Dear friends,

I’d like to spend a few minutes sharing a little about our recent CedarWood (CW) outreaches. This arm of our ministry is dedicated to helping those in need. Whether it is through our CW Pantry, CW Coats & Clothes Closet, or our CW BackPack Kids program, each element provides an opportunity to meet the basic needs of those in the community. However, it often paves the way for us to minister to other needs that arise and we have had the privilege to see salvation and miracles take place in the lives of our clients.
It is our desire to produce an atmosphere of hope for all who enter our doors and when the need is as great as some of those who attend our Pantry, it can be easy to fall into discouragement. However, we know that this is not God’s way for He longs to bring all men unto Him where hope resides. So, each Monday, once everything is set up and in place, our CW team comes together to pray over the Pantry and all who will enter our doors. Week after week, we have the honor of witnessing as the Lord restores this hope.

Many of you support this arm of our ministry and I am excited to report that last week, your resources allowed us to serve 66 families representing 268 family members in just 90 minutes. That’s a lot of men, women and children who will have nutritious food for the week! I’ve been a part of this work and time flies by so quickly you don’t even have time to realize you’re tired until the last table is wiped down and rolled into the storeroom. I fight back tears as I watch this amazing team of men and women work feverishly to ensure every client is properly cared for during that 90 minutes our Pantry is open, knowing full well that this team will come back again and again to make sure these families are served every week.
In addition to the families served at the CW Pantry last week, we also served 5 other organizations in the community who, in turn, provided meals for other members of the community. Your resources ripple throughout the community in such a beautiful way.

In 2015, no one should go to bed hungry. Through our CW BackPack Kids (BPK) outreach, we are humbled that we have the privilege of making a difference in the Seattle/Skykomish area. We are excited to join forces with Kelly of Operation Full Bellies. Last Thursday, eleven volunteers came together to assemble another 200 BackPack Kits for the school children of Skykomish. The families in this area live in extreme poverty. However, thanks to our volunteers, the organizations that donated food, and those of you who contributed to this outreach, we have one more month that these little ones will not go to bed hungry. Thank you for being faithful in this area!

Our prayer is that God will open doors in the school districts throughout the State of Washington (and beyond) so that together, we can put an end to childhood hunger. Ken and Kathy Rickey, head of our BPK have been amazing in their efforts to overcome the many obstacles we’ve faced in our efforts to ensure that these little ones receive the nutrition they deserve. 

Vivian, Director of our CW Department, spends considerable time seeking the best possible deals and support structure for our CW Pantry as well as our Coats & Clothes Closet. However, we still need your prayer support to break through the barriers we face in the area. Please stand with us and let’s continue to fight to ensure no man, women or child in the Seattle region goes to bed hungry.

Thank you for your faithfulness!
Much love, 

All truth is in Jesus. I am feeling such a drawing and wooing coming from the Spirit of the Lord right now. He wants to woo your heart out of the world and unto Him. He wants you to be gazing upon Him and desiring Him. Your lusts, your passions, your longings and your yearnings are set upon the One who is before you. You are not concerned about whether or not you will get a nicer home, a newer car, an outfit you have wanted for a year, or even if the call for ministry will ever be realized. That is not nearly as important as you being consumed by He who loves you. Be consumed by truth, and all things will be laid into your hands. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Mt 6:33)

He wants to touch you. He wants His Spirit to so penetrate you that your flesh cannot bear it. When we were in New Orleans, during the first year that we were there, a gentleman would come in. There was a period of time when we had no heat in the place where we were holding meetings. He would come in, bundled up in his scarf and his leather coat. I would start preaching and within five minutes, that man would be on the ground, crying. He would cry loudly throughout the entire message and yet hear every bit of it. He wept because the word of truth was penetrating him. He was hearing truth that he had never heard or known before, and he was there on the floor, experiencing it. Let Christ penetrate you. If He does it quietly, that is beautiful, but if He accompanies it with tears, that also is beautiful. It does not matter how the truth goes in, only that you let it go in. 

In every place that Charles Finney went, revival happened en masse. Why? Was it because he was being used in revival? Not alone! It was because he would get on his knees with his Bible open, and he would weep, wail, travail, and groan before God. He cried, “Let this truth enter into my soul. Help me understand it. Let it penetrate my heart. Let it take over my mind.” He would spend all night, every night, praying over the Word until it captured him. When that happened, people were transformed under his ministry. In the same way the Word had penetrated him, it penetrated them too. I am telling you this because the day is coming in the Church when whole congregations will kneel and weep in travailing prayer because the power of the Word was released to destroy the deception. Then truth will fill your soul and bless you.

Ephesians 4:20,21 Amp. But you did not so learn Christ! Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as [all] Truth is in Jesus [embodied and personified in Him].

Truth is a beautiful thing. I love it when the darkness is dispelled because the light of truth has come in. I am broken, and I know that I have just been changed. Truth is beautiful, no matter how much it opposes what I have always believed. I want truth, and I will bow my knee to it. How about you? 

One time as I was praying, I wanted God so badly that it felt unbearable. I was lying on the bed praying, when suddenly, I was lifted up off the bed and taken up right to the ceiling. I asked, “Lord, where are You taking me?” He put me right back down into my body. Then He said, “Now you're ready for this. Let me show you what I want to show you.” Jesus stood right on the threshold of heaven wearinga crown on His head. He said, “I'm going to show you truth.” 

Suddenly, all that I could feel in me, around me and everywhere, was every evil thought imaginable. I felt hate, anger, jealousy, vengeance, violence, murder, rebellion and disobedience. I felt like I was in Harlem, New York. My soul wanted to run. I was terrified because the spirit of murder was everywhere around me. It was like rifles were pointed at me about to shoot and kill me. I was terrified. Deception, dishonesty and lying were all around me. I could hear people from inside tenement buildings, yelling and screaming at each other. They talked about how they were going to kill this one and that one. I started to cry. I said, “Lord, this is the worst thing that I've ever experienced!” Then He said, “Now I'm going to show you Me.” 

That whole scene disappeared. I looked at Him. The crown on His head now became a crown of thorns, but it was as if the crown of thorns was pure light. There was no hate, only love emanating from Him. There was no rebellion or disobedience, only obedience. Humility alone came from Him. There was no vengeance, only mercy. There was no doubt or fear, only faith and joy. There was no spirit of murder, vindictiveness, anger or bitterness, only gentleness, goodness and kindness. All of the beautiful fruits of the Spirit emanated from my Lord so strongly. That is truth. I also saw in Him that He could not lie. There was no shadow in His turning. Whatever He said, He meant. He could not lie. There was no darkness in Him at all. It was pure light, pure truth, pure honesty, pure holiness and pure loveliness. 

Up I went again. I could not help it. I was being drawn by His goodness so strongly that I could not stay in my body. I was at the ceiling, and He said, “Would you like to come to Me?” I answered, “Lord, You are so good. You are everything I could want. How could anyone want more than You? You are everything this world is not. Yes, I want to come to You. Why would I want to stay here any longer?” He said, “Because you must, and I have to put you back down.” 

All truth is only in Jesus—not in this world. I told you what is in this world. Come to Jesus. Dear Reader, place your hands on your heart, and pray with me.

Prayer:

Lord, there is no other place in me that is more precious than this thing I hold now. In my heart is the seat of my will, and I want You to own my will. I want Your throne set in my heart. I want to be a seeker of truth because I want to be a seeker of You. Lord, there are these deceptions that cloud our hearts and minds. We do not even know what they are, but we know we are not where we need to be in You. These deceptions have survived many years. Create in me a new heart. Create in me a clean and a pure heart. Create in me a heart that is steadfast in You, a heart that is clothed with Your glory, Lord and filled with Your holiness and the light of Your truth. I do not want this old heart any more. I despise it because it despises You. I want a heart that chases hard after You. Give me a heart that is so filled with the Spirit of God that it lives only to be in Your Presence, transformed by Your glory. 

I can feel the fire of Your passion, My Lord, upon my heart. I feel my heart being drawn to You in such way that it feels like You are taking it out of my chest and putting it in Your hand. Oh, that is what You are doing. You are the skilled surgeon. Beautiful are You. You are always right, and we are always wrong when there is a bone of contention. You are beautiful to behold and wonderful to know. 

Give us a heart that follows hard after You. No more me; I want it to be all You. Take the lies and the deceptions out of our hearts, Lord. Reveal them, and give us a heart to hate them for the sake of truth. Make us lovers of truth, Lord. How glorious You are. How glorious is the truth. Lead us in the way of truth because You are good and only good all of the time. Give us grace to follow and desire You. Provoke us to desire You more. In Your precious name. Amen.

In His Amazing Love,

Nita Johnson