Real-Time Prayer

2 Sam 18:9-12  "Absalom was fleeing from David's men on his mule 

when the mule ran under a huge oak tree.  

Absalom's head got stuck fast in the oak 

and he was left dangling between heaven and earth. 

Joab then took three spears in his hand 

and thrust them into the heart of Absalom 

while he was still hanging from the tree."

Until recently, we'd pray before coming to Jesus Street, and then head out.  But a few weeks ago we got in the middle of some bad blood on the street.  The devil brings his weapons- there's drug activity, gang activity - all the things the devil works to create with his deceptions.   He's the author of arrogance, and violence, and poverty.  We don't know who did what wrong... everybody was wrong.  But we found ourselves between it all and it was a little intense.


This opened our eyes to the need for more covering in "real-time" prayer.


So, last week we asked the 5-7th grade sunday school class to pray for us during the exact hours we'd be on the Street.  Kids pray with some faith, y'all!   This week we again asked friends to cover us in prayer as we went.


The bible says we don't wage war in the flesh, but in the spirit.  We fight spirits of violence, spirits of pride, and addiction, and despair.   And the weapons we use are empowered by God to break those strongholds.  One of our weapons is to boldly declare the destruction of the kingdom of darkness and its lies.  Its a lesser kingdom to the kingdom of God.   We declare Jesus ruler over our street, and our city!  We acknowledge only His authority; and when the real King comes in, those lesser spirits scatter and get caught in the trees by their hair like Absalom.


A funny thing is happening in the wake of prayer like that.  The Love of God is taking hold.


Under the covering of prayer, we're seeing an outpouring of the Love of God - both in our hearts for others, and in the Love being received.  HA!  This makes me laugh!  The devil meant to instill fear in us.   But instead, God's Love is taking hold!   We're abounding with Love!   And it's almost tangible how people are receiving God's Love for them.  Go prayer warriors!


In coming weeks, we'll share stories of the advance of God's kingdom of Love on Jesus Street.   And in coming ages, God will show the surpassing riches of His grace because of His great love with which He loved us in making us alive in Christ Jesus.

2Tim 1:7 "God has not given us a spirit of timidity, 

but a spirit of power and a spirit of love"  

1John 4:18  "...perfect love casts out fear."

Eph 3:14-19 "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 

that He would grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts; and that you may be able to comprehend 

the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ 

which surpasses knowledge, 

that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."

1John 3:8 "For this purpose the Son of God appeared,

to destroy all the works of the devil."

Just a Taste

We just got back from Redding, California where the things God is doing there were shared and imparted in every way.  We were there to soak up as much of God as we could get!  We got even more than we expected.  Here's an email I sent home after the first night there.

"Jude's leg just grew out almost an inch.  He was totally freaking out.

We were at the Dairy Queen and the girl who made my ice cream cone, and prophesied over all of us [amazingly] and prayed for my shoulder, asked if any of us had a leg shorter than the other.  Jude did [who knew?].  She asked who wants to do a miracle. I did [you knew that].  So I held his feet in my hands and commanded the leg to grow in the name of Jesus. We all watched it grow like 3/4 inch (18mm) and Jude was freaking.

Then John wanted his cavities filled. I was like, Jude, you just received the miraculous, why don't you pray for God to fill John's cavities.  Jude was still kind of whacked and he prayed like I've never heard him pray before. He spoke with authority to the teeth, getting words from God and speaking them out. It was strong. Really strong.

We think Mark's flat feet were given arches too. We'll see in the morning. 

That was not your typical Dairy Queen."

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Jesus is Lord, and has dominion over everything in heaven and earth. He has authority to heal and to save. And everyone needs that!

Eagle's Nest

I was praying for my home a few mornings ago, for God's protection of it as a place of rest and restoration for my new guests from the street.  Right away I saw an image of a nest and little birdlings, nestlings.  It was an eagle's nest.  And it was an eagle who was tending those nestlings.


God Himself was their eagle protector and provider, and they are His nestlings- receivers of His goodness and His strength.  The eagle builds her nest high, high up... on the side of a cliff where no one can reach, and no harm can come to her nestlings.


Then I went to Psalm 91 and it says "He will cover you with His feathers. He will shelter you with His wings."


That's the image. The eagle protecting, shielding, providing for his nestlings.  


My house now has a name: The Eagle's Nest. And Psalm 91 is my  refuge and strength.  "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High, find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  He will cover you with His feathers, He will shelter you with His wings."

Psalm 91: 14-16   "Because you love Me, I will deliver you.  

I will protect those who trust in My name.  

When they call on me, I will answer. I will be with them in trouble. 

I will rescue and honor them. 

I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation."

A New and Living Way

Sorry for not posting any updates for so long now.  God is still doing what He does- expressing His everlasting love for mankind, and His dominion over all the works of the enemy- over sickness and darkness and fear- and dispelling them with the same power that raised Christ from the dead.


He's been working on me a lot in the past month or so.  I've been looking for understanding for what we've experienced on the street most recently:  When we prayed our hardest, and called for the battle angels of the Lord to array themselves on our behalf as we reached out to people with the Love and Power of God... it's been in those times- when I was expecting some display of healing power or something- that instead, a deep compassion came over us.  And in those times, the tender mercy, the gentle, peaceful kindness of God was present and being soaked up like a sponge by those we prayed for. We all could feel it.  


This is not what I had envisioned! I thought for sure God wanted to display His dominion over the physical, and heal people and set them free.  But freedom, apparently, comes in a much deeper, kinder and more personal way than I have understood.


So I've been quiet these past weeks, understanding the Father's will and heart.  My friend Dustin encouraged me to read Isaiah 58.  In it God says "Is this not the fast I have chosen... to share your food with the hungry, to take the homeless poor into your house?..."  I've been praying to understand the importance God puts on His Love- it seems so important.  In fact I prayed to actually become the Love of God.  


It was after one of these times of prayer that I was driving along and saw a couple carrying their luggage. I thought I'd give them a ride to wherever they were going.  It turned out they didn't have a place to go.  In fact, they had been sleeping in doorways and were about to go live in the woods.  After they were in the car, telling me their story I heard the Lord clearly repeat His word to me "...to take the homeless poor into your house."  So I invited them to come stay with me.


God has been quickly bringing people around to help. Invitations to dinner, wise co-laborers offering counsel and prayer, and most recently, the vision for loving my new friends to strength, and to faith in the loving God who reached out to them in their time of need.  


We're working on a transition plan for how to get them on their feet and on to the life God has planned for them.  So, I'll be including what God is doing at the house in this blog. It's so clear that He brought us together.


Isaiah 54: 4, 10 "Fear not, you will no longer live in shame. Don't be afraid, there is no more disgrace for you. ...the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken"

Momentum

"Whatever house you enter, say, Peace to this house.  

Stay in that house, and don't move from house to house."

Luke 10:3

There's a corner store we start out from every day we come to Jesus Street.  Its a humble shop, and what I mean is that you probably wouldn't ever go in there.  Well, at least not when we started.  But that is the house we entered from the start and spoke "Peace to this house", and prosperity strength and security to the hands of those who worked there.


This store had always matched the spirit of poverty at work in the neighborhood. The shelves barely had anything on them.  The walls were covered in twenty years of dirt over something that might have been white at one point.   It was a dark store when you walked in, lit by one flourescent ceiling light and whatever came in through the dirty window in the front door. The door itself carried the dirt from a thousand hands that pushed it open over the years. The floor was covered with scraps of old tiles worn all the way through, making it look like you just might fall through.  It had been a depressing place serving depressed people who go there to feed their addictions and continue their sad lives. 


But, our friend Muneer has started working there in the last month and he's totally changing the store.  The shelves are fully stocked with food and snacks. Now there's a fresh coat of bright blue paint all around.  Now the ceiling lights all work and make the place actually feel good.  The new white floor and functioning lights and clean windows make the store a bright spot in the neighborhood.  The same people go there still, but maybe they can look up now and say, "huh, seems better..."  

Muneer and Jude

We feel like Muneer has a gift and that even though people who come in don't have hope, he gives them something that makes them feel better than when they came in.  No one had benefited from the store before.  Now our friend Otha is working there, and he's hired electricians and painters. He's even painting the outside of the store.  


Maybe he'd like to commission some artwork for the outside wall of the building....
Maybe we would!  I have some ideas for some prophetic artwork for this community to behold whenever they look at this store.

For thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the houses of this city...

 'Behold, I will bring to it health and healing; 

and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth.

It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth 

which will hear of all the good that I do for them, 

and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.' 

Jer 33:4,6,9

Sweet Aroma

 "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, 

and manifests through us 

the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place."

- 2Cor 2:14

The knowledge of God is a sweet aroma to those who love Him.   We love His presence and we feast at the table He sets before us in the presence of our enemies.  The more of His Love we enjoy, the sweeter the aroma.


But the devil is a loudmouth.  He flaps his gums and makes a lot of noise.  And his words are full of emptiness.  I actually hate that I even looked at that woman with a demon in her.  She doesn't get my attention. The devil only gets my attention enough to cut his head off.   He is brazen to think he can raise his head up against the beautiful and peaceful knowledge of God.  The devil was frothing mad on Jesus Street today.  He shouted and threw a tantrum. He growled and contorted in the presence of the sons of God who brought the kingdom of Heaven near today.  But nothing can stop the Love of God.

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Mr. S is 87 yrs old and had surgery for cancer a few weeks ago.  He says "Thanks to y'all I'm getting stronger." John has always prayed a special prayer for Mr. S, that as he gets older he only gets stronger every day.  We love Mr. S and I think he likes that we come around to see him every week.


From there we walked along and our friend J came wheeling down the road in his motorized wheelchair.  We greeted him with a smile. He said he just got back from the doctor and was going to surgery on the 31st, but wouldn't say what the surgery was for.  In fact, as he spoke, I felt the sudden compassion of the Lord welling up in me.   He welcomed prayer and we looked to Jesus for His compassion for J and spoke of the never ending loving kindness of God toward Him.  His heavenly Father has never taken His eyes off of J, not one thing has escaped His notice.  His love, His deep deep love for J has never wavered and will never waver.  I felt that God's Love was all over him as we prayed because he lingered in it and never tried to end our prayer early.  God loves J.


As we walked further into the heart of things greeting our friends, that's when the devil started thrashing and shouting in pompous, loud emptiness at his dwindling territory.  That's right. The more love, compassion and hope we bring, the less hold Satan has.   And this time he was spitting mad.  A loud, foul and profane shouting match broke out on the street in front of us and went on for some time.  Moments later, a woman who's face was contorted, growled like an animal as she walked past.   We hate the devil and his grip on these people who are precious to God.  The Love of God is unafraid of the manifestations of Satan's anger.  He's angry at the loss of his hold on people's lives.  He has to watch as people receive the love of God.  ...as they give God and His kingdom its rightful place in their lives.  The kingdom of God is a superior kingdom to the lesser kingdoms of Satan, and he has to watch and listen as the Love and light of God takes back its rightful place.

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 "We are destroying every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God 

and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."

2 Cor 10:5 

"For in the day of evil He shall hide me in His shelter; 

in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; 

He shall set me up on a rock. "

Ps 27:5  

Truth vs. Lies

Today we listened for the lies at work in our neighborhood (yeah, it's ours now). Lies about who God is, and how involved He is with us - keeping people from seeing hope.  Lies that they are failures, leading to lies that they deserve their suffering, leading to lies that God doesn't exist, or if He does, He doesn't dearly love them.  


We've had enough of the devil's lies. We move in the opposite spirit from the one that's at work here.  Jesus loves with fire in His eyes, and He loves openly in the presence of the enemy.  We tell the truth to people about His deep love for them, and about His acceptance and forgiveness.  And We make no apologies for who He is.  God's Love is the truth.   

Psalm 23:5 "You prepare a table for me in the sight of my enemies..."

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B believes he's worthless and he doesn't deserve to be anything but a drunk- all day, every day.  The truth is that Jesus knows exactly what he made when He made you, B.  He made you like a vessel, perfectly designed to receive and respond to God.  And because you've suffered your whole life under this lie of worthlessness, Jesus has a special word for you about your value in God's eyes... You are precious to the heart of God, B.  In fact, you're like a son to God.  He treats you with tenderness and compassion, He knows you're weak. He will never speak harshly to you.  In fact, Jesus never stops speaking the truth of your value in His eyes-  let Him wash over you like water with words of life. Jesus dearly loves B.


Luke 8 and Mark 5: "Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, launched out, and sailed all night to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.  When He got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit ran up to Him.  He was being tormented constantly, night and day, and was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains.   Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man, and the demons came out of the man!  When the people went out to see what had happened; they found the man, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind...  then Jesus got into the boat and sailed all day back to Galilee."  

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S believes she has to be a prostitute to survive and she's ashamed to turn to Jesus because of how she lives her life.  Jesus knows all about your life, S... Every hope you have for something better... Every tear you've shed over what has become of you.  He's not ashamed to publicly call you His own, and to love you.  I can see Jesus welcoming, no, inviting the opportunity to be seen with you, saying "Yeah, she's with me. She's my special friend, and there's no one I'd rather be with.  No one will ever change my mind about that."  Jesus dearly loves S.

Luke 7:37-50 "there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that Jesus was reclining in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. 

      Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon the Pharisee, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.  You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet.  You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume.  For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little."   Then He said to her, "Your sins have been forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

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Many believe the enemy just has too much power here... he's everywhere you look. Now, that is just really a lie, because the bigger truth is that Satan is a loser, and he's afraid of the children of the kingdom of God when we love without fear. The truth is that Jesus is on the move.  We are praying for Him to come and take over.  We confront the darkness and lies with as much of the Spirit and Truth of God as we can carry, and we pray for more and more (hey... isn't there something about worshiping God in spirit and in truth...).  Jesus is on the move and the darkness cannot stay in His presence.

Come Serious...

Joshua 5:13,14  "Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" 
He said, "No; rather I indeed come now as Commander of the host of the LORD." 
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?" 




One of our new friends has a front row seat on the corner where they say the devil doesn't sleep.  She said she didn't like anyone there, but if we wanted to pray for someone, it was D across the street. Turns out D owns the store in the middle of it all. We walked over and asked in a group of people is someone here named D?  "Yeah I'm D." "We want to pray for you," we said.   "Yeah, I'll have that. Let's get that right now!"  It was so fast we didn't even introduce ourselves.  So we took a minute and started saying what we believed God wanted for him and his store and his life and realized, hey, we better just start praying!  John and I both just brought as much heaven as we could pray down on D and his store and his life. I got the feeling that the dozen or more people on the street were stopping to watch. 


I think something started happening at that point.  Mr. J, an old friend of ours, broke in and said, "I'll have some prayer with you now." Now, I get the growing impression that old Mr. J has got some fire in his bones, because he drew out the fire in us. Before we prayed he looked us in the eye and said "you need to come serious."  What he was saying was that he wanted to see us bring the fire.  I believe he sees something in us that he really wants to see come out.  So we continued to pray there in front of D's store.  


It was something like this- we prayed against the works of the devil in that place that keeps people pressed down, and steals their hope, and lies to them with alcohol and drugs to deaden the pain.  We prayed out loud on that street.  That the enemy is on stolen ground that he got through lies.  That he has no true claim to the ground he works on.  That Jesus Christ is He who is here now, not to give up ground but to take it.  That God has fire in His eyes and He loves with a vengeance and He will have His beloved.  Then John prayed with all his heart that the true Love of the true God would be known on this street. And that demons would flee and drugs would flee and in their place the peace of Heaven would come to this street.  Then Mr J prayed that the terrible shaking of the earth we've seen in natural disasters would speak to people about how God is powerful and unchanging and to be feared and that they would repent.


I felt like something happened in the spirit last night as people watched, and as we prayed-in the Spirit of God in that place.  It felt like Heaven moved.  We want to bring it to earth like Jesus did- everyday.

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POSTSCRIPT:
I don't want people to smile and kind of like what we're doing, but not feel compelled.  I want them to jerk their head around at what we're bringing, and realize that the kingdom of God has come to them.  It's not a nice thing, it's an awesome thing.  God's not nice, He's a consuming fire and His passion burns to make Himself known to people who live in darkness.  His Love is awesome and furious. His Love is war.  It goes in and slits the throat of enemy captors to rescue the beloved. So passionate is His Love for His bride.  And He will have His bride.


Bring us your presence O God!  Display all of what You made the earth, and mankind to display of Yourself. Bring us your Spirit O God, and make Yourself known in this dark place. Do everything that's in Your heart to do for mankind, rescue these Your beloved, and establish Your kingdom here.

The Next Level

OK, this is kind of fun. Our friend at the corner store from last week, (she has a very pretty name by the way, but we're not sharing names here, so I'll call her Maria, but just know it's even prettier than that.) She is hispanic and her English isn't the best, so we had to kind of work to get this story, but check it out.


When John and Jude and I went into the corner store she was there with her usual great smile. We were eager to follow up with her after praying for her father and hearing of his healing last week. We then prayed for her mother- who had some condition in her throat that caused it to be enlarged- like swollen glands or thyroid or something- like I said, it was a little hard to communicate. Anyway, we just prayed for total healing for her mother.


So we asked how her mother was doing. "Oh yeah," she said with a  smile, "she was healed the next day and she hasn't had anything since. She is working now."  


I had to stop and make sure I understood what she was saying. "So wait, Maria. You're saying that we prayed for your father's troubles with his mouth, that was keeping him from working because of the pain, and the next day he was fine and he went to work, and he's been fine ever since?"  "Yes!"  "And then we prayed for your mother who had trouble in her throat and glands and the next day she was fine and has been fine ever since?"  "Yes! I've been so happy!"  We all just started dancing right there in the store! (yeah, we do that.  LOL!)


So we said, "So everyone in your family is healthy now and has a job and is working? God has done such good things for your family!  We should ask Him to do something for you! What can we pray for?"  We just prayed for Jesus to fill her heart with Himself, and with joy, and every good thing.  "Maria, do you have Jesus inside your heart?" She said, "When you prayed, each time I feel like tingling and chills. I prayed with my children last week. My husband was asking me what I was doing. I just told him never mind, it's fine..."  "OK, Maria, are you ready to go to the next level? Because Jesus wants to come into your heart and fill up your life... Tonight, when you pray, ask Jesus to come into your heart and fill up your life, OK?"


To be continued....


Romans 8: 38,39:  "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Peace and Health

Last week we met a new girl minding the corner store.. Before I go on, I should tell you that we're really taking to heart Luke 10 and have been making that the starting point in all we do. 

"Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house'... and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'"  Luke 10: 5,9

After a few introductions we explained that we wanted to see the kingdom of God come to this street, and asked if there was anything we could pray for her, or for her family.  She said her father had a dentist appointment the next day and he has had so much pain he has been missing work. We prayed something like that God would be his dentist, that the kingdom of God would come and fill his mouth today, and that God's will would be done in His mouth as it is in Heaven. We asked God to heal him before he had to go to the dentist. 

Today when we saw our friend at the store we asked how things were going with her. She was all smiles and said her father woke up early the day after we prayed and was getting ready for work. She asked why he was getting up- he had been staying home in pain for four days. He said he had no pain and he had to go to work. She explained that we had prayed for him and he told her to thank us for him. She did. Haha!

After that great story, we asked if there was anyone else she knew that needed God to do something for them. She said her mother was having some pain in her side. We prayed for her, and I guess we'll find out next week what else God wants to do in that family. We'll be sure to say, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you!'

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Luke 10:3-9  "Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. (that's us alright!)  Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way there (don't be distracted from your purpose).   Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house.'   If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.  Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.   Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' "

He Cares

Oh what a great joy and blessing it is to have such a loving, caring Father! He is so gentle and kind with his children, and it is his "good pleasure" to give us his Kingdom (Luke 12:32).  He cares. He cares. He cares.  He cares about every single thing in our lives! From the biggest to the smallest, he overlooks nothing! It doesn't matter if you have a little paper-cut or stage 4 cancer, he will leave nothing undone! He loves fixing the small things, the big things, and the things in between. Oh how deeply he cares!


And because he cares, we care.  So when we walk up and down Jesus Street, there is nothing too small to pray for and there is nothing to big to ask for, so we pray for it all knowing God is eager to give and extravagant in his giving. This week we prayed for cavities, migraines, multiple sclerosis, shingles, a paralyzed leg, etc.


We had just started our day on Jesus Street, and we walked by two ladies on our way down the street.  I didn't really acknowledge them by accident, so I turned around to say something. One of the ladies, looked at me like she knew me. She didn't, although she thought I was one of her sons friends.  We asked, "Is there anything that ya'll need prayer for?" She told me that she had been having migraines for the last two days, and her friend confirmed it by saying ,"She hasn't stopped complaining about it."  Billy asked her, "Do you know God can take away your migraines, no problem!?" She liked to hear that.  Who wouldn't like to hear that, besides a religious person bound by a theology that does not allow God to do nice things for us.


God loves doing little things for us. The problem is we rarely stop and ask, because we think the little things are unimportant to him. We're learning to stop and ask.  Believe it or not, he cares about our pains, struggles, finances, emotions, and problems more than we do.  Nobody cares about our well-being more than him.


So...we went to God in prayer. Billy prayed for a release of the will of Heaven over this lady's head.  He commanded the pain and the migraine to leave in Jesus name.  He prayed that God would pour out his love by healing her.  Expectantly, we asked her, "How's it feel!?"  She said, "It'll leave (eventually)." Meaning it was still there.  We asked doubtingly, "You mean, it's still there?" We were in the middle of saying, "Let us pray again!?" when she interrupted by saying, "wait (with her finger up in the air)." Her eyes so big. She turned to her friend, and said "It's gone. It's completely gone." She took the handful of pills she had just bought to dull the pain, and gave them to her friend saying, "I won't need these."


God touched her, and revealed to his sweet daughter that he cares about her, even about her headaches.


-John

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John!   That was an awesome post!   You need to do this more!   Can I tell them about our friend on the porch?

Today we prayed for a man's leg to grow back.  He was in a wheelchair and had a lot of things in his body that weren't right- beside that he had one of his legs amputated.  I felt the love of God for this man when we spoke about his healing.  You could see in his eyes that his condition hurt him inside too.   You know, the truth is that he won't be old and feeble and in a wheelchair in Heaven. He'll be young and strong and dancing in Heaven!!!  THAT's God's will!!! We prayed that God's will would be done in his body as it is in Heaven, and that he'd be dancing on that porch for Joy and for Jesus! He was laughing when we prayed. I like laughing when we pray.  

I think Jesus is enjoying watching to see how crazy we get in what we'll believe Him for.  I know that just two weeks ago I would not have prayed that for that man. 

As John and Jude and I were seeking with all our strength to bring the Love and power of Jesus to people we met, the street was actually bustling with the work of the devil- drug deals, prostitution, you could feel the spirit of arrogance in the air- I think the dealers are under that- its hateful and violent and urgent. I’m getting a bitter taste for it. 

But judging from the stirring in our hearts, this could just break out into a release of the Spirit of God right there on the street (where He belongs, Praise God!).  We want to crush Satan’s head in that place, and we're praying into the day that Jesus walks on that street and delivers women from their slavery and oppression, men from their despair and poverty and indignity, and just brings the whole package of salvation.  That will be the day that the oppressor leaves that place, and drugs are no longer sold on those streets, and dealers fall on their face in repentance.  That will be the day that Jesus comes to claim His street.

-Billy

Easter Weekend 2011

It's Good Friday- Death is about to die

Greater love no one could ever show
Mercy so undeserved, freedom I should not know
All my sin, all of my hidden shame
Died with Him on the cross, eternity won for us

This is Jesus in His glory
King of Heaven dying for me
It is finished, He has done it
Death is beaten, Heaven beckons me

Victory in Jesus

Two days ago, tornadoes blew through this area, and every street in the south end of Raleigh had impassable roads with hundreds of trees down, telephone poles snapped in half, and houses crushed... Its the most destruction this area has ever seen. Its everywhere. It's important you know that before telling what happened today.

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We started the day asking for words of knowledge from God about what He wanted to do today.

We felt to start the day on a different street than usual- on the outside edge of our neighborhood.  On our way there, we passed dozens of trucks and workers clearing fallen trees and debris. When we arrived at the new street, there was a porchful of people talking about the tornadoes that ripped through the area.

We walked up to the house and they thought we were from the power company. We said no, we were just walking around. They said "Maybe you can clear this up for us, we were trying to figure out how can the tornado hit over here and over there, but not hit around our house. Do you know how that could happen?"  We were salivating waiting to answer this question.  "I'll tell you exactly how that happened! For two months now we've been walking on these streets, claiming this neighborhood for Jesus Christ. Jesus protected this neighborhood!"  The fact is that there were downed trees and crushed houses all around us, but not in the neighborhood where we walk.

That was a pretty convincing argument and seemed to end all debate about tornadoes! We went on to introduce ourselves and meet everyone. We asked how everyone was doing and if anyone had any pain in their bodies or any needs we could pray for. Grandma said "Oh yes!" She had lost her job a year ago due to a pinched nerve in her back, and now she hobbled badly. We prayed to release the will of Heaven on her back, and everyone had gotten up to watch.

We asked how much better she felt- 25%? 50%? We walked with her out to the curb and back.

She said, "No, I feel better- I don't have any pain right now." HAHA!!! Before we left, we also prayed that the Lord who controls the weather would create three new jobs for the people there who needed jobs. We all parted like family, and went on to see what God wanted to do next.

(...yes, we're psyched!)

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We ran into five kids playing. They asked us what club we were in- the Safety Club?  We said no, we don't have a name for our  club. So the little kid said "They're the epic eskimoes" OK. We'll go with that. So, all hands in the middle- Epic Eskimoes on three. One, two, three EPIC ESKIMOES!  Then we started prophesying over each one of them God's destiny and plans for them. One little girl said she wanted to prophesy to me! Wow! Cool! She said I see you as a nice, kind man who cares for people and cares for the poor. I'd say those kids were getting something from God today.

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Then back to Jesus Street to end the day. Our new friend wasn't there, but his brother- who I offended last week- was ready for some prayers. I saw him reaching out his hand to be prayed for. But then another friend said he wanted to get prayed for, and I could tell he wanted it real bad. So there we were with two guys really ready for some prayer RIGHT NOW! So we split up and prayed for both of them at the same time- it was Holy Chaos! I had to laugh at this racket! What a blessed mess!  I think Jesus was laughing. Just a couple of weeks ago, we were getting snarls, and one of our new friends was calling this the devil's porch, and now we couldn't keep up with the friendship and laughter and requests for prayer on that porch. What is going on here?!! 

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The Word of the Lord

I never give up. I never stop pursuing. I never, ever get tired of chasing after the ones I love.
No matter how often you change, or fall, or run away... I run farther.
No matter how far you run.  I run farther.


And no matter how far you've gone, how far you've run, how far you've fallen;
If you turned right now, I am right here. Right now.
For you.
I love with a vengeance, and I will make your desert break forth with waters and blossom profusely. When you return to Me, Everlasting Joy will be upon your head.




I feel this is a word from Jesus for someone you may know who feels they are far from the Lord's Love.  Truly, though, you're never far from His Love. And He can't wait to let you know that.
Pray this out for them, even for yourself.  It's prophetic.

Curious Ways

Today we met 8 new people in the neighborhood, saw 7 people we knew already, prayed for 9 people directly and 2 others indirectly.  It also seemed like people knew of us. They kind of knew us as the guys who pray for blessings on people and their houses. Yep, that's us.


There's one guy who has been a hateful antagonist ever since we first walked on Jesus Street. (Oh yeah, we hardly call it by its actual name anymore, since Jesus is taking over here...) This guy would throw his hand up at us from across the street as soon as we so much as looked his way and he'd say, "You don't need to come over here."  One time we happened to almost bump into him and we asked his name to which he said "You don't need to know my name" and just turned and walked away. So today Mr. Snarly Pants was sitting on the porch with our favorite Mama. 


We always stop by Mama's house- that's the first place we prayed for anyone in this neighborhood.  We called up to the porch and asked Mama if we could come up and love on her a while. We looked like we might be walking on by and snarly boy- who is white, by the way- was saying "that's right you go on," and "I hate white people." 


Anyway, she called out- are you gonna just walk on by without even coming by to visit me? Meanwhile the hateful dude was giving her a hard time, but we had our invitation. We went up and just did what we do, which was to give her the Love of Jesus in buckets, as much as she can take.  As one of us was talking to Mama asking how we could pray for her today- and she really wanted something from the Lord today- snarly boy was harassing her the whole time.  


I started talking to him and he actually changed his manner. He actually said "I see you guys walking around and blessing the houses. That has more of an effect than you'll ever know."     (Oh, we have an idea, my previously snarling friend!)  I asked if I could pray for him, and he said, "No, that's alright."  I said, just for ten seconds. He said OK, and he extended his hand.  I asked his name, and he told me. I prayed for him that God would touch him, and would show him His love and even touch his mind and set him free from the disorder in his head.  When we were done I said, "that was more than 10 seconds" He said that was OK, and others were kidding him that I went longer. He said "I was enjoying it."  People... that is powerful. 


Mama got her blessing from the Lord today. My friend got a softened heart, and I'm praying for more for him. I asked God that he would become Mr. Happy Pants.


As we were leaving, we were giving them the word of the Lord- that the devil just wants to bring poverty and sickness and death and addiction, but Jesus wants to bring prosperity, and healing, and salvation, and freedom and joy.  We want Jesus to have His way.

Jesus Saves

Jesus is passionate about this family. He is in LOVE with this family. He would fight and die for this family... Oh. He did...

In the Crosshairs

Dear Sam,


I drove by the neighborhood this morning to pick up some of our new friends for church. You know, we never asked them to come to church. It was a pleasant surprise when they asked us.
We've been praying for Jesus to do something great in this neighborhood for His name sake.
We didn't pick this neighborhood, Jesus did. He picked it.


Well, it turned out this morning that one brother who asked to go to church with us- who I mentioned last week- who we really believe in- wasn't there because he was arrested on Wednesday. 


This news made me angry, and sad, and resolved, and... really, when I got to church today... I just cried.  Our friend was pulled back into the street culture in that neighborhood.  A lot of people there feel the pressure to give in to that mess just to maintain. We see the struggle every time we visit.  


I hate that I cried. Because I really do not waver in seeing the kingdom of God come to the darkest of places. If the devil thinks he's "winning" he's not. If he thinks he's discouraging the people of God with setbacks, he's not. 


There is only one possible response to this news. Brokenness before the One who cares the most. I have no power to thwart the lies and the oppression of the enemy. I'm not convincing anyone- least of all myself- to get back in there and fight. I've already given up, and the battle belongs to the Lord. He calls me a warrior, but the weapons are His. My fight is to set my hope on Jesus, who is the author of promise.


I believe there's a storm building- a storm of God's compassion, and power, and deliverance, and we are praying it down from Heaven. It will be good, good news for everyone there. And you know who can go packing when Jesus comes to Jesus Street. He gave it that name, not me. Its His name now. Its His street.




Matt 26: 52-54: “Put away your sword,” Jesus told His disciple. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?  But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?"

Prov 21: 31 "The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the LORD."

A Day on Jesus Street

We got out of the car and saw a kid we've known for two weeks, who we really believe in. He's been caught in what that neighborhood has to offer but now he's trying to do right and is looking for work. He's a good man with a good heart. We're praying for God to break through for him and give him work.  Before 15 minutes had gone by on that corner, we had prayed for three guys for work, for one guy's mother to receive deliverance from alcoholism, and I think we brought some of God's goodness and love. This was a day on Jesus Street and we hadn't even walked 50 ft from the car yet. There was still a whole neighborhood to go.

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I have to tell you how we pray. We're not praying that God will be nice to them because He's so good and sweet, like some warm-hearted grandfather toward the adorable grandkids.  When we prayed for Elijah (I Love their names!) for a job, one of his buds said "Why are those guys swarming on you?" He was alright with it, and our response to the dude was "because we're about to break open heaven on Elijah's head and bring buckets of favor on him." And that's how we pray. For God to show His power and Love.  When you start out praying for a physical need, and end up hearing God's own heart for the person, I can't describe what happens. Its like right in the middle of a noisy street with buses and cars going by, a spirit of gentleness comes and hearts are softened. I think the guys get loved. Its awesome! 

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We prayed for work for a bunch of guys today.  We're thinking of starting a landscape installation company and hiring these guys because its good hard work, and because we can. Any business we start will be a discipleship business where every day starts with words of grace and power and freedom from the Bible, and times of prayer. Then off to a day's hard work. That's how we see it.


Then we prayed for "G." He's a guy who was standing there tossing a football to himself. He said that when he saw us walking up the street he thought "Here comes some friends." We prayed for deliverence for his mind and joy for his heart. I think he's coming to church on Sunday!


Then we ran into Ed. Right away I saw a light in his eyes and when we asked to pray for him (just take 30 seconds!) he asked for every possible thing a man could need! I won't even list them! He had a hope, I believe, already sown in his heart, and I hope we see him again. I know we will.

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Satan thinks he has control over that neighborhood.  And just because a couple of white guys walk around the streets one day a week for an hour or two doesn't mean a thing. He's thinking he still has this place for the other 166 hours of the week.  ...Especially at night.

Well, I don't think so.  This isn't two armies of equal force battling it out for who has ground here.  This is an outpost of the devil operating on stolen ground, with a stolen authority.  And that pack of cowardly stray dogs is about to meet the army of the Lord of Hosts... an army of overwhelming force, and THAT army is making a landing on these streets.

There's so much to say about what we believe.  But today, I wanted to share what we did, and save why we do it for another day.  Except to say that we're on a mission to reveal the true nature of God in a place that has been fed a diet of lies for too long now. 

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