CHRISTMAS MIRACLE SERVICE
CHRISTMAS MIRACLE SERVICE
DECEMBER 22, 2019, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Every Christmas the LORD continues to grace me to preach on miracles to release faith for miracles as a gift not only during the Christmas season, but to live a lifetime expecting miracles.
The LORD desires to participate in our lives daily releasing His supernatural power through the Holy Spirit and the Holy Angels that we may experience miracles as a normal part of our life.
We, who have been blessed to walk with the Holy Spirit through many decades, have a clear understanding of the Gifts of the Holy which He gives to the church that we may be victorious. One of those giftings is the Gift of Miracles:
Mark 16: 17-20: “And these signs shall follow them that believe…and they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”” Signs and wonders are a natural result of the preaching of the gospel. We should expect them to be there. And we should not expect just one or two. One miracle should lead to another miracle. God wants to give us an increasing progression of the miraculous, until we come into the supernatural, the realm of the miraculous” (Ruth Ward Heflin-Golden Glory).
Spiritual ministry means a ministry that meets the needs of man through the anointing and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. It is the gospel of the Kingdom in supernatural demonstration and power. It is the Gospel in action.
The Holy Angels are messengers from the Holy Spirit who are sent to earth to minister the miracles of God to mankind.
During the Christmas
season, it seems that mankind is more aware of the presence of angels. Perhaps it is because our faith is increased
as we turn our hearts and minds towards the miracle and wonder of the birth of
Christ. Those who have
“eyes to see and hears to hear,” catch glimpses of their shining wings as we
watch in anticipation for their appearing.
On Sunday evenings, we have discussion times when people share their interactions
with angels.
I have often felt a gentle touch, a flutter of an angel wing, sometimes a nudge as if to say: “I like what you are preaching.” I have seen angels and heard angels sing with us as we gather unto Jesus.
Christmas cards come to us through the mail telling the story of Christ’s birth and the Angels’ participation in His birth.
When the time arrives for a soul to come into the world, there are special angels to attend its birth. Have we not all held a newborn baby and felt that we are holding a star blown from the Hand of God? “Heaven lies about us in our infancy” (Poem by Wordsworth). Children are often aware of angels, and they talk of them quite naturally. Jesus said of the little ones, “…their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven” (Mt. 18:10).
In my generation, the Christmas pageant was played out every year in school and in church. At every pageant I always experienced the miracle of the Holy Presence of the anointing upon the children and the presentation. Do you not believe with me that the angels delight to join children every where as they present the Christmas story Christmas after Christmas?
“Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the new-born King!
“The angels played a noble and important part in the outworking of the wonderful plan of the Incarnation. First there was Gabriel…just the thought of the great archangel appearing suddenly in the Temple at the Altar of Incense, causes us to catch our breath in awe. No wonder Zacharias was amazed and startled! Then there was Gabriel’s annunciation to Mary of the coming of Messiah; then the angelic visitation to Joseph. At Christ’s birth, there were the shepherds who were keeping watch in the field; and the angel who with clarion voice announced the birth of Jesus; and with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God.” (Paraphrased from Frances Metcalfe)
Do you think those heavenly hosts have stopped praising God or have become inactive in the Kingdom of God’s Son on earth as it is in Heaven?” I don’t believe that. I believe they are just as active on the earth today and every day as they were on the great day of Christ’s birth.
“It is fitting that angels should be remembered and honored for their faithful ministration to our Savior. The Father has committed to them great responsibility, not only in connection with the birth of the Babe of Bethlehem, but also toward every soul in whom He is born again. We, too, have been the object of their care ever since we were “born from above.”
Heb. 1:14: Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?
You are an heir of salvation. As an heir of salvation, the ministration of miracles, signs and wonders by the Holy Angels should be a normal part of your every day life.
Angels are real living beings. Angels are active and participating in ministry to the “heirs of salvation” and Kingdom appointment by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They respond to the spoken Word of God within the will of the Father. They are supernatural and non-physical, but may assume a corporal appearance on assignment.
There is a miracle realm in the Spirit. This divine, supernatural realm is also a “sign” realm.
I received a miracle of a “sign and wonder” this Christmas season. Monday, a week ago, I glanced at the top of my television armoire, there was clearly visible an angel from the Willow Tree collection. (For those of you who do not have a visual, the angel is identified as the “Dance of Life” angel.) I had no prior thought to purchase or own this carved figure. I had no prior thought concerning the angel at all. I blinked really fast, and blinked again. The angel was still visible on the armoire as if it was there. Then the vision disappeared. The next day I went out and purchased the angel. It is now physically sitting on my armoire and will probably never be moved.
I taught a few weeks ago on watching for the “signs of the times.” The divine, supernatural realm is a sign realm. Once we learn how to read, perceive and notice the signs, we will begin to encounter this realm all around us. God loves to send us signs, tokens of His love, and I believe that He often sends them to us through the ministry of angels.
What is the message the LORD was sending me by giving me a vision of this angel?
I am not sure. The name of the angel is the “Dance of Life.” There is another one similar, but taller, “Song of Joy.” On checking the website, I found Willow Tree has sixteen angel sculptures, all with different names.
Do I believe the LORD anointed the artists who designed these sculptures? I certainly do. Do I believe the LORD is using the angels as signs of the times? Yes I do. Do I believe the angels carry any superstitious power? NO!!!
The LORD speaks to us through “signs and wonders.” I believe He used the vision of the angel as a sign. Perhaps just to delight me, and give me a Christmas gift as a token of His LOVE. I was certainly delighted!
However, I am a pastor and with the help of the “angel of the everlasting gospel,” I believe the LORD gives me messages to share to those to whom we minister around the world through the written Word as well as the spoken Word.
Rev 14:6And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Until the past few years, the Church as a whole has been uninformed, indifferent, and superstitious to the presence and power of angels in relationship to the redeemed. Because of an increase in the administration of the Holy Angels on earth as it is in Heaven, ministers are bravely facing down some of the pre-conceived, ideas, superstitions, doctrines, and fear of the ministry of angels. I don’t think we need to be afraid of worshipping a demon of light. True angels of God will never allow you to worship them; so there should never be an occasion when Christians worship angels or demons.
In January 2013, I preached on the ministry of angels in the Book of Revelation which is the book of the triumph of Christ. The Book also gives us insight into the throne room, the government of God and the ten thousand times ten thousands, thousands and thousands angels; and celestial beings (beasts and the elders).
The angel who delivered the message of the Book of Revelation is again mentioned in Rev. 22:8: John fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed him these things. The angel said to John, ‘See you do it not; for I am your fellow servant and of your brethren the prophets, and them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”.
This angel though we are not given his name, is the angel of prophetic revelation.
Rev. 22:16: I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify to you these things in the churches.”
The ministry of angels is mentioned 295 times in the Holy Bible (angel 201 times and angels 94 times).
Today as I have sought the LORD to release to this body Faith for Gift of Miracles, I also ask him for Faith for Gifts of Healing. There are at least nine (9) supernatural administrations of Gifts of Healing in the Holy Word. We move in all nine in this church. God also has angels of healing available to the Body of Christ.
John 5:4: For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water; whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in and was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
These are angels who move between heaven and earth to bring forth the manifestation of healing in our lives. “Jesus Christ is the great physician, but His angels are the nurse practitioners.” (Joshua Mills).
Joshua Mills: “It is common for healing angels to appear in our meetings, with the visible results of physical bodies being healed and miracles reported wherever we go. When we speak God’s Word with power, angels show up and begin working, according to the scriptural assignment that they have been given. I have discovered that all healing ministries have healing angels available to work with them---because it’s the Word of God that releases those angels. Unfortunately, not every minister is aware of these God-sent helpers. The Holy Spirit is teaching us to co-operate with His angels that we may learn to co-operate with God’s Kingdom assignments for this season. People of God must come into agreement with God for His Kingdom purposes. So many pray for the LORD to come into agreement with their carnal purposes. There is a much higher way to live, and that is in the purposes and will of God.
God provides healing angels to stand behind his ministers as they pray for the sick. These angels are stationed there, positioned as support workers for God’s anointed servants. When healing angels arrive, they bring the specific and necessary miracle that is needed in that moment. It becomes our responsibility to receive it by faith and impart it to those who desperately need a touch from God. At other times, they wait for our faith to boldly extract the sickness and disease from those who are suffering. They are waiting for us to hand these spirits of infirmity to them so they can carry them away. These are just some of the ways we can co-labor with the healing angels.”
Today I labor to raise your Faith to receive your inheritance as heirs of salvation to receive, activate and operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you are living in sin, or nurturing sin, this will hinder your being able to operate in the gifts. Yet the gifts are without repentance. If you have fallen into sin, the LORD will not take away your gift, but often He will remove the fallen saint. There are sins unto death. Sin produces death in our mortal bodies. However receiving miracles is equal for saint or sinner. Miracles are for those who will believe and receive.
When you pray, God sends His angels in response to the words you speak.
I know many of you still have the unanswered question, “What is the ‘sign’ of the angel I saw in the vision? Perhaps the Holy Spirit will tell you. For myself, I am a person who daily spends life gathering the fullness of days from every day. I also spend money the same way---never foolishly, but producing life with my resources and my time. We can say wherever the river flows, life come forth. Perhaps the angel of the “Dance of Life” is a metaphor which describes the angel of the river of water of life.
Rev 22:1And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations
We will now pray for miracles.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
I entered into the labors per quotations from Frances Metcalfe, Ladies of Gold, Volume Two; Joshua Mills, Seeing Angels. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the view of those who I entered into their labors.