Dear Friends,
Tragedy struck the Philippines over the
last few days. The current death toll is unknown, but the estimates are
continuing to rise. Thyt5ose with ties to the afflicted areas are
feeling the pain this is bringing. Christy, one of our precious Joel’s
Army team members and a native of the Philippines sent me an email this
morning expressing the deep pain she feels for her people. One line
sufficiently captured her heartbreak; “I have no words but to cry for my
nation.”
A few months ago, Christy began to reach
out to the Philippines and attempt to bring them into World for Jesus
Ministries. She did extensive research about her people in order to
develop a deeper understanding of the nation so she could begin working
to train them as intercessors. Her first stop was in a northern province
where she brought hundreds into Joel’s Army with her work. These are
her people by birth, but her love for them extends much deeper than
heritage and she has brought a love of the Philippines into our hearts
as well. Another hurricane is headed their way and we ask that you join
us in praying for the intervention of God.
The precious Filipino people
have touched our lives over the last year with their intense hunger for
God we are working to offer our prayers and support as they work to
locate loved ones and help them rebuild their lives. Please join us as
we support the Philippine nation. We are sending funds to them, so if you would like to contribute to this effort, you can do so through our website or by mailing a check to the office. Please indicate "Philippine relief" in the memo portion of your check.
CedarWood is in need of new or gently used coats, hats, gloves and shoes to distribute to all ages in Seattle. The winter months are very harsh in the Northwest region and your help will bless many in need.
Just a reminder that we have two more
weeks of Seattle Services until our team departs for the New York
Gathering of the Eagles conference. Our team will be in the New York
area until mid-December so unless the Lord calls us to hold an emergency
time of intercession via phone/Skype, we will not resume live streaming
services until January of 2014. Most of The World for Jesus Ministry
functions will remain open during this time including our Fresno office,
Joel’s Army, the CedarWood Pantry, and the Coats & Clothes Closet.
The need is too great for us to shut down any aspect of these outreaches
during the cold winter months.
We will soon begin the next teaching from
Nita, entitled “Hunger for God is Not Enough.” This is a five-part
series in which Nita shares some of her personal journeys in the faith.
She will open up to you about her walk with the Lord and provide further
insight into the necessity of the body of Christ to go beyond the
surface and engage in developing a relationship with God that hungers
for His righteousness and not their own. The righteousness of God is far
beyond what man can touch, but understanding His righteousness will
cause us to cease our arrogance and appreciate the need to remain
teachable.
This series is thought-provoking and
compelling, encouraging the reader to look deeper than they ever have
before. Hopefully they will come to understand that while hungering
after God can begin your journey, living a life wholeheartedly devoted
to knowing God is what will bring you into a place of true joy,
maturity, and peace, no matter what circumstances life brings your way.
In Him,
WFJM Staff
________________________________________________________
HUNGER FOR GOD IS NOT ENOUGH
Part "A"
By
Nita Johnson
Seattle
The Spirit of the Lord is so strong this
evening. I have felt His Presence here very strongly since the moment I
walked into the building. For a few minutes, though, my thoughts
wandered. During those moments, the angel of the Lord came, and he stood
right beside me. He came to draw my thoughts and my heart back to God.
He is still here, incidentally.
When I was in prayer this afternoon, I was
weeping with great hunger for Him. Suddenly, His Spirit drew me with
such passionate hunger that I could not withhold myself. I found myself
drawing closer and closer to Him until I found myself kneeling before
His throne. I noticed nothing except Him. I laid my head on His knees,
and I wept uncontrollably because I was so hungry for Him.
Then He handed a scroll to me. He said, “I want you to teach on this tonight.”
It was Ezekiel 40:26:
Ezekiel 40:26-27a Amp. And there were
seven steps going up to the gate, and its archway or vestibule was on
the inside. And it had palm trees, one on this side and another on that
side, carved on its posts or pillars. And there was a gate to the inner
court on the south....
No matter how great your hunger for God
is, it is not enough unless the hunger drives you with a passion to let
go of self. Only then is it enough. It is similar to a situation where a
dog has been beaten by a broom by a past owner. You, as the dog's new
master, have been very tender and loving to that dog and it loves you.
But if you pick up a broom and lay it in front of the dog, its fear of
walking over that broom to get to you is so enormous that some dogs will
not do it. Some will because they want the love of the master so badly.
That is how Jesus has to pull on you and how you must crave Him. You
must come to a place where you move out of the law of sin and death and
into the law of righteousness. You must come to the place where you want
Him so badly, you are crying out. In your daily walk or when you awaken
at night, you no longer think about the things you used to think about.
Something in you is crying out for
Jesus.
For years, I lived on two hours of sleep a
night because if I accidentally woke up, I felt so much hunger and
passion for Him that I could not stand to just go back to sleep again. I
had to get up and spend time in prayer, in the Word, or whatever I
needed to do until I felt consumed in His presence. That left me with
about two hours of sleep a night. I cannot say that I only get two hours
of sleep a night now, but I will be honest with you. About every hour
and a half, He is awakening me. All I feel is a hunger to draw near to
Him. So I stay awake, and I pray. Then I go back to sleep, and about an
hour and a half later, He awakens me again.
There are seven steps, and then you arrive at the presence behind the veil.
Psalm 1:1-2 Amp. Blessed (happy,
fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not
in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and
purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where
sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and
the mockers] gather. But his delight and desire are in the law of the
Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of
God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.
Do you hear what that means? There are
those who work in the marketplace. When they are at work, their minds
are not on Jesus, but rather whether or not they are pleasing the
ungodly—or, perhaps, whether or not they are pleasing their boss. They
do not understand that you are to do your work as unto the Lord, as
though He were sitting or standing right there with you, watching and
helping you. You are not there to serve your boss; you are there to
serve Jesus. If you serve Jesus, your boss is going to be happy because
you are going to do a superior work. If you serve a man, you will judge
and criticize much of the time. When you serve man, you are always going
to get frustrated because you are going to do according to the works of
man. When you serve Christ with your work, you will walk in the law of
the Lord. You will look to Him and ask Him, “Did I do it well enough for
You, Lord? Is there something that You want to
give me to put into this job that I didn't know before?”
I can remember when we first started doing
research for our next step in our works in the Gatherings. One of my
colleagues came up with so much great information. I asked her, “Jen,
did you learn research in school?” She replied, “Not like this.” I said,
“How did you learn the research?” She said, “Well, the Lord.” I said,
“Really?” She explained, “When I was in school, we didn't all have
computers. I didn't know what to do, but I knew that we needed this
information. So I sat down, and I said, 'Holy Spirit, You know that I
don't know how to do research, but we need this information. So teach me
where to go, how to go, and what to look for that I don't know in the
natural. What is the information You want brought out?'” She would pray
like that all the time she was doing research. She was not doing it as
unto me, but rather, she was doing it as unto the Lord.
There are things He knows and understands
that maybe even our boss does not know and understand. If a husband and
wife treated a marriage as unto the Lord, we would never have divorce in
the Church. He would be serving her as though he were serving Christ,
and she would be serving him as though she were serving her Master and
Lord, Jesus. Pastors would not feel the frustration of trying to pastor
their flock if their flock were looking to their pastor through the
cross of Christ, and if the pastor did the same. The pastors would be
looking for the best for their sheep. They would have their Bibles out,
trying to shepherd the sheep according to the Word. If the sheep
reciprocated, we would never have Church splits.
The problem is that as the body of Christ,
we do not do that. We are in it for us and what we can get out of it,
instead of finding out what Christ wants to give, impart, and enact. We
do not find out what surgery He wants to do to our soul or what blessing
He wants to give to our spirit man. If our eyes are set upon a man, it
is going to fail. If they are set upon Christ, it will work. If people
look to me, I have to say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” If I am not
following Christ, then stop. If I continue to not follow Christ, then
turn around and walk out. Your spiritual life must rest in His hands and
not in the hands of a person. I know you have heard that before, but He
wanted me to tell you again.
We are talking about growing in God.
People often try to tell me how mature they are as Christians, and the
minute they do that, they have revealed themselves. The more mature you
are, the less you do that because that is not what you are all about.
You are not interested in lifting up yourself, nor in playing the power
game or the spiritual game. That has to come to an end if you are going
to grow in Jesus. As long as you feel like you have it made, you will be
one of the first to fall when the devil starts tripping people.
...to be continued next week...
IN HIm,
Nita |
