Tag Archives: Church

June 22, 2018 · 12:00 pm

Praying for Our Children (Part 3)

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“For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (Luke 7:28 NKJV)

Jesus’ listeners were shocked when he said these words because He rated John the Baptist to be the equal of Moses, Aaron, King David, Elijah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. The Jews revered these older prophets and probably gasped at His words. Then, Jesus went a step further by announcing that born again believers have a greater standing and more benefits before God than all of the Old Testament prophets had during their times on the earth.

Not only that, but we believers are heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Peter stated believers are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God’s special people.

So, yes, because of all these examples, and scriptures, we believers are a special people to the Father and have the right to seek Him for insight into the plans He has for our children and grandchildren.

But maybe we should wait a second, okay?

Shouldn’t we first ask ourselves what we plan on doing with the insight God may give us for our children?

You see, once we receive the insight into His plans for our children, we have a responsibility to do something with the information. If we’re thinking we will just write the insight down on a piece of paper and lock it in a storage vault, that’s a terrible idea. Doing something like that is similar to the actions of the unprofitable servant who hid his talent rather than investing it like the two faithful servants did before the master returned. And we know how that turned out for the unprofitable servant!

Our responsibility is to take the plans for our children, which we receive by faith from the Lord, and invest them into their lives through prayer, fasting, and proclamations. It will be a battle, but this will advance our children’s lives on earth and throughout eternity.

Also, we must not think our children are too old for us to seek the Lord for His plans for them. Jacob’s children probably ranged between the ages of late 50s to middle 70s when he prophesied to them.

******

My wife and I went along with a group to the home of a family with a deathly ill child. The child was around eleven years old and suffered from acute leukemia. She was thin and covered with a blanket. The parents and child were believers, but the parents knew their only hope for the child was a miracle. Everything in medical science had been tried and had failed.

The group’s leaders anointed the child with oil and uttered a prayer of faith. We all agreed along with the prayers.

But I felt the child would die unless we attempted something different. I also felt the gifts of healing and working of miracles were not manifesting themselves in our group that night.

I looked again at her parents. They desperately wanted her to live.

I cried out to the Lord in my mind. “Lord, do something. Do something. Do something.”

I felt like He wanted me to prophesy to the sick girl.

So, walking up to the child, I prophesied about how the girl would serve the Lord when she was twenty years old, next when she was twenty-five years old, and then when she was thirty years old. I prophesied about her marriage and her children and how she would do the will of God for her generation, just like King David did for his, before dying.

When I finished, everyone −except two people −looked at me like I was a moonstruck idiot. The two exceptions were the parents who got it.  They knew for the prophecy to come to pass, the young girl had to live.

I spent some time instructing them how to pray the prophecy into manifestation.

Sometimes, the Lord uses another person to utter His plans for our children.

 Prayer:

“Lord, I ask You to reveal any plans for my children that You wish to share with me. With the information, I will be a faithful servant to pray, fast, and proclaim Your plans before You, putting You in remembrance of them, and trusting You to bring them to pass. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

(The above is an excerpt from Praying for the Frozen Chosen: Our Children by Larry Nevenhoven, © 2016, Amazon eBook)

(Continued in Part 4)

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June 21, 2018 · 9:47 am

Prayers for America (6/21/2018)

Jesus was walking with his disciples in Caesarea Philippi, which was twenty-five miles north of Capernaum, Jesus’ hometown during this period. He tossed out a question to the twelve, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

His disciples answered Him by saying, “Elijah, John the Baptist, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.”

Jesus zeroed in on their opinions. “But who do you say I am?”

Without hesitation, Peter said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus called Peter blessed and stated that his revelation came from the Father. Then Jesus said —

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

Some have taken Jesus’ words to mean the church is either to be built on Peter or upon his revelation. Actually, I believe it is both.

Thirty years later, the apostle Paul wrote:

[The household of God is] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20)

My prayer today:

Lord, raise up churches in America built on the foundation of apostles and prophets with Jesus as the Cornerstone so these churches can withstand the end-times’ onslaught by Satan and his kingdom of darkness. (Based on Matthew 16:18 and Ephesians 2:20)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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June 19, 2018 · 9:33 am

Prayers for Israel (6/19/2018)

In 539 B.C., Daniel discovered that Jeremiah’s prophecy about Jerusalem being a desolation for seventy years was about to be fulfilled. What did Daniel then do?

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. (Daniel 9:3)

Instead of running out and telling everyone about his revelation, Daniel did everything he could to bring the prophecy into its fulfillment through his prayers and fasting.

“God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” (John Wesley)

One of God’s biblical principles is that He longs to partner with believers to bring forth His unfulfilled scriptural prophecies. We pray and fast and then God provides the miraculous power to bring forth the prophecy into its manifestation here on earth.

This is the reason, we need to fast and pray for Israel and Jerusalem now because the days are ticking off God’s calendar before Jesus’ return.

Lord, raise up American believers who are willing to partner with You and Your Word so that Your end-time prophecies for Jerusalem and Israel are fulfilled according to Your plans.

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for Israel and Jerusalem.

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June 18, 2018 · 10:17 am

What’re Your Plans for 300 Years From Now? (Part 2)

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If we take a step in obedience, God will reward us with a mile of blessings. (Mike Bickel)

Jesus spoke a parable about a nobleman who was traveling to a far country. Before leaving, the nobleman called ten of his servants into his office. There he gave each a bag of silver worth about a hundred days of wages for a common laborer.

He told the ten men, “Do business with this money until I return.”

After a period of time, the nobleman returned. The man called for his ten servants to give an accounting of their business transactions.

The first servant had earned ten more bags of money for a 1000% return.

The nobleman said to the man, “Well done, good servant. Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.” (Luke 19:17)

Yes, Luke 19:11-27 is a parable, but Jesus used it to explain a truth, one that I overlooked for years.

In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus told a similar parable about three servants who were given various amounts of money by a master while he went on a trip. One was given five 75-lb. bags of silver, another two 75-lb. bags of silver, and a third received one 75-lb. bag of silver.

Upon returning, the master settled accounts with the three men. The first man doubled the master’s investment by earning five more 75-lb. bags of silver for the master.

The master said to the servant, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord. (Matthew 25:21)

Once again, this is a parable, which Jesus used to explain a truth to us.

In the Book of Revelation, we read two interesting verses in the King James or the New King James translations that tie into the above parables:

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-6 NKJ)

How can we be kings and rulers, right?

(Continued in Part 3)

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June 17, 2018 · 7:39 am

Inside Israel

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The Shuk in Jerusalem

Once again, it’s time to hear from our sister in Jerusalem about what she is witnessing there as a believer in Yeshua. Put your prayer shawls on and pray for Israel and Sister J. Now here she is —

Blessings Dear Sisters and Brothers in The Name of The Lord, Yeshua h’meshiach, Jesus Christ.  May He be blessed and glorified and may you be blessed and edified.
Our four-year old Granddaughter surprised us at lunch the other day by quoting verses in Hebrew before we ate.  “She learned it in gan,” (pre-school) our daughter told us.

I was blown away.  I am still trying to say the whole portion in Hebrew, and she had learned it in a government secular pre-school. Wow!

Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and [a]be careful to observe it,that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’

4 “Hear, O Israel: [b]The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lordyour God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.(Deuteronomy 6:1-9)

This portion of scripture – the Shma– is the main prayer of Judaism.  Shma is the command: Hear. However I was surprised to hear our 4 year old repeat it fully.

Israeli state radio begins the 6 a.m. broadcast with the Shma every morning, as do most observant Jews and many traditional Jews. SHMA YISROEL, ADONAI ELOHENU, ADONAI AHAD!  HEAR OH ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.

This scripture (verses 4-9) along with Deut. 11:13-21, is contained in the mezuzah (the little box affixed to the door frame of Jewish homes).  The tefillin box that I described to you recently, also contains these verses along with Exodus 13:1-16.  Of course, like my 4 year old Granddaughter, we can put the scriptures in our heads, write them on our doorposts and wrap them around our bodies, but they only change us and glorify The Lord if they are in our hearts and life breathed into action by The Holy Spirit.

None the less, we plant The Word in our hearts and in the hearts of our children knowing that one sows, and another reaps, but only GOD gives the increase.        

 And here I walk the streets in “the land of The Book” surrounded by and part of the people of The Book. I pray: “LORD! Breathe Your Spirit of LIFE into us all that we would become the testimony that You want us to be, the display of Who You Are”

   I asked for prayer for Kinneret in my last letter and many of you responded that The Lord had put her on your heart.  So you need to know that the very next day after I sent out the prayer request she told me, “It is really a miracle!  My son got an appointment to be interviewed for intensive day treatment at Hadassah Hospital. (One of the best mental health facilities) It is a miracle that he got the appointment so quickly!”

Happily I told her that I had shared some of her story and needs with my praying friends outside of the country by mail.  She was amazed and couldn’t imagine such a thing that people would pray for her family.  So I do have a further request to tack on, for those of you who are praying for her. Their daughter – Shir – is having her Bat Mitzvah this coming Sunday and her twin brother (the one who is hidden in his room) will not be coming. That is breaking his mother’s heart. She has asked if I would please come to the Bat Mitzvah to be there like a Mother for her.

I told you that her mother has been committed to mental hospital since Kinneret was 5 and it broke my heart.  It will be difficult for me to go as it begins at 7:30 p.m. and I work on Monday. But I feel that it is important.  If it is The Lord’s open door, will you pray with me that I am able to go?

I cannot tell you how encouraged she is to know that you are praying for them.  And the fact that she is glad, encourages me.

I went to the shuk and prayed which way to go. With things so tense in the country these days it is wise to take nothing for granted, but that is always wisdom for each of us anywhere, eh?

I went to an Arab vendor whom I like and asked him how he was.  He mumbled “b’seder” (ok, fine) under his breath and continued looking down.

Once again I spoke strongly, my boldness surprising me. “No you are not.  What’s wrong?” I demanded.

He looked up at me startled and recognized me. A smile spread across his face. “Ah mah me.” (‘mah’me’ sounds just like mommy and is an affectionate Hebrew term that DOESN’T mean mommy but is a warm sign of friendship.’It’s this FAST!  (Ramadan) I’m hungry and tired. I work all day and party all night and then comes the 2 a.m. call to prayer, just as I get to sleep, and then it is 4 a.m. and I have to get up to go to work. It’s hot and I’m HUNGRY!  Not sleeping and not eating makes us crazy,” he laughed and I groaned.

“Oy!  I understand,”I said.

“It’s almost over,” he continued.

So, when I stopped by his stand today I asked, “Are you less tired and grouchy now,” figuring that Ramadan was over.

“No!” he barked. “Eid-al-Fitr! Just as bad! Two more days!”  He shook his head.

Along came an old religious Jew and they began talking happily about a rabbi that they both knew had said and I had to chuckle.

WHAT A MIXTURE!

Burning kites sent by the hundreds across the border from Gaza to set afire the ripening fields of the south of Israel. So what do we do? Kite making camps are held on the Israeli side of the border to teach the kids the beauty of kites so that they won’t be afraid of them. They float beautifully designed back across to Palestinian Gaza.

Meanwhile, as we seek a solution, so much of the land in the south has burned, so many crops and food destroyed. The farmers are dismayed. So many questions and so shockingly much MIS-information on international news.

Israel demolishes 15 homes in our own Gush Etzion village of Netiv HaAvot.  One of the homes was the loving home of a friend of mine – a family of six, a secretary whom I used to work with.  I heard her speak on the evening news as she can speak English.  The land had a claim filed against it and although it is still disputed, the law ruled to destroy the houses. We are a people with a law.

And then there is suddenly rain in June. But it is our dry season and the rains have passed. Yet the desert is closed to trips because of flash flooding.  Whereas May was 2 degrees warmer than normal, June so far is 2 degrees cooler.

Over the noise…no, the ROAR, of the world being shaken from its foundation…may the cry go up from our hearts:  I WILL LOVE THE LORD MY GOD WITH ALL OF MY HEART AND SOUL AND STRENGTH AND MIGHT!  May we each do it, believe it, walk it and share it for His glory.

I am more and more convinced that there is no other way.

Sincerely,

J

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June 7, 2018 · 9:08 am

Prayers for America (6/7/2018)

The American church has more than enough critics pointing their fingers at its problems. From feminists to LGBT individuals to racial activists to homeless communities to doctrinal purists to politicians to whomever – all seem to have a bone to pick with the American church.

Here’s my challenge to every critic: are you willing to be a part of the solution? Or do you just want to keep throwing rocks?

You see, change will only happen when critics, like you and me, have a revelation of what the American church should be: the Bride of Christ. If we can just get a small glimpse of what this Bride should look like, we would fall in love with her. Then, we’d do whatever we had to do to bring the Bride into her fulfillment.

My prayer today:

Lord, help us. We believers are being tossed about by every wave of criticism, by the trickery of men, and by deceit, but if You would reveal a glimpse to us of Your Bride without any spots or wrinkles or blemishes, in all her holiness and without fault, we would use our revelations as lighthouses to draw us toward her. (Based on Ephesians 4 and Ephesians 5:27)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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June 5, 2018 · 8:20 am

Prayers for Israel (6/5/2018)

 

I wrote in a recent WND column:

The main storyline of the Bible from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation revolves around the nation of Israel and God’s covenant people – the Jews. There are side narratives, allowing Gentiles to be grafted into the main storyline, which believers like me are thankful for. Yet even so, the Apostle Paul warns Gentiles not to think of ourselves as being superior to the Jews, but to be grateful and to fear God. Paul also states that the calling of God on Israel is irrevocable. (China and Israel: My End-Times Teachers)

If we believe we’re in the last days, then we need to start praying and interceding for Israel. As John Wesley wrote: “God does nothing except through prayer.”

My prayer today:

Lord, give us Your love and zeal for Israel and Jerusalem. Help us to open our mouths  to defend and to pray for them until Your righteousness and salvation is fulfilled in their midst. (Based on Isaiah 62:1)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for Israel and Jerusalem.

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May 29, 2018 · 11:25 am

Prayers for LGBT Believers (5/29/2018)

https://vimeo.com/270783445

The above almost six-minute video is from Church United and was produced as a tool to stop AB 2943 from becoming law in California. This proposed law would ban helping anyone with unwanted same-sex desires or gender confusion. So far, AB 2943 has passed the California Assembly by a lop-sided vote and will soon be voted upon in the California Senate.

The video shows five men and two women relating their journeys out of their LGBT lifestyles. All of their remarks touched my heart with the challenges they faced. Here are a few words gleaned from their testimonies:

Woman #1: “I heard the Lord say to me in His still small voice, “Choose,” and it wasn’t an easy choice. It was the hardest choice I have ever made…”

Woman #2: “I lived and loved being a lesbian. I felt like I was born that way. It seemed to explain why I was the way I was…A seventeen year-old boy approached me with what he called a word from the Lord. What he said to me was a direct answer to something I had been praying about for years.  Getting this answer to my prayer caused me to question whether I knew God. So, I picked up a Bible and began highlighting every passage that described the character of God. I discovered this amazing God that was so beautiful and so excellent. I couldn’t think of withholding myself from Him.

Man #1: “My parents and I cried for two hours. They told me how much they loved me no matter what. They asked me how they could help. I wanted help wherever I could get it. They found a Christian counselor. I had no promise that I would ever change but I had support from the counselor and my parents that I was loved and I was safe.”

Man #2: “God can restore the years the locusts have eaten. It is absolutely amazing.”

If you have the time, the six-minute video is well-worth watching.

My prayer today:

Lord, help us to be Your hands outreached to the LGBT community and help us to yield to Your loving Spirit to be Your servants to them.

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for LGBT believers.

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May 24, 2018 · 8:16 am

Prayers for America (5/24/2018)

 

In the early 1990’s, Larry Burkett told a story on his radio program, “Money Matters,” that still sends shivers down my spine. Burkett had attended a local church and heard a Chinese man tell his testimony.

It seems the man was a lieutenant of Mao Zedong when Mao’s communist army defeated Chiang Kai-Shek and took control of China. Mao then set out to cleanse China of all imperialist influences, especially American connections. Missionaries were sent home or killed. Chinese pastors were imprisoned or killed. Christians were killed. Political leaders, people who had visited America or attended schools there were killed.  Historians estimate 40,000,000 Chinese were executed by Mao during his various purges.

The man, who told this testimony, was chosen by Mao as one of the leaders in the rural purges. He dispatched his tasks with cruel efficiency. But some Christians focused their prayers on him and he was miraculously saved. So convinced was the man that Christ was the answer for China he decided to return to Peking (Beijing) and tell Mao the good news of Jesus.

Mao was not impressed with his lieutenant’s message and commanded him to renounce his new found faith. The man refused and said, “I cannot deny the experience I’ve had with Jesus.”

Mao brought his wife and children before the man. Soldiers stood behind his family with guns aimed at their heads. Once again, Mao asked the man to renounce his faith. The man fell to his knees and said, “Please do not kill my family, but I cannot deny Jesus.”

His family was executed before his eyes.

Next, his parents, brothers, sisters and their families were brought before the man with soldiers standing behind them with guns at their heads. Mao insisted the man renounce Jesus. The man refused. His entire family was executed before his eyes.

All of his friends and their families were placed in front of him, but still he would not renounce Christ. They were executed.

Then, Mao decided death was too good for the man. He was stripped naked and placed in a cold cell. Once a day, guards were ordered to beat him.

His imprisonment and beatings continued for fifteen years. During that time, the man led 90% of the guards to Christ and the guards even risked their own freedoms by bringing Bibles to him.

When he finally emerged from prison, he walked down a road, heading toward his hometown. As he walked, people in the fields next to the road, fell to their knees and cried out to be saved by Jesus. Yet, the man said nothing because the presence of God was so heavy upon him that he just continued to walk.

Larry Burkett said that when the Chinese man finished his testimony he was asked, “What do you think of our American churches?”

The man gazed at the audience with tears in his eyes. “You American Christians do not know the Jesus I know,” he said.

My prayer today:

Lord, help us Americans to know the Jesus of the Book of Revelation and to not be offended by what He does in the end-times and by what He doesn’t do.

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for America.

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April 24, 2018 · 8:41 am

Prayers for LGBT Believers

 

Most believers, including me, would love to have a LGBT person give his or her life to the Lord and presto! Every LGBT desire would instantly be removed from the person’s life.

Yet, it seldom works that way!

But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body [of Christ] just as He pleased… In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. (1 Corinthians 12:18, 23)

My prayer today:

Lord, help the Body of Christ to care for each member as You do because he or she is necessary and if one member suffers, help us all to suffer with them so that there is no division in the Body. (Based on 1 Corinthians 12:25-26)

What do you think and has the Lord spoken to you today?

Join with me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for LGBT believers.

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