Miracles Do Happen-Trust. Believe.

The crowds around Jesus were watching to see what would he do next.
Some came with personal needs like the woman who had suffered much from doctors and still was not healed. Some came because they were outcasts-lepers...unconnected to only the unclean. Some came to hear Jesus speak words of truth in a time, which like ours, was filled with lies. Some parents came because they had a desperate need: a sick child, a dead child. These all came to Jesus because they had a smidge of faith that HE COULD DO THE MIRACLE.

Today we are rather casual about all this, aren't we? We hear "talks" rather than the word of God preached. We don't really expect "intervention" by God in our problems. We for most part in America have sunk into a pond of unbelief so that these things we read about really seem like fables. But, wait, they aren't.

Katherine Kuhlman had a healing ministry years ago and I had the privilege of attending. Real miracles of healing happened. She was a pretty funny woman because behind her she had a bunch of pastors and at one meeting I heard her say. "If you were doing your job I wouldn't have to be here."

A miracle draws attention to the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst. A miracle is not normal. A miracle is "super normal". What happened that we have sunk so low? We are so unconnected to the power of God. And yet, every Christmas, we are reminded that a small baby was born, who was CHRIST THE LORD.

HE IS STILL LORD AND HE STILL DOES MIRACLES.

Our Blessed Community 2010

As we come to the close of another year of serving local children we are rejoicing as a team that we are growing in seeing God at work in our midst.

We saw God working as he greatly blessed our pre camp information brunch and a dinner. We anticipated the largest camp ever and we saw God bring an average of 150 children a day. Thanks to God's provision through his people camp was funded before it opened and we had the great joy of seeing God feed the multitudes both physical and spiritual.

Also, because of the generous gift of a local church Verbo was able to open an after school program for children that had attended camp. 25 of the most needy children now get tutoring in English, Math and are well cared for. The prayers are answered and we see this as a model for other cities i.e. start a Touchdown Camp, encourage the other local churches to see what is happening and then open a school.

One of the things God has impressed on my heart is the miracle we are seeing are coming out of us being in Christian community. We continue to grow in our understanding of the Lord's words to "love one another as I have loved you." It is impossible to experience community without a close connection to the body of Christ. To just "attend" church does not get one to this level. Community involves a life commitment to each other to care for, care about, and sacrifice for the needs of the others.

Salvation comes from the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ who really is with us and for us. There is no other name whereby man may be saved.

We are bearers of good news. We are bearers of the miracle of God to the poor, the lost, and the sick. But, we do not do this "on our own". We link ourselves together in a committed community and then we reach out our arms with strength.

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and true community.
Joyce Dueker, Founder
2010

God Is Faithful To His Children

When leaves fall we are aware another season is upon us all. We think of the things we missed but we look forward to the coming holidays.

This year we anticipate serving the children who are in an after school program with a Christmas party and RED BOX gifts. We want to give a family sized box. More on this at our annual meeting in November.

It is in our country a season of much uncertainty.  We can't count on our job, we can't count on much of anything. But, there is one thing we can count on.  GOD IS FAITHFUL TO HIS CHILDREN.

We may have to wait.  We will have to pray. But we have been promised

"I WILL NEVER FAIL YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU."

Fail means to not be there or not do the job that needs to be done. Please note: God may provide for us in many ways..most we could not every imagine in our wildest dreams.  We may have to go out like Abraham, not knowing where we are going but just knowing the direction. One of the reasons we get disappointed is we try to out guess God. We try to figure it all out or plan it all out. Now, we are to plan, but God DIRECTS OUR STEPS.  These, I have found, are rarely in a straight line. His priorities are: putting us where we can be used to introduce a lost soul to the savior. (I would like to think that I think of that first, but usually it is only looking back that I see what was really going on.)

Forsake means to "abandon" or give up on one.  We all fear being left on the side of the road The more we understand the heart of our Good Shepherd, the more we know that it is we that abandon Him..not the other way around. In fact Jesus goes after the wandering sheep and that includes us.  His goal is to restore us and bring us back to the fold where we will be safe.

Why should we be so worried like everyone around us.  In the worst case scenario we have a GREAT BIG GOD with a HUGE ATTACHMENT TO US.

God at Work

God accomplishes His Work Through the Holy Spirit which indwells each believer.  Jesus said "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you."

Comfort is one of the signs of the presence of this Holy Spirit. Years ago I was bucked off a horse in the midst of a thunderstorm. I landed on the only bare place on the edge of the path and after almost fainting got back on the horse and made it back to the cabin. My family went to dinner and I was all alone. Very scared because there was a question that my hip might be broken. I was lying in bed when I heard some tinkling bells. I gingerly got up and looked out the window. There were some ponies munching grass. All at once I felt comforted. God sent the ponies. I had a very sore hip for months but somehow the sting had gone out of the incident.

The Holy Spirit works to accomplish and finish the work of the Lord here on the earth. The Holy Spirit inspires certain people to pray using "God given" prayers. The Holy Spirit leads the start of new works that need to happen here on earth.

Last summer a little boy at camp talked to someone about hardship in his family. This Little Man, 9 years old, couldn't do anything about not being registered for an after school program. The Holy Spirit urged the Christian to get some pastors together with Pastor Orlando Cardona, at Verbo in Redwood City. There was prayer for this child and others like him.

I am happy to report that God has moved to provide funds for an after school program. Twenty-four children now have tutoring and help each school day.

Be encouraged. God does things via His Holy Spirit that rarely make the news but these "works" are real and you might even be used to be a part of the wind of the Holy Spirit moving for your city.

Waiting

There are few words we like less. We do not like to wait in line or wait for a computer to boot up. However, there are many times when God asks us to wait.

There are many times in life when we have to wait. We may wait for a job. We may wait for a vacation. We may have to wait for enough down payment for a house. We may be waiting for the right person to marry. We may be waiting for someone we love to come to faith.

Waiting tests our character because we want to do something to resolve the problem or situation. The kind of waiting I am talking about is when we are called to wait upon the Lord. We don't have an answer or a direction. We so easily run out of our answers or solutions. This depletes our strength.

How can we wait on the Lord?
We can stay in prayer.
We can ask our friends to pray for us if we can't pray.
We can look up and focus on God not on ourselves or situation. This is most helpful.
We can “seek the things that are above not the things that are below”.
We can rejoice in our salvation.

We have a future and a hope no matter how fragmented, fragile or stressed things are down here. Waiting exercises our faith. Waiting when we see no solution...no job..no next step..no resolution can lead to hopelessness or it can lead to endurance and long suffering in our eternal character.

The fire of the trail will burn off the dross. God is after us and every wait is a time for him to see HOW ARE WE REALLY DOING WHEN THE RUBBER HITS THE ROAD. 

Are we burning up? Are we burning out?

Gentleness

This is not a quality that is brought to the front in our society but it is essential for us as Christians to exhibit as a "witness" to a very rude, demanding, get what I want now...culture.

Paul wrote: "The servant of the Lord must be gentle."

The entire section states "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth...(2 Timothy 2:24,25)

Being gentle does not come with our flesh, but only as the Holy Spirit controls us. When we are aware of the presence of the Lord gentleness is possible. This quality Paul is stating to Timothy is of utmost importance in our witness "unto all men".

A calm and reasoning tone with gentleness is what the Lord wants as we teach. A very important note here is that we do not "win" anyone to the Lord but it is the Lord who gives them "repentence tot he acknowledging of the truth."

I can list many times when I have not been gentle in my life. These times are always when I try to respond on my own. Then I look like everyone around me in the world and there is no victory. I can react badly when I want my way over someone else's.  I can get upset when something doesn't happen in the timing I think it should. I can respond negatively to good criticism. I can hold a grudge.

Recently I was reading the autobiography of Luis Palau, one of the world's foremost evangelists, and he said a moment of victory came when he heard a talk that broke through to him that it was Christ in him that was going to do all the work.

When we are aware of the presence of the Lord as we speak to another we can be very gentle aware of the holy presence with us. We can even be patient in the process knowing that we fought and argued, didn't we, before we came into the Kingdom.

We have in Project Lost Sheep some gentle teachers of children. Their effectiveness is not in there personality or words but in Jesus who is shining through their gentle and meek hearts. 

Prayer:
Remind me Lord, that you were gentle, and I must allow awareness of you to create a gentle and meek spirit in me, even under opposition or hardship.

TRUST

What really can we trust?

Can we trust in things? Can we trust a house will always be there or a stock portfolio will perform the way we want it or that even a person in our life will always be around. These are things we migh think of as "permanent". We might say "oh, they are doing so well..they have a house, a good job, a good retirement. But these are all positions or things that can change in very short order.

Things appear to be certain because we can see them or we can count them but that is not where Christians want to trust.

What if circumstances change?
What if the interest rates go up and the value of a house goes down?
What if the job disappears or the stock market crashes (again)?

We are told in scripture to "trust in the Lord and not to rely on our own insight." However, in reality even those of us who have walked in relationship to our Lord, Jesus Christ, for years can stumble and go back to self trust or trust things mode.

Trust involves faith that God is above our circumstances. If we see our stocks go down, we do not have to believe the end of the world has come. If our heart is too tied to THINGS God may allow adversity so we can learn that He can provide for his own in famine. That is the God we see who provided for his people in the wilderness. They didn't have a Trader Joe's..no God had to provide the daily bread out of the blue.

Can you imagine each day in the desert the entire people of Israel waking up and looking for it to rain down there daily portion? God was teaching them to trust Him for their needs. Sometimes I think that poor people are much richer than people who have tons of things because they live in a trust relationship. Many of them do not know where the next meal comes from.

Psalm 4 admonishes us to "offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord". When the world sees a Christian trust God for something He needs and then God provides "out of the blue" that indicates the Christian is connected to something or someone that is unseen.

There is a saying we can chose to live "under our circumstances". We can whine, complain and be as edgy as anyone without faith, or we can raise up our eyes to God who sees all of our circumstances and exercise trust that God is there, that God will provide, that God is still on the throne and knows what He is doing in us and through the circumstances and that eventually, it will all turn out for the good of those around us, and for the Kingdom of God. Because, dear friends, there is a Kingdom of Heaven and there is a King who is very much alive.

One thing I know.. I do have the choice to look up and live the kingdom life in trust or I can look down at my feet and just walk around in my circumstances. And so can you.

Clouds

The other day I had a few minutes before a meeting so I sat on a bench and looked up into the azure sky and watched very fluffy white clouds. There were two of them. One slowly was moving into the other as if pushed by an invisible hand.

We know that "The heavens declare the glory of God." And just for a minute I saw the incredible beauty of what God had made.

Beyond what we can see, there is a Kingdom of Heaven which can only be seen through eyes of faith. When we look at the physical world in all its beauty we can be in awe of what we do not understand about the Creator of it all.

We cannot grasp the unseen through the seen because we have to have our spiritual eyes opened to see the Kingdom of Heaven. Much like a little kitten whose eyes are closed for a time after being born cannot see the real world until its eyes open, we cannot see what God has revealed in the spiritual world until we have our eyes of faith opened. Faith comes from the hearing of the Word of God (the Bible).

Jesus was born as a helpless baby. He was crucified, died, and was resurrected. During his final days on earth Jesus told the disciples that He would come again in clouds of glory. When He left them He was taken up to heaven in a cloud and disappeared from their sight.

Can you imagine those big, tough guys all looking up into heaven until that cloud slowly disappeared. They waited and looked, but Jesus was gone.

They walked away with a promise that He would come again "in clouds of glory." I don't think that any of them for the rest of their lives could ever look at a cloud in exactly the same way.

I am sure many of us have had the experience of flying through clouds. There is a kind of holy hush as the plane goes through these clouds because we are aware that we are in a different place from planet earth. We can break through from gloom into sunshine on the top of the clouds,or we can encounter unexpected turbulance...if the clouds are storm clouds.

How often do I miss God's message in a cloud, a tree, a mountain, a sunrise or a sunset?
Clouds are being moved today. Are you looking up?