson (2016)

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D., Founding Director of School of Revival

In light of the Coronavirus outbreak which has been heavy on my heart, it has made me do some reflection to see how the revivalists of the past approached similar outbreaks.

Here's what I found by looking at the grandmother of the healing home Movement Dorothea Trudel from Switzerland, significant influencer in the Welsh Revival Rees Howells from Wales, and John G. Lake from Canada. Praying for breakthrough and the power of the Holy Spirit to cancel and heal all sickness in Jesus' name.

Dorothea Trudel

Dorothea Trudel (1813-1862) from Switzerland, is known at the grandmother of the healing home movement. Her ministry was initiated when several of her co-workers at the florist shop became very ill and could not be cured through medicine. She pondered the ‘James 5 prayer’ and decided to pray for her fellow employees. Soon after she prayed, they all recovered. Following their healings, the 1851 epidemic hit Switzerland. Trudel was flooded with people who came to her seeking healing. She responded by opening healing homes in Männedorf.

She was significantly influenced by the prayer found in James 5 and when she could not find any elders to pray for and anoint the sick, she stepped in to do the praying. This ‘James 5 prayer’ later played an important role not only in relation to Carrie Judd Montgomery’s personal healing but also in regards to her ministry that followed.[1]

Rees Howells

Rees Howells (1879-1950) was a revivalist from Wales who played a key role in discipling the converts from the Welsh Revival. He also served as a missionary in Africa for a season. Around 1915 when the influenza hit Africa, over 65 people in Rees Howells’ mission were stricken with it early on. Hundreds of people were dying all around them. Howells believed he heard from the Lord that no one in his mission base would die. To activate what he felt he heard from the Lord, he made a declaration of this over his mission’s base. A nearby chief heard about this and asked if he could bring his people there for protection from the disease. Word spread within a 20 mile radius of the mission that “the white man was able to keep death away.” The witch doctors could do nothing to help the people. Then, beginning with five of the most hardened men, people began to flock to the mission base for safety. There was not one single death at the base during this time of tragedy.[2]

John G. Lake

John G. Lake (1870) was significant apostolic healing evangelist from Ontario, Canada who had a powerful ministry in South Africa. After a season of support raising and recruiting others to join his mission, he returned to Africa in 1910 right in the midst of a deadly plague. During this busy time of ministering to the sick and dying, a doctor who was visiting his mission asked Lake how he was able to protect himself from the deadly virus. Lake replied that it was the “‘law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.’ I believe that just as long as I keep my soul in contact with the living God so that His Spirit is flowing into my soul and body, that no germ will ever attach itself to me, for the Spirit of God will kill it.” Then he did something extreme to prove this point to the doctor. He became a human experiment. He said,

If you will go over to one of these dead people and take the foam that comes out of their lungs after death, then put it under the microscope you will see masses of living germs. You will find they are alive until a reasonable time after a man is dead. You can fill my hand with them and I will keep it under the microscope, and instead of these germs remaining alive, they will die instantly.

When they did this experiment, they saw that what Lake had communicated before was right. He explained that “‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.’ When a man’s spirit and a man’s body are filled with the blessed presence of God, it oozes out of the pores of your flesh and kills the germs.’” He continued on that if his “soul had been under the law of death” or if he was in “fear and darkness” then there would have been an opposite result. Lake then believed that “The result would have been that my body would have absorbed the germs, these would have generated disease and I would have died.” [3]

Jesus

Let's not forget Jesus and how He approached the then contagious lepers of the time. Rather than Him being contaminated, there was a reversal. Instead, the power within Him purified their and healed their sickness. See Luke 17:11-19, Mark 1:40-45, Matthew 8:1-4.

Apostle Paul

Or what about the apostle Paul who was bit by a poisonous viper and shook it off into the fire, remaining unscathed. Acts 28:3-6

In Conclusion

I don’t feel to add much commentary here because there is a real tension we are facing today with people getting sick and dying. I honestly don’t have many answers only deep hearted prayers and a belief that we can tap into and access a greater measure of the resurrection power and dominion over sickness available in Christ Jesus somehow.

There is something unique in each of these testimonies that offers hope for a better way and shows us a path of possibilities we can also tap into as we access that same resurrection Spirit that raised Christ from the dead living within us.  

So Holy Spirit come and do what only You can do. Give us increasing wisdom and revelation in how to demonstrate Your love, dominion, and healing power in the midst of this crisis. Come with Your power to destroy the works of darkness, eradicate deadly virus’s, comfort your people, and also release downloads from heaven to medical professionals to quickly discover solutions and cures for what we are facing today in Jesus’ name, amen.

Listen to Podcast I released on this topic

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UPDATE on April 24, 2020

A lot has changed since I first posted this blog. When I did, we were still living “normal life,” were not on lockdown yet, and the economy was still normalized. I wanted to share this video Heidi Baker recorded from Mozambique on March 27, 2020. During a really bad cholera epidemic in her nation years back, she felt the Lord lead her to go into the tent with all the sick people and hold, love, and pray for them. The results are phenominal. But during this crisis, she feels called to really honor the government and the regulations set before.

There is no cookie cutter definitive way to approach crisis and healing. We have to be led by the Spirit and respond to the now word of God in our lives. There may be times He calls us to run straight into the fire to bring love and other times He calls us to remain. Check out Heidi’s powerful testimony.

Notes

[1] Jennifer A. Miskov, Life on Wings: The Forgotten Life and Theology of Carrie Judd Montgomery (1858-1946), (CPT Press: Cleveland, TN, 2012), 31-32. Additionally, “Otto Stockmayer (1838-1917), of Berne, Switzerland, was introduced to divine healing on Easter day in 1867 when one of Trudel’s successors, Samuel Zeller, laid hands on him to pray for healing. Influenced by this experience and by utilizing the same methodology found at Trudel’s center of ministry, several years later, he opened up a faith home in Hauptweil, Thurgau, Switzerland.” See also Nancy A. Hardesty, Faith Cure: Divine Healing in the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003), 17-18. See also “Dorothea Trudel” on http://healingandrevival.com/BioDTrudel.htm

[2] To learn more about Rees Howells and also read this account, see Bill Johnson with Jennifer A. Miskov, Defining Moments (Whitaker House: New Kensington, PA, 2016), 189-210, Doris M. Ruscoe, The Intercession of Rees Howells (Blowing Rock, NC: Zerubbabel Press, 1983), 98-99, and Norman Grubb, Rees Howells Intercessor, (Lutterworth Press, 1952),168-169.

[3] John G. Lake, The John G. Lake Sermons on Dominion over Demons, Disease and Death, ed. Gordon Linsday (Dallas, TX: Christ for the Nations, 1949, reprint 1998), 107-108. For a similar account, see Kenneth Copeland in John G. Lake, His Life, His Sermons, His Boldness of Faith, (Fort Worth, TX: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1994), xxi-xxii. To see this account and learn more about John G. Lake, see Bill Johnson with Jennifer A. Miskov, Defining Moments (Whitaker House: New Kensington, PA, 2016), 143-163.

*Photos found on the internet

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

On this significant day in history, I want to introduce you to someone who has impacted my life tremendously. Though I have never personally met her, Carrie Judd Montgomery (1858-1946) has acted as a spiritual mother, kindred spirit, and beautiful pioneering friend along my journey. My life has been radically changed because of her yeses again and again over the years and I would not be where I am today without the deposit I received from Carrie Judd Montgomery.

It is quite fascinating how we met in the first place. Around 2005-2006 I was being drawn to England to pursue deeper studies. I wanted to study revivals and create a theology of living effectively through them. I wanted to learn how to burn for Jesus in all seasons and for that fire to continue burning stronger the older I got without burning out. When I took the leap of faith to move to England in 2007, I remember reading a small paragraph in my professor’s book about a woman I had never heard of before called Carrie Judd Montgomery. As I dug a little deeper, I realized that this pioneering woman preacher who had a powerful healing ministry was never researched beyond a master’s thesis twenty years before. I was drawn to her story any decided to dive in to research and recover it for today doing my entire Ph.D. on her life and ministry. I find it so much like God to send me from California all the way over to England just to discover a forgotten healing revivalist named Carrie Judd Montgomery who opened the earliest healing homes in our nation and made her base in California. I am so thankful that God allowed me to intersect with Carrie because I am forever changed, inspired, and impacted.

Her radical obedience to pioneer one of the first healing homes in our nation in 1882 at 23 years old with only a few month’s rent turned into healing homes being inspired across the nation. Eventually through her move to the West Coast, she also opened The Home of Peace in 1893 which is still there to this day. When God was leading me to a house on Placer street in Redding, California is February of 2012, Carrie’s courage and testimony ignite faith in me to step into birthing what would later become known as Destiny House. I had only one month’s rent to my name and it my situation felt impossible but I was encouraged in the Lord when I remembered Carrie’s testimony. If she could do it, then I believed I could also trust in God in a radical way too.

Carrie taught me how to live above the storms. She taught me the difference between operating in relation to truth versus facts. She taught me how to be led of the Spirit, not by my circumstances. What God begins, He will complete (Philippians 1:6). If God initiates something, He will sort out all of the details as we step out in faith to follow Him. If God calls me to go on a missions’ trip and I have no money in the bank, I learned from Carrie to set my heart on the promises of God and put my feet to stepping out in faith as I am led by the Spirit. Too many times I had made decisions based upon my circumstances. She taught me how to be led of the Spirit, not of circumstances. Carrie taught me to make decisions not based on facts, but upon the truth of God.

Another thing that marks me about Carrie’s life was her sustaining and deepening hunger for more of God. Even after she had a successful healing ministry, at the age of fifty, during the same time as the Azusa Street Revival, Carrie was open and hungry to step into the new move of God in her day. No matter how weird this new move of God looked, she was willing to risk her reputation to take hold of all that God had for her. Even after she was baptized in the Spirit and spoke in tongues, her hunger to encounter God in a deeper measure continued to increase. No matter what experiences or encounters she had in her past, if God was doing a new thing, she was willing to dive in.

She also taught me what it looks like to choose unity and relationships above dividing over minor doctrinal issues. Regardless of whether or not some of her friends spoke in tongues during the rise of early American Pentecostalism, that did not inhibit or deter Carrie from continuing to journey with these friends to advance the kingdom of God together. She chose friendship above denominational lines. She even got kicked out of churches not only because she was a woman preacher but also because she spoke to African Americans as well as spoke the unpopular message of healing at the time.

The reason today February 26, 2020 is so special is because it’s the 141st anniversary of Carrie’s miraculous healing (Feb. 26, 1879). Every year on this day, Carrie would remember and celebrate the anniversary of her healing by recounting the story and giving God thanks. In fact, her stewardship of her testimony was catalytic to shift Evangelicalism from believing God wanted people to endure suffering with a good attitude to the truth that God wants to and heals today. So on this special anniversary of Carrie’s miraculous healing, may you be encouraged to know the goodness of God in a deeper way and may you be inspired, just as I have, by a life well lived in complete surrender to Jesus.

To learn more about Carrie’s story, check out this mini-biography of her life which includes links to other free and original writings by Carrie as well or see the other resources below.

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

Alignment

(noun), arrangement in a straight line, or in correct or appropriate relative positions or a position of agreement or alliance.

While I saw 2018 as the year of Family and 2019 as the Year of Focus, I see 2020 as the Year of Alignment, Synergy and Unprecedented Outpouring. Last year was a time of uprooting, relocating, and then re-planting. It was a year of God moving people around as if on a chess board getting them into perfect position for His next great move.

I know for me, 2019 was a whole year of massive transition. Since July of 2018, I have not had a permanent address or known where I would live since transitioning from Redding. I have been traveling the world doing full time itinerant ministry in 9 nations, 5 States, 28 cities and loving it. At the end of my second European tour of the year this fall, God made it clear where I was to base next. Home. He had brought me all the way around the world to show me that He was bringing back full circle in every way. I’m back with family, back at the church I grew up in at Anaheim Vineyard, and in January, I begin teaching at the university I graduated from 20 years ago.

Teaching at Vanguard University was a dream I had in my heart since I graduated from there. It was the original reason I went off to get my Ph.D. in the first place but I had since forgotten about this dream. Luckily, God didn’t forget, He was waiting for just the right time to bring this perfect alignment. The first class I get to teach there is about the Azusa Street Revival (which I wrote a book about, Ignite Azusa, and have been teaching around the world). When I begin teaching there this January it will 20 years after I graduated from there as well as it will be their 100 year anniversary of the founding of the school (which was birthed and influenced in part by the Azusa Street Revival). If that’s not alignment and synergy, I don’t know what is. Full circle, not what I would have thought or expected, but very much the hand of the Lord upon it all.

In 2019, God has moved people from places they have been established and has repositioned them to be exactly where He wants them to be, with whom He wants them to be with to link arms together, for such a time as this. When alignment happens and kindred hearts come together in God’s perfect timing, it sets people up for synergy.

SYNERGY

(noun), the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

2020 is Go Time. It’s the due date. It’s check mate. It’s a time of synergy and convergence. God has repositioned His people to be in perfect alignment for what He’s about to pour out next, His Spirit in unprecedented measures.

Unprecedented

(adj.) never done or known before.

Outpouring

(noun) something that streams out rapidly.

We’ve seen God do so many incredible things throughout history. I believe, pray for, and declare that 2020 will be the time of the greatest outpouring we have ever seen at such an unprecedented level we won’t even be able to compare it to any previous revivals. The Momentum of the ages is upon us. It’s our turn and our time to step into the momentum of the flow that has already gone before us.

There are specific hot spots I see around the world that I believe will bloom and burst forth into revival in 2020. Europe is pregnant with revival in a big way. Germany is already a forerunner. I especially see Brussels, Belgium as ripe for revival and Switzerland too. There’s something on Russia right now as well. Although a little biased, I also see all of California, from Southern California to the Bay Area to the North experiencing a fresh move of God on the West Coast that will spread all across the nation and beyond. Southern California is a birthplace of apostolic movements that have traveled the globe and touched generations. I believe we are perfectly positioned for another great outpouring of the Spirit.

I also believe God is pouring out His Spirit in such a massive way that everybody who is hungry no matter where they are will be able to embrace it. All throughout the earth, revival and a fresh outpouring of the Spirit is in the air. God has positioned His people and is ready to make His next move.

And while we’re in position to ride this next wave, remaining full of the oil (Matthew 25), and waiting for this new move of God, unprecedented outpouring, billion soul harvest, new wave of revival in our day, if we have eyes to see and look around, we can recognize that revival is already all around us. We’re not simply waiting for one massive new move of God, we’re already swept up in it. It has already begun. The Momentum from all who have come before is great, God’s Spirit is already being poured out in all the earth in increasing measures. Vision 2020 is also about recognizing what we’ve had in Jesus all along rather than just reaching into the future trying to grasp for something unseen. The more is coming but we also need to remain present in the now all around us.

The revival we’ve been praying our whole lives for is already upon us. It began this past year with God consecrating and setting apart Christians to be burning ones, wholly His, learning how to walk unified in love, throwing off everything that hinders and running fully after Jesus with nothing holding them back. He has been waking us up and setting us apart in wholehearted surrender. He has been getting us, the Church, ready, linking us together with other believers who look and even think differently from us but who exalt the Name of Jesus above all others. For He knows that each one is needed to link arms to be the net for the massive amount of capturing, carrying, and discipling this massive incoming harvest. We are being awakened and made aware of the wave of revival that’s already begun and are invited to dive in even deeper.

Keys for positioning, welcoming, and stewarding the incoming outpouring in 2020

1. Stay full of the oil of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 25). When this tidal wave of His glory is poured out and revival awakens people, it will be easy to get busy doing great things for God. In the hype, favor, opportunities, we must never neglect time ministering and connecting with Jesus in the Secret Place. Prioritize the sabbath rest in the midst of great momentum and outpouring. Everything must flow from Him our Source. We minister from a place of intimacy and rest (John 15).

2. Stay deeply connected and knit together with the Body of Christ (Ephesians 2). The amount of people who will get saved will be so many that we will need to link together with the Body of Christ to be able to disciple and steward the great harvest. Make sure not to neglect family and important relationships in the midst of favor and revival.

3. Make space for God in your schedule, in your heart, in your home. Allow God to interrupt your agenda and to rearrange your plans. Make space for God in your quiet times and in your meetings. Whenever we make room for God, He comes.

4. Expect the unexpected. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Be open to God moving in new ways through those least expected. Don’t criticize what you don’t understand or what’s uncomfortable. Be open to search it out and also receive the more of what God is pouring out even if it’s coming from someone unqualified or in a way you’ve never experienced Him before.

5. Discernment (Hebrews 12:1-2). Don’t say yes to every opportunity or open door. Good is many times the enemy of the best. Only take on what God is asking you to take on. Don’t bring into this new season what you were called to carry in the last one. Don’t be afraid of offending or disappointing others to remain obedient to Christ. Don’t settle for silver when you’re meant for gold. Throw yourself into what you’d be willing to die for.

May all of your fruitfulness flow from a place of intimacy with Jesus and connection with family. Blessing you as you cling tight to Jesus and stay knit together with the tribe of riders He’s connected you with in 2020. I believe we’re in for the ride of our lives and that it’s already begun. Surfs up.

Exodus 33 / Ephesians 3:20 / Haggai 2 / Nehemiah / Psalm 71 / Exodus 40 / Matthew 25

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

*This was originally posted December 18, 2019 and written at Carrie Judd Montgomery’s Home of Peace Healing Home in Oakland, CA after being in Redding this past week as things unfolded and in the midst of the global prayer movement for resurrection life for Olive.

On July 7, 2006, when I was at a leadership training for Starbucks Coffee back when I was a store manager, one of the activities we were asked to do was to write out some of our dreams. I wrote lots of fun and random things on that little paper. One of which was that I wanted “to write a book about Revolutionaries/Revivals” which I ended up getting to do 10 years later alongside of one of the great generals of the faith in our day. Defining Moments with Bill Johnson came out in 2016, ten years after I had written it down that day. In the book are stories of people who actually prayed for the dead to rise and saw some positive results.

Another thing I wrote on that little piece of paper was that I wanted to “Raise the dead.” You see back in around 2001, I preached at my youth group on Matthew 10:8 (NIV) that says “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” This is something God actually calls us to do and has given us authority in. He didn’t say “if you think it’s My will, then heal the sick, raise the dead, etc…” He also didn’t say, “if you feel Me breathing on it, then heal the sick, raise the dead,…” He simply said to do it. Because we know the nature and heart of God, we know that He sent Jesus to overturn Satan’s plans to kill, steal, and destroy and instead to give us the abundant life (John 10:10).

So all that to say, I preached my little twenty something year old heart out to the youth on that Scripture and then probably a week or two later one of the pastors on staff died in a freak accident while on the mission field. This happen right after I had preached on this passage. Because of the timing, I had no doubt in my mind that God wanted to raise him from the dead. Why would I preach on that exact same verse and then literally someone dies prematurely? This was not okay and I truly believed with all of my heart that God was going to raise him from the dead.

I arranged a prayer meeting to pray for God to raise him from the dead. Those who attended this meeting were mostly made up of the fifteen kids in a discipleship group I was leading that summer who had to be there, plus a few more, and another pastor who came to make sure everything went okay. Let’s just say it was more of a remnant than a unified church body moving together to ask God do the impossible. This made me sad especially as I was 100% convinced God was going to raise him up I did not see an army rising up to contend for resurrection life. In the end, the pastor was never raised from the dead. I was a little disillusioned but I never regretted contending for resurrection life and it never made me believe that God can’t do it another time. I believe it was said that John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Movement, prayed for hundreds of people for healing before one of them got healed.

Then in 2007-2011, I moved from California to England and in my research, discovered a forgotten healing revivalist who planted some of the earliest healing homes in our nation. I ended up doing my research and Ph.D. on her life story. So crazy how God sent me from California to England to discover a Pentecostal pioneer who based the majority of her life in California. I ended up publishing my thesis which would become one of the first ever biographies and books about her life story to date. Through recovering the forgotten legacy of Carrie Judd Montgomery, I was able to help raise her life story from the dead in a way because barely anyone had heard of her before I had written about her. I checked off the “Raise someone from the dead” on my dream list with that one but still believe for and contend for resurrection life.

Since then I have prayed for dead birds, squirrels, and anything else I saw had died so that I could practice and step out in faith to see God do a miracle. I figure, if I pray for enough animals and people who died before their time, eventually one of them would be raised up. I am not saying I pray for every dead person to be raised from the dead, but when I feel an unction, I dive in.

Too many people confuse failure with the ability to risk and learn from the journey. We can never fail with God (Romans 8) and we will never know if we never try. God doesn’t demand perfection but He does invite us into obedience. Because we’re in relationship with God, we know His heart and try our best to move where He would move in response to His compassion. If I pray for resurrection life and it does not happen, I don’t ever feel like a failure because the result was not what I had believed for. I always celebrate that I took a risk and followed my and His heart. And if I pray and believe and they don’t raise from the dead, God is still good. He never changes even if my understanding of His exact ways and timing is limited.

Resurrection life is all over the Bible. Jesus raised people from the dead like Lazarus on the fourth day (John 11) and so on. Paul even raised someone from the dead in Acts 20:7-12. Peter raised Dorcas from the dead in Acts 9:36-42. Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25) and He was raised the third day (Luke 24). It’s very Biblical to believe in this.

Smith Wigglesworth raised his wife Polly from the dead but she wanted to stay in heaven so he let her go back there. My friend Samaa Habib was blown up by a bomb, died and went to heaven and then came back because she wanted to lead her family to the Lord. Read her book Face to Face with Jesus to get the whole story. This is a real person that I personally know who was dead but then brought back to life. Heidi & Rolland Baker of Iris Global in Mozambique have seen many raised from the dead in their ministry and I’ve met some of the pastors and heard the stories of this happening.

So when Bethel’s worship leader’s precious two year old Olive stopped breathing and died a few days ago, an army of intercessors were mobilized at Bethel and around the world to contend for resurrection life. This has to be one of the most beautiful things in the world. So much faith for God to do the impossible in such a unique and corporate way is something I don’t believe I have ever witnessed before. I have recently moved from Redding but just happened to be there this weekend when everything unfolded. See article below to get up to date on the journey.

We have come so far in the last 20 years and I believe this global move of prayer for resurrection from the dead is a forerunner into 2020. The unprecedented faith to believe and contend for life just shows that God has been raising up an army to contend and stand for breakthrough in new levels in 2020. In the past when praying for resurrection was severely resisted, now it’s embraced around the globe in a greater measure. There will always be those who don’t understand and think that it doesn’t make any sense and have questions. That’s okay. But for those who believe, all things are possible. And no matter what, whether Olive rises or not, through this story, the church has now arisen and has taken its rightful stand.

We now know the true authority we have as saints. And believe me, the faith that has arisen from this situation will only get stronger and fiercer. We have now embraced the truth and mandate of Matthew 10:8 and believe with our whole hearts that God wants to heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons through our lives. He wants us to partner with heaven to release the abundant and resurrection life He died for us to have. The enemy has already been defeated. Even beyond our understanding, God is still good. Our hearts, our prayers, and are faith remain unified with this precious family during such a time as this no matter what the outcome. And we still worship Jesus no matter what, because He is always good and never changes. The story is not over…

Bill Johnson’s response in the midst of this journey is very helpful. See below.

Update from Bill Johnson December 22, 2019

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

What’s Your Address?

Part 1: Written while in Maui, HI on September 20, 2018 

Three simple words, or four if you take away the conjugation, that literally have thrown me for a loop. One of the graduates who took my Writing in the Glory workshop and who I had the privilege of helping along in the journey just published her first book, which is incredible! Then she offered to mail me a copy of her book. She sent me an email with those three words that normally make sense but in my season, I didn’t quite know how to answer her. “What’s your address?” I believe sometimes this can also be translated “Where’s home?” And the reason I am writing a blog about something that might seem to very trivial to most people is because in this present season, I don’t have an answer to that question and I am not sure when exactly I will. A few months ago I would have said one thing, a few weeks ago another, today another, and next week another.

Did you know that you are not allowed to apply for a credit card if you don’t have an address? I learned that on my recent airline flight. It’s also hard to order anything online to be shipped to you if you don’t know where it is going, or even where you’re going next.

“What’s your address?”

While I was in Mozambique this summer, I got a message that the house I had been living in for several years in Redding was sold and that upon my return I would have to move out shortly after. Already having made plans to go to Maui before I heard the news, I changed my ticket to a one-way. About a week after I came to Maui, I heard the news of the terrible fires in Redding where many lost their homes. This was so heartbreaking and hard to be away from all my dear friends during this time. After that broke out, I’ve tried to come back to Redding several times, even bought a ticket back that I had to let go of because things fell through and no consistent housing opened up over there for me since my transition out of my previous place. We had already felt led to let go of the Destiny House building this summer and found out YWAM was taking it after us which was a huge blessing. But I personally still don’t have a permanent address or know what is next.

It’s interesting traveling because usually there’s an end time and a place to go back home to. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I’m not so eager to head back to the Mainland, because it feels like there’s even more places to stay here in Maui that have recently opened up versus going back to a city where much of it has been destroyed by the fires. While I admit it does get a bit tiring moving around so much, it is a huge blessing that an address doesn’t define my home. So many beautiful people have opened their homes and their hearts to me here in Maui. I am eternally grateful for these and they are one of the very God-reasons I keep extending my trip.

It’s also a blessing to realize that while at the moment I don’t really have an address, I know one day I will and that no matter what, I am at home in God wherever I go. So many others literally don’t have an address because they are living on the streets or in their cars or their house burnt down. There are many refugees out there who have had to flee their homes with only the clothes on their backs, never to return to their homeland again.

I’m on the other extreme of that and feel so rich to be embraced by the community of saints who would never let that happen to me. Life is such an interesting journey and the more I travel and leave my comfort zone, the bigger my global family seems to become. While there seems to have been many others in major transition this season as well and lots of dear friends who have returned to their home countries, it also feels sweet to know that while at the moment I’m not sure where I’m going to land, I have a place to call home around the world. God is my address. Being home in His heart is where I live. And the family of God has been so gracious and generous to me in this season.  

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Full Circle

Part 2: Written on November 5, 2019 while in Orange County, CA

After the above was written, I ended up staying in Maui nearly another month and a half and experienced quite a shift in my life. Following my 3.5 month sabbatical time there, I went to Virginia and saw God move in a special way, then back to Redding to continue transitioning. For Christmas, I went back to Orange County with family for the holidays where there wasn’t an available room in my home for the first time ever so I couldn’t even stay in my own house for Christmas but had to stay with a friend. The first week of January I went to the outback in Australia to help be a part of launching my friend’s first Iris School of Outback Mission. Instead of flying back like my plane ticket said, a beautiful family invited me to join them on the coast in Byron Bay to experience more of Australia. Since I was going to Germany soon, rather than fly everywhere and be exhausted from jet lag, I thought it would be worth it to invest the extra money to rest. After some much needed time in the sun, straight from Australia I flew to Germany and landed there in my blue jeans and flip flops. I was in no way prepared for the winter time in Europe since I had originally planned to go back and get my stuff before venturing out of the nation again. I am so grateful my mom mailed me my coat, shoes, gloves, and a beanie to stay warm.

From Germany I went to Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, then England before coming back to Orange County for a week then back to Virginia. I remember when I was staying at a friend’s house in England for nearly a week, the longest time I was at one place, I literally unpacked all of my things just to feel somewhat settled and to not have to live out of a suitcase for one whole week. Then in May 2019, I went back to Redding to close the chapter of Destiny House Redding and gather the rest of my things.

With absolutely no intention of buying a thing, a few days before I was about to head back down to Southern California, I went into the Crowning Jewels store to say goodbye to a few of my friends from Destiny House who worked there. Then I realized I needed a few thank you gifts for people so I started shopping a little bit before I saw this one necklace that totally stood out to me.

It said “Home” on it.  

I knew I had to have it since my life was so up in the air during that crazy season. I still had no idea where I was going to land except for the fact that I was continually being drawn to Europe. When I bought the necklace, it came with a prophetic card. My friend went into the back to have another worker write it out because she wanted someone who didn’t know me or my situation at all. When I opened it, my eyes began to water in the store and I felt the presence of God. The note said something to the effect that usually home means a place but for some reason she felt that home was not about a certain location for me in this season but a reminder that God is always my home. I was so touched by God in that place and it came from so out of the blue. It was lovely to see my friends and I walked out of that store wearing my necklace that said “home” on it. I wore that necklace much of the summer. Every time I put it on it was a reminder that even though I still had no idea where I was going to land, I knew that God is always my home and safe place.

This necklace stayed on me as I went back to Maui for a short visit, then to Orange County again briefly before embarking on another European adventure to 5 nations in Europe, my second big trip in the year. I went to Norway, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Belgium, and France.

On September 13th when I was in Belgium launching the third of our Schools of Revival, I received an email from a professor at Vanguard University who wanted to connect with me about potentially teaching a class there. When I saw the email, I didn’t have the capacity to even think about it much as I was still right in the middle of the European Tour and loving it. Then as my trip was coming to a close, my last day in Paris before flying home September 23, I was able to have a phone call with the professor and agreed to meet with him the following week when I was back in town. The very next day when I arrived back in the U.S.A., I received another email from another dean who was a part of a University in Dallas, Texas wanting to fly me out to teach an intensive master’s course in the Spring of 2020.

I was still very much feeling drawn to explore relocating to Europe but also open to seeing what God might be doing and if He was leading me into a new season. I was also feeling after traveling for over one year straight and loving it that I was ready and really needed a season of being in one place for a period of time.

September 30, I met with Tommy, the professor at Vanguard University and he talked to me about potentially options to teach adjunct online classes. I’ve taught online before but prefer being in the classroom with the students. When he heard me say that, he told me that if I was in town, he would give me his class to teach. His class was History of Pentecostalism which is basically a class about the The Azusa Street Revival. 

I was a bit torn because I had set my sights on Europe and at the same time something in the mix felt like this could indeed be God. I met with him again the following week and saw the favor and potential to be present with the students there instead of online teaching. After prayer and counsel, I really felt this was indeed the Lord. Within one week, everything changed and became clear. This opportunity was so out of the blue but I began to get more and more excited as the pieces began to be put together.

So after over a year of not knowing what’s next and following my heart to plant seeds of revival in the nations, God has finally revealed to me the next steps I am supposed to take. Twenty years after graduating from Vanguard University suddenly, and on its 100 year anniversary as a school, I will begin teaching a class primarily all about the Azusa Street Revival. My Ph.D. work was significantly focused on the Azusa Street Revival. Actually one of the original reasons I went to pursue it many years ago was so that I could teach at Vanguard one day. This was a dream in my heart I had long forgotten about but that God waited twenty years to fulfill! God is so faithful! I am so grateful for the season of play, rest, pioneering, traveling to the nations that God gifted me this past year and I am excited to dive in to what is awaiting in 2020.

I had forgotten about my gold “home” necklace as time went on until today, November 5, 2019. Today when I woke up to get ready to go to the prayer meeting at Anaheim Vineyard where I grew up, I felt like I really wanted to wear my gold necklace that said “home” on it. And this time as I put it on, there was a sense of relief and gratitude. Previously, I needed to wear this necklace to remind myself that in all my journeys and adventures this past year and a half where I had no address, God is always my home and always provides family. But now, today, after over a year of not knowing what was next, where was next, not having an address or consistency in my life when I put it on, it was like a breath of fresh air. It was a reminder of God’s faithfulness. He had brought me full circle and back home in more ways than one.

In the journey, I learned that no matter where I am, God is always my home and safe place. When I wore that necklace today, I was overwhelmed with gratitude of a good good Father who always knows the way. No matter where I am or what circumstances I find myself in, I can always rest in His arms. He is such a faithful Father. Throughout all the years, He has never let me down. He has always remained my safe place. His heart is always where I find my home.

*To read newsletter I sent out sharing more about this story and turn of events, go HERE

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

I am currently in Oslo, Norway and am getting the opportunity to discover and learn more about some significant revivalists of this land. A powerful Pentecostal pioneer I would like to introduce to you today is Thomas Ball Barratt (1862-1940). Originally born in Cornwall, England, when he was a child, his family moved to Norway for his father’s work in 1867 and he became a naturalized citizen of Norway. He was very involved in building up great ministries in Oslo. In 1906, he was sent out by the mission he founded in the city to go to the United States with the original plan of raising money for his mission.

During the time he was over there, he began to hear stories about a revival that was gaining momentum in Los Angeles at Azusa Street. Several ministers who were baptized in the Spirit at the Azusa Street Mission and who were passionate about helping others encounter God in this way, intersected with Barratt in New York when he was on his way home. There he discovered more of the Pentecostal revival and he asked for prayer to receive the same blessing they had received. He was baptized in the Spirit on November 15, 1906 and thereafter spoke and even sang in tongues. Here’s his encounter in his own words:

“There were not many people at the evening meeting, but God’s power was mightily manifested. I asked the leader of the meeting, a little before 12 o’clock, to lay hands on me and pray for me. Immediately the power of God began to work in my body, as well as in my spirit. I was like Daniel, powerless under the Divine touch (Dan. 10, 8) and had to lean upon the table on the platform, where I was sitting, and slid down on the floor. Again my speaking organs began to move, but there was no voice to be heard. I asked a brother, a Norwegian, who had often heard me preach in Christiania, and the doctor’s wife, to pray for me once more.

            ‘Try to speak,’ the Norwegian said, but I answered, that ‘if the Lord could speak through a human being, He must make me do so by His Spirit! There was to be no humbug about this!’

When they were praying, the doctor’s wife saw a crown of Fire over my head and a cloven tongue as of Fire in front of the crown. Compare Acts 2, 2-4. The brother from Norway, and the others, saw this supernatural highly red light.

The very same Moment, my being was filled with light and an indescribable power, and I began to speak in a foreign language as loudly as I could. For a long time I was lying upon my back on the floor, speaking – afterwards, I was moving about on my knees with my eyes shut. For some time this went on; then at last I sat on a chair, and the whole time I spoke in ‘divers kinds of tongues’ (1 Corinthians 12, 10) with a short interval between. When speaking some of these languages, there was an aching in my vocal chords. I am sure that I spoke seven or eight different languages…The most beautiful of all was the singing – when the inspiration reached its climax, I burst out in a wonderful baritone solo…

This lasted until about four o’clock in the morning. There were nine persons present until 3 a.m., who can testify to the truth of every word I have written; some of them stayed till 4 a.m.”[1]

After this, he headed back to Norway without the funds he intended to raise but with something much greater to bring back to his nation. Not knowing how all of his friends would respond to this new move of God in his life, he pre-determined that no matter what it might cost him, he would follow the Holy Spirit. This was what he said once he arrived:

“And now I was in Norway once more. What would be the results there of my new stand, and how would my old friends take it? I was determined, nevertheless, to be led by the Spirit in all things, whatever might take place.” [2]

Barratt eventually left his previous societies and planted the first Pentecostal church in Norway in Oslo called Filadelfia. This became a significant center to help spread the Pentecostal fire all through the nation and Europe. Alexander A. Boddy from England heard about what God was doing and came over to visit Barratt to seek his Spirit Baptism. He also invited Barratt to be a part of the conference he set up in Sunderland, England to gather those who were hungry for a fresh encounter with God to step into receiving this blessing. Through Barratt’s influence on Boddy, he eventually received his Spirit baptism experience and spoke in tongues. This English vicar would go on to lead many in his nation to have this experience, including healing evangelist Smith Wigglesworth (see Defining Moments to learn more). Barratt was also influential in igniting the fire in Pentecostal pioneer in Sweden Levi Petrus and many others. The ripple effects of the fire that Barrett received and carried throughout Europe continue on to this day.

Testimony of when I visited T.B. Barratt’s church

With T.B. and Laura Barratt on my first visit there March 18, 2019

When I was in Norway earlier in the year, on my last day in town on March 18, 2019, I had a crazy divine appointment in T.B. Barratt’s church Filadelfia. I was getting a tour of the city with a friend and we went to the basement of Barratt’s church to find a 24/7 prayer room there. We were talking to the two ladies standing outside who run it and when I shared I was from California, one of the ladies looked at me and asked if I was from Redding. Then she asked if I teach revival history and how to write books. Somehow she had recognized my face even though I had never met her in my life.

She said that she had been praying to meet me and even messaged her friend in Redding to see if that person knew me but never received a response. So there I was on a last minute trip to Norway, stopping by a prayer room for 5 minutes and intersecting with the woman who founded the prayer room 10 years ago, who was sick that day and barely even made it out that day. I ended up praying for her and her writing that night and was in utter shock and amazement of what God had arranged.

Fast forward. Several months later when I was planning my return trip to Europe, I decided to go first to Norway since I was only here for four days last time and it was much too short. My friend Marianne asked me if I wanted to do a Writing in the Glory workshop and then she reminded me of this divine appointment I had with Anna-Lie. So this week, about five months from that one divine appointment, I had the privilege to do the first ever Writing in the Glory workshop in Norway in that very prayer room in the basement of T.B. Barratt’s church with Anna-Lie’s help.

We were also able to do a Revival History Night this week in this well of revival and release the Azusa Street Revival story. It is so amazing to see how God waters the seeds and goes before us to make a way. Special thanks to Marianne, Eirik, Anna-Lie, Timothy and friends at Filadelfia church for being such a special and impart part of this incredible journey!

Releasing the Azusa Street story at a Revival Night in the basement foundations of T.B. Barratt’s church on August 22, 2019

God is moving here in Norway and around the world. He is stirring up hunger and igniting His fire to come and burn in us. Like Barratt, may we welcome a fresh move of the Holy Spirit in our hearts today and live in uncompromising surrender and allegiance to His call.

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[1] When the Fire Fell: An Outline of my Life by T.B. Barratt (Alfons Hansen & Sfanner, Norway, 1927) but now 2013 by PentecostalBooks.com, p. 105-106.

[2] When the Fire Fell: An Outline of my Life by T.B. Barratt, p. 114.

*To read more about people encountering a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit for today see Spirit Flood: Rebirth of Spirit Baptism for the 21st Century and to learn more about the Azusa Street Revival see Ignite Azusa

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

When in transition and on the journey to discover your new church family, it is important to choose a healthy revival community that is full of Jesus, gives room for the Holy Spirit to move, gathers around the very presence of God, and feels like family to you. You want to be planted somewhere that you are received as the gift that you are. It is also important to play your part and serve the body of Christ, breaking off consumer Christianity. Sometimes God will hide you from being seen by leadership because it’s either not your time or it’s not your fit. It is important to invite the Holy Spirit into your process to direct you to your new spiritual family in this season.

We all are the church and that can come in lots of different shapes and sizes (1 Peter 2:5). Ultimately, the kingdom of God is all about family, however that might look in our day.

Connecting together regularly with the wider Body of Christ and also meeting with our tribe within a tribe are significant keys to our maturity. Once you do find the church community that is a fit, greater growth happens when asking God to highlight a tribe within a tribe. These can then gather outside of the weekly celebration meeting to go deeper together. Some might share a passion for evangelism and want to hit the streets together. Others might be interested in going deeper in the Word or in the Spirit together. Others might want to learn how to step out in the prophetic or healing. Still others may want to simply cultivate a safe place to be family together gathered around God’s presence. The structure itself is not what is most important. The regular meeting together around God’s presence in a smaller more intimate community within a community is what accelerates growth.

It is important to have people in our lives that we can be vulnerable with. We usually find these people we can go deeper with in smaller groups. Cultivating family is essential for growth. This connecting heart to heart is in alignment with and obedience to the Word of God (Hebrews 10:23-25, James 5:16, 1 John 1:7). Connection is key however that might look in this season.

When I was leading Destiny House, where at one point we had up to 21 people living in intentional community (which is too big by the way), we had a Monday night family time where we shared a meal and connected just with each other. Then we also had an open Friday morning worship and ministry time where all were welcome to join. There, we gathered around God’s presence and ministered together as a family. We also went to church on Sundays. I know three meetings a week is not realistic for many in other life situations, but we were all in a season of full-time ministry training, so it worked well for us.

Similar to the rhythm described in the Book of Acts who met together daily (Acts 2:46-47, 5:42) I believe that elements of the rhythm we had at Destiny House can be adapted and integrated into our lives. In addition to regularly going to church, a smaller group can meet once a week or a few times a month to connect at a heart level. Or maybe home groups might meet consistently each week and once a month all meet together for a larger corporate gathering. Maybe some will share a similar rhythm as we did in Destiny House. The structure is not what is important here, the heart and consistency of regularly meeting together is. Connection is crucial because the keys of our destiny are found in intimacy with God and in being deeply connected with our tribe. So however it looks to get connected and go deeper with our tribe, whatever rhythm of life that looks like, it’s important to dive in. I think some of the key questions for us all to ask ourselves are:  

Who am I running with in this season?

Where am I showing up regularly to know and be known together?

If you don’t yet know the answers to these questions, I encourage you to ask God who He is highlighting for you to build with during this season. Then wait on Him and listen to what He says. Once several are highlighted, take some risks to initiate times to connect and grow deeper together and see where God takes it from there.

 In this hour, I believe it is crucial that we find our tribe and then dive in wholeheartedly to run together after the things of God. There is a Billion Soul Harvest on its way. God is shifting and aligning people with their tribe in this season so that they can grow into maturity to help steward and carry this massive revival.

Be encouraged, in this season, you are a perfect fit somewhere, but not everywhere. You are a unique shape. There is a community out there that has a “you” shaped hole. Don’t get discouraged if you try to fit somewhere and it doesn’t quite feel right. Rejection is redirection to somewhere better. God is in charge and over it all. It may take a little time to explore several communities before you find your people to run with. And once you find each other, it may take some time to build those relationships. This investment of time and heart is well worth the effort though because when you do find your tribe, you find your destiny. Keep going and don’t give up, you might just be one more risk away from finding your spiritual family to run with in this season.

You are an important part to what God is getting ready to release over our generation in this end time harvest. You will only be able to step into the fullest measure of your God-given destiny when you are rooted in the family of God (Ephesians 3:20). On this journey of discovery, I pray that you have grace to embark with fresh hope. I declare acceleration over you as you seek Jesus first above all things and take risks to find and grow deeper with the tribe God highlights to you in this season. Blessing you with divine appointments in finding the kindred spirits you were born to run with for such a time as this.

**To learn more about our rhythm of doing life together at Destiny House, see the Walking on Water E-course that goes into great depth with several sessions exclusively about our story and community life there.