Nehemiah

I love the book of Nehemiah...that is where my devotionals are right now and I almost don't want to stop reading once I get started. God laid it upon Nehemiah's heart to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls and gates of the city so that the city of David would not be a reproach. Once it became known what his business was there, some people mocked and scorned him and did everything they could to prevent him from doing what God had laid upon his heart to do. Nehemiah didn't let their actions or their words prevent him from being obedient to God. The Bible tells me that there is "nothing new under the sun" and as I read the book of Nehemiah, I am reminded of that fact. God will lay things upon our hearts to do for Him and when others find out what our business is, they mock and scorn us and fight against us, even to the point of telling us that we don't know what God's will is. Will we become discouraged by their words and actions or will we be like Nehemiah...obedient to what we KNOW God is asking of us? Words hurt, we second-guess ourselves, but if we truly recognize the voice of the Father...then we can, with confidence, be about His business and know that He will give us the strength and the grace to fulfill His will. That is exciting to me, how about you?

I do realize that I sort of left you hanging with the last post titled, "Day 1" of our 21-day fast. I had intended upon sharing what God was showing me each day...but...got side-tracked and never got back to it. I can report that God blessed each one of us that participated in the prayer and fasting. It seems that we have a clear focus, as well as direction. We are able to recognize when the enemy is coming against us quicker which makes it easier to combat his attacks. While we don't have all the answers to all the prayers that were prayed, we do have a peace that God is working all things out for our good and when all is said and done, He will receive all the glory and honor for the progression of the work here. We are all just vessels for His use and are willing to be used as He sees fit.

The first week of March, Sister Jessica Stanley will be moving here from Virginia. We are excited and looking forward to having her help with the work here. We have also found a building with an acre of property for $129K which is a steal in OKC. The building is in good shape, with old, but well kept carpet, beautiful pews, altars and pulpit and lots of potential for adding on as needed. It is less than a minute from I-35 with a neighborhood of houses to the west and apartment complexes to the east...a lot of outreach potential. We have sent letters out to all of our churches in our region asking each member/church to prayerfully consider donating to our building fund as God will lead them. Some are simply hoping for enough to come in to cover a good down payment of approximately $20K...but I serve a BIG GOD and $129K is nothing in comparison to how He blessed David and Solomon...I am trusting God to provide all of it and then some to cover all the minor improvements that need to be made and all the initial costs involved. Am I being presumptuous in expecting God to provide it all and then some? I don't think so. My God spoke the worlds into existence...He is THAT BIG! Why shouldn't my faith, in Him, be THAT BIG? It is in knowing that what I am asking is an impossibility in the eyes of man, that makes God's answer so great and causes Him to truly receive the glory and honor. With man, it is impossible, but with God ALL things are possible! If we can't believe God for BIG things, then what is the point of believing Him for the piddly things? That may seem a little warped, but let me share one of my biggest struggles...I've never had a problem trusting God for the BIG, impossible things...it has always been the piddly things that have tripped me up (mainly because I just didn't want to bother God with something I thought I could handle myself) until one day I realized that He IS faithful in the BIG things and He is even MORE faithful in the piddly things...most people struggle with that in the other direction, they trust God for the little bitty things but can't seem to trust Him with the huge things. So...I have come to the conclusion that regardless of the size of the need...I need to trust Him in a huge way...He will bless us over and above what we can imagine and I have a HUGE imagination...so I trust Him to do what He has promised.

Right after we arrived in OKC...an anonymous donor felt led to start out our building fund with a donation of $200.00. We also had donors, who are not affiliated with The Church of God, who committed to sending a set amount each month to help get the work going through December 2009. God has truly blessed us with people who are listening to His voice and are being obedient. We are thankful for them and we are praising God for His provision. While we were at District Convention this past weekend...the Churches from Broken Arrow and West Tulsa, provided lunch for all who attended, for a donation and all the money donated was given to us for our building fund. It was a very pleasant surprise for us and we are truly grateful for all those who so generously gave. With human eyes, it seems that it is all moving too slowly, but...we are determined to follow God and wait for His timing rather than trying to lead Him and move too quickly. We are also doing a candybar fundraiser. We expect the shipment to arrive on Monday, 15 February. We will be selling assorted candybars from World's Finest Chocolate, for $2 each.

God is also moving upon our hearts to be givers, not just receivers. We have a ministry within our Church called "Helping Hands" and it is to send funds to specific countries for specific needs. This is one of those areas that God has given us direction, letting us know of two specific areas and needs that He wants us, as a church, to give to. Our General Missions Coordinator decided to forego the annual missions calendar with requests for prayer for different countries each month and decided to ask specific regions within the U.S. to pray for specific countries for the entire year. A week after our church agreed upon the countries and needs to pray and support, I found out the countries that our region had been asked to pray for in 2010. I was so excited because the two countries our region had been assigned were the two countries that God had laid upon our hearts. I love confirmations like that! I know that we are a small, new work with limited funds, but we cannot expect God to bless us financially and to meet our needs if we tie up our purse strings and refuse to help others who are also in need. I am so grateful for the men of our local congregation, who take the business of the Church seriously enough to pray and get God's mind on the decisions that we have to make and aren't willing to lean on their own understanding or what "appears" to make sense" or what seems to be the easiest, least costly way. Too many decisions have been made because it "seems to be God laying the answer" at our feet, without any real effort on our part, only to have it backfire later on. I would much rather have our men pray about every jot and tittle than to lean on their own ideas, opinions and human understanding. This is God's work...once again...we are just vessels for Him to work through...we absolutely need His leading in all that we do.

Please be in prayer for us as we seek to raise the funds for purchasing a property, whether it is this one, or another. Also, pray for the work here...we had a young man (11 years old) attend our October Youth outreach and since December, his mom, sister and sister's boyfriend have been coming with him. God is bringing new faces into our midst and we want to be a blessing to them and see them grow in Him. I think that pretty much brings you up to speed on what is happening in OKC. God be with you and keep you...

Until next post...