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Dan's Nuggets
Feather Falls Out Of Nowhere In Life International Church Sunday service, December 9, 2012!
Wow! Standing across from a saint of God as we were worshipping last Sunday, suddenly a feather appeared out of nowhere onto one of our church members. I saw it with my own eyes! It was not there, and suddenly it was on her clothing! Boom! Wham! After the song service, she showed it to us, opened her Bible and placed the feather into it, weeping. Amazed I queried her about what happened. She said it came from above and floated down upon her. (I only saw it suddenly appear on her clothing, but she may have seen it float down.) It was a beautiful white feather. All of us stood there both amazed AND... doubting. Could this be a sign of His presence among us? Was this from God or from another source? Uh... what does this mean? Was it a feather stuck to the ceiling that suddenly decided to loosen itself from the Heating/Air Conditioning unit? My own mind struggled to find a logical explanation so I'd know what to say and do! It reminded me of the time people began to smell a sweet fragrance of Christ in the room as we were singing and worshipping... and me not knowing what to say about it... duh!
So I asked her if she had any chickens on her property at home. Ha! She said "no." (I am sure my dumb question may have been offensive to her as she stood there weeping in the Lord's presence! Someone else in the congregation remarked, "maybe it came out of a pillow.") I really didn't know what to say except,"Lord, do whatever you want as a sign and wonder!"
I had read about feathers falling from mid-air in some other leaders' services and to be honest, didn't really want that particular sign to happen in "MY" services, but preferred something more "non-controversial" and something that was a duplicate of something that was in the book of Acts, like shadows or aprons or hankerchiefs healing the sick (so that people couldn't criticize). Oil manifesting in my own hands or someone else's, or the stigmata appearing would have been more acceptable to me... even an axehead floating in the baptistery (we don't have a baptistery right now, so I guess that one is "out" for right now)... "But feathers... feathers! Come on, Lord, that seems a bit flaky to me!" [Extra, extra, read all about it: "MY" services are actually supposed to be "HIS" services, and NOT mine to begin with! Duh!]
But then I had to remember that when the Acts Of The Apostles was being written and was happening real-time, shadows of an apostle or hankerchiefs or aprons from an apostle healing the sick were NEVER heard of before. It was all NEW when it happened the first time! So in Sunday's service I simply told the Lord in front of all the people, "Lord, do whatever you want. If this is a sign form the Lord kissing our worship, I accept it." In one part of me I was ashamed and embarassed for something too charismatic and extreme happening in our service. But in another part of me, I stood in awe and rejoiced! I was torn between giving God the glory on the one hand, and being ashamed of a "strange" manifestation that I couldn't prove as being scriptural on the other. See Isaiah 28:21 in various translations: "strange and unusual acts and works." As I was standing in the front of the crowd, I saw it come out of nowhere with my own eyes onto the lady (but didn't want to admit it), but being wary of extremism, I also doubted what I saw. Duh! (I also had the inward thought, "Lord, this kind of thing might attract flaky people to attend our services!" "Glory seekers!" "Cruisamatics." "Hi-fliers!" "Space-Cadets." "Granola Christians - fruits, nuts and flakes!" Ha!)
Well, Brother Dan, (one might ask), if that feather was tested in a lab, do you think it would be a strange substance not known to man? Perhaps a real angel's feather or the Holy Spirit's feather? No, probably not! No, not really... I would expect the feather to be some bird feather we are all familar with, to be honest, and NOT an unknown substance! God can use existing material to give a "sign" of His presence. The axehead that floated in the Old Testament was existing material. The water that came out of the rock that Moses struck with his rod was existing material. Manna was not (angels' food from the other world), but I suspect the quail were existing material simply brought by God to one place. I will probably NEVER KNOW what kind of feather it is as the lady who received it has it in her Bible now and wept on the spot because it is so precious and holy to her. She is a mature, regular, church member, not some weirdo. (And I hope my own eyes aren't weird either! Ha!)
SO... what is one to believe? All I know is that the presence of the Lord was so thick last Sunday in our midst, that I could FEEL His tangible presence! I may never know what really happened and whether the feather was a sign from God or just a fluke occurence. (It did get everyone's attention, however! It indeed caused al of us to "wonder.") All I know is that the message I shared afterwards on John chapter 17 was rich and sweet and extremely balanced and sober and encouraging. So I welcome all His signs and wonders and let Him do what He wishes in our midst and choose to stick with God's Word at the same time.
All I know is that every service lately has been FRESH and a true SURPRISE from God. At the end of this service last Sunday, another mature saint in our church had a word of knowledge that she prayed over my wife that was so detailed and so accurate (and she knew NOTHING of the complicated situation we were facing) that IT HAD TO BE GOD, because no one could know such detailed secrets we had never divulged to anyone! My wife staggered and almost fell because of the power of God, had I not caught her. Glory! See 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
"GOD, GO AHEAD AND TAKE OVER as I am tired of same old church as usual. Be God, O Lord, and I will get out of the way, Sir! (Tears, supernatural laughter, shouting, feathers, gold dust, feathers, oil coming out of hands, the stigmata, falling under the power, dreams, visions, trances, transporations like Philip, en masse repentance altar calls, healing miracles, words of knowledge, discerning of spirits, indoor rain drops, running, leaping, or whatever HE WANTS in our midst.) Protect us from any extremism, Lord, BUT please also manifest Yourself however You choose, Sir! Help me navigate through revival with balance and soberness, yet not quench Your Spirit at the same time! (I'd rather have to deal with wild-fire than no-fire! I'd rather deal with some messy stuff that might happen along the way, than to be cold and dead and quench the Spirit out of fear of counterfeits! We need the true and genuine in our midst and should not shut down His Spirit altogether out of fear of the extreme.) Keep us scriptural but concurrently... NOT dry and dogmatic... or dead! Let us NOT be "1st Church Of the Frigidaire" on the one hand, but also NOT be "2nd Church Swinging From The Chandeliers" on the other! Ha! Let us be balanced between Your Word and Your Spirit. Lord, let us celebrate and embrace your strange and unusual manifestations in our midst that strike awe and amazement, but at the same time never camp out at these "EXTRAS" but stay grounded in the "BASIC FOUNDATIONS OF BIBLE TRUTHS." Let us have an UP-TO-DATE experiences with You, but still stay with time-tested Biblical fundamentals too." Let everything that happens in our midst spur us to greater fulfillment of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.
"Lord, if I try to "control" revival with my EIB (E.ducated I.diot B.ox... my limited finite brain) I will surely quench the Holy Spirit and steal the supernatural blessings from the people. But on the other hand, if I stray away from the basics, we might also not be able to sustain a true revival with simple Christian character and basic doctrine. Lord, balance Your presence in our midst with both REVIVAL GLORY and SOBER BASIC DOCTRINE! I don't want to be a "weirdo" but neither do I want to put a lid on what You are doing for people out of my own insecurities and fear of criticism. Lord, it's not EITHER-OR. Lord, it's BOTH! We can have BOTH sound doctrine AND revival glory. Let us embrace BOTH!"
THE VISION: Get ready for the greatest WAVE OF REVIVAL GLORY ever to appear on planet earth!
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