newsletter
Servant Ministries, Inc.
Issue No. 108 Ira & Judy Milligan May 1, 2007

Testimony Time

I received the following (slightly edited and shortened) testimony soon after returning home from Branson.
“WOW!!!!!!! The Branson meeting was truly life changing! Not only did I experience the manifest presence of God but also awesome fellowship among the brethren. It was truly a refreshing time! I am empowered in a way I have not been in years! I know it has always been there but I needed to be reminded of the authority I actually do have in Christ as well as the responsibility to the Lord and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Personal ambition, the need to be recognized and allowing the Lord to be my defense was revealed to me too. Now, I have a positive direction and specific purpose to work on.
 
The Prophet’s Perspective
This Present Truth

Peter said, “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12). As this scripture implies, truth comes in three tenses – past, present and future. For example, contrary to the Jews’ expectations, Jesus first came to the earth as a lowly, suffering servant. Now, He is presently with us as a strength giving, life transforming Spirit and some day soon He will come again to judge the wicked and reward the faithful, reigning throughout eternity as a glorious, sovereign King. He was a sacrificial lamb; He is our savior and He will reign as King over all.

God always gives us an advance revelation of His will before He establishes it as “present truth” in the earth. Amos said “Surely the Lord God will do nothing without first revealing it to His servants, the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Several years ago the Lord spoke to me and said, “The coming move of My Spirit is going to change the existing Church as much as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit changed the Church of the late eighteen hundreds”. I have faithfully declared this revelation to the Church now for over a decade but shortly before I went to Branson God suddenly dropped something into my spirit – God’s previous declaration of change is no longer a coming move; it is a present truth reality unfolding before our very eyes – the move is on!
What the Lord showed me is that we’ve been looking for the finished product instead of the progressive implementation of each phase of change as it occurs. Like the Jews, who expected a Davidic King instead of a suffering savior – they failed to realize David first served the king before he ruled as king! Their expectations were wrong so they failed to recognize Jesus for who He really was! They completely missed the “time of their visitation” and the move of God they were expecting came and went without them even being aware of it! (See Luke 19:44.)

In the late eighteen hundreds the Church was still using hymnals and pipe organs; there were no drums or guitars used in worship; seminary trained pastors in denominational churches read pre-prepared, politically correct sermons to well dressed parishioners sitting in boxed pews. (Few nondenominational churches existed back then.) The gifts of the Spirit weren’t expected or allowed to operate – in short – the church “experience” was all quite formal.

The Holy Spirit began changing all that in 1906 but it took many years to break the Church free from the iron grasp of religious tradition and establish vibrant, exuberant worship among the Saints. Divine healing was introduced early-on but deliverance and prophecy are still not as commonplace as they should be. But God isn’t finished. He still has more change on His agenda!

In John 5:19 Jesus told the disciples the secret to success in ministry is to recognize what God is doing and do it with Him. One thing God is doing at this present time is activating the people. He wants every Saint to be a minister. Peter said, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Pet. 4:10).

A wise pastor will recognize this present truth and help his people become better stewards of God’s gift of life. To accomplish this he will have to loosen the reigns and learn to completely trust the Holy Spirit’s guidance. He must remove the shackles that our present religious structures place upon the Saints and liberate them to fully obey their King – but watch out for the wolves at the same time! More on present truth next month!

Helping Hands
 
The Spanish version of The Master’s Voice is in (and I’ve already distributed 44 of them!), and the Spanish translation of The Hidden Power of Covenant is being printed now. It should be completed by the end of this month. If you travel to Central or South America (or Mexico) on a mission trip call me and I’ll ship you some to take with you to give to the pastors and leaders.
I pray that God will abundantly bless those of you who gave (and have pledged support) toward this project. You guys are a blessing!
 
Prayer Partners’ Update

God is preparing the Church for something BIG, and we all need to know what part we have to play. The whole Body of Christ is in transition. People are in constant flux – new jobs, new careers, moving to new locations – and very few really know why! We need more understanding. Help me pray for the full revelation of this present move of God. And thanks, friends, for your prayers!
 
Just Thinking
Natural and Spiritual Parallels

The Bible contains many “end-time” prophecies. One is, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Dan. 12:4). Because God always speaks double, that is, His word usually has two, parallel applications, we can expect this scripture to be fulfilled in two different spheres – and it is. One is natural, the other spiritual.

As Daniel prophesied, the nineteen hundreds were a period of unprecedented expansion in two very specific areas, transportation and knowledge, and they are directly related. Trains evolved from steam engines to today’s electrically driven, highspeed models. Cars went from Model ‘T’s to SUV’s. At first, planes struggled with everything from gravity to the sound barrier and now our latest fighter can effortlessly accelerate faster than the speed of sound. The power of trains, cars and planes has increased until the potential for greater speed and distance is unlimited, and increased knowledge is what makes it possible!

The nineteen hundreds brought a corresponding, parallel change in power and knowledge in the spiritual realm, too. The Holy Spirit outpouring beginning in 1906 has brought a profound increase in knowledge, and with it, the number of miraculous healings in the Body of Christ has risen dramatically. But, in the same way that more natural knowledge is the key to greater power (which translates to increased speed) more revelation is the key to greater miracles, too!