“So Matt – what are your thoughts on what is happening at the Awakening Meetings at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City?” I’ve  been asked… so let me tell you.

But before I get to that question, allow me to give a bit of background to my thoughts on it.

I get a lot of emails. That probably isn’t terribly surprising. But what might be surprising is the incredible variety that I get. With the advent of the internet and bloggers, we have unprecedented and immediate access to the thoughts of preachers and “spiritual pundits” all over the country and all over the world. Some of these are men and women that are known and respected in the Body of Christ. Others are somewhat anonymous people, either unfamiliar to us or ones who are actually utilizing online aliases to conceal their identity.   I get a lot of emails from people who forward the comments and thoughts of these bloggers and preachers. And yes, the variety is quite interesting. I get several email forwards from those in the prophetic/charismatic circles that draw attention to the unique things that God is doing in Toronto or Pensacola or Lakeland or Kansas City – and why we all need to go there and get what’s to be gotten. However, these will often do so with very little discernment and a recognition that we need to test things, sift through it, and determine what is of God and what is not. On the other hand, I get lots of email forwards that also talk about some of these same places where God is “supposedly” moving. They are quick to point out the sins (or past sins) of the teachers or leaders, the false-teaching (or past false-teaching) of these men or women. They highlight the strange manifestations of the meetings or the preachers. One that I recently read made the case that the manifestations that we see in some of these so called centers of renewal or revival bear more resemblance to a weird sect in Hinduism than New Testament Christianity.

There is one critical problem that I keep running into with almost all of these emails. Both sides suffer from the same false assumption when they look at these so-called moves of God. The one side says, “If any of it is of God, then all of it is of God.” Therefore discernment is unnecessary. The other side says, “If any of it isn’t of God, then none of it is of God.” Therefore total avoidance and warning others to do the same is the way forward. Although this might be offensive to some, I believe both of these responses are examples of immature ways to respond. Maturity recognizes that when God genuinely moves, there will be often be a mixture. Not because there is a problem with God – but because we are broken people who respond in brokenness. Both in the leaders and in the participants. God may genuinely be moving but there is some brokenness and some self that gets mixed in. Is that surprising? It shouldn’t be. That is why we are commanded to test things and to be discerning. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 says, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” Immaturity disobeys this instruction by failing to test things and be discerning. Immaturity also disobeys this instruction by quenching the work of the Spirit and despising true prophecy because God doesn’t come in a manner that they expect or understand. I don’t want to fail on either point.  I don’t want to quench the Spirit by moving from a discerning spirit to a critical one. I definitely don’t want to be guilty of attributing something to Satan that is genuinely of God.  (Jesus had some strong words for the Pharisees in Matthew 12 about that.) It doesn’t surprise me that there will be this mixture because I know my own heart. When I preach, when I teach, when I give, when I offer hospitality, when I pray – there is mixture that shows up in my own heart at times. So when the Spirit is genuinely moving, there is going to be a mixture in the way ministry is lead and in the way in which it is received. Maturity, I believe, recognizes this mixture and wades into the messiness to discern what is truly of God (and worthy to be held onto) and what is not (and needs to be avoided.)

So in this range of the emails that I get, I tend to have problems with both sides. Many are way too undiscerning and unwilling to say when something is not right. For many more though, I believe they are overly critical and fail to acknowledge God’s wonderful work – in the midst of the messiness – to save and heal and set free and deliver and to communicate aspects of God’s heart. The reality is that their critique cuts in both directions. Frankly, many of these preachers and bloggers are from churches and spiritual communities that have meetings that bear more resemblance to a meeting of the Socialist Party of Yugoslavia in 1970 than the New Testament Church. There is some fellowship and socialization. There is some care and concern for one another expressed. There is a recruitment of others into their group. There is some teaching. There is some instruction for their children. There are some planned activities to better the community.  There is even some singing – and financial contribution. But when was the last time they saw somebody healed or delivered of a demon or a prophetic message from the Lord given or a tongue with an interpretation. (Read Mark 16:16-18 and 1 Corinthians 14:26.) But I wonder why there aren’t bloggers and pundits exposing these “false teachers” and leaders for their failure to represent New Testament Christianity. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul warns us that in the last days there would be men and women “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people…. (they are ones who are) always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” From my evaluation, most of these bloggers and pundits seem to fall in that category. Many of them speak and write in a manner that seems to have wisdom – but fail at what James tells us is “true wisdom” in James 3. He says in verse seventeen, “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” Most of these bloggers and spiritual pundits fail on this account as well. But you know what… even that’s okay with me. In the same manner, I can recognize they are also broken people who are allowing their brokenness and flesh to get mixed into some of what they are speaking and representing as well. In a similar manner, I try to wade into the fleshly messiness of their “expose” and receive that which is good and avoid that which is evil.

So that brings me back to my thoughts on what is happening in Kansas City. For those of you who do not know, there has been a rather significant move of God that began in one their student classes at the International House of Prayer and has lead to a series of nightly Awakening Services. Earlier this month, I went to IHOP with a few other leaders from Bethany Church and we had the opportunity to be in some of these services. So what do I think?

1. I believe it is a genuine and true move of God. I know and trust many of the leaders. There have been countless powerful testimonies of God’s saving, healing, and delivering work. The fruit of it has been so good in so many ways. Personally, I received a couple of powerful things from the Lord during these services – and frankly, experienced some spiritual “manifestation” stuff that I wouldn’t have ever asked for and really didn’t want. But you know what? Thankfully, God sometimes gives you what you need and not what you want. I personally needed to experience some of the things that I did to break me free from the fear of man, from control, and from a religious spirit. I needed to experience some of what I did to break me into a greater place of joy in the Holy Spirit. (That is a fruit of the Spirit’s work in our lives by the way.) Looking back on those days, the fruit in my life has been tremendously good. I love God more. I love people more. I am more deeply committed to God’s purposes in my life. That is the store that I tell – not the specific kind of manifestation that I experienced, etc.
2. However, there are some ways in which I believe sin and brokenness creeps into these meetings and gets mixed into the good things that God is doing. Definitely on the part of the participants but possibly even with leaders. I saw some things that my discernment told me were people getting caught up in the moment or just trying their best to get in the flow of what God was doing – but had their eyes on people and not on God. But again, that doesn’t surprise me or cause me to demonize the whole thing as some have. God chooses to work through people. And the flesh gets mixed in. But don’t be mistaken. Flesh can look very different. The flesh can show up on a Sunday morning in a church that has none of these manifestations but has bowed to the altar of “control” and religion – a church that only allows God to do things in a manner that is comfortable or makes sense to their rational mind. But yes, the flesh does show up in these meetings and manifestations. Perhaps at IHOP, where their ministry philosophy is such that it allows “anyone who loves Jesus” to minister to others, this has created an environment that contributes to greater messiness. Perhaps not. But that is one way that I would do things differently. I would prefer to have a recognized ministry team that is known and trusted in the context of praying for others.
3. I am not going to be one who will judge very quickly manifestations and determine which ones are from God and which ones are not. Just because I think it is goofy or weird, that isn’t reason enough for me to say that God wouldn’t do it that way. Read your Bible again. If we followed this premise, most of the prophets would be offensive to us and rejected, and many of the things that Jesus and the apostles did wouldn’t fit our criteria. Micah and Isaiah both prophesied naked. Isaiah did it for three years. (He didn’t live in Minnesota.) Elijah laid himself on top of a boy three times to bring about his healing. Elisha called on two bears to maul and kill forty-two children who were mocking him for his bald head. David brought two hundred foreskins of the Philistines to Saul as a gift. Yep. That’s right – foreskins. How about the New Testament? John the Baptist wore camel’s hair and ate locusts and honey in the desert. Did you catch that – locusts? Coo-coo. Jesus rebuked a fig tree and commanded it not to bear fruit anymore. A fig tree? Weird. He healed a guy’s eyes by spitting into the dirt and making some mud. Paul was healing people through handkerchiefs that had simply touched his skin. The Bible is full of strange stuff. God is God. He gets to do what He wants. Discernment is needed – but if He wants to give gold teeth, gold dust, feathers, holy laughter, or whatever – I’m not going to tell Him how He should do His stuff. I wouldn’t have recommended the prophets in the buff. But what do I do? I’m going to be discerning but I’m not going to reject it – or especially not mock it – just because I don’t like it or understand it.

I suppose I am one of those who is radically hungering for that elusive middle. Those are my thoughts… feel free to give me yours.