What does offering help to someone else provide? Does it provide a sense of personal fulfillment? Or perhaps a reminder that your situation may not be all that bad?
I often tell people that when you help someone else you sense the presence of God helping people, and this in turn is a reminder that God will help you. I recently received a letter from someone who took this to heart. She said:
“Thank you for your message about helping somebody else when you’re going through personal problems. My younger brother is dying of brain cancer. For much of his life he has been homeless and battling alcoholism. My other sister was too drunk to properly care for him or even to talk to the hospital about his needs. But, today I went on visitations for my sidewalk Sunday school and I was able to pray with a mom that has been fighting depression. Seeing the kids excited about Sunday school tomorrow brought me true joy. It’s so true when you’re going through something, reach out to somebody else and that’s where you find God’s strength.”
I’d like to share a story with you about a man from the Congo who was only one step away from a very tragic decision in his life. However, in just a matter of moments his world was changed instantly.
How? He heard words. Simple words of Good News opened the door to a new world. Do you need doors opened in your life? Today is your day!
In one of our meetings in the Congo, a young father was distraught and very upset about how life had treated him. I don’t know what situation you are facing—maybe you find yourself like this young father.
He had just purchased poison at a local pharmacy and was on his way home to take his and his family’s lives that night. As he walked, he heard words in the distance over loud speakers and decided to see what was happening. As he listened, he heard a new idea. The words began to penetrate his heart, and he had an overwhelming sense of God’s love and presence.
This young father later made his way to the platform to tell the audience what had happened. He stood weeping before 100,000 people, telling them the evil he had planned and how God had freed him and forgiven him. Suddenly, the crowd began to part as a woman with several children made her way to the platform. She was crying and shouting, “Honey, honey! We are here too!”
The couple embraced on the platform, forgave each other and committed their lives to the LORD. In an instant the question of who God is was answered—God is love! He is forgiveness, peace and restoration!
Do you need God’s presence? We have seen Him touch the masses around the world. Jesus is here for you right now. Wherever you are, just stop and turn your thoughts to God. He loves you. He believes in you. And today, He offers you forgiveness!
My husband, Kevin, and I founded the 100 Tent Project, and Tatiana is just one of dozens of Russian missionaries committed to helping the estimated 100,000 unreached villages of Eurasia through this unique method of connecting with these isolated communities and regions.
Tatiana and her evangelistic team travel from village to village with their 350-seat tent, bringing good news of encouragement, joy, and hope to regions overwhelmed by hopelessness.
No, Tatiana was not a public speaker, an educator, a government official, or an official voice of any sort. She was a Babushka, a grandmother, who was gripped by what she saw—a staggering need with no apparent solution. But with God’s help, direction, and the gift of one great tool: a big, bright yellow and white tent, she brought an answer that has impacted the entire area.
Follow this link to find out more about the 100 Tent Project and learn why the project began, as well as its intended purpose and destination: http://bit.ly/1SgDNLR. If you’d like to get involved in these rural regions of Eurasia and invest in the 100 Tent Project, I encourage you to go to www.LeslieMcNulty.com.
In the modern song entitled, “I Am a Friend of God”, the writer asks the question of God, “Who am I that you are mindful of me? That you hear me, when I call? Is it true that you are thinking of me?”
Mother Theresa said, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” You never have to be alone! The writer of “I am a Friend of God” concludes his song by stating of God, “You, God, call me, ‘friend’!”
Today I want you to know that you have a friend in God. For He said in His holy scriptures, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So go ahead and take His hand…. He’s there, right now. http://bit.ly/1E6nEg2
“A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.” The author of this phrase, Elbert Hubbard, also wrote a story about Ida Straus, and her death on the Titanic. As a woman she was supposed to be placed on a lifeboat before any of the men, but she refused to board the boat: “Not I!” she said, “I will not leave my husband. All these years we’ve traveled together, and shall we part now? No,” she said, “our fate is one.” Hubbard then added his own stirring commentary:
“Mr. and Mrs. Straus, I envy you that legacy of love and loyalty left to your children and grandchildren. The calm courage that was yours all your long and useful career was your possession in death. You knew how to do three great things—you knew how to live, how to love, and how to die.” “Happy lovers, both,” Elbert said, “In life they were never separated, and in death they are not divided.”
Ask yourself these three simple questions: Have I discovered the key to a full life? Have I learned to love with a full heart? What will I do when one day I face death? These questions, as simple as they may appear, lie at the core of a meaningful life.
If such human love like Mrs. Strauss is capable of such great sacrifice—what could you do with devotion and love of this type? How could you influence those around you?
I encourage you today to go to my website, www.LeslieMcNulty.com. We are here to help you, and have made tools available to you that will change your life!
One night a man by the name of Victoricus appeared to his friend Patrick in a dream. Patrick had known Victoricus in Ireland when they were slaves. In Patrick’s dream, Victoricus held a letter with the heading “The Voice of the Irish,” and as Patrick read it, he heard the voice of a multitude of people crying and begging him to come back and walk among them once more.
You know, the ordinary person might be surprised and happy to have an old friend, or even a multitude, appear to them in a dream. But Patrick’s life was different. The Irish in the early 5th century were a barbaric collection of Celtic tribes, and they were regularly sending out raiding parties to capture slaves and riches. One day a great fleet of boats swept up the west coast of Britain and seized “many thousands” of young prisoners. Among these prisoners was a young man by the name of Patrick, who was taken to the slave markets in Ireland. Although he was educated and spoiled as a youth, he now found himself bound to slavery in the cold highlands of Ireland. Destitute with barely any clothing or food to eat, he would spend months with little to no contact with other humans. Yet in this barren place he developed a friendship with Victoricus, and a deep relationship with God.
Victoricus was a reminder to Patrick of Ireland’s need for help. He was an Irishmen trapped in the same slavery that Patrick had experienced. Perhaps you are like Victoricus and you need help? Or perhaps you’ve had a picture in your heart of someone you would like to help?
The dream appearing to Patrick to come and help the Irish was relentless, and finally he surrendered and trained for the ministry in France. A few years later he emerged from seminary as a young Bishop, eventually arriving on the shores of Ireland as the country’s first known missionary. By the time of Patrick’s death the Irish slave trade had ended, and murder and inter-tribal warfare had decreased significantly.
Today, you can be that friend, that caring voice of encouragement as Victoricus was to Patrick, and as Patrick was to an entire nation. You can help someone else find their destiny. So go ahead, take the risk, you won’t be disappointed!
I encourage you today to go to my website, www.LeslieMcNulty.com. We are here to help you, and have made tools available to you that will change your life!
An elderly woman in Africa lived under an overpass in a cardboard house. She was dirty and alone. Her body was full of tuberculosis and no one wanted anything to do with her.
One day several ladies from the local church ventured out to see this lonely soul. You can only imagine how shocked this sick little woman was to see these very proper women show up under her bridge! The ladies had come to invite her to an outdoor Christian meeting where people were being healed. Reluctantly, she agreed to join them, but not knowing how the people might react to her, she insisted on standing at the edge of the very large crowd.
As she stood there she heard the speaker say, “God loves you, He’s closer than any friend and He doesn’t want you to be sick!” At that moment the church ladies glanced over and noticed their sick friend was smiling and breathing normally!
Her new companions were so excited that they insisted she go to the platform and tell everyone what had just happened. A few minutes later, as she stood there on the platform, she said to the large crowd,
“You know me. I am the woman you pass by every day. The one who lives under the bridge.” The ladies who brought her interrupted her and said, “Tell the people how God healed you today. Tell them!” The little old lady looked at the crowd and began her story again. “Yes,” she said, “I am healed, but what I know is that when I go home today, I will never be alone again! I have a new friend and His name is Jesus!”
In his book, “The Message that Works,” Dr. TL Osborn includes a chapter about Friendship With God, in which he states that God declares, “You can trust Me, I will trust you!”
Have you ever considered that God trusts you? And therefore you can trust yourself? I believe this is the essence of God’s heart toward you today.
You and I were created for fellowship with God, for friendship with God. Our rightful place is at His side—not under His feet or under His thumb. He doesn’t carry a hammer or a whip, commanding obedience…no, our rightful place is standing arm-in-arm with the living, loving God.
There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. What does a true friend offer? Unconditional Acceptance, Unwavering Commitment, Unswerving Loyalty. And today, what does Jesus offer YOU? Uncompromising, unwavering support when you don’t know where to turn.
Miracles have the amazing ability to silence the voice of those who do not believe, for there is no greater evidence of the effect of God’s love and forgiveness upon a soul than an undeniable miracle!
According to Colossians 1:27, when you are born again Christ now lives in you. So, where is the presence of God? I’m not looking forward over here, or looking backward over there, or begging for it up there. I am relishing the abundance and living in the glory of His love and His life and His Spirit in me right now. I come boldly to His throne of grace and receive what I have need of from Him. I recognize that He lives in me, I live in Him, and His presence surrounds me.
