Imagine giving a gift, something very precious which you have taken painstaking effort to prepare for the one you love so much. You’ve taken time, money and energy to plan the specific moment you will present your gift. And then, the unthinkable happens—the gift is rejected. The answer is NO. The reality dawns on you—this person I love so much is not interested in me or my gift.

I wonder how God feels? He sent His precious Son to carry our burdens, to take away our sins, to be beaten for our diseases. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him (Isaiah 53). This amazing substitution is God’s gracious and loving gift to us. It can’t be earned, it’s a free gift! Yet multitudes still reject His love!

Today, I encourage you to remember what Jesus has done for you. Receive this free gift! Simply dare to believe that He died for you and that He rose from the dead. You will never be the same!

The resurrected Jesus saw His followers out fishing. They needed to make some money. They needed to eat. What did He say to them? “I know where the provision is.” The Kingdom of God is provision. Jesus says to us, “Throw your net on the right side. You’re looking in the wrong place. I know where you need to go. I know what you need to do. I want to give you my ideas.”

What does that mean?  God knows where all the provision is for your ministry. And when you pray, He is giving you those ideas.  He is saying, “Cast your net on the right side. I know where it is. I know where all the gold is buried in the earth. I know where to find all the opportunities around you. Believe in Me! Respond to My words!”

There is no lack in the Kingdom of God, and you are in that kingdom.  I am not like the unbeliever who is nervous, worried, and fearful saying, “I don’t have enough! I can’t do it! I don’t have the people! I don’t have the favor! I don’t have the knowledge!”

No! I have God! God knows where everything is, and He is bringing it across my path!

“We preach Christ crucified…” 1 Cor 1:23 NIV

The cross is renowned as a symbol of Christianity, but in the day Jesus was crucified the cross was a place of great shame. We wear crosses around our necks, hang them on our walls and use them in our liturgical ceremonies, but do we remember the pain and the shame that Christ endured on this cross? Have we considered that scripture tells us He was marred beyond recognition?

I believe Christians who face life threatening persecution identify with this crucified Christ. They understand the reality of suffering for what they believe. The cross is an ever present image for them as they recognize what it means to lay down your life for what you believe. The early Christians considered it a privilege to suffer for their faith. The image and stories of this wonderful person Jesus Christ who did no wrong, being beaten and crucified for them, burned as an emblem of their faith. It was a motivation so deep that to consider one’s life more precious than one’s faith would almost seem preposterous.

As I read the reports from the young evangelists from Eurasia, I am stirred to remember the price the young people are paying to carry the Gospel to places such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and the remote villages of Eurasia. I remember one young group of missionary evangelists being chased out of town by the village leaders who were hurling threats and rocks at their backs. To those leaders’ surprise, however, the evangelists returned the next day. The village leaders were shocked! How could they do this? What would motivate them to come back even after being threatened with death?

These same leaders came to their knees to hear the wonderful message of Christ because of the boldness of these faithful witnesses!

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” 1 Peter 4:12-14 NIV.

The natural world reflects the spiritual world. In nature we see all things working on the seed principle. What is that? Everything makes progress.

Every time we conduct a crusade meeting people will come with their tumors and heart disease. They come on crutches and in wheel chairs wanting an instant miracle and making the preacher out to be a magician, but we are not magicians. We are farmers with good seed and the heart of people is our soil.

Don’t blame the farmer if the seed doesn’t give an instant crop, and don’t blame the seed if it is good seed just taking time to produce. The problem is usually in the type of soil the seed is in. If you just keep the seed in the soil it will grow. Seeds always want to progress.

God has given us “Word seed” for every need if we will just let the seed do its work in our heart, and expect that it is working whether we see results today or not.

In 1837, George Mueller, known for his care for thousands of orphans, found himself in an interesting quandary. The growth of the ministry required more retirement to prayer for spiritual oversight, and more provision for the approximate 400 members.

George Mueller learned an important lesson about hard work which we can apply to every aspect of life. He discovered that 1 hour of prayer for every 4 hours of work would produce much more than 5 hours of work. He held to this rule throughout his life. He discovered that when he had no way of gaining provision from natural sources, he could go to the Lord who would grant it! Are you facing difficulties in life today?

High-octane gasoline is equated with high performance. The Christian finds their high octane fuel in the word and in prayer. Remember to go the high-octane way! Yes, it may be more expensive but in the long run—IT’S MUCH CHEAPER!

[Yes] I will grant [I Myself will do for you] whatever you shall ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM] (John 14:14 AMP).

No matter what the nation’s or your own personal economy may look like, The “Good News” is that we live according to God’s economy, employing age old principles of stewardship, giving, faith, prayer and obedience.

“And besides, what’s the use of worrying? What good does it do? Will it add a single day to your life? Of course not! 26 And if worry can’t even do such little things as that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?” (Luke 12:25-26 TLB)

Recently I heard of a single mom who was prompted by the Lord to pledge a $1,000 offering. After she got home she told the Lord that she didn’t have the money but trusted He would provide. He reminded her of the hair barrettes she had created for family and friends, so she made up some barrettes and found a friend’s boutique to sell them in. A few days later a woman admiring the barrettes asked if she had created them and if she could place an order. The woman was a representative from a major department store chain, and placed an order for 50,000 barrettes on the spot!

REMEMBER – God has specific direction for you that will open the windows of heaven!

Partners, we encourage you to rejoice in the seed you have sown into this ministry and the ministries of others!

GOD IS FAITHFUL!

Every child knows about show and tell in school, but God wants us to demonstrate it in real life.  We have thought in the past that the witness of God was a good sermon, but that’s only half the story. Paul said what needs to be done is to tell the whole story “through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Ilyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:19).

Think about this, have you preached the Gospel until you see mighty signs and wonders?  We have settled for a word when God wants us to be a wonder! The Word of God says that we will receive power to be a witness (Acts 1:8). The witness of God is not a tongue or a good lifestyle. The witness of God is something only God’s power can produce…miracles!

Many have said that the day of the big show is over and now God does everything in the local church, but that’s not Jesus’ ministry. God likes to show off!  He showed the soldiers of Jerusalem that He could not be held in a grave.  He showed Peter’s jailer that He could not be held in a jail.  He showed the religious world of Israel that He could not be held in a temple.  He wants you and me to tell and show that Jesus is alive.  If you are going to be effective, there should be a demonstration of what you speak!

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. James 1:5,3:17 KJV

In challenging times wisdom is the voice that breaks through like the morning sun on the horizon. Wisdom is the picture of new hope and a new possibility for the situations that stand before us.

We are to ask for wisdom knowing that it can be easily entreated. That is, God will respond with the answer, idea, or nugget of truth necessary to scale our mountain. One nugget of wisdom can instantly bring clarity to any difficult decision.

Lord, grant to each one of us the wisdom sufficient to rise to the tasks ahead of us this day and this New Year. Grant to us all, wisdom from above!

Now, let’s expect it!

If you don’t believe in yourself, you can’t do what God tells you to do.

In Matthew 16:18-19 Jesus told Peter, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will create the Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (author’s paraphrase).

Poverty comes from hell, not from heaven. Sickness comes out of hell, not from heaven. Fear comes from hell, not from heaven. All liars, deceivers and angry things come from hell, not from heaven. Nothing that comes from the gates of hell will prevail against you! Hallelujah! The gates of hell will not prevail against you! I don’t care what has been coming at you, it will not prevail. It will not persist. It will not continue.

Why? Because you have a revelation from heaven, Christ has told you who you are. And when you know who you are, everything that you bind on earth will be bound and everything that you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Because you know who you are!

We were preaching in Mariupel, Ukraine, at the top of the Black Sea. There we stayed with a Pastor who had a church of four hundred people. I noticed that the Pastor had no phone and no car. In conversation I asked him, “How can you minister to your flock if you can’t talk to them or visit them?” He told me communication was very difficult and He spent much time on the trolley busses.

That night I challenged the church to pay to connect a phone in his home. All agreed, but with half of his church unemployed and the others only making fifty dollars a month it looked like the biggest miracle in the world to his congregation. Some waited for a phone for thirty years because they couldn’t afford to pay the required thousand dollars.

I encouraged the congregation to trust God to use them as a source to purchase the phone. I asked how many would allow God to use them as a channel of supernatural blessing, and most agreed.

The next night as we were about to begin preaching, a salty old sailor came up to us with big tears in his eyes and shouting, “I’m the one! I’m the one!” I watched him approach thinking, you’re the one? What does that mean? 

 He continued, “I’m the one to give the phone! I stood up last night and committed, and when I got home I received two phone calls from foreign shipping companies. They have asked me to work at European salaries for the next two years. I’ve been unemployed for two years!”

Only when more people will stand up in their faith and pledge to a Godly cause will we see more miracles of supernatural supply in the body of Christ!