Hi all,
Many thanks to those who have kept me and us in your prayers, for this summer has been quite a journey on several levels, including all 3 of our sons having health issues. We will be so glad to see the summer of 2019 in our rear view mirror! I know many of you have had challenges as well because I read your prayer requests and pray for you, and there is great comfort in knowing we are lifting each other up to the Father.
Pacemaker, Defibrillator
On July 15 I had an angiogram showing my arteries are clear, so on the 18th they installed a pacemaker/defibrillator. My heart is now being paced which clears up the AFib, I’m back to normal energy now, and we are thankful.
Our son Brian, who is on staff with us, is having back surgery on the 27th to correct a burst disc and one that is bulging. It should be outpatient surgery but will require 6 weeks to fully recover. Chris’ knee continues to hurt him and bending both knees is something he can barely do, but an MRI requires an IV sedation because they will require him to be perfectly still for 6 periods of 5 minutes each. When you have a mental 4 year old in an adult body it means additional factors come into play. For instance, normally I sit with him for X-rays and such as he likes dad to be with him, but with my defibrillator/pacemaker I can’t be near a magnet – so lining everything up for him has been difficult in so many ways and we’d appreciate your prayers.
Conferences
Our Midwest conference starts this week, held at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and we are confident it will be an amazingly rich time in the Lord, restful, and refreshing, according to some of the things He has said about it.
Our New England conference, October 11-13 in Manchester, New Hampshire is the last one for the year. There is still room, but that is Columbus Day weekend and the peak of the leaf viewing season, so our deadline to the facility reserving rooms for us requires a 1-month prior cut off – if you are coming you have until September 10 to let us know! Click the link above for information.
Next year we are planning to have just 1 US (National) conference which will be in Tulsa in the fall of 2020, and at least 2 in the EU as well (Netherlands in May, Finland in August, 1 or 2 more being prayed about), plus travels we hope to do in the US and Canada to visit friends in living rooms in small gatherings.
CWOWI network of house churches
We continue seeing rapid growth in house churches starting. As little as 10 years ago people were concerned about what other Christian friends or former pastors might think of them attending or starting a house church, but now people are so hungry for real relationships and being in a setting to let the Lord move at will, they are seeking us out for help.
We are also reaching a different audience by my weekly Facebook/YouTube teachings (Wednesday mornings, live on FB at 8am Central, posted to YouTube by 8:30am). Some of those viewers blessed by those go to our website and from there, find house church resonates with their spirit.
Is this the greatest prayer of all?
I recently shared on one of my Wednesday Facebook/YouTube teachings, asking that question. What is the ‘this’ that could be the greatest prayer of all? Silence.
The Lord did in fact teach us to pray according to the Lord’s Prayer. And the Lord did say in John 16: 23-24 that when He is gone are not to ask Him anything, but to ask the Father instead – in accordance with the Lord’s Prayer. And Paul prayed in Ephesians 1: 17-19 and 3: 14-20 as well.
But having those prayers doesn’t exclude other forms of prayer. There are books and books available that talk of prayers of dedication, prayers or consecration, prayers of ‘according to your will’ when we don’t know what He wants, and so on.
And there are also books on silence. Psalm 46: 10 is the most famous I think: “Be still and know that I am God.” The word ‘be still’ there means ‘to cease striving’ – it is more than just stop your action, it means to lay down the striving, the stress, and just be still before Him. And then and only then will we “know” Him.
Knowing Him
Isn’t that what is really needed in the body of Christ? Not just to believe in Him, but to know Him. Jesus said in John 17:3: “This is eternal life, that they would know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” For al the scriptures about believing, we cannot neglect the understanding that in believing, we are also knowing.
In I Kings 19: 11-13 Elijah wanted experienced a great wind, but God was not in the wind. The wind stood for the Holy Spirit, and Elijah thought he would hear the Lord’s voice in the move of the Spirit, but he did not. Then came the earthquake, and he thought if God just rocks my world, does some sign that shakes me to my core, He will be in that. But He was not. Then the fire came – even today people are saying ‘God burn away the chaff in my life’, thinking they will know Him, experience Him in the fire. But most often, that isn’t quite what happens.
God was in the still small voice, and that voice came in the quiet, in the absence of sound and shaking and fire – just the still small voice found in the quiet.
The Boat
In Matthew 8: 26-27 Jesus is asleep on the boat when a storm arises. The disciples are afraid of sinking and awaken Him. Jesus promptly calms the wind and waves, and then, only then do the disciples ask: “What kind of man is this that even the wind and waves obey Him?”
They didn’t ask that when they saw the miracles, or the healings of verses 14-16 just before the calming of the storm. It was only in the calm, only in the peace after the storm, that they were able to contemplate who He was.
We are told in Acts 5: 34-40 that the Rabbi Gamaliel advised not to persecute the Christians lest they fight against God. Paul said Gamaliel was his mentor in Acts 22:3. Gamaliel had a son named Rabbi Simon (Shimon) who observed that most people pray too much, because most of their prayers are merely complaining and whining and begging to God. He observed the only lasting prayer he had experienced was prayers of thanksgiving. The prayer of thanksgiving endures for it is not a request, but a state of rest, giving thanks in all things (not for all things).
The prayer of thanksgiving coupled with silence brings us into His presence, allows us to hear the still small voice. He is a gentleman, and my experience has been He rarely interrupts me when I am praying – so I spend a lot of time in quiet thanksgiving. Jesus said in John 5: 19 and 30 that He only did what He saw the Father doing, and only spoke what He heard from the Father. That means Jesus spent a lot of time watching and listening. Perhaps we would do well to follow His example.
Barb and I need a September with some rest in it – we also very much appreciate several of you having given to help us with extra personal expenses during this time. It has meant so very much to us.
Thank you! Much love, praying for you,
John & Barb
