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!'

********************************

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

*****************************

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.

*************************

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!)

***************************

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.

************************

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?!! 

**************************

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.