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Prayers for Safe Travels and Breakthroughs

Micah 2:13 The Breaker [the Messiah] will go up before them. They will break through, pass in through the gate and go out through it, and their King will pass on before them, the Lord at their head.

Kristy Whittington, our resident missionary, is returning from Africa this week and should be on American soil by February 28. Could you keep her in your prayers for safe travels?

Also, our mission team leadership has received the following emergency email from our director of missions on the ground in Nicaragua. She wrote: Dear Bethany Friends, The church that was going to sponsor your team to get into the country as a group has not been able to obtain their government paperwork. The government now requires churches and non-profits to register every two months!  It’s ridiculous bureaucracy that is hard for churches/organizations to achieve. Then, when they don’t have the proper paperwork, they are technically operating illegally and the government uses this reason to shut them down. We have another option that we are pursuing but we REALLY need prayers for this to happen quickly! Thank you, Naomi

Soooo, as you can see Kristy and our Nicaragua Mission Outreach desperately needs your prayers.

Thank you and have a great week.

John Hancock

Often when we ask for a person’s signature, we will call it their “John Hancock.” This is because of the fifty-six signatures on the Declaration of Independence, one stands out above the rest. That signature belongs to John Hancock. He was the first to sign the declaration and he signed it in a large and legible script so that the King of England could read his name without using glasses. Mr. Hancock wanted it to be very clear where his allegiance lay. His commitment to his country was so clear that when King George III offered amnesty to all who would cease fighting, John Hancock was among the select few who were left out of the offer.

A similar thing happened to Moses. Its found in Exodus 34:5-7 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

At first it appears to be pretty pompous of the Lord. But when we seek to connect to the Lord, listening for His still small Voice to teach us, He will lead us to the Truth, guiding us beyond what offends our natural minds. As I sought Him He surprised me with His answer. Numbers 6:24-27 “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’ “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” God places His Name upon His people through His Word. Add to that this revelation: Psalms 138:2 I will worship toward Your holy temple and praise Your name for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth and faithfulness; for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your word and You have magnified Your word above all Your name! God magnifies His Word above His Name. Let that sink in. Reading this for the first time you immediately think of the Scripture, and that would be right. Yet consider that Jesus is the Living Word of God. In essence, God was exalting Jesus – the Word above His Name, and writing His Sons’ Name onto the heart of Moses. And don’t forget Acts 11:26 …and in Antioch the disciples were first called Christ…..ians. Jesus put His Word in their hearts along with His Name! The good news for us is that God writes His Name – Jesus, Yeshua – on our hearts through His Word. Through our obedience and surrender in our wilderness; and in our dying spiritually to ourselves through prayer, fasting, seeking, submission, and obedience. As we meet Him – the Word, outside the camp, at Christ’s crucifixion, He is, and will continue to write His Name – His Word – His Story – on our hearts. That’s pretty powerful.

Confession & Declaration 23

Romans 8:9 But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].

The point I want you to see from this passage is that you are Jesus’ purchased possession. You can know that you belong to Jesus because of the indwelling Holy Spirit. How can we know for sure that we have the Indwelling Holy Spirit? The internet site, Got Questions, gives us a list of 12 things the Holy Spirit does for a believer:

As the Holy Spirit lives in the believer, He brings about some life-changing results:

1) The indwelling Spirit comes to a soul dead in sin and creates new life (Titus 3:5). This is the new birth Jesus spoke of in John 3:1–8.

2) The indwelling Spirit confirms to the believer that he belongs to the Lord and is an heir of God and fellow-heir with Christ (Romans 8:15–17).

3) The indwelling Spirit gives spiritual gifts (God-given abilities for service) to the believer to edify the church and serve the Lord effectively for His glory (1 Corinthians 12:11).

4) The indwelling Spirit helps the believer understand and apply the Scripture to his daily life (1 Corinthians 2:12).

5) The indwelling Spirit enriches the believer’s prayer life and intercedes for him in prayer (Romans 8:26–27).

6) The indwelling Holy Spirit empowers the yielded believer to live for Christ to do His will (Galatians 5:16). The Spirit leads the believer in paths of righteousness (Romans 8:14).

7) The indwelling Spirit gives evidence of new life by producing the fruit of the Spirit in the believer’s life (Galatians 5:22–23).

8) The indwelling Spirit is grieved when the believer sins (Ephesians 4:30), and He convicts the believer to confess his sin to the Lord so that fellowship is restored (1 John 1:9).

9) The indwelling Spirit seals the believer unto the day of redemption so that the believer’s arrival in the Lord’s presence is guaranteed after this life (Ephesians 1:13–14).

10) The indwelling Holy Spirit reminds the believer of things that Jesus has said, and teaches them all things (John 14:26)

11) The indwelling Holy Spirit testifies about Jesus to the believer (John 15:26)

12) The indwelling Holy Spirit will guides the believer into all truth, telling them of things that will happen in the future. (John 16:13, 14)

When you accept Christ as your Savior (Romans 10:9–13), the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart, bringing with Him an entirely new life of love, relationship, and service to the Lord.

Because you belong to Jesus the Holy Spirit builds God’s Home in You and fills it with Him – the Spirit of Truth!

Declaration 23: I thank You Jesus that I overcome the accuser of the brothers through Your Blood and the Indwelling Holy Spirit. Because of His Indwelling Presence I know that I belong to You. Through Him new life has been created in me, and I have died to sin. Through Him I have His Inner Witness that I belong to Jesus and He belongs to me. Through the Holy Spirit I have access to the Gifts of the Spirit resident in Him. Through Him I know I belong to Jesus because He prays through me. I know that I belong to Jesus because the Holy Spirit leads me to righteousness, empowering me to yield my life to daily surrender to Jesus. I know that I belong to Jesus because the fruits of the Spirit manifest through my life, especially when I desperately need them. I know that I belong to Jesus because the Spirit reminds me of things that Jesus has said, and teaches me the meaning of God’s Word. I know that I belong to Jesus because the Holy Spirit helps me to know Who Jesus is, leading me into all truth and even revealing to me things that will happen in the future. Thank You Jesus! I am Yours and You are mine! Thank You that we belong together!

Who’s Your One? Day 19, Friday, January 31

“Prepare the Way – Forty Days of Seeking God for the Feast of Trumpets”

During this season God is drawing near to us inviting us to come up to His Mountain. Use this season of seeking the Lord to seek an answer to the following questions:
1. What does the Lord think about my relationship with Him?
2. What does He want to do to enhance our relationship?
3. What did you do in the past to get closer to Him when nothing else took priority?
4. What activities can you do together to develop greater intimacy – especially during this season of 40 days?
5. What ideas does He have about your getting closer to Him?
Isa 55:6-7 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Jer 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not remain angry forever.
Eph 5:14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
The “Prepare the Way” Commitment
Q. How could Christians prepare the way for the Return of Jesus?
40 Days of Seeking God through…thanksgiving, praise, confession, prayer, QT, and the Word
40 Days of Seeking God through…a fast of turning off the distractions
40 Days of Seeking God through…partner prayer
40 Days of Seeking God through…prayer room deposits
40 Days of Seeking God through…committing to become sons and daughters of the Word
This Weeks Commitment?- Thanksgiving Journaling and Rigorous Thanksgiving.
10 things a day that you are thankful for – journaled and expressed aloud to God.
Throughout the day especially when you are tempted to be negative, critical, anxious, angry, discouraged – thank God for the opposite; through it; in spite of it.
Seek to enter in and remain in His Presence through thanksgiving.
Thank God for the things you’ve been praying that haven’t happened – as if they have happened.