March 16, 2010 - We have been praying, as many of you know, for the right team to go to Ecuador in April.  Ray Watson is ready to lead the team, but we don't have anyone yet to go with him.

I spoke to Chuck Blystone this morning and he and Becky are praying about Chuck going with Ray. Let's keep praying that it will work out for Chuck to go and that God will raise up others to go with them!

The Lord woke me up last night with 3 things rattling in my brain:

 1. “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul is pressing on, in a definite direction, striving and reaching and pressing on to get the prize of the upward call. What is this “prize of the upward call”? Whatever this prize is, it had Paul’s full and complete attention. See Phil.3:12-14.

2. “Was it merely for human reasons I fought wild beasts in Ephesus?” Paul wrote this, referring to his rock-solid commitment to press on with his life even when things were hard. Paul knew that one day he was going to have to stand before Christ and measure up to His standard. He wasn’t going 1 minute before he was ready if he had anything to say about it! Paul knew that he was going to have to give account for what he did and he knew he wasn’t ready yet. See 1 Cor.15:32 ff.

3. And then, a popular song:

 The Motions by Matthew West 

Click here to hear the whole song and see the lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHhWGtR9E3c

To me these Scriptures and this contemporary song take us all in the same direction. Jesus is calling each of us to win the prize - the prize of an upward-looking call in Him. We can’t let anything short-circuit this passionate pursuit – not even wild beasts! Let’s join the chorus of the song, declaring that we don’t want to go even one more day without Jesus’ all-consuming passion inside of us, so that we can fulfill the work that God has called us to do!

We are planning to send a team to Ecuador in April.  The doors are wide open and we really want to go and be a blessing and encouragement to the churches there.  Ray Watson has agreed to lead the team but .... we have a problem.  We don't have anybody to travel with him.

We don't like sending people by themselves and it is generally our policy to have at least 2 people go together.  So Ray isn't going if we can't find the right person to go with him.

We're obviously going to be selective.  But we believe the Lord has just the right person.  Please pray with us that the Lord raises up someone quickly to join Ray.

Good news! We are proud to announce the launching of our new and improved website. Now we can share with you even better about the AWESOME things God has done in our travels, that we have both seen and  heard.

We understand that not everyone gets to see some of the things we have seen. It's time for that to be over.  With all the bad news in the world, like earthquakes and blizzards, falling house prices and expensive health care, we want to be your good - news website.  You sick?  Read a testimony of how God healed someone.  You depressed? Watch a video of how God put a gleam in someone's eyes after hearing of the hope we have in Jesus.

Good news! It's all about good news. It's really as simple as this: if God will fix the hopeless situation of someone in South America, then maybe God will fix the hopeless situation of one of my loved ones. Or me. If that's not good news, I don't know what is!

So be encouraged.  Put our site on your favorites.  Subscribe to our RSS feeds, become a fan of our Facebook page, and be the first to hear of these incredible things as they happen.

Be blessed, and dare to believe the good news of Jesus. 

UPDATE:  Check out this video. Pat's talking about what happened in his service in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, last Friday night, February 19, 2010. Gang fights, forgiveness, healings, deliverances and more, for the glory of God!

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Well, we took off some time over the holidays and now we are back to sending teams to South America.  Last night Pat McGuffin, Pastor Scott Lee and Matt Butschek arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador, for a week of ministry in our "second home".

Today they have already travelled to Vinces where Pastor Scott was scheduled to teach a music ministers' workshop. I hope to get a report on that soon. The guys are preaching throughout the city.  More to report on that later too.

 

"The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him." Ezra 7:6

Ezra was a man who enjoyed the favor of God. With that favor he helped restore the true worship of the God of Israel in the land of promise. Ezra had God's favor. Do we have God's favor?

The Scriptures says that believers in Christ have His favor. The blood of Jesus has purchased for us all the grace and favor we would ever need.

Let's look at Gal.1:3 - "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."  Paul opened his letters usually with a greeting like this. But this raises an interesting question.  If "grace and peace" were 'automatic' for Christians then why did Paul open his letters with this kind of greeting?

Think on your life.  There have been times of incredible favor and blessing and peace.  And then there have been those other times.

I had lunch with a friend at a restaurant yesterday. As we were leaving I saw a glass enclosed display which contained all kinds of scrumptious pies, cakes and other sweet desserts. Having both a sweet tooth and a weight problem, the battle was on! I could almost hear the lemon meringue pie calling my name. Somehow by the grace of God I kept walking and did not yield.

I commented to my friend as we both successfully escaped another close encounter with temptation that, "Seems like each day we have to say ‘no' so much more than we get to say ‘yes'." I then reflected on how much strength saying ‘No' requires. It's a truth, isn't it, that our faithfulness to say ‘No' is a reflection of our character?

"Seems like each day we have to say ‘no' so much more than we get to say ‘yes'."