Mark Virkler's blog

You are ministering to a person and you sense a pain in your shoulder and you therefore conclude the person you are praying for has a pain in their shoulder and needs prayer for it. What is this? Is this biblical? Is this compatible with Scripture? If this is a gift of the Spirit, can I become more skilled in utilizing this gift? What do you think?

There are so many powerful ways to pray and receive grace from the Lord. Jeff Duncan unfolds for us what the Bible teaches about the power of remembering God's feats of the past in our lives, as a wonderful way to become strengthened for the moment we are living in.

The cell phone is set to “do not disturb” as I lay down for a nap. When I awake, I spend the afternoon in the garden. I think of phoning Mother several times, but since tomorrow is Mother’s Day, I will wait until then. I plan to end Saturday night watching an episode of Lt. Columbo. During a commercial, I hear the phone vibrating. There are six calls and four messages, all from my brother, over a two-hour time period. Something is terribly wrong. I suspect it is news about my Dad’s failing health and brace myself.

If you have ever heard me teach, you know that I am passionate about having spiritual advisors in my life to help me make wise decisions. We are part of a body and none of us are designed to walk this path alone. We each have strengths and weaknesses, and we need each other to help us be all that the Lord has called us to be and do all He wants us to do. God has placed in the body of Christ apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to work together to achieve His purposes. Each has its own unique place on the leadership team and if any one is missing, the Church suffers and fails to reach its highest potential.

I have been a Christian for 26 years and served in various ministry leadership opportunities for nearly the same period of time. Although I went through good discipleship training programs as a young man, and even though I have studied the Bible for all those years, nothing has intentionally worked on my personal intimacy with Christ in such guided, diligent and detailed fashion as my courses with CLU.

When talking to the leadership team at Catch the Fire in Toronto, they confirmed that when they pray for people, not everyone is slain in the Spirit. For those who don't know, being slain in the Spirit is falling over (generally backward), when someone is in front of you praying for you. The understanding is that the Holy Spirit is coming upon them and this weakens them so they fall down, and then normally they rest under the Spirit's power as they lay on the floor and He ministers to them.

The book Discover Your Mission Now by Dave Ferguson tells about a doctoral thesis: “Blessers vs. Converters.” The researcher looked at the results of two short-term missions teams using different missional strategies.

This was a question I had participants at the Catch the Fire Leadership School journal about while I was teaching there last week. We played the Sea of Galilee music in the background and asked, "Lord, what does a lifestyle of living in the flow look like for me?" The Flow, of course, is the River of the Holy Spirit which flows within all believers (Jn. 7:37-39).

Dr. Mark Virkler introduced me to the term "throne room worship." Though I have done what throne room worship is, I had never specifically termed it as such. Recently I was at a seminar where Mark taught briefly on throne room worship. This was a 3 day seminar at Singing Waters Ministries where I am the worship leader.  He asked this question. “During worship, where are you looking?”  After people gave a few responses, he summed it up by saying, “We can be staring at the lyrics on the screen, or at the back of the person’s head in front of us, or we can be looking to the Lord, fixing our eyes on Jesus, coming into His throne room with all of Heaven and the angels and saints.”

In addition to being an ordained minister, I am also a certified naturopath. I LOVE health and I LOVE sharing healthy tips with anyone hungry to achieve maximum health. Just today, I found that an associate pastor who was on staff with me years ago, and is younger than me is in the hospital, dying, and in the last stages of cancer. I want to share with you the keys to health. In light of that, here is a product we have enjoyed over the last several years. It tastes great, is good for you, and they have asked me if I would share their offer below with all my friends.