Triumph in the midst of Tragedy

Yesterday we concluded our tour of churches here in the U.K. with a dynamic day of ministry in Ayelsbury, just outside of London. Less than 48 hours before our meetings began, this city was rocked by a horrific tragedy that has stunned this small, close-knit community and especially the local body of believers. A young lady was stabbed to death outside her home by a crazed teenager with no apparent motive as she walked her dog on Saturday. This young lady was the wife of the worship leader of one of the local charismatic churches. Members of this church were present in both our morning and evening meeting and the obvious grief of every local believer presented a difficult context for an outsider to minister in. The evening evangelistic meeting was packed out with mostly young people. I told the people that in the midst of all the bad news, I had come with some very good news. I preached my heart out and then gave an altar call. The altars were packed...so many young people received Jesus! It was fantastic. In the face of the most poignant example of devilish destruction and death, a parallel reality; the overwhelming light of salvation from the cross flooding darkened hearts and changing lives for eternity.

During the prayer for the sick, once again, there was a tremendous move of the miraculous. Many received instantaneous healing and some received multiple instantaneous healings. One lady came to the meeting deaf in her right ear and had a lump growing on her neck beneath that ear. During the prayer for the sick, her ear popped open and her lump vanished. Arthritic pain vanished in one lady. Another person's frozen shoulder suddenly had full range of motion. A man with a back injury who was unable to lean forward for the terrible pain could touch his toes with incredible flexibility...all pain was gone. The miracles kept coming until the moment the service dismissed late in the evening.

I am now sitting in the airport in Birmingham preparing to fly to Norway for meetings with Evangelist Bonnke. I leave the United Kingdom having received a sure confirmation of the prophetic word the the Lord had given me before I came; "THE TIME IS NOW!" I am confident that a new season has begun in the UK, and God's purpose for this nation will prevail. I'll share more thoughts about this later.

Oh Happy Day!

I have just returned back to the hotel room after a very full and very fulfilling day of ministry here in the United Kingdom. This morning I had the privilege to minister in the UCB television and radio headquarters. I ministered on the Holy Spirit, and then He fell in such a powerful way right there in the studio. It was recorded for international broadcast on television, radio and web. I pray that it might be a blessing to many people around the world.

Tonight we held an evangelistic meeting in Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton. I preached the Gospel to a packed house and then prayed for the sick. The Lord confirmed His Word with many wonderful healings. One lady began to go down a list of the various ailments that she had been suffering with...I lost count after the sixth one. She said that suddenly realized that she had been healed and began to jump...something she hadn't been able to do in nine years. The band began to play, and the whole room was bouncing and dancing with her as we sang, "Oh happy day, happy day, you washed my sin away...". That song seemed to describe the way that everyone was feeling quite nicely...there was a palpable, tangible sense of happiness and joy that only comes from the presence of the Lord. It was a powerful night.

Tomorrow we move on to Ilkeston for morning and evening meetings there. Please continue to keep our entire team in your prayers.

The Genealogy of Eternity

If you are honest, you will probably agree with me, that reading through the genealogies in the Bible is not exactly the most riveting past time in the world. “So-and-so began so-and-so, who begat so-and-so and so-and-so.” Before you know it your mind has wandered to some other topic, and you are just reading on autopilot. But if you are careful, you will uncover some incredible lessons in the genealogies.

Recently as I was reading the second chapter of I Chronicles, I noticed something very interesting. I was going through the rich, complex and often, scandalous family tree of these ancient patriarchs when suddenly I noticed that out of all the names and “begats”, one woman seemed to stand out like a sore thumb. Her name is Seled. Unlike most of here contemporaries, listed along with her in this chapter, the Scripture takes time to give us a little bit of extra information about her. This small, parenthetical insertion next to her name is the only information that we know about her. We don’t know if she was good or bad, ugly or beautiful, rich or poor. We don’t know about any of the things she may have accomplished in her life. Her only enduring legacy is this: “Seled died childless.” (v.30)

For a woman in Seled’s time and culture, to die without bearing children was possibly the most humiliating stigma possible. If she had a choice, I’m sure she would rather have her disgraced name taken out of the Bible, but instead this epitaph will forever be her claim to infamy.

Revelation 20:15 tells of another book of names that is written in heaven…the Lamb’s Book of Life. I wonder if it also reads like the genealogies: connecting spiritual mothers and fathers with spiritual sons and daughters. I wonder how many Christians will have only one eternally enduring legacy: “So-and-so died childless.” What utter humiliation it would be to meet Jesus, to see the scars in his hands and feet, to know that He paid the ultimate price for your salvation, but to stand before Him alone. Having received eternal life, but never having shared it with another. To think that you were so self-conscious that you could not even talk about Him, yet He was willing to hang on a cross for you naked. To be a part of the Bride of Christ, but to have died barren and unfruitful; this must be eternity's ultimate disgrace.

But notice that the Bible does not say that “Seled WAS childless”, it says, “Seled DIED childless.” You see, even though as she grew older, the biological clock was working against her; as long as she was alive there was still hope. Consider Sarah, the wife of Abraham, who was 90 years old when she had her first child, Isaac. She may have gotten a late start, but her posterity became as numerous, and her name as illustrious, as the stars of heaven.

You may have never won a single soul for Jesus in your life, but if you are reading this article, it’s not too late. Today you could tell someone about Jesus. Today you could share your testimony. Today you could lead a person to salvation. Today you could start a new spiritual legacy that will endure for eternity. “…Those who lead many to righteousness [will shine], like the stars forever and ever.” (Daniel 12:3)

~ By Daniel Kolenda (www.danielkolenda.com)

WE'RE BACK! (in the U.K.)

My plane touched down in Birmingham just a few minutes ago. My feet are now on the ground in the U.K. and I am ready for a Holy Ghost explosion this week! Over the next 7 days I will be in Wolverhampton, Ilkeston, London, Ealing, and Aylesbury. For complete itinerary information please visit http://www.cfan.org.uk/events/

The Lord has laid a burden upon my heart and a fire in my bones for the UK, and I am SURE that "The Time is Now!" For the benefit of those who may not have already seen it, I am reposting here the message that the Lord laid on my heart in preparation for this trip. I have also included a special treat at the end. I hope to see you soon!

THE TIME IS NOW!

Esther was a young Jewish woman that was born as a minority in an oppressive society into a broken family situation; the odds were against her right from the start. But virtually overnight, Esther went from rags to riches, from poverty to the palace, and became the wife of King Xerxes I, making her one of the most powerful women in the world. 



Irony seems to fill the pages of the book of Esther. Just as a Persia has unknowingly crowned a Jewish queen, the king's vizier, Haman, is plotting a diabolical scheme to exterminate the Jewish race through a bloody genocidal slaughter. There is only one Jew in the land who is in a position to intervene on behalf of her people...Esther.

Perhaps the pleasures of the palace had begun to intoxicate Esther. We see in chapter 4 that she begins to struggle with what course of action to take though it should be obvious. It would be a tragedy for her to rise from the gutter to the palace only to lose her head in a misguided attempt at heroic glory, she thought. Taking this matter to the King was a risk of everything that she had...including her very life. Perhaps a more subtle approach would be best. Maybe she should just lie low and continue to be a good friend of the King and if an opportunity presented itself, she could plant a seed in his heart on behalf of her people without jeopardizing herself. After all what good would she be to anyone if she were dead?

In Esther 4:13, Mordecai (Esther’s cousin), sensing her internal struggle, sends to her this stern message: "Do not flatter yourself that you shall escape in the king's palace any more that all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise for the Jews from elsewhere, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion." In other words, Mordecai said, Esther, You have been placed in the position you are in because you are a strategic part of a divine purpose that is much larger than yourself. If you try to protect your position at the expense of the divine purpose, God will drop you and replace you. Had Esther chosen to try to protect herself at the expense of her people, God's purposes would still have been fulfilled, but she would have been the one destroyed.

In July, I will be traveling to the UK with a great sense of urgency. Over that last few months I have sensed in my spirit that the UK has reached a critical inflection point. We need a spiritual revolution: a Holy Spirit tidal wave, an unleashing of supernatural intervention…and I believe that the time has come. This is not the time to keep silent. This is not the time for watered down methods and seeker-sensitive, friendship evangelism. If we ever needed something radical, reformational and revolutionary it is now. God has placed His church in a strategic position and will use His fire-infused people to push back the darkness. This mandate is not an incidental auxiliary to our “real” church activities and programs. It is the very purpose that we exist on the earth. We have come into the kingdom for such a time as this and for this very occasion!

God's purposes roll through the earth like a freight train that cannot be stopped. The most dangerous place in the world is in the way of those purposes. If you doubt this, just ask Pharaoh. If God can’t use your church, He’ll find another one. If He can’t use you, He’ll find someone else. The question is NOT, “Will God accomplish His purpose?” The question is, “Will you have the unparalleled privilege of partaking in the highest honor of man - the reason you were born and the reason you were saved - to assist God in the fulfillment of His purpose in the Earth? Leonard Ravenhill once said, “The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized during the lifetime of the opportunity.” I believe that this is the UK’s moment in history. If we miss it now we will live with eternal regret. That’s why I want to stand shoulder to shoulder with you and seize it for Calvary’s sake. The time is NOW!

~ By Daniel Kolenda (www.danielkolenda.com)