No Problem: Gene's Praying

There's a series of commercials from an account temp agency that feature the ultimate employee- "Bob." Apparently Bob can handle ANY job and makes even the best employee cringe that he is around their office. I've laughed over the years as I've heard of Bob's exploits in the office world. I missed them while I was in Maine, but with our move to Rhode Island we're back in their business area again. "No problem: Bob's here!"

I spotted Gene Bragg at the back of the OOB pavilion this morning. I wanted to say HI, so I moved back to see him. After a few words of greeting, he told me "I'm praying early every day for you and Debbie."

That's certainly nice to hear, but immediately after those words uttered by Gene, God spoke to my spirit and said: "THAT'S why you both have been so calm in the midst of your current situation. Gene's praying for you."

Just so you know- Gene's a powerful intercessor. We discovered that during our last 7 years in Bangor. When Gene prays, things happen because God listens. Of this there was NO doubt in my mind. Now if that's possible, after God's word to me, I am even MORE confident!

Now I don't want to ignore that fact that there are a LOT of people praying specifically for us right now. We count on you all and appreciate EVERY prayer that goes up on our behalf. You're ALL awesome. I'm just telling you what God told me.

Now Debbie & I know exactly why we've been so incredibly calm in the midst of things that SHOULD be making us "crazy." Gene's praying.

Thanks Gene for your daily prayer support. We will be eternally grateful.

Friday Night at OOB Top 10 List

Friday night at Old Orchard Beach was awesome and there are many reasons I say so. Here's my Top 10 List:

10) It didn't rain!

9) I got to see "The Generals" coloring book made just for this year's meetings!

8) I was the first person to start off the 24/7 Prayer Room for the camp meetings (just like last year); 1 hour of POWER! The word I got was "It's all about Jesus."

7) It was (and always is) good to see many good friends and family!

6) It was great to be able to reconnect with a group of War College students who are all special to me!

5) I got to see and hug a few of my spiritual daughters (both official and unofficial ones)!

4) General Burrows spoke twice and was awesome (there were many seekers at the altar)!

3) I got to pray with a couple of people at the altar and General Burrows came down and prayed with us!

2) I got to spend some late hours praying with The War College Ministry Team for their week of Prophetic Evangelism at the OOB pier (praying with them is always fantastic)! God has some BIG plans for them this coming week!

1) The War College Team prayed for Debbie & I and gave us some awesome personal words from God about our specific situation in Rhode Island! One person who doesn't know our situation at all, spoke of the many children in our care and how God will be providing financially (as those of you who read my blog regularly know, we have a large Child Care Center in RI and we owe $2.5 million for its construction)!

Wow! More evidence God is working to get rid of that debt! Watch this space!

No Rest

Lately I've been very tired. I know it's because of all the stress of moving, learning a new job, long hours doing hard work, etc. Although I'm sleeping fine, sometimes it feels as if I didn't get any rest the night before.

We've got a couple weeks of vacation coming up soon in August. That's when I'll be able to put aside the things screaming in my ear and get away from it all (Oh Calgon- take me away!). I'm going to take it easy, take some naps, watch Rays baseball in person and soak up some sun in Florida. I can hardly wait!

As I read my Bible I came across a passage of promise that God has quickened to my heart for Rhode Island:

O Rhode Island, I have posted watchmen (and watchwomen) on your walls (intercessors); they will pray to Yahweh day and night for the fulfillment of his promises. Take no rest, all you who pray. Give Yahweh no rest until he makes Rhode Island the object of praise throughout the earth.
- Isaiah 62:6-7

God has awesome plans for Rhode Island. Of that I have NO doubt! His promises to us are many- including $2.5 million, growth in our corps and spiritual stability. Our task is to be faithful praying for his promises to be fulfilled. We are to give God NO REST until he causes his promises to be realized and seen by all.

So here's a challenge to all intercessors whom Holy Spirit is nudging to pray for Rhode Island (or the Burrs)- get on God's case 24/7! Don't let him rest until he comes through for us. Not so we look good, but so HE gets the glory for it all (it's all about Jesus).

When we break through and God sends his promised blessing on us, then maybe we'll give him a break so he can take a couple weeks off in Florida.

Impossible?

This morning during my prayer time, I opened a small devotional booklet given to me by some close friends. Today is day 11 and the verse is Luke 18:27.

"What is impossible with men is possible with God." - Jesus

Perfect!

Yesterday we had our first department head's meeting. In that meeting we talked about who we are, what our mission is and the many ways we're going to be working together in Rhode Island. We also talked about our financial position (not good) and a very large debt we have on our recently built Child Care Center facility. Two million, fifty-six thousand and some odd cents. Man! It looks even bigger when I spell it out like that!

You know, our operating payments expected monthly are barely going to scratch the surface of that kind of money. We're all going to be long gone before it will be paid off like that! Besides, if we have to make those payments, our regular operations are going to take a serious hit. Impossible!

But we're not in this alone. What's impossible for humankind is nothing to the God we serve (my God owns the kettles in a thousand malls!)! And that's right where I have decided to live. In his hands; trusting him for everything. Not just money.

We're praying for God to miraculously drop $2.5 million in our laps (we've got some other debt as well). We're asking that it be done in such a way that it could ONLY be God's provision so no one else could possibly take any credit.

We'd appreciate your prayer support in this. I promise to report right here WHEN we get our miracle. Watch this space- it won't be long.

Defects in Other Christian Faiths

The other day on the front page of our newspaper was an article about the Pope and his latest document release which restates the position that the Roman Catholic Church is the "only" true church. It states that other Christian communities are "defective" or not true churches; Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.

What a sad thing! So much for the Second Vatican Council and working together for Christian Unity.

Are you thinking I'm about to complain about the Catholic Church? I'm not (except to start there). What my thoughts lean toward today are the fact that it is not unusual to hear this kind of thinking from other churches either. Now maybe not so obviously, but the more this thought process is kept hidden, the more insidious it really is.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say things which inform me they think their church is the only right one. And frankly, I hear it in The Salvation Army too. I've heard Salvationists say because another professing Christian drinks, they can't be saved. And other things like this, etc.

Church! No congregation has it all together! No one has every tenet of Christian faith figured out. We need each other to be able to see the entire picture of God's revelation to humankind.

Have you ever heard the story of the 6 blind men who were led to an elephant and asked to verbally describe what the creature is like? The first was taken to the trunk, the second to the tusk, the third to an ear, the fourth to a foot, the fifth to the belly and the sixth to the tail. Naturally they all disagreed strenuously over what an elephant was like!

That's the way I see the Christian Church. We each know only a part of God. If we argue over what part we know, we will never reach Unity, because we're only arguing facets, not the whole. But if we trust each other and agree that each denomination has something unique to bring to the table, we can see a bigger picture of what God is trying to tell humankind.

Certainly there are defects in other Christian faiths, but we must include our own faith in this statement or we will find ourselves in the Pharisee camp. As I recall, that's not a place I want to be. Do you?

All Road's Lead to . . .

An interesting phenomenon has happened to us since we moved to Rhode Island. We have learned that you can get anywhere you want in Rhode Island via Dunkin' Donuts.

Not sure what I mean? Here's an example:

Go straight down the road and turn left at Dunkin' Donuts. Then go about a mile until you get to Dunkin' Donuts, then turn right. When you come to a Dunkin' Donuts on your left, turn right and go until you run into Dunkin' Donuts. Now you're almost there. After the third Dunkin' Donuts, turn right at the Dunkin' Donuts sign and you're right where you want to be just behind the Dunkin' Donuts.

Repeat these directions for anywhere you want to go. It always works! It works even better when you're looking for Dunkin' Donuts!

So many people question whether God exists or not, but the truth is, everywhere you go, he's there. In fact, you can't get anywhere without passing God many times on your trip. And that's the problem- people just keep passing God and never stopping to chat or just hang out with him.

The next time you head to Dunkin' Donuts, take a minute to look for God. Trust me- he's there and just waiting for you to stop your running around and just chat a bit.

AND

There is a Bible verse traditionally used by Christians when relating the salvation process:

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" -Romans 3:23

Our purpose in using it is to get people to realize that no one is righteous in and of themselves; we need God.

But this morning as I was reading through this passage, it stuck me that although the verse ends after the word "God," the sentence does not. In fact there is an "AND" at the beginning of verse 24 that continues the author's thought:

"AND are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Now it is true that we all have to see our need of God because no one can reach the mark of his righteousness on their own. But here God wants us to realize even though this is true, all who believe in Jesus are also justified (made righteous) freely. Our salvation is free because Jesus paid the price for us. That's grace.

The acrostic I have used for many years to define grace is
God's
Riches
At
Christ's
Expense.

And there it is right in the passage that we have used for many years to "beat" the realization of sin into us sinners! Yes, we are sinners, but God didn't stop there. He went on to do what we couldn't do- procure our salvation (righteousness)- and then offer it to us for free!

Isn't that just like God? Right in the middle of our realization of our sin, he places an AND to let us know there is more. AND it's his GRACE.

AND here I am again, standing under the waterfall of God's GRACE. Nice.

(Click on the picture to go to allposters.com and buy it)

Family in Rhode Island

It looks like there's family in Rhode Island! Jenn & Josh decided to vacation with us for about a week, so Chris decided to come down and see everyone too. He brought a couple of friends and spent most of the time at the beach, but it was great having everyone together at our home again.

It's interesting how the house instantly felt more like home when they all came to join us.

Ah, family. Can't beat it!

Satan is a Liar!

I heard a good sermon today (actually 2). I have a page of notes I took and of the bloggable stuff I wrote, here is what I want to offer you today:

Satan is a liar!

Just like my native language is English, Satan's native language is Deception. I don't have to think about what I say, it just naturally comes out in English. Satan just naturally speaks lies and we need to learn that when he speaks to us, there is no need to wonder if there's anything we should think about in there somewhere. There isn't; he's lying!

He tells us things like "you're not as good as that person," "you're not up to that," "you can't," "people don't like you," "you're ugly," you're a loser," "you're not . . .," etc. Those are lies. Plain and simple- lies!

The trick, you see, is learning when it's Satan speaking and when it's God speaking. When you know that, it's no problem ignoring what Satan whispers in the back of your mind. And here's the key to knowing the difference: God loves you; Satan does not. When you hear good things about yourself, you know it's God speaking. When you hear bad things, it's Satan (or maybe it's your own voice agreeing with Satan's curses that he has already convinced you of).

God made you just the way he wanted to. Sure, you don't always live up to the potential he placed in you, but he loves you anyway. His love is not based on the condition of your doing well.

I am sick and tired of people convinced they are not good enough; not accepted, etc! Well, not sick and tired of the people, just sick and tired of the enemy's lies! God's plan is to bless you, not to curse you.

Yahweh your God would not listen to Balaam, but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your God loves you. - Deuteronomy 23:5

So there you have it. Satan is a liar, but God loves you. Simple, but serious truth for today.