Monday Motivation

I received this quote from Runner's World this morning:

The athlete who says that something cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it.– John Wooden

You can easily replace athlete with the word "person."  Don't let the doubters stand in your way!

Flashback Friday

Les and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in May.  We started planning and booked our trip last May!  We are flying to Rome, spending a few days there, then joining a cruise ship that will take us to ports in Italy and Greece!  To say we are excited is an understatement!

I was rereading my posts from our 20th anniversary cruise last night.  Such incredible memories!

 Amazing sites!

Delicious food...

And so many laughs!

The Exciting Work of Gathering the Harvest!

These notes are from last Tuesday night's service at New Life Pentecostal with Bro. Henson.  I'm hoping I can make sense of them since it's been more than a week.  We flew home Wednesday and have been going nonstop since our feet hit the ground.  But this was another fabulous service and I don't want to forget!

Before Bro. Henson started his lesson, he had Pastor McGriffin give a testimony about a lady who had been in service the previous week.  I cannot remember her name, I think it was Dena or something similar.  That's what I'm going to call her to make this a little simpler to read.  She is from South Africa and is now living in Florida.  God really touched her in service...

When Pastor McGriffin was a new convert he began the practice of taking his Bible to work and reading it during lunch. Just reading his Bible in public opened many doors to witness. Bro. Frank is a member of NLP. He is also a tour bus driver. He takes his Bible with him to read on breaks and leaves it where people can see it. Dena saw Bro. Frank's Bible and asked him a little about it. She has read about the Holy Ghost and wanted to know more. Bro. Frank was able to tell her what God has done in his life.

The next day Bro. Frank went back to Waikiki hoping to find Dena. Of all the tourists that are there, it seemed an impossibility, but he found her walking! He was able to witness a little more and invited her to church that night. Dena said she might try to come. She took Uber and the driver had a hard time finding the church. Dena did not come in until 8:00, after the worship part of the service. This was the night Bro. Henson taught on Becoming a Life Champion. God touched her in a mighty way during the altar service.

Pastor McGriffin said he has never seen anyone more sincere and hungry for God. Dena is now back in Florida and is in touch with an Apostolic church there. All because someone wasn't afraid to step out into the harvest!

Now back to the lesson...

Purpose of the lesson
Obtain a better understanding of the process of gathering the harvest.
That God would touch our minds with the immensity of the harvest He wants to give us.

There are three venues for gathering the harvest:

• Individuals that Only Jesus Can Win
• Intercessory Prayer and the Ministry of Angels
• Soul Winners Working the Harvest Cycle

Individuals that Only Jesus Can Win
There are some people who through our best efforts cannot be reached. But the supernatural power of Jesus can reach them.  Saul of Tarsus was not won by an Apostle or any other believer.  He would not have received them.  It took Jesus Himself to win Saul.

We need to pray for revelation to come upon people.  Paul said of the gospel in Galatians 1:12, "For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." There are many who are sincere and dedicated in their religious beliefs.  There are others - the wealthy and those of elite status - who will not listen to a preacher, but the Holy Ghost can speak and draw them.

Intercessory Prayer and the Ministry of Angels
Angels are always on the move.  They are sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation.  God dispatches angels when we intercede.  Angels establish connections with the heirs of salvation and such as should be saved.  Angels bring hungry souls to believers.

Cornelius was a hungry man who prayed everyday.  An angel appeared to him but did not tell him how to be saved or teach him a Home Bible Study.  The angel made the connection.  An angel will not direct a soul to a preacher of false doctrine.  We are cheating the world when we don't commit ourselves to intercessory prayer.

Angels can work in strange environments.  The Hensons were on a cruise ship and Bro. Henson simply prayed "if there's a hungry soul connect me with them."  Not long after, they needed someone from maintenance to come to their room to fix a problem.  The maintenance worker was from the Philippines.  Bro. Henson could sense a hunger in this man.  They talked briefly and Bro. Henson asked if the man could come back when he was off work.  The man came back and received the Holy Ghost in the Henson's room on a cruise ship!  Could it be an angel caused the problem in their room so that hungry soul from maintenance would find his way to a man of God?

Soul Winners Working the Harvest Cycle
The harvest = WORK!  We are privileged that the Lord allows us to work in His harvest.  There is no joy like a soul winner's joy!

Jesus is going to do His job, angels will do their job, we need to do our job!!  There are hungry people.  Matthew 9:36-38 teaches us that there is no problem with the harvest, the problem is the workers are few.  It usually takes much prayer, wisdom, effort and patience to win a soul.

The Harvest Cycle involves the following steps or actions:
Preparing the soil = friendship and kindness
Planting the seed = witnessing, sharing your personal testimony, teaching a Home Bible Study, and the preaching of God's Word.
Watering the soil = prayer, accompanied by tears
Cultivating the soil = one-on-one fellowship with a prospect or new convert and/or participation in a Home Friendship Group.
Harvesting the crop = soul winning
Mentoring the harvest = teaching and disciplining, as well as leadership and ministry training.
Investing in the harvest = sending of new workers into the harvest.

Will YOU answer the call?  It's exciting work gathering the harvest!

Dole Plantation Adventure

Les had Monday off so we wanted to do something fun together.  We considered kayaking, but it's been very windy here for the past few days and that didn't seem like a good idea.  We ended up going to the Dole Plantation.  We had visited the plantation on our honeymoon nearly 25 years ago but had never been back.  We've driven by it many times on our way to the North Shore. 

It was pretty crowded due to the holiday, but we enjoyed ourselves by mostly people watching!  We were going to ride the Pineapple Express train but learned that the pineapples had recently been harvested and there wouldn't be much to see.  We opted for the Pineapple Garden Maze instead.

Upon entry we were given a map that showed eight secret stations...

The trick is to try to find each station without getting lost!  Our navigator...

Trying to look lost...

Coloring in the secret code...

The record is about 10 minutes, it took us 29!  There may have been some goofing off along the way!

And now we're packing our carry-on bags and heading to the airport.  We have been gone for 5 weeks!

I Love Him Everyday!

Cruising the Mediterranean for our 20th

Happy Valentine's Day to my faithful readers.  Hope you are feeling loved!  Les and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in just a few short months.  That seems a little hard to believe, but it's true!  How about a little walk down memory lane?  You can read most of our story in these three links...

Where We Met ~ Camp Meeting/Senior Camp, August 1989

 
When We Got Engaged ~ Yosemite, November 3, 1990

Our Wedding ~ May 25, 1991

And there are have been many, many happy days since!  I don't just love Les on Valentine's Day ~ I love him everyday!

Becoming a Life Champion

Tuesday night was another fantastic message by Bro. Robert Henson.  His title was "Becoming a Life Champion!"  Focus:  Successfully Living the Christ Life.

Life Champions are:
1) Victors 
2) Overcomers

God wants you to be saved!  Satan designs his attacks where we are weakest, but God provides divine assistance.

Victor
Victor = a conqueror; a person who defeats an adversary; one who vanquishes an enemy.
This speaks of a victory so overwhelming that the adversary never again arises from the dust of defeat to offer any challenge to the believer.

Romans 8:35-39 speaks of the victor:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

Overcomer
Overcomer = one who prevails in a struggle or conflict; a person who overcomes difficulties; one who surmounts (comes over) opposition, debilities, weaknesses and/or temptations.
Overcomers, with great resolve, continue to fight on.

There are some enemies that I have been able to annihilate, but there are some enemies that I am still fighting.  I still face opposition, but by God's grace I'm an overcomer, still fighting. One of the favorite tactics of the devil is to say, "You must not really be saved if you're still struggling."  This is not true!  As long as you keep fighting, overcoming, you are a Life Champion. 

I took a "few" notes

Children of Israel

At the Red Sea, the Lord made the children of Israel victors.  Not one Egyptian survived.  They never fought Egypt again!

It was in the Land of Promise that the children of Israel became overcomers!

The Red Sea experience lasted 36-48 hours.  Completely overcoming the Promise Land lasted for years.  Most of us spend more time in the promise land than at the Red Sea! Deuteronomy 7:22 says, "And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little."  Little by little the children of Israel overcame their enemies.

In Judges 3:1-4, the Lord gave three reasons why Israel was not given immediate victory and occupancy of the entire Land of Promise:
So that the Israelites would learn and know how to fight the enemy.
So that their children would learn and know how to fight the enemy.
So that it could be discovered whether or not the Children of Israel would be obedient unto the Lord and His Word and to the leadership He had appointed over His people. 

You and I

Key understanding:  You and I experience both types of spiritual warfare.

Some adversaries Jesus helps us crush once - drug addiction, alcohol, cigarettes.  The other level is conflicts that we face everyday such as lust, pride, anger, poor attitudes, jealousy.

As born again children of God we have three main enemies with whom we contend: the devil, our flesh, and the world.  Our biggest enemy is our own flesh but "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Phil 4:13)  2 Corinthians 2:11 says, "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices."  Christ will keep us from being outsmarted by the devil.

Key understanding:  FORGIVENESS plays a key role in our overcoming!

We have a much more difficult time overcoming when we don't forgive.  Unforgiveness is the most employed strategy of Satan.  We must forgive others and ourselves.  Those who don't forgive themselves live under constant condemnation.  Don't live with unrelenting regrets.  God doesn't expect you to continue grieving over what you cannot change.

Key understanding:  If you are currently fighting the good fight of faith, you are participating, even now, in championship living!

The book of Revelation addresses numerous promises to the overcomers!  Not one time are the promises made to victors.

Revelation 2:7 "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life."
Revelation 2:11 "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."
Revelation 2:17 "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.."
Revelation 2:26 and 28 "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations...and I will give him the morning star."
Revelation 3:5 "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels."
Revelation 3:12 "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name."
Revelation 3:21 "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne."
Revelation 21:7  "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." - Overcomers inherit ALL THINGS!! 

This was such an outstanding message!  Just re-reading my notes this morning was inspiring.  God loves overcomers!  And right on time, there was this simple quote in my email box:

Today you can choose to live the rest of your life as a Life Champion! 

From Military to Missionary

 

We had a visiting missionary in service on Sunday night.  Bro. and Sis. Fonzell Marsh are missionaries to the Asia military district, based  in Okinawa, Japan.  Bro. Marsh was in the military for 26 years.  The first 13 years they were not living for God, but they were saved in Germany at a military work there.  He retired from the military in 2011 and they are now full time working with military bases throughout Japan and Korea. Their goal is to get every military personnel trained so they can be used wherever they go while they are still in the service and when their tour of duty is finished.  Our U.S. military personnel can go places that U.S. missionaries cannot go.

During their presentation, one phrase really stuck with me.  When talking about ministering to military personnel - "All will eventually leave."  All.  Not some. All. 

Can you imagine dedicating your life to people who are going to leave?  Yes, many will move on and do great things for God, but they won't stay with you.  We are programmed to count - how many on our pews, how many Bible studies, how many baptisms, how many, how many.  It's a beautiful thing when there are multiple generations in a family in the same church.  But how would we respond if we knew that all would eventually leave?  Thankfully, God's math isn't our math and He is an excellent record keeper!

I was so moved by the dedication and burden of Bro. and Sis. Marsh.  They truly live 1 Corinthians 3:6, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase."  It would be easy to get stuck in the mindset of "I wonder who will leave this week?"  But I think the Marsh's have the mindset of, "I wonder who will arrive this week?"

Pray for this couple as they travel, raising funds to support this great work.

Friday Foto Dump

We will be spending quite a bit of time on Oahu this year, so Les' boss asked us to find a place for the company to rent for us instead of paying for a hotel room.  (It's cheaper to rent for a month than to pay for 3 weeks in a hotel!)  After much searching, praying and checking out units, we found a home in Hawaii Kai.  We are renting the entire downstairs that has its own private entrance.  Our landlady is single, her grown children and grandchildren live on Oahu and in California.

Our new "home away from home" is two bedrooms, one bath, full kitchen and a very large living area.

and a crazy photo bomber!

Hawaii Kai is about 10 miles from Waikiki, but it feels like a different world!  There are no hotels, so there are very few tourists.  None of the hustle and bustle of Waikiki.  It's super quiet at our house and feels a lot more like home.  We went out to dinner last Friday night at about 6:00 and didn't have to wait to be seated!  This was our view:

We are very close to Koko Head Crater.  A hike we did back on Christmas morning 2013!

This is Kiwi, one of our landlady's dogs:

The views are fantastic!   That is the tip of Waikiki in the far left of this picture:

Hills of Hawaii Kai:

More running routes for me!

This streets turns into our street.  It is super steep, quite the finishing kick to get home on foot or by bike!

Les has started bike commuting again.  He ordered this backpack and it is amazing.  I should have taken of picture of him when he got home last night.  He has a great set of lights, on both the front and back, that make sure drivers see him.  (Of course, I pray for him every time he rides!)  It takes him about 45 minutes to get to work.  It took him 90 minutes to drive in on Tuesday due to a couple of accidents!  It's a win-win - he gets in a workout and doesn't have to sit in traffic.

I stopped for a few more pictures while out on my run this morning:

I spy Diamond Head!

We Have An Altar

Our stay on Oahu has been extended until February 17th.  That means a few more services at New Life Pentecostal Church.  We were pleased to see that Bro. and Sis. Robert Henson from Michigan are here again this year.  Last year he taught a series on "Intensifying the Fires of Revival."  This year the series is called "And So Much the More."

Tuesday night was the first of the series and the title was "We Have An Altar."  I'm very thankful that Bro. Henson had handouts prepared!  There were so many great points, here are some of them: 

The Tabernacle teaches us the importance, positioning and permanence of the altar.  The altar was the focal point of the Tabernacle.

The Brazen Altar = the Altar of Burnt Offering
The first item you came to in the Tabernacle was the brazen altar.  This was the place of repentance.  Everyone has to start at the altar.  All true revivals began at the altar of repentance.  We need to visit the altar of repentance everyday, before we can move on to the altar of incense. 

The Golden Altar = the Altar of Incense
The Hebrew name for the Golden Altar literally means altar of incensing of the incense.

Incense symbolized communication with God in the form of prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving, praise, adoration and worship.  Summed up, incense = worship.

Incense offered was the only sacrifice that was not tied to atonement for sin.  It was offered totally for God's pleasure, it was not a place for requests.

Too many people get stuck at the first altar.  Condemnation will bind us to the altar of repentance if we permit it to do so.  "The joy of the Lord is your strength."  Repentance is not your strength!  It is very important to move past the altar of repentance so we can worship!

According to the book of Revelation, there is only one altar found in heaven - the altar of incense.  There will be no need for an altar of repentance in heaven.

The altar of incense was the last item before the priest entered into the Holy of Holies.  True worship ushers us into the Holy of Holies where were are one step from the miraculous.

We had quite a time around the altar at the end of the service!  I don't know everything God did, but He was moving in a great way.

What Do You See?

My devotional from a few days ago really had me thinking..

Down in South Georgia, a little family of sharecroppers struggled to make ends meet. They never seemed to have enough to go around, but one year they planted at just the right time, the rains were plentiful, and the market conditions were right. After they gave the landowner his share, they paid their bills and had a little bit left over. They decided to buy one thing the entire family could enjoy, and after shopping through the dry goods catalog, they selected something they'd never owned before: a mirror. 

When it arrived, the husband, wife and children gathered round, and unwrapped it together. The wife looked in it first, and then the husband. Each child took a turn, down to the youngest named Willie - a small, deformed child whose mouth was misshapen and scarred.

He stood before the mirror a long time before he turned to his mother. "Did you always know I looked like this - different from the others?" She said, "Yes, Willie." He said, "Momma, you mean I always looked like this, and you loved me anyway?" She said, "Yes, Willie. I love you because you are mine. You belong to me." 

Isn't it a relief to know God has always known us, with our shortcomings, our flaws and sinful ways, and He loves us anyway? We were sinners when Christ died for us - not "cleaned up saints." He loves us because He gave His Son to die for us.

Mirrors can cause a lot of problems.  Some, like Willie, see their imperfections and wonder how anyone can love them.  Others see the beauty that God has blessed them with and think they are superior.  What really matters is how God sees us.  We are each unique, designed by His hand.  As His child, remember, you are:

• Made in the Image of God
• Chosen by God
• A Child of God
• An Heir of God
• A Joint-Heir with Christ
• A King and Priest Unto God
• The Apple of His Eye

 He loves you because you are His.  You belong to Him!