Dear friends,
This year began with an exciting order
from the Lord, given to CedarWood International; to prepare for the
needs of others in greater volume. Since then, the food donations from
local suppliers have increased and we are incredibly grateful for this
support. I think that this proves that the community is beginning to get
itself involved in helping those in need. Unfortunately, many are
unaware of the severity of the needs in the Seattle area.
As many of you know, our CedarWood Pantry is open Mondays from 10:30 am until noon.
However, the time involved in set-up and tear-down for that
one-and-a-half hour window in which we actually serve food is about four
times the hours of operation. There also seems to be increasing
evidence that the needs within the community are increasing. Childhood
hunger, in particular, is very severe and the more involved we become in
the community, the more we see the true number of children affected. We
recently included an outreach program to provide snacks to
underprivileged children, some of whom must ride the bus for over two
hours, simply to get to school. These children come from an impoverished
and unstable area and often do not have breakfast prior to boarding the
bus each morning. Their hunger leads to behavioral outbursts and often
disciplinary action. Since we found out about their situation and
stepped in to
provide these snacks to and from school, the bus rides have been
peaceful. We thank you and the local companies that help us meet this
need.
Since we moved to Seattle, Bethel Chapel
has been home to our live stream broadcasts, teachings and prayer
sessions. At its inception, Pastor Matthew and the wonderful staff at
Bethel Chapel welcomed CedarWood Blessings in to complete the activities
necessary to meet the needs of families and children. Of course, we
will resume our live streaming services from Bethel after the Gathering
of the Eagles. At the moment, however, our CedarWood Blessings is
bursting at the seams and it is with both sadness and excitement that we
embark upon our next step.
We have been praying about this for a
while now and we ask that you join us as we seek God’s help for the next
steps for CedarWood, and for the provisions that we will need for this
process. Through much prayer, the Lord gave us the direction needed to
move to a facility that would allow us to accommodate more clients and
remain open for longer periods of time. We want to make things as
convenient and assessable to the men, women and children who find
themselves in need during this time of their lives. A larger facility
would also allow us to open up our CedarWood Lunch Counter for the
homeless and even provide another space for families to come and have a
warm meal after they pick up their food at our CW Pantry. Our desire is
to place ourselves in a position to provide meals to all those in need.
World for Jesus Ministries does not intend
to provide an atmosphere of hopelessness or shame for those who come to
us for assistance. Rather, we strive to maintain an atmosphere of hope,
a place where those in need can come and have their temporary needs met
so that they can focus on their future. Our CedarWood Trades &
Trainings program will make a way for the unemployed to gain the
training they need for employment and possibly even allow them to
connect with potential employers who work with us in this arena. In
addition, a new facility will provide the much needed space for our
Coats & Clothes Closet to be readily available and accessible for
families as they prepare for colder weather, school, job interviews,
employment, etc.
This is a stepping stone for the people in
the Seattle area. We provide food, clothes and support in order to help
them step into tomorrow
with a brighter future. To accomplish this, our next steps will be very
busy and difficult to prepare, but we strive to remember to thank the
Lord for allowing us to play a part in this call to meet the needs of
others. We also remember to thank you for all of your contributions.
We have found a building that will be
perfect for this next stage in CedarWood Blessings. Due to this, we will
likely need more volunteers. Please pray with us over this process. If
you would like to join us as a volunteer, please contact the office or
the Director of CedarWood Int’l Kathy directly at KathyR@worldforjesus.org
. Volunteers are our most valuable asset in this work. There is always
work to be done! If you can give one hour or forty, we will have work
for you that will leave you feeling exhausted and thankful! If distance
prevents you from volunteering, please prayerfully consider contributing
financially. When you give of your time or resources and you help feed a
child or provide employment for a father, or pave the way for them to
hear the Gospel of Jesus, you sow positive seeds into someone’s life,
and God honors your sacrifice.
These are exciting times for World for
Jesus Ministries and we need your help! If you have any questions or
comments just go to our website or give us a call. This weekend, I
discovered the link for online donations to CedarWood was not working
properly so if you contribute online, please forward the email receipt
so we can ensure it is properly applied to CedarWood.
Following is the final installment of
"What Does God Want?" How fitting fo the path we are taking now. Every
step must be taken prayerfully so we can stay under the covering of the
Lord God Almighty and have the privilege of receiving the revleation of
God in this hour!
Blessings in Him,
Ricci & WFJM Staff
WHAT DOES GOD WANT?
Part C
By
Nita Johnson
How was it that Moses was able to endure
forty years of Israel's complaints? It was because he had become grace,
love, truth, long-suffering, and mercy. God had transfigured him with
His very own life. Having met God, and having been united to Him, Moses
loved God more than he loved the air that he breathed. Never again would
it ever be different. He lived only to please God, no matter the price,
every moment of his life. He endured whatever he had to endure, and
yielded whatever he had to yield, to bring pleasure to the Father. His
joy and love was not connected to the things of this world, but only to
God. He loved and fought for Israel because God loved and fought for
Israel. He was willing to die for Israel because God called him to be a
protector and a guard over Israel for His name's sake. This is the life
of the Spirit—the life of one conjoined to God. This is the way of one
who is willing to give up all things on
this earth to please the Father. The Lord will give incredible
responsibility to such a one because they can bear it. He will give
unbelievable heavenly authority to such a one because they will not
pervert it.
He will reveal Himself. It was to Moses that God came to the tent of
meeting. Every single day he saw the face of God. Likewise, Paul calls
us to behold Him with an unveiled face. This is the call to the Church
in this hour. This is the call to the Bride—those who belong to God.
Come and behold Him with an unveiled face that you might be transfigured
and transformed into the very glory of God and know the revelation of
Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 3:18)
God wants to take you behind the veil and bring you through the mist of
misunderstanding that you may know who and what He really is. He wants
to reveal Himself to the Church. The call is to answer the fire and
passion of your heart, to answer the longing of your spirit, and to put
down the longing of your flesh that you might know God.
The Church is going through a time of pressing, purging, and cleansing.
It is a time when the wilderness is taking its toll, but she is soon
going to come out with a new heart.
Song of Songs 8:5 Amp. Who is this who comes up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved? [And as they sighted the home of her childhood, the bride said] Under the apple tree I awakened you; there your mother gave you birth, there she was in travail and bore you.
The Bride who is getting ready to come out
of the wilderness is one whose head will be leaning on the shoulder of
her Beloved. Her strength will no longer be the world, but rather, her
strength will be the Beloved. The One upon whom she believes and leans
will be her sustenance.
Song of Songs 8:6-7 Amp. Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as hard and cruel as Sheol (the place of the dead). Its flashes are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame [the very flame of the Lord]! Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would offer all the goods of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned and despised.
He has set Himself as a seal upon her heart so that her heart cannot be
touched by the things of the world. When you see the king's seal on a
document in days of old, that seal is there until the king breaks it. It
is the same with His Bride. He is sealing the heart of His Bride with a
seal that cannot be broken with human hands. As she comes out of the
wilderness—this time of testing—her self-sacrificing love for the Lord
will be as strong as death itself. He will own that passion. We will see
in the Bride the same heart that we saw in Moses. Her heart will give
all to know Him. This is what we see in this passage. She has learned
that many troubles and many waters cannot quench love. No matter what
happens, it deepens, broadens, secures, and purifies love. Her love for
Him cannot be quenched. The troubles will not move the Bride, but they
will enhance and deepen her love, making it as strong as death.
The jealousy of the Lord is as hard and cruel as Sheol. Moses learned
both the kindness and the severity of God. He learned that his authority
was protected by God. When men would rise up against Moses' authority,
Moses never had to deal with it. God always dealt with it, so much so
that Moses would be on his face pleading on behalf of those who were
assailing him. God does not do that for everyone, but He does do it for
the one who belongs wholly to Him. When someone touches the Bride who
loves Him with her life, His jealousy is ignited. It is strong and
cruel, just like a husband who would stand up in vehement protection of
his wife if a man was trying to violate her. God is the same. When man
wants to violate His Bride—she who has sold all to come follow Him—His
jealousy on her behalf will be strong, vehement, and severe. Its flashes
are the flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.
His Bride is about to come forth, purified and clothed in fire. Why am I
sharing this with you? I saw it in a vision. I saw the Bride clothed in
fire, and she had come through what both Moses and the Shulammite had
come through. God owned her, and He clothed her in His very own fire. It
is a fire that terrifies the enemy and brings him to his knees. It is a
fire that can ignite the very heavens for God's plans and purposes. She
is clothed in the very fire of God. The fire manifests itself in love,
mercy, compassion, authority, and power. All the world will see that the
Bride is in love, and they will fear it because she has become the
flame of the Lord.
You must let go of everything that hinders God's possession in you. He
is proceeding towards something so glorious. He is going to bring His
Bride to Himself and into union with Him. He is going to make her a
glorious flame across the earth. If we want to be part of that, the
world cannot stay within us. We must become people of noble character,
just like Moses. We cannot be weak and beggarly. Our faith must be
strong and noble.
We cannot be people who love the truth when they hear it and then turn
their face, forget the truth, and live the lie. We cannot be people who
want the Kingdom with one hand, but reach out for the things of the
world with the other hand. That is not the Bride; that is the harlot.
The Bride will speak in purity and will love in purity. She will cleanse
herself of all things that offend for the sake of her divine Husband.
The harlot will have a continual love affair with the world even while
she says with her mouth, “I love you, Lord.” The Bible clearly says that
in that day, Jesus will turn to that so called virgin and say, “Be
gone. I never knew you.” (Mt 25:12) The harlot will not come into the
chambers of God, but the Bride will. There she will find the flame of
divine love that will capture her, purify her, and empower her for His
glory.
Who would have touched Esther when the king put his seal of approval on
her? The only one in the whole kingdom who dared to do that was Haman,
and where did he end up? Esther had purified herself for her king, and
that is what God is looking for from us. Be pure and holy. Be pleasing
to Him. Be pure in love, humility, mercy, and righteousness. Be holy,
and He will be to you what King Ahasuerus was to Esther.
In His Love,
Nita Johnson |
