Top of the morning to you and yours today and every day, as you follow on to know the Lord.
I want to take a moment to celebrate with all the graduates who in the next few days are embarking on a new cycle of life. We are praying for all of them to find the pathway of the will of God for their life. I PRAY THAT YOU WILL FOLLOW THE PATH THAT LEADS TO PEACE. MAY THE GOD OF ALL GRACE ENSURE YOUR HEART IS CONJOINED TO THE WORD OF GOD, WHEREIN YOU WILL WALK ON A LIGHTED FOOT PATH.
Have you ever thought of how blessed we are to have praying families and friends? I think of it like this; we share in the rewards of those whom we pray for, and the same thing happens for those who pray for us. Our intercessors, by that token, will have heavy crowns to cast down at His feet in the throne room of heaven. In light of the promise of God, it is not just our duty, but also a privilege, to pray that angels will go with our ministers who travel out on God given assignments throughout the earth. Very often I find myself praying in the Spirit when one of our missionaries come to mind in the middle of the day. I don't necessarily know what the need is, but the Holy Spirit does. I take this as a prompting to pray for them. This morning as I write this letter, Bri Perry comes to mind. I know that she is praying for her father regarding his surgery on Wednesday. Let me say, it is no knee jerk reaction when this happens.
I remember my mom and my Aunt Cleo Bell Anderson sensing a need to pray for Charles and Laurel Anderson who were missionaries in Calcutta, India. They were my uncle's brother and sister-in-law. I was eleven years old when this happened, and I remember how violently they prayed. It sounded like foreigners had moved into the house. It was like these two praying women and I were trapped inside a boom box. I did not realize it at the time, but it was my call to prayer even as an unsaved child. It marked my life forever. Months later they were home on furlough. My mom and aunt Cleo asked them what they were doing on that same day at that same time. They said a political riot had broken out. The angry crowd had turned over their car in the middle of a busy street, with them inside. Why do you think today that I would remember and add this story in the letter if God did not want me to pass this on?
One Sunday morning, for some reason, my mother took me into the morning worship service in Ft. Worth, Texas. As the service progressed, my mother began to moan and groan with what I know now as bowels of mercy. You may have never heard this, but once you do, you will never be able to dismiss it from your memory. I was left alone in the pew as a 7-year-old boy. I remember it was winter. A very wealthy looking lady was setting next to me. She looked as though she was being eaten by a bear, in the fur coat she had on. It was as though she was blind to my situation. No one came to comfort me or slide over to help a little boy who had just had his mother stolen out of the sanctuary by two men wearing suits and ties. I never asked my mom what that was all about. Forty-eight years later I asked her, "Mom, what was that morning all about?" She told me that God showed her a gross sin in the guest preacher's life. As a seven-year-old boy, God was marking my life. I had no idea what was taking place was teaching me life lessons and preparing me for a future life in the Spirit. It was the spirit of the situation that marked my life, and I can still recognize the spirit of that moment until this day. There are some things that you will never be able to learn in books.
I have observed that what people know, sometimes gets in the way of what God wants them to learn. This is why we say, "IF YOU SAY YOU KNOW WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW."
In closing, we have several people who I ask you to join with me in prayer for them:
JOHN MAYER
EVANGELIST MIKE DENIGAN
PASTOR VERNEL PERRY
SANDRA WILMES
WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO A CHRIST FILLED SUMMER AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE ALL THAT GOD IS GOING TO DO FOR US, WITH US, AND THROUGH US, IN THESE DAYS OF SIGNS, WONDERS, AND MIRACLES.
Pastor Cleddie Keith
I want to take a moment to celebrate with all the graduates who in the next few days are embarking on a new cycle of life. We are praying for all of them to find the pathway of the will of God for their life. I PRAY THAT YOU WILL FOLLOW THE PATH THAT LEADS TO PEACE. MAY THE GOD OF ALL GRACE ENSURE YOUR HEART IS CONJOINED TO THE WORD OF GOD, WHEREIN YOU WILL WALK ON A LIGHTED FOOT PATH.
Have you ever thought of how blessed we are to have praying families and friends? I think of it like this; we share in the rewards of those whom we pray for, and the same thing happens for those who pray for us. Our intercessors, by that token, will have heavy crowns to cast down at His feet in the throne room of heaven. In light of the promise of God, it is not just our duty, but also a privilege, to pray that angels will go with our ministers who travel out on God given assignments throughout the earth. Very often I find myself praying in the Spirit when one of our missionaries come to mind in the middle of the day. I don't necessarily know what the need is, but the Holy Spirit does. I take this as a prompting to pray for them. This morning as I write this letter, Bri Perry comes to mind. I know that she is praying for her father regarding his surgery on Wednesday. Let me say, it is no knee jerk reaction when this happens.
I remember my mom and my Aunt Cleo Bell Anderson sensing a need to pray for Charles and Laurel Anderson who were missionaries in Calcutta, India. They were my uncle's brother and sister-in-law. I was eleven years old when this happened, and I remember how violently they prayed. It sounded like foreigners had moved into the house. It was like these two praying women and I were trapped inside a boom box. I did not realize it at the time, but it was my call to prayer even as an unsaved child. It marked my life forever. Months later they were home on furlough. My mom and aunt Cleo asked them what they were doing on that same day at that same time. They said a political riot had broken out. The angry crowd had turned over their car in the middle of a busy street, with them inside. Why do you think today that I would remember and add this story in the letter if God did not want me to pass this on?
One Sunday morning, for some reason, my mother took me into the morning worship service in Ft. Worth, Texas. As the service progressed, my mother began to moan and groan with what I know now as bowels of mercy. You may have never heard this, but once you do, you will never be able to dismiss it from your memory. I was left alone in the pew as a 7-year-old boy. I remember it was winter. A very wealthy looking lady was setting next to me. She looked as though she was being eaten by a bear, in the fur coat she had on. It was as though she was blind to my situation. No one came to comfort me or slide over to help a little boy who had just had his mother stolen out of the sanctuary by two men wearing suits and ties. I never asked my mom what that was all about. Forty-eight years later I asked her, "Mom, what was that morning all about?" She told me that God showed her a gross sin in the guest preacher's life. As a seven-year-old boy, God was marking my life. I had no idea what was taking place was teaching me life lessons and preparing me for a future life in the Spirit. It was the spirit of the situation that marked my life, and I can still recognize the spirit of that moment until this day. There are some things that you will never be able to learn in books.
I have observed that what people know, sometimes gets in the way of what God wants them to learn. This is why we say, "IF YOU SAY YOU KNOW WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW."
In closing, we have several people who I ask you to join with me in prayer for them:
JOHN MAYER
EVANGELIST MIKE DENIGAN
PASTOR VERNEL PERRY
SANDRA WILMES
WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO A CHRIST FILLED SUMMER AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE ALL THAT GOD IS GOING TO DO FOR US, WITH US, AND THROUGH US, IN THESE DAYS OF SIGNS, WONDERS, AND MIRACLES.
Pastor Cleddie Keith