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LAM Updates New
Ministry Opportunty! Join us beginning January 6th, 6:00 PM PST for a teleconference
Bible Study. Be sure to check this out, the information is on the website. Women's
Conference is scheduled for January 18-20. Agenda is as follows: Friday night
7:00 - 9:00 (meet and greet and testimonials, worship) Saturday 9:00am - 5:00pm
(lunch sponsored by Linda at her home) Then return for more at 7:00pm - 9:00pm.
Sunday morning - 9:00 - 11:00. Come and expect your miracle! Call the LAM office
or email Linda directly for more information or to sign up. I'm
Having a Baby! by Linda Lange Yes, it's true!!
One day not too long ago I was talking to a friend of mine
on the phone. We had both mentioned we wanted to have a baby. She was over 50
as am I so we knew it had to be a devine intervention from God. So we prayed for
each other. I prayed she would get pregnant and I asked her to pray for me to
have a creative miracle. In order to have a baby I needed a uterous, and since
mine was removed 20 years ago, I needed a new one. So we know God is more than
able to do this, so we began praying, against all odds that we would both have
a baby. That night I told Tom what I prayed. He wasn't at all
shocked that I trusted God for a miracle. He was surprised I asked for this, but
not surprised that God could deliver (no pun intended!) The
next day, and I mean the next day, I got a call from my son who lives in Alaska.
We haven't spoken to each other for a few months and so I was very happy to get
his call. He said, "I have something to tell you mom." Without another
minute gone by I responded, "You are having a baby?" He was a bit surprised
I knew this, afterall the last I knew he didn't even have a girlfriend. He said,
"Well yes mom. We do plan to get married though." I just screamed, "I"m
having a grandbaby!!!" I was overjoyed by the news!! After
we got off the phone I realized that my prayer was answered! I am having a baby,
it's just not going to be through my womb, but another's. He gave me a womb, not
just "in" me! He showed me that this also happened to David and Solomon.
David had a desire to build a temple, but it was Solomon who eventually built
it. The same with me. I wanted a baby, but it was my son who actually gave me
a baby! God answers prayers people, not in the way we think
He should answer it, but He does. But He can only answer prayers for those who
truly believes He answers prayers. And truly loves them. My prayers are answered
even before I finish saying "amen" not because I'm "good"
but because I believe God loves me and has only good desired for me. That's when
we will truly begin seeing miracles happen in our lives and in the lives of those
around us. When we finally believe God and all He is and represents!! But
even in this, we are never to stop seeking His love, because we could never obtain
it all in this lifetime!! The more I see this, the more miracles happen, the more
lives are changed, and the more peace I have. It just keeps getting better and
better!! And it will continue as long as I continue believing for "more"
of God! My friend, the one I prayed with hasn't told me if
she has her miracle baby yet, but for now, I got my miracle baby - and without
any labor pains! I heard that having a grandbaby is so awesome, how you love it
as though it were your very own. I'm looking forward to that. My son has named
is first - Isabella Grace Anderson. A girl too! Now I have a little girl I've
always wanted to share things with. What a double-blessing!!! Since
writing this article, the baby was born and I flew to Alaska and got to spend
a week with her. It's true, being a gramma is better than being a mommy! Especially
at my age. And the love for this child is awesome! So I did get a wonderfil Christmas
gift this year and will always treasure her every day of my life. Not
only did I gain a granddaughter, but I got my son back too! His fiance is keeping
in contact with me by email and we are forming a good relationship. Not only did
I gain a grand daughter but a daughter as well. It can't get any better than that!
Oh, it just did... I also gained two grand children who I fell in love with at
first site! We got along so well and it was a blessing right from God to enlarge
my family! LIFE
IN THE FAST LANE by Pete Plitt
John's
disciples were quite perplexed when they observed that "The Twelve"
did not fast as did they and the disciples of the Pharisees. As any Gospel connoisseur
knows, Jesus always had an insightful response when questioned about various matters.
In Matthew 9:14-17, the Lord explained that the children of the Bridechamber could
not possibly fast [mourn] while the Bridegroom was among them, but once He left,
they would in deed fast. Then, in typical fashion, Jesus told a parable to unfold
this mystery. No one uses new cloth to patch an old garment because after washing
and drying, the new fabric will shrink and make the original tear worse. Also,
He explained that no one puts new wine in an old skin because as the wine ages,
ferments, and the gases expand, the old wine skin that is all stretched out will
break and the wine will spill. One needs compatibility, that is, a new skin that
will stretch as the new wine expands. At times I've wondered if people pause here
and think, "Thank you Jesus for clearing that up. Now I have perfect understanding
why Your disciples didn't fast and the others did."
Don't these types
of verses just beg a visit to heaven for some clarity? Well, heaven came to us
and currently is the Holy Spirit in us, leading us into all Truth, as well as
the written Word. We know from studying the Word that we are, "Seated in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus," [Ephesians 2:6]. In spite of seeing that
the world is still around us, we accept this position that we have been declared.
One dynamic to this mystery is that the seen is the temporary and the unseen is
the eternal, [I Corinthians 4:18]. In a world full of the seen, we are told that
what we can't even see will last forever. As with all aspects of the faith walk,
to accept what we have been declared, to see the invisible as eternal, we are
aided by faith building prayer in the Holy Ghost and studying the Word, [&
Jude 1:20 & Romans 10:17]. To say it another way, if one was to spend 8 hours
a day in Bible study and prayer, would they not have a better understanding, a
greater revelation of who they are in Christ? Again, this is our visit to heaven
when we need clarity - hearing from the Word and Holy Spirit.
The foundation
of these truths begin on another declaration found in Romans 8:10. "And if
Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because
of righteousness." Notice that Paul doesn't say that the spirit is alive.
Folks in hell are alive. Our status or "position" in Christ is one of
life as God has it. From that gift of life, our born again new nature, follows
the positional truth of being in Him and seated with Him. But what is this body
being dead thing about? My body has been declared d-e-a-d, dead because of sin,
if Christ is in me, yet the last time I breathed on a mirror, I saw physical evidence
that my body is still alive. In Galatians 2:20 Paul said he was crucified with
Christ, yet he lived, but not Paul, rather Christ that lived in Paul. What is
this about?
Just as there is a position that our spirit has been declared,
that is, "LIFE" because of righteousness, so is there a position our
body has been declared, that is, "DEAD" because of sin. In the same
manner, what prayer and hearing the Word are to our believing and understanding
the position that our spirit has been declared, so is fasting to the position
that our body has been declared. For example, if one is locked up in a room and
provided only water for three months, with a good deal of certainty their flesh
would never give them any more trouble. Why? Because they really are dead! In
denying the body life giving sustenance, there is a connection made to being dead.
To fast just one meal activates a principle of dying to the flesh, a step towards
that position of mortification. Although we've been given the spirit or nature
of the Second Man Adam, you've probably noticed that we are still stuck in the
body of the first man Adam, a body that has retained a capacity to sin when tempted,
thus the importance of a "positional truth." Our spirit is "life,"
but we must renew our minds and keep our bodies under, [Romans 12:2 & I Corinthians
9:27] as to the factors still connected to this world.
In Matthew 9, the
parable that Jesus spoke was in response to a fasting question. At it's core,
He was explaining that when He left earth, His disciples would fast because fasting
was the tool that would create a compatibility between their born again nature
[the new patch or wine] and the flesh [old cloth or wine skin]. Fasting executes
a "keeping my body under" discipline as well as an inserting the flesh
into the position it has been declared, dead. For the sake of the new nature in
us, fasting is the process to make the old garment or wine skin, new. Look at
it another way. While Jesus was with the disciples, He said they as children of
the Bridechamber shouldn't fast or "mourn" as long as the Bridegroom
was with them. As their constant example and reminder of righteousness, He literally
was their fast. Every time the disciples started to flesh out, Jesus would reel
them back in to correct thinking and acting. He was the personification of the
fast of Isaiah 58:6-8 "to loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens,
let the oppressed go free, break every yoke, to deal thy bread to the hungry,
bring the poor that are cast out to thy house, when thou seest the naked, to cover
him; and to hide not thyself from thine own flesh." He stated it Himself
in Luke 4:18-19, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
Interestingly enough, before Jesus made this amazing statement about Himself,
He had fasted 40 days and nights, being tempted by the devil in all three realms
of His being, body, soul and spirit.
The sad fact is, people today tend
to ignore the Holy Spirit a bunch more than the disciples could Jesus. If Jesus
was with you day and night, giving you "the look" every time you said,
did or even thought wrong, would your flesh get away with much? Even with the
new nature of Christ in us, the Holy Spirit God abiding in us, and the promises
that sin shall not have dominion over us, God knew we would need help to counter
every misdirection from darkness after Jesus returned to the Father.
Let's
look at the Luke 4 fast of Jesus from another angle. In II Corinthians 5:21 we
find that Jesus became our sin so that we might become His righteousness. II Corinthians
8:9 says that Jesus became poor so that through His poverty we might be rich.
In substitution, Jesus became all of the vile things we were because of the fall
so that we might become all of the glorious things He is, Righteousness, Life,
Health, etc, because of the cross. In substitution, we no longer have a fast of
mourning as in the Old Testament, but are joined to the victory Jesus had during
His fast, a victory now in us over temptation. We trade our feeble attempt of
success in fasting, the self effort of mourning and self denial, with the substitution
of His success in saying "NO" to the top dog of the underworld when
tempted at the highest level of deceit. Jesus was capable of being tempted as
seen in Hebrews 4:15. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin." When we embrace the position our Bigger Brother gave
us in this particular aspect of substitution, really understanding the magnitude
of His success over temptation in our behalf, fasting takes on a whole new place
in our application. Besides, nothing that we do on our own gets us points. Although
fasting is a physical act, it is empowered by the Spirit. Romans 8:13 "For
if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye THROUGH THE SPIRIT do mortify
the deeds of the body, ye shall live."
Fasting works because it is
God's idea. Our fast doesn't move God - He's not the one stuck. It moves us into
a deader place to the "me" factor, the place where obstacles like unforgiveness
and unbelief hide, and over to a more pliable place to the direction of the Holy
Spirit. It is one part of two that Jesus said helps to purge unbelief. In Matthew
17:14-21, the disciples could not get a demon out of a young boy. When they asked
Jesus why they failed, He said it was their unbelief, and that this kind of unbelief
came out by prayer and fasting. Along with prayer, fasting has a way of exposing
the dark places in us where faith obstacles reside. Weapons of darkness like fear
and unforgiveness create unbelief strongholds that neutralize our best attempt
at the prayer of faith. If we fail to get Jesus kind of results, fasting is an
avenue to expose and purge those faith blockages. Without implementing God's plan
called fasting, how long will the enemies in us ceiling our faith? If we have
a relatively healthy body and our finances are in check, maybe fasting doesn't
seem as critical. But what of the child confined to a motorized wheel chair, the
grandmother needing a financial miracle, the teen about to self destruct? Can
we become meet for the Master's use for those around us? It's not that Jesus is
waiting for us to punch a fast clock. He communes with the change that takes place
in us when we fast, as we draw near to Him, as we grow in loving Him with all
our heart, mind, soul and strength.
What about Buddhist or everyday unbelievers?
What happens when they fast? Certainly there are health benefits as well as self
disciplines that one may glean while on a fast. But if Christ is not in you, you
have no "life," no "in Him" and no "seated with Him"
status or position. Romans 6:7-8 says, "For he that is dead is freed from
sin, Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him."
If one doesn't have Christ, they are not dead, if they are not dead, they are
not freed from sin, nor will they live with Him. Since the positional truth of
our body being dead is so critical as to sin not having domination over us, activating
the tool of fasting can only have an eternal effect on a Believer.
One
cannot pray too much, but short of the miraculous, fasting does have it's limitations.
Also, because there may be health considerations, it is important to be on the
same page as the Holy Spirit. If health challenged, it may even be wise to consult
a health professional. There are books on how to properly break a fast too, especially
a longer fast. The fast lane through death to life may be a bit rocky, but the
journey's end really rocks.
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