BOLDNESS TO SPEAK GOD'S WORD
The Most Beautiful
Christmas Tree
Several years ago, as Joyce and I were preparing to video
tape our series on Supernatural Living through the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, we
were spending time in prayer. It was July in Houston, Texas, and it was hot. But
as we prayed, Joyce saw a beautiful Christmas tree. It was close to two stories
tall in the most beautiful entrance hall you can imagine. The stairs almost
surrounded it as they curved up into the realms above. The ornaments on the tree
were beyond anything you have ever seen. The lights were brilliant, and the many
packages below the tree were enormous.
As this scene unfolded before Joyce, it was as if she were
the parent waiting for the children to run down the stairs and see this wondrous
display on Christmas morning – but no children came. As she continued to wait,
she heard God say, “My children are not opening their gifts.” The sadness of
these words was so deep, Joyce began to cry.
Even as we celebrate the wonderful gift of salvation that
came through Jesus whose birth we celebrate this Christmas Season, we need to
open the many gifts of the Holy Spirit He has given us.
A Gift of Boldness
for Peter and John
In the forth chapter of Acts, the lame man was healed at
the gate of the temple. Peter preached boldly resulting in five thousand coming
to Jesus. And then they were arrested and held overnight. When they appeared
before the High Priest and the religious leaders the next day, they were
threatened and commanded not to speak, or teach anymore in the name of Jesus.
And then they were set free.
Peter and John immediately went back to the gathering of
believers and reported what had happened. Then going into prayer they boldly
said, Now Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with
all boldness they may speak your Word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and
that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.
And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was
shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of
God with boldness (Acts 4:29-31)
Together with Peter and John, these people who had recently
been filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost were all filled again
with the Holy Spirit. This time He came upon them as a Spirit of Boldness.
Too many Christians today are dependant upon a past
experience of the filling of the Holy Spirit. What is needed is a fresh filling
of the Holy Spirit, just as these believers experienced in the forth chapter of
the book of Acts. The Church today needs to be filled with a Spirit of Boldness
to speak the Word by prophetic revelation.
The Secret of Living
a Powerful Life
As we spend time searching for the secrets to living a
successful Christian life, we cannot help but notice what an awesome Spirit of
Revelation and Boldness was on Paul, the apostle. He was a man who went around
speaking in tongues all the time. He wrote, I thank my God I speak with
tongues more than you all (I Corinthians 14:18).
This man who spoke in tongues, as one translation puts it, more
than all you put together ministered with awesome revelation. Through the
Holy Spirit, he wrote the largest part of the New Testament.
Paul wrote in verse five of that same chapter, I wish
you all spoke with tongues…!
As Paul spent so much of his time speaking in tongues,
according to verse six, he received and ministered in great revelation knowledge
as he prophesied and taught the Word. But now, brethren, if I come to you
speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by
revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying or by teaching.
As Paul spoke in tongues, revelation was given to him. He
would pray that God would give him the interpretation of that tongue. In verses
thirteen through fifteen we read, Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue
pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my
understanding is unfruitful. What is the result then? I will pray with the
understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the
understanding.
We might question, “Why would Paul pray with his
understanding when he just wrote that it was unfruitful?”
It is obvious that Paul’s understanding didn’t remain
unfruitful. As he prayed and sang in tongues, revelation came into his spirit
and his understanding became alive with revelation.
Praying in the Spirit
In Ephesians six, verses eighteen
through twenty, we discover that as Paul was praying in the Spirit something
powerful was happening. Utterance was given him and it came out of his mouth
with boldness. That was the secret of His successful life and ministry.
Paul wrote, Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all
perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance
may be given me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of
the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak
boldly, as I ought to speak.
As Paul went around his daily activities
speaking, praying and singing in tongues, an utterance of supernatural
revelation was given him which he delivered in his preaching, teaching and
writing with an overwhelming Spirit of boldness.
In Acts nineteen, verse two, we see what was so alive in
Paul’s life, he was able to impart to others. He boldly asked the believers he
found in Ephesus, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And when
Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in
tongues and prophesied.
These believers not only spoke in tongues when Paul laid
his hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit, they also began to
prophesy in the same anointing that was on Paul.
In verse eight we find more about Paul ministering with a
Spirit of boldness, And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three
months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.
That anointing of boldness continued with his teaching for the following two
years in the school of Tyrannus and was accompanied with “unusual” miracles.
In verse eleven and twelve we read, Now God worked
unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons
were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil
spirits went out of them.
A Christmas Challenge
This year, through the Christmas season, Joyce and I want
to challenge you to walk in a new boldness. Even in the rush of preparing for
the holiday, keep Jesus foremost in your hearts and minds. Spend even more time
praying in the Spirit. Keep remembering that His gifts are more important than
any we can purchase. As we have special times with our friends and family, let
the power of His Holy Spirit come through us.
Sold On Being Bold!
Joyce and I are “Sold On Being Bold!” The more we
continue to speak, pray and sing in tongues, the more the Spirit of boldness
continues to increase. The more we speak in tongues the greater the spirit
of boldness in our lives and ministry. We can therefore truly say, The
righteous are as bold as a lion!
It is our prayer as you enter this New Year that you too
will walk in a boldness of the Spirit which will come as you continue to walk,
speak, pray and sing in the Spirit in your daily life. It is our prayer that in
this way you will enter into a new realm of boldness that will result in 2003
being a year of great breakthrough!
From the Ukraine
Joyce and I are overwhelmed over and over again at the
increase in the spirit of boldness to speak God’s Word. We are overwhelmed by
awesome revelation that continues to come upon us as we minister in healing and
miracles in meeting after meeting.
A Meeting of Eagles
God is moving in a powerful way here in the Ukraine. This
past week we have had the privilege of ministering along with Heidi Baker from
Mozambique, Gary Whetstone from Delaware, and Dennis Balcombe from Hong
Kong in Pastor Henry Madava’s Tenth Anniversary “Open Heaven” Conference
in Kiev.
We ministered on a number of occasions in the early days of
the founding of this church. In ten years it has grown to around five thousand
members and has planted hundreds of churches in many nations. This has been one
of the most powerful weeks we have ever experienced as the huge auditorium was
packed in meeting after meeting from morning to night with the most spiritually
hungry people we have ever ministered to.
Pastor Henry Madava is a powerfully anointed man of great
vision and is in demand as a conference speaker in many nations.
Pastor Gary Whetstone is a man who has one of the most
creative minds I have ever met. He has unlimited vision.
Pastor Dennis Balcombe, whom we have known for over
twenty-five years, has probably done more to get Bibles and teaching materials
into China than any man alive. He is now getting all ten of our training manuals
in the Chinese language into mainland China. This is in addition to his work in
getting our teaching on Supernatural Living as part of the ISOM video training
series into China. The reports of the great revival in China that we are having
an important part in are overwhelming.
Dr. Heidi Baker is one of the most humble but powerfully
anointed women we have ever met. God has joined our hearts together in a special
way. She will be one of the speakers at “The Call” scheduled in the Rose
Bowl this February.
Hundreds Slain
in the Power of God
There was a fresh new overwhelming boldness as we
ministered to thousands of people in meeting after meeting. Many received a
fresh new filling of the Holy Spirit, boldness, and were slain under the power
of God in row after row as I ran up the aisles of the huge auditorium.
Hundreds Were Weeping
At times, hundreds of people were crowded to the front of
the auditorium weeping as God’s healing power healed their souls of deep
hurts and rejections.
Hundreds Were Healed
Many were healed as I called out words of knowledge. Others
were healed as I laid my handkerchiefs or hands on them.
Many others gave exciting testimonies of the healings they
received as close to a thousand men and women held up their hands to give God
praise for the healings they had just received.
The first Sunday I was in Kiev, I was able to minister in
three services. Each service was three and a half hours long. Each time I taught
on Healing in our Redemption and people all over the auditorium were healed as
they heard the Word of God.
Shouting, Clapping, Jericho Marches,
Flags and Banners
I ministered at two of the three services on the final day
of the conference this past Sunday. It ended with such an overwhelming
breakthrough of God’s awesome glory that the whole conference exploded into
one of the most demonstrative expressions of praise we have ever seen. People
were shouting, clapping, doing “Jericho marches” and waving flags and
banners. Their lives were changed and so were ours! We will never be the same.
I was teaching things
I had never thought before!
This week we have started meetings in the large Hope Church
in Kiev. This church is also about ten years old, and has also grown to
thousands of people. They have just purchased a facility that will eventually
accommodate twenty thousand people.
Last night as I ministered, a great spirit of boldness and
revelation came on me. I was teaching things by revelation that I had never
thought about before. After three hours of ministry, so many people had been
healed that no one wanted to leave. For the last two hours everyone was standing
in amazement to witness the miracles that were taking place before their eyes.
All kinds of miracles were happening. Arms and legs were growing out including a
lady's leg that was about three inches short as a result of polio. A lady began
to swing her arm which had been broken, shouting “Thank You, Jesus”
As we are stepping into a new year, we want you to know
that your prayers and faithful support are important to us! They keep us going
as your missionaries to the nations of the world,
In His love and ours,
A.L. ‘n Joyce
A. L. & Joyce Gill
