Seeing God Work

On Friday we arrived in Roanoke, VA and have just begun a 4-day Thirst Conference at Green Ridge Baptist Church. This is church number fifteen since January 1. Last week we completed an 8-day conference in Mansfield, Ohio and really saw God do a great work in the lives of individuals, especially pertaining to marriages and families. Bitterness, unforgiveness, not having a clear conscience before God and man, and spiritual leadership were huge areas where many came to the point of obedience in dealing with these issues and experienced the freedom that comes as a result. Last Sunday we saw over 65 people give public testimony (4+ hours) as to what God had been saying to them and how they had responded during our days together. What an encouragement to those in attendance to see and hear testimony of lives and families changed forever. Listed below are some of the initial prayer requests that we received upon arrival in Mansfield:


“That I would work through forgiving someone who has hurt me and my family. I know now that I am and have been bitter and I want and desire to be thankful for this situation.”


“To help me release the unforgiveness in my heart toward my mother.”


“A miracle in my marriage, a miracle in my church, a miracle in our world.”


“What is keeping me from revival is hanging onto my relationship with my boyfriend hoping for a marriage with him.”


“Discussing sins and bitterness with my husband…...for his heart to be open and mine to be honest.”


“What is preventing me from experiencing revival in my life is that I do not love my wife the way I should.”


As the week progressed, God began to reveal His desire for us in our relationship not only with Himself, but with others. Below are some of the praises and answers to prayer that we began to see:


“Receiving forgiveness from my husband for confessing past sins against him.”


“For a new husband….a husband who is RUNNING after our mighty God!”


“On Sunday my marriage was very close to divorce (for the second time). I asked for prayer...today we are moving forward together.”


“Before our days I was dealing with a fear of suffering…not a good place to be. With your bold teaching of “Giving myself first to the Lord”…”Giving thanks in all things”…”Forgiveness”…”Proverbs 30 (just enough, not too much, not too little)”...this spiritual feast has been well timed for my soul to break free of the fear of suffering. By following the process of applying these truths, the root of my fear became exposed. I discovered that over my life, unresolved problems of recognizing and dealing with rejection had led to a spiritual idol of self worship with the fruit of insecurity and fear. By applying what I had been taught during these days, a break through happened that has lifted this issue from my spirit. My prayers have been answered. The joy of the Lord has been restored to me and God is rebuilding this individual.”


What a great week/season of seeing God do the miraculous in people’s lives!


Only a couple more weeks, and we will be arriving back in Holland. We are looking forward to some rest and a time to reconnect with family and friends as we prepare for the new ministry season that will kick off in August. Thank you so much for your support in praying for us.

Trusting in God

"To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me." - Psalm 25:1-2
Our passage for today covers one of the basics of what it means to really live a life of faith in God: "O my God, in you I trust." How's the trust-in-God thing going with you? Because trusting God is really the centerpiece of the Christian life. If you're doing well at trusting God, you're doing great with your faith. If you're not doing well at trusting God, you're not doing so great with your faith.
Here's some good news. Each time we open our Bibles, we are opening a primer on trust. God has given us in His Word everything we need in order to trust Him. Trusting God is a decision. It's a choice that every person has to make. The decision to trust God or not is unavoidable. You will choose to trust or not to trust God - but you will choose.
Think for a moment of life as a car. In that car, either you're driving or God is driving. When you're holding the wheel, you're taking charge. When you're driving, you're not trusting.
But in the Christian life, you get to ride. You are in the car - in the front seat. You get to talk to the Driver. He's interested in your input, but as the trip unfolds, God is the One who's making the calls. God determines where and how fast your life is going. He checks the map and provides the GPS. God is driving. That's the life of trust.
Now how often have you had a series of battles over who's going to hold the wheel? Are you or is God going to hold the wheel? That's the issue of trust. When you and I are trusting at our best, the top is down and it's a sunny day. Everything is going great. But when we're not trusting, there's a wrestling match over the wheel. But God doesn't really fight us for the wheel. I find that every time I grab it, He says, "This won't be great." Yet He doesn't get out of the car. He waits for me to trust again.

James McDonald - Walk in the Word