I went to Wal-Mart Unprepared

I feel like God did this just to show me that I always need to be "Missions Minded". Now to be missions minded you don't have to travel to China to win souls, or just give an offering to churches over seas. Being missions minded is beyond just the foreign field. You can be missions minded in your hone town, work or even at school. My husband and I came to Sebastopol MS determined to reach as many souls as possible. We came Missions Minded.

But today I walked into Wal-Mart, (outreach central) and had not one church card in my purse. Now you can ask my husband I always have 20-30 cards at a time but not this time.

I had changed purses yesterday without replaces the cards and today I walked out thinking that I wouldn't go anywhere that I would need them.

Needles to say, I'm I. Walmart and a nice ladystops me to ask how to make spaghetti. No one has ever asked me how to cook something so I knew it was from God. Next I'm in line checking out and the lady behind starts a friendly conversation with me.

I walked out the door feeling defeated. Not one church card was passed out. And I had two great chances to do so. You can tell people which church you go to but there is something awesome that happens when your able to place a church card in there hand.

Lord, continue to use me and keep us "Missions Minded"

Our Awesome Young People

I just wanted to take a moment and brag on the young people at PGPC.....I love each and every one of them as if they were our own. We are so happy about what God is doing in their lives and in our lives while we are here. It is awesome to see what God is going to do in their lives.

The Obedience of Samuel

As you know, I teach Kindergarten here at the school. It's a Christian school, so we do have bible lessons through out the week. Our story for this week was Samuel when he was just a boy and lived in the temple. We all know that story of how Samuel, after a long day of work in the temple, laid down on his mat to sleep when he heard a voice. He heard the voice multiple times and thought it was the priest, Eli. Finally, he came to realize that it was God that calling his name. God told Samuel that Eli would one day no longer be priest.

The thing that I never took time to realize was, why Eli would no longer be priest. Eli had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Hophni and Phinehas did not obey or did they love God. But Samuel was different, heloved God and he was obedient and that's why God used him......But let's take a look back at Eli.....Why did God no longer want Eli to be priest, he seemed to be obedient and I would assume to be the priest that you would have to love God. Obviously there was something in Eli's life that did not please God.

When God spoke to Samuel about Eli, his reason for not keeping Eli as priest probaly to some seemed unfair.......Eli's son were not obedient, to God, to their father or to the house of God.

Proverbs 23:13-14 says, "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell."

Obviously I don't agree with beating a child, but the word of God tell's parents to give correction....Now I'm not a parent yet but for some reason this story almost brought me to tears. I started to see that when I do become a parent and if I don't teach my child to obey, it doesn't only harm the children, but it harms the parents.

Eli lost his place in the house of God because he stopped making his children obey. I believe God made an example out of Eli. We have to teach our children to obey. I don't want my children to be lost and I don't want to lose my place in the house of God.

As I said before, I don't have children yet, yes I know and I am not telling anyone how to raise their children but I do feel like God laid this on my heart for a reason.

Love you all!

Change

I have not been able to blog for a long time. We have been so busy. The Lord has truly showed up and showed out. I never would have thought that this was the plan that God had for my life. My husband and I moved to Sebastopol, MS around the second week of August. The Lord had a plan for us that was greater then our plan. Our intention was to return to IBC (Indiana Bible College) August 23 for another school year, but that was not Gods plan. 3 weeks before we should be leaving for IBC, the Lord moved us to Pine Grove Pentecostal Church in Sebastopol, MS to be Youth Pastors. We were so nervous and we still are, but we have stepped into a blessing.

We have anywhere from 40-50 young people between the ages of 12 and unmarried. We felt like they had given this huge job to the wrong people. We attend an amazing church. I have never even visited a church like this. They are so in tune with God. It feels like revival every service. AWESOME! Our pastor is 1st class. A man of wisdom beyond his years. He and Sis Copeland, show a great love for the saints of Pine Grove Pentecostal Church.

I absolutely love our young people. They are so on fire for God. We have something at the church for the youth at least 2 times a week and they love every minute of it. They are all like one big family. We can't wait to see where God is going to take them.

Our church has a Christian school K-12. I teach there Monday through Thursday, and love it. I have truly found a job that I love to wake up and go to every morning. Brad teaches in the school everyday till 12noon and then for the rest of the day he continues his duties as youth pastor. I am so proud of him and what God is doing in his life.

The Lord has truly blessed us. We are so excited to be here and a part of this church. Can't wait to see all that God has in store.

www.pgpc.net

Does the Devil Know Your Name?

We go to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and wednesday....We even have activities through out the week....So the Devil is scared of us...Right? NOT!

We are familiar with the story in Acts 19 where a few men went to cast out demons as Jesus and Paul had done....

Acts 19:11-16 reads:11And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:

12So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

13Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the LORD Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

14And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

15And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

16And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

The evil spirits did not even know the name of these men. They were not afraid of these men, they knew that these men had no power.

We can go to church, attend every outing, sing on the platform, play an instrument, even teach sunday school.....We could be the janitor, the sound person, the youth leader, or even the pastors wife.....None of these scares satan. He does not care what you do or who you are as long as your life is not 100% dedicated to Jesus. If we are not giving bible studies, spending time in a prayer closet, or living in holiness (both inside and out), Then the devil is not scared.

I want to make the devil scared, I want him to know my name. When I go to pray for someone or something, I want authority against satan and his evil spirits.

We have to be careful praying for people and being altar workers, we need to make sure our life is right and that we have spent time with God daily in prayer, or else as the men in this story, the evil spirits could leep on us and we could become a dwelling place for the spirits of the devil.

I want the devil to be scared of me. When I walk down the streets of my city, I want him to be scared that I just might win someones soul over to the Lord. Every time I walk into the house of God, I want him to be scared that we just might pray someone through to the Holy Ghost.

I want the devil to know my name!

Inside Out

This morning in prayer, my mind went back to a song that we use to sing in Sunday School...."Inside out, Inside out, You must serve my Jesus from the inside out. I am your child and I may not know very much, but I know the word of God is true. If you read your bible, you'll find there ain't no room for doubt, cause the word of God is spiritual from the inside out"

Matthew 23:24-26 (King James Version)
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

A lot of times we focus on the outside more then we focus on the inside. Now if you know me, you know that I support holiness, standards and clothing guidelines just as strict as anyone, but we have to start from the inside. Regardless of what we look like on the outside, if our heart is not right with God or if our temple has become unclean, God cannot use us. To be used in His kingdom, we must first be clean on the inside. We must search our hearts. Search our temple. Search our vessel. Clean it out. Go before the Lord for Him to cleanse us. Then the Lord will work on the outside. He will gives us convictions.

Today I pray the Lord starts on the inside. I want to be a clean vessel.

The Tyranny of the Urgent

I started reading the book "Having a Mary heart in a Martha world", a book that I believe EVERY women that wants to serve God to the fullest, but does not seem to find the time, or if you need a book of encouragement to get out there and do what God wants you to do.

There is a part in chapter one that has caught my attention. The book role place what probably takes place in every one of our lives....."Part of me is Mary. I want to worship extravagantly. I want to sit at his feet. But part of me is Martha--and there's just so much to do! So many legitimate needs surround me, compelling me to work. I hear God's tender call to come away, I respond, Yes Lord, I will come. But then the phone rings, I'm reminded of the check I was supposed to deposit--yesterday! Suddenly all of my good intentions about worship disappear, swallowed up by what Charles Hummel calls "the tyranny of the urgent"."

I know that there are many mornings that I have gotten out of bed and looked at my prayer closet, and said "I will be right there" then the next thing I know it is lunch time and my "to do" list has gotten a whole lot longer. I believe that we all should have a "Threshing floor", a place that we fall before God to receive from Him what only He can give.

Threshing Floor:Wikipedia Definition
A threshing floor is a specially flattened surface made either of rock or beaten earth where a farmer would thresh the grain harvest. The threshing floor was either owned by the entire village or by a single family. It was usually located outside the village in a place exposed to the wind. Threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain (or other crop) from the scaly, inedible chaff that surrounds it. It is the step in grain preparation after harvesting and before winnowing, which separates the loosened chaff from the grain. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain.

In the spiritual since a threshing floor is a place where God can harvest us. Take away the bad and useless, to bring forth our harvest.

We need to make a threshing floor in our lives. I have made my closet a prayer room in my home. It has helped in so many ways. I can, at any point of the day, just walk in and shut the door, then its just me and God.

I know its hard, but we need God in our lives. We need to some times just come and sit at His feet. God wants to help us, and He has things that He wants to tell us....but until we can slow down, calm down, and sit down so that God can speak, we will not here His voice