Dear friends,

We have an amazing group of people serving the clients that come to our CedarWood Pantry each Monday. Some come every week and some come once or twice a month depending on their need but our team has developed a relationship with them that allows prayer requests to be prayed over and praise reports to be shared on the return visit. We rejoice with each soul that comes to the Lord as a result of the interaction between our CedarWood team and the clients. We celebrate when God does something amazing in someone’s life such as a physical healing or that job offer coming through. It’s really about relationships that are built as we seek to provide for their needs.

Summer of course, does not mean that our CedarWood BackPack kids program shuts down. In fact, we provide more food during the school breaks then when school is in session. The breakfast/lunch programs are not available so it’s our desire to help meet the need in whatever way possible and providing extra kits for those children allows us to help make a difference in their lives. 

As you know, we’ve been praying that God would push back the economic crisis. We’ve been doing this for some time now and He has answered our prayers. Yet, as Nita shared a few weeks ago, the time is drawing near. As such, World for Jesus Ministries is seeking to build up a storehouse through our CedarWood department that we might continue to meet the needs of the community during this season. This economic crisis will bring this nation to its knees resulting in, and eventually leading to, struggles that we haven’t experienced since the 1930s. We pray that it will not be as severe as projected and will continue to do so until it’s over. However, God directed us to build up a storehouse and it is our responsibility to fulfill that commission. For those who sow into this project, God will honor your sacrifice. Much like the widow who fed Elijah what she believed would be her last meal. God miraculously provided for her and her son for the remaining three years of the famine. (1 Kings 17)

This is a calling we take very seriously. The Bible is replete with scriptures instructing and encouraging the body of Christ to care for those in need. Will you pray with us and see if the Lord would have you contribute to this effort? If you feel led, you may do so using the following link: Click here if you would like to contribute to our Cedarwood Blessings

I pray the next installment in “Be Bold” will bless and encourage you for the days ahead!

With love,
Ricci Wilson

Abraham had already seen the Lord many times. God had already told him, “I'm going to give you what you think you can't have. I'm going to give you so much more than you think you can have.” Now the Lord is, in effect, saying, “I want to covenant. I'm going to require what I've never required before. This requirement is going to separate you from the world and from the people of the world. It's going to make you different. You're going to feel the separation when it happens. It's not just going to be a pain in your flesh, but you're going to feel in your soul and spirit that there has been a separation. I have separated you unto Myself because I desire to be your God. When the people of the earth look upon you, I want them to see something different than they have seen before. You have looked upon heavenly things. I want it to mean something different to you than it has meant before. When you cry out for an heir, it will mean something different than before. I am going to separate you. Because you will engage in this separation, you will be My son, and I will be your God. I'm going to separate all those that pertain to you as well. This is a covenant that is going to change everything in your life.”

I am feeling what He did to him that day. When Abraham circumcised himself and his people, the sword of the Lord went right down through the middle of him. Do you remember when Abraham made an altar to God, and he cut the animals down the middle?

Genesis 15:9-10 Amp. And He said to him, Bring to Me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he brought Him all these and cut them down the middle [into halves] and laid each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not divide.

Genesis 15:12-15 Amp. When the sun was setting, a deep sleep overcame Abram, and a horror (a terror, a shuddering fear) of great darkness assailed and oppressed him. And [God] said to Abram, Know positively that your descendants will be strangers dwelling as temporary residents in a land that is not theirs [Egypt], and they will be slaves there and will be afflicted and oppressed for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on that nation, whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old (hoary) age.

When Abraham obeyed the Lord and brought those animals of sacrifice to the altar, he cut them down the middle. This was a means by which covenant was made in those days. Then, in Genesis 17, God said, “I am El Shaddai, and I will establish My covenant between Me and you and between your descendants throughout all generations. Now this is the thing that will establish the covenant: you must circumcise yourself.” When he circumcised himself, God did to Abraham what Abraham did to the animals when he laid them on the covenant altar. Abraham became his own covenant offering. I just felt what God did to him. He cut him right down the middle in his inner man with the sword of the Word, and He filled Abraham's soul with a part of Himself Abraham had never touched before. Why? God was bringing peace. He was establishing Himself to bring Abraham out of the chaos of the world.

I want to tell you something. Most Christians live in chaos because they will not let go of the world. They do not know that they are living in chaos because they have done it all their lives. They have problems, things do not go right here and there, and in a moment, it feels like chaos, but that is not what I am talking about. When we are not totally owned by God, there is a certain insanity that touches us. That insanity is the world. Do you agree that what is going on in our government right now is insanity? We need to be separated from that chaos, but only God can do it. It is true that we must do our part, but there is a part that only God can do. He must send the sword of the Lord into our soul and circumcise us.

That is what He did to Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old. Abraham had obeyed God again and again. Every time God said, “Set up an altar to Me,” he obeyed. There was always a reason and purpose for the altar. God may be trying to circumcise you. You need to ask Him to help you let Him do that.

Then God made this wonderful statement, of which I am in awe:

Genesis 17:7 Amp. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting, solemn pledge, to be a God to you and to your posterity after you.

Abraham wanted a son, an heir, to raise before the Lord. That was the biggest thing he desired, but God was saying to him, “I have something even bigger in mind. You have this image of what it means to be a man of God. I have an image, too, and it's much greater and more meaningful than your image. It lasts longer and says more. It has a destiny, and it has eternity attached to it. It's an image that you have not conceived or perceived before, Abraham, my dear friend. I, too, have an image of what I want to see in our relationship. Many times I have come to you and talked to you. Many times I have breathed My life into you to give you hope and to assure you that what I have promised to do, I will do.

“But today I want to circumcise you and set you apart from the world. I want to take you from these nations and make you Mine in a very special way. Now this circumcision issue is going to be a problem down the road because this one thing is going to tell the world, more than anything else, that you belong to a God who is different than the one they are serving. But moreover, your obedience is going to cause the spirit realm to know that you are Mine in a covenant relationship that is different than the rest of the world. You are Mine. I'm going to circumcise you in a place you cannot touch, and it's going to open up to you a realm of revelation about Me to hand down to your descendants.” Wouldn't you like to have that? Wouldn't you like to know the God of Abraham? 

To be continued next week...

In His Amazing Love,

Nita Johnson