Tired...

     Hello! I just have to admit that I am tired.  Don't go just yet, I am hoping this ends up encouraging even in the midst of my tiredness.
     It has been busy in our household, especially now that the kids are back in school,  no more snow days.  Although my sons white crayon is still in the freezer.  I keep telling him if they miss much more school they will be in school all summer long, but he doesn't believe me. So back into the freezer the crayon goes.  But it is much more than just getting back into a routine, there is just the start of a new year, new plans to be made, new goals to set. And if you don't set them early they start looking like they will never be done, or even started.  But even more than the not made plans, is that we have been battling some serious spiritual battles within our household.        
     The winds of change they are-a blowin'.   LOL, not sure where that came from.  It is the truth in our house. Things are changing.  We have taken over a very tough ministry that is quite frankly battling the gates of hell daily, but its not the outside ministry that has me tired but the inside one.
     While I am not going to go into what is going on here, it is rough, spiritually.  I pray and beg God and cry until my eyes hurt.  Here is the thing I am noticing through out this "rough spot". My prayer life has never been sweeter! The words that my Daddy God speaks to me during our quite time is wonderful, and encouraging.  Then I remember that what I am battling is not a war on flesh and blood  but against principalities. (Ephesian 6:12) That is what I am battling.  
     I am also encouraged by He gives strength to those who grow tired   and increases the strength of those who are weak. ( Isaiah 40:29) Or that  He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6 )  Or greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world.   (1 John 4:4)  Especially that He has overcome the world.( John 16:33) 

     So when I am tired, just lay down on the kitchen floor and take a nap tired, I remind myself of these truths. So simple, yet they can get lost in the business of our lives.  In that business is where we become weary, and burdened.  So tonight I will lay it all at His feet, for all those verses and many more He is worthy of my love and trust. Tonight I will just trust. I will get back into a place of abiding within Him. 

Not blow your socks off great, just real... real tired. 

Heather

Kingdom Vision

  Good morning! I hope that is cold January morning is finding you in a warm place. It's cold here and our kids don't have school today...it's going to be a great day!  No really it is. We will play some games, do some laundry, maybe a sleepover.  I have learned, over the last few weeks, that I love snow days and having my kids home, we have had a few days off from school lately.  I am sure that is because there are no more diapers to change and babies to feed, everyone is pretty independent now. Sad, but for sure a new chapter in our lives.
     I have struggles posting this post for awhile.  I haven't wanted to offend, but I really believe that American churches have been asleep. Not all of them of course, but we have kind of misses the Great Commission here. We are pretty good about going overseas to minister, but we don't often go out into the streets to tell people about Jesus, or share with those who are in the church but have missed who Jesus really is. My heart breaks for them.  To sit every Sunday and listen to pastors talk about reading our Bibles and spending time in prayer, listen for that voice that come from the Holy Spirit, is a hard thing when you open your Bible up and struggle to read. Being a child of God's was never suppose to feel like you are banging your head on the wall, not getting anything out of the Book.  But I have a feeling that for many people in the church this is what it feels like.  And you could get very discouraged because the pastor, and that crazy woman in the corner, they make it seems so easy. The talk about hearing from God like He was sitting on the couch with them.
   But beloved, it should be that easy. That was how God designed our relationships with Him. He created a garden in which He would come and stroll with us. But we live in a fallen world. And that means we have to work a bit harder on our relationships. In a similar manner, if we never talked with our spouse how would they know what we were having for dinner?  What bills were paid?  That we loved them?  Just as we talk with our spouses we need to talk to God, that is how He designed us.  When we ask Jesus to be the Lord of our lives we are invited in to a relationship with God, a walking, talking relationship.  Here is a "vision" God gave me to share with a friend, I have asked if I could share it with you. It is a great picture of the Kingdom, if you are struggling...

  Imagine a large, beautiful, city surrounded by a metal bar fence. In the front of the city is a Golden door. There are people inside the city, and there are people outside the city. Some of the people outside the city are reaching their hands in through the fence, trying to touch something, anything from inside. Some are wandering around the city, looking for anyway in other than the Door. They look up, thinking that maybe they could climb the fence, but it appears to go up to the sky. They look down, but can not dig under the fence. Many look at the Door, knowing that the only way into the city is to walk through the door and yet they shake their heads and continue to look for other ways into the city.  For some they boldly walk up and open the door and walk through the Door into the city, and when they do a party erupts at their entrance.

    The city is Heaven, the Kingdom of God. The Door is Jesus. There are many who have asked Jesus to be Lord of their lives, but there are many, many "Christians" who are wondering around the outside of the city, wanting to be party of the city, but things like pride, deception, and religion have kept them out.
There have been too many laws and expectations that no one could meet the standard (except Jesus). That is why sin is hidden, why people get burn out and leave.  I personally believe that we have made religion so difficult, because Jesus is so simple. We had to add some laws or some pride, because it couldn't really be that simple.  It couldn't be as simple as saying "Jesus, I have sinned. I want to be washed clean, and I want you to be Lord of my life." There just has to be more to it than that, right?

Romans 10:9-10
9 If you declare that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God brought him back to life, you will be saved. 10 By believing you receive God's approval, and by declaring your faith you are saved.

And yet, there are so many people who call themselves Christians, but have missed that very first step. Maybe because no one explained it, maybe they felt they didn't need to "walk through the Door". We can't expect lives to be changed until they have exchanged their heart condition for Jesus heart.
I was recently reading in Mark about the moments leading up to Jesus being arrested, and it made me think about some of this religious spirit inside the church.  I was thinking specifically about Judas Iscariot. He walked with Jesus, he got to be apart of the miracles that Jesus preformed, but when it came down to religion or relationship, he unfortunately,  chose religion.  We often think to ourselves, if I just walked with Jesus in when He was on earth it would be easier for me to believe. But here we see one who walked in the shadow of Jesus chose the religious over relationship. Many didn't come to know God through Jesus because of religion then also. Again not a new problem.
     The people who are wondering outside of the city could be like myself where I understood God was a rule making God who see your life, but refused to become involved in the messiness of my life. The spirit of religion will do that to you. Flip you upside down and inside out so that you never understand the simplicity of Jesus blood in our lives.  I struggled with that idea . I loved Jesus, but His father seemed unloving and didn't seem to care how hurt or sad I was. It is hard to struggle with this duality of Jesus who died for my sins and God who created the world, but don't care about me. Maybe this is how Judas felt. He walked in the shadow of Jesus and still didn't believe what He taught. .
     Let me say to you, if you are one of the ones who are wondering around outside of the fence, longing to get in, it is simple. Jesus came to make an exchange of your old nature for His new nature by asking Him to become Lord of your life. He will give you  His nature.  Here is the secret, it is a heart condition exchange. It will, for most, take time for things like sins to change in your life, but even sin is a symptom of your heart condition. (Another whole post itself.)

2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if  anyone is in Christ, he is a new creations; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

  I really believe that God is moving and working in the hearts of the people represented walking around outside the city gate.  I hear over and over from people in other parts of America that God is moving in the church. "Sleeping" hearts are being awaken and the realization that they have to walk through the door of Jesus in order to have that walking, talking relationship with God. I thank God that He loves us so much to not let us sleep, but awakes us even if it hurts for a bit to realize that what we thought was a relationship was a missed opportunity but the Door is always there and there is no condemnation in Christ (Rom 8:1). If you have missed the relationship, don't look back, look forward to what a new life with Him as a friend looks like, not what your past has told you, your relationship with look like.  Ask God to make is Word come alive for you to really see all that He has for you. 


Seeking a pleasing aroma!

Heather

Inconvenienced

     Happy New Year! 20 days in isn't too bad, lol.  We have been busy getting back into some "normal" routine, we are still trying to figure it all out honestly.  I don't know what happened over Christmas break, but we totally got messed up and it has been a struggle to get back on track.
     There has been going on a lot with our church that has affected our lives. My hubby and I agreed to take a leadership role in the prayer ministry, we have never done anything like that before.  It has been pretty amazing how God is leading and directing our lives right now.  My quite time has definitely been spent hearing how God would like me to pray for Him people.  Then often I will remember a scripture verse that would apply to what He has spoken.  Our church has gone to 2 services. Which, taking over a ministry that would pray for both services, it gets tricky as a family to figure out how we need to accommodate this "extra" time a church, especially since we were not involved in the prayer ministry before the 2 services.
     Which leads me to why I am writing today.  I was starting to wonder if God would continue to give me things to post on here.  I learn so much from what He speaks first to me then what the finished post looks and sounds like. But through the course of conversations with my family I came upon this idea that we NEED to be available to be inconvenienced for Christ if in fact we are Christ followers.
     Ohhhh, that kind of hurts a bit. Our lifestyles are busy and we barely find time to spend time with our friends, in person, not on social media. As I think about how this concept applies to our family it gets hard. We have 4 young children, who I want to love God not feel anger towards, we have obligations that may take time away from our "ministry" of prayer, but this is where I keep struggling within myself. I want to be available for inconveniences that God puts in my life.  I want to be available to stay and pray for someone at 2nd service, I want to pray for the leadership and worship teams. I want to build relationships that could get messy.  I want my family to feel the same way. I want to stop at the grocery store and pray for a woman in need.  I want to give a bit of Jesus to that woman on the corner in the snow and freezing temps begging for money.  I want to be inconvenienced for Jesus.  I realize that is a desire that only God can actually instill in ones heart and make it that everything still works out on a daily basis.  So I pray that God begins to instill this desire into each member of our family. To live out this "radical" inconvenienced lifestyle.
     I am going to share with you some of the people from the Bible who I believed were "inconvenienced".
Noah, having to spend 100 years building a boat while everyone thought you were crazy. Abram better yet Sari, she had to stop what her daily jobs were and cook a meal for the angels that appeared to speak to Abram about his decedents when she was almost 100 yrs old. Then Abraham taking his nephew's side during the Sodom and Gomorrah deal. Samuel, trying to counsel Saul but being dismissed, going through all of David's brothers before finding the youngest would be the anointed king.  New Testament people, the first one is Mary! Boy did her life become inconvenienced. She was willing to be inconvenienced for her Lord.  Then there is the woman at the well. I love this story. Here is this woman going about her daily chore of getting water for her household and she has an encounter with Jesus.
     BUT that is what being inconvenienced is all about! Having an encounter with the Creator.  After all that God has done for me, how can I not live a lifestyle that says yes I will skip my Sunday nap and spend an extra hour at church, so that I can pray for someone who is in need there.  Or spend time in the Word, instead of watching TV, something that will help me hear that voice of God just a bit more. I want to hear God say "Don't speak to your child like that. It hurts him," when I am in the wrong so I can fix it right away, instead of dealing with the consequences later.  Handing out food in the cold to the hungry. Taking in foster kids.  Clothing those who need clothes.
 Why is this something that the modern day church does not want? We don't want a service to be longer that an hour.  We don't want to go back on Sunday night. We don't want to do small groups, that might be the night our favorite TV show is on. We don't want our friends and neighbors knowing that we believe in God, or that Jesus is our "Lord" because we will be compared to the crazy lady who was praying for people in line at the store. ;-)
     Forgive that person who said all that nasty stuff about you, haven't you been forgiven? Didn't Jesus go to the Cross so that you could be free from your sin?  Give, instead of loan that  money to your family member, because God has given you enough, and maybe through that gift they see Jesus!
     I don't know about you but I really, really want to live a lifestyle of inconvenienced. This is what I would like my 2014 to look like, more encounters with Him and those He wants to encounter.

Offense Will Come

     Hello there! How are you doing today? Oh yeah this is a blog not a conversation. Sorry!
I have some pretty serious things to talk about today, so before we begin let me just say that again I say these things because the One who loves me lover you and is calling you to something deeper than you are in right now. Whether that is a new relationship with Jesus, a worshiper or a pastor of a church. God always wants to go deeper with us, if we will seek Him.  Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 
     This post is about offense, so really no offense if I hurt your feelings. ;-)  First of all God never promised us a life without hurt and offense in fact His word says offense will come.
Luke 17:1 Then He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no offenses should come,"
     Oh yeah, offense is coming, hopefully not from me but it will come. So here is what got my mind rolling with the whole offense things. I was at a prayer meeting at our church and I got a word from God that I shared with the group. It had the word "now" in it. I know that when God was speaking to me about what our church is doing "now" didn't mean that it wasn't doing that same things years ago, just a confirmation that "now" we are currently doing what He has called us to do. Really had nothing to do with past actions of our church one way or another. There are leaders who have attended this church their whole lives, or pretty close to it. (For someone who has moved around as much as I have that is so hard to believe!) We have only been there over a year. After I got home I thought about what God had said and how what I could have said to make sure there was no offense at all. I don't believe there was any but again it could happen. Sometimes I speak about changing our lives using things in our past as our deciding factors, it could be that some would see offense. If I use past relationships or words that are spoken as indicator of our heart condition both past and present, I want it to always come from a place of love, His love, but I am human and sometimes a bit blunt.
     I have had past relationships in my life that I have had to repent from, in fact before my hubby and I got married we had to repent of aspects of our relationship. We didn't understand at the time the full impact of our actions but repentance was what God was calling us to do through our pastor. We did things wrong, we are human and make mistakes, but I know Someone in the restoring business.
     Here is the things, we all have past, something that we are not proud of and somethings that we wish would never be brought back up. EVER. Those things we wish we could hid in the darkness are usually the ones that cause the most offense.  Quite frankly Satan would love it if you would keep those things hidden and be easily offend when people push those buttons, or hurts. It keeps you from the love of God and all the good things He has for you. Offense seems to momentary put a guard around our hearts protecting others from seeing the places we hurt.
Mark 4:22-23 "For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
     There are moments when as Christians, we are the worst about offense. We walk around with our noes in the air. We know best. Or something. A few years ago we left a church we had been at for 4 1/2 years. It was a time of big change and there were lots of people who were leaving. I walked into the foyer and felt "This place isn't home anymore." drop into my Spirit.  I prayed for 6 months before I  shared with my husband what God told me. I didn't want to leave. I begged God for 6 months, on my knees and with tears, to change His mind. But He didn't, and we finally left. It was hard, we left friends that had become family for the unknown yet again. And even thought it was "only" our church and not our city or state, because of all the other people who had left, there were a lot of hurt friends who didn't even ask why we left, just spoke and felt bad about us, it felt like me move to a new city in a new state. We had to make new friends, put my outspoken self back out there to be judged and possible rejected.  In those months of searching for a new church, which we were blessed is was very short, many of our friends and fellow church members left the same church. I really believe some left out of offense rather than waiting for God to call them out or doing the work that He needed to do there.  The church where God planted us just went through, and continues to go through changes, as we are trying to bring heaven to earth. Again I have seen member leave over offense.  It really breaks my heart because that offense can become a root, and before we know it, that root colors everything we see. Everything. We lose our way and don't know why we don't love church or Jesus the way we did before. If we do finally get pulled out of the oppression that comes with roots of offense it takes time to then repent of all the things said and done during the time of rooted offense.
     Offense is also a heart condition, based on our past hurts. We choose everyday to live in offense. Please guard your heart from offense, of every kind. It is  going to come, could be in the color chosen for the carpet in a church renovations, or a new worship song, or a lie spoken about you by a friend. It could come from closer than that, a spouse. Those we love hurt us the most, right? Offense is going to come. Check you heart and see if there is offense there.  Repent and be free then chose to live as much as you can offense free. Choosing instead to live in Forgiveness. Realizing that people who are walking in flesh will hurt us by their words or actions, or lack of. But our choice needs to be forgiveness.
Luke 12:3 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you seven time in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you say 'I repent', you shall forgive him."  
I would challenge you to forgive even if they never come to you and say sorry. Better to live in over forgiveness than offense.  

I challenge you because of the One who loves me also loves you!  Seek first the King!!!

Heather

As always scripture taken from Biblegateway.com.

Heart Conditions and Our Fruit

     Good Afternoon! As I am writing this it is cold and rainy outside, my cup of coffee is almost empty, but there is music playing and my youngest is watching The Little Mermaid. Life is good!
     I have again a few things to share with you today. As always there are so many thoughts going through my head I often don't know where to start. So I am going to jump into it and hope that you can follow my thought patterns. :-)  
     Looking at my heart condition (from my last post about being Enough) always leads me to looking at the fruit that my life produces. And I would have to say in the last few months I am blown away by the goodness of God and what he is doing with my family. I know that I had parts to play in the transformation of our family but God has done some very amazing things in the hearts of my husband, and 4 of my kiddos. Thank you Jesus that you loved us so much you would come down into our messy lives and lift us into your arms!!!! (My 2 oldest kids got baptized last Sunday!)
     Anyway, (sigh, life is good) back to our heart and our fruit. The Bible says in 
   Luke 6:45 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Or from  
  Proverbs 4:23 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.  
     If you got a chance to attend the Women's breakfast a few weeks ago I used both of the verse as we looked at the lives of Rachel and Leah, and you heard me say that I LOVE descriptive words. Proverbs 4:23 has the words "springs".  When I think of this word in context of what comes out of our heart I just imagine, or literally sometimes see, joy, peace, happiness, or bitterness, sadness, venom spring from our hearts and out our mouths.  That would be our fruit. If the words that come out of our mouths are bitter and hurtful, if they are swear words, if they tear down instead of lifting up then that is what is in your heart.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. It doesn't matter if you have given your life to Christ. If your words and actions are bad then you are producing bad fruit and your heart is corrupt .Ephesians 5: 4 says 4 It’s not right that dirty stories, foolish talk, or obscene jokes should be mentioned among you either. Instead, give thanks to God. We all have had corrupt hearts.  I did and if I don't continually go back to God and ask Him to search my heart, it would become corrupt very quickly. It is part of our human nature to have corrupt hearts. They only way we know that our hearts are corrupt is if someone comes along and tells us that our lives are bearing bad fruit.  

     God desires you to bear good fruit, for the words of your mouth to be good and holy, uplifting and full of joy. But the only way to do that is to let Him come in and clean up the darkest parts of our heart. We can not, no matter how hard we try cover up our fruit or clean our own heart. You could stop swearing and/or saying mean things, but the fruit will come out in other ways, if you don't go to Jesus and have him clean it up.     A few verses later in it says

   Ephesians 5:8-14  8 Once you lived in the dark, but now the Lord has filled you with light. Live as children who have light. 9 Light produces everything that is good, that has God’s approval, and that is true. 10 Determine which things please the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the useless works that darkness produces. Instead, expose them for what they are. 12 It is shameful to talk about what some people do in secret. 13 Light exposes the true character of everything 14 because light makes everything easy to see. That’s why it says: “Wake up, sleeper!  Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

     If you have given your life to Christ at anytime in your life and you can see some bad fruit in your life, renew that commitment and ask Him to clean your heart. 

   Psalm 139:23 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;  

     He will come in and clean your heart, He wants to be invited in to heal the hurts and turn  the faces of those He loves back to Him. That would be you! He loves you and He wants you to be set apart for Him, having a clean heart and bear good fruit. 

    If you already have a clean heart and renew that daily, ask the Lord who you can help with the truth of their fruit. There is a world full of hurting people looking for someone to love them and help them find the Truth. Continue to set yourself apart for God service. 

     Ephesians 5:15-16  15 So then, be very careful how you live. Don’t live like foolish people but like wise people. 16 Make the most of your opportunities because these are evil days. 

   I challenge you because of the One who loves me also loves you! Seek first the King!

As always the scripture came from Biblegateway.com

Enough

     Good Morning! This last Saturday I got to host a women's event at our church. It was wonderful! I spoke on being Enough in God. It has been quite the journey for me to realize that I am enough for God to use. I don't have to be like anyone else, I just have to focus on Him.
     We looked at the story of Leah and Rachel and how these 2 ladies really lived in an atmosphere of competition and striving and jealousy.  If you have never read that story in such a way as to see  their heart conditions, I would suggest that you do.  There is so much "not enough" going on between the 2 women that they don't even know the difference between a good decision and a very, very bad one. Through out their story God remembered them. He loved them. I love that He never forgot them in the mist of their mess, of their own making, he remembered them and He chose to love them. He blessed them with the 12 tribes of Israel.
     As usual thinking about the impact that this story could have on our lives it leads me to think of the next step. How to we go from just believing that we are enough in Christ to living that we are enough. Not sure that I have that answer other than to say one step at a time. I need to continue to place one foot in front of the other and continue to move forward as I see that God is calling me. I love that He is often calling me from places that I would never go by myself. Because with out Him I am for sure not enough.   There will be more related to the whole idea of being enough in Christ. There is more to knowing Christ, but for now just believe that you are enough and move forward in the confidence that He has called you. Don't let your past disqualify you from moving forward into a relationship with God, don't let it disqualify you from doing what God has called you to do. Whether it is reaching out to the orphans, feeding the homeless, or helping women believe that God loves them and has NOT forgotten about them.  Move, move towards Him, looking at Him not on our situations.
     Read about how Leah and Rachel looked at their place in life, their situations and based their choices on the things they could see, instead of Him who is in control.
     Genesis 29:31-30:22.  Go on read it, maybe God will reveal something about your heart condition, I know He did with me.
   

Prosperity Gospel?

     Hello again! It has been awhile, and things have been crazy over here in our house. It would appear that the last time I posted was over a year ago. Well I am hoping that I will be able to keep this up a bit more as  I only have one child at home. This has opened up a whole new world for me, as far at time goes.  The last time I only had one child at home was 7 years ago when our #2 son was born. Wow how time flies.

     I do have a reason for writing. I feel like I have grown spiritually so much since I started writing this blog and even more in the last year. God has done some really great restoration work in my life. I am so thankful to Him for loving me so much that He would come down into my dirtiness and lift me up!

     So here is the reason that I went through the work to find passwords and get log back in...

     I was recently watching a show that I am ashamed to say I watch (because of that I am not sharing what the show was).;-)  Although I really enjoy watching it, it really does nothing good for me. My hubby was out playing basketball and I knew that I had about 20 minutes left before he walked in the door. So I watched the preview of an upcoming show on this channel.  It is a show about a pastor and his family. There have been a lot of these shows and I really have only watched one episode and was pretty disappointed in the "pastors". But they are on TV so really what did I expect? It:s not likely they will show Jesus in a way that could actually change your life that type of show doesn't get as much ratings. Anyway...on this preview  the wife of the pastor said If I had to live in poverty I would never have given my life to Jesus. (about 90% sure these where her exact words.) She also said she knew that God was calling them to the abundant life. She and her pastor husband went looking at a 2+ Million dollar air plane for personal use.
     Ohhh, I started to get hot under the collar. What are they doing?!? When you can blatantly say if I had to be poor I won't follow Jesus you have some serious heart issues.  It seems like I remember a rich young ruler who asked Jesus about this very topic.

Matthew 19:16-20    Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler
16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

18 He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 

19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?””

     In this exchange with Jesus we see him say, "go, sell what you have and give to the poor." We also the ruler walk away, but he didn't just walk away, he walked about sorrowful,  sad maybe crying. He had just been told that even though his whole life had be honoring to God, his possessions had control of his heart.  He had a heart condition. He had great possessions, those things defined him. They made him the "Rich Young Ruler". He gave that up he gives up his identification to become another no body. A nobody who gave up for Jesus. His heart was not bent in a posture of submission, but of pride in his possessions. Feels to me like our country. We believe that the more possessions that we own the more important we become.
     My heart breaks for how many people these pastors misleading Jesus to. 100? 200 or 300?  No I think they had a congregation of 4000 people and growing. Here is the thing that I have been learning about my Lord. He has called us to teach others about His love, not His hands. If everyone in their church, community and state is taken care of and not one in need, and then they wanted to buy that plane go for it! God for sure put people on this earth for Helps ministry, meaning they have the money to "help" a person in need.  But here is the thing, for a person called to Helps ministry is going to struggle with money being an idol, they may struggle with another issue that they put as an idol but money won't be it.  I believe that because of that I don't believe that they would mind being poor if that is what Jesus called them to. We are called to help take care of foster kids, widow and widowers, and the poor. I would love to hear about a community where hunger was no longer and issue, but I haven't heard that. In fact it is quite the opposite that more people are hungry and without jobs.
     Jesus didn't say this life would be easy or that if we wished/believed enough that He would give us what we want. He told us that He would be with us in times of trouble, but that this walk will make us look different than the "world".  Here is the verse that prosperity is based off of...

John 10:10
 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

The Abundant life is one where we are in search of the secret place with Him. Where we live our lives, abiding in Him, in rich or poor. Not depending on what our earthly lives look like, even if we have to work a job "beneath" us. Jesus came as a servant and we often forget how to serve. Our lives in America look so different than a servants life. We live to be served instead of getting down and dirty in areas of life where Jesus is needed the most. We all need Jesus, but Jesus doesn't show up in our things but in our lives. In our heart condition! 

If I have misjudged this couple, and I am sure that I have because I don't know them there is a chance that what they represented on TV is NOT who they are in life, I am sorry. But as a re-presentative of Jesus, not just pastor but all Christians,  they are leading people into hell, not heaven because they aren't re-presenting Jesus at all. When all I seek are the hands of Jesus and what I am wishing and hoping for doesn't show up and now I am worse than I was in the beginning, that doesn't sound like the Loving God I know. There will be times of testing and trouble to build our faith and trust in God, but God doesn't hand us things on a silver platter because those things are good in our eyes. They may take our eyes off the Face of God and puts us in a mind set of a genie god, which He is not. He loves us and wants us to have great things and an abundant life (a life spent in relationship with Him), but He wants to be first and only in our hearts. Be the One that our heart posture in surrendered to.  Saying Jesus wants you to be rich is so superficial and not what Jesus wants! He wants deepness and relationship with you! He wants us so desperate for more of  Him that nothing else matters. Talk with Him! Spend time with Him! That is what He wants and what He desires for us to want in return not what He can give to us.

So I will be praying for this family and their church members. That the Spirit of God would move and change their thought if they have wrong thinking.   They have an amzimg oppertunity 

All verse taken from Bible gate way.