|
Click
Here to Return to
Current Events Main Page
| |
December
2006 Update: |
| |
Not
too long ago we had a man that we had been witnessing
to for ten years pass away. He was one of the
most difficult individuals I personally have
ever had to share Jesus with. I wish I could
tell you exactly where he made his eternal home,
but I cannot. Some have said that he told them
he had accepted Jesus. Whether this is true
or not, I cannot say, since he would tell me
the same thing, but then turn around and just
be plain old evil the next day. I had watched
God's dealings with this man over the years.
Honestly, I never questioned God, but I did
wonder what on earth He was up to sometimes.
It was after the man's death that the Lord said
to me, "If you were dying, would you still
love me?" It stopped me in my tracks and
I had to really think. After all, most of us
love life and truly love living. To be told,
as this man had been, that death was going to
be immediate and imminent, how would I really
feel? Suppose I did not have that great a relationship
with the Lord to begin with, as I felt was the
case with this person, wouldn't I be mad? Never
mind if I had smoked and drank myself to an
early grave, I'd still be a little ticked at
what I felt was injustice. Now, maybe you're
more rational, but I have met people that really
feel this way and talking to them about Jesus
can be a little unnerving. You know when the
Lord said that to me I had totally forgotten
that I had been wondering about His dealings
with this man and the former Prime Minister
of Israel, Ariel Sharon. And I got to wondering,
God does everything in His power for us as people
to go around our own anger and musings against
Him to get us more pliable into accepting His
gracious salvation. The man we had been talking
to had been told on more than one occasion that
he was dying. Each time the doctors would come
back and tell him they were wrong and he would
live. This last and most recent time I even
thought it was over until I heard the news that
he wasn't dying after all, and that they weren't
exactly sure what was wrong with him. I got
to thinking that the way in which the Lord dealt
with this man was perfect for his own personality.
He happened to be stubborn, difficult, not given
to truth telling and frankly, if he could get
away with something, he would. It didn't make
it any easier that he was an old man who was
hard of hearing---or at least he used that problem
effectively, as he once told me himself that
he did. Bless his heart, what a character this
guy was. He had caused us much trouble and difficulty
over the years, and yet I would watch God intervene
to woo and draw him to Christ. Many would come
and share the Gospel with him. It mattered little
what I thought of him, God loved even him. I
got to thinking how, in some small way it is
similar with Sharon of Israel. Many love him,
yet there are many that consider him their enemy.
Yet God does not care one way or the other.
We have no idea how much he can hear in whatever
coma he is in and how Jesus can draw him to
Himself. He is being given a short time here
on earth in the invalid state that he is in
for a purpose. We may not always see that purpose,
but God is doing a work before his death. For
those of you that are witnessing to difficult
people in your lives, keep up the good work.
You may never see the purpose, but God knows
the answer. We're praying for you this month
and the folks you are ministering to. You can
always email us your prayer requests. Be encouraged
in Christ that the word of the Lord you are
sowing will not return to God void, but accomplish
the task it was set out to do.
|
| |
October/November
2006 Update: |
| |
Give
thanks to the Lord for He is good, His mercy
endures forever. (1 Chronicles 16:34) We can
be thankful this month that some madman somewhere
has not attempted to blow the world up by nuclear
weapons. We can be thankful that the Lord is
in control and that His mercy does endure forever.
For Americans that are going to the voting box
this month, I would ask those that pray with
us on this site that we could pray that folks
would vote for those people that would follow
the mandates of the Lord expressed in the Old
and New Testaments. This is a serious prayer
request this month because many of you from
other countries do not know the turmoil that
is unfolding in the U.S. Without going into
detail all I would do is ask that you pray that
only those who will obey the Old and New Testaments
would be elected to public office (They may
not necessarily believe, but that they would
be willing to obey its principles). This is
a personal request and not one from the ministry.
In any event, pray as the Holy Spirit leads
you. Please don't forget to give thanks to the
Lord for the many blessings He has bestowed
upon you who believe. The Bible tells us to
pray for our officials and public servants that
have been put in place over us in our individual
countries. So we would like to come in agreement
with those of you from other countries and come
in prayer for your public officials as well
as our own that they would follow the desires
of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We also invite
the Holy Spirit into each country's governmental
decisions, as they are represented by those
of us that pray together on this site. This
month I also wanted to pass a Scripture along
to you from Ezekiel 28:21-26. The geography
that we are looking at here is modern day Lebanon.
You can read this Scripture and pray as the
Lord reveals His will to you. Lastly, several
months back we talked about monopolies forming
when big corporations join and try to stop the
flow of information or services to us. Well,
as many of you know in America we are facing
such a barrage from cable and communications
companies that want to control our Internet.
For those of you familiar with this situation,
please pray as the Lord leads you. You can email
your personal or ministry requests to us. We
will continue to pray for those of you that
have emailed us in the past. Blessings in Christ
Jesus as you pray.
|
| |
September
2006 Update: |
| |
I'm
writing this in August for September, but this
burden has been with me for several months.
In fact, in our church I started preaching about
crossing the Jordan and going onto Jericho sometime
ago (see the feature article). I know historically
that that is a jump, but for us I meant it spiritually.
So this month I felt the need to share two burdens
with you. This is always a month of great celebration
for God's people. I can remember a few years
ago on this site that I shared about the feast
of tabernacles and other holy days that take
place during this time period of the month of
Tishri (See the 2003 October articles). As you
read the feature article this month, you will
see that I believe the Lord is getting ready
to deposit revelation into many that will deliver
and set captives free. So we're praying to be
open to the time of our visitation from the
Lord. The second burden is not as easy, but
falls in line with the feast days. In 2001 the
Lord shared with me that 'David' would cause
a breach that would ultimately result in the
loss of 70,000 lives. B U T, if 'David' would
repent we would see a major revival in the very
area in which that breach took place. As I meditated
on this, shared, preached and wrote about it,
some of the folks in our ministry got revelation
on it that the 'David' the Lord was talking
about was the church. I was in several meetings
listening to national church leaders that were
in Washington during the decision making leading
up to the invasion of Iraq. I was stunned to
hear these people actually pray that we go into
Iraq. I had to agree with the folks in our ministry
that one aspect of that word had to do with
a breach by some in the church concerning the
war in Iraq. Every once in a while I will have
the opportunity to still hear some of the people
involved during that period of time who prayed
that we go into Iraq as a country. I've still
felt the need to call out on this website and
even in our own church and tell people that
may have been swayed to pray that we go into
Iraq to repent of the pride involved. For those
that prayed in such a manner, I believe their
'breach' was the same as David's was in 1 Chronicles
21; namely, they were counting on soldiers instead
of counting on the praying priesthood. The reason
why I felt the need to share this again in this
prayer column this month is because this is
not only a holiday for the habitation of the
King with the blowing of trumpets and all the
other wonderful things that take place, but
it is also the Day of Atonement where we pray
and repent of what we have done. I'm making
a request for those of you that prayed for America
to go into Iraq that you ask for the Lord's
forgiveness. I believe that when we repent of
this one item, we will, in time, probably not
immediately, but in time we will see a great
revival in the Middle Eastern areas. In 2002
and later I had several words concerning a revival
in Iran. Are the two connected? Very possibly,
especially if certain forces in Iraq win, as
they seem that they are, Iran will control Iraq.
Know one wants to see that happen, but if it
does, it may very well open a door that God
will use to revive a nation, even a whole region.
Don't get me wrong, I don't see some rosy picture
for some of these outcomes. But I do believe
the Lord when He tells me that if we repent,
we will see revival in many places. I don't
know about you, but I'm willing to see it everywhere.
Let's pray as we shout, blow the trumpets and
repent that we will see deliverance for all.
As always, you can email your requests to us
and we will pray. God Bless you as you pray
in the Holy Ghost...
|
| |
|
| |
August
2006 Update: |
| |
As
many of you know, we have been praying for Israel
these last few months, with the exception of
last month. This is usually how the Lord speaks
to us. He has us pray for many months and then
right before the problem or issue manifests
itself, He has us pray about something else.
But this month is somewhat different. I have
never felt a release from praying for Israel
or the return of our troops from Iraq before
2007. As many of you remember the word of the
Lord to us in 2003 that we would see casualties
of 70,000 or more if we did not pray. Unfortunately
this loss of life seems to be manifesting. The
Iraqis are nearing 40,000 dead since 2003. If
we include our troops, then the numbers get
even closer. If you will remember this year
when everyone was worrying about praying for
Ariel Sharon, the Lord made it clear to me that
we should be praying for ourselves, God would
take care of Mr. Sharon's outcome. Looking back,
I think we can all agree that that is certainly
true. I've had some odd burdens the last few
weeks concerning the economy in our own country,
the peace of Jerusalem and of course the return
of our troops from overseas. Please continue
to pray for these needs, as I fear it will get
much worse before anything seems to get better.
For those of you that preach the Gospel in many
different nations, please know that you are
the soldiers that will make the difference between
a world at peace or a world dedicated to constant
war. We pray for your continued success and
we pray for our own as we go forth sowing precious
seed. I have a burden this month for a feature
article, but I also felt the need to leave up
the topic of leadership for another month. So
please continue to pray and log on next month
to this link for the prayer requests and the
feature article. Believe it or not the Lord
really does have solutions to our present world
troubles. Obviously not everyone will come on
board with His will. But for those of us that
look for His solutions, we can read about them
and help others to accomplish them as well as
do what we are called to do. Remember that you
can email your prayer requests to us. For those
of you that are in Israel and have emailed us,
we are praying for your safety. We are also
praying for the safety of many Lebanese Christians,
as they are having a horrendous time right now.
While you pray for the peace of Jerusalem, pray
for those Christians serving our Lord in Muslim
countries. They serve Jesus at great risk and
peril. They are on the frontlines. Pray also
for those that happen to be in more moderate
Middle Eastern countries that can play a role
in moderating between the madmen trying to conquer
the world and those desiring peace. As always,
pray that our troops come home before 2007 gets
underway.
|
| |
|
| |
July
2006 Update: |
| |
This
month I feel the need to pray for several situations
around the world. The first is nuclear proliferation
among countries with madmen at the switches.
The testing of long-range missiles capable of
reaching 3000 miles or more is not as dangerous
for the United States as it is for Israel. We
are already seeing a shift in power to Asian
countries. What concerns me more is the lack
of the preaching of the Gospel in these places
that would or could limit the power of madmen
in these countries. There was no other single
reason why Europe survived the 1940s except
that countries with the compassion and mission
of Jesus helped to rebuild them, while the people
of Europe had a sense of the true destiny that
Christ gives. When we invite Jesus into these
places things change. His handiwork may not
always be obvious to us, but He will answer
prayer. Praying for the youth in these countries
as well as our own invites Jesus to move through
the next generation. It is time that the next
generation starts to think of innovative ways
to change the world---not just for capitalism
and their market share, but to erase specific
diseases, develop the many different fuel sources
other than petroleum that are available to us
and to move us from the horse and buggy period.
Christians around the world should be raising
their children up to become inventors and leaders
in government, the sciences and industry. For
those of you living in the United States, pray
for this country and the health of the next
generation spiritually. From January to June
we talked about the prophetic word of the Lord
developing the creative mind of man. This is
what America needs now. Remember Joshua, the
Jordan campaign and the taking of Jericho. Without
that creative power of the word of God, all
would have been lost for them. But Joshua also
forgot about developing the next generation
of leaders and Israel remained stagnate throughout
the time period of the Judges. As you pray,
possibly ask the Lord what you can do to help
the children or people around you think outside
the box, to become innovative thinkers. While
it is true that the Lord can use a dunce as
easily as a genius, it doesn't hurt to ask Him
to help our thinking processes to solve problems
that we don't even know exist yet, but that
He sees and understands we need solutions for.
Remember that you can always email your prayer
requests to us. Be blessed as you pray.
|
| |
|
| |
June
2006 Update: |
| |
Quite often in
the past on this page link the Lord has given
us needs to pray for that had not yet occurred
and had not been made known in the media, at
least we had not personally seen any media coverage.
On other occasions we were exhorted to pray
for events that we did know about. This month
I sense the need to repeat our prayers for the
nation of Israel. Is there any doubt in any
of our minds that madmen still wish to acquire
weapons in an effort to wipe a nation off the
face of the earth? While the request this month
is simple and not lengthy, praying for the peace
of Jerusalem is the only city in the whole of
Scripture that we are commanded to pray for
by name that is still inhabited and very much
relevant, even thousands of years after the
psalmist asked the readers to pray. May the
Lord bless you as you pray, and remember that
you can always email your requests to us for
prayer. We continue to lift you all up before
the Lord.
|
| |
|
| |
April/May
2006 Update: |
| |
Our
update for prayer this month is both troubling
and exciting. Some of you might remember our
update for January 2004 (it is archived here).
The Lord showed us that we needed to pray about
a prophecy that some in the Muslim world believe
concerning ushering in their Messiah. Well,
during 2005 we learned that the Iranian president
believes that building and exploding a nuclear
bomb will help to accompany their Messiah into
the world. The Lord keeps reminding me of the
prayer request for January 2004 and the need
to continue to pray about what we shared at
that time. I also sense that He wants us to
pray for Israel and the temple mount and all
those who minister as temple servants now and
in the future. I speak mainly of Christians
serving in Israel ministering the Gospel to
the Jews and also those of Jewish descent who
would also minister before the Lord. Pray as
the Holy Spirit leads you. We continue to pray
for your requests as you email them. God bless
you during our celebration of Resurrection Sunday.
|
| |
|
| |
March
2006 Update: |
| |
The
Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions of the United
States are getting ready for the upcoming hurricane
season. We've been praying about this for sometime,
but I was not prepared for the answer the Lord
gave me recently. While God cannot be blamed
for creating last year's horrific season it
did draw many closer to the Lord. Yet this year
He clearly told me, for the first time, that
the pollution that we are creating is to blame
for the heating of our atmosphere. He showed
me China as a representative of this. While
the US is the largest polluter, new emerging
societies are now beginning to add their own
volumes of pollution. It's a bit like the straw
that broke the camel's back. While the earth
might have been able to handle the one large
polluter, by adding others, it is simply too
much. Not only should America cut back on fossil
fuels but we need to make great strides in finding
alternative fuel sources. Let's pray that we
do. Let's ask the Lord to give new ideas to
people for up-cycling, not just recycling waste
as well as ideas on mass producing new fuel
sources for our planet. As always, we pray for
your requests. God bless you as you pray.
|
| |
|
| |
January
2006 Update: |
| |
Psalm
87 says, "He has set his foundation on
the holy mountain; the Lord loves the gates
of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are said of you, O city of God:
Selah. I will record Rahab and Babylon among
those who acknowledge me---Philistia too, and
Tyre, along with Cush---and will say, 'This
one was born in Zion.' Indeed, of Zion it will
be said, 'This one and that one were born in
her, and the Most High himself will establish
her.' The Lord will write in the register of
the peoples: 'This one was born in Zion.' Selah.
As they make music they will sing, 'All my fountains
are in you.'" Sometimes I think we forget
that God really does love all the people of
the world. Whether or not they will come in
agreement with the Old and New Testaments and
believe in Jesus Christ, thus living in peace
may not be a reality immediately. This update
is unusual in that I have quoted a Psalm as
opposed to just sharing a prayer request. If
I were to go into the dynamics of this Psalm,
I believe it would become a teaching, and that
is not the purpose of this update. Pray as the
Lord gives you revelation in the Holy Spirit
concerning this portion of Scripture. Concerning
Israel's leadership, probably too many people
have opinions. I believe it was in 2003 the
Lord allowed me to write to a pastor concerning
the future of both Arafat and Sharon while both
men were doing just fine. God loves people,
and will always give them time to come to a
saving knowledge of Messiah. Let's just suppose
that Christians are right and Jesus is the Messiah.
What might happen if one got to heaven's gate
without acknowledging Jesus? This is why I believe
God gives people time to come to a saving knowledge
of Jesus. Our God is a healing and saving God
and I pray that for all the people of the world,
especially those that God makes leaders. In
another request that I would like to share this
month it has to do with something that we may
not see take place for many years. The Lord
allowed me to know, and frankly, I'm not sure
that I understand it totally, that there will
come a merger with a major communications company
and a telephone company. You might say that
that is not ground breaking news. It probably
won't be. I'm not sure that it will even be
in the western half of the globe. But it has
the potential to start a process that might
not be healthy for the planet as it will be
a practice, as it becomes bigger and bigger
of controlling more and more of what mankind
hears and sees, blocking out more and more of
the word of God, through the Old and New Testaments.
While I'm not trying to be derogatory of a company,
it will become similar to Wal-Mart's practices
in consumerism only within the communication's
realm. Again, I'm not sure how you should pray.
Pray as the Holy Spirit gives you understanding.
I almost didn't release this here on this site,
but I believe the Lord wants me to. I'm not
sure you will ever hear about this merger, until,
of course, everybody already knows about it.
And again, I'm not sure who, what or where it
is, only that we are to pray. And I am not into
the dooms-day scenarios that so easily attach
themselves to this kind of a word. I'm not thinking
dooms-day, I'm thinking of something being dedicated
to Jesus and the people of this company coming
to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Think
and pray positively. As always, you can email
us your prayer requests and we will pray for
you. God bless you as you pray.
|
| |
|
|
|