Journey Into the Miraculous

A month ago a good friend of mine out a book in my hand and said, "Read this .. it will change your life." I began to read "JOURNEY INTO THE MIRACULOUS Todd Bentley - An Ordinary Man Touched by a Supernatural God" and have been really challenged in every page I have read.

This book could easily divided into three sections - Todd's years as a man absolutely messed up in every way by sin; his conversion and preparation for ministry and lastly what the Lord has been doing through him in the last few years.

Todd really was messed up. From a broken family he was searching for love and acceptance. As a boy he began smoking and drinking and by the time he was in his mid teens he was a drug addict and screwed up by alcohol. He was also very violent and aggressive and dabbled in the occult. He moved from foster home to foster home. If every there was an unlikely man whom God would choose to touch this world .. it was Todd!

But God is a God of transformation! By wonderful ways Todd was drawn by the grace of God and he gave his life to Him. Immediately, there was a deep hunger in Todd's heart for God and His Word. He was signed off work because of an accident for 3 months and in this time Todd's life was changed. Every day he would spend time with God .. for 4-6 hours! He thought this was normal! He was cleansed & set free from many of the things that bound him. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and had a deep desire to preach and pray for the sick. God showed him many visions and he had angelic encounters.

The first time he preached was in a small youth meting and the Lord did some amazing miracles! To cut a long story short, God did some wonderful things through the ministry of this young man who had an uncomplicated faith and intimate walk with God. He began to get asked to preach at various meetings and as his faith grew .. so did the miracles!

The last part of the book tells of Todd's international crusades and tell of hundreds of testimonies of blind eyes opening, deaf ears unstopping, lame cripples walking, mute people shouting and other significant miracles. Of course, the greatest miracle is salvation and Todd has led thousands of people to the Lord.

I am particularly stirred after reading this book because I know the desires and dreams that God gave Todd were the same dreams as God gave me as a 22 year old. Am I prepared to really count the cost to see them fulfilled? Absolutely surrender?

As you read this book two questions keep coming back. Firstly, Can this be real? Is it possible for someone to get so close to the Lord? Secondly, "How about me? Where am I? Can I get that close? What is my relationship with God like - intimate or cold? Like a servant or a son? Do I talk always or do I listen sometimes?

Between Heidi Baker and Todd Bentley, my life and ministry have been challenged to the core. I have also been challenging my leaders with this - we can do nothing without Christ and everything we do should come out of the overflow of our relationship with Him. HE IS OUR FOCUS ... the vision we get from Him are secondary. In our church we have prayer every morning at 4:30am. From next week we are going to spend 2 hours every week day just being in the presence of God. The harvest is so great that we HAVE TO. We are not super-spiritual ... we are just hungry and desperate for God.

How about you? Do you want to go deeper? Do you want to know God in a more intimate way? Are you dry and empty? Jesus says ... Come! Todd Bentley did - and look what happened! Draw closer my friend. Go deeper. A transformed life awaits those who come.