My Days Are Swifter...

JOB 7:6 MY DAYS ARE SWIFTER THAN A WEAVER’S SHUTTLE…

Well Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas 08 is well on it's way and if you’re like me your wondering where the year went? In the text Job was at a very difficult place in his life. A hard trial had come his way and he wanted to die. Thank God that’s not the end of the story, and he came forth as gold with twice as much. See my friends we are winners right where we stand. In the mist of the fire our Jesus is with us and will never leave us. We shall come out with VICTORY!
Some may not know it, this year started with my feet hitting the ground and running for the Master. Last November I fell pretty hard and started having trouble with my left knee. Long story short, it has just shut me down. I hurt my ankle in June and was in a cast for about 7 weeks. This ended up really bothering my knee and unless the Lord moves between now and then will have to have surgery in Jan. Hard places are not rare to the child of God. It forces us into the place and position that God has for us. Coming forth as gold so that the Master can use us. So hold on and get ready for that new place in God, to possess a inter depth with the Master. A closer walk with more of a likeness of the Lord and not so much of self.
My prayer for each of you is peace, love and joy during this special time of year. That you will not take Christ out of Christmas and you look forward to a blessed New Year.
I found some photos of my first mission trip back in 1987 (21 yrs ago), the Lord allowed me to take 9 on that trip. What a time we had, coming in at close to 1 o’clock in the morning and singing out hearts out. We were happy to be able to work for the Lord and counting it an honor. There are some other trips as well of the places we went in the island country of Jamaica. Some in the photos have gone on to there reward. Other’s like myself are still fighting a good fight and waiting till the Master says “your finish and your work done, now come home”. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see- when I am about to get my shout on! Be blessed and I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did, and please remember the ministry and myself in prayer. I am really ready to get back to what I am called to do preach His glorious gospel. I am sorry that I have not be able to post once a month as normal, but (Lord willing) I will be able to do more next year. God bless each of you that read and are blessed by the post. Keep looking up because Jesus may come today!!!
p.s. There are more photos posted on my website, just click the link on the left.

Life's Road

Psalm 55:6 And I said for, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest.
7 Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah
8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.

It’s a hard road at times, but a good road. In the text David as close to God as he was, had moments when he wanted to get away from it all and just escape the problems and pressures of life.
Job said in Job 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of a few days, and full of trouble. In the text most believe it was during the rebellion of Absalom his own son. Family troubles or as the younger folks call it “Family Drama”. David had been betrayed and as a human being, there was hurts and pain- but we must stay on the road. This “highway of holiness” and keep our hearts clean and pure before the Lord. From time to time we will need a refuge, a hiding place from the enemy as the road gets a little rough. Nahum 1:7… a strong hold in the day of trouble. Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. David said the Lord was his high tower also a rock, a fortress and a buckler as well as a horn of salvation. David learned when the road got rough and he needs protection to look to God. Life is a journey we travel and sometimes the road is not to good. Just like the roads in South America that are pure sand with holes waist deep. To be able to drive well it needs rain, as the rain compact the sand and makes good traveling. During the dry season the sand is loose and easy to slide. It just like the dry seasons in our life when our journey is a little more difficult to advance forward for and in the kingdom of God. The best driver can slide and even wreck if not careful. Prayer just like the rain will compact the road and make the journey easier During these season as always, but especially during these times we must be on guard like never before. The holes, loose sand and sharp curves, we must drive very slow and watch our words and actions, but still go forward. The Lord has promised that it would not get to bad that we can’t travel and He is ever with us, His Sweet Spirit to guide us. Yes it’s a hard road at times, but a good road that leads to glory. So I will keep traveling this old road come what may, because I know where it ends! Oh the enemy of our souls wants us to take a different road, that to the flesh looks better, but where does it end? An old song said, “I sit down to rest, for my feet had got so weary, but then I heard a voice within me say, you got to keep on walking, keep on walking. Walking in the light of the Lord, you will get to heaven someday, better get in the right way, walking in the light of the Lord”.

SPECIAL NOTE: For an up-date on the last mission trip (and what a mission trip it was) and a little of what the Lord did go to my website under Missionary’s Heart www.brojoey.com . I believe it will bless your soul at mighty things the Lord is doing!

WHOLE!

EPHESIANS 3:19 AND TO KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST, WHICH PASSETH KNOWLEDGE, THAT YE MIGHT BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.

FULLNESS= full number- full measure, that which has been completed. The word describes a ship with a full cargo and crew and a town with no empty house.
(play-row-mah) strongly emphasizes fullness and completion!

There is an old song that says, “till you have known the love of God”. I don’t think a Christian would argue with me saying no word can describe the love of God and to walk in fellowship with him. It's better felt than told is the only way I can describe it. Everybody should know who Jesus is and to know his love, warmth and to feel his loving arms around them and have him dry away there tears. No wonder Katherine Kuhlman’s mother look up at her after receiving the Holy Ghost and said “Go tell the world about this”.
Many teach that the fullness of Christ is to be super human and to perform great miracles. Which miracles are a part of the believer’s everyday lives. There is also a power that comes in the believers life’s after receiving the Holy Ghost according to Acts 1:8. There is also a completion that should be in one’s life. The word completion according to Webster means= having all parts or elements. In other words not lacking anything complete or whole, FULL. This does not describe many Christian today, does it? They go through the motions felling empty, knowing that something is missing. God is wanting and trying to get us to that place, but most just don’t have time for the process. As I have said many times before that just a little church on Sunday is all of the God that they want or need. Oh if people knew what it is to die out to self and allow Jesus to be all in all in their lives. I mean not to know of him but to be intimate with and to walk in real fellowship with him just as Adam did in the cool of the day (Gen 3:1). For the most they don’t even know what there calling and purpose in the body of Christ is. Just as the children of Israel wander in the wildness 40 years so are many in the body of Christ just wandering. Every person in the body should take the time to lay them self on the alter and fellowship with the master of there souls. He want us full and complete and lacking nothing. It amazes me as an evangelist, which has prayer lines for people to come up in the lines. You ask them what they need and they say “I don’t know, but I need something”! Some come just to feel the anointing on there bodies, but sad to know they can experience the same anointing in there prayer closet or just lifting there hands in real worship at home or in services! It’s time for the body to quit settling and go after the fullness of God. To let nothing satisify us till we are complete and lacking nothing in the spirit- amen!

APPEITIE FOR GOD

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Appetite= web says a natural desire for satisfying some want or need esp. for food.
The term hunger and thirst means an extreme or intense desire for something, here it refers to the righteousness of God. The children of Israel lost their appetite for God and the things of God many times. The lord would be forced to send judgment just to get their attention and bring them back to Him. 2Thessalonians 2:3…there came a falling away first. Paul does not say that people would stop coming to church for they are filling up where there is entertainment. Where there is a form and a fashion without the presences of God, man-made. But I believe he is saying they will lose their appetite or desire for God. A dear lady of God Mother Harris (97yrs) who just went home to be with the Lord. She lived during the depression and told me how they went 21 days without food. She said they would eat green plums or almost anything to just stop the hunger and the pain in her stomach. She had a strong desire just for food, any food. When I god saved over 30’s yrs ago, I had an appetite for God like Mother Harris had only mine was spiritual! I could not read his word enough or go to church enough. The more I ate the things of the Lord the more I wanted them. I wore the cover off my first bible in six months. I would not stop and still have not got enough of the Master. I did not stop till I was sanctified and filled with heaven’s sweet Holy Ghost speaking in other tongues. It did not take ten yrs; it only took three months because of my appetite for God. If we are not filled with God’s righteousness, it’s because we are not hungry enough.
Psalms 84:2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth outh for the living God. In other words I want make it without you God. I see people that act like they will not make it if they don’t get a new car or concerts tickets. If they miss the big game they will faint. Young people and the newest game system, but not for the living God. It like that relationship just does not matter,
Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Why are we not finding him could be we are not searching with our whole heart our whole desire? In Ephesians 3:19 talks of being “filled with all the fullness of God”. That word fullness means a full number- full measure, that which has been completed. The word describes a ship with a full cargo and crew and a town with no empty houses or like my suitcase when packing for the mission field. The gr. word strongly emphasizes fullness and completion! This does match our church world today. Just a little church on Sunday is all the God we need and don’t won’t to be bother anymore. It’s because we have lost our appetite for the Master and His great work. His high praises does not move us anymore. So therefore we need something to stir our flesh. Most don’t even know their place in the body of Christ or their gifts or callings. May I say this is not the will of our great God for us. He wants us whole and complete in Him, the fullness! Let's get hungry for God again, stir our inner appetite for the most high and let’s work for the kingdom while we can!

Special Note: We are doing a good bit of traveling here in the states so please say a pray for us and the work that the Lord has entrusted us with, Thank You!

God Has Not Forgotten!

Matthew 6:33 But shall seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

To seek “first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” means to turn to him first for help, to fill your thoughts with his desires, to take his character for your pattern, and to serve and obey him in everything!
Now there are many the serve the Lord with a whole heart, while other just do lip serve for our great King. I want to be numbered with those that serve him with a whole heart, not just in words but deeds as well. I want to praise God for all he has done for me these last few months. Ever since I came back from overseas the enemy has attacked my body. He sometimes forgets I have healer that is so close to me he calls me friend. He has once again touched me and given me strength. I am not going into the details but the ministry was really on the line and looked like it was over. My schedule is filling up so fast, that I just stand amazed at what God is doing. We as human beings and flesh have a tendency to look with our fleshly eyes rather than through the eyes of the spirit and faith. Now I have served God for over 30 some years and know what I am talking about. We must do as Psalm 121:1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. God is going to take care of his own; he has proven this time and time again. He watches over us, never taking his eyes off of us. In 2004 I gave a minister friend overseas a New Testament bible that I had bought from a ministry. In early 2006 while at his church where he pastors now, I saw that worn bible. I told him they now offer both Old and New Testament and I would by the grace of God get him one. These bibles sell for over a hundred dollars, and I had not been able to get him one. Not forgetting I prayed and asked the Lord to help me get him that bible to preach his word. Overseas they can’t just run to the Christian bookstore and pick one up as we do the cost is unreal. They count themselves blessed just to get a bible let alone a good study bible. Well while in revival in our state this month, the last night a brother came up to me and said “ Bro Joey I have a brand new bible that I want to give you, to give to who ever you feel lead to give it to”. He said I only lived a few minutes from the church where I was at, so he ran home and got it and brought it back. Of all the bibles on the market, he brought in one just like I told my pastor friend I would get him. I had to get my shout on right there, for I knew that Father had answered prayer again. The reason I am sharing this is someone is going through something and fell forgotten. The old enemy goes so far as to tell us that our God does not care. Well he is a lair and the father of them. The bible is on it way to that pastor overseas and I put a note in there and said you though I had forgotten, but I hadn’t. And neither has your Father forgotten you. Hold on and fight the good fight of faith and he will bring you out! Deliverance is on it’s way and you will come out of the fight with more than you began with- richer in faith- a stronger determination plus a greater relationship with our Father and will have the testimony just as me “ I was not forgotten!

STOP LAUGHING AT GOD!

Genesis 18: 12-15

Well we are in a brand New Year and God has blessed us and allow us to see it. I remember many years ago in a watch night service my first pastor held up a blank sheet of paper. He said it was ours in heaven and it was up to us what was put on our record there. This has stuck in my spirit for all the years. I think it’s awesome to start a New Year, but more so to be able to start fresh and new with Jesus Christ. That he will forgive us and renew us and bless us if we allow Him and obey Him!
In our text “Sarah laughed within herself”, God was telling Abraham he was going to fulfill his promise to him. Now Abraham and Sarah both old, 99 and 89 that they would have a child. It was more that she could comprehend at their age for them to have pleasure and her bring forth a child. Now we understand the world laughs everyday at the believers, for us trusting in his word. Thinking we must live separated from the world, live clean and holy, they laugh. We are just missing out on all the fun in life, all the rules and regulations. As for us laughing at God with our sanctified self, and our holy living, we shake the preacher’s hand. We have even had him in our house for dinner. Why we put the flower arrangement on the communion table. Laugh at God it unheard of, by the world yes, the heather, yes the unholy yes,yes,yes. Read the text God was saying he was going to fulfill his promise made almost 25 years earlier. He talking the unheard of, the impossible, something so new and different “she laughed ”. She even denied that she laughed. The truth is we laugh at God each time we say he can’t. We laugh every time we refuse to trust him and believe his word. I know we denied it, we can’t let those words come out of out mouth, but we laugh! There is a hungrier in my soul for more of Him and less of me. We are too late in the game to try to fool anyone; we must get down to business- God Business. Hebrews 12:1 … let us lay aside every weight; and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us (KJV). This race is coming to an end, and how many things were left undone in 2007, that we meant to do. Unbelief is sin and we laugh at God settling for it in our lives. Let’s take God at his word in 2008, let this be the year deliverance reigns in our lives, and the blessings overtake us. The year our lost love ones finds there way back home, into the Savior’s loving arms. Let this be year we stop laughing and God and start rejoicing in his promises! In the text verse 14 we need to remember the word of our God to a laughing Sarah “Is any thing too hard for the Lord “?