Greetings Friends,
This Tuesday (1/19) we fly to Orlando for another conference with House of Hope. We will be sharing a message on unity and encouraging some amazing people who have given their lives to help troubled teens and their families to appropriate the amazing grace and healing power of God. We appreciate your prayers.
MOZAMBIQUE IS CALLING AGAIN
We still have room on this July's ministry team to Mozambique with Heidi Baker. We especially welcome any men, young or old, who want to bless some of Heidi's children in a special way, and help assist and watch over the lovely ladies already planning on going. We do have space for a few more ladies as well. I know you will have experiences you could probably never have anywhere else in the world. It's worth any sacrifice you would have to make togo. For more info, you can check our website or respond to this email. We will supply you with the vital information to help you prepare. It's not too soon to get started.
A SPECIAL REVELATION
While reading I Samuel I, I realized something I had missed before. There are two places in the Bible where people were thought to be drunk when they weren't. Instead they were just filled with emotion and passion about something very important to them. In the story of Hannah and Eli, we find a barren young woman, who was desperate for a child, praying a passionate and emotional prayer to God. Eli, the High Priest, saw her emotional response and assumed she was drunk. Hannah responded by saying that she had not touched strong drink, but rather was of a broken heart. Eli prophesied the answer to her prayer and she went home at peace with her promise.
In Acts 2, we read about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and Disciples of the early church. Their response to the moving of the Holy Spirit led some to suggest they were drunk. Peter responded by saying, "These men are not drunken as you suppose." Rather, he declared, this is the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy.
Hannah experienced the fruit of her intercessory prayer when Samuel was born. The early church experienced the fruit of their joy and Holy Spirit fire, when three thousand souls came into the Kingdom that same day. In both cases, the emotional responses to the various manifestations of the Holy Spirit were part of the process in which the destiny of the people of God was radically changed for the better. Samuel became a great spiritual leader, who eventually anointed King David. The outpouring at Pentecost changed the course of history as it kick-started the Church and transformed the face of the then-known world in a very short period of time.
EMOTIONS IN GENERAL GET A BAD RAP
In my book, Go Ahead, Be So Emotional, I described how our society and education system honor intellect, but do so very little to honor the more "emotional" gifts and talents, such as are used in music, drama, art and public speaking, not to mention the gifts of compassion, wisdom and understanding. Christians are told, "You can't trust your emotions," implying that emotions and emotional people are of little value. As we discuss in the book, it's the people with passionate emotions that are the leaders that motivate us and empower us the most.
In both stories above, the subjects of the story were emotional or passionate under the influence of the Holy Spirit to the point that they were suspected of being drunk. In both stories, God used their emotional responses to attract the attention of people, who would then become a positive part of what God wanted to do.
IT'S TIME FOR PEOPLE WITH EMOTION AND PASSION TO RISE UP AND BE SEEN AND EMPOWERED
I'm not hoping that people will get weird and in the flesh to get attention. I'm believing for people who will be so filled with the Holy Spirit, who only wants to exalt Jesus and the Father, to stop suppressing their passion out of fear that people will think they are overly emotional. Let the fruit of the Holy Spirit manifest in purity and power.
Hannah was passionate and broken about her barrenness. It's time for the church of today to follow in her footsteps.
The early church was filled with the fire and joy of the Lord. It's time for the church of today to follow in her footsteps.
I was pretty much a person who minimized the value of emotions, but I married a young lady who was quite emotionally expressive. In fact, it was part of what attracted me to her. Today, thousands of those who know her are very much attracted to her because of the feeling of value that she gives them.
But, what inspired me to write the book, Go Ahead, Be So Emotional, was when our daughter, Andrea, was growing up and I saw the same emotional tendencies as her mother possessed. Today, our sweet Andrea is blossoming into her own amazing and fruitful ministry, because of her Holy Spirit anointed emotions of love, joy and peace, as well as her Holy Spirit anointed spiritual gifts.
Though my strongest gifts are wisdom and teaching, I believe those who are gifted to love, laugh and cry with people, will produce every bit as much fruit, if not more, as any preacher or theologian. Every gift and ministry is needed, but we must begin to honor those who have been pushed back into the shadows and let them know how valuable they are to all of us in the Kingdom.
God showed me long ago that He wants to express His emotions through us. When I broke down speaking to a crowd, I asked Him what that was all about. "Why was I so emotional about that point?" He said, "Because I am emotional about it."
I shared last week from a very short book called The Boaz Blessing and again got very emotional trying to speak that blessing over some women of God. I realized that God felt very deeply about that message as well. I'd like for you to receive that blessing and learn how to share it with others. It's free and you can also give it away for free to those who can read books on the internet. You can use smashwords.com, Ibooks.com, Kobo,com, B & N, etc. Kindle charges .99/book. Go Ahead, Be so Emotional is also available for free. Just click on "name your own price" and write in 00.
God bless you!!!
Ben and Brenda Peters