So how do we receive from God? How do we expand the boundaries of our influence and spiritual authority? Last week, Dennis McNally taught us that we do not receive because we earned it. All we receive from God comes because of His grace, not our good works. It is always a [...]
Most Western Christians have an aversion to the supernatural power of God. Much of the time when God touches us through His Holy Spirit, it impacts us emotionally. This should not be a surprise to us because we received our emotional nature from Him. We are made in His image [...]
For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. [This makes the holiness of the Old Testament look pale in comparison.] And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very [...]
Sin is not the bad things that we do but the deep desire within all of us to be independent from God – to be our own bosses. Man started out as children of God in the Garden of Eden [the garden of pleasure]. Through stepping away from God as Lord and Father man became [...]
Mark gives a great sermon on How to Hear God.
Hello. This is Mark's wife Shell with an introduction to this teaching. I have often told Mark he needs to tell people the reason he hears from God so quickly. He takes an hour each day sitting in stillness and silence with God. Sometimes he won't hear or sense anything for days, but he still [...]
We need the perseverance of Jesus to endure the delay. I think most of us know this by virtue of our experience with doubt. The question is; what can we do about it? How can we survive the delay? How can we wait well? Delay always brings difficult questions and a terrible temptation. The questions [...]
Mark Cowper-Smith Zechariah Chapter 4:6 - “not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty” As far as I am concerned, this is the central message we need to “live” in order to survive in ministry. Not understanding the balance between our effort and His is what brings [...]
This is part two of Deliver us from Evil - see Part 1 And this brings us to the central difference between authority and religion. Jesus began his role as teacher by teaching about the Kingdom of God but he didn’t stop at simply teaching about it. Jesus demonstrated the Kingdom of God by demonstrating [...]
We had a very interesting video testimony scheduled for last Sunday about a family set free from years of negative spiritual activity in their home, referred to as "haunting". I decided that I should take the opportunity to speak on the subject of our Christian authority over evil. There is a very illuminating incident in [...]
Recently Shell and I were down in Guadalajara doing a conference at a cutting edge church there. The conference was on training the church to recognize communication from God and how to share it effectively. I was ready to teach Sunday morning but I knew I had a prophetic word for the church. I thought [...]
Mark Cowper-Smith We all want more of God in our lives, so how do we get more of Him? Psalm 78:40-42 in the KJV says, "How oft did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert! Yea, ....they limited the Holy One of Israel." It is more than possible [...]
I like cars. I love those TV shows that show some beat up, rusty wreck being rescued from a junk yard. The show takes the viewer through the process of restoration. We see the rust being cut out, the whole car being sand blasted to remove corrosion, and bent parts being straightened, etc. The goal [...]
Mark Cowper-Smith I was asked this question recently: Mark, I was reading John 6:28-29 & wanted to get your opinion. The people wanted to perform miracles, but Jesus said that God only wanted them to believe. If someone rebuts modern-day prophesy w/this scripture, what should I say? I responded as follows: The context [...]
There is a tenet of Ignatian spirituality*[see note below] that when our hearts are generally inclined towards God [that we are generally consecrated to Him] the desires of our hearts are placed there by Him. If you have prayed a genuine prayer of consecration and your desire is to worship God, then you can trust that [...]
The argument goes something like this - isn't death often a natural result of sickness. We get old and sick and then we die. If God has "ordained" death then why oppose sickness? Death was never God's Plan for man. It entered human history because of the sin of rebellion. Man stepped out from under [...]
Faith is a big part of healing but it isn’t the only factor. When it is the “cause” of the healing it is most often found in the faith of family and friends. This means that pastorally we should never place the burden for the lack of healing upon the sick person, BUT there is [...]
The timing of a healing is often as strategic to God's plan as the healing itself. As I see it, our job is to pray and God's job is to heal. The spiritual gifts of healing and miracles are not a credit card God gives us on one occasion and then says go out and [...]
The book of Philippians is a letter to a church. To understand the letter we have to understand the church. Churches are just like people; they have a genetic code which they received from their parents. They are formed as well, through the experience of their early formative years. The church of Philippi is the [...]
