GOD OF THE CITY

Today is going to be a life changing day for many women across the city of Memphis, Tennessee. Today for the first time they will find JESUS!

Redemption 2009, a multicultural revival for women, will take place tonight and tomorrow and we believe that Memphis will NEVER be the same!!!!!! In the city where Martin Luther King was murdered, in the city where gunshots are heard every single night, where murder is commonplace, not a rare occurance, God is going to move!

I do not believe one event has ever been prayed over and prayed for more than this event. God says in II Chronicles 7:14 "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, THEN will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land [city]"

We have believed that and taken God at His word. We have prayed for many, many months, seeking the face of God, realizing that politics, sports, and sheer determination cannot change this city. ONLY GOD CAN! He alone is the God of this city. And there is no one like our GOD!!

Yes, today is going to be a monumental day in the lives of women across this city. Their lives will be changed as they meet Jesus for the first time and as He moves in power and authority tonight and tomorrow, breaking down walls and barriers, melting hatred and prejudices like only He can do, the city of Memphis will be forever changed, too.

If you have never seen God move....but you've longed to....

If you have never seen miracles....but you've longed to....

If you have always wanted to be a part of something powerful....

If you've never met Jesus....

Then I invite you to come to the Cook Convention Center tonight in downtown Memphis at 7:00 pm. This is a FREE event!!

Don't miss this opportunity to see God move, to be a part of something that you will never forget!!

HANDWRITING ON THE WALL

Ezekiel 3:17 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me".

Matt. 25:13 ""Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."

These are words of warning. Warnings are meant to make us alert to danger, to cause us to be on guard, to be watchful and to make preparation. Senses are heightened. Our attention...our focus is different.

We are at a place in our lives like no place we've ever been before. I believe that the handwriting is on the wall and the time has come for us to be ever watchful, listening and alert. Daily changes are taking place around the world. Do not be found sleeping.

Here is just a taste of what I mean:

(Washington, D.C., March 19, 2009) -- Amidst the global economic crisis in which upwards of 45% of the world's wealth has been lost in the last 18 months, talk of radically restructuring the global economic system is growing. In recent weeks, leaders in Europe, Africa and the Middle East have proposed scrapping the current economic order and going to a single common currency.

A story in yesterday's Moscow Times is creating quite a stir in particular. At the April 2nd meeting of world leaders in London (the G20), the Kremlin is reportedly set to propose a new global common currency system to replace the U.S. dollar as the international currency of choice.

"A U.N. panel will next week recommend that the world ditch the dollar as its reserve currency in favor of a shared basket of currencies, a member of the panel said on Wednesday, adding to pressure on the dollar," the story noted. "Currency specialist Avinash Persaud, a member of the panel of experts, told a Reuters Funds Summit in Luxembourg that the proposal was to create something like the old Ecu, or European currency unit, that was a hard-traded, weighted basket. Persaud, chairman of consultants Intelligence Capital and a former currency chief at JPMorgan, said the recommendation would be one of a number delivered to the United Nations on March 25 by the U.N. Commission of Experts on International Financial Reform. 'It is a good moment to move to a shared reserve currency,' he said."

These are curious developments given that scholars of Bible prophecy have long noted that according to the Scriptures, in the "last days" the world will see the emergence of an entirely new international financial architecture, complete with a single common global currency created and mandated by the leaders of Europe. The Bible indicates that eventually no one on earth will be able to engage in commerce without "buying in" to the new cashless system. The prophecy is found in Revelation 13:16-17, which reads: "And he [the world leader that emerges from a revived Europe] causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one can buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name." ---Joel Rosenberg

I believe this is just one of many things we will be seeing in coming days. Just after reading this yesterday morning, I heard a financial wizard asked if he thought we would be going to a one world currency. His comment? "Never! Won't happen!" HA! I thought. Are you ever going to be surprised!

Having had the advantage of sitting under several gifted Bible teachers in my life, I have studied Bible prophecy and know some of what is to come. But I know that there are many believers who have not been exposed to it and even more non-believers who are totally in the dark as to what is to come. They will be easy marks for false teaching and will be shocked as things begin to unfold.

On the one hand when you read the daily news, it can be quite frightening. On the other, it is really quite exciting to see it all unfold just as Jesus predicted it would. I am so thankful that no matter what comes in the interim, I know how the story ends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is our job as believers to warn the lost, to be about the business of pointing others to Christ while there is still time...to "redeem the time". Playing church must be put aside. Getting in the word and studying it must be paramount. If we are to recognize false teaching, we must know the TRUTH. We must be on our knees for the lost and taking every opportunity that God gives us to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

LIFE IS SHORT

We have once again been reminded this week that life is short.

A godly man from our former church... a husband, father, grandfather, deacon and building contractor....a man dedicated to missions....was tragically killed last Saturday when he fell from a construction project he was working on with a missions team from his church. Robert was 73 years old, but was still going strong. He worked on every project that his church had undertaken at this location over the past number of years. He had made many friends there as he did every where he went.

He was doing what he loved. He had been in the building business all his life. He had overseen numerous church building projects...the most recent of which was just dedicated a few weeks ago. And, here he was again, working on a home for a couple, not for pay, but out of his love for his Lord and his desire to serve Him.

Everyone has been devastated by this loss, not the least of which is his precious wife and family. Our hearts grieve with them and for them in this terrible loss.

Yet it reminds each of us that our days are numbered. We do not have any guarantee that we will see another day. God holds the number of our days in His hands. Only He knows. Our life is but a vapor...here today and gone tomorrow.

Some days it seems that life is so hard that Heaven cannot come soon enough. Yet on other days we long to remain as long as we possibly can, to enjoy our loved ones, to watch our grandchildren grow, to have the joy of making a difference in someone else's life.

As life flies by, we begin to realize that we can't afford to waste our days here on earth. We must make every day count. We need to make a difference...at least in someone's life. We as believers need to be about Kingdom business...about sharing Him with those who do not know Him. We need to be about what Robert was about....pointing others to Jesus.

One day the last grain of sand will fall through the tunnel of our life's hour glass. We will breathe out last breath and be gone from this earth. It will not matter how much money we made, how big a house we had, or to what level of success we climbed in the corporate world. As someone said "You never see a Brink's truck following a hearse to the cemetary". In other words, we can't take it with us. The only thing we can take with us are those who know our Savior, for they will one day join us. Everything else will vanish away.

So it behooves each of us to contemplate what we are spending our time on, expending our efforts on and investing our money in. Time is running out for all of us. It may be shorter than we even know. Therefore, let us run with endurance the race set before us, pointing others to Jesus every chance we get and in every way we can so that at the end...whenever that end comes, we can, like Robert, hear our Savior say "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." That is the only prize worth living for.

WHEN GOD SHOWED UP

I was thinking this morning about how good our God is. I remembered that several times this past week, people shared something He had done that made them say "GOD IS SO GOOD!"

God IS good. He is good all the time and all the time HE IS GOOD!

His mercies are new every morning. His compassion fails not.

He will never leave us or forsake us.

He rejoices over us with singing!

He cares for us.

He is trustworthy.

He is faithful.

He loves us...truly loves us.

He loves us unconditionally. He does not say "I'll love you IF..."; nor does He say "If you don't ____ I won't love you." He just loves.

He loves us immeasureably. There are no boundaries to His love. He loves us to the height and depth and width our souls can reach.

He loves us infinitely. His love has no beginning and no end.

How easy it is, however, to overlook His great love for us. As we ramble through our busy, cluttered lives, we fail to see Him or recognize His love for us. We need to have a conscious awareness of His marvelous, loving presence. A God-Consciousness!

This week I want to challenge you to do something. Ask God to give you that God-consciousness. And every time He shows up, write it down. Every time someone shares an answer to prayer with you, write it down. Every time He answers one of YOUR prayers, write it down. Every time you need something this week and He provides, write it down. Every time you recognize a blessing He has provided, write it down. Then at the end of the week, share that with me. You can do so through the COMMENT button at the bottom of this post. I really want to hear how you've seen God show up in your lives this week! Share this with a friend and ask them to do the same. Compare notes.

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your blessings

See what God has done

Count your blessings

Name them one by one

Count your many blessings

See what God has done.

--Rev. Johnson Oatman, Jr.

THE RAPTURE

Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins wrote a phenomenal series of books based on the scriptures regarding the rapture of the church and the days that are to follow. Although this was a fiction book, it held very closely to scripture and gave the reader a good idea of what it may actually be like when that wonderful day arrives.

The word 'rapture' is not actually used in the Bible. I Thessalonians 4: 15-17 describes it this way:


For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and
remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep [dead]
for the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.


The LEFT BEHIND series written by LaHaye and Jenkins did quite a job of painting a picture of just what it will be like on that day. Imagine with me for a moment, if you will, that you are driving to Walmart in your car. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye (which is faster than you can blink) we are gone! Cars will go crashing into others as drivers vanish. Planes, trains and all sorts of transportation will suddenly crash as drivers, pilots and engineers are no longer at their controls. Cashiers will vanish from their cash registers. Nail techs and hairdressers will leave customers with their hair and nails half done. Doctors will be examining a patient and suddenly the patient will no longer be on the table. Dentists will be extracting a tooth one moment and the next their chair will be empty...or maybe the patient and the densist will BOTH be gone and the hygienist will be left. I am convinced that should the rapture occur on a Sunday, there will be both preachers and pew sitters left in the churches in many churches across this land.

Yes, it is going to be quite a day as thousands of believers are caught up into the air with the Lord Jesus to meet Him in the air while the world is flung wildly into chaos and CNN goes into overdrive to explain these wild and crazy happenings. I have a feeling it will be just as it is portrayed in LEFT BEHIND. Lots of theories will surmise what happened...from UFO snatchings to terrorism to some sort of vaporization.

But, make no mistake, it WILL happen. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. No one knows the day nor the hour. But, it IS coming. And oh what a day that will be!!

And to be quite honest...I am looking more and more forward to that day.

Many Bible scholars feel it could be very near. There are no further prophecies that have to be fulfilled before it occurs. So according to scripture it COULD be any day. Or, it could be decades or centuries away...we do not know.

But it does give us hope to think about it in light of the downward spiral that our world seems to be taking. As Revelation 22: 20 says "Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus."

PERSPECTIVE

It was a gray and gloomy day by my account. The sun was hidden beneath the clouds. The wind was blustery as it caused the trees to sway to and fro. Dry leaves swirled across the yard from one side to the other. The wind chimes rang loudly and constant. I was bummed from the start. The weather forecast had said sunny with temps in the 70's.

She was freshly awake from a good night's sleep, ready to charge forth into the day. As she approached the wall of French doors that look into the yard, she asked "Can I see outside?" I told her yes. She greeted the day with her bright smile that is oh so her and exclaimed.... "Oh Mimi! It's a BEAUTIFUL day!"

Perspective.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I saw gray skies. She saw beauty.

Our attitude colors every situation we approach....from the weather to life and death matters. Some can find a silver lining in any cloud. Others cannot see it when the gleam of the silver is blinding their eyes! Perspective.

It reminds me of a story I read once of two patients sharing a room in a hospital for an extended stay. The one who was the most ill was in a bed distant from the window. So the man closest to the window each day would describe to his roommate what he saw. He described a lovely park with flowers around a fountain and a pretty lady walking a cute little dog. Another day he talked of the warmth of the sunshine on his face and how blue the sky was. Each day he painted a picture for the ill man of the world outside his window. Then suddenly without warning he was gone. The man who had been so ill asked the nurse to move him closer to the window. He wanted to gaze upon the beautiful scenery he had only heard about up til now. It would make him feel closer to the friend he had suddenly lost. As the nurse wheeled him to the window, he was stunned! There was nothing outside the window but a brick wall...no view at all. No park, no flowers, no fountain. One could scarcely see the sky. Puzzled, he turned to the nurse and said, "I don't understand. He described everything so perfectly that he saw." The nurse was equally puzzled. "Well, that is truly odd. You see, he was blind."

As you face your day today, what is YOUR perspective?


"From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the name of the Lord shall be praised!" Psalm 113: 3