Dear Sister;
Grace & peace be to you from God our Father through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray that you & your family have a wonderful Christmas, as I know I will have, knowing that our joy is not in many nice gifts, good food, fancy decorations or even a nice candle light service. All of these are great, but our true joy at Christmas time & throughout the year is firmly rooted in the knowledge that our Messiah, born a Babe, is now a Reigning King, who lives forevermore!
I will be spending Christmas involved with various church activities, eating some good food, & doing kindness as the Lord blesses me to do so.
One of those kindnesses will be a meal for my now former roommate & another friend. Both have birthdays at the end of December & after praying about it, God gave me the go-ahead to do this for them.
One of the brothers will prepare the food though, as I am not all that skilled in that area.
It will include dessert, delicious banana pudding.They sell the pudding on commissary. It will taste good when done.
My friends like to make fun of my cooking skills or the lack thereof. One time I tried to feed a stray cat some chicken soup, it was all I had. After the soup sat on the curb untouched for a week, I said to my friends "that cat hasn't touched that soup!" To which my friends replied "I guess that cat has heard about your cooking too!" :(
We will have a traditional Christmas meal here on Dec. 25th for lunch. I am grateful for all we will have.
Another blessing I still push wheelchairs for those who can't get around by themselves, I am so blessed to help my brothers. God's words to me when I first came to this prison are still fixed in my mind. He told me "I am going to bless you", More & more, I see it coming to pass.
Also fixed in my mind is a word of prophecy the Lord gave to a visiting preacher. He told me, "the best is yet to come". I receive that word as coming from the Lord & in my heart I know it is true. We are not to despise prophecy & I did not. I am seeing the blessing of having received that word.
The last thing in my mind as I encounter trials, is a vision the Lord gave me years ago {I have been given many dreams,but this is one of only three visions I have ever had}.
In the vision, was a large leafy plant, all the leaves were wilted & dead except for one in the center. That leaf was exceedingly healthy & green. It was so healthy & weighty that a stake was placed along side to hold it up. The leaf also had a very thick waxy-like coating on it, which made it shine.
As soon as I came out of the vision, I knew the meaning! God's Spirit said to me "this is what I am going to do to all of your enemies". Those dead leaves were my enemies. I was the living leaf. The stake supporting me was Christ & the waxy-coating was the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Every time I am confronted by an enemy, whether physical or spiritual, I have this vision brought back to my memory & I am strengthened by it.
God is so kind in giving us these helps. He is so kind in giving us His Holy Spirit. Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I don't believe there is anything that Christ in us can not conquer!
1 John 5:4-5, says that we are world overcomers, & I, for one, am determined to be obedient to the vision of God, just as Paul & the other apostles were.
Sister, we must not allow ourselves to be overcome with the world's cynicism. We must be careful not to slip into that subtle trap of apathy,dryness,discouragement. We must stir up the gift that is within us. We must allow God to continually stir up that vision that He has for us,that He has for each of us.
I have had my times walking in the Spirit & walking in the world. The two cannot compare. Walking with God is a continual joy. To hear from God is something that I cannot do without for very long,without feeling dry & wanting.
I was thinking just today of how pervasive sin is & it's effects are in this world. I often make the mistake of assuming sin isn't as pervasive as it is. The reason I make this mistake is because of the good that is still on the earth & the beauty.
But it occurred to me that, in reality, because of sin, we should actually have nothing good, nothing beautiful, nothing sweet or tasty. Imagine how this earth would be if all of those things were absent!
But, that is, in fact the state of the effects of sin in the world. There is absolutely nothing good or no one deserving of good. So every single thing that is good, or lovely etc is evidence of God's great mercy toward us! This world is not a mixture of good & bad. It is all bad. Any good that is here, is not here naturally, but because God has chosen to have mercy on us!
WOW! that amazes me! Just to look at the beautiful flowers reminds me of God's miraculous mercy.
Our Lord is the Beautiful Flower,,the Lily of the Valley!
Let's be blessed from all of God's great mercies toward us, but especially in His sending Jesus for us.
We are a people who are so very loved! amen! ~~brother Will. Dec. 2010
Grace & peace be to you from God our Father through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray that you & your family have a wonderful Christmas, as I know I will have, knowing that our joy is not in many nice gifts, good food, fancy decorations or even a nice candle light service. All of these are great, but our true joy at Christmas time & throughout the year is firmly rooted in the knowledge that our Messiah, born a Babe, is now a Reigning King, who lives forevermore!
I will be spending Christmas involved with various church activities, eating some good food, & doing kindness as the Lord blesses me to do so.
One of those kindnesses will be a meal for my now former roommate & another friend. Both have birthdays at the end of December & after praying about it, God gave me the go-ahead to do this for them.
One of the brothers will prepare the food though, as I am not all that skilled in that area.
It will include dessert, delicious banana pudding.They sell the pudding on commissary. It will taste good when done.
My friends like to make fun of my cooking skills or the lack thereof. One time I tried to feed a stray cat some chicken soup, it was all I had. After the soup sat on the curb untouched for a week, I said to my friends "that cat hasn't touched that soup!" To which my friends replied "I guess that cat has heard about your cooking too!" :(
We will have a traditional Christmas meal here on Dec. 25th for lunch. I am grateful for all we will have.
Another blessing I still push wheelchairs for those who can't get around by themselves, I am so blessed to help my brothers. God's words to me when I first came to this prison are still fixed in my mind. He told me "I am going to bless you", More & more, I see it coming to pass.
Also fixed in my mind is a word of prophecy the Lord gave to a visiting preacher. He told me, "the best is yet to come". I receive that word as coming from the Lord & in my heart I know it is true. We are not to despise prophecy & I did not. I am seeing the blessing of having received that word.
The last thing in my mind as I encounter trials, is a vision the Lord gave me years ago {I have been given many dreams,but this is one of only three visions I have ever had}.
In the vision, was a large leafy plant, all the leaves were wilted & dead except for one in the center. That leaf was exceedingly healthy & green. It was so healthy & weighty that a stake was placed along side to hold it up. The leaf also had a very thick waxy-like coating on it, which made it shine.
As soon as I came out of the vision, I knew the meaning! God's Spirit said to me "this is what I am going to do to all of your enemies". Those dead leaves were my enemies. I was the living leaf. The stake supporting me was Christ & the waxy-coating was the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Every time I am confronted by an enemy, whether physical or spiritual, I have this vision brought back to my memory & I am strengthened by it.
God is so kind in giving us these helps. He is so kind in giving us His Holy Spirit. Through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I don't believe there is anything that Christ in us can not conquer!
1 John 5:4-5, says that we are world overcomers, & I, for one, am determined to be obedient to the vision of God, just as Paul & the other apostles were.
Sister, we must not allow ourselves to be overcome with the world's cynicism. We must be careful not to slip into that subtle trap of apathy,dryness,discouragement. We must stir up the gift that is within us. We must allow God to continually stir up that vision that He has for us,that He has for each of us.
I have had my times walking in the Spirit & walking in the world. The two cannot compare. Walking with God is a continual joy. To hear from God is something that I cannot do without for very long,without feeling dry & wanting.
I was thinking just today of how pervasive sin is & it's effects are in this world. I often make the mistake of assuming sin isn't as pervasive as it is. The reason I make this mistake is because of the good that is still on the earth & the beauty.
But it occurred to me that, in reality, because of sin, we should actually have nothing good, nothing beautiful, nothing sweet or tasty. Imagine how this earth would be if all of those things were absent!
But, that is, in fact the state of the effects of sin in the world. There is absolutely nothing good or no one deserving of good. So every single thing that is good, or lovely etc is evidence of God's great mercy toward us! This world is not a mixture of good & bad. It is all bad. Any good that is here, is not here naturally, but because God has chosen to have mercy on us!
WOW! that amazes me! Just to look at the beautiful flowers reminds me of God's miraculous mercy.
Our Lord is the Beautiful Flower,,the Lily of the Valley!
Let's be blessed from all of God's great mercies toward us, but especially in His sending Jesus for us.
We are a people who are so very loved! amen! ~~brother Will. Dec. 2010
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