George Mueller

Isaiah 64:24 NLT

I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

Most of this morning I knew in my heart that Father wanted me to put up post on spiritual warfare but for the life of me I just couldn't re-arrange the words floating around in my mind. So, I figured that I just needed to learn more so I just stared surfing the web and I found this gem on George Mueller. I have copied and pasted the text below from this site on spiritual warfare.

George Mueller had God as the Lord of his life and Father answered his prayers all of the time. When we are in the right alignment with God, He will answer us too.

One the greatest example of prayer in recent memory is George Mueller, this story comes to us from the captain of a ship who witnessed the power of prayer first hand. Who himself became a man of prayer after witnessing it from George Mueller. Mueller was a prayer warrior who established orphanages and was a man of prayer.  One day he was on a ship headed to Quebec Canada, for a particular meeting, a thick fog settled in on the water.[1]   

 the Mueller's set off for the United States in August 1877 aboard the Sardian…Off Newfoundland the weather turned cold and the ship's progress was seriously retarded by fog. The captain had been on the bridge for 24 hours when something happened which was to revolutionize his life. George Mueller appeared on the bridge.

"Captain, I have come to tell you I must be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon."

"It is impossible," said the captain. 

"Very well, " said Mueller, "if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way--I have never broken an engagement for 52 years. Let us go down into the chart-room and pray." 
The Captain wondered which lunatic asylum Mueller had come from. 

"Mr. Mueller," he said, "do you know how dense this fog is?" 

"No, my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life." 

Mueller then knelt down and prayed simply. When he had finished the captain was about to pray, but Mueller put his hand on his shoulder, and told him not to. 
"First, you do not believe He will' and second, I believe He has, and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it."The captain looked at Mueller in amazement."Captain," he continued, I have known my Lord for 52 years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, captain, and open the door, and you will find the fog is gone." 

The captain walked across to the door and opened it. The fog had lifted. It was the captain himself, who later told the story of this incident, and who was subsequently described by a well known evangelist as "one of the most devoted men I ever knew."
It was prayer that swept his soul free of doubt, distemper, and the after-effects of a trial by the incoming tide of peace. For this reason he could make such remarks as this entry on March 9, 1847, "The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith." And a later one, "The greater the trial, the sweeter the victory."
His victories came through prayer, trust in the Lord's unfailing promises and a faith that God's truth would not fail.

"It is not enough to begin to pray," he advises us, "nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray; but we must patiently, believingly continue in prayer, until we obtain an answer; and further, we have not only to continue in prayer unto the end, but we have also to believe that God does hear us and will answer our prayers. Most frequently we fail in not continuing in prayer until the blessing is obtained, and in not expecting the blessing." 

George Mueller illustrates our need to depend on Prayer and the Holy Spirit to direct us in the Spiritual war. 

Blessings,
<><

Strength Found In Him

I'm linking up with Barbie for The Weekend Brew.

Blessings,

<><

So, Which One Is It?

Discrepancy 

Mark 1 :40-42 NIV '84
40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

41 Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Mark 1:40-42 NIV
40 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

While reading one of my daily reading plans I was stumbled over the word 'indignant'. Dictionary.com defines as: feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base: Origin: 1580–90;  < Latin indignant-  (stem of indignāns,  present participle of indignārī  to deem unworthy, take offense),

I started thinking Jesus probably took offense over the way He was approached by the man with leprosy. The man approached Jesus begging on his knees and Jesus was maybe insulted and I think He was displeased at the man for thinking he had to beg Him. You see, I found it odd that Jesus was indignant towards this Jewish man because when the gentile woman, Matthew 15:21-28, approached Jesus begging for her daughter to be healed, it doesn't say Jesus was indignant it just said, Jesus did not answer a word.

So, I decided to check out another version as found that the word 'indignant' was replaced with 'compassion'. Dictionary.com defines as  a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

These are two completely different meanings. One means sympathy or sorrow and the other means anger or insult. I started thinking how can a verse have such a different meaning in two different versions. The only thing I can figure is that Jesus had sympathy for the man but was angry because this man was a Jew and had the right to approach Him and ask yet this man was begging Him.

Ken, from Following Jesus, wrote a really good post on the Canaanite woman called "Why Such Harsh Words Jesus?" (Check it out, it is really good! ) I was thinking about this post as I was mulling over this word discrepancy and am leaning towards Jesus being displeased with this Jewish man for thinking he needed to beg Jesus for a healing.

We don't need to approach our Father in a begging format. He is willing to answer us if we are willing to ask and obey Him.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Please share. :)

Jeremiah 17:14 NIV

Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;

    save me and I will be saved,

    for you are the one I praise.

Blessings,
<><'

Rend Your Heart

Joel 2:12-17 NIV

Rend Your Heart

“Even now,” declares the Lord,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Rend your heart

and not your garments.

Return to the Lord your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in love,

and he relents from sending calamity.

Who knows? He may turn and relent

and leave behind a blessing—

grain offerings and drink offerings

for the Lord your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,

declare a holy fast,

call a sacred assembly.

Gather the people,

consecrate the assembly;

bring together the elders,

gather the children,

those nursing at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room

and the bride her chamber.

Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,

weep between the portico and the altar.

Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord.

Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,

a byword among the nations.

Why should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ”

Every year as we near Resurrection Sunday, I feel called into fasting. I am not Catholic and do not follow Lent, but the 40 days of Lent come right before Good Friday and it is a perfect reminder to me that it is the time of year to really focus in on just what Jesus did for us on the cross. 

Actually, this is my favourite time of the year. I love everything there is about Jesus and His death and sacrifice on the cross totally humbles me and awakens in my a very deep love for Him. I love Him because He loves me. If it wasn't for His reaching out to me and showing me His love, I would never know Him. It is Jesus who has stirred my soul and my first desire is to honour Him and love Him the next desire is for me to share His love with you and all those I meet.

I am a believer of fasting and over the past few years, as I dive into fasting, I am being led to believe that fasting material goods is not Biblical. I cannot find any references in Scripture to this type of fast. I have found fasting of food, a fasting of marriage relations, there is the reference of when John the Baptist's father had lost his voice for a period of time, and then there is wearing sack cloth. Animals fast, children fast but from my searching I can find no reference to fasting of material goods. 

I am being led to believe that giving up something material is like removing an idol. Something that has taken the place of God and this is not a fast. This is good, please don't misunderstand me, this just isn't a fast. 

A fast is a time to mourn and seek our Father's heart. A time to feed our soul on His Word and to deny our physical body substance so self is weakened and His Spirit becomes stronger in us. I don't see how self can be weakened by giving up say your computer for a time. Your physical body is still very strong therefore holding onto self and not being filled with the Holy Spirit. 

I do believe giving up material goods is beneficial to removing idols in your life and replacing God back into His proper place of being number one. I think this is healthy and valuable to our walk with Father. 

Yesterday on Twitter I took part of a chat that was focused on Lent and fasting. It was then that Father really spoke to my heart and made me to say that a material fast is not an acceptable fast in Father's eyes. My sharing of this brought in some opposition but it seems that more people agreed with me than those who did not. 

What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them and if you have some Biblical reference to a material fast please share!!

Blessings and Happy Valentine's Day!

<><

I'm linking this post up with Barbie for the The Weekend Brew. 

A Moment in the Life of Easton

The cruel reality of Epidermolysis Bullosa, EB.

A moment in the life with Easton. Please take a moment and watch this short clip on how Easton is cared for. EB must be the nastiest disease around. 

Please be in prayer for Easton and his family. Pray for a cure for this disease. 

Easton has had a new development as well. Here is what was written on his Facebook page by his cousin:

Easton has atrophy in the front part of his brain... it has stopped growing and isn't developing normally...they think it most likely occurred when he was septic. He also has a bulging fontanelle but they don't believe the two are related. He will be staying another night so they can watch him and are having the neurologist look at him to see if they would like to run additional testing. They can not tell us why the front part of his brain is not growing at the same rate as the rest of his brain. They will be monitoring the growth of his head very closely. Please pray for Easton and for the doctors to find some answers. Thank you so much for your support...it means the world to our family ♥ ~ Cousin Amy

Philippians 4:6-7 NASB 

Be anxious for nothing,

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

<><

MRI Results for Phoebe

MRI Results...

Praise God, Phoebe's MRI came back with no evidence of disease today! Her hemoglobin was low and we had to stay all afternoon to get a blood transfusion and she is feeling puny. But on the whole, she is doing great! 

Thanks to all of you who have reached out to us in so many ways over the last few months. 

One more round to go!!!!

-Nathan

Please continue to pray for Phoebe's pituitary gland to start working again. Thanks!!

Source

John 15:7 NASB

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,

ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

<><

The Battle

Through Jesus Christ Satan has been defeated and we have the power, in prayer, to win all of our battles. 

Pray and never give up!

<><

Pituitary Gland Issues

I'm sure you all know what it is like to go without sleep, it is exhausting. Can you imagine how you would feel after a year of a broken sleep pattern is like and never getting a restorative sleep with no end in sight? Or how about being constantly hungry? Having a hunger that is never satisfied no matter how much you eat that wakes you up many times a night and makes you eat and eat. It would be horrible, a terrible existence.

Some of you here know Phoebe and have been praying for her. This is her life. She is 3 years old, battling for her life and has to deal with constant, unsatisfied hunger. Her mom and dad can not sleep because they are constantly being waken up during the night to care for her. Now, if she was an only child this would be doable but Phoebe is the youngest of 4 and Amey deeply desires to continue homeschooling her 3 boys. You can read about Amey's frustration here.

A miracle is needed here. :) Will you join your heart with mine and ask Father to work a miracle for Phoebe? I know our God can restore this part of her brain that is just not working or that He can cause her to sleep peacefully through the night. If Father can grow heart values in Joy then He can also grow a working pituitary gland in Phoebe.


Father, my God the maker of heaven and earth You are holy and worthy of praise and worship. I esteem You and hold Your name on high. I praise You for creating Phoebe and I thank You for bringing her through brain surgery and her first year of chemo therapy. Your so good Lord. Now Lord, I don't need to tell You what is wrong with Your daughter, You know, so I lift Phoebe up to You and ask for Your healing hand upon her and for You to restore her body to function in the way it was designed to. Lord Jesus, Healer remove this constant hunger from Phoebe and give peace and rest to her and her family. Jesus grow, in Phoebe, a new pituitary gland that functions perfectly. Under Your wings they will find shelter and comfort. Cover them Lord. Thank You. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.

Psalm 4:8 NASB 

In peace I will both lie down and sleep,

For You alone, O LORD,

make me to dwell in safety.

I'm linking with Barbie for the Weekend Brew.

Thanks!!