LAM Newsletter, August 2002

FOREBODINGS

What is foreboding? The Webster Dictionary says it means to feel a secret sense of a misfortune about to happen, or presentiment of approaching evil. Hmmm… that about sums it up for me! Any of you ever have this feeling?

The Lord showed me that foreboding means a fear of something about to happen. I found myself doing that more than I thought. As this was revealed to me, I did notice how many times I was in fear that something bad was about to happen. I recall as I would plan big events that I would "think" I would get a cold, or I would get hit by a car, or the end of the world would come. Every time!! I never really outwardly said anything or dwelt on it very long, but that inclination was always there. My life is going so well right now and there has been an underlying fear that it won't last. But the truth is this. It has gotten better and better every year because of the Love of God that I have let shine abroad in my life. So when I begin to "think" foreboding thoughts I catch myself and instead of saying, "Something bad is going to happen," I say, "Something GOOD is going to happen." And what a difference. Good things have continued happening to me, but now my heart and attitude are enjoying looking forward to the good things.

TOM’s TIDBITS

"The Foundation of the Earth is being shaken"

I was sharing a conversation I had with someone with my husband. I told my husband that this person was really on fire to help people. That he wants to teach, help people find health, and has a real zeal and desire to do so. That he is aware of his own issues and needs help in that area too, but also wants to find God's will for his life in the area of ministry. I was so excited because I don't get calls from many men who want to go into ministry and we need men to minister to men!

My husband sat and listened to what I shared and said, "the foundation of the earth is being shaken, and there seems to be an urgency for people to tap in." He is absolutely right. The foundations, things we believed, things we held onto for years is being shaken. The world system, the financial markets, things that people have put their trust in is being shaken. Not only that, but people's lives are being shaken. Many are coming to the knowledge that they need revival in their own hearts and lives because what they are doing and have been doing for years, just isn't working. Our own belief system is being shaken too. The people we normally look up to are falling off their pedestals. The "earth" is being shaken. Don't forget what we are made of? Earth. Our very lives are being shaken. God is doing a work that only He can do and that is to get the CHAFF off our lives. Because He knows time is running down and that too many of his children are drenched in the "foundations of this earth" and not on the foundations of His Love. He is shaking off anything that doesn't belong to Him. Are you going through some "shaking" well let it rattle and roll because it's the only way you will find what you are looking for. You cannot have a close personal relationship with God with all that stuff rattling around in your inners. It has to go. God wants YOU, all of YOU and He is doing it in His children - first. As the bible says, "Judgment begins in the house of the Lord", but it only begins there, because after that comes the world to be judged…

Personal Revelation:

Boy this is a doozey! This revelation is a catapult into another era in my life as a Christian. It has truly been the turning point for me. Two things happened this month, and here's the story:

Last month I made one request to the Lord. I asked that He change me in the area of eating. That if He wanted me to eat differently He would have to do it. I was not clear on this from God because I have learned that "food" isn't our problem. But that's how I prayed. A few days later the Lord came through. And what a revelation!

During this month I have been working as usual but I haven't really felt very well. I had my 13th year anniversary and bought a chocolate cake. Well, I ate almost the whole thing in two days, then didn't stop there. I ate every piece of chocolate I could find in the house, and then went to the store for snicker bars. I was drinking cokes more than I had been, too. One day at work I had a meeting with a group of people. The subject was way over my head, so I thought. We were talking numbers and calculations and percentages. An area that I have never had a grip on and felt I was out of my league. I even wanted to cry after that meeting because I was the one who had to put that report together! I even wrote a draft memo to my boss telling her that I didn't believe I was the proper choice for this project. But, during the meeting I made a comment. I said, "I was fired only from one job my whole life, and that was as a bookkeeper." People laughed, but we continued the meeting. Later the Holy Spirit brought that back to mind and told me that I was fired over 25 years ago! I couldn't believe I was still carrying that around. And, the Holy Spirit told me, it was that memory that was keeping me down in the area of math! So I knew I had to forgive the lady who fired me, and so I did, right then and there. I knew something broke in me. I knew that I can do all things through Christ's strength. After all, He is the master mathematician! And if He's in me, then all that knowledge is available to me too. Math has always been a struggle. It did start in High School but was reinforced when I was fired from that job. I'm looking forward to how I'll be handling math situations from now on. By the way, I realized by looking back in my life, I had to use math a lot! Making clothes, building things, doing my taxes, etc. So it wasn't that I "couldn't" do it, it was that I didn't want to do it because I didn't "think" I could. We are what we think!

The second thing happened during that same time and at that same meeting. I was not only feeling inadequate about math but I wasn't able to concentrate. So adding that to the math situation was not good. I felt foggy and unclear about everything that was being said. This even made me feel more unable to do this project. And during the same time God told me about the Math situation, He told me it was the chocolate I was eating. But, went even further and said it's not the chocolate but the caffeine IN the chocolate! Now it made sense to me. It wasn't that I couldn’t' eat the food, it was the stimulant drug IN the chocolate. So then I realized it was also in the coke I was drinking, etc. Once I "got it" in my spirit, now the living out part began. I found it EASY to refrain from the chocolate. I knew what it was doing to me and I didn't like it. I found other sweets to eat without any problems at all! There is more out there than the chocolate. See, I asked the Lord to not only change my desire about the chocolate but give me a new desire too. He was showing me in this time that eating chocolate was a comfort to me. But that all my comfort should come from Him. So now when I feel the urge to eat something, regardless of what it is, especially when I wasn't hungry, to look toward Him first. If it's quenched then all I needed was a gentle touch from my father. Otherwise, I'll eat the thing; no more bondage to it. Eat it when I want, don't eat it when I don't want. How simple can that be?

A Word for ME?

I have been in contact with many individuals on the Internet. Some have been praying for this ministry and me in particular. I wanted to share with you how the Lord led a fellow brother in the Lord to share a word he believes the Lord gave him specifically for me. I have to tell you that I don't get many of them from individuals and so I don’t' take them lightly but cherish each one. Here it is:

"The steps of a good man (person) are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth: and his seed is blessed." Ps. 37:23 - 26

I have to say that sometimes I'm not sure where my foot will land next, but I do believe that what God has begun He will finish. I believe God has called me into the lives of my fellow Christian's lives to help them get the "oomph" back and get back on track. I know with all my heart that God delights in that. Not that he takes joy in the mistakes I make, but that He takes joy in me, His daughter! I have found myself lying flat on the ground crying out to God, but HE always lifts me up and even higher than I was before! I have wondered about my future too, who will take care of me when I am old? My son lives so far away and so on. Well, this scripture laid all that to rest. God will never allow me to be forsaken, never. He will raise up rocks to take care of me if He has to!

Quote by Linda

"Don't gauge your giving by a percent sign (10%)

but gauge your giving by what you are receiving"

We are no longer under any laws, remember that when you give.

INsight on Disease:

Note: It is important that I share with you how this information comes to pass that relate to spiritually rooted diseases. Pastor Wright at Pleasant Valley Ministries in Georgia has been in ministry for over 25 years - many of those years he has kept case studies of individuals he has ministered to and the result of that ministry. Then he realized a pattern in people's lives. The same diseases were in individuals with the same problems. So now we take what we have learned from those who have been healed and help others.

This month's disease is an emotional problem: FEAR OF DEATH - Hebrews 2:15 says that we need to be completely free from fearing death!

Fear is the opposite of Faith - I'm sure you already knew that. But something you may not already know, Fear is the absence of Love. The bible says that when we fear we are not made perfect in love because fear has torment. I John 4:18. Death is the doorway to the presence of God so that's the last thing we should fear. But since the enemy knows that, he is distorting death by causing us to fear. Perfect love CASTS out all fear… When we tap into the love of God, it casts out the fear for us - there's nothing we need to do! The more you allow the love of God to penetrate your heart, the more fear has to go. Fear of Death is just one fear, but you know there are many more. So, instead of trying to figure out each one, simply go to God and ask Him for more of His love in your life. You can even ask for more Grace because Grace is His love. And watch things begin happening in your life!

If you need personal ministry, please contact the LAM office at TruthFrees@Mindsync.com or Pleasant Valley Ministries at pvcm@alltel.net. or their website at: www.pleasantvalleychurch.net.

Comments

These comments were given after the three-day retreat in July:

"Things couldn't be more wonderful! I can't even begin to tell you how I have been supernaturally changed. Like you have repeatedly said, "I" truly didn't have to do anything but confess and forgive. He does the rest! I am experiencing a peace that truly surpasses all human understanding."

"I think because of the block I had, because I was angry at God, I tried to get from some people what I can only get from God. The more I am filled with the love of God the more I can love people not needing to be loved in return. All the way to my sister's and back to Sacramento I sang "Here We Are" and "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus", I prayed. Tears and joy and peace."

The comments keep coming in and I'm so glad to be a positive part of people's relationship with God. We have another meeting scheduled for August 16th - 18th at my home in Mt. Aukum. There is still room, so call.

OPENING PRAYER - KANSAS STATE SENATE

I thought you might enjoy this interesting prayer given in KANSAS at the opening session of their Senate. I think it's a prayer we all need to take to heart. I'm not one for repeating someone else's prayers as God gives each one of us that ability to speak our own according to our heart, but this addresses the nation's hearts.

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We confess that:

We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.
We have exploited the poor and called it the Lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of speech.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today, cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will and to openly ask these things in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest.

In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Reverend Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea. Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program "The Rest of the Story" and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called, "...one nation under God..."

LAM 2002 Schedule