The following article is one that I wrote for the Church of God Evangel, and was published in the December 2012 issue. I am posting this here on my blog, not for attention, but for the purpose of glorifying Christ and creating an atmosphere of faith, for you, the reader.
We are sitting on the brink of the last Reformation before the return of Jesus. Myself and many others, are sensing, with holy expectation, the outpouring of the power of the Holy Spirit that has been prophesized! Signs and Wonders, healings, and the miraculous are beginning to be manifested among the worship and ministries of the Remnant Kingdom People! With this backdrop, I offer the repost of this article! May it serve to generate in you the faith to believe, and the hunger for more of Him!
---Pastor Steve Gardner
While Pastoring our first church in a Milwaukee suburb, my wife put together a Christmas party for the congregation. It was a cold night, but we were having a wonderful time of fellowship, food, and singing carols . . . when suddenly one of our members came running in and said there had been a terrible car wreck on the church’s front lawn.
We called 911, and I ran outside. The car was literally wrapped around a tree in our front lawn. Hanging upside-down tangled in the car’s wiring was a 16-year-old boy. He had only recently received his driver’s license, and on that night had decided to race. A freezing mist had begun to fall, and the boy lost control, and now was dangling from his car.
The wiring soon gave way and the boy fell to the ground. An EMT (emergency medical technician) and I knelt down beside the boy, and the EMT said, “Pastor, he’s dead!”
“Check him again,” I asked.
The EMT felt for a pulse, checked his breathing, and announced to me again, “Pastor, this boy is dead!”
I couldn’t believe it! How could this hap- pen to this family so close to Christmas and at our church? The voice I heard next was the Lord saying to my spirit, “Have the people begin to pray for this boy’s life, claiming it in My name. I am going to show My power to this community!
I shared this with the people, and we began praying. Sensing the leading of the Holy Spirit, I laid my hand on the boy and said, “In the name of Jesus, live!” Immediately the boy took a deep breath of air, blinked a few times, and opened his eyes! He was alive!
I told the boy what had happened and led him to ask Jesus into his heart. Later that night at the hospital, the stunned parents thanked me, and I informed them what Christ had done for them. Two weeks later, that boy came into our church on crutches and thanked us for praying for him.
Revival broke out in our church, and our community was impacted. People talked about how those Pentecostal people at the Church of God prayed for a lifeless teenager, and God brought him back from the dead!
The power of the Holy Spirit has not diminished. He still ministers through those who earnestly seek more of Jesus and His power, to bring glory to our King.
