FAITH IS SPELLED

R-I-S-KA MOTTO FOR KINGDOM LIFE

1 FAITH IS SPELLED

R-I-S-KA MOTTO FOR KINGDOM LIFE

INTRODUCTION...... 3

WEEK 1: A MOTTO FOR THE KINGDOM LIFE...... 4

WEEK 2 : FAITH ON FIRE ...... 5

WEEK 3 : DOING WHAT THE FATHER IS DOING...... 8

WEEK 4: PERMISSION TO TRY ...... 10

WEEK 5: THE GREAT EQUALIZER...... 12

WEEK 6: RISK STORIES TO ENCOURAGE YOU...... 13

CONCLUSION: FAITH IS SPELLED R-I-S-K...... 19

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Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. TM 2 INTRODUCTION

John Wimber, the late founder of the Vineyard Movement, popularized a phrase that has rocked the church world for almost a half-century.

“Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.”

When it came to the Christian life, John’s forte was to live at the intersection of the profound and the practical. He wasn’t content to just read about Jesus doing miracles, casting out demons, and healing the sick. He believed that Jesus had come to do something more – to invite us to do the work of the Kingdom alongside Him.

In other words, John believed what the early Christians believed – that Jesus did not come to just do all the works of the Kingdom Himself.

Rather, Jesus came to train us – average, ordinary people – to become His apprentices, doing the works of the Kingdom of God just as He did, then training others to do the same!

John believed that if Jesus healed the sick, then we could learn to heal the sick. If Jesus heard the Father speak to Him, then we could learn to hear the Father speak.

The phrase, “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K” reminded John, and those with whom he shared it, that the mystery of faith is expressed in the realities of everyday life. In other words, faith is about more than just believing all the right things. Faith is about belief in action.

Or, as the book of James put it:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ...But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

James 2:14,18

3 WEEK 1: A MOTTO FOR THE KINGDOM LIFE

Faith in Jesus was never meant to be understood as a disembodied, sing-it-say-it-pray-it-and-go-home kind of faith! Jesus had no intention of founding an anemic Church that would become highly skilled at doing religion without true spiritual power (always expressed in love, according to Galatians 5:6) backing it up.

The Gospel-faith Jesus gave us, modeled for us, and distributes through us in our homes, neighborhoods, churches, and cities, is real power for real life. And to be a disciple of Jesus is to become His apprentice – learning to do what He did and to do it smack in the middle of everyday life as we know it.

“Faith is spelled R-I-S-K” is a motto that we can carry along with us on our journey as Christians, every week, from Sunday to Saturday, from birth to death, as Kingdom people.

POWER ENCOUNTERS

What was John Wimber trying to communicate, by connecting the words faith and risk, to the church of his day and ours? He was trying to communicate that if you want to see God do miraculous things, through ordinary people like you and I, you’re going to have to practice going out on a limb, taking leaps of faith, and diving in headfirst.

In other words, you and I will have to learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, and then to respond with action to what He speaks to us – taking bold risks with God.

Wimber took risks with God as a young Christian, believing that what Jesus said was true – that we as His followers could learn to pray for the sick, and to see them healed, as we act in trusting obedience (Mark 6:7-13).

So John took some risks. He prayed for the sick that he met on the streets, and saw them miraculously healed. He asked God to speak to him for complete strangers, and he heard the Holy Spirit whisper to him things about peoples’ lives he could never have known otherwise.

4 This led hundreds of people to faith in Jesus as they had “power- encounters” with God in which they experienced His overwhelming love for them as His children.

And from John’s childlike willingness to put feet to his faith in God, seeing God move in astounding ways through himself and other ordinary people, an entire church movement – the Vineyard – was born.

LEARNING TO TAKE RISKS – TOGETHER

Vineyard churches became communities where people learned to hear and to trust the voice of the Holy Spirit. They became communities where people could even practice taking risks with God. They became communities where everyone – from a small child to a seasoned saint – could play on the field of Kingdom living at the same time.

Inspired by what God was doing in their midst, Vineyard people began to look for every opportunity to show God’s love in practical ways, taking risks of faith and seeing God “show up” on the scene!

Taking risks of faith with others, especially with those who have learned to hear God’s voice and to act on what they hear, can give us the confidence we need to make “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K” a motto for our own Kingdom life.

Reflection Question: Is there a risk that you’ve taken, believing the Holy Spirit was guiding you, that you took because you saw someone else model it first? How did seeing someone else risk boost your confidence?

WEEK 2: FAITH ON FIRE

Faith, the Scripture tells us in Hebrews 11, is “...the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1, ESV).

Many of us, when we read this passage, assume that faith is equivalent to belief. We think that if we just believe the right things, we have faith.

Right?

5 While that may sound correct, that faith and belief are the same thing, that is not the picture of faith we see demonstrated in the life and ministry of Jesus in the Gospels. It’s also not the picture of faith we see in the rest of the New Testament, watching Jesus’ first disciples in action.

There is something about Jesus’ faith, something about the faith of the disciples, that is deeper, wider, stronger, and more “faith-with-skin-on” than mere belief.

It’s called “conviction.” Conviction, it has been said, is faith on fire.

RISK & CONVICTION

Conviction ignites faith to become real-life, risk-it-all, buy-the-field- to-find-the-treasure... action. When we have a conviction about something, not only have we agreed with a belief in our hearts and minds – we are also backing up that belief with our entire body!

We take action! We walk into difficult and unknown situations and we do things we never thought we would do. Conviction has the power to motivate us to go beyond our fears – enabling even the most timid person to throw caution to the wind as they act on what they believe.

Conviction means that a belief has soaked deep into our bones, and now our entire body is involved in acting out that belief. Mark 9:20-27 illustrates a powerful message about risk for each one us.

And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out

6 and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

Mark 9:20-27

The father in this story has taken a public risk. He has put his personal reputation on the line to ask Jesus to do something for his dear, tortured son. The scene is in full view of everyone, and there is no turning back.

There may be no more profound demonstration of humility than that captured in the father’s words: “I believe; help my unbelief.”

What if we were all as self-aware as this man about having a faith that is incomplete – one that lacks teeth, that lacks gripping power, that lacks some important level of hope and trust?

This is where the rubber meets the road for every Christian.

We can sing, profess, and declare our faith from the rooftops. But when the moment of desperation has arrived, that moment of all-or- nothing trust where we will be utterly embarrassed if God doesn’t do something, we see our faith for what it really is.

STEPPING INTO THE UNKNOWN

Following this man’s risk, Jesus Himself then steps into the unknown. Sure, we can say that Jesus was absolutely positive, completely assured, that the Father would act when He spoke the words of command to the demon infesting the boy’s body and mind.

But the truth is, even if Jesus did know beyond a shadow of a doubt that His Father would act, He still had to act first in partnership with the Father by uttering the command.

Seeing God move is a partnership between the Holy Spirit and us. Yes, God could just heal someone without our involvement. But for some reason, He loves to work with us, teaching us to do whatever it takes to see His love intervene in another’s life.

Jesus acts, speaking a command, discerning the spirit He is dealing with (“You mute and deaf spirit”) – and the power of God is manifest in an amazing deliverance we are still talking about today. And that is where we, as Jesus’ disciples in our time and our place, come in. 7 Reflection Question: The father in this story has put his reputation on the line, driven by his desperation. Is there a faith risk you’ve taken recently that was driven by your, or another’s, desperation?

WEEK 3: DOING WHAT THE FATHER IS DOING When you read the phrase, “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K,” do you sense the paradox between the words?

“Faith” is a word, as we noted in Hebrews 11, that means being assured of what hope for. “Faith” is a stabilizing, centering, and confidence-building word.

“Risk,” on the other hand, is a word that speaks of a lack of assurance, a lack of predictability, and even danger! Who would connect ideas like trusting in God (faith) with jumping out of an airplane (risk)?

A KINGDOM PARADOX

In this motto, “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K,” we feel the Kingdom paradox, the tension, of faith and risk – and that powerful combination is like mixing potent, explosive chemicals in a lab – leading us to experiences with God that can both baffle and surprise us.

We are minding our own business, just going about the normal events of our day. Then, the Holy Spirit begins to whisper to us, in our hearts, that there is something He wants to do in the life of another.

Our heart rate begins to rise as we are about to ask someone if we can pray with them in the check out line or at the soccer game.

Awkwardness is okay – it’s normal – when we’re learning how to do anything.

A child stumbles as they learn to walk. But the more they walk, and the more they see they are making progress, the smoother their walking becomes and the more confident they get.

There is a very important verse in the Gospel of John that helps us understand how we learn to participate with God through steps of risking faith.

8 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

John 5:19

We can assume that our Father God, by His Holy Spirit, is always at work in the people around us. If we assume that the Father is always at work in people’s lives, and that His work is to draw all men, women, and children to Himself (John 3:16; John 12:32), then our job is quite clear.

Our job is to join the Father in what the Father is already doing in someone’s life!

Instead of making ourselves the hero of a faith-meets-risk story, we instead work on our skills of following the real hero – the Father – into what He is already about.

We learn to hear His voice, so we are in tune with the work He has already been doing in the other person’s life. We listen to God for clues about open doors already swinging wide in that person’s story, trusting the impressions that come to mind.

HOW DO WE KNOW WE’RE HEARING GOD?

When the impressions in our mind match up with the deep love God has for this person, the truths of the Scriptures, and our sense of joy that God is active in the relationship we are having with the person at that moment, we can be pretty well assured that God wants to do something then and there.

Think about it. Suffering in your neighbor’s life may be laying a foundation for that person to open themselves up to God’s comforting love. People in pain are often more open to the possibility that healing may come to them through a source other than all the means they have tried.

When we come onto the scene, we can bet that the Holy Spirit has already been whispering to the person, “the Father loves you” as they walk through their great difficulty. If we pray, and learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us, God may give us some unique insight, some word or phrase that means something to them that we could not otherwise have known.

9 If we’re open to that, the Holy Spirit can use us in someone’s life to encourage them, help them open up to God’s love more than before, or even to partner with God in their healing!

We learn to see, to perceive, what the Father is doing. Then, we join Him in His loving work. That’s the way miracles occur.

Reflection Question: Is there a circumstance in a neighbor or co- worker’s life that you sense is opening them to God in a new, vulnerable way? How might the Father be inviting you to partner in their healing?

WEEK 4: PERMISSION TO TRY How do we get better at anything? We try something new, we learn from the process, and then we practice.

If we want to get better at hearing God’s voice, and then taking risks based on what we believe He has said, then we have to practice. We have to see some results before we know what works and what doesn’t work.

As we make discoveries along the way, we build a personal history with God that is the vehicle through which He uniquely works through us in many different circumstances.

What if you felt like you had permission to work the muscle of your faith – to practice – anywhere, anytime? Even though you aren’t an “expert”?

You and I have that permission!

TAKING CHANCES WITH JESUS

You have the permission, even the birthright as a child of God, to experience God as the expert in all things and to watch Him take our stutter steps and turn them into holy moments that can be life changing for us and others.

It is easy for us to see church as safe, as a place where people don’t take risks of faith and just hope that God will fix their problems and comfort them until they go home to be with Jesus.

But the Church Jesus founded was never a particularly safe place

10 for the complacent or the spiritually lazy. In fact, if we read the New Testament book of Acts, we see that everyone in the early Church saw themselves getting involved in the work of spreading the Kingdom message of God’s great love for people.

In fact, if we read our motto as a command: “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K!” we can feel Jesus on the other side of it with His hand outstretched and His eyes filled with that adventurous look He must have had when he invited Peter out of the boat to stroll on the water!

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:25-31

OBEDIENCE IS THE FIRST ACTION

It’s helpful to understand that God is only looking for one thing from us when it comes to joining Him in His work of loving people: obedience. In the passage above, Jesus said, “Come,” and Peter stepped out of the boat. There were no promises before Peter stepped out; he had to exercise his faith muscle to join Jesus on the water.

In John 14:15, Jesus tells His disciples that if we love him, we will obey His commands. That is all God is looking for! We feel weak, we feel powerless, and yet the Holy Spirit speaks to us to join Him in what He is about to do in someone’s life.

We take a risk in obedience, and God meets us in that moment when all is on the line. We want Him to meet us before we take the risk, giving us an overwhelming confidence that everything will work out perfectly and we will not be embarrassed at all.

But that’s rarely how it works.

11 We risk, we obey, and the Spirit meets us. That’s the sweet spot where miracles can occur.

Our work is not to leave the scene, or to pray until we feel empowered or “anointed.” Our work is to obey, to trust, and to step out on the water believing that God will catch us if we fall. The call to risk, in obedience, is a call to step outside of our comfort zone.

Reflection Question: How could you practice hearing the voice of God, and obeying, this week? Could you choose, each day for seven days, to take one faith-risk per day with Jesus as He leads?

WEEK 5: THE GREAT EQUALIZER The Father is not looking for spiritual professionals to join Him in His work. He’s not looking for people of a certain age, hair color, language, or economic status. He’s looking for people willing to take a risk.

Some of the most exciting stories of people learning to take risks in praying for others are those of little children!

In many Vineyard churches, you will see young children, along with adults, praying for people who need to experience the Holy Spirit in action. These young ones often have faith and an ability to hear God speak that isn’t filtered by fear or years of avoiding risk (and calling it faith).

Anyone, at any age, at any stage of spiritual maturity, in any location, can learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and to partner with God in seeing people healed and restored.

IS THERE A RISK-INVITATION FOR YOU RIGHT NOW?

Is there a risk that God is inviting you to take right now – regardless of your age, background, or experience? If so, what is holding you back? Give that burden to Jesus, then trust Him as you step out in faith.

Earlier we noted that the motto, “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K” is a synthesis of mystery and reality that very simply shows how the Kingdom breaks into our everyday lives when we embrace Jesus’ model of love, justice, signs, wonders, inclusion, and more.

When we are listening, humbly listening, to the Holy Spirit – all sorts of

12 powerful things can happen through us. We can be used by God to heal someone who is dealing with a long-term, chronic illness, or we can be used by God to encourage a neighbor.

MANY WAYS TO HEAR & OBEY

Your neighbor doesn’t need to be chained up in spiritual bondage one more minute – they may not even know that they are waiting for you to obey God by taking a chance and asking if they need prayer!

But even with that possibility in front of us, sometimes we hesitate, draw back, and hope the feeling that God wants us to step out on a limb will simply go away.

It helps to be a part of a community of people who take risks together, who love the Scriptures, who love Jesus, who are compassionate toward people, and who are moved by faith on fire to do the stuff of the Kingdom of God.

Practicing with others who have a track record of hearing God’s voice can give us confidence to take our next steps of faith.

We can have insight into a situation of injustice, and instead of speaking our own words, find we are speaking with an uncommon authority by the Holy Spirit.

We can act compassionately to include someone who is on the fringes, and experience the Holy Spirit helping us to love them despite their rough edges. There are all sorts of ways we can practice a risking faith when we put Jesus in the lead rather than ourselves.

Reflection Question: Can you think of one story where someone surprising was used by God in a dramatic way? How does that encourage you to step into the next invitation to obedience that Jesus offers you?

WEEK 6: RISK STORIES TO ENCOURAGE YOU

The following stories are meant to inspire you in your faith, and in taking risks with Jesus. All stories are excerpted from:

Come Holy Spirit: Stories Of Ordinary People Partnering With An Extraordinary God, by Vineyard Resources (www.holyspiritstories.org) 13 A WOMAN PRAYS IN A COFFEE SHOP

Ellen’s Thursday morning coffee stop on the way to work seemed like just another normal part of her day. But lately her young adults’ group encouraged her to be more aware of the Holy Spirit’s little nudges during normal days, and expect the miraculous in the middle of the mundane.

Waiting at the counter for her coffee, Ellen noticed the couple waiting next to her. “That woman’s eyes are so pretty,” she thought to herself. Looking down at her feet again, Ellen immediately felt a “nudge” that she needed to pray for these two strangers.

She’d prayed for people before, but praying for a complete stranger is always weird and risky – especially in public.

Even though it was uncomfortable and she felt unqualified and she’d never actually seen a miracle as a result of her prayers, Ellen really sensed the Holy Spirit wanted to encourage this couple.

“Your eyes are so pretty,” she said to the woman, this time out loud. Awkwardly, she followed with some form of the question, “Can I pray for you?”

As the words left her mouth, she got a sense that God wanted to physically heal one of them – possibly of a back issue.

“Do either of you have trouble with your back?” she risked asking. The woman began to tell Ellen about her husband’s significant back problems. He was in constant pain. In fact, he was scheduled to have surgery very soon.

Ellen took the opportunity to pray for the man right there in line. Her prayers were neither eloquent nor profound; she simply let God talk through her, agreeing with what the Holy Spirit wanted to do in the man’s body, telling the back pain to go away in the name of Jesus.

The man looked at his wife and simply said, “I feel nothing.” Nothing as in no pain! The woman’s pretty eyes welled up with tears. “He is always in some kind of pain! This means so much to us.”

14 While Ellen doesn’t know what became of the man’s back, she does know the Holy Spirit touched that man and woman with something real. In that moment, he received some kind of healing, and they were both surprised and deeply comforted by the power of God’s nearness.

And... in that moment, Ellen saw the Holy Spirit present and active not only in the life of the couple, but also in her own life. She was joyfully and humbly reminded God really does love to show up when we move beyond what’s comfortable and say yes to those quiet little nudges.

A MAN WALKS AWAY – CANCER FREE

Each morning before Dave catches the commuter train into the city, he spends time praying in a quiet place – a nearby cemetery. The solitude, green space, and silence help him center his heart on God and pray for others.

Dave had noted another man’s frequent early-morning visits to a gravesite. One day the older gentleman got out of his pick-up truck and greeted Dave.

“Morning, I’m Mike.” “Hi there. I’m Dave – I’ve seen you here before. It’s nice to actually chat instead of just waving. I like to come here to pray in the morning.”

The two visited a bit longer. Mike confided in Dave about a recent diagnosis. They’d found cancer in his lymph nodes. He was going in for surgery soon.

Dave asked if he could pray for Mike right then and there. Mike agreed and Dave prayed simply and expectantly for God to heal the man’s body and be near to him during this difficult time. Then they went on their way – Dave to the train station and Mike to another day of fighting cancer.

A few weeks later, Mike’s pick-up pulled into the gravel drive and stopped right next to Dave. Mike hopped out grinning from ear to ear and shared the good news: when the doctors reached his lymph nodes, they couldn’t find any cancer!

It was completely gone! Mike bore the scar of surgery, but cancer was no longer in his body. Together the two men took in the amazing news with gratitude and awe. 15 Then they went on their way – Dave to the train station and Mike to a new day free of cancer.

ORDINARY PEOPLE TAKE RISKS WITH JESUS

“I went with my Spanish-speaking friend Luz to her physical therapy appointment as her interpreter. I got a word of knowledge [Ed.: an insight that the Holy Spirit gives to a person about someone else, without that other person having previously shared that information] that one of her legs was shorter and her hip hurt.

She said her family didn’t believe she had that problem, but she did! Her physical therapist is a believer so we prayed right there for her leg to grow and her hip to be realigned. She felt a huge healing and says she has no more pain!”

“I just did a quick Walmart run for my wife and, as I was checking out, I had a fleeting thought that the cashier had dental problems. I asked if she did, and she said she had a couple teeth that were causing her a lot of pain. She was worried she might lose the teeth and was very open to prayer. I prayed for her right there. Now every time I see her at Walmart I talk to her and share about Jesus. Still praying for her teeth!”

“Today as we went out to share the Gospel, I had a sense to ask this woman Carol if she had pain in her wrist. She did have pain and went on to tell us about her ongoing tinnitus. We prayed for both; the wrist pain went away and her tinnitus felt radically better! She had almost no ringing in her ears. She immediately opened up to us about Jesus, whereas before the healing she did not want to talk about God at all.”

GOD KNOWS YOUR NAME

The five-hour flight was a great chance for Ryan to get his introvert bucket refilled. Just about every seat was taken except for the two next to his.

Perfect! Headphones on, magazines in hand, no one to talk to... Ryan was in heaven.

But then one last passenger boarded late. Bumping other passengers’

16 heads with his bags, he barreled down the aisle all the way back to Ryan’s row. The businessman ended his phone call with one more angry demand and settled in next to Ryan.

“Andrew.” The man stuck his hand out over Ryan’s magazine. “Oh no,” Ryan thought to himself. “He’s an extrovert.” His heart sank.

“Ryan,” he replied, trying not to make eye contact. “Hey, do you believe in God?” Andrew blurted out.

What? Ryan didn’t do anything to indicate he was a Christian. Why would a stranger ask such a pointed question? He took off the headphones and closed the magazine.

Andrew’s eight-year-old daughter was fighting a life-threatening illness. Her suffering tore him apart. He was so angry with God, his anger almost spilled out of his pores as he talked and talked to Ryan- who-believes-in-God.

“But my daughter, she believes in God! She even goes around the hospital floor telling other kids about God and praying for them to get better. But God won’t heal her! How could He do that?!” Andrew demanded to know. His faith was shaken to the core.

Ryan kept listening as the businessman shared more of his own story, filled with darkness and pain. Their back row became a confessional. Ryan recognized the holiness of the moment, and God at work in the man’s heart, but he wasn’t sure how to respond.

Eventually Andrew’s anger grew to a frightening frenzy. Several rows of passengers could hear every bitter word coming from Andrew’s mouth.

“Holy Spirit, help me now,” Ryan prayed, at a complete loss for words. A voice inside replied, “Ask him who Rebecca is, and what her place is in his life.”

Such specific words! Ryan believed it was the voice of the Holy Spirit, but what if it wasn’t? What if there was no Rebecca and he just sounded like a crazy person – what would the man do in his current state? It was like falling off a cliff, taking the risk to speak the words out loud. But he did.

“Who is Rebecca, and what is her place in your life?” Ryan interrupted

17 Andrew’s tirade. In a split second, Andrew’s animosity dissipated. He went quiet. Tears filled his eyes. His face softened as he whispered in shock, “How do you know Rebecca?”

Ryan desperately asked God to give him the right words... “I don’t know Rebecca, but God knows Rebecca and God knows you. Now who is Rebecca, and what place does she have in your life?”

Rebecca was Andrew’s girlfriend who’d been trying to get him to turn to God and go back to church. In fact, he was going to break up with her as soon as they landed because she talked about God too much.

“The Lord told me her name because He wants you to know that He loves you and He knows you,” Ryan explained, his confidence in the Holy Spirit growing. “God knows the battle you’re in and He’s right there with you.”

Descending toward their destination, they talked more about what God might be doing in Andrew’s life. As they deplaned, Andrew commented, “I started this trip not believing in God, but I may give God a chance.”

GOD-STORIES OF YOUR OWN

Do these stories inspire you to want to partner with God in extraordinary ways like this? You can! These stories are from ordinary people – not spiritual professionals – who simply believe that an extraordinary God is always speaking to them, and wants to act compassionately and powerfully through them.

“Faith is spelled R-I-S-K” is a motto we can use to keep up the connection between our faith in Jesus and our everyday life in our homes and neighborhoods.

Find a community of people who are learning to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, taking risks with the Holy Spirit and seeing results.

Then, offer your life again to Jesus – and be willing to be used by God anytime, anywhere, for His glory.

The following page is designed for you to tear off, and to place in a prominent place in your home (like your refrigerator, bathroom mirror, or in your Bible). These reminders will help you join Jesus in the next Kingdom adventure He has planned – with you.

18 FAITH IS SPELLED R-I-S-K

Jesus declared that those who believe that God will do what He says He will do, and then back up that belief with actions – praying for the sick and ministering to those in need – will experience the same kinds of miracles happening through them.

“And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues... they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mark 16:17-18, selections).

Risking in faith means a few things:

• We must first believe that God wants to do miracles that show people how much they are loved, affirming God’s presence and glory • We take action on the belief that God wants to do miracles, signs and wonders, through His people who love and serve Him • We affirm that we are all invited to participate in praying for miracles of healing (the body, mind, and emotions), miracles of provision, miracles of relational healing, and so much more • We are willing to pray for someone to be healed, and to risk feeling silly if God does not back up our action in that moment • We are continually learning to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice in our heart, ready to obey what we hear and to step out in faith to share it • We are ready to risk giving someone a word or Scripture we believe the Lord has put on our heart to give to them • We actively trust God to speak to us for others, and we take action when we believe He’s spoken something to us • We learn to listen to, and hear, the Holy Spirit’s voice – by practice, and by learning from others who have learned before us • We practice taking risks with God in our homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces

HELPFUL RESOURCES • Power Evangelism by John Wimber • Come, Holy Spirit: Stories Of Ordinary People Partnering With An Extraordinary God by Vineyard Resources (www.holyspiritstories.org) • Everyone Gets To Play by Vineyard Resources • www.vineyarddigital.org (downloads for the Spirit-led life)

19 FAITH IS SPELLED

R-I-S-KA MOTTO FOR KINGDOM LIFE

The Vineyard Movement, since birth, has valued seeing individual Christians experience God in their daily lives. Through spiritual practices such as worship, fellowship, mission, the reading and application of Scripture, soul care, family care, healing of the broken, cultural influence, the compassionate ministry of the Holy Spirit, and neighbor-love, the Vineyard community of churches seeks to be intentional about nurturing the lives of those who call us their family.

To find out more about the Vineyard, visit www.vineyardusa.org.

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