In the book of Colossians Chapter 1, verses 9-12 we read: For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
God adores you and and wants to spend ETERNITY with you.
This is my prayer for you today. That you receive all that God has for you. He loves you and wants what is best. May the healing touch, of the Master, fill you a new, with physical and emotional healing, with physical strength; that your relationships be restored as well as your finances. May you feel a peace that passes all understanding and be enriched with an everlasting joy. Give thanks today, count your blessings and say YES to the One who loves you above all, Jesus Christ!
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26
When I read this passage, the word of God humbles my heart, because it helps me to realize that I am experiencing first hand the goodness of God, through His people.
Nick and I do not own a house, do not have a car, we had an RV that allowed us to go from here to Oklahoma and meet really good people and learned the good things they are doing for the kingdom of God. At the same time we met other people who needed some one to talk to and they needed to be heard.
As we read again what Matthew wrote in scripture: "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?-- His words put a new perspective in my heart. God values each one of us. God really, really, really values us... yes, you and me! We just need to recognize it and accept the fact that we mean something good to Him, we are His creation and that is the reason why He sent His Son Jesus.
Often times, we have listened to the wrong voice. Just the way Adam and Eve did in the garden. We need to learn more about what the Word of God says about His love for us. He wants the best for His children.
There are many things in this world that I do not understand. However, what I know is... that since 2001 when we publicly acknowledged God, we have been blessed. We have had our ups and downs, but God has not turned away from us. Usually we are the ones that move away from Him.
In the last 8 years that we have been serving God full time we have done 2 walks across America for Christ. This is our third. We have had 4 RVs donated to our ministry to be able to accomplish these walks. God has touched people because we have been working on being obedient.
He sent us to Japan to touch the life of a young person... a little person, so he could get the medical attention he needed for his back.
We were able to go to the Holy Land and Nick baptized about 25 people or so in the Jordan River, we also did the 3 Biblical presentations and people were touched because of the power of the Holy Spirit.
I am not sharing this to show you how lucky we are or to say we are world travelers. Most of the time, we do not know what we are doing or where we are going...we just rely on His direction and love. At times it feels scary because sometimes we want to take control. Sometimes we try to get ahead of God.
You may say....but you have nothing! Yes, you are right, we have nothing physical, but God is giving us what we need. He has provided all our needs and many of our wants too! He is a loving Father.
We also read in Scripture: If you, then, though you are evil,knowhowtogivegoodgifts to your children,howmuch more will your Father in heavengivegoodgifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11 What He has done for us, He will do for you. God does not have favorites. He loves you as He loves us. Don't be afraid to ask Him for what you want. Present your dreams to Him. Believe and do not doubt in your heart and He will do it for you! Give your heart to Him today, do not delay and begin to acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will direct your path.
No matter how bad we want to get back on the road it seems that we need to wait for the Lord to give us the ok. As we wait for God's marvelous timing we need to develop some patience. We need to learn that at times it is not in our best interest to move ahead, because He may be keeping us out of trouble.
Other times as we wait upon Him and His marvelous works, we also learn that we can wait upon the Lord with praises, thanksgiving and we can offer Him our worship for His wonderful acts of protection, deliverance, guidance, love, grace, peace, and the life that He has given us. Therefore let us not forget to "wait" upon the Lord with our song and our heart filled with gratitude.
He has our best interest at hand, He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is the one that desires to have our Love given back to Him. He desires for us to look into His loving eyes and see that all that He has done is out of love. So today, we bow down to worship His Holy name, the name of Yahweh!
Last night we attended our prayer meeting at Southwest Community Church. As I was praying I remembered a casual comment someone made last week regarding our situation (Nick and I being homeless) I said to myself, "That thought had never entered my mind before." I always have been feeling totally blessed. In fact, I feel like Nick and I have many mansions because of the hospitality and the love you have been pouring on us all across America. Just like the song says, "...and crowned thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea."
Since we stated these journeys in 2001, we have had challenging times, but I have had the tendency of always looking at every situation as a way to bless God and as a blessing from Him. No matter what I have or what I have lacked, my focus has always been the goodness of God and Jesus Christ over my life.
In Scripture we read: I have learned the secret of being contentin any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Phil 4:12 -- I have never been hungry. God has always put people like You in my path to give me love and to embrace me. Yes, I have been frustrated, afraid, concerned ...you name it. However, God always sees me through every problem...and why? It is not luck, because luck runs out but the blessings of God never stop flowing! CHRIST is the Solution to every problem, challenge and situation; Jesus is the Answer to every question!
Every day is a new blessing! We open our eyes to new opportunities to bless others. We can bless people with a hug, with a smile, with an encourageing word.
We need to get out of focusing on ourselves. If we look at the news it seems that this world is getting a bit crazy. But the American people we see are good people; loving, kind and looking for each other. Those are the people that do not get any air time on CNN or any other national network. Look around you and see the blessings of God, feel His love and move closer to Him. Go back to your first love, (painting, singing, cooking, reading to someone else, preaching, teaching, playing an instrument, hugging someone, listening). There is so much good we can do. We need each other. We need God and God desires for us to be who He created us to be.
Jesus gave His all for love! He wants us to give Him all we are. My friend Don Knepp is getting ready to run in the Kansas City Marathon Saturday. On his shirt, it says "Need Prayer? Ask me!" He's doing what he loves and at the same time making himself available before, during and after the race to bless people for God. That's all God wants from us; do what we love and be available to be a blessing.
The past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of blessing. The Body of Christ is building the muscle of faith in our heart and... our church has come together to get a new RV for our mission trip across America.
All of YOU have have been a part of it. You have kept us in your prayer, you have send your monthly donation, you have cooked for the people who have been investing their time with repairs and upgrading the RV for our comfort. Wow!!!!
Last week we arrived in the Tulsa area. After our radio interview, we stopped at Midwest Agape Chapel to see Pastor Kevin. We had a good time and wonderful conversation. He asked us to come and share at his Wednesday night service and talk about what God has been doing in our lives since we started our 3rd journey. We accepted the invitation and we had a great time. God really moved as we had a chance to pray with some of the people and that's definitely my favorite part.
On Thursday night we went to Pastors George and Brenda Shafer's home for dinner. They are soooooo giving and loving. I cannot stop being amazed at how God puts in our path people who love Him and dedicate their lives to Him; people who have the heart of God. The Lord, keeps moving through the body of Christ....the church, and it does not matter what denomination or church they belong to, they all have come under the Banner of the Love they have for Jesus.
After dinner, George gave us a ride back to the RV, he asked us if we were going to be warm enough, of course we said "yes, no problem". As we got in the Yellow Submarine, Nick turned the thermostat on. I was setting out our clothes ready for the next day and was about to get into bed when all of the sudden I got a whiff of the propane! I grabbed a plastic bag and I started to....well you get the idea! Nick immediately turned the heater down and it went off. We lay in bed and tried to go to sleep. Some time around 2:00 am. The heater came on again and I just could not take the smell any more. Nick handed me my clothes as fast as he could, as I was making my way to the bathroom. The smell was overwhelming and got stronger and stronger.
I told Nick..."I can't breathe, I cannot breathe!" He started to pray for me and as I was putting my shoes on, he ushered me to the door and into the sanctuary of the church. We are so thankful Pastor Kevin gave us the key! I was walking back and forth all over the sanctuary trying to compose myself, but I felt that my longs were all full of that stuff. I ran to the restroom in the church and by the time I came out, Nick had set up a blanket an a pillow for us to sleep under the cross in the sanctuary. We sat on the steps of the altar. We did not know what to do and we were both wide awake. Nick embraced me and asked me to try to go to sleep, but I was not able to....finally I drifted off.
Next thing it was 7:00 am, we had slept for couple of hours. Nick called Pastor Harold in Olathe, with the news. "We are not able to continue with this RV, we do not have electricity, a toilet that works and now we have a propane leak....we do not know what to do." We called our friends Pastor George and Brenda, who live near Bixby, to see if we could spend couple of days with them. We needed re-group, get some counsel and pray for what God wanted us to do next. George and Brenda opened their home to us and have been a great support.
The rest is history.....if you do not know about our new RV and the miracle behind it....read Nick's blog.
In the book of Colossians Chapter 1, verses 9-12 we read: For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 
This is my prayer for you today. That you receive all that God has for you. He loves you and wants what is best. May the healing touch, of the Master, fill you a new, with physical and emotional healing, with physical strength; that your relationships be restored as well as your finances. May you feel a peace that passes all understanding and be enriched with an everlasting joy. Give thanks today, count your blessings and say YES to the One who loves you above all, Jesus Christ!
