Sunday, May 5, 2013

Keeping the Gospel Central.

Great Article by Dave Vaughn on living from Rest:


Hey Guys,

Trust you are all doing amazingly well! I thought this may be a good opportunity to share a few more thoughts I have on the whole issue of Revival V Reality! We were truly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of responses after our last update. It was awesome to hear your hearts and to receive the encouragement which showed that so many of us are on the same page at this time! Timing and perspective are so key. In no way are we against any legitimate move of God and we certainly want to be known for what we are 'For' rather than what we are 'Against,' yet it's ok to give a perspective which hopefully broadens the picture of what we are seeing manifest. Again I suppose naturally guys are asking the question, "Well if there are healings manifest in certain revivals then obviously it's God moving, if so why aren't there more healings manifesting through other streams and ministries?" Great question and one I want to attempt to address in this update!

Over the past 20 years we have seen some tremendous manifestations of heaven on Earth. I'm currently putting the framework together for a book I want to write, a book of stories from the 'Rest,' a correlation of Supernatural events we have seen 'Effortlessly' manifest over such a short space of time. Thinking back it's been so easy to recognize that our lives have always been and will always be totally supernatural! Just in the 'Being' just in enjoying Life and walking out humanities perfection we become releasers of heaven on Earth. We are the Open Portal, we are Jacobs Ladder, we are the bridge between realms who reflect the very Image of a Glorious Father! It's not difficult to walk in the Supernatural, when we open our eyes each morning the angels get pumped and all of creation responds! We've seen the craziest stuff!!! We have found the key to a totally supernatural life, I call it 'Abiding in the Vine!' We are not looking for another door to open, another veil to be rent, another angel to appear, another 'Move' to happen! You are dealing with drunk people, satisfied people, Sons and not Slaves, those who remain! There are times where we are so overwhelmed that not even a 'Face to Face' with Jesus could add or compliment heavens perfection manifesting all around us. The 'Rest' we find ourselves in is perfect, perfection itself! We are not seeking another 'Sign' but are beginning to realize that we ARE a sign which others are seeking after! Crazily we are finding ourselves 'Locked in' by a revelation of the Gospel into an Eden which knows nothing about Times and Seasons, doesn't expect a dark night of the Soul or a Dry Time but has arrived at a place called PERFECT!

We have seen some tremendous healings over the past 20 years. I remember being with my great friend Phil Smith on the streets of Sheffield a few years back. Phil and I were hammered drunk, not looking to 'Do' anything in-particular other than enjoy a great day together. Somehow in our Drunken stupor we happened upon a guy who was bound in a wheelchair and had been for 17 years. His friends who had brought him to the town to do his weekly shop had only ever seen him in a wheelchair. Phil and I staggered over to him and asked if he thought Jesus really cared about him, his response was YES! We quickly whipped the arms up on his chair and asked his friends to hold him up. As they did his legs which had no strength flapped about like sheets in the wind! As we laid hands on his body and commanded strength to come back, his legs bolted straight and went as hard as metal. Before we knew it the guy had left the confines of his chair and was walking, then running through the streets of Sheffield England!!! It was amazing and sort of a strange day in the Glory! We felt no need to start a revival, we had no meetings to extend or offering bowl to pass around, it was just drunken life! I loved it! The first time I visited India with John Crowder in 2007 I remember preaching to about 800 guys. The Glory was strong and the healings just popped! Many threw away crutches, many blind eyes were opened, many heard for the first time, we easily saw over a hundred healings including the cancerous healed, paralyzed walk and dumb speak. It was awesome! I remember one sweet lady coming forward with a huge tumor in her neck. As I laid my hands on the tumor and commanded it to go I watched as it started trembling right in front of my eyes! The next night the lady came back and testified in the meeting, the Tumor was totally gone! I remember how crazy that time was YET there was such a sense that this was just normal Christian Life! I've been with John Crowder many times and seen crazy healings including supernatural Weight Loss miracles where some guys have dropped 20 pound or more in a meeting! This isn't a focus just LIFE!

Not only have we seen crazy healings but also insane supernatural events. Sometimes we just get so whacked the significance of who we are and what we carry doesn't even register! Yet we have shown up in nations all over the world absolutely blasted on our union with Him and have watched as creation has shown off! It's always fun when that stuff happens. Lightening storms, Snow Storms, Tornados, Transportations in the Spirit, Journey Elongation Miracles, Earth Tremors, all sorts of weird stuff! Sometimes we are aware of who we are and where we are seated and expect things to take place, other times we are just hammered and wake up wondering what on earth is going on! Just last week Joanne Gravell and I were in Llanelli, all day long the Glory was heavy, it was so easy to see we were in Eden together enjoying Life and the works of His hands. At times we totally tranced out and at one point 5 hours just seemed to fly by! At the end of the day after sitting together watching perfection manifest all around us for hours we went back to Jo's home and there was a double rainbow above her house! Not only that but rainbows hit all over the area LOL. Coincidence? Maybe this time but not every time!

I've always loved the moving of the Spirit. Last year I had the amazing privilege of visiting our friend Kobus Van Rensburg twice in South Africa. Kobus has an amazing church in the nation and has for many years been seeing the most amazing signs and wonders. It's powerful being there. The walls of the auditorium are not only packed with depictions of the Cross but with thousands upon thousands of crutches and canes thrown away by the 17,000 cripples healed over the past few years! It is moving to see the dead and dying brought to the altar on beds given up by the doctors but not given up by The Doctor. Every month over 200 are healed of HIV Aids. Healings and Miracles for Kobus are not signs of revival but natural evidence and produce of a Gospel that works and declares Jesus as Lord! In all I saw with Kobus the most amazing situation I witnessed wasn't a healing or a miracle but one session where Kobus asked for Godfreys song "Are You ready ready ready" to be played, a song written by Godfrey after being impacted and hearing the multitude stories of Lives transformed at our gatherings in Wales!! Kobus called for the song and said "I want us to sing this and party, WE NEED A DRINK!!!" I was overwhelmed, here's a guy who has seen everything including the dead raised YET he knew that the 5,000 Pastors present MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE needed a DRINK!!! For Kobus healings are essential but not everything. His focus and message is not just on healing BUT rather Health and Immortality! Invading the minds of the people of God with a Gospel which declares Death as abolished and Life IMMORTAL! 

Is it possible that Healings in some way have become a Golden Calf which needs addressing? How much attention and focus should be given to these things? Yep Jesus healed the sick and commanded his disciples to do the same yet he often walked past the infirmed feeling no guilt and is known more than anything for His teaching and embracing of the Poor and Broken? Paul healed the sick YET we honor him mostly for his teaching and stance against religious bigotry and self effort? Our friend Jason Westerfield visited Wales a few years back. It was an intense time together. We saw and FELT so much. I remember being with a small group outside the Welsh Assembly one day and saw Jason literally cause the clouds to peel back to reveal the Sun!! (Think what you want I'm way past caring LOL!) Being with Jason is always a treat, creation always responds with crazy weather patterns and nuts manifestations of glory. Once after leaving Jason's hotel room again with Phil Smith we were so hammered drunk, got back to my house and watched as my 2 Labradoodles in front of our very eyes turn blue LOL (Once again I'm way past caring what you think, take it up with Phil he was there yet again!!!!) I love Jason and could share so many stories of encounter I have had with him, he's also the sweetest guy I know! YET one day I asked him "Jason you see the craziest stuff all the time yet you never seem to give healings much focus?" His answer sooooo helped me, He replied "Dave healings are but one percent of the kingdom of God!" Waw, no golden calves there!

I spoke in my last update about the times I spent with Darrel Stott and Rodney Howard Browne. Two guys who have massively impacted my life and if ever I had seen a 'Revival' it was with them. When with Darrel in Jakarta I saw the Glory hit meetings ALWAYS and blow over hundreds upon hundreds of people. It was amazing to see Gods own crop circle of bodies. We were in meetings where angels would just manifest and dance with the congregation!! Other gatherings where the glory would thicken as angels spun guys around on the floor like horizontal whirlwinds! It was intense, the glory sooooo thick YET even though healings naturally happened in the Glory the focus was always on seeing guys just enjoy their union with a fun God and be transformed by encountering their True selves! Is that wrong? Darrel would always preach Life and somehow in the declaration of Life every need would be met! Rodney on the other hand gave up praying for the sick! For Rodney he said he would get so disheartened watching guys get healed in their bodies YET they would remain miserable and sad because their deeper needs hadn't been addressed only for them to come back again miserable and sick! For Rodney transformation for the whole man was the only way forward. Yes guys would get healed physically, who wouldn't in such a realm of glory, yet the focus once again was on seeing the Glory manifest and guys recognize the glory of their True selves and walk in ultimate freedom not just a partial physical healing! 

It's amazing to me that the only 2 real 'Revival' situations I have been involved with both totally redefined my life and changed everything, the fruit has been lasting and constant YET healings were not a major focus? I'm not making an excuse for lack of power, I'm not saying it's wrong to desire to see more in terms of healings and miracles, we have seen and I'm anticipating more and more will see an even greater manifestation of power and Glory YET we have to get a pure perspective here. I have friends who are alive now who wouldn't of been without receiving a healing touch from God! That is so amazing and O so necessary and so beneficial for the one yet what is the bigger picture here? I've visited 'Healing Revivals' and 'Healing meetings,' been involved with ministries who's focus was almost only healings! It's been great to see displays of His power YET many of those guys have ended up burned out, fed up with Life, and needed healing themselves and not just physically! I've heard the message which is often carried in these 'Healing' meetings, it's often a language of desperation, hunger, pushing, pressing and self sacrifice! Apparently it's Revival yet all it seems to be is a revival of tears and desperation in a hope to produce 'Revival?' It all seems very schizophrenic? If God is moving why are you crying out for Him to move? If He is doing something why does he depend on our desperation to make it happen? I thought the whole point of Christ manifesting was because we couldn't do it? I've had friends burn out at Revival gatherings and actually come down with Bells Palsy and other ailments due to lack of Rest! MEETINGS MEETINGS MEETINGS! What's that all about? Listen I'm open to all sorts LOL, But when I have to leave the Rest and Satisfaction which He apparently is committed to laying as a true foundation in my Life to go after 'Another Blessing,' then It's certainly not my bag! We can have it all because we are all of it! You are the revival, you are the moving of God, you are the healer, you are the message! 

The bigger picture I believe is this, God is bringing a great revelation at this time all based around the perfect work of the Cross! He perfected everything, in His sight all is well! Every soul is saved, every body is healed, every mind is transformed, every Life radiates His Glory! As the angels rightly declare 'The whole earth is filled with His Glory!'  As far as God is concerned our frustrated desperation to produce is actually working against seeing Eden manifest! It's an opposing spirit. If it's not Complete it's not God, if it's not perfect it's not God, if it doesn't come from a deep place of rest it's not God! It will never be sustained, it will never continue. If we need to work hard to produce 'IT' then we will need to work even harder to maintain 'IT!' It's ok not to feel it's your responsibility to get everyone healed! Jesus DIDN'T heal every body when on the earth YET the cross did! He's releasing a revelation of the Glory of the Cross which is bringing such a deep sense of REST and a picture of a healed, transformed world! What will this produce? What will it look like when we are surrounded by apparent sickness and Death yet all we see is LIFE? What if Healing becomes a lifestyle of seeing Eden manifest rather than a meeting based around our ability to produce? For me I believe revivals, outpourings, healings will come and go, like Jason said "They represent one percent of the Kingdom." Yet love and rest remains! Remaining in this message will effortlessly produce and maintain a sustainable LIFE, a healthy LIFE, a LIFE based around family and relationship not fleeting supernatural moments! I believe He's raising up 'Pioneers of Life' Life givers, Life sources, Healers of bodies, regions, relationships and lands. Those who have seen the perfection of the Cross will now see Eden manifest all around them, EFFORTLESSLY!

I hope these updates are helping with perspectives? We can remain in Rest whilst not understanding everything. It's OK not to 'attend' because you are satisfied already! If you feel full and not in need to 'Go get Some' that's fine, I feel full too! Enjoy the Life God has given you my friend, I endorse the Life you have and the Life you are! 

Big Big Hugs DAVE XX

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Living out our image of God


Here is a great article by Colin Lagerwall on how our image of God causes us to live indifferently towards others.



"Some thoughts on our 'beliefs' and how they affect us, negatively or positively, and how the notion of wanting to be 'more like God' is a trap to our souls ...

If the objective of 'belief' is to change ourselves, then we have been poorly made, and then God Himself, who made us like Him, is 'poorly' ....

I think that the main objective of belief, or the Gospel, is to have our thoughts reconstructed from a dismal or skewed view of ourselves, which has been very much ingrained in us by society and in particular, typical religions of most kinds, and to see what we have lost sight of, and that being our beautiful original 'person' that we have always been, 'covered under' by society's flawed value systems ...

'More of You and less of me' is as dumb as it comes and stems from self-loathing promoted by sin-consciousness, however :

'More of You so I can see more of Me' is about as good as it gets ...

Jesus speaks of this in John 17:22-23 where he says :
"The opinion the Father has of me, is also His thoughts of you, and the love He has for me, is no different to the love He has for you; You are honored without measure for just who you are, and you are loved the most and always will be"

Paul also refers to this when he says 'Take off that wrong (old) way of seeing yourself, and put on (fall into) the new (yet original) mindset, because that is who you really are, that 'old man' is what society and religion has put on you, and it is dung (BS) ...

The Spirit of love and truth shows us our Father as He is, so that we can see that we really are 'a chip off the old block', as is everyone else ..

It then becomes a tad easier to love another as you love yourself, because you see 'another' as a beautiful member of your own family, regardless of what society and religion has ingrained in them, because 'us and them' belongs to the false values of society and religions, but 'We' belong to 'Our' Father and each other ....

The thing with knowing we are made in His likeness, is, just 'what does that look like?'

We have been given such an horrendous image of God via religion, that it either repels us from 'him' because it is an insult to our own souls knowing that we are just not like 'that', or it gives people license to be just like that image (see typical church leadership, leaders of governments, fathers, teachers, etc. operating n the image of 'god' we have presented by the church and other religions) ...

In Jesus, we see God, lover of the outcasts and pulling down the high and mighty; very touchable, lovable, admirable, always pointing to a better way, the way of truth and love ...

Our doctrines are full of the dung that Paul spoke of, and it has tainted and poisoned humanity just like a 'turd in the drinking water' would ... 
But I think things are changing as we are re-evaluating just what this 'image and likeness' looks like, and it certainly challenges to the core those settled on their thrones like the 'god' in their minds ....

God is Love, said John, and Paul opens that up to show what Love is really like : peaceful, gentle, holding no record of wrong, etc ...

When we see people reacting negatively to 'grace', or 'hyper-grace', we are seeing their reactions to the challenge of the 'image' in their minds, the image that they have become very comfortable with, but an image that is based on a lie ...

'Truth and Love' is the currency of God that wipes out any false 'god' in our minds, because He is full of Grace (Love) and Truth, it is who He is, and how He sees us is how we are really are : full of Love and Truth, just like Him ....

The other mythical 'god' that instills fear and manipulation and control is the very thing that keeps humanity living falsely to who we really are, and this false image is what continually perpetuates self-loathing because we live according to the image we see in him/ourselves, and we hate it, so we hate ourselves ....

Until the sunshine of Love and Truth penetrates our self-hatred and we 'see' what He has always seen, a child of love, just like Him ..."




Peace