Tuesday 31 March 2015

Jesus is alive! Three special Easter Podcasts

Join David and Vinesong this Easter for three special podcasts: I know Jesus is alive (30 March 2015), The cross of Christ (3 April) and Jesus is Risen (6 April 2015). Let these faith-building messages in word and worship change your life as we focus on the power of the resurrection.

This Easter God wants to give you a message of forgiveness and restoration, a message of love and of healing. 2000 years ago Jesus went to the cross and died, but He didn't stay in the grave; just as the Scriptures foretold, Jesus rose from the dead. You cannot see Him, I cannot see Him, but I know He is alive. Because He lives again we can come out of the past into a new life, a new hope. Even as you listen to these podcasts He will heal your broken heart, He will soothe the wounds of the past. The Bible says of Jesus, 'He will not crush those who are weak, or quench the smallest hope; He came to deliver those who are oppressed, downtrodden, bruised and crushed' (Matthew 12:20, Luke 4:18).

If you let the power of God touch you, by a miracle He will change your life. You need the touch and the power of God. But first you have to trust Him. You have to believe He can work the miracle. The Gospel is the power of God to change lives. God can touch you, He can change your life. There is no limit to what God can do when you trust Him.

The Scripture teaches that death is not the end, it is only a beginning, the path to life. There is a resurrection of the dead. - That is the urgency of the message of Jesus, the message to every one of you listening. Jesus said 'After three days I will live again' - and on the third day He arose, and He is alive forevermore. And that is the evidence that there is life after death for every one of us who will believe.

If you want God to change your life say this prayer with me: 'On the cross my Jesus died. You gave Your life for all mankind. On that great day my sins You bore, Jesus the Christ, Saviour of mine. Before Your throne, oh God I stand, forgiven and free. You've given me eternal life. For me You died, Prince of Glory rescued me.'



Friday 27 March 2015

Who is this Jesus?

In Matthew 8:23-27 'Jesus entered into a ship… and behold there arose a great storm in the sea, so much that the ship was covered with the waves, but Jesus was asleep. His disciples woke Him, saying, 'Lord, save us, we've going to die!' And He said 'Why are you so afraid, O you of little faith?' Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. The men marvelled and said, 'What kind of Man is this?''

That is the challenge, who is this Jesus of the Bible? Don't despise the Bible. This Book changes men, destroys demons, breaks the curse of evil, gives life to the dead and healing to the sick. It's the power of God! It's the Word of the living God!

In this story, Jesus was asleep. A storm arose, so the disciples woke Him saying, 'We're all going to die! It's the end of the world…' But Jesus just got up, bound the storm, the winds stopped, the boat was safe, nobody died - and when those strong fishermen saw the demonstration of the power that the Man had over the elements, they said, 'What kind of Man do we have in the boat?' Wherever I go, Jesus is in the boat. I'd rather be in a 'storm' with Jesus than live at peace without Him. I want you to know this real Jesus in your life. Most of us, even as believers, experience some powerful storms in our lives. That is why we need the reality of the Man who can conquer them!

In the midst of the storm Jesus asked the disciples 'Why are you afraid?' I believe that is the challenge to every one of us today. Why are you afraid? What are you afraid of? The same Jesus who calmed the winds and the waves 2000 years ago is the same Jesus who can calm the torment in your life. Why be afraid, God is in control.

Listen to today's podcast: 'God is in control' 
http://davidhathaway.podbean.com/e/god-is-in-control-featuring-vinesong/

Monday 23 March 2015

The Fire of the Spirit

God has ALL power, and that power is within the Gospel. The Gospel is literally good news! I am not ashamed of the Gospel and I don't want you to be ashamed of the Gospel, because the Gospel IS the power of God! When we see the crisis in Ukraine, the politicians cannot solve it and the military cannot solve it, only God can resolve the chaos in that nation. We need the fire of the Spirit to bring revival to our lives. We must cry out from the depth of our spirit: 'Holy Spirit we need You, fire deep inside.'

I was so excited when I read in Leviticus 6:13 that when the priests lit the fire they were told it must never go out! I received the fire of God when I was 13 and it has never gone out! I’ve seen too many people who allow the fire to fade, but if the fire is from God, the command is that you must not let it go out! The Apostle Paul told his protégée Timothy: you must fan into flame the gift of God (2 Timothy 1:6). It's your responsibility to keep the fire burning.



All the power you'll ever need in your life comes from the Holy Spirit: power to preach the Gospel, power to heal the sick. This baptism of fire is not just for the church collectively, it is an individual experience that each one of us needs. The only evidence of the existence of God is in the miraculous. There is no other evidence. You can't see Him, can't touch Him. You may say He's in heaven - but He's everywhere, He's here through the Holy Spirit.

Friday 20 March 2015

The regions beyond

I want to challenge you to go to the regions beyond - the regions beyond in your faith, the regions beyond in your service. The regions beyond in your prayer life. Don't be satisfied with your prayer life. Don't be satisfied with what you are doing. Let's go higher. How do you get up this 'mountain'? There is no chairlift and there is no cable car. There is only one way up this mountain. You do it by setting the pace and keeping it up step-by-step. So long as you keep moving, Jesus will guide you, leading you on, bringing to you hope along the way.

The regions beyond: We get stuck at the thought that mortal man could move anything bigger than himself! We agonise over the reality of moving that mountain - call our friends to stand with us in believing prayer - because this mountain is proving harder than we thought to move. Then when it happens - that miracle, that healing, or financial solution - we become so excited (as I experienced so many times personally), that we drop the real key down the drain in our excitement!

In Matthew 17:14-21, the disciples had missed the opportunity of releasing the greatest power into their lives - Jesus was putting a key in their hands, and if they would only use this key, their lives would never be the same again! For me, searching and hungry for more of God's power in my life, I saw what I have been waiting for - there is a spiritual 'region beyond'.

We need to realise God has a power and a glory far greater than anything we have ever seen yet! Are we, in our spiritual experience, ready to cross the barrier, to move into something so big we could hardly dream about?

Of all the gifts of God, faith is the greatest - it's the key to the 'normal' Christian life! There are nine gifts which you only receive after you have been baptised in the Holy Spirit (have you received... since you believed?): three VOCAL gifts, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy; there are three INTELLECTUAL gifts, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits; and there are three PRACTICAL gifts - I love the practical gifts - healing, working of miracles, and the gift of faith, 1 Corinthians 12. These are the normal every-day gifts of the Holy Spirit to the believer. By the same power with which you speak in tongues, you also heal the sick and work miracles! Paul asks, does everybody work miracles? What a challenge! Does every church work miracles? But this is the NORMAL Christian life! Cry out to God that He will fill you with the Holy Ghost and power!

Faith is what you DO! Are you living a normal Christian life? Do you have the gift of faith? This is NOT an intellectual gift. Faith is nothing to do with your education OR with what you think – it's what you DO. Faith is ACTION. Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as SUBSTANCE and EVIDENCE, something solid. It's not something intellectual, it's the most PRACTICAL gift God can give.

To listen to today's podcast 'The Next Level' visit
http://davidhathaway.podbean.com/e/thenextlevel/

or download it by visiting: Download this episode (right click and save)


Wednesday 18 March 2015

Chosen for a purpose

Has God called you into ministry?

Jesus said in John 15, 'You did not choose Me, I chose you!' If you are serious about serving God, it is essential you are called and chosen by Him. When God called me, He did not call me as a pastor, preacher or evangelist, He simply said, 'David, I want everything!' - 'I want your time, your money, your family: everything!' The call of God on my life, and the calling on your life, is to serve Jesus; we must serve Him in whichever way He directs.

A few years ago I revisited the place in Brighton where God first spoke to me when I was 15 years old. I was with a group of young Christians walking along the beach, but God was speaking to me, challenging me. God was saying to me, "I want you David!" And the devil was saying, "Don't you realise you're saved, you got baptised in water, filled with the Holy Spirit – that’s enough!" But God was saying, "I want YOU!" He didn’t say, "I want you to be a preacher, I want you to be an evangelist, a missionary…" – God said, "David, I want ALL of you, EVERYTHING! – Your life, your family, your time, your house, every single thing – I want the lot!" People talk about tithing, the biblical pattern of giving a tenth of your income to God, but a long time ago I tried the opposite, keep a tenth for yourself, and give God 90 percent! You cannot out-give God! Give everything! The more I give Him, the more I receive financially, the more power of God I receive! – Give and you will receive, 'pressed down and running over!' – This is why God says, the only 'reasonable' thing is to present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God! – And this is only the beginning, the norm, the 'reasonable' bit! I want the un-reasonable, the extra-normal! I don't just want to receive the Holy Spirit like everybody else, I want a double portion, a treble portion, ten times, a hundred times more! I'm hungry for God! I need that anointing, that power! Jesus told of the servant who did everything that was expected of him, what was reasonable – but the master did not thank him – it was expected of him. But I want to receive! The more you give, the more God gives back! I remember that tremendous challenge when God said to me, "David, I want YOU!" That night I had to say, "Lord, I’ll give you everything!"

After I went to bed that night I had wild dreams that the preacher wouldn't turn up next day in church, dreams of evangelising... Next morning was the most glorious day ever! I got out of bed, on my knees, and said, "Lord, I have given you everything, now I will do whatever You want, I am all Yours!" I was expecting great things! I went downstairs full of excitement. Today was the day when I was going to start preaching to thousands… But the first thing I saw was a row of dirty shoes – I have never liked cleaning shoes then or now – and the Lord said, "Clean those shoes!" And I did it because I had made a commitment. I polished those shoes as if Jesus Himself was going to wear them! That's reasonable service. You don't start at the top, you start at the bottom. I didn't start by evangelising in great meetings. I started witnessing as a boy in the street, in my school. Where did your salvation begin? Your salvation began when Jesus GAVE, when He paid the price – His sacrifice on the cross. That's where our ministry has to begin – giving – its only reasonable service.

Didn't Jesus say in Matthew 20:27-28, 'Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many'? We have the false idea that success in the Kingdom is all about bright lights, fame, celebrity; no! God called us as servants. If you want to be the greatest in the Kingdom, then serve willingly in obscurity.

Listen to 'Chosen for a Purpose': http://davidhathaway.podbean.com/e/chosen-for-a-purpose-featuring-vinesong/

Download this episode (right click and save)


Friday 13 March 2015

Praying for Ukraine

For 24 years I have ministered in Ukraine, first in Rovno in 1991, then in 1992, four times in a little village called Mayaki, near Odessa, where we saw twenty-thousand people gathered to hear the Gospel. Then, by a miracle, in 1992 and 1993, I was the first evangelist to take the Dynamo Stadium and the Sports Palace in Kiev for evangelism! At that time, there was one small Spirit-filled independent church in Ukraine of about 100 people. They stood with me in faith that God would do the impossible - and He did! Between May and October 1994 we held twenty-seven 17-day crusades in Belarus, Siberia and Ukraine; preaching 5 days out of 7, travelling enormous distances. We saw 100,000 saved! After all this evangelism there was an explosion of church growth in Kiev until some of the largest churches in all Europe were in Ukraine!

We need to pray for Ukraine. As recently as three years ago, I was still ministering in the cities which are now war zones. God opened the door for evangelism in 1991 but now that door is closing fast. Many areas are impossible to enter due to this armed conflict. In a letter dated 4 April 1991 I wrote, "There is a threat of a tremendous backlash in Eastern Europe to the freedom movement which may result in a greater repression... God has commanded me to get in there with the Gospel fast, and work while it is still day." That day has now passed for large parts of Russia and Ukraine.

We are so thankful that God gave us the opportunity to preach Jesus throughout Ukraine, Russia and Siberia. - At least they have heard the Truth, before it was too late.

Now, this week, we are ministering again in Ukraine, a country I have given my life for. Only the Holy Spirit can bring bring peace and unity to this dangerously divided nation. Join me in prayer as I ask, 'Holy Spirit bring unity again, Spirit move over this nation, bring healing, peace, restoration and reconciliation. Make these people whole again, Spirit move over this land and these people.'


Monday 9 March 2015

My 'mountain' was lung cancer

In December 2002, as part of the process of getting a resident’s permit in Ukraine, in order to prove I did not have TB which is endemic out there, I had to have a lung X-ray. But the doctors called me back, took more X-rays, and then told me I had a shadow on my lung and that I had pneumonia. Probably I had already had it for over a month, because I remember a fever had started on the last day of October while I was evangelising in Siberia.

Back in England I was treated with antibiotics, but after two courses of treatment I went again for X-rays and the patch on my lung was bigger. The doctors became extremely worried, they didn’t want me to travel overseas and they set up exhaustive tests in a hurry. They said bluntly, "It's not pneumonia, you have lung cancer."

I prayed about it, and I did go overseas to carry out my ministry, but the day after I got back the hospital process started. On the Thursday I had the CT (computer tomography) scan and it showed the cancer.

I believe in prayer and in a God of miracles. But I am faced with a challenge: do I really believe God or not? On the following Monday I had to go for a bronchoscopy when they would put a camera down my lung and take a sample of the growth. The doctors had already fast-tracked me into a process which would lead to an operation to remove all or part of my right lung – on the Wednesday I was booked to go in for the final verdict. The only question, how much of my lung they would take away?

I said, "Lord, how can I go back into Russia and preach like I preach and say that You are a mighty God of miracles who's got power to do everything, including healing cancer, if I have got half of my right lung cut out, followed by chemotherapy? If You have finished with me, if my ministry is over, then don’t heal me, because if I can no longer evangelise I might as well die, I have no other reason to live! But if You want me to go back into Russia and Ukraine and finish the work You gave me to do, then I want You to heal me completely!" But I only had a few days, from Thursday to Monday!

God said to me, "David, you've got a mountain in your life that you've got to move - and that mountain is to get that cancer out from your lung. If you can believe that without an operation you can be completely healed, then nothing will be impossible from there on." Now desperately seeking God's answer from Scripture, I was reading from Jeremiah 33:6, "I will bring health and healing"; and Jeremiah 33:20-21, "I will not break my covenant with David"; and Psalm 89:35, "I will not lie to David"; and "Is anything impossible with God?" - Jeremiah 32:17&27.

On the Monday I was in the hospital, tubes down my lung looking for cancer - but God had already given me the answer, I knew it was gone. The doctors looked at me in amazement and said, "You have no cancer!"

I didn't go to a healing evangelist, I went to the Word of God and God completely healed me - no operation, no treatment - I only had God and the Bible, and that's all I needed to confound the doctors. They were shocked, they didn't believe God - but I do, I believe in a God of power, of miracles.

The Bible is very clear. Isaiah 53:5 says Jesus was wounded for our sin, bruised for our iniquity and with His stripes we are healed. Matthew 8:16-17 says Jesus healed all that were sick to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. So healing is to fulfil Bible prophecy! I talk about Bible prophecy, I write about it in Prophetic Vision magazine, but part of Bible prophecy is healing the sick. I believe Bible prophecy. Some people say that healing was only for the time of Jesus. But this prophecy is not ended. Jesus only healed for three years. There are more miracles of healing today than at any time in the history of the church – all over the world!

If you are sick or know someone with a terminal diagnosis, this 'Healed of Lung Cancer' podcast will strengthen your faith as you believe for a healing miracle. 13 years ago God dramatically healed me of lung cancer, and He can do the same for you when you believe and stand on His promises! God is not a man that He should lie, nor will He change His mind, what He has said that will He do (Numbers 23:19). You can be certain of this one thing, God answers prayer!

Jesus said 'lay your hands on the sick and they shall recover'. If you are in need of healing put your hand where the sickness is and say this prayer in faith and with conviction. - Then do what you could not do! I know Jesus is alive! I believe the Bible: God cannot lie! Your Word says Jesus took my sickness and healed me - so by faith I take my healing. In Jesus' Name I will fight in prayer and in the Word of God until I am healed! I command you devil, get out of my body! My body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit. Devil, get out of my life, my home, my family! In Jesus' Name I defeat you! I will not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord! And I will live in health and victory until Jesus comes! Amen!

Listen to my testimony, and be inspired by the beautiful worship of Vinesong as together we declare God's healing power over your life.

http://davidhathaway.podbean.com/e/healed-of-lung-cancer-featuring-vinesong/

'God answers prayer' and 'Run to the Father' used by permission of Vinesong, www.vinesong.com

Friday 6 March 2015

"We did it together"

When David's wife, Zena, died in December among her final words were, "We did it together". David often preaches from Romans 12:1 on offering our lives as a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service. To be in ministry is a sacrifice; it was a sacrifice for Zena, especially when David was in prison for Bible smuggling, and the many long periods when he was evangelising in Russia and Siberia. She knew it was God's calling on his life and wouldn’t allow anyone to stop him. Her first words on being given her terminal diagnosis were, "David, you must carry on with the ministry!" Days later David was holding the largest evangelism he had ever held, with thousands of souls saved, reaching the whole nation live on national TV! She knew her eternal home was heaven and wanted others to have the same assurance. - That is why next week David will be Ukraine, followed by ministry in Switzerland, Israel, Germany, Slovakia and UK.

As she passed to her reward Vinesong's song 'Heaven' was playing. Using this song we have made a photo tribute of the ministry she sacrificed for. May it be a blessing to those of you who have also lost loved ones.

'I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.' (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, KJV)











Monday 2 March 2015

Coming Home to Jesus: Working with Russian Holocaust Survivors

Since 2011, we have been holding special events in Israel to assist the Russian Holocaust survivors; in addition we provide them with financial and humanitarian support on an on-going basis. These survivors in the main have no pension from Russia or Israel, and no war compensation from Germany. They are one of the poorest groups in Israel. Rejected by many in the West for not being 'proper Jews' because of their Soviet heritage, but yet Jewish enough to go through the Holocaust; they need our help.

In these meetings I introduce them to Jesus, a Jew just like them. I know the only way to receive healing for the wounds of the past is to receive the peace and love that only He can give. Jesus says, 'Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man will open the door, I will come in!' I try to tell people how easy it is to receive Him. All you have to do is be like a drowning man: stop struggling, let go of your tiny piece of flotsam and come into His open arms.

Please remember to pray for our work with these Survivors; we are going back to Israel in May. We must work for their benefit whilst there is still time.

I would encourage you to listen to today's podcast, 'Come Home', as I pray with these survivors to receive this peace into their hearts. Click here for 'Come Home' Podcast