Jul 18, '08 7:42 PM

Serena Mirelez is one of my youngest granddaughters.  You'll remember her story from past Coffee Breaks as the one who was stricken with Transverse Myelitis at 2 1/2 years of age and mostly paralyzed from the neck down.

And before you get all excited thinking I'm getting ready to tell you that she's walking once again, no, not yet.  But she's experienced a different kind of miracle in the past couple of weeks, and I believe that this miracle has put her well on the road to the final miracle of her total restoration.

Anyway, Good Morning!

The Holy Spirit is moving today among the people of God, and there is a massive increase in the intensity with which God is doing things.  I believe we are at the cusp of the final outpouring of the Holy Spirit prior to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is not returning for a namby-pamby, weak-kneed, barely-making-it, do nothing, Caesar Milquetoast bride.  He is coming for a people who function just like Him, who are like Him in every respect.  He's coming for a people who are restored to the state God first created man in -- a people who live and operate in His power and authority.  He's coming for a people who have been made into, conformed to, and transformed into His image and likeness.

Jesus is returning for a people who are carriers of His presence.  He's looking for folks who manifest and demonstrate His Glory in reality.

He's also coming to gather for Himself a people who will fill His house.  Of necessity, that means there must be a move of God that sweeps this earth as never before.  If you think Pentecost was marvelous and the events recorded in the book of Acts were spectacular, to put it bluntly, you ain't seen nuthin' yet!

Jesus made a solemn promise to His people: "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father."  (John 14:12)

Greater works?  Greater works than Jesus did?  The word in the Greek that John uses as he writes this is the word, meizon (pronounced mide - zone) and it translates to: larger, exceedingly great, more in number, mightier.

The overwhelming majority of Christians have struggled for centuries with the concept of doing even the miracles that Jesus did; and yet His plan and purpose was for His people to outperform Him.  Well, people, that's exactly where we are!  That's what God is doing in the earth today.  And you ain't seen nuthin' yet!

Miracles have to become the ordinary in our lives.  We are being brought to the place where the supernatural becomes the natural, where we are supernaturally natural and naturally supernatural.  (Sorry about that tongue twister, but you get the idea.)  What we've called "miraculous" in the past must now become a part of our living and breathing -- like breathing in and breathing out.

That comes as a byproduct of our living in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, and exercising the faith of God.

Anyway, let's get to Serena's latest miracle story.

Over the past few months an infection has begun to worsen in with her hands.  She lost all of her fingernails, and during the past month or so the tips of her fingers have blackened.

Rebekah (her mother) has taken her to see one specialist after another.  First it was Spokane.  Then it was Portland.  Then it was the Children's Hospital in Seattle.  Then back to Sacred Heart in Spokane.  Finally, it has been Kadlec Hospital in Richland.  At Kadlec about two weeks or so ago, Serena's doctor told Rebekah that -- while he needed to run some confirming tests -- he was virtually certain that Serena had developed osteomyelitis.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine defines this disease as: "an acute or chronic bone infection, usually caused by bacteria."

The in-depth explanation adds, "The infection that causes osteomyelitis often is in another part of the body and spreads to the bone via the blood. Affected bone may have been predisposed to infection because of recent trauma.  In children, the long bones are usually affected. In adults, the vertebrae and the pelvis are most commonly affected. Bone infection can be caused by bacteria or by fungus. When the bone is infected, pus is produced within the bone, which may result in an abscess. The abscess then deprives the bone of its blood supply.  Chronic osteomyelitis results when bone tissue dies as a result of the lost blood supply. Chronic infection can persist intermittently for years."

Serena's doctor, however, had a far greater concern.  He was pretty sure that Serena had contracted some rare form of bone-cancer, and his initial determination was that he would need to amputate her fingers -- or at least parts of them, depending on the degree of infection.

X-rays were taken which showed that Serena's bones in her hands were disintegrating.  Her fingers had almost turned to mush.  When the doctor advised Rebekah that Serena was going to need surgery almost immediately, she called Della and me in a state of panic.  This was on a Thursday night, and it was around 6:30 PM.

For both Della and me, the reaction was almost instantaneous, and we both reacted the same way.  Anger rose up in my being, the like of which I haven't experienced in many years.

If you remember the previous sharing on Serena's experiences in seeing Jesus -- multiple experiences over a period of several days -- in which He specifically told her that He was going to heal her completely, that she would walk again, run again, and "be a Jesus Teller."  (That was Serena's way of describing an evangelist.)

She had been very excited and joy-filled over the prospect of God's promises to her, and told us that Jesus had also told her that she "would lay hands on other kids just like me who were in wheelchairs," and see them get out of those wheelchairs completely healed.

The doctor's announcement over alleged bone-cancer and the plan to amputate all or parts of some of her fingers was an insult from Satan!  Both Della and I saw it as his scheme to defeat, to discourage, and to steal Serena's faith in the promises of the Lord, and simply give up.

We both reacted exactly the same way.  "OH, NO THEY WON'T!  NO ONE IS TOUCHING SERENA'S HANDS OR FINGERS!"  With Rebekah on the telephone, we declared the promises of God, and almost yelled, "In the name of Jesus, we command that osteomyelitis and/or bone-cancer to vanish.  We speak, and we declare healing to her hands, to her bones, and to all of the affected tissue."  (Actually, I think we did yell!)

By 10:00 PM that same evening, the hospital had run a series of tests.  The doctor advised Rebekah that the tests showed positive for cancer.  They made preparations for surgery the following morning.

When we went to bed that night, Della and I both had a complete sense of victory in our spirits and we slept like babies.  Morning came, and the principal physician had some second thoughts.  He decided to run another series of tests.  This time the test results came back negative for cancer, but confirmed the earlier diagnosis of osteomyelitis.

A decision was made to put off any plans for surgery indefinitely and attempt to treat the osteomyelitis with some vigorous attacks on the fungus.  I'm not a physician and I don't remember what the doctor called the medicines with which he proposed to treat Serena.

Della and I continued our declarations of God's Word and His specific promises of healing over Serena.  Friday afternoon came.  As the nurses prepared to administer the medication, they noticed a visible change in the appearance of Serena's fingers.  The doctor was called in.  He couldn't figure out why there was such a marked change for the better.  It was time for another set of tests.

It was Monday before Rebekah was notified of the new test results.  "Rebekah, I don't know if we've seriously misdiagnosed Serena or just what is happening, but the tests are now showing negative for osteomyelitis.  We believe we can treat the remaining infection on her finger tips quite easily and effectively, and she should be out of this in no time."

Tell you what!  These are some of the best doctors in this part of the country.  There was no misdiagnosis of cancer, and no misdiagnosis of osteomyelitis.  They were real all right.  It's just that "cancer" and "osteomyelitis" are nothing but "names."  They are "names" that describe certain well-understood diseases to the medical profession.

But they are just that: "names."

In case you're not following my line of communication, let me take you to a verse of Scripture.

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  (Philippians 2:9-11)

Get it?  "Cancer" and "osteomyelitis" are "names" that are subject to the name of Jesus.  Cancer and osteomyelitis must bow, they must yield to, respond to and obey the commands given in the name (the onoma: the character, the personality, the makeup, the very essence) of Jesus.

Let's add one more like-Scripture.

"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

"And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

"Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."  (Ephesians 1:15-23)

There you go!  Now, here's the kicker.  It's not just the name of Jesus: it is the name of Jesus working in and through us that effects and implements that power and authority.

Paul continues in his letter to the Ephesians.  "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."  (Ephesians 2:4-7)

God the Father demonstrates the exceeding and abundant riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Jesus Christ by making His Word alive and operational, powerful and authoritative when we speak and declare the applicable Word in any given situation.  That Della and I knew that Word and could call it into action on Serena's behalf was critically important.

But that's the secret of what we so euphemistically call "miracles."  They are only miracles if your place of reference is sub-normal.  They're not miracles if you are living and operating in the Kingdom of God.

I keep saying this, and I'll repeat myself again.  This is normal Christianity.  We are being brought to the place where the supernatural becomes the natural, where we are supernaturally natural and naturally supernatural.

We've been away from our series on Kingdom Economics for nearly two months.  I'd like to finish that series over the next couple of weeks or so.  We'll come back to these two series on Miracles and Angelology in the weeks or months ahead; and I may periodically just stop to share some more of the continuously unfolding miracles we're seeing and experiencing.

Faith causes the intellect to see, the heart to hear, and the will to respond.  Faith is not a substitute: it is the very substance of that which we hope for and expect.  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

The Blessing of the Lord: it makes rich and He adds no painful toil and sorrow!  (Proverbs 10:22)  Be blessed!