don't forget

hey guys, i hope you are all doing well. listen, it's been almost a year since we started ARISE, and i don't want you to forget the experience we had. about a month ago, i was in troy shopping at the mall with my family, and after we finished i visited the Somerset Apartments neighborhood and the Troy church. even though there was nobody there, i thought of all the memories of morning chapels, falling asleep in class (haha) and returning from outreach to share testimonies of how the Lord had tried our patience and taught us to let Him lead. there were times on outreach that irrefutably could only have been orchestrated by the Divine hand. each one of us had many of those experiences.

the reason i am writing this is because many of us will be starting school soon, or working, or doing some kind of full time ministry, and i don't want a single person to forget that God was definitely leading us. as a matter of fact, He'd still like to, but are you giving Him the time to tell you how to live? perhaps you're too busy, maybe even too busy doing ministry that you don't have enough time for your personal time with Christ in the morning, and you're getting worn out. so please, take a step back and review your life with God, and ask Him to FULLY come into your life without you getting in the way. fully SURRENDER, and be vulnerable to the Spirit of God so HE can show you the way you ought to live, and what you should do. "The safest place in the world is in the center of God's will." remember, "We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history."

Revelation 2:10- "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."

Revelation 22:12- “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."

P.S. By the way, I saw Kayleen Burt and Josh Maloon a few days ago while I was visiting some friends in Berrien Springs. Kayleen's baby is doing well, and Josh is going to Palawan, Philippines as a missionary with AFM for at least a year. keep them in your prayers.

Kyrgyz Republic

A very good friend of mine is going to Kyrgyzstan soon and I was wondering if any of my fellow ARISE-ers know any body near there that my friend could meet with. I would love an email or a call if you know someone. Thanks.

highly recommended website

A news website that covers the news that matters, "through a prophetic eye":
http://midnightcrymedia.com/

Escaping Death...

This was just passing through my mind, and I wanted to offer it as encouragement to all who will read it:

2 Peter 1:2-4
Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Here's my paltry attempt at even beginning to understand what that really means:

1. We receive grace and peace on the principle of multiplication through a growing knowledge of God and Jesus.

2. This is the result of His power gives us everything that has anything to do with life and godliness (once again through our knowledge of Him--which give me the idea we really need to get to know Him better).

3. He has set us apart to exemplify glory and virtue.

4. Through Him, who set us apart, we receive EXCEEDING (I love that word) great and precious promises.

5. By these promises, we may receive the Divine nature (HAVE MERCY!).

6. By these promises, we may escape from this world, its corruption (which is ever-increasing through unsanctified desires), and the end result of it (death).

Praise God for the promises of The One who loved us to death, that we may escape death and receive again the sinless nature we lost in Eden!

What God Prizes

Sometimes it feels like the work we're trying to do for God is hardly making a drop in the vast ocean of need...I felt this way this week...and then a friend sent me a reminder that I thought I'd pass on.

"It is not the great results we attain, but the motives from which we act, that weigh with God. He prizes goodness and faithfulness more than the greatness of the work accomplished." 2T 510-511

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Gal 6:9

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Cor 15:58

bible worker opportunity

There's a position that's just opened at a church near to me (Portland, ME). Year long. Summer to summer. Please call or email me if the Lord is speaking to you about this. 

The Love of God

The revolting sound of my alarm clock called my name this morning at 6. -Forget it,- I muttered under my breath, -this is a black day.- I turned over, planning to skip devotions, cancel worship, and walk into work wearing a scowl and all black. Thirty minutes passed--6:30--the time when I usually awaken my housemates for worship. From my sleep a knock at the door called for my attention. No way. I knew I had to get up. I went to my door and no one was there. I knocked on my housemates' doors figuring one of them had done it, but they hadn't. -Might as well have worship,- I surmised.

The devotional verse was from Romans 8. The point was, no matter what comes into our lives, it cannot separate us from the love of God. Trials can come. Heartaches may befall us. Nothing can separate us. Read the chapter. I was in tears as I finished reading it in its entirety after worship. Nothing can separate us. As you read the end of the chapter, substitute in all the problems that you think you have and realize that nothing can separate you from His love that was manifested in Jesus Christ our Lord.