The Russian Connection

TAKE THE ELEVATOR!

How would it be if you lived on the 124th floor of an apartment building and you had to take the stairs every day after work to get to your home?

It'd probably be pretty tiring...

• Too many people take the stairs of life every day, instead of just taking the elevator, which God has already provided to help you!

The stairs just symbolize your own effort.

-Worrying, relying on your own strength and ability to carry yourself through.

• If you start pushing the buttons of praise in your life, and get inside of faith it will take you to the top!

God’s elevator is the finished work of Jesus Christ.

It’s salvation and surrender to His grace!

It will elevate you from any position of despair and hopelessness.

• The flesh will always tries to achieve it's success by a works mentality. That if you only work yourself to the breaking point, and you live without a single spot of sin- then maybe you'll be good enough to get anywhere. Because it has to stay in constant control of everything.

But God isn't like that. He doesn't want us to struggle apart from Him on our own! He wants us to cast our burdens upon Him and take up His yoke which is easy!!

Today:

Take the ELEVATOR!

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT?

PHILIPPIANS 4:8

“ ⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.
Fix your thoughts on what is
true,
honorable,
right,
pure,
lovely,
admirable.
Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

If we are constantly thinking about the things that are pure and of a good report, it won’t leave much room for complaints, gossip or negativity.

What we think on will affect what we say.
&&
What we think on will determine what we become.

If you are unable or unwilling to change the way you think, you will never really be able to change the way you live.

Our thoughts are connected with emotion, attitude and our actions.

They can either get us in to faith, or in to doubt.

Thinking the right things can get you healed, just like the wrong thinking can keep you sick!

        -Because thoughts are just like seeds.

Plant an apple seed and you'll get an apple.
Plant a pear tree and you'll get a pear. 

Plant negative thoughts, & you'll only reap bitterness, hostility and self doubt. 
Positive thoughts, however, will encourage you & help you walk in love and be successful!

So how are you choosing to think today? 

Stay mindful of your thought life!

"If you don’t change the direction you are going, then you’re likely to end up where you’re heading…"

 2 Question I want you to ask yourself today:

 Where am I headed?
&&
If I keep going this direction, where will I end up?

Having purpose in our every day will help us to stay focused & be successful in reaching the place that God has for us.

There are several small & practical things that you can do that will help you to stay on track & make sure your daily habits are good ones that lead in the right direction.  

• Those 15 minutes you set aside in the morning before starting your day to just be in devotion with God in prayer & through His Word can make a huge difference. It helps to set the tone for the rest of your day. Begin & end your day with the name of Jesus!

• Have an idea of what you would like to direct any left over time to. inc family, finishing up a book, or taking a walk or networking ect.

• Take time to relax too, enjoying life is just as important as working hard. Because without rejuvenation, we’ll get burn out and quit altogether.

• Stay hooked up in your local Church! You’ll grow & get fed the word of God.

 Live each day ON purpose and directed WITH purpose!

You have an anointment for your appointment!

  1 John 2:20 “You have an anointing from the Holy One”

Jesus also said in Luke 4:18

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He's sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to free those who are oppressed & to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."

just as Jesus was anointed for His mandate & purpose,

SO. ARE. YOU!

In the Bible, anointing is not just defined as skill- that's a byproduct of anointing; it's the grace upon your life to be successful in carrying out the matter God has called you to.

It's empowerment.

Your appointment is the mere task at hand, where your anointing is put in to action.

When you know that you're not alone but that you've got God's anointing specifically designed for you, backing you up, it gives you a big boost of confidence that you need to succeed!

• Not only are you called, chosen, equipped and empowered, you are anointed and enabled!

TODAY:

You are anointed!

 

RELEASING YOUR PROMOTION 

Solomon was said to be the wisest man who ever lived. 

The Bible says he loved the Lord, and one night the Lord appeared to Him in a dream.

God said; "ask what you wish and it will be given to you!"

In response, Solomon didn't ask for riches, long life or even the life of his enemies…. he asked for a heart of wisdom to better rule over God’s people while King.

The Lord was so pleased by this that He promised Solomon that because of the integrity of priority of his request, not only would He bless him with wisdom, but also long life, riches & honor as no one of any kingdom had or would ever see.

Solomon went on to write thousands of proverbs and songs. (1 kings 4:32)In Proverbs 25:6,7 He wrote

" Don't work yourself into the spotlight;
   don't push your way into the place of prominence.
It's better to be promoted to a place of honor
   than face humiliation by being demoted." (message)

Today I want to encourage you to just put all your hard work, striving effort and even worry in to the hands of God.

• Don’t ever forget that promotion actually comes from Him, because He’s the one who’s ordained those positions of leadership and authority to begin with!

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you!

1 Peter 5: 6,7

Let HIM be the one who promotes & exalts you.
-Because He does everything right & in the right timing.

It’ll be out of His grace, and not the stress or your own work!

5 MONTHS ON A PLANE

This was my 80^th trip into the area of the former Soviet Union. I’ve spent 5 months of my life just traveling in planes from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Moscow or other cities throughout Russia and the surrounding areas.

This trip touched me so deeply as I ministered with 2 pastors, which in the last 18 years, have been used by God to build extraordinary churches and plant hundreds of others all across Russia.

Pastor Henry in Kiev is a gracious and powerful man of God. He treated me as if I was a personal gift sent from above. His church is affecting the life of the capital of Kiev, Ukraine.

Pastor Peter who in 1998 sold his apartment for $12,500, purchased a demolishing unfinished structure that had been started for the Olympics with $19,000.Today he has a church of thousands of people and a building that is in the center of the 2^nd largest city in his nation.

Both these pastors are doing more than building great churches.
They are building great people.

They have a supernatural vision, that the presence of God can change anything.

Kharkov pictures & video!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic 

Pastor Peter of Kharkov Christian Center

This was a different location on Sunday morning. The room was only 48 degrees!

 

  FAST FORWARD

It's amazing how the evolution of technology has had such a profound impact on not only physical things around us, but also the character of our daily lives. 

All of a sudden even fast food seems to take too long. 
We open the microwave a couple seconds before the timer's done,
The flight's hour delay drives us nuts, when before it would take months to travel such distance.

We get used to being in control of everything around us.

When things aren't going as we planned, or are moving too slow, it's then easy to become frustrated and immediately, we want change.

We want to fast forward to the good part.

and in our impatience,
subconsequently we no longer enjoy the season that we're in.

• When you're constantly looking ahead wanting to be somewhere else, you'll miss what God has for you in the place you're at.

-And it doesn't even matter where it is, because God can use you anywhere and teach you things wherever you are.

There's a movie called "Click", and in this movie, the main character has a remote control that he uses to click past every moment in his life that he doesn't want. 

In the end, he realizes that he's fast forwarded through crucial moments. That life isn't just about the good times, but about the struggles and hard times that help you appreciate those around you and those good things so much more. 

TODAY:

• Appreciate today because you will never get it back!
• Don't be anywhere else, except for the present, in your heart.
• Don't "fast fwd" thru hard times- it's what makes the good times, so good.
  

Ministering In Ukraine
and
James Huey leading worship!

Our connecting flight from London Heathrow to Tulsa, Oklahoma was delayed yesterday so we had to stay at a nearby hotel over night. We'll be home this evening now instead! Other than that, everything's gone really smoothly. It was amazing to witness such an incredible move of God in the lives of the people of Ukraine! Such an outpouring of life and rejuvination through these wonderful churches there! 

Here are a couple pictures of a church we were at in Kharkov:

     

         

   AFTER 24 YRS, Message In A Bottle Is Answered!

I came across this news story over the weekend!

A 13-year-old Russian boy, Daniil Korotkikh, was walking along the beach with his parents when he spotted a bottle lying in the sand.

Inside the old-fashioned looking bottle was a note.

Korotkikh told The Associated Press on Tuesday that "It looked like a German beer bottle with a ceramic plug, and there was a message inside."

His father, who knows schoolboy German, translated the letter, carefully wrapped in cellophane and sealed by a medical bandage.

The Baltic Sea letter was dated back to1987. It read:

"My name is Frank, and I'm five years old. My dad and I are traveling on a ship to Denmark. If you find this letter, please write back to me, & I will write back to you."

The boy in the letter, Frank Uesbeck, is now 29. His parents still live at the letters address; a little German town called Coesfeld all these years later.

"At first I didn't believe it," Uesbeck told the Associated Press about getting the response from Korotkikh. In fact, he barely remembered the trip at all; his father actually wrote the letter.

Though they connected in one of the most old fashioned ways imaginable, the German man & the Russian boy corresponded a few weeks ago via the much more 21st-century method of video messaging.

"It's really a wonderful story," said Uesbeck. "And who knows? Perhaps one day we will actually be able to arrange a meeting in person!"

Pretty cool story huh?!