Monday, August 29, 2011

The Cross I bear is just Perfect for me!


I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm tempted to complain, "God - the cross you gave me is too heavy! Why did you ask me to carry this…I can't go on. I'm tired. Other's lives seem to come together so easy, but mine is always full of challenges and trials. Isn't there an easier way?"

There is a poem called "The Changed Cross." It represents a weary one who thought that her cross was surely heavier than those of others whom she saw about her, and she wished that she might choose another instead of her own. She slept, and in her dream she was led to a place where many crosses lay, crosses of different shapes and sizes. There was a little one most beauteous to behold, set in jewels and gold. "Ah, this I can wear with comfort," she said. So she took up, but her weak form shook beneath it. The jewels and the gold were beautiful, but they were far too heavy for her to carry.

Next she saw a lovely cross with fair flowers entwined around its sculptured form. Surely that was the one for her. She lifted it, but beneath the flowers were piercing thorns which tore her flesh.

At last, as she went on, she came to a plain cross, without jewels, without fancy carvings, with only a few words of love inscribed upon it. This she took up and it proved the best of all, the easiest to be born. And as she looked upon it, bathed in the radiance that fell from heaven, she recognized her own old cross. She had found it again, and it was the best of all and lightest for her.

God knows best what cross we need to bear! We do not know how heavy other people's crosses are. We envy someone who is rich; his is a golden cross set with jewels, but we do not know how heavy his cross is. Here is another whose life seems very lovely. She bears a cross entwined with flowers. But beneath those flowers is some deep pain. If we could try all the other crosses that we think lighter than our own, we would at last find that no one of them is suited for us as well as our very own!

"The fact that we are called upon to endure trial shows that the Lord Jesus sees in us something precious which He desires to develop. If He saw in us nothing whereby He might glorify His name, He would not spend time in refining us. He does not cast worthless stones into His furnace. It is valuable ore that He refines…" Ministry of Healing, p. 472

"Too many, in planning for a brilliant future, make an utter failure. Let God plan for you. As a little child, trust to the guidance of Him who will “keep the feet of His saints.” 1 Samuel 2:9. God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led, if they could see the end from the beginning and discern the glory of the purpose which they are fulfilling as co-workers with Him." Help in Daily Living, p. 19  

Watch THE CROSS WE BEAR YouTube

Friday, August 26, 2011

The Rain is Falling…Get your Umbrellas!

In some places, more then it should…from what news I'm hearing from the East Coast and Hurricane Irene that is about to make landfall. About 5,000 flights have been cancelled for this weekend and 10's of thousands are expected to be stranded. This is of high interest to me because I was scheduled to fly to Baltimore Maryland on Sunday as I had a meeting at the General Conference Headquarters on Monday. I'm beginning to think though that I might best stay put and not get stranded somewhere between here and there….we will see. Am still praying maybe God will work a miracle and turn that Hurricane back to sea.

This post is not about  about physical rain though… I'm talking about the spiritual rain that the Holy Spirit brings. It's even more powerful than anything any old Hurricane might do…


The picture above comes from a new website that our prayer team has recently launched, sharing some of the inspirational testimonies we've been collecting from United Prayer over this last year. (Click on the picture above to visit our new website! And thanks Raluca for helping get this going!) Actually… we are still have many many more testimonies to post. But at least you can start reading, if you are interested, and see what God is doing! It's amazing…

Let me leave you with a very inspirational Sabbath thought:

“The baptism of the Holy Ghost as on the day of Pentecost will lead to a revival of true religion and to the performance of many wonderful works. Heavenly intelligences will come among us, and men will speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Spirit of God. But should the Lord work upon men as He did on and after the day of Pentecost, many who now claim to believe the truth would know so very little of the operation of the Holy Spirit that they would cry, “Beware of fanaticism.” They would say of those who were filled with the Spirit, “These men are full of new wine” Acts 2:13…The great sin of those who profess to be Christians is that they do not open the heart to receive the Holy Spirit. When souls long after Christ, and seek to become one with Him, then those who are content with the form of godliness exclaim, “Be careful, do not go to extremes.” … But while we should be careful not to go into human excitement, we should not be among those who will raise inquiries and cherish doubts in reference to the work of the Spirit of God.” You Shall Receive Power, p. 322

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Introducing "Praying for Rain: The United Prayer Mini-Handbook"


A year ago, I would have never dreamed where we would be today. I would never have imagined how God would bless. And the blessing has come…simply in answer to prayer…United Prayer!

As my blog posts have reflected, in the last year, our prayer team has traveled all over the world, from North America, to many countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and beyond. We've had over 10,000 that have come through the United Prayer Room alone and many of those have been so inspired, they've gone home to their churches and communities to start their own prayer rooms. One 17 year old girl named Brielle, who experienced United Prayer at GYC, hosted an all-day prayer room at her Camp meeting this summer, and is continuing to follow invitations for prayer rooms almost every weekend of this coming school year. But not just young people are taking part. We've had Division Presidents so excited and on fire, that they've been taking united prayer to all their churches and Unions and seeing it dramatically impact the way they lead and the results of their leadership! The Holy Spirit is being poured out…and we believe THIS IS ONLY THE START! All the glory to God! And of course, we knew He would bless. How can He not, when people are willing to get into His Word, and on their knees in Prayer. It's a recipe for REVIVAL…true revival…not the counterfeit revivals you see all over the place. All I can say is, it's been amazing…a journey of a lifetime, and one that is far from being completed.

Why are we doing this? Because we're passionate about prayer and about inspiring God’s church to Pray…and not just to pray, but to pray TOGETHER.

In light of how God has been blessing, the invitations have been flooding across our in boxes. Although there are many of us that travel with the United Prayer team, we have more requests than we can keep up with. So we've been seeking to train others so they can pick up and carry the work of helping unite God's people in prayer.

This new "Praying for Rain: Mini-Handbook for United Prayer" is one way we are seeking to pass the word along! To down-load just click the link above. Or if you want a printed version, contact me and let me know….as available, I'll do my best to supply! If the demand outgrows the supply, well… I'll just point you back to the link, and you'll have to print your own!


Some Inspirational Stories

In the previous post, I shared pictures of our last ARME from WA. The highlight was the all night prayer room where more than 200 took part praying for the Holy Spirit and interceding for each other with a passion and fervency I've rarely seen before. It was beautiful and convicting for all of us…who, although we stayed up all night, found ourselves amazingly alive and refreshed the next day, despite the lack of sleep.

At the ASI convention, where some of our prayer team traveled to right after ARME, we also had a prayer room. Several inspiring things happened during this event. The first was a pair of young men that came into the prayer room. We had been interceding and praying for these men and their salvation a year ago when we hosted a 10-day prayer room at Andrews University. They had been living in the world, doing drugs, and were living a life very far from Christ. But at ASI, they came into the prayer room, and we saw for ourselves the testimony of what God has done in their lives over this past year in answer to prayer. Incredible!!!! We praise the Lord for this dramatic answered prayer. In fact, I was so inspired by it that I asked them to share during our evening sharing time at ASI, where we share testimonies from the prayer room and we invite people to come. Towards the end of the sharing time, I asked one final question of one of these young men. The question was, "Could you share with the ASI audience some encouraging words for WHY they should come visit the prayer room?" I put the microphone to this young man's mouth and would you believe that the fire alarms went off in the building!!!!!! Here we are LIVE on 3ABN television, and with about 3,500-4,000 people seated in the audience, and the FIRE ALARMS went off right when I asked him to share why people should come together to prayer!!! Now isn't that a direct attack of the enemy or what? At first, I was sooo startled, I didn't know what was happening. But the young man caught his senses, and told everyone WHY it was so important that they come to the prayer room, and that we should not let a fire alarm stop us. Everyone stayed….emphasis on stayed….in their seats until he was done talking, then they began to evacuate the building. It was incredible. (Praise the Lord, they got the problem solved and 3ABN was only off the air for 3 minutes and the program continued!) As a result of those fire alarms going off though, more people came to the prayer room. So we praise God for that!

The second amazing experience for me at ASI revolved around 60+ juniors, ages 10-12. One evening I got to go to the Junior Division and talk with them about the power of prayer…especially UNITED PRAYER. I told them united prayer stories, then I shared very simply how we were going to do this, and I asked 4 child volunteers to help me - one to lead each section after I prayed. The kids were amazing, and once they started praying, I could hardly stop them. It was so beautiful! I wanted to cry!!!! And I can't help but imagine that God was smiling…

The third special experience from ASI was when our Church President, Elder Ted Wilson came into the prayer room. To see this leader, who has a million things on his agenda, and so many things to do, take time to stop and pray with us was such a testimony to his humility and sincere heart. We praise God for such a godly leader for our church….and I know that God has called him for such a time as this
!


 
But the testimonies don't stop! After ASI, several of us traveled to Southern CA for the recent iShare event where we hosted another prayer room. During this event over 120 young people responded to the call to be prayer leaders in their churches and homes across the nation. The speaker had just given a powerful message on God's call to stand in the gap in prayer…and these young people took the call seriously! It was so inspiring. After the call, they came to the prayer room, and we gave them the Handbook for United Prayer and talked with them about how to lead prayer groups and to get things started, then we prayed together. It was powerful and I can't wait to see what God has next in store…truly He is coming soon and He is preparing His people!


In closing, let me share a couple of my favorite quotes, quotes that you can find in this "Mini-Handbook for United Prayer."


A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work. There must be earnest effort to obtain the blessing of the Lord, not because God is not willing to bestow His blessing upon us, but because we are unprepared to receive it. It is our work, by confession, humiliation, repentance, and earnest prayer to fulfill the conditions upon which God has promised to grant us His blessing. A revival need be expected only in answer to prayer.”         Last Day Events, Chap 13

“If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” II Chron 7:14
There is nothing that Satan fears so much as that the people of God shall clear the way by removing every hindrance, so that the Lord can pour out His Spirit upon a languishing church and an impenitent congregation.” Messages to Young People, p. 133

“We are encouraged to pray for success, with the divine assurance that our prayers will be answered. The promise of Matthew 18:19-20 is made on the condition that the united prayers of the church are offered, and in answer to these prayers, there may be expected a power greater than that which comes in answer to private prayer. The power given will be proportionate to the unity of the members and their love for God and for one another.” 
9th Manuscript Releases, 748, Nos. 664


Why have we called this booklet "PRAYING FOR RAIN"?? Because we as a people are in desperate need of the Holy Spirit. We are told to pray for it, ask for it, and it will surely come! So join us…wherever you are, whoever you are…let's pray for RAIN!!!

“Ask ye of the Lord Rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.” Zechariah 10:1

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

ARME VI Pictures...

Here's a few pictures from our 6th ARME Bible Camp - held this past July at Upper Columbia Academy! Over 700 were in attendance and God once again blessed above and beyond measure. The Bible Study was deeper and richer, the prayers were more fervent and more passionate, and the fellowship was sweet! Looking forward to Heaven…

Enjoy the pictures - as they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words!"























I've been on the road for a month now… between ARME UCA, Board Summit Mtgs, ASI Convention in Sacramento where I was the prayer coordinator and we had a prayer room going all day, and iShare Conference in Riverside where Doug and I got to do some workshops on prayer, and he coordinated a prayer room with the iShare team. At iShare over 120 kids signed up to be prayer leaders back in their home churches! Praise God!  As of TODAY…. I'm finally home in Oregon again and trying to catch up on all that has gotten behind…. Lots more news to share… but another day…. another time! ;-) God is good!