John F Avanzini - 30, 60, hundredfold : your financial harvest released

Contents

This book is lovingly dedicated to my second daughter, Sherri Lynn, a twice-given gift of God to my wife and me.

God Came Into My Room

[I came] not with enticing words of mans wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

I Corinthians 2:4

God wants to reveal Himself to you in the miracle of the hundredfold financial increase. This is probably the boldest statement I have ever made in print. With it I am declaring God's desire to manifest Himself in your finances. Because of the extraordinary way in which He revealed Himself to me, I know the manifestation will be big and powerful.

The events I am about to share with you came to me during my most personal experience with God to date. To reveal these things in print is the last thing I ever thought I would do.

If you are to fully understand the signs and wonders God has been performing since the encounter I had with Him, I must share something very personal that took place the first time I ever visited the African continent.

I have experienced several manifestations of God's presence during my life. However, I must say none has been as dramatic as the visitation I had in the nation of Nigeria. My spirit is always stirred when I travel back there, for it was in Nigeria that God appeared to me in a supernatural way.

I was there at the invitation of an international evangelist. He had asked me to help him with the teaching in a great school of ministry he was conducting.

Getting my visa caused me to arrive at the meeting a day late. It was a Tuesday, and the day's teaching session was already in progress. The building was so full that many people had to stand.

As I entered the side door, I was immediately impacted by the overwhelming presence of God. It was as if a great heat was emanating from the room. When I felt it, I immediately stepped back outside. As I considered what this strange feeling was, I realized it was the warm glow of the Holy Spirit. His presence was everywhere. The entire building was filled with the anticipation of the people.

Not long after I arrived, a second speaker was introduced. As he spoke, the same presence once again filled the room. With each word, the people's faith grew. Suddenly I realized that in an atmosphere like that, nothing would be impossible.

When this speaker closed his dynamic teaching, I was called to the pulpit and introduced to the people. At this time I was told I had been allocated two hours to speak. This would be the first of four, two-hour sessions I would be teaching in that meeting.

No sooner had I begun to speak than the presence of the Holy Spirit lifted from the room. All I could hear was my own voice, laboriously speaking. The words of my neatly prepared lesson notes were hollow sounding to say the least.

Now don't misunderstand me. I was delivering powerful information to the people. But there was no real power in the way I was delivering it.

The faces of the congregation were noticeably changed. The look of anticipation they had worn a few moments earlier was now a look of disappointment. Where had the powerful presence of God gone? Where was the spirit of deliverance that had been so evident just a few moments earlier?

I spoke for what seemed to me to have been at least two hours. However, when I looked at my watch, only fifteen minutes had passed! Worse than that, the second hand was still moving. The watch had not stopped running. I still had an unbelievable one hour and forty-five minutes left to speak.

Every cell in my body knew I would never be able to last that long. And even worse, I knew that under no circumstances could my audience last that long.

Finally, when half an hour had passed, I excused myself from the pulpit. I explained that my long journey had left me totally exhausted. I promised I would be back the next day, filled with new energy and the abundant power of the Holy Spirit. When I left the platform, the only sigh of relief that was louder than my own came from the congregation.

Now I had to face the ugly facts. I was out of place among the speakers on the program. They each possessed a power from God that I had never experienced.

Throughout my previous eighteen years of ministry, I had never before been confronted with anything like this. I had always preached and taught with a strong oratory style. I had never before in my life bombed out, but bomb out I did. My teaching was a complete bust.

As I went to my room, the words of my host rang in my ears. I vividly remembered the conversation that had taken place between us just two years earlier. It was at that time that I had asked him to allow me to accompany him to the foreign field to assist with the teaching. His reply had seemed very strange to me.

"John, anyone who goes with me to the foreign field, must have a breakthrough ministry."

I immediately asked, "What is a breakthrough ministry?" He asked one of his associates to explain it to me. This kind brother began to tell me of the absolute necessity for the presence of the Holy Spirit when teaching in third-world nations. He explained that in most of these countries, our sessions would be the only formal training our students would ever receive. Because of this, it would be essential for the Holy Spirit to confirm the things that were taught with signs and wonders. If this didn't happen, my teaching would be of no value to them.

I must confess, at the time I believed both the evangelist and his associate were trying to impress me with their spirituality. I was confident that my great preaching and teaching skills would be just as effective as theirs.

Two years earlier, their words had seemed like an exaggeration. That night as I sat in my dirty room, in a less-than-fine hotel, I understood perfectly what they were trying to tell me.

Here I was in Nigeria with my request answered. I was on the teaching staff with this great evangelist, but I was powerless. We had all preached the gospel that day. They had preached with the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit, while I had only given out Bible information. They had shaken the place with their words. The only thing I had shaken was my confidence.

Needless to say, my first night in Africa was a living hell. Try as I might, I could not fall asleep. I was in a land that was ten time zones earlier than my hometown, but it was not jet lag that was keeping me awake. I could not sleep because my spirit was out of its comfort zone. I knew exactly what the problem was. It was my preaching. It was void of God's power.

That night I repented, I prayed, I tossed and turned, but nothing helped relieve my heart's pain. I prayed for God's power. I prayed I would be miraculously released from the responsibility of teaching the next day. I prayed to go home. I prayed I would disappear. I even foolishly prayed that I would get sick and die.

As the sun began to rise that Wednesday morning, I was aware of my spiritual bankruptcy as never before.

Without exaggeration, I can say the only teaching I have ever done that was worse than my teaching on my first day in Africa was my teaching on the second day. To say it stank would be a compliment.

Although I bombed out a second time, I was aware that something inside of me had changed. I did not leave the platform in despair that second day. I left it with renewed determination. I had an inner conviction that I would have power with God the next time I stepped into that pulpit.

At the close of the session, I went directly from the auditorium to my room. I immediately fell to the dirty floor and began praying with all my might. Again and again I approached God's throne. "Oh, God! Give me a breakthrough ministry! I must have signs and wonders following the words you have given me."