Surprised by the Power of the Spirit

About 15 minutes ago I finished this book.  Awesome book!  I highly recommend reading it.  The book is a "narrative theological argument" talking about the gifts of the Spirit and healing and talks through scripture that supports those beliefs.  The book also contains amazing stories of people being healed and miracles that are really encouraging.  Reading this book has really challenged me on those topics: the gifts of the Spirit and healing.  Since reading this book I've felt really convicted that I need to start praying for healing more; I need to obey the Lord and trust him in faith.  It's okay if I pray for healing for 20 people and nothing happens, the most important thing is to pray and ask the Lord and to obey when I feel like he puts it on my heart!

What I like about this book is that Jack Deere talks about all angles of these sensitive issues.  Yes, I think gifts of the Spirit and healing is a sensitive issue.  Why?  Because it's been abused and so there's fear.  You can tell by reading the book that Jack Deere isn't some crazy charismatic just throwing out his opinions, but that he has diligently read the Bible and studied it and asked the Lord about these things.  Also, the underlying basis of this book is Jesus: having intimacy with Jesus and having passion for Jesus.  The last chapter of the book is about developing passion for Jesus and he talks about how scripture even shows that the disciples walked in the power of the Spirit because they had intimacy with Jesus.  Healings and miracles were the overflow of their passion for Jesus.

Jack Deere talks about developing passion for Jesus at the end and shares a prayer that he prays daily:

"Father, grant me power from the Holy Spirit to love the Son of God like you love him."

I like that.  I think I'm gonna start praying that everyday.