What Does the New Year Hold for You?

We have learned after many years living this life of service to our Lord Jesus not to worry about the new year but to lay our life before the Lord and let Him lead and guide us in the New Year! Only He knows the plans for the year! Each year in our house church we pray and ask the Lord for 'our words for the year' and He will give us a word or phrase that will give encouragement and bring expectation for all the Lord has for us.  This year the Lord gave us 3 words between us.  He gave Charley the words: Restoration and Provision.  Father gave me the words: Restoration and Anticipation.  That was so amazing that personally without a word to each other, Father gave us the word Restoration. Now we have no idea how that will manifest in our lives this new year but it excites us greatly to think all the ways that restoration can take place.  So below are my notes from studying what these words mean. I pray my study will encourage and bless you. 

Restoration: Refurbishment, Renovation, Renewal  – Joel 2:25-27

^25-27    The LORD says, “I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts. ^£It was I who sent this great destroying army against you.  Once again you will have all the food you want,

        and you will praise the LORD your God, who does these miracles for you. Never again will my people be disgraced. Then you will know that I am among my people of Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and there is no other. Never again will my people be disgraced.

Provision:  Delivery, Endowment, Establishment – Philippians 4:19

¹⁹For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance. 

Anticipation: Hope, Expectation, Eagerness, Looking Forward

 1 Cor. 3:11 ¹¹For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 

Romans 3:21-23  ²¹But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses^£ and the prophets long ago. ²²We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.²³For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 

Charley's favorite song is below! Let the words bless and touch your heart and life! 

My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less
By: Edward Mote

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteous;
No merit of my own I claim
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace;
In every high and story gale
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, his covenant, his blood
Sustain me in the raging flood;
When all supports are washed away,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in him be found,
Clothed in his righteousness alone,
Redeemed to stand before the throne!
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Hymn # 368 from Lutheran Worship
Author: John Stainer
Tune: Magdalen
1^st Published in: 1836

Whom Will You Serve?

  I am in a season now where Father’s promises are being fulfilled that He spoke to us many years ago.  We have encouraged each other to trust the Lord with all our heart and to walk in His ways daily being a testimony of His truths and His faithfulness.  No matter what is happening in our lives, He is Lord! His truth never fails, His Word never fails, His love is unconditional and His peace passes understanding.  During our last trip, I knew I was a bit anxious to be traveling again.  We had not traveled since last fall.  During May the weather is a bit unpredictable especially in Colorado.  I remember many times arriving at our destination on dry roads in the mountains and waking the next morning with 4 inches of snow on the ground and the most beautiful pristine world to see and enjoy! Well, this time it didn’t happen quite like that but we did have 2 blizzards while there. In one day the weather changed 4 times!! Amazing!! BUT GOD!! 

  We saw a miracle take place (we see them daily) and this one was unmistakable.  On our way out of the mountains we had a 10 foot long about 30 foot wide patch of MUD across the road that we had to cross.  Charley stopped the car, assessed the situation, ask Father for help, hit the gas and we flew across the mud WITHOUT sinking in a hole. It was as if there were two LONG boards across the mud pit and we drove across on the boards.  Well, Jesus walked on water and so did Peter.  We didn’t look at the pit but we said, Jesus HELP and HE DID!! That is the only explanation for us making it in our mountain goat car over the mud pit. Later we heard that the mud pit was knee deep and two cars got stuck in it. BUT GOD!! We rejoiced the whole way down the remainder of the road.  And that is just one miracle! We saw many lives impacted by Jesus on our 3 week journey.

  Our God is so faithful!! He knows the needs better than we do and all we do is say, Help us Lord as we make ourselves available to Him for His Kingdom Work.  We are no different than you!  When Jesus is your Savior, the Holy Spirit resides in you; He will use you too for His honor and glory!! Surrender your lives today to the amazing Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior of the World. People are dying around the world because they will not renounce Jesus as Lord.  What would you do if confronted with death if you didn’t renounce Jesus?  Believe me I have thought a lot about this!  I choose this day to serve the Lord Jesus and just as the 3 Hebrew children said when confronted with the fiery furnace: “Shadrach, Meshach, and AbedNego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-18  “AND Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, did we not cast 3 men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said to the king, True, O king. Look! He answered, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Daniel 3:24-25 

Mentoring by Example

This week we had an awesome opportunity to share on radio about the ministry and our walk with Jesus.  We were asked to share how the Lord uses us to touch people’s lives in our day to day walk.  We shared about ministering to pastors, leaders and missionaries as we encourage, love and bless them. Then we shared about going to the restaurant, store and gas station. We didn’t talk about church or evangelism or preaching but about the people we meet daily in various walks of life. I have to say we enjoyed it immensely.  What was so special was being able to share open and free what the Lord is doing each day through our speech and attitude.

In my last blog I spoke about the persecution that has come upon many Christians around the world.  The persecution continues.  What people do not hear though is how the Kingdom of God is flourishing IN THE MIDST of persecution. Read the Word of God, this has happened all through history.  God’s Word is truth and it prevails though all hell breaks loose, God is still on His throne and His Kingdom knows no end.  For years we have sung the song, One Day at a Time sweet Jesus that’s all I’m asking of you!!  We have prayer time each morning and we do not have a list written down of the folks we pray for but we do have it in our mind as Father gives it to us.  We always pray for our children and grandchildren and then Father gives us people to daily speak their name into His presence. We pray Proverbs 3:5-6, the Prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10) and the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) also. Our hearts are so full as we speak their names and release them into Father’s hands. We KNOW that He hears, He answers, He knows their needs and He knows His perfect will for them.  Then in the evenings we have a written prayer list of over 3000 that we do the same way.  Father knows the intricate details of their lives.

In these days, Father is digging us deeper into prayer and the desire of our heart is to see all believers be people of prayer. It is not about going to church  and hearing people pray, but it is about being people of prayer every moment of the day all week long.  I can’t emphasize this part of our faith walk enough.  Do you believe prayer works? Do you know that our Father hears and He answers?  Oh dear saints of God, focus your eyes on Jesus.  Let this be your lifestyle from this day forward.  Be the CHURCH, BE the PEOPLE OF GOD; mentor others by example. Let the Fruit of the Spirit operate in your life and flow out to everyone you meet. They will KNOW we are Christians by our love! Let it be so!    Galatians 5:22-25: But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” NLT