JOEL 2 GENERATION

In one of the darkest places, there is an incredible light growing - the light of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am seeing articles almost every week about the growth of the Church in Iran.  I am sent reports. I know Iranians who have come to Christ and they tell me their stories.  There is arguably no movement to Christ in the Muslim world since the beginning of Islam like what has been happening in the past few decades amongst Iranians. Here is yet another article I have just seen.  Incredible - Iranians reaching Iranians!  Former Muslims reaching out to Muslims. The most effective evangelists being the most effective! https://www.christianpost.com/news/muslim-convert-on-miraculous-ways-god-is-radically-transforming-iran-despite-persecution.html And I have seen in recent years that my podcast gets listened to regularly and downloaded from inside Iran!  Even yesterday's podcast was downloaded 10 times in one Iranian city in less than 24 hours....

I saw an article today on Charisma magazine’s website entitled "God's Assignment for You During the COVID-19 Crisis" from a well-known charismatic Christian website wherein the author boldly states that... “ God’s assignment is for you to be in your home , using your social distancing, and washing your hands.”   I’ll say this up front – this author was/is 100% WRONG! No, this was/is NOT “God’s assignment” for any of His people! That's funny (especially coming from Charismatic Christian source that talks all the time about healing and the miraculous!) because God spoke to our community that we were to BE GOING OUT OF OUR HOMES and to be ministering to people who were/are gripped with fear, to pray for their protection and to share God's truth with them. And He has confirmed this mandate for us over and over again since this pandemic began. So that is exactly what we have done for 2 weeks now! And as long as we are allowed to go out of our homes, which has been ...

What else is there to do?  Seriously!? We had to get out of the house and go and find people to love, to pray with, to share with, etc. Even after yesterday where there were over 100 people who our community got to pray with my thought this morning was, "WHO ELSE CAN WE REACH OUT TO???" So we headed out and in less than an hour, the Lord opened doors for us to pray with another 20 people or so - in coffee shops and in a huge supermarket. We began our adventure today in a Costa Coffee shop where we got to pray with two Filipino employees - they were in total agreement, "So Be It Lord", they repeated over and over! Later in the supermarket, the first two men we encountered were Egyptian Muslims - they were so appreciative as we began to speak about God's protection at this time, that they gave us free samples and chocolates! One gave me his number and I told him I would be sending him Psalm 91 IN ARABIC and other resources. Another woman from Sri Lank...

I believe God is speaking to His Church right now in many ways, emphasizing certain Biblical teachings/truths. We have all been hearing many of the same messages/emphases: "Do NOT fear" "Have faith" ("Believe", "Trust", etc. - "Focus on God's promises") "Draw near to me" (intimacy) "Fast and Pray" "Preach the Gospel" ("Share the hope that is within you..." "Go into all the world" ("Reach out to people") "_______________" (fill in the blank, etc. etc.) But if we are listening, Jesus is also telling us to REPENT. Jesus would often say, "to those who have ears to hear, let them hear". He knew all-too-well that many do not have ears to hear. They refuse to listen. They would rather listen to Christian teachers who are giving them "what their itching ears want to hear" (2 Tim 4:4) Jesus, speaking to the Church in Laodicea, said this (and IS SAYIN...

Today 11 from our church community got into 4 different vehicles and in about 2 hours we were able to pray with/for more than 100 people all over this Muslim nation. We truly became a "Church on wheels" and from restaurants, to coffee shops, to security guards, to individuals we drove by, we were able to "extinguish fear", and pray for peace, protection, provision, healing and anything else that people needed/wanted. We prayed for Christians, for Muslims, for Buddhists and for Hindus. From many different nations - from Asia to Africa.  We prayed in English, Arabic and even in Tamil and Hindi as our community has speakers of many different languages! It was our multinational, global Body of Christ reaching into a multinational, global context. There are too many stories to share but as I get the more detailed reports I might be sharing some of them here. But overall people were incredibly grateful for the ministry they received. Even the non-Christians were of...

Today we tried something a little bit different.  I felt like yesterday in addition to praying for the things that we have been praying for, I would begin praying things like this, "Lord, we surrender our lives to you at this time, we ask you to forgive us and to fill us now with your Holy Spirit..." - of course, always praying clearly in the Name of Jesus. And in probably about a 30 minute period today, at 6 different restaurants we had the opportunity once again to pray for at least 30 people - from India, the Philipines, Bhutan and Egypt. At least those are the countries we were aware of.  Some we got to pray for one-on-one, and in once place once again the Lord opened a door to pray for about 12-15 all at once.  A couple of the women my wife prayed for were already committed Christians and she was able to connect them with each other. They worked in restaurants that were next to each other and didn't know that there were any other believers.  One who was n...

Jesus didn't just give His disciples a set of teachings; He modeled for them the way they can/should live as His followers. Sometimes we think a book or an article is enough (or a blog!?!?) to inspire others to live out their faith. And at this hour, to be FEAR Extinguishers. But, we have been doing quite a bit of modeling for others. It is a great idea to help others who are struggling with fear, but HOW we do it is just as important if we want people to run with the idea, to run with the mandate! Very practical things need to be considered and I have endeavored in this blog to share the questions that I ask, the prayers that I have prayed, the words that I am using, etc.  I have sought to demystify things - and most importantly to make people feel empowered and that they CAN DO IT! My heart, my passion is to see others doing this very thing. To see the multiplication of the Body of Christ in the country I am in, and all across the world doing just this in this hour. Th...

This morning a couple of us took a prayer walk which included a visit to our local Starbucks (which is open for take away orders). I've visited this Starbucks already and prayed with the employees a couple of times since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but today was a chance to follow up AND to be honest, it was like we had a little Church service. First of all, as I was waiting for my coffee, I offered to pray for the 3 people working - a Filipino manager and 2 others, one from Bhutan (a Buddhist).  They were all so receptive.  Again praying for their protection, for the deliverance from fear, for the families and their job security. After my coffee came, I was speaking further with the Filipino manager who I believe is a Roman Catholic.  And she shared about her cousin whose salary has been cut in 1/2 due to the Coronavirus. So I asked if we could pray for that situation and so we had another time of prayer! Finally, as we were talking more, I began to share why w...

As our community looks toward our weekly meeting in a couple of days, we will be taking to the streets once again and this week we are calling it "Church on Wheels". Our mandate is to be "Fear Extinguishers" at this time - to bring hope, to bring peace, to pray with the fearful, to pray for protection and to also pray for healing whenever and wherever we can! In many of the places that I have been visiting, and especially when I have been speaking with Christians who cannot GO TO church at this time, I have said, "I am bringing church to you".  So this Friday our small community will be the "Church on Wheels" - loading up our vehicles and going to every open restaurant, open coffee shop and/or other business establishments to BRING CHURCH to them. Thousands of Christians are not able to go to church in this country at this time.  The vast majority of them do not attend churches that have the capacity to do "Virtual Online Church...

I've decided to just number the days since the Lord spoke to us about being "FEAR Extinguishers" in the midst of this global COVID-19 crisis.  So rather than try to come up with novel daily blog titles, I will be keeping it simple from now on. This afternoon was yet another incredible time to go out and release God's Kingdom to each and every employee working in an open restaurant, coffee place, hotel, etc. I didn't have a long time today and we are now under curfew so that no one can leave their homes after 5PM. But once again, I would enter the business and ask how everyone was doing and then simply offer to pray publicly, openly for all of the employees within the sound of my voice.  I prayed for God to bring His peace, for God to protect from the virus, for God to look after their families (most of whom are abroad), for God to protect their jobs (two managers confirmed that employees were being put on unpaid leave) and whatever else God put on my hear...

It doesn't matter what conclusion Christians have come to or are coming to regarding "why" Covid-19 is here, none of them can dispute that God is using it to reveal many things.  Do we really believe in God's sovereignty? What do we 'mean' by God's sovereignty? What about His promises to provide, to protect and to heal?  Do we really believe them?  Do we really trust Him?  What about our futures? Our finances? Our job security? Everything is being stirred up. Everything is being exposed.  One day we might be fine, but the next day we are battling fear.  I am talking to believers, I am listening to believers, I am praying for believers and paying attention to what people are saying/writing and how they are responding.  And this pandemic is in a matter of weeks is revealing more than normal circumstances would reveal in years! I personally believe that God wants all of us to know HOW we are really doing. He wants us to know just how solid our fait...

Romans 12:15 - The Apostle Paul commands Christians to "weep with those who weep" and today the Lord led us to someone whose circumstances in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic afforded us the opportunity to do just that.  What happened today moved us to tears. We met a Filipino man today in one of the restaurants we stopped into. When I asked him how he was doing he could hardly respond. Why? Because his mother had died this week and since they had shut the only airport, he is literally unable to go and bury his mom. There is no way out of the country at this time.  He is the oldest son and he could hardly speak about it.  COVID-19 has essentially trapped him. It was devastating to hear him share his heart.  I was able to pray with him and ask God to make a way for him to go.  And in the end, I was literally compelled to give him a hug.  I had to. The compassion I felt at that moment compelled me to embrace him.  I walked out of there almost in ...

Fear is everything - and even when people aren't fearful for their own personal safety, they are often fearful for their families, for their aging parents, for their job security, etc. Yesterday and today we got to partner again with God to bring hope, peace and prayer for protection and provision to many different people - multiple nationalities, from many different religions (Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus).  This is simply TOO EASY.  God is setting us up if we will open our eyes and exercise just an ounce of boldness.  Question 1 - How are you doing? Question 2 - How are your co-workers? Question 3 - Is anybody struggling with fear? And then - I offer to pray.  "Let me pray for you and your colleagues right now..." and then I just begin to pray.  For all the things I know they are fearful about, for God's divine protection around them, for God to send His angels to surround their lives and the lives of their families, etc. etc. In one ...