Several people have asked to hear about my experience of the revival at Lakeland. The short answer is that it was lovely and perplexing and my mom's right eye was healed.
The long answer: I only had two days to attend the revival. I went not knowing what exactly to expect; I just expected that it would help strengthen my faith and my relationship with God. I was kind of hoping that I would have some crazy charismatic experience, complete with being "slain in the spirit" and having some kind of vision, or something extreme like that. What I got was very different, and much more essential.
Much of the time, I was completely perplexed. I observed hundreds of people having charismatic experiences - shaking, prophesying, flag waving, shouting, falling on the ground, getting healed and celebrating their healing, there was even one "holy roller" who was literally rolling around on the ground. Other than the holy roller, none of these things were new to me. However, they were occurring on such a massive scale that it was perplexing because to the natural mind it simply doesn't make sense that something like this can carry on for a month and a half, every single night (now its been 80-some days, I believe). My mom and I stood like oaks, unshaken, but enjoying the experience of being one of thousands of christians from around the world meeting together, praying for each other, and enjoying God. This will sound strange, but it felt sort of like a family reunion; people were so friendly and eager to bless each other.
The second (and last) evening we were there, Bob Jones was on stage and called out a message: "someone here has floaties in their right eye. Stand up, the people around you will pray for you, and you will be healed." My mom stood up immediately. She had been suffering from tons of floaties in her right eye for months. She had seen an eye-doctor who explained the problem as having something to do with tearing in the eye releasing particles in her eye. Two weeks prior to going to Lakeland, they got much worse. She hoped it would be so that she would know for certain when God healed her. That is exactly what happened. We prayed, nothing extravagant or impressive, she opened her eyes and started to tear up because her vision was so clear. She hasn't had any problems since. Praise God.
The funny thing is that I couldn't receive her healing right away. I knew it intellectually, and thanked God, but I was full of doubt and didn't know how to process her healing, and the many healings going on around me. I went out of my way to speak to people who had been healed - still, I was perplexed. I think I needed to be perplexed to realize that miracles can be happening right in front of you, and even to your mom's own eye, but the natural mind cannot comprehend the mysteries of the Spirit. I needed to be perplexed, I think, because so much of my life I have been like the Greeks and the Jews, asking for wisdom and signs, waiting for God to prove himself to me and to the world. And I would hear of miracles and things of the sort, and even witnessed a few small physical healings, but I had never witnessed them on this level. The truth is that even when miracles are unfolding before your eyes, it is still not enough. I prayed that God would help me believe, and He has.
The biggest miracle I experienced in Lakeland was actually the beginning of a transformed mind and heart via his cleansing power: I felt as though I was getting scrubbed clean, and that physically my body was actually cleaner. 2nd Timothy 3, says that in the last days people will be lovers of money, immorality and themselves, etc, "holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power" . . . well often we think of Christians who deny God's power to heal and work miracles. But what God started showing me there is that the power Paul is speaking of might include healing but the greatest power of the cross is to transform a life and make it completely holy. Jesus brings forgiveness. His blood and his spirit enable us to be free from the chains that sin puts on us - the chains that make us despise ourselves or others. Those chains cannot hold us if we don't let them. From righteousness flows peace. Holiness brings joy. They are inevitable consequences. We often think that if we just renew our mind then we will walk in righteousness; it also can work the other way around (and sometimes it is the only way to walk in freedom): if we do what is pure, and flee sin, the mind will be renewed and will follow. These revelations began in Florida, and have been refined and clarified over the last month. As I have come to a knowledge of God's holiness, I have begun to see how I cling selfishly to what I want - I don't want to give them up! and I cling selfishly to these things because I doubt the goodness of God's heart and His ability to completely satisfy. But when I let go, that is when I see God's heart and find peace and joy. God is renewing my mind as I obey Him and I feel so much freer than I have in so long - even as I study for the bar exam next month! Praise God.
*I edited this last paragraph as a result of a comment*
So what is my opinion of the revival in Florida? It is from God because only God can accomplish what is happening there (so many are apparently receiving a renewed hunger to seek God's face and walk in holiness). Todd Bentley's motives are irrelevant. God is using it to pour out his spirit upon thousands of people, and to set them free! Even if Todd Bentley is lying about all of his visions, God is still moving there. Todd Bentley preached the gospel while I was there, and gave praise, glory, and honor to Jesus Christ for setting us free from sin and death. The rest (i.e., claims regarding angelic presence, etc) is relatively unimportant, next to that.
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