P-ray they will love Jesus with all their heart, soul, mind and strength (Mt. 22:37)
R-equest of God that they will grow deeper, wider, longer and higher into the love God has for them (Eph. 3:18-19)
A-sk God to show them why He made them (Rom. 12:4-8)
Y-earn of God for your child to learn to hear and obey God's voice (John 10:27-28)
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Where Are The Prophets?
I don't mean those who can foretell the future...I mean men and women of God who have a NOW Word from God for the wayward church of today. A.W. Tozer often said we need prophets in pulpit, not promoters! If you listen today they are hard to find. Men of old...men sent from God (like John the Baptist) came with a Word of truth in love for the body. Oh how the church of today needs men and women who love enough to tell the truth. I don't think it's a matter of when there will be a great falling away, I believe the church in America is currently in the backsliden state desperately in need of men and women of God who have met with God and have a Bible based remedy for our current cancer of self-focused religion.
Pray...it's so easy to fall into pride at this point. That's enemy #1. We must know that judgment begins with the house of God...and God is currently exposing our darkness in order to send us out as lights in a dark world. What can we do if the light has turned to darkness?
Pray...I believe the true church's best days lie ahead...even in the midst of great persecution that is coming soon. The last days church will rise up in the Spirit's power in the midst of great opposition. Great ready, it's here. But our greatest worry is not the oppositon, but self-focused religion where satan comes as an angel of light to deceive even the elect if that were possible.
Pray...We must once again see that our relationship with Jesus is first and foremost. The church must again pursue with reckless abondon the first and greatest commandment of LOVING GOD WITH ALL OUR HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH. This is the only remedy to the grave danger facing us. It's not a new program we need, but a new passion for God alone!
Pray...the devil is raging for he knows his time is short (see Rev. 12) and we overcome him in the same simple way that all saints have and will--by the blood of the Lamb, by the Word of our testimony and by not loving our lives even to shrink back from death. These are exciting days. Ask God to overwhelm you with Himself and to send you out with fire in your bones!
Pray...it's so easy to fall into pride at this point. That's enemy #1. We must know that judgment begins with the house of God...and God is currently exposing our darkness in order to send us out as lights in a dark world. What can we do if the light has turned to darkness?
Pray...I believe the true church's best days lie ahead...even in the midst of great persecution that is coming soon. The last days church will rise up in the Spirit's power in the midst of great opposition. Great ready, it's here. But our greatest worry is not the oppositon, but self-focused religion where satan comes as an angel of light to deceive even the elect if that were possible.
Pray...We must once again see that our relationship with Jesus is first and foremost. The church must again pursue with reckless abondon the first and greatest commandment of LOVING GOD WITH ALL OUR HEART, SOUL, MIND AND STRENGTH. This is the only remedy to the grave danger facing us. It's not a new program we need, but a new passion for God alone!
Pray...the devil is raging for he knows his time is short (see Rev. 12) and we overcome him in the same simple way that all saints have and will--by the blood of the Lamb, by the Word of our testimony and by not loving our lives even to shrink back from death. These are exciting days. Ask God to overwhelm you with Himself and to send you out with fire in your bones!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
A Great Thought and An Amazing Adventure
A GREAT THOUGHT
We just finished an incredible Unceasing Prayer (see www.austinprays.org for more info) luncheon where over 50 prayer leaders, pastors and pro-life workers gathered from 30 different churches! We were so blessed and challenged. I highlighted how the call to LOVE GOD WITH ALL OUR HEARTS, SOULS, MINDS AND STRENGTH through the prayer movement had mobilized us to LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELF through justice ministries (more specifically pro-life causes). Following the lunch I receive several encouraging e-mails, and one that spurred a great thought. Thomas Cogdale, from Austin House of Prayer, asked me what I thought about referring to justice type ministries as 2nd commandment ministries. What a great idea because it roots these “justice” ministries into the two great commandments and frames them in the command to love. I love it!
AN AMAZING ADVERTURE
Last night 19 of us (mainly the 20’s home group along with Ellen Wilkosz) wore crazy and ugly orange t-shirts that say PRAYER TEAM on them and walked 6th Street (yes the party capital of Austin) from 10:30pm till after 1am. What is most exciting about this wild ministry is you don’t have to make anything happen. God makes things happen. You simply walk down the street praying and worshiping and God opens doors for ministry. This is the 2nd commandment that flows out of the first commandment. Every Friday that we go to 6th Street we spend a few hours before in prayer at the NWF prayer room and then at Austin House of Prayer. The first commandment is first but always leads to the great adventure of the 2nd commandment. In the body of Christ throughout out our nation we have many folks who want to be missionaries. One key piece of advice—before you go on missions begin living as a missionary in your home town. If not, there’s no reason to go. Start at home. If you are a member of Northwest Fellowship, begin on 6th Street, feeding the homeless, praying in front of the abortion clinic or get involved in the host of other opportunities to do missions right here!
We just finished an incredible Unceasing Prayer (see www.austinprays.org for more info) luncheon where over 50 prayer leaders, pastors and pro-life workers gathered from 30 different churches! We were so blessed and challenged. I highlighted how the call to LOVE GOD WITH ALL OUR HEARTS, SOULS, MINDS AND STRENGTH through the prayer movement had mobilized us to LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELF through justice ministries (more specifically pro-life causes). Following the lunch I receive several encouraging e-mails, and one that spurred a great thought. Thomas Cogdale, from Austin House of Prayer, asked me what I thought about referring to justice type ministries as 2nd commandment ministries. What a great idea because it roots these “justice” ministries into the two great commandments and frames them in the command to love. I love it!
AN AMAZING ADVERTURE
Last night 19 of us (mainly the 20’s home group along with Ellen Wilkosz) wore crazy and ugly orange t-shirts that say PRAYER TEAM on them and walked 6th Street (yes the party capital of Austin) from 10:30pm till after 1am. What is most exciting about this wild ministry is you don’t have to make anything happen. God makes things happen. You simply walk down the street praying and worshiping and God opens doors for ministry. This is the 2nd commandment that flows out of the first commandment. Every Friday that we go to 6th Street we spend a few hours before in prayer at the NWF prayer room and then at Austin House of Prayer. The first commandment is first but always leads to the great adventure of the 2nd commandment. In the body of Christ throughout out our nation we have many folks who want to be missionaries. One key piece of advice—before you go on missions begin living as a missionary in your home town. If not, there’s no reason to go. Start at home. If you are a member of Northwest Fellowship, begin on 6th Street, feeding the homeless, praying in front of the abortion clinic or get involved in the host of other opportunities to do missions right here!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Testimonies from Haiti
Have you heard some of the positives in the midst of the great suffering in Haiti?
Here's some things I've heard from various ministries...
*If you drive around Port au Prince and stop your car and roll down your window, you can hear worship rising to Jesus throughout the city!
*This time of year Haiti normally celebrates "Carnival", a three day Mardi Gras type event. This year it was replaced with 3 days of prayer and fasting!
*This past week over 10,000 people showed up for a prayer meeting and it lasted for hours and hours...600 unbelievers became believers at this event.
*And I'm sure you heard about the man who was trapped under wreckage for 27 days and was miraculously rescued! What you didn't hear on our news was what he said when they asked him how he survived. He said the "man in the white robe" brought me water everyday! When asked who that was, HE HAD NO IDEA!!!
Believers...pray that the gospel is preached, received and takes deep root in the hearts of the Haitians!
Pray for the workers who are serving the injured and the hurting...for God's grace to empower them with miraculous provisions to love, heal and share Jesus.
Ask Father to multiply the supplies as He did when Jesus fed the 4000 and the 5000 in the Bible!
Here's some things I've heard from various ministries...
*If you drive around Port au Prince and stop your car and roll down your window, you can hear worship rising to Jesus throughout the city!
*This time of year Haiti normally celebrates "Carnival", a three day Mardi Gras type event. This year it was replaced with 3 days of prayer and fasting!
*This past week over 10,000 people showed up for a prayer meeting and it lasted for hours and hours...600 unbelievers became believers at this event.
*And I'm sure you heard about the man who was trapped under wreckage for 27 days and was miraculously rescued! What you didn't hear on our news was what he said when they asked him how he survived. He said the "man in the white robe" brought me water everyday! When asked who that was, HE HAD NO IDEA!!!
Believers...pray that the gospel is preached, received and takes deep root in the hearts of the Haitians!
Pray for the workers who are serving the injured and the hurting...for God's grace to empower them with miraculous provisions to love, heal and share Jesus.
Ask Father to multiply the supplies as He did when Jesus fed the 4000 and the 5000 in the Bible!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Can You Imagine
Today...somewhere between being asleep and awake these words rushed clearly into my mind--"HE BREAKS THE POWER OF CANCELED SIN." It was a liberating feeling...unbelievable. Can you imagine if every believer lived AS FREE AS JESUS DIED TO MAKE US? Can you imagine if we all lived with NO LINGERING AFFECTS OF CANCELED AND FORGIVEN SIN?
Then I googled "breaks the power of canceled sin" and the first entry of 844,000 that came up was a blog by a lady named Bonnie B. who on April 2, 2009 had the same thing happen to her right when she awoke!!! Like her I had to google the song...which was written by Charles Wesley...
He breaks the power of canceled sin
He sets the prisoners free
His blood can make the foulest clean
His blood availed for me
Then I googled "breaks the power of canceled sin" and the first entry of 844,000 that came up was a blog by a lady named Bonnie B. who on April 2, 2009 had the same thing happen to her right when she awoke!!! Like her I had to google the song...which was written by Charles Wesley...
He breaks the power of canceled sin
He sets the prisoners free
His blood can make the foulest clean
His blood availed for me
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Day 106
6 months...that’s what the Doctor said...we had only a few months left with mom. All of us shocked...but the realism of a short window of time was upon us. Lunch at Fuddruckers...normal, but not. We all knew we had entered the final frontier on this earth with mom. I remember mom saying, “That means I won’t make Christmas.” She didn’t...at least not on earth. In fact mom went to heaven 3 months before the doctor projected, but not one moment before God had planned. Painful...and gracious. Sad...but better. Miss her...but all is well with mom.
Yesterday...I got another letter from a woman who mom’s love and life had forever transformed. “She’s the greatest woman I’ve ever known” was what she said about mom. Great words for a humble housewife who lived in the same house for 31 years, never finished college and who lived a very simple life. Simple but not simplistic. There is a huge difference. The power of mom’s life is found in what she did daily. Time with Jesus...day after day...book after book...study after study...prayer after prayer. No one watched...only Jesus. Mom’s time with Jesus enabled her to love like no one you’ve ever met. Daily she loved...dad...us...friends...strangers...new friends...young...old...rich...poor. A life of pursuing simply Jesus...a life of simple love overflowing.
106 days...That’s how long mom has been enjoying the jaw dropping beauty of Jesus and heaven itself. When you lose someone, you so miss them that you try to remember them the way they were and how they are now. I have so many beautiful pictures of mom in my mind...but to imagine who she is now is even more satisfying. The Bible says that no one has ever come close to imagining what we will be when we see Jesus face to face (see 1 John 3). Mom is now enjoying that privilege...one that she sought each morning in her time with the Lord...now that which she sought her entire adult life is her daily joy—seeing...loving...experiencing JESUS.
Forever...Enjoy it mom...I know it gets better every day...And remember we miss you now more than ever!
Yesterday...I got another letter from a woman who mom’s love and life had forever transformed. “She’s the greatest woman I’ve ever known” was what she said about mom. Great words for a humble housewife who lived in the same house for 31 years, never finished college and who lived a very simple life. Simple but not simplistic. There is a huge difference. The power of mom’s life is found in what she did daily. Time with Jesus...day after day...book after book...study after study...prayer after prayer. No one watched...only Jesus. Mom’s time with Jesus enabled her to love like no one you’ve ever met. Daily she loved...dad...us...friends...strangers...new friends...young...old...rich...poor. A life of pursuing simply Jesus...a life of simple love overflowing.
106 days...That’s how long mom has been enjoying the jaw dropping beauty of Jesus and heaven itself. When you lose someone, you so miss them that you try to remember them the way they were and how they are now. I have so many beautiful pictures of mom in my mind...but to imagine who she is now is even more satisfying. The Bible says that no one has ever come close to imagining what we will be when we see Jesus face to face (see 1 John 3). Mom is now enjoying that privilege...one that she sought each morning in her time with the Lord...now that which she sought her entire adult life is her daily joy—seeing...loving...experiencing JESUS.
Forever...Enjoy it mom...I know it gets better every day...And remember we miss you now more than ever!
Think On These Things
Paul tells his son in the Lord, Timothy, to "think on these things" and the Lord will give you revelation! My favorite "dead saintly mentor"--A.W. Tozer--said believers should think twice as much as we read. Why? If we don't, we will become passive readers who simply "read books" or even "enjoy reading" with little to no life change or growth. God's ideas (His Word) embraced transform us!!!
What was Paul talking about in 2 Tim. 2:7 when he said, "think on these things"? Paul had just finished talking about growing stronger in Jesus and making disciples when he gave three illustrations: one on suffering soldiers, another on integrity filled athletes and the final one on rewarded farmers (see 2 Tim. 2:3-6).
We "share in sufferings as good soldiers"; we are athletes who "compete according to the rules"; we are "hard-working farmers who have first share of the crop." As you suffer do not despair...you are a soldier and all soldiers suffer. As you refuse to cut corners do not be proud...you are an athlete and we all compete within the rules. As you are rewarded do not refuse the blessings...you are a farmer reaping the fruit of your labor.
Think on these things.
What was Paul talking about in 2 Tim. 2:7 when he said, "think on these things"? Paul had just finished talking about growing stronger in Jesus and making disciples when he gave three illustrations: one on suffering soldiers, another on integrity filled athletes and the final one on rewarded farmers (see 2 Tim. 2:3-6).
We "share in sufferings as good soldiers"; we are athletes who "compete according to the rules"; we are "hard-working farmers who have first share of the crop." As you suffer do not despair...you are a soldier and all soldiers suffer. As you refuse to cut corners do not be proud...you are an athlete and we all compete within the rules. As you are rewarded do not refuse the blessings...you are a farmer reaping the fruit of your labor.
Think on these things.
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