Archive for March, 2007
Not yet!
Tonight at the hospital I was walking around waiting for Silas to be born and a nurse said she thought I was walking around trying to get ready for delivery myself! I was shocked even a nurse thought I was due. I know I’m big, but I didn’t think it was that dramatic. I still have over 2 months left! I guess this is what I get with 2 babies!!
yet another dream…
Ok, so a friend just emailed me and told me she had a dream last night that I was in the hospital and I had twins! this is the second person to have a dream about my twins in a week! Somethings up.
Fierce Faith!
Fierce Faith
So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. . . . Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.
—Daniel 6:16-17 (NKJV)
We now come to the most popular episode in Daniel’s life. After breaking the law that forbade him from praying to his God, Daniel was seized. He was thrown into the lions’ den, which was immediately sealed up. It’s interesting that the book of Daniel only gives us an outsider’s view of this event. However, it’s the book of Hebrews that gives us an interesting insight into what happened inside the den:
And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions . . . (Hebrews 11:32-33 NKJV)
It was Daniel’s faith—his child-like dependency and belief in God—that kept him from being devoured. Remember that it was the prophet’s faith that had caused him to be cast into the den in the first place. And if faith got him into the den, then it could also get him out of it. Daniel did his part to trust, and God did His part to deliver:
So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God. (Daniel 6:23 NKJV)
The same principle applies to our lives today. Of course the lions have taken on different forms, but no matter what’s out there waiting to devour us, it will always be our faith in God that saves us. Our part is to trust in Him, and His part is to deliver us. And even in our moments of doubt and distrust, He’s faithful to fill us with a fierce faith that stops the mouths of lions.
A Bystander Becomes a Believer
Then the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den.
—Daniel 6:23 (NKJV)
When God does something, it usually has more than one purpose. Such was the case with Daniel’s deliverance from the lions’ den. This miracle not only saved Daniel’s life, but it also served to accomplish something in King Darius, who had been a bystander to the entire event.
Darius found himself in an awkward position. He loved and respected Daniel but was also the one who approved the very law that condemned the prophet. According to his own law, Darius was unable to overturn the decree that would send his friend to the lions’ den. He was bound by law to punish Daniel, but he was also bound by guilt for having played a part in his apparent death.
The king was restless that entire night and went down to the den early in the morning. Is it possible . . . could it be . . . was Daniel’s God able to save him? His questions were answered by the prophet’s heartfelt greeting. “O king, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me . . .” (Daniel 6:21-22 NKJV). Now notice how Darius responded to Daniel’s deliverance:
Then King Darius wrote: To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, And His dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders In heaven and on earth, Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. (Daniel 6:25-27 NKJV)
Most Bible scholars believe this proves that Darius came to a saving faith in the true and living God! Here’s the point: A lot of our trials are being used in other people’s lives. Bystanders are watching us every day as we go through difficulties. They want to see how our God delivers us—and when He does, it might be the very thing that brings them into His kingdom.
Holy Spirit Leading!
Well, since the Lord is highlighting the fact that a lot of us deal with the fear of man and have pretty much kept all the “Good News” of the kingdom to oursleves, me being the chief of sinners in this area, I figured I would right a quick testimony of the perfect leadership of the Holy Spirit. At 7:00pm on Wednesday March 14th, our small group planned to meet together, wait on the Lord and go out to evangelise wherever it was that the Spirit led us. The Lord had been highlighting to us the fact that Jesus only did and said what the Father told Him to. So, Our group leader, whom has had missionary experience in some Muslim nations, sat us down and briefed us on how we are going to just wait on the Holy Spirit to give us some pictures and words in order to lead us to where He wants us to go. He then went on to share some quick testimonies of when him and his wife where on the mission field and had walked out this reality. This diffenetly built and encouraged our faith. So, we put some worship music on and we waited on the Lord. All of us individually wrote down the pictures and words we felt the Holy Spirit gave us. This was fun and we had some good laughs at some of our pictures!! Non-the-less we had a lot of them that actually matched up and fit together. I’ll share with you the pictures we got that are relevant to this certain testimony, a McDonalds, a Hamburger, a middle aged African American, and the number 37. Several of us got the picture of the African American gentleman. So, we put all of our pictures together and headed off to the streets. The five guys went out in the mini-van with car seats and the five ladies stayed home and interceded(because three of the five are pregnant). The presence of the Lord was on us in that mini-van. He was highlighting meekness and humility and that it’s not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit. We drove around for I would say 1 hour praying and being touched by the Lord. The anticipation for the movement of the Lord was high and the Spirit kept on giving us more and more pictures and touching our hearts with His love. Okey, I’ll fast forward some. We end up driving by an African American Male and one of us sinced that this was significant. So, we drove around the block and passed 37th street. Right after 37th street was a McDonalds. We pulled into the McDonalds and our leader got a strong picture of a One Way street sign. So, we pull out of the McDonalds parking lot and as we stopped at the nieghborhood intersection that the McDonalds is on, that same African American male that we saw previously, flagged us down and walked up to the the passenger window of our van and just said Hi. We all just stared at each other for a couple of seconds and one of us says, “Hey bro, the Lord sent us here to tell you about Him…etc. Literally two minutes later, two of us get out of the car, start ministering to this man who’s name is Sean. Five minutes after that, He gives his life to the Lord!! The fish literally jumped in the boat. While the other two began to minister to Sean, three of us remained in the van in the McDonalds parking lot interceding for about TWO HOURS!! At one point our team leader felt the Lord tell him to give Sean, who is homeless and can’t read, a hug. As he did, Sean began to weap and as they continued to pray he said he felt peace, joy and FIRE! All this took place under a ONE WAY street sign!! So, the Holy Spirit led us to Sean who basically jumped into our van and said give me Jesus!!, but it all happened at a McDonald’s, down the street from 37th st. , under a one way street sign and He led us to buy him a burger to eat!! The Amazing part is that both the intercessors(at home and in the van) and those doing the “physical ministry” touched the heart of Jesus for one homeless, lost, written off by society, soul and are forever changed!! One sowed, the other reeped and both touched the heart of God for the lost and experienced the perfect leadership of the Holy Spirit!! Praise the Lord!!!! AMEN.
Image Barers
Malachi 3:3 says:
“He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what
this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver
and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to
watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for
her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining
Silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the
fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one
needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames
were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she
thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and
purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he
had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was
being refined.
The man answered yes, he not only had to sit there holding the
silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it
was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the
flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the
silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”
He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy — when I see my
image in it.
Phillipians 2:5-8, James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:13-16
I feel huge today.
I guess this is normal at this point, but I’m feeling a bit huge. I noticed that I have to stand away from the kitchen sink when I do the dishes b/c my big belly is in the way! It’s weird. It’s actually getting in the way of alot of things…..like putting on my own socks & shoes. It actually hurts to just bend down, so I have to sit and turn and go through this whole project just to get ready. And to make things more…challenging….is that I still have about 2 1/2 more months to go. How much bigger can I get?! This should be interesting.
Wow….we’re late.
Why are we so late for everything all the time?! I’m sick of the ‘caribbean time’ excuse. It’s annoying now! We’re even late to get on this “wordcasting” thing! It’s ridiculous. Can someone pray. We need help.
