A Ram in the Thicket (Guyana Update)

From this month's newsletter:

God is so Good!

We have just returned from Guyana where we experienced probably the greatest harvest as well as the greatest opposition we have ever encountered in mission work over the last four years.

In just seven days we saw more than 500 people commit their lives to Christ, and that's a conservative estimate! At least three demon-possessed people were set free. So many people were baptized in the Holy Spirit that we lost count. And while it normally takes eight to ten days to build a church, we saw God enable our building team to do in three days! We are truly living in the days of the greatest harvest of souls and experiencing the greatest acceleration the church has ever seen!

Of course we know that Satan would not take this harvest lying down. I can?t begin to describe the different things the enemy did to try to discourage, disrupt and destroy. But I want to praise the Lord and report to you that everything Satan did, God showed up immediately with the remedy!

On one boat, one of our team members was standing on a dock waiting on the boat to be fueled-up when he looked down and saw two nails?the Holy Spirit said: ?Pick them up you?re going to need them.? Three hours later, as the team was guiding the boat down the river, the propeller fell off of the motor and the boat was halted, undriveable. So, a couple of men dove into the water and pulled the prop back into the boat. Then, our team member made a nut out of an old coke bottle cap and used the nails he found on the dock to fashion a makeshift shear pin. Just the right size! The team arrived safely at the destination shortly thereafter.

At the same time our team was experiencing the problems with the propeller, I was traveling along the river with some team members in a different boat when the steering cable suddenly broke. We, too, were stranded and unable to drive the boat. But God had a ram in the thicket. We spotted a cabbage factory just about 200 yards ahead and managed to coast the boat to the shore nearby. We were greeted by the supervisor of the farm who gave us an open door for whatever we needed to repair the steering. Our very own Phil Teague just happened to be with us. Phil just happens to be in the scrap metal business and just happened to know how to create a makeshift steering pole out of a piece of three inch pipe which would work just fine for the remainder of the trip! We also reached our destination without any more problems.

On our way to the interior, we felt compelled by the Spirit to pray against the spirit of tragedy. On Monday, Phil and I entered the village of Unity Grant where we immediately found an eleven-year-old boy who had been bitten by a Labaria snake three days prior to our arrival. The Labaria is the most poisonous snake in the interior of Guyana. We prayed for the boy and were able to transport him to a medical clinic in the village of Kwebana, our home base for that part of the week, where the clinic medic was very surprised the boy was still alive. He stated that what ever it was we did, it kept the boy alive! When we left Kwebana, the boy was doing just fine and will make a full recovery!

God always has us in the right place at the right time, with the right anointing, the right wisdom and the right tools necessary to complete His Kingdom business!

Whatever you are facing today, God has a ram in the thicket for you! When Abraham was about to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice, God did not let him down. Abraham found his sacrifice along the same path he had just traveled!

If God would do this in the jungle He will do it in Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Virginia, Hawaii?where ever you are and no matter the circumstance, God is going to come through for you! To me, David says it best in Psalms 34:19, 20 and Psalms 37:25, 26

19Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. 20He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

25I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. 26He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

I say this every month, but I truly mean it: Thank you faithful partners who stand with us financially. You will have a great reward when you stand before God for helping us reap this harvest!

-------------TITLE: A New Move! AUTHOR: Russ DATE: 07/18/2005 10:38:00 PM CATEGORY: Articles-----BODY:

A "regular" Sunday morning, Sunday School went really good. We entered the sanctuary and I sat down at my seat where I play an instrument during the song service.

The Pastor took his place, and said his intro and requested the choir take its place, and my heart started to break. I am an ordained Minister and have Pastored one Church, and now the Youth Pastor/Assistant Pastor of My home Church. That Sunday morning my heart became heavy in that I was tired of seeing the same old thing over and over. My heart started pounding, I felt the Spirit moving inside me, but I did not know what to do. All I know is that the "same old same old" isn't going to get it anymore.

After a testimony of a member, I to had to testify of what was on my heart, and after that I found myself in the Altar searching for the answer to, what will it take to see a New Move From God? See so many times as a young minister I have been misunderstood for desiring something "new", when in fact the new thing that todays generation is searching for is the same thing we have heard all the "Old Timers" tell us about since we were children. You see the new thing we desire is the real move of God spoken about in the Bible. The healings, the blinded eyes opened, the wheelchair bound to walk, these things are what we are after. In Acts 1:8 we are told that we would receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon us, so what are we missing?

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO SEE A NEW MOVE?

-------------TITLE: Tradition or Biblical AUTHOR: Russ DATE: 07/08/2005 12:07:04 AM CATEGORY: Articles-----BODY:

Have you ever been to the church that has a "dress code"? What I mean, there are still churches that hold on to the fact that a woman must wear a dress to be a member. I have asked several people who believe this for scripture, and I have yet to see this clearly. Don't you think that sometimes we simply get caught up in "things" instead of getting caught up in Jesus?

Related Scriptures:
1 Timothy 2:9 – In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety (with modesty and discretion); not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array. KJV

Colossians 2:8 – Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. KJV