promise of signs and wonders
On the 13th day of the fast on May 21st. Bob Jones told Mike the Lord had assigned Psalm 28 to the Body and asked him to read it. But Mike forgot to look up the Psalm until the next night at 11:15 p.m. At that time while everyone else was praying, he looked up Psalm 28. As he started to read and pray the first sentence of the Psalm, “To you I will cry, O Lord my Rock, do not be silent toward me, so that I join those who down go down to the pit.” Suddenly the Holy Spirit of God suddenly and powerfully fell on Mike and Mike began to travail in the Spirit over this verse. He went from the place of barrenness to a deep groan for the lost and this all happened in the space of three seconds! Then the power of God fell on his hands, so it felt like they were on fire. He was kneeling down with his face buried in a pillow muffling the sounds of his groaning. He wept intensely and was unexpectedly experiencing what he had come to know as “God breathed intercessory travail.” He could feel the power of God moving upward through his body, all the while, burning. The Spirit rested on his lips, again with a strong burning sensation for five to ten minutes. He tried to read verse two of the Psalm and it came again! It lasted five to six minutes before it lifted enough to allow him to read the next verse, when the whole process started over. The power of God rushed down into his stomach once again and then back up to his mouth. It did this at least three more times. This cycle continued until the Spirit lifted, at midnight at the conclusion of the prayer meeting for the day. Mike knew that what he had just received was a healing anointing. Mike was very excited, while everybody else, like Bob Schuchardt, was there just trying to make it through another day of fasting.
That night, Mike had a dream that he felt lead him to believe that the experience was from God. In the dream he and Diane were in a giant banquet hall that was filled with thousands of people who were celebrating the Lord’s presence with joy and dancing. The place was filled with every imaginable kind of food and colorful banners hung from the ceiling and on the walls. The music was overwhelming, and the atmosphere was heavy with faith and expectation. Mike recalls being stunned by it all. Suddenly a prominent healing evangelist approached Mike and said, “The Lord has anointed you for healing, hasn't he?” “As a matter of fact, I think he has,” Mike replied. The man then did something strange. In what was obviously a competitive spirit, he handed Mike a pair of dice and said, “OK Let’s see where you come out.” On three consecutive rolls, the dice turned up 5–6 for Mike. “Well, I guess you win,” said the evangelist. He then acknowledged to Mike that the healing anointing on this new movement would surpass that of the stream of ministry in which he himself moved. The dream ended when the alarm went off. It was 5:30 a.m.
Mike was very anxious to see Bob Jones the next day to see if the Lord would confirm this prophetically though him. The prayer meeting started at 6 am. It was a Sunday morning, and the Lord had impressed on Mike’s heart to preach from Matthew 10:8, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you received, freely give.” He also gave him 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…” concerning His grace. Mike prayed that the Lord would also prophetically confirm the experience from the previous night he was anxious to see Bob.
Finally, at 8:00 a.m. Bob Jones walked in. When Bob came in, he gave Mike the thumbs up signal and motioned for Mike to meet him in his office. Mike quickly went in to meet him and at first Mike tried to be poker faced with Bob, to avoid hinting that the Lord had touched him.
Bob started to kid around with Mike but eventually got to the point without Mike sharing anything at first. He said to Mike, “The Lord told me to extend my fingers and say the number 5: Grace be unto you!” Needless to say, he had Mike's attention; for the number 5 is the number meaning of grace in the Bible. That is precisely the message the Lord had given him in his dream that last night, that he had not told Bob Jones about yet. 1 Corinthians 15:10. Then Bob continued, “The Lord also told me to speak to you the promise of Matthew 10:8 (which Bob proceeded to quote from memory). Bob then said to Mike, “I saw the Lord last night taking off a sash and putting it on you.” The sash said, “Jehovah Raphe, the Lord that healeth thee.”Bob continued to say “that in the days ahead God would raise up an anointing from among the church in Kansas City for evangelists to come forth. The power of God would rest on these evangelists so that in some of the meetings in which they were preaching, literally tens of thousands of people would be healed instantaneously. The glory of the Lord would appear to instantly putting new limbs on people, give sight to the blind and even give eyes to those who had no eyes. Bob prophesied that no disease or impairment known to man will be able to stand when the power of God is upon this people.”
This was totally exciting, but Mike tried to temper it with a bit of reality. He realized that he was a representative of the Body of believers that God was going to touch and that the promises weren’t just for SKCF, but others to in Kansas City. Bob also issued a warning that it could be lost if we fell into malpractice and Mike took it to heart. And that they wouldn’t follow the gold (greed), the glory (pride), and the girls (lust/immorality). As if that weren't enough, Bob then proceeded to tell Mike the very dream about the dice that Mike had, without Mike first telling the dream to Bob—OMG, THIS IS LIKE THE BOOK OF DANIEL! Bob also interpreted its prophetic symbolism based on the concept that 5 is the biblical number for grace and 6 for man. “5–6, 5–6, 5–6. Grace to man. Grace to man. Grace to man.” Bob then said, “That the Lord told him there would be no movement that will be superior to the healing power that comes forth from this movement.”
The Lord told Bob Jones that there would be some tokens of healing that day, and as promised, and after the message was given and during the altar call several people fell powerfully under the power of the Holy Spirit when they received prayer. A few people were healed of sicknesses that morning. Also, when Mike prayed for Jane Joseph, Jane saw, with her eyes open, lightning bolts come out of Mike’s hands striking her in the chest and she was thrown back around four to five feet along with a guy behind her. Both landed on the floor and knocked many orange chairs out of their way. Jane got up and was powerfully delivered at this time from her severe chain-smoking habit of three packs of cigarettes that plagued her for many years. This began a remarkable three-month period of time in the Holy Spirit for her, where it was as if she felt she was in Heaven. The Holy Spirit was strong upon her. For Jane, revival was here.
Jane, who didn’t know anyone at SKCF at this time thought this kind of blessing must have been happening to everyone. The promise of revival had come, everyone was surely touched, but that was not the case. The presence of God was manifesting in her house. She could literally see the presence of God raining in her dining room. The Holy Spirit was thick upon her. She discovered through different experiences that her words had a much greater value and power than they had before she had this experience.
Later in May, toward the end of the Solemn Assembly, Mike went to a city-wide pastor’s conference. He went there in his blue jean jacket while other pastors and senior men of God including those in denominations, came up to him. Instead of expressing anger, they extended love and friendship to him. There was a spirit of unity, and they lovingly expressed to Mike that they were willing to believe that God wanted to bring revival to the city. Mike credited prayer for bringing about this spirit of unity at that meeting.