Our spiritual health is as important to our well-being as our physical health.
There’s something about starting a new year that motivates us to focus on getting fit. After the holidays, gyms are full of people huffing and puffing to get their bodies in shape. During the years I’ve made it a priority to work out, yet I’ll admit I’m more likely this time of year to be disciplined about it.
Since the Bible tells us that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Cor. 6:19), it makes sense to keep them in top form. But as every worshiper knows, the outside of the temple is not the crucial part; it’s what’s on the inside that counts.
The insides of our temples–our souls and our spirits–need exercising, too. That’s why I’m more committed this year than ever before to learning how to “work out” in prayer.
Recently an old book by Glenn Clark has given me insight into ways to pray that have radically improved my spiritual life. In The Soul’s Sincere Desire, Clark states that physical exercise provides a model for strengthening our inner man. He suggests that we pray as consistently as we exercise–for at least 15 minutes a day.
“Prayer should be for the spirit exactly what calisthenics should be for the body,” he wrote in 1925. “Something to keep one in tune, fit, vital, efficient and constantly ready for the next problem of life.”
Who doesn’t want to be “constantly ready for the next problem in life”–and for the next blessing and the next divine assignment as well? I’m sure we all do. So with the enthusiasm of those who want to work off the extra pounds gained by eating too much during the holidays, let’s focus this new year on prayer in a way that makes prayer not something we must do to be good Christians but something we engage in to expand our souls to receive the infinite love of God.
How do we accomplish this?
In my own workout routine, I’ve learned to first stretch my muscles. In prayer, the first step should be to stretch the mind and spirit to take in the reality of God–in all His vastness.
While exercising, we must breathe deeply so that oxygen reaches the muscles. During prayer, we must breathe deeply, too, clearing our brains and hearts of the bad and praying in the good.
We must dismiss from our minds the trouble that seems imminent and restate emphatically the promises of God. In addition, we must forgive those who have sinned against us and repent and accept forgiveness for our own sins.
Physical fitness experts know that if you exercise, the benefits of burning fat and breathing deeply continue after the exercise ends. This is the goal
of prayer–to stretch the spirit and make the deep breathing of the soul something that goes on throughout the day. It is the goal Paul referred to when he told us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17).
The trouble with most of us is that our praying is too negative. We shut ourselves up by breathing in again and again the troubles that we should release to God. When we give them to Him, we can take in the new, fresh air of His Holy Spirit.
Glenn Clark describes the process: “Just as in physical breathing we expel the poisons we wish to eliminate and then drink in slowly of the new, fresh, life-giving, body-building ozone, holding it, first deep in the lungs, then high, turning it over, so to speak, till we have completely absorbed the life-giving oxygen, so we should intentionally expel our wrong thoughts, turning instantly to the constructive, soul-building affirmations.”
Because our spiritual health is as important to our well-being as our physical health, I’m recommending to you Clark’s daily prayer regimen, which I believe will help you get in shape inside and leave you feeling more alive in the new year than ever before. It has certainly helped me to become more aware of God’s kingdom all day long.
Prayer is no longer just something on my daily “to do” list or a recitation of things in which I need God to intervene; it is a continual awareness of His presence. I’m trusting it will become so for you also as we continue in the next few issues to look at prayer as a way of entering God’s kingdom here and now.
SPIRITUAL
EXERCISE FOR THE SOUL
BY GLENN CLARK
In his
book, The Soul’s Sincere Desire,
Glenn Clark recommends performing a daily spiritual exercise that will help one
remain continually in the presence of God. This exercise involves three steps:
stretching the mind to take in ALL of God (that is, meditating on His
vastness); breathing deeply with the soul by first mentally releasing negative
thoughts (“praying out the bad”) and then reflecting on positive affirmations
based on or taken entirely from the Scriptures (“praying in the good”); and
keeping at least one of the affirmations, or prayer-thoughts, as “a continuing
force throughout the day.”
To help
pray-ers with this exercise, Clark offers the following examples of meditations
to stretch the mind:
“Heavenly
Father, we know that Your Love is as infinite as the sky is infinite, and Your
ways of manifesting that love are as uncountable as the stars of the heavens.
Your
Power is greater than man’s horizon, and Your ways of manifesting that power
are more numerous than the sands of the sea.
Your
wisdom is greater than all hidden treasures and yet as instantly available for
our needs as the very ground beneath our feet.
Your
joy is brighter than the sun at noonday and Your ways of expressing that joy as
countless as the sunbeams that shine upon our path.
Your
peace is closer than the atmosphere that wraps us around and as inescapable as
the very air we breathe.
Your
spirit is as pure as the morning dew and yet as impervious to all that is
unlike itself as the diamond that the dew represents.
As You
keep the stars in their courses, so will You guide our steps in perfect
harmony, without clash or discord of any kind, if we but keep our trust in You.
For we know You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You
because he trusts in You. We know that, if we acknowledge You in all our ways,
You will direct our paths. For You are the God of love, Giver of every good and
perfect gift, and there is none beside You. You art omnipotent, omniscient, and
omnipresent; in all, through all, and over all, the only God. And Yours is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”
Once the
pray-er becomes aware, deep down, through these or other meditations, that God
surrounds all and is in all and that the kingdom of heaven is here and now, he
can move on to the “breathing of the soul,” which Clark describes as “a casting
out of all that would poison, cramp, or belittle life—in short, all that is unlike God, and a taking-in of all that
is pure, perfect, and joyous, and which enriches life—in short, that which is like God.” In this step, the pray-er
becomes a psalmist of sorts, pouring out his need, trouble or sorrow to God and
breathing in God’s healing peace, comfort, and love.
Clark
writes: “Marvelous results will come if one will turn in thought to God and
heaven, deny the existence in heaven of the wrong thing felt or thought, and
then realize that in God and heaven the opposite condition prevails. One must
dismiss from his mind completely the thought that the wrong thing felt or seen
is permanent, and then follow instantly with the realization that the opposite
condition exists here and now.
For money
troubles, realize: There is no want in heaven, and turn in thought to 1, 2, and
7 [above].
For poor health,
realize: There is no sickness in heaven, and affirm 1, 7, 6, 2, and 5.
For aid in
thinking or writing, realize: There is no lack of ideas, and affirm 3 and 7.
For
happiness: There is no unhappiness in heaven, and affirm 1, 4, and 5.
For
criticism and misunderstanding: There is no criticism in heaven, and affirm 1,
4, 5, 6 and 7.
For
friends: There is no lack of friends in heaven, and affirm 1, 4, and 7.
For worry:
There is no worry in heaven, and affirm 4, 5, and 7.”
Realizing
that the opposite of the negative condition exists comes from praying denials
and affirmations from the Scriptures, particularly the psalms. For example, in
the 23rd psalm, the denials are “I shall not want” and “I will fear
no evil.” Each of these denials is followed by a series of affirmations:
The Lord is
my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh
me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth
me beside the still waters.
He
restoreth my soul:
He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
(Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death)
I will fear
no evil:
For Thou
art with me;
Thy rod and
Thy staff they comfort me.
Thou
preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou
anointest my head with oil.
My cup
runneth over.
Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever.
The final
affirmation, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever,” would be a good
prayer-thought to reflect on throughout the day. In this way, the pray-er
begins to follow Paul’s command to “pray without ceasing.”
BOOKS
Throw Off What Holds You Back
By George Bloomer, Charisma House,
224 pages, softcover, $.
Author of the national best seller Witchcraft in the Pew: Who’s Sitting Next to You, George Bloomer seeks to lead Christians to true deliverance in his new release. His powerful preaching exposes the cultural curses lurk-ing in families and churches. He challenges us to throw off these curses and know true intimacy with God and God’s family. These curses include the curse of thinking too small, the curse of religious spirits and the curse of idol worship.
Bloomer supports his unorthodox approach to spiritual growth with biblical application. The author provides many vivid examples from Scripture. His book can help us break free from spiritual bondage and walk in freedom with the Lord.
Pamela Robinson
Out of Africa
By C. Peter Wagner and Joseph Thompson,
Regal, softcover, $.
For the last few years, the spread of Christianity in Africa has been one of the biggest church-growth stories. The World Christian Encyclopedia estimates that every day 24,500 new Christians join churches in Africa, compared with 5,000 in North America.
It would seem the “dark continent” has seen a great light, with Nigeria having
succeeded South Korea as the hotbed for explosive church growth, according to a new book titled Out of Africa.
Edited by C. Peter Wagner, head of the Wagner Institute and the author of several books on church growth, and Joseph Thompson, a Nigerian minister who is a pastor at New Life Church, the book features the testimonies of 10 leading Nigerian ministers, including Sunday Adelaja, who pastors a 20,000-member church in the Ukraine; Enoch Adeboye, whose Redeemed Christian Church of God attracts 500,000 to its monthly all-night prayer meeting; and David Oyedepo, pastor of the Winner’s Chapel, the largest church facility in the world.
Wagner asserts that Nigerian ministers are not intimidated by old-fashioned signs and wonders, and there is a strong connection between the church and the workplace. He writes that Americans need “help from the outside if we are to be everything God wants us to be. … Let’s be open to what God has to say to us from leaders no matter what their color or their national origin.”
The contributors share their insights on such issues as spiritual warfare,
following God’s call and claiming God’s promises.
Once a leading recipient of foreign missionaries, Africa is now spreading its passion for God to other parts of the world, namely the United States. Redeemed Christian Church of God already has planted 150 churches in the United States and recently purchased 250 acres of land to build a Redemption Camp in Dallas.
Nigeria has risen from mediocre to miraculous, Thompson asserts. “We are witnessing a true miracle of biblical proportions right before our eyes. The rebirth of a nation. Nigeria is being stretched and squeezed, forged in the fires of God’s plans and purposes. … She is emerging as a pearl of inestimable value. A priceless jewel of great worth. Or in the inimitable words of apostle Paul, ‘an epistle to be read by all.'”
Adrienne S. Gaines
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT
A Heart for Muslim Women
Ergun Mehmet Caner grew up in Turkey as a devout Muslim and then moved to the United States. “I am the oldest son of a Muezzin, who gives the call to [Muslim] prayer. My father was an architect, and we came to America so he could build mosques.”
As a teenager, Caner encountered the truth. “A boy in my high school was committed to reaching friends and family for Christ and invited me to a church service so many times I finally relented.
“I walked into this Baptist church in full gear and sat in the second row with my Quran in my hand. The more caustic I was, the kinder they were. That little storefront church with only 80 people loved me to the cross.”
Even though his father disowned him for becoming a Christian, he is dedicated to reaching others with the truth of Jesus. He is the editor of Voices Behind the Veil, a compilation of essays by Christian women from all backgrounds on reach-ing Islamic women for Christ. He felt it was important for women to write the stories.
Caner explains: “In Islamic culture, if a woman or man speaks to the other sex, it is an act of dishonor. If Muslim women are going to be reached, it will have to be done by women–and this is the first evangelical book addressed toward reaching them.
“This book will drive [readers] to their knees in prayer for Muslim women, then call them to rise up and reach them.”
Cindy Crosby
But a former aide warns that Joshua is deceiving Christians with false miracles and Pentecostal jargon
Christians in Nigeria have labeled T.B. Joshua a false prophet and a charlatan. But the controversial healer–known by his followers as “the man in The Synagogue”–insists that time will prove his critics are wrong.
“It is a great offense to speak against a man of God. But the more you accuse a man of God, the stronger he will be,” Joshua said during an interview inside his newly constructed, 30,000-seat The Synagogue, Church of All Nations in Lagos.
Every day thousands of Nigerian and foreign pilgrims visit the unusual building, which was constructed by volunteers who consider Joshua their spiritual leader. Those who seek healing are asked to wear paper signs that describe their ailments. Others come wanting prayer for guidance, financial blessing or pregnancy.
Joshua’s critics, including prominent pastors in the country, won’t deny that he heals people. But they say he draws his power from indigenous African occultism–not from the Holy Spirit.
One person who has stayed silent about Joshua until now is Bayo Ajede, a 37-year-old man from Lagos who served as Joshua’s assistant for four years. In 1996 Ajede ran away from The Synagogue–fearing for his life–and eventually became a Christian. He decided recently that he must warn others about the source of Joshua’s power.
“People need to know that Satan can also perform miracles,” Ajede said. “The Bible says that in the last days even the elect will be deceived.”
Ajede claims Joshua never converted to Christianity and that he mixes Islam and African folk religion with Christian doctrines. Ajede also claims that when he worked at The Synagogue, Joshua used incense, candles, “magic writing” and demonic power to work miracles.
On an altar in Joshua’s bedroom, Ajede said, the mysterious prophet kept a Bible, a Quran and an occultic book. Joshua also boasted that he could visit members of The Synagogue in their dreams.
“[Joshua] used to say he was the Jesus for the present age,” Ajede said. “He would say that God had passed over the Jews and had raised up a black Christ.”
When Charisma confronted Joshua with such claims, he denied knowing Ajede. When asked about magic writing, Joshua scribbled some marks on paper and said he possesses the gift of spiritual language. “This [writing] is purely divine. The human hand cannot write it,” Joshua said.
Photographs obtained by Charisma prove that Ajede lived and worked at The Synagogue. Also, Ajede’s current pastor, Ladi Thompson, of Living Waters Unlimited Church in Lagos, said he has indisputable evidence that Ajede worked for Joshua.
“It has been confirmed by people who saw [Ajede] regularly during those years,” Thompson said. “T.B. Joshua is lying through his teeth.”
Ajede said he lived in a cultlike environment while serving as one of Joshua’s handpicked disciples. He slept in The Synagogue with 16 men in the same room, and they were told not to eat meat or fish, he said, “in order to have more spiritual power.”
They were also forbidden to leave the compound. “We were told that something terrible would happen to us if we ever left,” he said.
Another man from Lagos who served Joshua as a disciple from 1991 to 1995 told Charisma that he constantly had nightmares while living at The Synagogue. He also confirmed that Joshua used soap and palm leaves to heal people and sometimes swatted away demons with loincloths.
“He did many things that were not biblical, but I thought he was of God because he used the name of Jesus,” said the man, who requested anonymity because he fears reprisals from Joshua.
“I was becoming a spiritual captive there,” the man added. “I was becoming subservient to the spirits that ruled that place.”
Both men also claimed that Joshua, who is married, engaged in illicit sex with women in his private quarters and sometimes conducted “spiritual examinations” of their genitals. But Joshua denied all claims of immoral behavior.
“One cannot continue in immorality and continue in the ministry,” said Joshua, who apologized for the fact that he never finished primary school. “I hope God will show you that I am a prophet.”
Many charismatic Christians side with Joshua. Since the mid-1990s they have flocked to The Synagogue from Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. They come in large tour groups and are offered housing on the expansive compound, which is equipped with a dining hall and bread factory.
When visitors arrive they are shown videotaped scenes of Joshua praying for the sick. The videos also include glowing endorsements of Joshua’s ministry from international church leaders.
On one video, Christian newspaper editor Jerrell Miller of Mobile, Ala., tells the camera: “God has a man in Lagos, Nigeria, who has walked through the door of divine healing. I believe this church holds the key for worldwide revival.”
However, some residents of Lagos fear that Joshua’s ministry has become a dangerous cult. One man who requested anonymity said he fears for the life of one of his relatives, who has been a member of The Synagogue for eight years. His relative, who was prayed for by Joshua in 1995 so she could become pregnant, has carried what looks like a pregnancy ever since.
“It must be demonic,” the man said. “No one is pregnant for eight years. I want her to get medical help and talk to some people outside. [The Synagogue] is a cult.”
When Charisma visited The Synagogue in August, several young women and one man, all in their 20s, were serving as Joshua’s personal aides. They lived
communally inside the compound and referred to Joshua as “the prophet” or “the man of God” when discussing their loyalty to him.
“There is no place on Earth where there are greater miracles than here at The Synagogue,” said one young woman, who said she came to Lagos after viewing a video of Joshua’s healing services at her Assemblies of God congregation in Galt, Calif. “After I came here I knew I had to stay.”
Thompson, along with dozens of other Nigerian pastors, said all these international visitors are being deceived by African spiritism–which is covered with a Christian veneer.
“I had hoped that T.B. Joshua’s original doctrines were simply because of his ignorance in his early days,” Thompson said. “But now I know that he is a false prophet.”
J. Lee Grady in Lagos, Nigeria
The former model, best known for her role in Summer of ’42, tells her story of forgiveness at conferences and churches
Jennifer O’Neill spent most of her life in front of cameras, yet the actress and one-time Cover Girl model said that for years she felt invisible.
“I did have a life [that] … looked so spectacular, and in so many ways it was,” said O’Neill, 55, who is best known for her role in the 1971 film Summer of ’42. “But it didn’t bring me the satisfaction. It didn’t fill that empty part of us that only God could fill. As the adage goes, I started looking for love in all the wrong places, thinking someone else could fill me up.”
After attempting suicide at 14, she went on to marry nine times and suffer nine miscarriages after an abortion. She nearly died three times–in a car accident, a horseback-riding accident that broke her back, and after accidentally shooting herself in the stomach during a traumatic season when she discovered her fifth husband had sexually abused her teenage daughter.
But her life changed dramatically after she accepted Christ in 1986. She said she found what she had been looking for–a love that was unconditional–and began a journey toward healing, which started with her learning to make Christ Lord of her life. It also included several lessons in forgiveness along the way.
“God wants His children to be unencumbered from their past sins,” she told Charisma. “And it’s all based on our unforgiveness. Our unforgiveness for ourselves and others keeps us crippled, even if we have eternal life.
“God wants His children to be powerful in Him and for Him because the Great Commission is not a request; it’s a command. How are we supposed to go out and do that if we’re all [knotted] up?”
That’s the message she shares at churches and conferences such as Extraordinary Women and Women of Faith, and through her books, Surviving Myself and the more recent, From Fallen to Forgiven. Whether she talks about her healing from the shame she felt after having an abortion or coping with the trauma of sexual abuse, O’Neill said her mostly Christian audiences thank her for speaking out.
“I used to say when I finally came to Christ that He loved me and He forgave me and He healed me, but not the abortion, not this,” she told attendees at a May Women of Faith conference in Kentucky. “And that’s not true. [Christ’s blood] covers all sin.
“[God] wants us to be free and released and healed. It is our choice to heal through forgiveness. [Healing] is ours for the asking.”
O’Neill says though her life was high-profile and glamorous, people from all walks of life can relate to her journey. “The issues are familiar to us all because they’re human issues, and it doesn’t matter what package they come in.”
She once shared her testimony at a luncheon attended mostly by very wealthy women in their late 40s and 50s. “The outreach was 100 women who literally drove up to this incredible home in their Rolls Royces and Ferraris, and they were all bejeweled and dressed to the nines and absolutely gorgeous.”
After she shared her testimony, she said 77 women accepted Christ. “We know those who are incarcerated or in low-income areas or having issues in life need Christ, but everyone needs Christ. Especially those who have never heard [the gospel] because everybody thinks they’re cool. That happened with me so much; everybody just assumed I was very confident and had good self-esteem because I was on the cover of magazines and making movies. Not so.”
After her 1986 conversion, O’Neill attended Jack Hayford’s Church on the Way, and spent several years studying Scripture, avoiding media attention. She later became outspoken about her pro-life views.
The book opened doors to speak, but her message on forgiveness and emotional healing struck a chord. “I think she has one of the most powerful women’s testimonies,” said Bob Rieth, one of O’Neill’s mentors and founder of Media Fellowship International, which offers Bible studies and small-group discipleship for professionals in sports, and entertainment and news media. “In the places where I’ve been to hear [O’Neill] speak, God touches people in a powerful way.”
When not speaking, O’Neill breeds, trains and shows her jumper horses from her farm in Nashville, Tenn., and she has developed a line of health and beauty products. She continues to do some film work, though she says outspoken Christians often have trouble finding work in Hollywood.
A married mother of three and grandmother of four, O’Neill said she wouldn’t rewrite the past.
“God is using all of those nightmares for His glory. Sometimes people can hear from a voice who’s been there, done that a little better than from those who haven’t. So if you’ve experienced [tough issues] and Christ has renewed you despite yourself, it gives [others] hope.”
Adrienne S. Gaines
Kilpatrick says he will remain at Brownsville Assembly of God, but will travel and minister to other pastors
The leader of a revival movement that defined Pentecostalism during the 1990s announced Oct. 19 that he is leaving the pastorate. John Kilpatrick, 53, who for 22 years pastored Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Fla., said he plans to focus his ministry on mentoring other pastors.
“The Lord told me that He has called me to be a father [to leaders],” Kilpatrick told Charisma. “Brownsville needs to move ahead, but it cannot move ahead with me at the helm because my mantle has changed.”
Brownsville Assembly became a flashpoint for revivalism in June 1995, when a visit from evangelist Steve Hill on Father’s Day triggered an unusual outburst of Pentecostal fervor. Christians and non-Christians alike attended protracted meetings at the church, prompting observers to call it “the Pensacola revival.” At the height of the revival in 1996 and 1997, when meetings were held almost every night of the week, visitors from around the world stood in long lines outside the church to get seats.
Today the lines are shorter, and revival services are held on Friday nights only. Kilpatrick said the church now has about 3,000 members, and a training center the church launched in the late 1990s is grooming 320 students for full-time ministry.
Kilpatrick emphasized that he will remain a member of Brownsville and will base his traveling ministry in Pensacola. The church’s board was expected to recommend a replacement pastor soon. Randy Feldschau, 42, an associate pastor at the church since August, was a strong candidate.
“[Kilpatrick’s] heart has been torn between pastoring this local church and addressing the national arena,” Feldschau said. “It’s obvious that his mantle has changed. He ministers to ministers.”
Kilpatrick estimates that up to 10,000 pastors visited his church during the revival. About 600 were expected to attend a ministers’ conference he will host at Brownsville in November.
One week before Kilpatrick’s resignation, the church’s popular worship leader, Lindell Cooley, 40, announced plans to leave Brownsville. He told Charisma that he intended to plant a church in Nashville, Tenn., where he was based before moving to Pensacola nine years ago. Cooley helped stoke the fervor of the Pensacola revival by recording several CDs including Integrity’s Revival at Brownsville, which sold almost 400,000 units.
Other leaders of the Pensacola movement also have moved away. Evangelist Steve Hill, who moved to Pensacola and preached there nightly for several years, left in June 2000 and launched a church in Dallas this summer. Michael Brown, who helped launch the Brownsville School of Ministry, split from the church in 2001 and started his own school. It is currently based in Harrisburg, N.C.
J. Lee Grady
Scott Bauer, senior pastor of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif., a Foursquare congregation founded by Jack Hayford, died Oct. 24 after an aneurysm ruptured at the conclusion of the midweek service two days before. He was 49.
“It is with deep sadness and great rejoicing we announce the homegoing of pastor Scott Bauer,” a message from the church’s Web site said. “The Bauer family and the elders of The Church on the Way want to thank the host of believers worldwide who have expressed their love and sympathy.”
A graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary and Oral Robert University, Bauer was Hayford’s son-in-law and supervisor of the Los Angeles North Valley District of Foursquare Churches. He took over as senior pastor of The Church on the Way in 1999 after serving with Hayford since 1982. The church’s council has asked Hayford to lead the 12,000-member congregation.
“Scott was a respected brother, pastor and leader within our church, as well as to the body of Christ at large,” Paul Risser, president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, said in a statement. “The impact of this loss will be felt around the world.”
A memorial service was held Oct. 29 at The Church on the Way. Bauer is survived by his wife, Rebecca, two sons, a daughter, his parents and three siblings.
Eric Tiansay