The Testimony
|
This is not necessarily a class outline or a list of rules, but simply a noted process of what God is doing.
1. Come together for the purpose of seeking God and encouraging others. - Establishing a personal relationship with the Lord. - No specific agenda except what God has revealed to us during the week, today or this moment. - Be diligent to continue gathering together even if it seems awkward at first. - Focus on what God is doing in us – “stay focused”. 2. Acknowledge where we are spiritually. - Be honest with ourselves and with God about our struggles. 3. Ask God to reveal to us individually the things that hinder our relationship with Him. - May be shared with the group, but in a general sense (there may be strongholds or addictions but its not about the issues its about the fact that they’re keeping us from intimacy with God). - With a heart of repentance, pray that these things would be removed (this will continue throughout as things are revealed). - Be persistent in seeking God through these difficult times because strongholds and distractions don’t give up easily, in fact God may be using these things to reveal what He wants to do in us. 4. Acknowledge God as our source of wisdom and understanding. - We may be a brand new believer or have Bible training and years of Christian experience but the purpose here is to empty ourselves to receive from Him. - God leads, we strengthen, encourage, and comfort through the Holy Spirit’s leading, and point back to Christ. 5. Pray that God would remove the scales from our eyes to see Him more clearly, to unstop our ears to hear his voice and open our mouths to speak what He reveals. - Be sensitive to our surroundings, circumstances and people we come in contact with as God will use these things to speak to us. - Write down and/or share with the group what God speaks even if it seems insignificant. - Share only what God speaks or is revealing without adding our own understanding or interpretation to it. 6. Acknowledge God and thank Him. - Acknowledge the fact that it is God that is revealing these things to us. - Pray to receive what He reveals, that we would not be deceived by the flesh, but allow what is truly from Him to take root in our hearts and let the rest go. - Praise and thank God for answering our prayers and revealing Himself to us. - What we hear applies to us. - God’s word will not fall void. - Give God the glory – always. 7. Allow the gifts of the Spirit to flow within this process of seeking God. - As God begins to work in our midst the gifts of the Spirit will come into play, be patient with each other as we learn how to function in this area (the gifts are not given to create in us a sense of significance or give us an identity within the body, they are simply vehicles to administer Gods love to one another). - Be kind and gentle in admonishing each other as we are all stepping out in faith and vulnerability. - Allow God to work, trust God’s way and love our brothers through the process. - The focus is on Christ Jesus – the gifts come through the relationship! 8. Pray that God would teach us how to look beyond the exterior and truly love each other. - We will all have ups and downs, times of great faith and extreme disappointment in this process, but be quick to stand in the gap and pray for those who are hurting and rejoice with those who experience a breakthrough. |
|
|
9. Encourage each other to continue seeking God and recognizing His presence in every aspect of our lives and to share that experience.
10. Watch out for: - Flesh out of control – The Holy Spirit is not out of control. - It’s not about me or what I have to say – but what is God doing at the moment – flow with the Holy Spirit, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit moving. - Submitting to the flow of the Holy Spirit. - Yielding to the Holy Spirit, surrendering, turnover. - Learning spiritual disciplines. - Everyone is to receive the word for themselves. - It’s not about being heard, but about being obedient. - Emphasize what God is speaking to you. - If you’re feeling anxious about sharing, remember it’s not about you, it’s about God. - Submit it to leadership and others in authority that God had placed you under. 11. It’s Not About: - Your job, ministry, - but it’s about what is God doing. - What the church isn’t doing, - no church bashing. - A new book or philosophy. - Your own personal philosophy. It’s about our relationship with God. - We are in a season of relationship with Christ Jesus – God will use these things to draw us closer to HIM. - We pray for more of the Lord and then have a tendency to resist Him when He does move in our life. 12. Speak your testimony of what God has done in you through the Gathering process. - Let nothing but the testimony of Jesus Christ come from your mouth. 13. Pray for a new man to be manifested through the laying of hands and being anointed with oil. - Pray to open eyes and ears. - Pray for an open heart. - Pray that the person would be brought out of darkness into the light of God. - Pray that hidden things would be revealed. - God answers prayers – not conversation – so pray! - The Lord pulls us out of the world’s game into the spiritual to transform us. - Pray without ceasing! 14. Pray for spiritual leadership. - Pray to submit to God. - Pray to be led by God. - Pray for spiritual leadership in the family. - Pray for spiritual leadership in the community, work place, and church. 15. What is spiritual leadership? - To be the first one on our knees crying out to God. - Who makes the decisions, God does! 16. Praying for the men - ask if God had revealed anything to them. - Pray to encourage, strengthen, and comfort. - Has God revealed anything specific to them during the time of prayer? 17. If the Lord has given them something, they need to be encouraged to: - Speak what has been revealed. - Lay hold of what was spoken. - Pray to receive what was spoken. - Speak life to the word. - After praying go to the next man and repeat until all have been prayed for. 18. Process - Repent of failures & shortcomings. - Ask God for the spirit of conviction. - Ask God for the spirit of repentance. - Acknowledge that God is the source of life, of our redemption and our spiritual success. - Ask God to reveal those things in us that hinder our relationship with Him and to begin to empty us out. - Seek God daily, not for things, but simply to be in His presence. - Ask God to speak to us individually and make us sensitive to His voice - Begin to verbalize those things that He speaks to us, whether we think it is significant or not. - Acknowledge His voice and work in our lives and thank Him. - Stand in the gap “as God is processing us” for our brothers and sisters. 19. Conviction vs. Condemning Spirit - The Holy Spirit convicts and focuses on the present. - The devil condemns – a spirit. - Spirit of condemnation usually sounds like this, “focus“ on the "what-if’s, of the past and future”. 20. Answer Prayer – God answers “all” prayers. - Usually doesn’t come in the way we think. - Not in our timing – but in God’s time. - Comes from the most unusual sources. - Not the people, place, or the way we think. - Pray for God to reveal our answered pray to us. - Most of the time we are standing in the middle of our answered prayer. - Trust God, His ways are the best, they’re perfect! - By nature, we want to be delivered from our circumstance but not from our sin. 21. Change/Growth – in the Lord. - If it is change, then why would we understand? - Just receive – God will process it out. - Change on the outside is “physical”. Change on the inside is “spiritual”. An attempt to change the physical without first having an inside spiritual change, will not last. - Change is fear – Don’t fear but TRUST in the Lord. 22. The Blank Check Prayer – usually goes like this: - If I had _________ (usually money related) I would be okay. 23. Who is God – He is all things. - We are not – God does the healing, counseling, gifts, etc. HIS will be done. 24. For Who’s Godly – His not ours – grace, grace, and more grace. |
| Download Our Training Manual |