A SPECIAL NOTE: TODAY marks 16 days before the 40th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision that spearheaded the legalizaion of the abortion of the unborn in America. I am in the midst of a 40 day period of prayer and (limited) fasting to honor the memory of the over 55 million ! unborn that have been murdered and the tens of millions of their mothers, fathers, and siblings who have been victimized by this great American Holocaust.
PLEASE PRAY: 1.) For the girls/women each day contemplating an abortion; the abortionists and their staff; the crisis pregnancy centers seeking to serve the women facing unplanned pregnancies. 2) For the passage of even more state laws that will effectively help to limit the number of abortions being performed. 3.)The defunding of Planned Parenthood that performs over 300,000 abortions (about 1/3 the toal) for profit and still receives almost 1/2 billion dollars in federal tax dollars. 4.) That one day America might finally pass a constitutional amendment promoting the Sanctity of Every Human Life - in effect oulawing both abortion and euthanasia. 5) For churches/Christians being pro-life- not just claiming to be but demonstrating it conclusively by their actiions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------As the New Year begins, I don't know one person reading this who is not in some way concerned about how our nation's economy continues to be in a fragile state as is the financial security of most of us. I was acutely reminded of this past early November.
One morning, as I was about to spend time reading indoors, I felt impressed by the Spirit to sit outside in front of my house as I did that. After I had my lawn chair set up, I decided to walk over to get the mail I had forgotten to pick up the day before. Among the items I picked up, there was a letter from my investment company that included a graph showing that during the past 2 years, my savings (after 40% had been wiped out in the '08 crash) was now half of what it was back in Sept. '09. Because for several years now I have lived solely on that savings, that news left me stunned. When I got back to my lawn chair, I immediately began to express my anxiety about my finances to God. When I finished praying, God then led me to sing the words to a praise song that I had brought outside with me, a song that assured of God's presence with us.
After singing it twice, I looked out over the front lawn and saw a tiny bird hopping between the blades of grass obviously in search of food. After watching it for awhile, I suddenly recalled the passage from Matthew 6:25-27:
(25)"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? (26) Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (27) Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"
The leading be outdoors? The alarming news? The song of reassurance I happened to have with me? The bird that "just happened" to be there on my lawn at the time? (I don't recall ever seeing a bird hopping on my front lawn.) The applicable passage of Scripture coming to my mind? I call times like that God-moments.
Several weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, I called my former roommate to get caught up on the latest with him. As we were closing our time and about to have prayer together, I shared with Mike about my uncertain financial situation. Then, while he was praying for me, Mike unexpectedly asked God to have someone send me money. While I was stunned by the boldness of his prayer, I never said anything to Mike afterwards and didn't give it another thought.
Then, the following week, as I was going through my email, I came across something from someone I didn't recognize and with nothing written on the subject line. As I've always been told to be suspicious of such emails as they might contain a virus that could infect my computer, I was about the just delete that email when I just sensed the Spirit telling me to go ahead and open it. While the thought made no sense, I momentarily forgot about the possible danger of what I was doing and I opened the email.
To my surprise, it was from a lawyer in Texas who in turns out had been trying to contact me for several months. He told me that he represented the estate of a friend I had known for almost 40 years who had passed away in June and left some money for me in his will. Since he knew the name of my friend, I realized it was not a scam and I emailed him back to confirm what he had told me. (I also further confirmed this by speaking to my friend's son-in-law on the phone.) As surprised as I was by all of this, I was not expecting it to be no more than maybe $100, I later learned that it was many times that amount!
As I later thought about it, I realized that when my friend Mike had been led to pray as he did for me, his prayer had been Spirit-directed. My being led to open that email had also been Spirit-directed. (Once again, opening a strange email was something I have learned not to do and may still never do again.) And had I chosen to ignore the Spirit's prompting and opened that email, I understand that there was no other way I could probably have been tracked down. (My late friend did not have my phone number and had lost my address.The attorney had somehow finally managed to find my email address on the internet.) Once again, I say I had another God-moment.
Several weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, I called my former roommate to get caught up on the latest with him. As we were closing our time and about to have prayer together, I shared with Mike about my uncertain financial situation. Then, while he was praying for me, Mike unexpectedly asked God to have someone send me money. While I was stunned by the boldness of his prayer, I never said anything to Mike afterwards and didn't give it another thought.
Then, the following week, as I was going through my email, I came across something from someone I didn't recognize and with nothing written on the subject line. As I've always been told to be suspicious of such emails as they might contain a virus that could infect my computer, I was about the just delete that email when I just sensed the Spirit telling me to go ahead and open it. While the thought made no sense, I momentarily forgot about the possible danger of what I was doing and I opened the email.
To my surprise, it was from a lawyer in Texas who in turns out had been trying to contact me for several months. He told me that he represented the estate of a friend I had known for almost 40 years who had passed away in June and left some money for me in his will. Since he knew the name of my friend, I realized it was not a scam and I emailed him back to confirm what he had told me. (I also further confirmed this by speaking to my friend's son-in-law on the phone.) As surprised as I was by all of this, I was not expecting it to be no more than maybe $100, I later learned that it was many times that amount!
As I later thought about it, I realized that when my friend Mike had been led to pray as he did for me, his prayer had been Spirit-directed. My being led to open that email had also been Spirit-directed. (Once again, opening a strange email was something I have learned not to do and may still never do again.) And had I chosen to ignore the Spirit's prompting and opened that email, I understand that there was no other way I could probably have been tracked down. (My late friend did not have my phone number and had lost my address.The attorney had somehow finally managed to find my email address on the internet.) Once again, I say I had another God-moment.
My friend, in sharing all of this, I am NOT suggesting that you open every strange email you receive. (Unless God leads me otherwise, I will probably not open another unidentified email.) Nor am I saying that you should make it a habit to sit in a lawn chair in your driveway when you spend time in prayer. All that I'm saying is that in times of trouble and anxiety, seek to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit may want to say to YOU and what He might direct YOU to do. And when you do step out in a faith step (involving some risk), be expectant of what God might do. You too may get to enjoy a God-moment. - Stan
P.S. - Years ago, I set aside a special notebook to record my God-moments, even briefly listing the ones I can remember over my nearly 40 years as a believer. In early November, I expanded the contents of that notebook by also listing things that happen that are not as startling but for which I still Thank God for. (FYI - After just 2 months, I have more than 70 "TY" ("Thank You") entries!)
I would encourage you to also keep such a notebook. Unlike a journal, which would record your thoughts and events in your life - negative as well as positive - this notebook would be a continual reminder of how God has been faithful in blessing you and thus a continual source of encouragement in those times when you feel most discouraged and be tempted to doubt God's goodness, faithfulness, and love. ALSO, when getting someone a gift, you might consider giving he or she a nicely bound notebook and challenging them to also use it in as one to record their God-moments and .
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