LAM Newsletter, October, November & December 2003

ANOTHER YEAR HAS COME AND GONE!

This newsletter is a combination of Oct. Nov. and December 2003.

Another year has passed and we approach a new one. It’s interesting how we are geared up to doing “new” things with the New Year. But truthfully, every day is a new beginning. God said that His mercies are NEW every morning.

I realized something about this. I am to live every day forgetting completely everything that took place yesterday if it causes me problems; anything that “easily besets us” as Paul said. Anything yesterday that stops us from doing things today has to be forgotten.

In ministry, every single person I work with has one thing in common. They have not been able to forget the wrongs done from yesteryears. When dealing with new events, the old ways and habits come into the picture, and again, destined for problems. We are to approach every person, every situation as thought it’s never happened to us before. But we can’t as long as we have past hurts and pain haunting us.

I spoke with a lady the other day, and this happens all the time, about a craft faire we just were involved in. I headed it up and asked that no one leave before 3:00 PM., which was agreed upon when they signed up to participate. However, people began clearing out early. I had to speak with them as they were cleaning up and one lady told me this. “Well I was at a craft faire that told me I had ½ hour to clean up. I have a lot of things and it takes me longer than ½ hour to put things away and I’m not letting that happen to me again.” She used a past experience to cause her to fear the current experience.

All past experiences do is prevent us from doing what we really want and desire to do.

So how do we get past all that? By forgiving and truly forgetting. This can only happen when we trust God with all of our life, every area. See, sometimes we don’t forget because we don’t feel we’ll be justified if we let something go. Remember, Jesus never justified Himself and He was treated with contempt, rejected, abandoned and accused. Sound like your story? But look at him now. It’s the latter rain (the final end) that is truly important. If you have difficulty trusting God, this means you have a ways to go in “knowing” Him. When we truly know God, we will trust. Isn’t it true with anyone? We trust people after we know them, and then we can trust them. God is no different.

If I can forget all my past hurts, pains, wrongs done, bad choices I’ve made, etc., anyone can! And believe me, I have had more of my share to forgive and forget. But it’s not impossible, for all things are possible with God.

I encourage you to look upon every day is a NEW day, starting today! I pray you find joy and peace this very day, and not wait until the New Year to do so.

WHAT WE DO TO OTHERS, WE DO TO GOD

I received a life changing revelation this past month that has changed the way I deal with others. I have come across many scriptures that I have taught on fragmentarily, but now they have all come together for one insight. Let me share the scriptures with you and then I’ll share my revelation.

I love the words that Jesus spoke as He was talking to those who were around Him. It’s found in Matthew 25:35 saying: “For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in; Naked and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me… V35: Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, y have done it unto me.”

Proverbs 19:17 – “He that has pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” I received this scripture when I was preparing for a community event that provides much needed items, clothing and foods to the needy.

Hebrews 10:25 – “Do not forsake the assembling of the saints.” This scripture comes to me from time to time.

Then one morning as I was driving to work, I was listening to a song done by Amy Grant called Emmanuel. Emmanuel means “God with us.” Then the revelation came with tears beside. All these scriptures that I mentioned all say one thing. God IS with us IN each other. As we gather together (assembly) in church, we are fellowshipping with God. Each of us represents God. When we do anything to each other, we do it unto Him.

This was something I never saw this clearly before. It put a whole new twist on how I view church attendance and other believers – or non-believers. Who’s to say who is and who isn’t anymore? We need to treat each person on this planet how we would treat Jesus if it were Him standing there; every single person. And the reason we assemble in churches is to have opportunity to have relationship with Him through His people.

I found so many other scriptures that support this. One like, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” We carry around His Kingdom, how awesome of a privilege is that? But I don’t think we truly know what that means. I don’t think it’s something we can learn once and then that’s it. I believe it is a continual learning thing, because the Kingdom is so massive, no one in one lifetime can obtain it completely. I personally would like to pursue it more.

I realized that as we treat others wrongly, we are treating God wrongly. If we are loving and caring to others, we are doing it unto Him. What an awesome experience for a believer. And the result of doing this is that the more you give, the more He gives back to you.

UP and DOWN

I discovered, and I’m sure you have too, that you cannot be both up and down at the exact same time. Oh, you can be up one minute and down the next, but never at the same time. It’s totally impossible.

The same holds true with light and darkness. When you turn on a light, the darkness disappears.

The same is true with being good and bad. You can be good one minute and bad the next, but never at the same time.

It’s the same with Fear and Faith. They cannot reside at the exact same time. Fear is the devil’s Faith. Faith is receiving and believing that God loves you. (Hebrews 10:23-24) The bible says that perfect love casts out fear. (I John 4:18) I ask you then, how are we living? From doubt and unbelief to love, to faith, then back to doubt and unbelief? Unfortunately, this is how most Christians live today.

I’d like to give you a quick teaching on how you can stay in Faith and Love at all times. Go to God right now and ask him to give you a revelation of His love for you. Ask Him to help you receive His love and learn what it is. Love is the antidote to fear. If you are in fear in your relationship with others, or even God, then love is not present. No matter how you think you feel about the person, if you have difficulty expressing your heart to others for fear of what they’ll do or think, you are not walking in love with them and fear is present. You will be either in Fear or Love – one or the other at all times.

So to kick fear out, you need to let God’s love in. He wants you to know Him and the power of His Son’s resurrection! Pursue Love if you have fear in your life, and you will find your peace.

This is what I had to do. See I was crippled with fear all my life. Even as a Christian. The more hurts and pain and fear of what people thought lived in me, the less I did. I had put myself in a box. Well, no more. The box is empty and I’m living a full and rich life because I did pursue God’s love for me – personally. I had to understand that He loves me in spite of my junk. If you read my book, “A Matter of the Mind” you would see that I had a lot to overcome in my life. I had a lot to let go and forgive and forget. But I did! But it only started when I truly, truly believed that God loved me.

I pray right now that anyone who has difficulty in relationships or even believing God loves you like He loves others, that He manifest Himself to your right now! That you clearly “see and experience” His love for you and that you are able to receive it. Putting all fearful thoughts and feelings aside, and only focusing on all you can be in Him.

A GREAT STORY!

I have a friend that shares her experiences with me. This one I wanted to share with you because I believe it will be encouraging.

I got a message yesterday to call my senior, whose name I chose for buying gifts. First of all, she thanked me for the gift card that was in with a Christmas card where I signed my name. She said nothing about the other gifts until later when she asked if I knew any of the other people who bought all the gifts! She was very surprised and appreciative that they were all from me.

This lady's attitude amazed me. First of all, she does have family (mainly a daughter nearby who takes very good care of her) and does not seem to be financially needy at all. She is a writer, a poet, and a watercolor artist. She loves living alone in her apartment, has no health or age-related problems -- her only problem is she lost a leg from above the knee down from gangrene years ago, and now is learning to walk on a prosthetic leg. She is determined to get rid of her wheelchair and walk again with just a cane. She believes in staying young (she's 81) by continually learning new things. Currently she is learning French for no reason at all and she hopes to find a French pen pal somehow so she can practice writing French.

I remember the story about grumbling because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet? Well, I've been in a perpetual pity party about my bad knee for a long time now. I won't even walk my dog anymore, because it's uncomfortable!!! I felt ashamed after listening to this lady's great attitude about taking care of herself and striving to be independent and looking eagerly to the future when she can go outdoors on her own (she's in a 2nd-floor apartment so she is homebound). She is even excited about walking to the stores that are almost a mile away.

I guarantee you I will be walking my dog tonight. I'm going to get off my behind and start cleaning and doing the decorating projects I have been putting off because I feel too old and crippled.

LAM 2004 Seminar Schedule

To see Pleasant Valley Ministries Seminar schedule go to www.pleasantvalleychurch.net.

January 17th: Seminar in Sacramento - Open to the public. (1 day) 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM. Location: Camellia Village Estates (Mobile home park), 8231 Gerber Road. For information and directions call (916) 451-2448.

March 12,13,14 - Ladies retreat in Mt. Aukum, CA (Sign up soon, spaces are limited)

June 18,19, 20 - Ladies retreat in Mt. Aukum, CA (Sign up soon, spaces are limited)

September 10, 11, 12 - Ladies retreat in Mt. Aukum, CA (Sign up soon, spaces are limited)

For information about the Life Application Ministry seminars, events, or personal ministry you can call (530) 620-2712, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Monday through Friday (Pacific Standard Time - and 9:00 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. You may need to leave a message, but your call will be returned within 24 hours. Web site is www.mindsync.com/~LAM, or email - truthfrees@mindsync.com.

For those wanting to know Pastor Wright's seminar schedule, please email PVCM@alltel.net. They conduct seminars in Georgia monthly and Pastor does go to other states to do seminars as well.

BOOKS AND OTHER MATERIALS:

A Matter of the Mind - written by Linda Lange of Life Application Ministries. This book is about her life when she lived in fear, anxiety, stress, panic attacks and phobias and how she came out of it. It is a message of hope for anyone who struggles in these areas or for anyone wanting a closer personal walk with the Lord. $18.50 plus $2.00 shipping. CA residents at sales tax.

A More Excellent Way - written by Pastor Henry Wright of Pleasant Valley Ministries: Goes into details about the spiritual roots and blocks to healing. $24.95 plus $2.00 shipping. CA residents add sales tax.

How to be happy though married - written by Linda Lange. This is a small workbook that assists couples in developing a great relationship with each other while building their relationship with God. - $10.00 plus $1.00 shipping. CA residents add sales tax.

The Truth Shall Make You Free - written by Linda Lange: This is a small workbook used in the L.A.M. meetings. It was written from Linda's personal experiences and filled with scriptures and practical applications (updated version) $10.00 plus $1.00 shipping. CA residents add sales tax.

If you make a donation above the cost of the item, it is tax deductible. For more information on these books, please call the Life Application Office at (530) 620-2712 or email in your request and/or questions to truthfrees@mindsync.com.