BEAUTIFUL FEET

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  Romans 10:14-15 NIV

I am so proud of my daughter.  Recently she witnessed to someone who had been resisting God.  She just point black said something to the effect of, the things of this world are irrelevant if you don’t know Jesus.  Without Jesus we are under the wrath, because of OUR sin.  And without salvation from Jesus, we will go the hell.  WOW.  The simple truth.  So powerful.

She has beautiful feet.

Wanted: Worm Work

“Praying is worm-work. You can’t see worms doing their work. But without them you couldn’t plow the field. The soil would be as hard as concrete. And if you can’t plow, you can’t plant. If you can’t plant, no seed can grow. There will be no fruit and no harvest.”  Barb Beck

FASTING

I recently completed a 21-day Daniel Fast.  I had been doing some online bible studies with True Identity Ministries and was challenged by founder Juseina Brownlee to join her and others on this fast.   I’m telling you, I was so scared.  I really didn’t believe I’d be able to make it for 21 days, with no coffee, no sugar, no processed foods, and yes I’ll be honest, no glass (or two) of wine, when feeling stressed out.  But I did it!  No, I take that back, GOD did it!  It was so incredible, the strength God gave me during this time.  He gave me desire to actually WANT to find recipes that were filling and delicious and ‘daniel fast’ friendly!

But the thing I want to testify to is the power of this fast!  Before I began the fast I was asked to write down my primary motivation for fasting.  I knew it was to intercede for people in my life who did not know Jesus.  I have loved ones who aren’t saved.  I also have a job where a day doesn’t go by that I pass the path of a teenager who is living in darkness.  (I work as a drug and alcohol counselor and my primary workload is with incarcerated teens.)  My heart has been so heavily burdened for these young people, not to mention my own loved ones.  I was also motivated to fast for a specific person, who was struggling with an alcohol addiction and whose marriage was failing.

The day I completed the fast, I was asked by a co-worker to do her three-hour class with a group of 5 teenage girls who were receiving Intensive Outpatient treatment for drug, alcohol and other chemical abuse.  My co-worker said she was scheduled to do some ‘packet work’ and I could find the material in her drawer.  Guess what the lesson was?  Step 3 of AA – “made a decision to turn my life and will over to God as I understood Him.”  WOW!  For the next three hours I was blessed to share not only my own story with these girls, but to help them process who God is for them.  I shared a modern day clip of the prodigal son story from the bible.  At the end of the class, one of the girls came up to me and said, “something happened today…. I don’t know what.  But would you be able to get me a 12 step book  from AA?”  To further validate that God had worked in this girls heart, the next day, my co-worker asked me, “what happened with ________?!?!!  …. Before today she had always been so angry and rebellious in class.  Today she wrote me an letter, apologizing for her behavior.  She said she wanted her life to change, and she wanted God to help her.”  !!!!!!!!  WOW

Then another miracle happened!  This week I received a phone call from the person mentioned above, with the alcohol addiction and failing marriage.  He said he needed to talk to me, NOW!!!  He sounded desperate.  When I arrived at his home, he was weeping.  He said he felt horrible and he didn’t know what to do.  He was overwhelmed with grief and guilt and shame.  He said his eyes were ‘opened’ and he saw what he has done to his wife, his family and his life in general.  He kept saying how sorry he was.  We talked for quite awhile, and when I said, “…you don’t KNOW how many people have been praying for you!”, he answered, “How about if I pray now, and then you and ______(his wife) can pray for me?”  I couldn’t believe my ears!  I stammered out, “…what????” and then he repeated it!  Then he prayed.  It was the most beautiful prayer I think I’ve ever heard.  He asked God to come into his life.  He told God how desperately he wants to find Him and to have a relationship with Him.  He told God he was sorry.  WOW.  wow,wow,wow.  This was the very same person who had rejected having a relationship with God for so long!

So yes!  I believe in the power of Biblical fasts!

I also learned about myself through this fast.  I learned how I was turning to food, (and yes, to that glass or two of wine) for comfort, instead of turning to God.  Fasting breaks my enslavement to food.  I learned that by fasting I am not deprived, but instead am EMPOWERED!  Empowered by the Holy Spirit!

Thank you Abba God, for your great love.  BY YOUR MERCY, please continue to bring the lost ones into your fold.  Because YOU deserve it God, you DESERVE trillions upon trillions upon trillions of your saved ones, in your presence, praising you for your unfailing love and mercy and kindness!  All blessing and honor and glory and power, to You, Oh God!    Blessing and Honor and Power and Glory

 

 

 

PRAYER

I heard a great message from John Piper this morning.  PRAYER MOVES GOD TO CHANGE PEOPLE’S WILLS.  I never thought of it that way before.  I never realized that as we are praying for situations and/or people, God is hearing and working through circumstances that we often don’t see or understand.  Here is a story of the apostle Paul, where first we seeing him asking for prayer:

Romans 15:30–31

Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints.

Paul is asking his friends to pray with him…. to ‘strive with him in prayer’…. that he may be delivered from his enemies in Jerusalem (he’s going there on a ‘mission trip’).  When he gets there, (Acts 21:30) he encounters a mob.  The people are rushing to kill Paul.  Verse 31 says they are ‘trying’ to kill him.  But they’re not succeeding.  WHY?  God has moved.  Maybe they’re trying to stone Paul, and the rocks they are throwing are going off course (by the hand of God!).  Then a ‘report’ gets to a Roman Commander.  HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?  Someone was moved by God to leave the mob and go report it!  The Commander actually listens to this person, whoever he or she was!  Then the Commander was moved to gather some soldiers and go there!  WHY?  Why would the Commander care about getting involved in a Jewish squabble?  GOD MOVED HIM TO DO IT!  Then when the Commander and the soldiers arrive, the mob stops beating Paul!  HOW WAS THAT?  Don’t mobs usually get MORE violent when they see police?  Again, we see God moving!

Than, later, in Acts 23:13, we see more of this amazing working of God.  Paul had been taken into custody.  But there were more than 40 people vowing to kill Paul.  They had made a plan.  Paul’s nephew overhead them plotting.  So he goes into the prison and tells Paul.  WAS THIS YOUNG MAN SCARED?  I’m guessing he was.  I would be, ‘ratting on’ these violent, angry people out to kill Paul.  But God moved in him and gave him courage.  Then more amazing chain of events:  Paul asked the centurion at the jail to take his nephew to the Commander.  The centurion agrees!!!  Then the Commander agrees to listen to this young man!  AMAZING!  I’m sure he could have easily not given him the time of day.  BUT GOD WAS WORKING TO CHANGE HIS WILL TOWARDS THIS YOUNG MAN!  And then, after he listened to this wild story, he believed it and put his own reputation on the line by gathering 200 soldiers with 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen!!!!!

WOW.  And Paul’s ministry continues.

I recently experienced a great move of God.  I witnessed a loved one whose will was suddenly turned to God, after years of rebellion and rejection.  It was amazing.  There had been so many prayers over the years and it was so awesome to see this answer to prayer.  But there have been other times when it didn’t seem like my prayers were being answered.  But this message from John Piper helps me understand that God is sovereign, that how He works things out is HIS business.  I’m sure when that mob was attacking Paul, and trying to kill him, that he – Paul – didn’t feel like God had answered his prayer either.

Prayer is so important…. prayer is our only hope in our world…… So yes.  Let us pray.

(to hear John Piper’s message, go to  http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/prayer-changes-peoples-wills)