Sing it! Shout it! Let the whole world know!

Do you ever feel that you cannot contain all the praise you have for the Lord?! I love the verses in the Bible which speak of giving praise to God.


Praising God is not a feeling. Praising God is a conscious activity. We praise Him by thoughtfully extolling His goodness, His greatness, His majesty, His love, His grace, His mighty deeds on our behalf, etc.

Today, I would like to share with you some wonderful answers to prayer and how God is working in my life and in the lives around me through heart-burdened and tear-filled prayers. I better type fast, or else I might just burst with all the praise bubbling up inside me!

First off, let me mention something - if you haven't already started a prayer book - I'd HIGHLY encourage you to make yourself your own prayer journal. It's great fun to write down, read though, and pray for all the requests, but the best thing about having it all on paper is that days, weeks, months, and years later you are able to fill in an answer to the prayer! God IS SO GOOD!!!!



Beginning in January of this year, I began to pray more and more fervently for several specific requests. Below is the request with a little snippet of how God is answering prayer....

#1- That God might save an older gentleman named Mr. B. Sadly, this man really wants nothing to do with Christianity and of course he as some type of excuse for visiting church. His wife passed away last year and the first time she and I met at church she asked me to pray for her husband's salvation. I began praying that day and will not stop. I care so much for him and want to see him saved. I'm thankful that we have continued to have contact with each other throughout the year. I was surprised to receive a note in the mail from him a few months ago, as I had decided that he didn't want anything more to do with me, God, church, etc. I personally think it is very important that a Christian stay in contact with the family of a deceased person. The family members may not have had anything to do with the church, but telling them that you're praying for them and letting them know you are there to help them is sometimes one of the very best ways to witness and that through it all they may see Christ in our lives.

#2- There is an older couple whom I have grown to love and I care deeply about that need salvation and not just a "religion." I'm rejoicing to see God answering my prayers. They have attended several church services and I'm continuing to pray daily for them.


#3- I'm deeply burdened for several families that I know who are not saved. It hurts to know that they don't want to know about the Lord, nor do they want their children to hear the truth. Yet, God is working in amazing ways and is able to conquer the foe!


Several weeks ago, I could not fall asleep as I felt so burdened to pray for those unsaved people that I was literally crying with tears pouring down my cheeks at 2am one night for these people who are living a life without hope. Love is so painful! My heart literally breaks when I see the hopelessness that these people have and it really does hurt.

We Christians have such a joy that we want to: Sing it, shout it, and let the whole world know what Christ has done for us and what He can do for them!


#4- I'm currently taking a course through an online school. I began the class in June of last year and plan on graduating within the next couple of months. I prayed long and hard about taking a class online. It was such a hard decision because I'm such a "people person" and love being able to commute with others. I asked the Lord for His will to be done. I enrolled in the school thinking, "God, what are you doing?! I'm not going to be a witness for you on here - there are no people to talk with!" I sit back and laugh now, but I was very concerned about having an opportunity to witness and wondered how I'd be able to witness to a computer, books, and myself. Well, thankfully the school had a forum........

Yes, religion topics are considered "hot topics" on the forum, but that's OK. I decided that the forum would be a great place to reach out to all my fellow students who live all over the country and the world! I decided that I was going to post a "hot topic" and if they told me that I was no longer allowed on the forum, then that was OK with me, but I was going to post something even if it cost me my forum membership! If you remember from a previous post, I mentioned that I posted the "Are You A Good Person" test from Way of the Master. Click here to read previous post to see what happened and the comments I received from the students on the forum for posting the test.

Well, after that thread was locked by the moderator (thankfully I wasn't kicked off the forum!) I continued to pray and to seek out other ways of which I could share Christ with the thousands of students and graduates.

I began a prayer thread where students could share prayer requests/praises and there was such an overwhelming response to that thread post, which allowed me to continue to share deeper and deeper things about the Lord. It's been truly amazing and cannot stop giving thanks and praise to God!

In March I was contacted by the school and asked if I wouldn't mind writing an article for the "Student in the Spotlight" for their upcoming newsletter which goes out to over 17,000 former graduates and current students as well as various MT companies. I was told that I could write anything I wanted. I was in total shock and wondered why out of the thousands of other students I was chosen as the student for the spotlight section of the newsletter.

All I have to say is that God works in AMAZING ways!!!! I prayed for ways to witness and God gave me an opportunity within weeks! The newsletter will not only go out to all those 17,000 people, BUT also to several different countries! I continually stand in awe of the way God works through the power of prayer!

I really wanted to share all the neat specific ways God has answered each request, but as this is a public blog, I do not want to post all the details on here, so I'll have to settle with sharing the "specific general info." I've posted.

PRAISE HIM! PRAISE HIM!

Books, Books, Books.

Sadly, I do not have enough time in my day/night to read all the books I would love to, but I'm trying my best. I currently am working on a stack of 14 medical theme books and 9 mission/prayer/biography themed books.


I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon outside reading a 320 page book from Revival Literature by Ron Owens. It was a very good book and a nice reminder of what happens when we have true faith.

Notes from the book:

Manley Beasley Man of Faith- Instrument of Revival.
By: Ron Owens

Here are some good quotes:

"When the glory of the Father is the goal of every prayer,
When before the throne of heaven our High Priest presents it there,
When the Spirit promts the asking and the pleading heart believes,
Then, yes then we know for certain he who's asking will receive."
~Unknown


"You can have as much of God as you are willing to pay the price for." ~ Manley Beasley

"The mark of a godly man, or church, is that everything they do is God-initiated."

~ Manley Beasley

"Faith is the substance of what you are looking for before it has even arrived.
God says it, that settles it, so go act upon it and you'll have a faith that's alive.
To get in on what God has promised His children depends on some action from you,
A faith that is living is more than just trusting, it's doing what God says to do.

It's not enough just to say you believe it if you don't intend to obey.
God has so clearly revealed in His Word how He wants us to live every day.
You'll find that you don't have to wait until heav'n to get in on what God has for you,
As you dare to step out in faith you'll discover what God says He'll do, He will do."



"Revival is God revealing Himself to man in awe-full holiness and irresistible power. It is such a manifest working of God that human personalities are overshadowed and human programs abandoned. It is man retiring into the background because God has taken the field. It is the Lord making bare His holy arm and working in extra ordinary power on saint and sinner."
~Arthur Wallis


Faith has three elements:

• Intellectual Faith
• Emotional Faith
• Volitional Faith

Intellectual Faith-

"This is the kind of faith that blieves God can do anything and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We believe that God can do anything."

See: Matthew 9:29

"If faith is just believing that God can do a particular thing, then why is He not doing what you believe He can do? Could it mean that your faith is incomplete?"

(Satan also believes this)


Emotional Faith- not real faith

"Sadly, that is about as far in the walk of faith that a lot of people go. They know intellectually. Their emotions desperately desire. But neither of these in or of themselves moves God into action."



Volitional Faith- act as though it has already happened.

God has given us a will.

"... God waits on us to act on His revealed truth because faith is acting on the Word of God. I must not only believe He can meet a need; I must begin to act as though I might not be able to see it, feel it, smell it, taste it, or hear it. I must begin acting as if it is so, when it is not so, in order for it to be so, because with God it already is so." Trust God.

See:
Philippians 4:19 (God HAS solved my problem)
Matthew 21:22- True belief is acting on God's revealed truth.
Luke 17:14- The lesson here is that only when their will moved them to obedient and believing action God granted their request."

"At the time of suffering it may seem that God is hurting you, but when you have passed through that valley of suffering and are able to look back, you see the benefits of it all. You literally forget the pain." ~ Manley Beasley

Jesus lived a life of:

• Submission - John 4:32-34
  
• Renunciation - John 5:30
  
• Faith - John 6
  
  
  
  .....more notes coming later. :)
  
  
  

Christians need to have children!

"Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed."

Psalm 112:1-2 KJV


"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."
Psalm 127:3-5 KJV


"Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways." Psalm 128:1 KJV

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord."
Psalm 128:3-4 KJV

Why are so many Christian families only having 2-3 children?

Is money the issue? God will provide all your needs according to His riches in glory.

Is time an issue? God has given us 24 hours per day and reminds us in Ecclesiastes that there is a time for everything. The time you spend raising your children for the glory of God is worth every sleepless night you have spent feeding them, changing their diapers, and praying for their souls. It's worth every mess you have had to clean up, every meal you've had to make and every boo-boo kiss you've given to heal their hurt.

Is being questioned for sanity an issue? Don't worry about it-if everyone started to have more children, then larger families it would become the norm, so you would fit in perfectly. Children are a gift and a blessing from the Lord.

Are you questioning how you would serve God on a mission field with a large family?
1st - Remember, if it's God's will then He will supply EVERY need.
2nd- God DOES call EVERYONE who is His child to preach the gospel and to share His love with this lost and dying world. God has given parents a mission field right within their own home to proclaim His word to their children.

Remember to keep this in mind:

He has blessed you with a quiverfull of arrows. Parents need to work on sharpening them so when the time comes you can shoot them out into the world as a light and witness for the Lord. The job of a parent is to raise children that fear, honor, and obey the Lord and who will serve Him forever.

No matter the cost we will: Trust God. Live for God. Die for God.

Are you worried about the state of spiritual decline in America? Are you wondering what will happen to your children and grandchildren? Then keep this in mind- the feature of AMERICA depends on US!!!! The size of your quiver does not matter as long as you are following the Lord. Get out there with your little arrows and start spreading the gospel!

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." Matthew 4:14

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. " Matthew 4:16

Let your little light shine!

Take the time to watch this video clip:

Market Music Ministry

WOW! It has been 4 months since I last posted something on this blog! It has been forever since I've even been on blogger or even read blogs and I feel so bad! I'm now trying to remember how to post things and figure out all the new little things on blogger.

So much has been happening that I have no idea where to begin.... I guess I'll start from today and work my way backwards in the upcoming posts this coming week.

This morning we woke up bright and early and headed over to our local flea market. We set up a tent, chairs, and tables on which we put a bunch of gospel tracts from Way of the Master. We call this our: Market Ministry. We arrived at the market at 6:00am and stayed until about 12:30pm. My sister Amber, my brother Curtis, and our friend Eugene spent the morning playing their stringed instruments from 6:30am-12:30pm. They played the guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, Dobro, and fiddle! We had quite a crowd gather to listen to the music and while they were listening to the music I passed out tracts and CDs. It was so much fun! We had a wonderful time. I was a little upset that we had forgotten to take the Spanish tracts with us, but I went ahead and passed out the English tracts to the Spanish speaking people we met. A neat thing that happened was that while we were there, two older missionary couples that we know dropped by our table. It was so neat because both of the couples speak fluent Spanish and were able to talk a bit with some of the Spanish people that dropped by our table.

Please learn from my experiences from talking with people this morning at the market.....

**TIP**: Be Careful What You Say!.....it may prove to be embarrassing!

Well this morning a young mom with an 8-9yr. son walked up to our table and I began to talk with her and invited them to come visit our church. I also noticed that she was probably at least 7-8 months pregnant and honestly believed that she would be having a baby in a few months.....
I'm not good at figuring out how many months along a pregnant lady is just by looking at her, but figured that it would be safe to ask because as I mentioned before....she looked very much pregnant.

Well......do NOT ask a lady who looks like she is at least 7-8 months pregnant when she is due! She may reply with, "Oh, I'm not expecting."

I felt so bad! It was seriously pretty funny though because I thought for sure she was expecting! Oops, I guess not. Anyway, I have learned that the best thing a person can do is to stick to talking about the Lord, church, and music - don't stray too far from those topics!


Lord-willing, I'll be able to post more of my exciting news from the past few months on the blog during this coming week.....so stay in tune! God is working in wonderful ways!

Oh Buddha!

I love this song sung by the Imperials and I hope you enjoy it as well!

What happened to my blog music?
I have removed it for the time being, and I'm hoping to add new songs to the playlist soon.
Plus, I figured it's easier to listen to video clips with out the extra music playing in the background.

No Complaining - time is short! Get busy!

Thought I'd share this with you - just a friendly reminder that we shouldn't complain about being a shy and not able to witness to others because we tend to be quiet. I used that excuse for a while, but after reading these verses things changed.....

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

God made our mouths.

If we allow ourselves to be molded and shaped into a vessel fit for our Master's use, He will give us the words to say and give us many opportunities to witness.

Christmas Love

CHRISTMAS LOVE....

Joy To The World

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Joy To the World -Words: Isaac Watts, 1719 Music: Lowell Mason, 1848
Originally named "Antioch," Mason's original score said "from George Frederick Handel."The tune is named after the city of Antioch, Syria, where believers were first called "Christians";(Acts 11:26).

It is now December and many people are planning for the holiday season. I just wanted to remind you that this opens up great witnessing oppertunities for those of us celebrating the true REASON for the season (the birth of Christ) to share with those shoppers, cashiers, and others that we will meet this month. You can bake Christmas cookies to take to neighbors with a Christmas card and gospel tract. If you have children let them help bake, decorate and deliver the cookies. Again, remember that many people that tend to refuse things from adults will take things from a child.

My youngest sister who is 8 years old, is always reminding us to take tracts every time we leave the house. Just the other day she was out shopping with my mom. She had her purse loaded with tracts and went straight up to a lady shopping in the store and said, "Hello" and gave her gospel tract. The lady asked, "What is this?" and my sister replied, "It's a gospel tract."
Sounds simple doesn't it?

I had surgery two weeks ago on my hips and just had my sutures removed this week. Well, since I knew I wouldn't be seeing the doctor and his staff until after Christmas I decided to make some fudge to give to them. Of course I had already put tracts inside the little snowman tin along with a bunch of fudge. On my way out the door for my appointment, my sister asked me if I had tracts to give them, but I was already one step ahead of her!

Here is the fudge recipe:

Two-Tone Fudge

Ingredients:
1-1/2 teaspoons plus 1/2 cup butter, softened
divided 2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

Line a 9-in. square pan with foil and grease the foil with 1-1/2 teaspoons butter; set aside. In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugars, milk and remaining butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a rapid boil; boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low; stir in the marshmallow creme until melted and blended. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Pour 2-1/2 cups into a bowl; stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts until chips are melted. Pour into prepared pan. Add the butterscotch chips to the remaining marshmallow mixture; stir until chips are melted. Pour over the chocolate layer and gently spread to cover.Refrigerate overnight or until firm. Using foil, remove fudge from pan; carefully peel off foil. Cut into 1-in. squares. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 2-3/4 pounds.

Spread the love of Christ with others this season!

Send care packages or Christmas cards to missionaries that are living far away from family & friends. Tell them you're praying for them and their ministry.