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