Joy cometh in the morning.

I sometimes write this blog with a specific person in mind; sometimes it's me. Sometimes I feel so much inspiration; it feels like that adrenaline or Holy Ghost rush (I should sound more spiritual, right?) you get right before you are to share what the Lord had given you to speak in a church..... I again am amazed. God certainly knows where we are and knows what we are going through. If the people that are supposed to speak into your life are not able to due to distractions, spiritual injury or lukewarmness, God will send someone else. He will. Just hold on and follow hard after the things of God. Direction and peace will come. As kids we rode this ride at Como Park in St. Paul that was so scary then AND still is NOW! It was round and the carnies strapped us into it standing up. After we began to spin and spin, they removed the flooring of the ride and we were held in place by the force of the spinning, (centrifigal force). That is how some of our trials feel. Life is spinning out of control it seems and then on top of everything the bottom drops out of our lives! It's awful, it's a time for panic..but then you realize you are being held up by a power greater than yourself. God is holding you. He will continue to hold you until you are back on the ground, and then he will still hold your hand, always. Get your strength from the Word...don't just read about the Bible; READ THE BIBLE. Talk to God, let the tears flow. He is aquainted with grief, he understands our sorrow and our joy. Psalm 30:5.....weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Jesus understand weeping but he understands JOY TOO! Be of good courage, my friend, you are not alone.

Backsliding. Slow Fade. Lukewarm. Falling Away.

I don't care for the the term "backslider"...but....I feel I must address this issue AGAIN. You see or hear some terrible news of someone acting in an ungodly way. You are shocked but in time you step back and ponder. I ponder so much that it hurts my head sometimes. As one ponders and takes the entire picture into perspective a hidden motive may become more obvious. Under the evil popping up out of the ground, one will find the love of money. The love of money is behind all evil... I didn't write that; this is Scripture. "ALL EVIL"?, my pondering mind says. Yes, all evil. Here are just a few examples of loving money... -a mother sees her friend's nice things; yet she struggles, she is tempted to leave her marriage and seek after a wealthy new guy... -a father is tired of being so financially strapped that he is tempted to just "chuck" the marriage and fatherhood. -A single man marries the wrong lady. He marries another because she has connections and money. -A single woman does not marry for love but for advantage. -A preacher fails to preach biblical truth since truth may offend his parishioners ie:support base. -People can step on others in their effort to climb the ladder of success. -A skilled physican goes into the field of medicine that TAKES life since there is guaranteed income. -A person takes a job where the focus of the company is inherently destructive to individuals and families. -People are tempted to dress immodestly to attract another for personal advantage. When a believer gets the money section in order, he/she is so much stronger. I know some people that are blessed abundantly and their children are blessed as well JUST because they have the MONEY question settled. This is not a blog about tithing....but honestly, giving God our first fruits is so fundamental, yet people nit-pick about it. If the patriarchs got it...and the New Testament church gave even more than their firstfuits or tenth, why do we question the power and truth of the tithe? It reminds me of speaking with tongues. It makes no sense, yet it is a God thing. When we surrender all of ourselves to God, we begin to worship him and it's no time that we lose ourself in the Spirit of God and a beautiful utterance comes out of our mouth. Advice from a friend; don't mess with money. Trust God, give him the first fruits, and don't covet. Just tell the Lord when you need or want something. He will provide. He's the best daddy you could ever dream of. "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."Luke 12:32 Next time you see evil popping out of the ground...look at the roots,you will find the love of money. Put God back in charge and trust HIM for all of your needs.

Wish I Would've Known This Years Ago.

I wish that when we were starting our church sixteen years ago, that there had been a booklet written of "what not to do" as you are starting a new "work".

I get it mixed up, I keep trying to make sure I don't offend people, when Jesus, as I study, did not seem to worry about offending people.

He knew he had only three short years to teach and influence a whole lot of people. He called people names and he spoke directly to their needs. Lord, help us to be infused with your anointing so that we may speak with boldness and love. Recently I felt so led to go to a lady's home that had been very ill and had not been in church for a long time. After a while of small talk, I felt led to talk straight to her about her relationship with God. Thankfully, she opened up her heart to me and cried, afterward, we had a great prayer meeting. I never saw her alive again, the next time I looked at her she was laying in a beautiful casket. I am so glad that I talked directly to her need. I had a boldness come over me that shocked even me. I laid hands on her and prayed fervantly for her. She never again was in a church; she died. At her funeral, I was overwhelmed with gratitude to the Lord that he had moved me to go see her. Lord, help me to be led by your Spirit and to be bold. If I had worried about offending her, we would not have been able to pray that way. She needed to get through to God, and she did. Be bold, be loving , but be bold.

Sharp Tongues

"Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth." How many times have we sung this worship chorus and never knew what a dreadful line was right before it in the 57th psalm of David. The verse right before this: "My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." To have people in your life that could be described as lions with fierce teeth and tongues is frightful, and yet, David endured this and still praised the Lord. You may live in a house of unbelievers or work among people that mock the things of God and church, but you can still praise the Lord with your whole heart,as David did. To this day we read and sing these praises, because they were written in anointing and power and we overcome by the words of our testimony. Just keep praising....it's a tried and true remedy for dealing with this world we live in. Sharp tongues in your office or your kitchen? Sing this! "Be thou exalted O God above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth."

The desires of my heart?

The intellect. The heart. The Hebrew word is translated "heart" by the 1600's English translators, but in Hebrew it is translated, the inner man, mind, will, heart, from Strong's #3820. We need to have our intellect satisfied when we spend time in church or in personal time with God. I hear that our youth leave the faith at alarming rates these days. Many youth have intellectual battles as they go on to secular higher education. Is it possible that we have lopsized worship services? We need "spirit AND truth", Jesus said. Youth leaders, worship leaders, praise singers, pastors, please study and go deep in the Word for us...we need it. Our "heart" needs it. We can fight the battles if we are well armed with the Word. Give us the Word! Please! Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine ....(inner man, mind, will) heart.What a promise.

Reading the Bible

Just simply reading the Bible is a WORKOUT. It is just as hard as a workout routine, not physically, but as far as self-discipline.. An old mentor of mine said, "always do the hardest thing first everyday and your day will go better". Read your Bible...do it first if possible and you will get a strength that you never thought you had.

21 Things I Learned the Hard Way....(church planter-home missions)

I wish so much someone would have handed a list like this to me before we ventured into the "Home Missions" church planting period of our lives. But now that I lived through it, I feel it is important for me to provide a list for others who may want to learn from my mistakes. Note: My husband and I entered this venture as a team, we both were divinely called of God at a conference in 1992 at Because of the Times, but it was not until 1996 that we were given permission to begin on our own. We both worked (or were in FT college) during these years, we started with no one but our two children aged 12 and 5 (our youngest was born three years after we began) We were thankfully granted $100 a month from our home district. We were not under the sponsorship of the full CFC program. My writing may seem a bit negative, but as many rough memories as I have, I have WONDERFUL memories and our children have been called by God into the ministry and have accepted the call. Here's the list: 1. If people reject your attempts to reach them for Jesus, don't cry your eyes out; it is not YOU they are rejecting. This is not about you, some people even rejected Jesus...keep your head up and keep on reaching out with the Word. Know who called you to do this work, HE will sustain you. 2. People are not looking for talent, they are looking for salt, be as salty* as you can be...pray and get your confidence from God. Don't use maniputaion, guilt or coersion of any kind to get people to come to Bible Studies or service. God will speak to their hearts. 3. When someone is going to be baptized, don't encourage them to have ALL their relatives there. Being buried with Christ is a very personal and spiritial experience and it is not meant to be a social event. If they do want to come, that's great, but often the focus may shift to them instead of the baptism. 4. Don't bribe people to come to church; whatever you use to get people to church will have to be continued and that is unreasonable. Be salty*, be on fire; that will draw them for the right reasons. "Ye are the salt of the earth". 5. Don't sacrifice all your family and relaxation time for the church. Your family will get bitter and in the end it won't make the church stronger. You can get burnt out. I remember vividly rushing home from a much needed break only to find that only ONE lady showed up for our ladies meeting. I was so needing that time away. 6. Don't try and become the "all and in all" to the new converts; they will become dependant on you instead of Jesus and His Word. You may feel obligated to have extra serivces in order to keep them out of trouble. DON"T! 7. Never use your home for a homeless shelter. Keep your home as an oasis from the outside world. Believe me, I KNOW what I am talking about in this regard. We did open the church for people to stay in at times. 8. There is nothing as powerful as anointed teaching and preaching. Make the focus of your church the WORD and it will draw people to God. 9. The people that take the most energy and time will hurt you the most and slap you in the back. If you bail someone out of jail, you most likely will not see that person again in a short time. Don't hand out cash unless it is absolutely necessary. Give groceries cards or hotel nights if necessary, not cash! 10. Children are precious and your sincere love and care for them will NEVER be fruitless. Try not to overstimulate them or give them too many prizes or treats. Small prizes are great, and the best prizes are when you give them your attention and appropriate affection. The wildest children are often the ones who listen closest to your words...you would just never know it. Many kids come to Sunday School truly hungry, so provide a healthy snack for them. 11. Call people before you pick them up, you will save yourself a lot of frustration and dissappointment if you make sure they ARE ready before driving far to get them for service. 12. Focus on getting new people to ONE service a week to begin with. The same service. They will develop a habit, then add other meetings. 13. When you do finally get a vacation, don't call home for your messages. I totally ruined a vacation once when I called home and listened to my messages. A certain lady who always had so much drama in her family "dumped" on me all her cares and I worried about all that for days instead of relaxing. 14. God will provide for your finances. In all the years of home missions only one month did we have to pay the rent for our church building ourselves. It may have been at the last minute, but the money came in. 15. Don't borrow money for the church. Just ask for the Lord to provide and He will, and if he doesn't, be patient. This is not about our pride, ASUZA street was in an old warehouse/barn type building. It's the power and presence of God that people need.... "silver and gold have I none, but such as I have", remember those words? 16. Never ask someone to teach Sunday school or do children's work unless you are absolutley sure they are qualified. I had a lady teach once that I thought I could trust and she put her hands around the throat of one of our active kids. I came back in just in time to avert a huge problem. 17. Be supportive at all times to each other (if you are a married couple). It is easy to take our frustrations out on each other. Take your heartaches to the Lord...he will calm you and renew your strength. Show extra love to your spouse and children. And always make sure you get your children to district events for them with other kids...it will be a sacrifice, but your kids need fellowship where they can just relax and have fun. (Our daughter began teaching SS at age 12-we had no other teachers). And make sure you make it to district or national conferences...you will really need it. 18. Delegate as many jobs as possible to others. People like to help the church grow, it's healthy and it's the right thing to do. Never put someone in charge of leadership that has not been tested though. And when you ask someone to shovel the snow and turn on the heat but they show up late or not at all, just be patient, don't get bitter. Training takes time. 19. Give a call to your (Pastor-mentor) now and then, even if they don't call you, call them or email them. We need each other. Take direction and advice. Don't get hurt by harsh comments that are made by others. The enemy wants us to feel alientated and alone. Be strong; keep communication open with others. 20. Always make sure children and youth have proper supervision. Years of hard work can be lost by a few moments of carelessness. 21. When you have a victorious service, brace yourself for a spiritual attack...just expect it and stay prayed up...don't get haughty...stay calm in Jesus' peace. And when you have an attack, don't assume that you are washed up and worthless...just hang in there. Victory is on the way. We give our joys and sorrows to the Lord. We just never put down our sword, never! And rememeber that it is such an honor to be called by God to do a work for Him. Whether you have great success or small success, you are working for the best BOSS ever, and nothing goes unnoticed by our Saviour. He sees it all. *to be salty (to me) means to be full of the the Holy Ghost and power-to be on fire for God.