the list goes on and on

God, I want to take time to remember all the things You have done for me through the years. Oh, there are so many things. You have carried me through dark valleys of the shadow of death. You have rejoiced with me on the mountaintops. You have held my hand and helped me take a leap into unknown waters. You have applied healing balm to my hurts and warm sunshine on my soul. You have given me precious friends who have stood the test of time...and more. You have given me a loving family to grow with and be with. You have increased my territory spiritually and physically. You have picked me up when I have stumbled and nearly hit the ground. You have provided for me when I did not know where my provisions would come from. You have surrounded me with prayers and support of the family of God in time of need. You have shown me miracles and blessed my soul. You have given me desires of my heart--desires that were in line with Your will and Word. You have given me the privilege of helping advance Your kingdom through the gifts, talents, and resources You have entrusted to me. You have always patiently been there for me. You have felt my cries, laughed at my silliness, and gently guided me back onto the right paths. You have loved me with an everlasting love. I could go on and on. God I am thankful for You and all You've done and all You will do in my life. I love You and appreciate You and want to shout "how great is my God!" With loving thanks, in Jesus' name, amen. (tgif)

i give thanks when i think of all God has done in my life and like this prayer - i could go on and on.

it's not when i 'nearly hit the ground' - i fell head first and hit the ground hard and He was there to pick me up.

perspectives

2000 years before Christ, God gave abraham the promise that in his seed, all nations of the world would be blessed. 2000 years ago Jesus came to the earth to die for the world. now here we are 2000 years later. is there a connection between abraham's promise, the Messiah's coming and what is happening in our world today? this exciting 14 week course will present the biblical, historical, cultural and strategic aspects of fulfilling the great commission. it begins september 13th in chilliwack. you can check it out on-line at:

http://www3.telus.net/cwmbc/ - the local website

http://www.perspectivescanada.org/default.aspx - the home page for perspectives canada

if anyone is interested in going please let me know. maybe we could share the driving.

forgiven

www.forgivenessmovie.com

bigchurch.com - on-line personals

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workplace ministry

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. - Colossians 3:23-24

it seems almost every devotional i've read lately refers to our work being our ministry. i wonder why that is.

i know in the two month job i just finished i frequently had to remind myself of this scripture. at times it was very frustrating and it was at these times that i told myself to work at it with all my heart as if i was working for Jesus. my circumstances didn't change but my attitude did.

if you are dissatisfied in your job you have two options; you can quit, this is most likely not a practical solution, or you can choose to work at it with all your heart as if you are working for Jesus. since everything you have is ultimately from God anyway you really are working for Him. and if you treat your job like God is your boss think of the possibilities. if you thought you were working for God every day wouldn't your attitude change.

if you think you can't do it try it. you'll be pleasantly surprised.

and that's just you. you may not be able to change anyone but if your attitude changes others may change how they respond to you.

reminds me of a camp song, this little light of mine, i'm gonna let it shine...

if you see Jesus in your work, others may see Jesus in you. and isn't that the whole point.

The Causes of Failure

Whenever we act without God's complete blessing on our activity, we can expect God to thwart our plans.

TGIF Today God Is First, by Os Hillman

You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it. - Joshua 7:13b

The first battle for the people of Israel traveling from Egypt was at Jericho, once they crossed the Jordan River. God had given them a great victory at Jericho, and Joshua was now ready to move to their next battle at Ai. After they spied out the enemy camp, they determined they needed only a few thousand men to gain victory. They went up against Ai only to fail miserably. They lost 32 men in a battle that should have been an easy victory, but instead they were forced to retreat. Joshua was devastated. "Ah, Sovereign Lord, why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?" (Josh. 7:7a)

In this case, the people fell short because they failed to uphold the standard God had set for them. God had told them not to take any plunder from their first battle. However, Achan hid some forbidden treasures, and God was now judging the entire nation for one man's sin.

Whenever we act without God's complete blessing on our activity, we can expect God to thwart our plans. God's word to Joshua was that he could not stand against his enemies as long as there was disobedience among his troops.

Whenever we launch a business endeavor, we should make sure there are no unclean things in our dealings that would allow us to be vulnerable to a failed effort: unpaid vendors, disgruntled employees who were not treated fairly, lawsuits, dishonesty. Many of these things can hinder God from blessing our enterprises. These things can remove the shield of protection from our workplace, which God wants to bless, but cannot because He is committed to upholding righteousness. His name is blemished when unrighteousness is allowed to permeate our lives.

Is the Lord able to bless your enterprises today? If not, you may need to go back and clean up a few things before He can do so. Take whatever steps are needed to ensure the blessing of God today.

just every day life in general - if we are living in disobedience to God how can we expect His blessing.

wasps

a couple of weeks ago i was stung by a wasp as i grabbed the arm of my lounger. it stung, i was ticked so i killed it. a couple of them had come out from under the arm and i wondered if they were nesting in the shade of the chaise lounge. 2 days ago i laid in the sun for awhile and the whole time there were wasps buzzing around me and landing on me.

i wondered if they had built a nest under the lounger and when i turned it over discovered that they had. not being afraid of wasps i wondered what i should do and decided to check the internet to see what they eat.

turns out they eat spiders, ants and bees among other things. well since i have had to pollinate my zucchinis by hand because there were no bees around to do the job i considered that if i destroyed the nest the bees would come back to do the job.

but then i considered how i am terrified of spiders and what the consequence would be if i destroyed the nest. guess what - the nest stays.

God's purpose or mine

when i have told some people about how costa rica feels like home and my heart is still there they say i should just go and continue doing what i was doing when i was there.

knowing God gives meaning to life, and obeying God gives purpose to life. (odb)

God said "but only for 1 year" when i went to costa rica. i stayed longer. when i was staying longer than the 12 months i was not being obedient to God. i was not serving His purpose. i was not living for Him, i was living for myself. completely disobedient to what He had specifically told me.

there are other mission trips i want to go on but don't feel that God is calling me anywhere right now. if i went on a mission trip when i was not called by God would it be fruitful or would my plans be thwarted?

God blesses our obedience. why would anyone presume that He would bless our disobedience.

as christians we are not here for our own purpose at all - we are here for the purpose of God, and the two are not the same. we do not know what God's compelling purpose is, but whatever happens, we must maintain our relationship with Him. we must never allow anything to damage our relationshp with God, but if something does damage it, we must take the time to make it right again.

God's purpose is never the same as man's purpose. (mufhh)

thank God that Jesus Christ was not disobedient or where in hell would we all be.

cry out to Jesus

To everyone who's lost someone they love
Long before it was their time
You feel like the days you had were not enough
when you said goodbye

And to all of the people with burdens and pains
Keeping you back from your life
You believe that there's nothing and there is no one
Who can make it right

There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
Love for the broken heart
There is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus

For the marriage that's struggling just to hang on
They lost all of their faith in love
They've done all they can to make it right again
Still it's not enough

For the ones who can't break the addictions and chains
You try to give up but you come back again
Just remember that you're not alone in your shame
And your suffering

When your lonely
And it feels like the whole world is falling on you
You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus
Cry to Jesus

To the widow who suffers from being alone
Wiping the tears from her eyes
For the children around the world without a home
Say a prayer tonight

by third day

for whatever you need - cry out to Jesus

got an email from a friend today who had told me a few months ago that they wanted to commit suicide. it was telling me they had come from one of the lowest points in their life and now know more joy today. that's what happens when you cry out to Jesus. what an awesome answer to prayer.

prayer does work - you just have to... cry out to Jesus.

what an awesome God. thank You Lord.

are there any futbol fans out there?

real madrid is coming to seattle next wednesday. i would love to go to the game but don't want to go by myself. the cheap seats are $30, providing there are any left, plus $ for gas and dinner. the game starts at 8 pm. without having to drive in rush hour traffic it would probably be beter to go in the afternoon and you probably wouldn't get home til 1 am.

if you're interested please let me know asap in order to get tickets.

surrender - at any cost

The Door of Full Surrender
TGIF Today God Is First, by Os Hillman

But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. - Job 23:10

I was recently sitting with the leader of a workplace organization as he described a question he poses to workplace believers. "What if there were two doors to choose from; behind one door was the complete will of God for your life and behind the other door was how life could be according to your own preference. Which door would you choose?" The struggle for most lies in the desire to follow God completely and the fear of what might be behind the door of full surrender. Most of us desire to follow God, but few of us will do it at any cost. We do not really believe that God loves us to the degree that we are willing to give Him complete permission to do as He wills in us.

If we desire to fully walk with Christ, there is a cost. We may give intellectual assent and go along with His principles and do fine; however, if we are fully given over to Him and His will for our life, it will be a life that will have adversity. The Bible is clear that humans do not achieve greatness without having their sinful will broken. This process is designed to create a nature change in each of us, not just a habit change. The Bible calls it circumcision. Circumcision is painful, bloody, and personal.

If God has plans to greatly use you in the lives of others, you can expect your trials to be even greater than those of others. Why? Because, like Joseph who went through greater trials than most patriarchs, your calling may have such responsibility that God cannot afford to entrust it to you without ensuring your complete faithfulness to the call. He has much invested in you on behalf of others. He may want to speak through your life to a greater degree than through another. The events of your life would become the frame for the message He wants to speak through you.

Do not fear the path that God may lead you on. Embrace it. For God may bring you down a path in your life to ensure the reward of your inheritance. "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Cor. 4:17)

amazing love

my life just wasn't working. didn't know why, couldn't figure it out. every relationship i had failed. went through my entire life trying to find somebody to love me. someone who would love me and not leave me. someone who, when they said they loved me, wouldn't hurt me.

my grandmothers loved me. to them i was precious. one grandmother even used to call me precious.

then one day i realized i was precious to Someone else. my Creator, He who created the heavens and the earth thought i was precious. one day He even told me. unbelievable that He could love me. and yet He does. even after everything i've ever done. He loves me, He won't leave me and He won't hurt me.

everything i did or tried to do to make people love me and nothing worked.

everything i did or tried to do - should have turned Him off but instead He forgave me. i did things to try and earn peoples love. they didn't work. then i discovered there is nothing i can do to earn His love.

how amazing is that.

are you satisfied?

there is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

my utmost.

left behind

we're all waiting for the rapture right? because God loves each and every one of His children and He doesn't want to lose even one single child is He waiting for each one to hear the gospel before He takes us home. what better way to speed the process than to pray for all the unreached people of the world.

i don't want any of my family members to be left behind so i pray for them all the time. i don't want my friends to be left behind so i pray for them all the time. that's such a small group of people when you consider the billions of us on the planet.

besides the best part of praying is that it's communion with God, think of the power of prayer and if collectively we would all pray for the same things the awesome power that would have. biblical proportions. if collectively we would pray for every people group in the world think of the implications.

you hear stories of amazing transformations in churches, in small communities, large communities and countries. what if we all prayed for every single people group in the world. so that every person would hear the gospel.

just read an article - what's happening in lebanon - is it armageddon? it can't be - we're not ready.

please check out the link 'prayer guard' on the sidebar and join in praying for the people of the world.

eharmony...

an on-line christian matchmaker. friends recommended it to me about 5 years ago. i registered just to see what it was about never intending to ever go out with anyone i met on-line. a while ago they said they had the "perfect match" for me. i was reluctant to reply at first but after several friends told me i should i was going to respond then found it was going to cost money once you decided to 'make contact'

after updating my profile to who i am today i got another "perfect match" this morning. i liked his name (it sounded latin) and couldn't wait to read about him although i still didn't plan to pay to meet someone. (i forgot how much i used to spend going to bars to meet someone)

lo and behold when i signed on there was a message from him saying 'i don't feel that the chemistry is there' i wondered about it for a minute when we'd never had any kind of contact. i thought hm - nice height, right age, hispanic, christian. then i read things he can't live without - partner. then i felt sad for him.

so many people get involved in relationships simply because they don't want to be alone. they go from one relationship to another, from one marriage to another. been there, done that. all of my life before coming to Christ.

now i am single but i am in the most awesome love relationship. my dearly Beloved is always with me. He touches my heart with His Spirit and i am filled with love, joy, peace and contentment.

i feel sad for people that go into relationships just so they have someone to cuddle with at night, to eat dinner with, to watch tv with, to do things with, go places with and not be alone. they put everything into that new relationship at the expense of everyone else thinking that that new relationship will fix the ills of the previous one.

they are afraid of being alone. if they would only give themselves over completely, heart and soul, to Jesus, He would be their love, their intimate One.

for all the time you spend without a partner you can develop a more intimate relationship with Christ. just you and Him. the more time you spend with Him the deeper, more intimate the relationship. until you finally clue in - He's the One that completes you. you're not alone and you're not lonely.

i think when you get to that point, then you're ready for a relationship. otherwise you're just two people hoping to get their needs met. it places a heavy burden on each of them and the marriage breaks down when they can't meet each others expectations.

so i may be single forever. but that's ok.

southeast asia - july 2006

Overview
Did you know that many peoples in Indonesia were once Hindus, later Buddhists, but today they are Muslim? Most peoples in this region of color and diversity are either Buddhist or Muslim. The gospel is making small inroads, but few people groups have embraced Jesus other than a couple of tribes in northern Thailand and Myanmar. We need to pray for the spiritual obstacles be removed.

Prayer Points

Expatriate and Indigenous Workers
God would thrust forth many more workers and provide creative means of access to the Least-Reached Peoples throughout Southeast Asia for the gospel.

Storying
Pray for God to show workers how to tell His story effectively and tell it accurately and for Him to confirm His Word with signs and wonders.

Multiplication
Pray for God to inspire many other new believers to share throughout their natural relational networks what Jesus has done and is doing in their lives.

Pray for many to come to faith.

Fellowships
Pray for believers to understand that where two or three gather in Jesus' Name, there He is in their midst; that they would focus on living fellowships to encourage one another to love and good deeds.

Contextual Evangelism
Pray that they also will remain involved in community activities and actively seek friendship with local leaders as indications of good citizenship.

Just as the believers were using songs and stories, pray for God to help believers creatively communicate the gospel and His Truth through familiar means with an eternal message of Hope and Salvation.

want to fulfill the great commission

now's your chance. you may not be cut out to be a missionary but each of us is able to pray. it is our intimate communion with Jesus Christ. if we know His truth we know that He has commanded that we go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them. (matt 28:19)

the joshua project is about that, about fulfilling the great commission. we may not be able to go but we can pray. the following link will take you to the ethne to ethne (people to people) site. it is a site for prayer for the nations in the 10/40 window.

watched a video last night - it said there are more spiritual re-births today than their are births. that as a result of prayer a revival and transformation is taking place. think of a revival of biblical proportions, people of every nation on earth praying for the same nation every day for a month.



don't know how or what to pray for? morocco is included in november prayer list. here's what you can pray for the moroccan arabs.

Prayer Points
Pray that the Lord will grant wisdom and favor to missions agencies currently targeting the Moroccan Arab.
Ask God to give the Moroccan Arab believers boldness to share the love of Christ with their friends and families.
Pray that the Lord will begin to reveal Himself to these precious people through dreams and visions.
Ask the Holy Spirit to soften the hearts of the Moroccan Arab toward Christians so that they will be receptive to the Gospel.
Take authority over the spiritual principalities and powers that have kept the Arabs bound for many generations.
Pray that God will call forth teams of intercessors who will faithfully stand in the gap for the Moroccan Arab.
Ask the Lord to raise up strong local churches among the Moroccan Arab of Morocco.

this month's prayer is for south east asia. different nations, peoples and language groups. 672 unreached people groups. the above prayer points - that pretty well covers it for everyone.

please, will you join with the rest of the world and pray.

dancing in the arms of God

any woman who thinks a mortal man will fulfill her as a woman will eventually be disappointed.

expecting a man to fulfill you and meet your deepest needs puts that man in a place only God should hold in your life.

pray for marriages

if God tells us to put on the full armour of God everyday to fight the enemy, knowing that he's the deceiver and destroyer, would that not include marriages. i know that He who is within us is greater than he who is in the world but if we let our guard down, if we take our eyes off Jesus, if we don't wear the full armour of God are we not going to be under attack. we all need prayer. others that don't yet have a relationship with Jesus or are new in the faith need it even more if they don't know the bible or if they aren't in communion with God.

when you consider the number of marriages today, christian and secular, that are ending in divorce, i think it only makes sense to pray for marriages.

we come to God for His power to claim victory over the enemy because we can't do it on our own. faithful christians who are struggling with their 20 and 30 year marriages - if we don't pray for them will they flounder and fall apart?

some of us are stronger in our faith than others. if we pray for our enemies should we not also pray for our friends.

giving too much credit to satan? he is the god of this world. he is here to divide and conquer. we know that we win the war. we know that we will have struggles. for some of us it's a daily battle.

if we are praying for our churches, our ministries, our leaders, our nations should we not also be praying for our marriages.

God created marriage as a bond between two people, in love and for love He created it. with so many marriages dissolving today we need to be praying for them.

are you praying for your marriage?

a flight attendant was serving meals and when she was picking up the empty trays she asked a man why he had not eaten his meal. she said she thought he had been praying and asked if he was a christian. he replied no, saying that he was a satanist and he was fasting and praying that the devil would destroy 100 marriages that day.

heard on chuck swindoll's radio program last week.

we know that the enemy is the deceiver and destroyer so pray for each other for your marriages. because if we aren't praying for them we can be certain that the enemy is praying against them.