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december newsletter 2004 MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY SPECIAL FRIENDS ON THE INTERNET!! Is. 9:6 "For unto us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Unto us, you and me, a Son is given. This scripture has gone over and over in my mind today. A Son has been given to ME - His birth was for my destiny, to give me an inheritance, to give me a hope and a plan for my life. He was born to die. His entire destiny in birth was for the moment that He would sacrifice His life for me. I just want to capitalize on that for a moment and say thank you, Father, for sending your Son. Thank you, Jesus, for giving your life so that I might have life and in it abundance. Thank you for showing us that our great purpose in life is to GLORIFY YOU! I HAVE RECENTLY RETURNED FROM Toronto, Canada, where I spent four days and five nights in the presence of the Lord. To be exact, we spent 16 hours a day in His presence. The theme of this conference was healing, signs and wonders. The focus was on healing evangelism - power evangelism. It was an impartation conference for the equipping of power evangelism. It was very intense. Jesus was the focus in worship and in the intense times of teaching. I know that my heart has changed. Sixteen hours a day did something deep in my spirit. My responses to certain situations in life have changed. Something definitely took place. I cannot tell you what happened except to say that as we tarry (soak) (marinate) (even pickle) in the presence of the Lord, we are really unaware of all that is happening. This particular conference was like that for me. It was so very deep. I feel now as though I were experiencing a time of hiddenness. Graham Cooke in his book on hiddenness explains it this way: "God also brings seasons of hiddenness into your life, and although He is still very much with you, you don't feel His presence in the same way. It seems at times that God strips away all the external paraphernalia of your life and denies it to you. At those times, you have to believe that you have peace with God, because you don't feel it in your emotions. Manifestation is about experiencing all that God is doing. Hiddenness is about possessing the things of God through His word by faith." He goes on to say: "Manifestation is a time of blessing and hiddenness is a time of building. Hiddenness connects us with God's wisdom and wisdom is the revelation of who God is and the internal recognition of how He likes to work in our lives." Cooke says that hiddenness is God's training ground. In hiddenness God is teaching us the wisdom of how to walk with Him, how to know Him, how to understand Him and how to live a life of reverent fear. In times of manifestation, we cannot hear deep truth. If we do hear God speak while we are enjoying a season of His blessing, often we don't understand what he is saying. Times of manifestation are about experiencing God. They are about moving in a flow of body ministry. Hiddenness is a different thing altogether - it is about understanding the deep things of God. It is in this place that we start to process really deep truth. It develops the inner man of the spirit. We will increase in this supernatural wisdom as we learn to be with God in hiddenness. I write all of this to say that the last 4 ½ months have been an extended time of hiddenness. I tried very hard at times to schedule meetings, as I would get phone calls; however, nothing ever worked out. God was speaking very loudly to me, "I want you all to myself." I believe that the Lord is calling many people to this place of prayer. This place of listening and tarrying (soaking) in His presence. This place where we put everything else aside, turn off the teaching tapes, worship music etc...and just sit before Him and await His voice as we meditate on the scriptures. It is a quiet place where communication grows and revelation and depth of His Word brings light. Something happens in the deep places of who we are and it is impossible at times to describe it. But we know it is a work of the Spirit. During this time we are also doing warfare. We are on the red alert in prayer as we listen to the Father's heart. As we focus on Jesus in worship, the battle is being fought. We sit until He says walk. We walk until He says stand and see the victory. (Eph.) This is just a word of encouragement for this month. Guard your heart everyday so that it continues to be only His especially during this busy holiday time. Also, I know this is getting long but please continue reading this very important announcement: We want to take a moment to express our gratitude to Beaver Crossing Fellowship, Beaver Crossing, NE, for the most amazing retreats they have sponsored over the past several years. For those of you who do not know, Mahoney Park near Omaha, NE, has been the meeting place for Beaver Crossing's annual women's conference. I have had the wonderful opportunity of being their guest speaker for the past several years. Each year this conference has grown until we have almost maximized our space at the Conference center. During last year's conference, Beaver Crossing Fellowship sensed that God wanted to expand its boundaries to include more churches and cities; therefore, ending their sole responsibility for the conference. Moved by the Holy Spirit, they felt that the conference should be turned over to Julaine Ministries. In confirmation to their request, let me say that during the past two years my heart has become so knit to the people in the surrounding area and especially to this conference. A fire had begun to burn in me on behalf of raising up an army of women to be leaders in the state of Nebraska. I desire to raise up women who will also raise up women for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. When Pastor Aldridge approached me, I have to say that I was overwhelmed. I have felt in my spirit for the past couple of years that we would be doing conferences; however, one never feels equipped when the time approaches. So in my weakness, I sense that this is something God would have us do this year and we are excited for HIS challenge. I will be joined with a board of women from several churches and I am so very glad to say that Jeri Nabor will be heading up the team again this year. She has done an awesome job every year on this conference. Several of the Beaver Crossing women will be joining her along with our own Chris Jordan (my right arm) and others in the area. I want to say a special thank you to Pastor Marty and Laura Aldredge for their support and love. They have fervently sought the Lord on behalf of this women's conference and have poured their hearts into it. It is with great thanksgiving and humility that we accept this wonderful challenge from the Lord and pray that God will guide our every step. Please pray for us as we begin something very new for us in the next year. { Back to Articles } |
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