Living for God in Bangladesh

Okay... the bunny is no longer the top post! Yes, my blog has been sitting idle for a while. I have actually been trying to spend my time on more worthy tasks, like... my prayer life! And like practicing worship songs on my piano, and learning new songs. I've also been spending time trying to be a witness to my neighbors, building relationships with them and trying to talk about God with them whenever the opportunity avails itself. I'm sorry for not posting more. However my pastor challenged me this evening after church to post about our missionary service we had this evening. It was a tremendous service.

First, I must begin by telling you how much I love missionary services! It's so cool to see what God is up to all over the world! I get to see pictures of my brothers and sisters in the Lord whom I will eventually meet in heaven. I like that! And it always manages to put my life back in perspective when I hear what the missionaries are up against. No joke. My attitude always needs a huge adjustment after I hear them preach.

Anyway, this evening, we had Bro. and Sis. Corbin and son from Bangladesh. They are the ONLY resident missionaries in a nation of 14 1/2 million people. Yeah... that is totally overwhelming. And Bangladesh is one of the three poorest nations in the world, with an average wage of about $1 per day. How would you like to end your labor intensive work week with a paycheck of about $6 or $7?

The nation is 83% muslim, 16% buddhist, and 1% hindu/other religions. Bro. Corbin wrote a VERY GOOD bible study that compares and contrasts the religions of Islam and Apostolic Christianity, and how to reach the muslim people with the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. It is a very thorough study... I'm already 10 pages into it.

In his message tonight, Bro. Corbin used hurricane Katrina as a mental picture of the lost in Bangladesh and all over the world. He talked about people smashing through the attic roof and climbing up onto the roof in hopes of being rescued by the many helicopters flying overhead. But 1, 836 people who cried SURELY someone is coming to save me were in fact never saved. He compared them to the lost souls in our dark world. People are desperate to be saved from the hopelessness of life. We are the ones with the lifeline! But will we be willing to reach out to them? Will we get there in time, before they slip away from us?

Bro. Corbin and his wife and son began their work in 1993, learning the language and praying for God to open doors for ministry. They moved to the largest city, Dhaka, in 1997, with just 7 people in their church. Today in 2009, they have 107 churches/preaching points, and over 13,000 souls in the church! It brought such conviction to me! I haven't personally won anyone to the Lord in years! I've taught lots of Bible studies...but no one is in church because I told them about Jesus and they responded. He is facing all kinds of opposition from the enemy, and I am here in my comfy little life, complaining about things that don't even matter! Yeah, I was at the altar tonight, repenting about just about everything in my poor excuse for a Christian life. I intend to change that. God sees my heart and its sincerity and desire to do right in God's eyes. He sees my desire to be an effective and powerful soul winner in the kingdom of God. And so the bunny will remain..........
The flesh must be crucified and submitted to the will of God. Prayer is the vital link to my Savior. His Word must be read every day (NOT as part of the BREAD program, but just to be read) to remake my mind... refocus it daily on the will of God in my life. Fasting is one thing I've NEVER been successful with, because my flesh is in total control of my life. James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. Yes, I'm confessing my faults here so you will PRAY FOR ME!! I really need and covet your prayers. My mind is focused on God daily, but time spent in intimate fellowship daily is lacking. I love the Lord! I love to worship and praise Him! I love to be in His presence at church and at home. I love His Word. It is the flesh I fight. And so I will fight! And I will be victorious! The enemy shall not prevail against me. In Jesus' name. Good night.

Working on this...

Frustrating day to be a Vermonter....

Well, it is pretty much world wide news about Vermont legalizing same sex marriage. I am nauseated and heartbroken. And angry. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Montpelier is one of those high places where spiritual wickedness has a STRONG foothold. I am not so much angry at the people who voted this sick law into existence, although I am very disappointed in them... but it is SATAN and his stupid imps who USE these people to destroy the Godly institution of marriage. I was reading devotion to my son this evening, and the story for April 7th had these verses attached:

Psalms 5:4-7
O God, You take no pleasure in wickedness;
You cannot tolerate the slightest sin.
Therefore, the proud will not be allowed to stand
in Your presence,
for You hate all who do evil.
You will destroy those who tell lies.
The Lord detests murderers and deceivers.

That, my friends, is straight from the God who created everything, including people!! He created us, and knows exactly HOW He created us to live... and you will find NOWHERE in the Bible where two men got married, or two women. I am doing my level best to keep my response of anger directed at THE DEVIL, not the people. But I will stand up and draw the line, because I KNOW the devil is not going to stop, but will continue to use people to push this outrageous sin into our schools to corrupt our children. I WILL STOP the devil in his tracks IN JESUS' NAME if he thinks he can get the minds of my children. He will not. My boys are following this whole process, and think it is totally sick. They have both told me they will stand up and speak out if confronted. I am so proud of them! Jason and I have worked hard and prayed even harder to raise our little men with GODLY morals and principles. It is working. They are mad, too!

I am rambling, but I must vent. Vermont is full of good people with Godly values who HATE this ruling that has been FORCED upon them. Our government failed us. Our elected officials voted the will of the aggressive minority, NOT the will of the majority of the citizens of Vermont. Our governor is a courageous man who took a stand against evil, and took a TON of heat for it. The "loving" homosexual community showed their true identity when the fangs came out and they spewed their hateful venom at our leader when he said he would veto. They DID the very thing to him that we are accused of doing to them. Our state is totally polarized. The atmosphere is very tense in Vermont. People are afraid to talk about it at work for fear of being austricized. I am finding shelter from the storm in the presence of God. He is the peace-speaker. He will be the final judge on the Day of Judgement. Jesus himself said in John 12:48 "He who rejects me, and does not receive my words has one who will judge him: the WORD that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." They will be judged by the Word of God on the last day, which clearly condemns homosexuality. I am so looking forward to Heaven! There is NO SIN there! This world is so sick and twisted and morally bankrupt, I can't take much more of it. Heaven is my reality! I'm going there, and it will be worth the wait!!

Interesting video

I popped over to Sister Sunshine's blog today, and found this video on her blog.... it is very interesting...... the guy is making a smoothie the whole time he's on his soapbox, kinda funny... but he is SOOOOO RIGHT! You just have to watch it to see what I mean.

Special time with Nick

I just want to share the wonderful moments I just shared with my youngest son. He is about to turn 10, and hasn't yet committed his life to Jesus... although I know he wants to! Anyway, he was just getting out of the shower, and I was RE-watching an amazing sermon from last night in Maryville, TN called the focus factor (I highly recommend it... click here and go to archives... Sun. evening service 3-29-09). Anyway, the message caught his attention and he sat down beside me. Mind you, it's after bedtime.... but he said, No mommy, I want to hear it, I'm interested in what he's saying. So, we watched. He was CLEARLY being dealt with in his spirit, and processing this message. I had to push pause a few times as he asked questions and posed "what if" scenarios... too bad there is not a PAUSE function during live preaching so you can process what was just said!! Anyway, he was so open and sensitive to the Spirit... I am excited to see God at work in our youngest son's heart!! Maybe soon he'll be able to call himself my "rapture buddy" as the preacher mentions in the message! Praise God!!!!

Infuriating!!

To my Vermont readers...

PLEASE watch this video!!! And then call our VT legislators and tell them to vote NO on the same sex marriage bill.

If this bill becomes law, it will mandate that schools teach children that the union of two men, or two women is completely equal to the marriage of a man and a woman, that there is no difference between these three distinct family types, and that dissent is bigotry. This has already occurred in Massachusetts, where a father of a five year old kindergartner was jailed for objecting to blatant indoctrination of his child, incurring $200,000 in legal costs to defend himself and his family. I personally don't want to have to go through all this, just because the special interest folks are pushing this bill through at lightning speed to avoid a referendum, which would clearly reveal that the majority of Vermonters do NOT support this bill.

Sincerely....

Okay... tonight was mid-week Bible study. I cannot go to bed without blogging about part of tonight's lesson. We are doing a series on the Tabernacle, and it is really good (the Tabernacle is one of my FAVORITE Old Testament topics of study). However, in the middle of his lesson, Pastor made a very powerful statement that I just have to share before going to bed... because I know I won't sleep tonight if I don't "get it out there". He was talking about the brazen altar and made reference to altars that were not built according to the way the Lord wanted the altars built. And then he made an incredible statement....

It doesn't matter how sincere a person is about serving God. If they are doing it the wrong way, then they are SINCERELY WRONG. They may be the nicest person in the world, the most spiritual person in the world, etc. But if they are not doing it (serving God) according to the Book (the Bible), then they are wrong.

Wow... that was serious meat to chew on... but then he went on!! He said,

This whole concept that we can be approved by God because of our sincerity is a relatively new notion. These days, it doesn't matter if you get the right answer, as long as you feel good about it and you tried your best. That doesn't fly with my stats professor! I can "feel good" about my answer, and sincerely believe I got it right, but if it's not right, he marks it off 5 1/2 points!

Anytime we begin to judge what is true by how we feel about it, we are setting ourselves up for the distinct possibility of being deceived. Deception is one of the major spirits in this end time age.... and NO ONE IS IMMUNE! If you think it could never happen to you, then you are in dangerous territory! It is a very dangerous place to be when your feelings become the barometer of what IS truth and what IS NOT truth. I hope you don't always feel good about the truth! I hope it cuts a little, I hope it stings a little, it's supposed to !! The lies and deceit will BIND you, but the truth will SET YOU FREE!!!

There. It's out. I want you to think about this! The Bible says that those who are deceived DO NOT KNOW they are deceived. How scary is that? We need to be praying, "Lord, please do not let me be deceived!" I love the Lord, and I love His truth. Lord, keep me in the light. Amen.