Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Healed Leg
From a Facebook message, "By the way, I was the one with the throbbing pain in my right calf, last Sunday. I received prayer, and today, its feeling much better." Cool!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Welcome Home to the Homeless
A young woman in our congregation is going out of her way to reach out to the homeless with friendship (and food). When asked, "What motivates you?" here's what she had to say:
In answer to your question, the reason I do it is because I can't not do it.
In part, I think it's just habit. My mom used to feed the poor and showed me how to do it. That is, "don't give money cuz then they might buy alcohol or drugs, but give food. Talk with them, ask them their names and call them by it, etc"
I've been teaching the kids all along to do the same.
In terms of the uniqueness of the Christian calling part of it - the Lord really revealed to me in the last 6 months or so a specific directive "Help them remember who they are." So this layer for the mission is really just about obedience.
Also-the Lord told me I MUST share the Gospel w/ one man in particular and not w/ tracks or whatever but an actual "Do you accept Jesus as your savior kind of way". Truely, that scared me, but again-obedience right?
It all comes down to what we all need-food, water, to be known and loved and reminded that we have value-value so great that God would did to free us.
Then, none of us are homeless-the Kingdom of Heaven becomes home.
Welcome Home.
In answer to your question, the reason I do it is because I can't not do it.
In part, I think it's just habit. My mom used to feed the poor and showed me how to do it. That is, "don't give money cuz then they might buy alcohol or drugs, but give food. Talk with them, ask them their names and call them by it, etc"
I've been teaching the kids all along to do the same.
In terms of the uniqueness of the Christian calling part of it - the Lord really revealed to me in the last 6 months or so a specific directive "Help them remember who they are." So this layer for the mission is really just about obedience.
Also-the Lord told me I MUST share the Gospel w/ one man in particular and not w/ tracks or whatever but an actual "Do you accept Jesus as your savior kind of way". Truely, that scared me, but again-obedience right?
It all comes down to what we all need-food, water, to be known and loved and reminded that we have value-value so great that God would did to free us.
Then, none of us are homeless-the Kingdom of Heaven becomes home.
Welcome Home.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Do what I say, not what I do ...
From Jim:
So I was in Florida recently for a conference. I was driving to the church building one day and a friend asked to follow me, since he wasn't sure how to get there from the hotel. I had forgotten that we had tolls to pay, so as we were pulling up to the toll booth, a thought came into my mind: "I should pay Matt's toll." But then I thought, "No, I don't want to look cheesy, like I'm that guy paying the toll, like I was trying to be a good Christian or whatever." Then as we pulled up to the toll, fishing around in the change pile, my wife says, "We should pay Matt's toll." Mildly surprised, I say, "No, we don't want to look like "those guys" and we'll need the change on the trip back to the hotel." So we didn't pay the toll. Arriving at the church building, Matt gets out and his wife drives off in the car. We ask, "Where's she going?" "Well," he says, "I forgot to bring my toothbrush and so she's going to buy one, and then she's going to stop by the bank, since we didn't have any cash for the toll and had to scrape together 17 cents from our pockets." Ugghhh... Could God have been any clearer?
So I was in Florida recently for a conference. I was driving to the church building one day and a friend asked to follow me, since he wasn't sure how to get there from the hotel. I had forgotten that we had tolls to pay, so as we were pulling up to the toll booth, a thought came into my mind: "I should pay Matt's toll." But then I thought, "No, I don't want to look cheesy, like I'm that guy paying the toll, like I was trying to be a good Christian or whatever." Then as we pulled up to the toll, fishing around in the change pile, my wife says, "We should pay Matt's toll." Mildly surprised, I say, "No, we don't want to look like "those guys" and we'll need the change on the trip back to the hotel." So we didn't pay the toll. Arriving at the church building, Matt gets out and his wife drives off in the car. We ask, "Where's she going?" "Well," he says, "I forgot to bring my toothbrush and so she's going to buy one, and then she's going to stop by the bank, since we didn't have any cash for the toll and had to scrape together 17 cents from our pockets." Ugghhh... Could God have been any clearer?
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A Simple Prayer for Healing
From Allie:
I've only talked to this girl twice before praying for her, (she works in a different location) so I didn't know her extremely well, but we definitely connected as individuals when we would work together and she was very open with me about things. Through a few conversations at work, I found out that she had allergies to a lot of different things and sometimes her skin would flare up from head to toe. Well, one day I had walked in the store to pick up my paycheck and she happened to be working. It flared up like it never had before, from what she told me. It looked bad and it caused her some sort of discomfort. She literally was covered in red, swolen bumps from head to toe. I told her, "Well, this might sound crazy, but I believe Jesus could heal your skin. Would you be comfortable with me praying for you right now?" And just for the note, it took me a while to actually ask her this. I didn't look as confident as this story may depict:) To my surprise, she excitedly answered, "Yes! I'll take anything. Please!" She was eating it up! She totally loved it! I asked Jesus to heal her and relieve discomfort and I proclaimed his love for her. I hadn't heard anything afterwards because we had never exchanged any contact info, but she happened to be at our store while I was working a shift later on that month and she told me that her skin had totally cleared up the day after! Praise the Lord! He made her skin feel better:)
That's the story.
I've only talked to this girl twice before praying for her, (she works in a different location) so I didn't know her extremely well, but we definitely connected as individuals when we would work together and she was very open with me about things. Through a few conversations at work, I found out that she had allergies to a lot of different things and sometimes her skin would flare up from head to toe. Well, one day I had walked in the store to pick up my paycheck and she happened to be working. It flared up like it never had before, from what she told me. It looked bad and it caused her some sort of discomfort. She literally was covered in red, swolen bumps from head to toe. I told her, "Well, this might sound crazy, but I believe Jesus could heal your skin. Would you be comfortable with me praying for you right now?" And just for the note, it took me a while to actually ask her this. I didn't look as confident as this story may depict:) To my surprise, she excitedly answered, "Yes! I'll take anything. Please!" She was eating it up! She totally loved it! I asked Jesus to heal her and relieve discomfort and I proclaimed his love for her. I hadn't heard anything afterwards because we had never exchanged any contact info, but she happened to be at our store while I was working a shift later on that month and she told me that her skin had totally cleared up the day after! Praise the Lord! He made her skin feel better:)
That's the story.
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