kingsland members around the world

Joy Outside The 4 Walls...

How to find joy in the delay.

Q:How do you do life in the midst of a delay with no end in sight?
A:Live a life rooted in the goodness of God, where no situation re-writes the 'constitution of his goodness' on the tablets of your heart. In short... God is simply good. All the time. period. It's the gospel belonging to 1,000's of believers around the world, but it is time we made it our own.

It shouldn't be a good day today but somehow it is.. in the midst of the desperation and tears, harassment and confusion of visa documents still not arriving.. I got up this morning doing what I know to do, when I don't know what to do.. praising the Lord. and that praise had to sooner or later take me outside the confines of the over-familiar four walls called my mums house.

Anyway the first person I came across I decided to tell 'it's a good day today isn't it!?' and "Do you need a miracle? Can I pray for anything because I'm just having such a good day!" She thought about it and politely declined and went off with her little kids, and so I ran off to the bend in the river, where there's a little more space to not be heard so easily and began rejoicing and preaching to the swans and anything that would listen how good God is!'
Anyway, after celebrating a little more I walked back and passed this guy... two seconds later I got chest pains and tightness round my chest and lungs and I wondered whether I was supposed to pray for him... (how many of us would interpret that as being slimed or under attack!) After doing that debate you do with God when you're not sure enough, the "besides he's walked off and I'll need to run after him which will look weird" thing.. I ran after him and heard the words 'angina' as I went... following in the steps of Jason Westerfield I thought I'd try the direct and honest approach... 'Excuse me' I said " I was walking past you and felt like God wanted me to come back and pray for you.. do you have anything I can pray for?' "No thanks" came the worried reply " No breathing problems or angina then?" I said, "well err.. yes... I get that from time to time" 'Well would you like to be rid of that?" "well I'm not sure..." "I mean if you want to be well and it's not going to cost you where's the harm?" I interrupted, "Ok I suppose" said the guy "what's your name?" I asked "Richard" " Hi I'm Kish, don't worry I'm not a weirdo.." (I've got to stop saying that because I really am!) anyway I started to pray and he started to panic, and started walking off... " ok, I said but check your breathing" I said.. "you'll breath easier!"

I ran off laughing to myself about what kind of a story would now circulate amongst his friends and family, when it finally dawns on him there's no possible way I could know he had angina!

'Freely you have received now freely give' is the challenge... and it's not as easy as you may think.. but it does get easier... you see you're not freely giving if you're too afraid, and your not freely giving if you feel it's what you must do, the bible would then say' freely you have received, now you are obliged to give' The idea we're supposed to get is not 'Jesus died for you,you ungrateful sinner, now GIVE!' the idea is Salvation is good! Take some! have some!

Sometimes I'm so proud..

Sometimes I'm just so proud of my boss...

and hey.. i didn't tell him to mention Slough!

http://globalawakening.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=1000031950

I'm off to Cyprus tomorrow on a God-mission and to sort out my visa stuff there...

Would love your prayers

Kish

something from Bethel...

GOD -- WHO RAISES THE DEAD
WRITTEN BY: PAM SPINOSI

Did you ever lament the demise of a dream? The death of a vision?

Did it depart in an explosive exit, followed by a funeral and observation? Or did it quietly expire from neglect, slipping away unnoticed? Have you forgotten that it ever lived? Did you relegate it to that imagined abyss from which lost dreams can never return?

We enjoy a moment in America where we not only hear about pastors in some obscure corner of Africa raising people from the dead. Today, we hear more and more of the dead being raised in our own country—not just in places far away, where, we presume, they have more faith, but here, now. We are now even enjoined to raise the dead. Raising the dead is part of the great commission: preach the Gospel, make disciples, heal the sick, raise the dead! Raising the dead is among the “greater works” that we are supposed to do. Jesus raised the dead; so, it follows, can we.

As Testimony Writer at Bethel Church, I organize the testimonies I receive by category on my hard drive so that I can find them more easily. I’ve just added a new category: resurrections. I relish receiving those testimonies from all over the country: the man who raised from death a fellow carpooler who had died suddenly on the way to work; the doctor who, rather than fulfilling her medical duty to pronounce someone dead, fulfilled her Christian duty to raise him from the dead; the worker who wouldn’t let the elderly man who had just died in the nursing home go until he was revived long enough to accept Jesus; the school of ministry students who, en route to their mission trip, pulled over to pray for a baby who had just died in an accident. Under the eyes of a nurse who recognized the baby had died, the baby returned to life by the power of Jesus Christ, and the baby’s mother received new life as she gave her heart to Jesus. You have probably heard other stories as well. I know we will hear more.

Yesterday, I was moved by the story of a dog kennel owner who refused to be robbed of a newborn puppy, crushed to death by its mother’s weight as she unknowingly lay on it. The woman commanded the puppy to live. He gasped for breath a few times, and he lives! What did they name him? Lazarus, of course! She believes little Lazarus is special and will be a blessing to whoever gets him. As I shared that story with a friend, she told me of a flower that had clearly died but that revived after she spoke life into it for several days. People. Puppies. Flowers. What else?

I’ll never forget the story of a man God used to start a revival. He was offered the job as pastor of a prosperous large church in a big city. But a small, dying church with a handful of members kept asking him to be their pastor. In his mind, there was no contest, but when the small church asked him to simply pray about it, he said, “Jesus, what would You do?” The Lord’s answer was, “I would raise the dead.” The man followed Jesus and took the dying church, and in that place, a huge revival broke out!

Jesus revealed Himself as the resurrection and the life! What works for dead people, works for dead puppies. And dead flowers. And dead churches. And dead dreams. What have you allowed to die in your life? What is it that you don’t even want to look at because you think it stinks, it’s been dead so long? Jesus isn’t bothered. Jesus would raise the dead.

A few months ago, I was grieving an area of death in my life. Then God directed me to II Corinthians 1:9 (NKJV): “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.” That verse just resonated in me; it gave me hope. God raises the dead. How could I forget?

Looking back, I have seen Him raise things from the dead in my life. One I thought long gone, I had buried, placed a tombstone on, grieved and sighed over. But God resurrected it—better than before. I don’t know if it had to die or if His touch in resurrecting it was what gave it new life. I do know that it was now something I could only do by His grace, and His kiss was upon it. Things that were dead but now live again by His power are precious—like Lazarus, the friend of Jesus. And like Lazarus, the puppy.

I’m starting to view dead things as an opportunity for God to manifest His life. Dead things are an invitation to resurrection.

Whether the dead is our passion, our hope, our dream, a relationship, a business, a ministry, a calling, He can raise it up. We can get it back. He specializes in restoration, renewal, reconciliation, resurrection, revival.

Reading the story about the woman contending for the little puppy, I feel certain God was so delighted that she would ask Him to restore her puppy to life. I know He wants me to go after things, too. I haven’t seen a person raised from the dead. I admit that’s still an area of awe for me. But maybe my little victories of seeing God raise other things in my life are my lion and bear that precede the bigger giants to come. I want to be someone who believes, knows and experiences that God raises the dead!