I Love to Pray the Word June 26, 2012

I am honored to share what it means to “pray the Word.”  I talk about it all the time, and I try to share every time I’m given the chance.

The LORD says, “Freely you have received. Freely give.”  So, let me make perfectly clear that I have not always prayed the Word, and, in fact, I have not always known how to pray the Word.
 

I believe it was in September of 2002, Mama and Daddy had been living with us for a year or maybe 2.  Time gets away from me, unless I have some event to compare to.  It was after my niece,  Beka’s wedding and before Ivey, my oldest granddaughter, was born.

That would have been after I went with my sisters to Israel…my Mother’s desire that we all go…and she paid with the money she got from their house. 

Well, that September, a friend of mine and I went to Toccoa, GA…to hear Bobbie Jean Merck…at the Baptist Retreat Center  there.  Between meetings, we were walking along a breezeway when the LORD’s presence was so powerfully strong, that I had to lay prostrate on the ground…and could not get up.  I was crying…gut-wrenching type crying…not what I do normally…and not what I would have chosen to do. 

Prostrate’s definition is: To put or throw flat with the face down, as in submission or adoration

Yes, that is the right word! But, I didn’t put myself flat…it was more like I had help…thrown flat more like it…not like a vicious throw…but more of a not out of choice throw…hope you will stay with me.

At this time of my life, I had heard the LORD on occasion, and certainly I had heard Him in the Word…I was the prayer director in my Sunday School, and I was called on to pray a lot!  I was told that I prayed well, and I guess I had no idea that pride might be there…because the Word said to pray.

I had friends that had a hard time praying aloud…but I was trained to pray aloud…both parents prayed aloud in public…and prayer was part of it all.

But, on that day…in that place…something changed mightily!!! The LORD, Himself, said, “Stop praying your prayers and pray Mine.”

That was all I heard at that time…and, I, after awhile of not being able to get up…got up and I didn’t even look like I’d cried. Amazing…I’m usually an ugly booger when I cry…

I could almost give you a blow by blow detail of all that has gone on since that day…but, it would be a long book…and I’m wordy as it is…so, let’s just say, since then, I’ve prayed the Word. Why? Because He said, Pray My prayer. 

Hear what He’s saying? His Word is His prayer…it is His covenant with us. 

Now, how do we do this?

As I began to do what my God asked of me…I mean to obey…I was so relieved when He told me that I did not have to re-invent the wheel! He told me that I had Stormie Omartian’s books the Power of the Praying Wife…and Parent.

In fact, I had prayed one for each day, over my husband and boys for quite awhile.  Also, I had, for many years,  been empowered by Germaine Copeland’s book, Prayers that Avail Much. 

We also had the Prayers and Proclamations for Israel, America, and Youth.  Derek Prince had written the ones for Israel, and Jim Goll had had these on his website. 

I have actually been praying the Word for like 25-30 years now, but I would have to find the scripture that fit…or I would have to go find one of these books…with the prayer for whatever circumstance or family member, etc., and I’d have to set myself aside and get ready if someone needed me to pray in Faith.
 

I mean, just like any of you…I had to get ready. I mean working full time and being among the world all week, and then, trying to get along with family…husband, children, parents, siblings…well, anyway, I would fall far short of praying for anybody with Faith.

It was like exercise…I’d be spiritually out of shape.  I was not exercising my Faith every day.

I thought I was to do what the LORD wanted of me…alone.  I did that for like 6 months.  I shared with Gloria and Emily, and others who were my prayer partners…Dixi, also.  While being with Daddy in the hospital, I shared with Gloria how I was praying.

We knew that when we prayed together…Gloria and me…for many years…many miracles had taken place…from Frank being healed…to Daddy and Mama being healed over and over…to Jews in Israel and one Muslim being saved.  We knew the power of agreement…of 2 or 3…that is!

Well, one day Emily and Dixi told me they wanted to join me.  “Oh, LORD, how can I give up this intimate time with You?…in the Secret Place of the Most High?  It had taken sooo long for me to find it…and now, these precious sisters of mine want to pray with us?”

He said, I wasn’t giving anything up…that I was bringing them in with us…in a 3-bonded cord…praying in agreement…all that He had showed me to pray.

Well, we just celebrated our 9^th full year…praying every day…for more than one hour.  At first we laughed at ourselves and each other at how hard it was to do this.  Getting up before we went to school or started our day…and praying    every   single    day. 

We met all sorts of obstacles, and we tried to understand what God was saying and to help Him many times.  Only what God actually said to do worked, and even what He said to do sometimes was only temporary. 

We had to learn how to hear from Him and to add or leave off…to change hours…or whatever…it was following Him on a dime.  I mean when He stopped if we went on it was in our power,and we ran out of gas.  


If we didn’t do what He said, or waited…we would have to wait for Him to trust us again.  I mean He was always Faithful.  He was always there.

We, however, are His creation, created for His pleasure…and not Him for us.  It may be only this disciple who has tried to lead the leader…or who has questioned what He said do…but, every single time…I mean every single time He said, DO! …and, I DID! Then, the promise with it came to pass.

It was not His failure to answer prayer…it was my unwillingness…or my overtiredness…or my questioning Him…or doubt and unbelief…or my traditions…or my hard-headedness…or my fear that others wouldn’t like me…etc., that caused any delay.

I mean sometimes delay is patience of God…and I’ve had to realize that if He answered immediately…a whole lot of people would not be in the Kingdom … or healed…or whatever…that it was and is not about me.

Mama (Baba) gets credit for telling me to get up earlier and pray before I went to work.  So, in order to tarry an hour, I only needed to get up like 30 minutes earlier.  Then, to accomplish the prayer of agreement, where any 2 ask anything in His Name, all we have to do is ask and it shall be given us, I needed to pray with at least one.

Emily is my at least one as she and I have done this for the 9 complete years plus 7 days, today. The LORD showed us the power of 3 as if one falls, 2 pick them up. If one is battling like Moses, the other 2 are their Aaron and Hur. 

Bobbie Jean Merck preaches the power of the Believer from the Old Testament. I know she’s a woman, and I know that she holds meetings often for women only, but in these last days, she’s called into churches all over this nation and around the world.  Bobbie Jean and her tapes, and my mentor Barbara Beeler taught me how to fight the good fight like the Old Testament saints, but with our spiritual weapons…not carnal ones.
 

For years, I’ve been told I sound like a soldier…and it is because I am one!  I wield the sword of the Spirit…morning, noon, and night…first, by praying the Word for about 1 hour and 50 or more minutes. 

Wielding that sword each morning as I arise sets my day in order.  I’m no longer ambushed.  I’ve taken care of the enemy through prayer…and I continue to wield it as I go…so easy to speak the Word when I pray it every day. 

It is the practice of prayer…just like practicing anything…it makes perfect!

Where 9 years ago, I could recognize the Word many times when I’d hear it, but I would not know where to find it.  I mean as I spent more time studying and prayng, I would know like that sounds like Paul or Jesus or David, but if I didn’t have my Bible around I was at a loss.

Now, it’s in my mouth most always.  I may need more exactly or from a different translation…but I usually can say it by just meditating on it to bring it up from my heart.  The Word says, out of the issues of my heart, my mouth speaks.

I have not perfected…;) …that’s a smiley face with a wink. When I do, I will most probably be face to face with Jesus.  However, I never say I will never be perfect anymore.  He says that we are to be perfect as He is perfect.  He’s growing us into a perfect man…a complete man…all ONE in Him…a Bride without blemish…and it’s not only taking time and patience to come to pass…it is very real!

We are not to continue living the life of the flesh, as the Spirit of Him, who raised Jesus from the grave is in us.  Why? In order to perfect us…but we have to allow Him to do that.

This morning I heard…I thought I saw the words…”rooted in the Word.”  I called Emily and she and I looked for it.  I did not find those words in anything we prayed this morning, and as I looked it up I saw “rooted and builded up in Him…” (Colossians 2:7) and “…rooted and grounded in love…” (Ephesians 3: 16-17)

Rhizoo is Greek for rooted and means that a believer is established, fixed, and grounded in Christ.  And, what does John 1 say?  Jesus  is the Word made flesh.  We talk about hearing words or a person being anointed, but it is the Word that is anointed. And the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, is the anointed …the Chirst…anointed ONE!!! Woo Hoo!!

Now, each of us can tarry and hour, and each of us can dwell in the Secret Place. 

The LORD said, “Why chase 1000? When you can chase 10,000? Or one million?

In other words, if Jill prays chasing 1000, and Gloria also chases 1000, that’s 2,000 chased.

But as Judy Jacobs sings about in her song “Will You Be My Praise Partner…Help Me Praise the LORD”…she sings  about this same multiplication plan of God. 

One chases 1,000…2 chases 10,000…3 chases 100,000…and instead of 4,000 being chased by 4…4 in agreement chase one million.

You know, I thought that this would give me less time to hear from the LORD, myself, but I hear from Him more and more…not less as I pray His design.

It is hard to pray the prayer blanket alone….it is harder to pray my own prayers alone for an hour…

I used to do this, and I would be through in about 15 minutes if I was lucky. 

It takes discipline…practice…to pray for an hour…to tarry…as the LORD asked Peter, James, and John …and He said why they did not do it…He said their spirit was willing but their flesh was weak…

Like exercising your Faith by believing…you exercise your prayer life by praying…the more you pray the more capacity you have for prayer…

If you are a new teacher, you are so glad to be given the teacher’s manual that has the same that the children have but you have all the ideas and even estimated amounts of time each idea takes…in other words you are not the inventor…you are not left to your own devices…you have help.

Well, I believe I was helped by Germaine Copeland, Larry Lea, Bobbie Jean Merck, Barbara Beeler, Beth Alves, and Stormie Omartian…even Beth Moore…and I have practiced for many years individual parts alone and with prayer partners like Barbara, or Emily, or Gloria, etc. So, when the LORD let me in on His plan and said the goal of the prayer blanket was to cover the earth and was beginning with me/us/…I was surprised, astounded, thrilled…and a bit anxious.

All along the way, He has showed us that we are in the accumulated prayers of the saints before us…and we are praying corporately the Word of God…now, like a huge snowball…with each new person being a snowflake…or a group being a snow ball…etc.  We all become ONE!!!

And, the power of the prayers of the saints is demolishing strongholds galore!

I know each time I pray individually now, that I am in this prayer blanket…and bringing each new person and new circumstance under the protection of this tent…I love the prayer of Jabez and Isaiah 54…lengthening my cords and strengthening my stake…expanding my territory. 

Most all my prayer now is in 3^rd person singular…”WE”…like We who dwell in the Secret Place of the Most High will abide under the shelter of the Almighty!  We will say of the LORD…He is our Refuge and our Fortress … In Him will we Trust!!!

The LORD is our Shepherd…we shall not want!!!

I find myself able to go on and on about the LORD and what He’s done for me!

Obedience is better than sacrifice.  No matter how hard we work to be a Christian and to live the Christian life…to walk in the Spirit…to walk the walk as well as talking the talk...and I’m talking about Believers…saved by Grace…until we, the Church, realize we are a Mighty Fortress, then, we aren’t finished.  Our work is not done. 

We are not standing there like a building that is being battered by the gates of hell…

We are moving forward…and everywhere, like Joshua…that we place our foot…shoe, tire, airplane, address by email, internet, fb…we claim for His Kingdom.  The violent take the Kingdom by force…the force of the Holy Spirit. 

I used to lay back …in bed…and go to sleep as I prayed…at night.

Or, later on, I prayed in the AM over coffee…and half asleep…or even dozed off…

Not anymore and not for a long time!

The enemy likes to invade…to infiltrate our prayer time.

Beginning with praise and worship…sitting straight up and being ready to speak when it’s my turn every day…has helped me be alert with my armor on and battling the enemy.

I’m armed and ready every day, walking circumspectly as the LORD says…armed and on duty…evading the ambushes I once experienced daily and sometimes many times a day.

The day does not control me…not smitten by the sun nor the moon…I’m walking to a different drummer…I hear the voice of the Shepherd only.

If I fill my thoughts …my time with the things of the world…I will get cloudy in my mind.  I won’t make clear, concise, good decisions…I will be wishy-washy at best.  My mind must stay on Him to be at peace.  


Why? Because He says so. 

I challenge you…

I’ll send you the prayer blanket.  I challenge you to pray it every day.

You will find that that is quite a challenge.

The LORD wrote it…I mean He used people…us …but it’s the WORD and you will be sure of that when you see it.

Why do you need it? It’s a tool…a very good tool to teach you to pray the Word of God.  Some of it you will already know by heart…you’ve memorized it or prayed it yourself.

Some of it will be new…and you may not have seen how spelled out the Word is about any circumstance that can come up in our lives.

Just like I’m glad that Paul did what He did. He wrote 13 books of the New Testament, I believe. I’m glad that I don’t have to let the LORD give it to me myself…I’m glad that I can take it from the LORD’s vessel, Paul.

The LORD has trusted me to wield this sword every day for 9 years plus…I ask that you trust me, too.

Pray the prayer blanket. You will not only be joining us who pray each morning on the conference line…or those praying on Tuesday and Thursday evenings…or all the ones in the different nations who pray daily from what I’ve emailed our or what they find on the website…but you will be participating in the tool being used to enlighten the darkness in India.  


Saturday, Vijay, made the presentation of the prayer blanket…in its 2^nd printing in Tegulu.  He will translate into Hindi soon and Afrikaan for South Africa.

The LORD said it is a blanket of light for that darkened nation…and I saw like a comforter of light over India…which has like only 1% Christians in that huge nation.

God bless you!  In Jesus’ Name and for His sake,

 Teddi

Loving to Give June 19, 2012

I loved giving to the LORD always...I guess because my parents freely gave of themselves and their resources...and I did at a young age.  

As an adult...wife and mother...there were lean years where I wasn't able to give because it was hard to make ends meet...but I always knew that I was supposed to.  I would sometimes try to do so, but I would end up without enough money to pay a bill.

As I sought the LORD, knowing that I was not happy being a non-giver...and feeling convicted every time I heard a sermon or a S.S. lesson, or read it in the Word, I would find myself very down about the whole thing.  

Then, I ran into some people walking the Faith walk.  People that were doing the Word...not hearing only.  

All of these people were not in person...some were in books...or in ministry with tapes.

I began praying Prayers that Avail Much by Germaine Copeland.  I went to hear Ken and Gloria Copeland when they came to Atlanta.  They had been broke when they began believing God's Word. Ken was pilot for Oral Roberts.

I had made fun of Oral Roberts with others...mocking him and his healing ministry.  However, after reading about his ministry to Ken and Gloria and others, I asked the LORD to forgive me and began reading what he had to say.

I learned that God would start with me wherever I was.  It was true that the 10th was His...but I learned that all of it is His!  I mean doesn't say He owns it all!!! I mean I was struggling to give Him a 10th...but it is all His!

Change in my circumstances began when I realized that I needed to surrender myself to Him, and my husband and children, and all my stuff.  I started where I was.  I began to give Him 2% of what I had.

I didn't work, so I would save like 2% of the money for groceries or whatever that I had, I would give to the Church.  I read in Habakkuk about how if we build our houses, and we neglect building the Kingdom, then, our pockets have holes in them.  I told my husband, and I asked if I could just start giving and see what happened.

When I began my teaching career, after 2 years of college to complete my bachelors in Education degree, I told the LORD that I my goal was to tithe both salaries...mine and my husband's.  I taught for 19 years...I've been retired for 2.  

During those 21 years, we were able to not only pay our bills and save for retirement, but we were able to purchase a house in FLA and one in the GA mtns.  Both will be payed off in less than 5 years.  We had 2 houses in FLA, but when the economy was at it's very beginning of the down slope, we sold our 2nd house that was eating us up in taxes, paid off the home we live in, and bought a house cash that we rent.

I've had the most wonderful man for a husband. We've grown up together.  We have lived in the house we live in for 30 years...first with sheet rock walls and no heat or air or closet doors.  People always love to see what wonderful changes we've made over the years.

The LORD has well more than given me the desires of my heart.  I asked to be a tither of both salaries...off the top...and we give more than that.  My husband has left it up to me all these years, since finding the scripture about the holes in our pockets.  You see, that scripture means that you can't keep that money.  If you don't give it to God, then, your bills ...your every day costly events in your life...will more than take what you could have freely given and been blessed.  

Instead of the washing machine breaking, me blowing a tire, and my children needing new shoes...I could give to the LORD with a thankful heart...and, well, I'd have enough for the rest.  I found out that the scripture that says, Trust me...Try me...Prove me...says the LORD of Host and see...If I'll not pour out a blessing that you can't contain.  (my emphasis)

About 10 years ago, I asked the same thing about prayer.  I told the LORD that I wanted to tithe my prayer time each day.  That meant that I needed to pray almost 2 1/2 hours a day.  Well, praying the prayer blanket about 1 hour and 25 minutes a day, and then, praying on the website all throughout the day...and, praying on Shinegirls...and on the phone...or wherever I am.  I more than tithe my prayer life these days.

Now, the most wonderful thing has brought both together...I share my prayer time with others...on cell phone in the morning...but also on the website...and on the Womenwho Pray prayer wall and Women Who Pray page.  We're reaching a lot of people...1800+ friends on the Womenwho Pray wall...and many groups with some not friends yet...same on the page.  No telling how many we reach on the website.

After I read Good Morning Holy Spirit by Benny Hinn, I had to ask the LORD to forgive me for not liking Kathryn Kuhlman. I have since met friends that saw her in person and were blessed.  She was Benny Hinn's Mentor.  I've been to 4-5 of his crusades and been mightily blessed.  Amazing how many get saved in his meetings.

I also became partners with Bobbie Jean Merck, who walks in the same anointing as Lester Sumrall who was mentored by Smith Wigglesworth.  WOW!!!! Woo Hoo!!! If you haven't read about him, you need to.  

International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is another one I've partnered with for many years, with Rabbi Eckstein.  That ministry has been such a blessing to Israel and to all of us by allowing us to minister to Jews.

The way I know that the ministry is worthy of support from me is the way the LORD told us to choose.  I look at the fruit.  A good tree can't bear bad fruit and a bad tree can't bear good fruit! So there it is! I've been partners with Benny Hinn, Ken Copeland, Rabbi Eckstein, Bobbie Jean Merck for about 20 years. I began with $7 with some, and I didn't give every month to them all at first.  I have given $30 for many years to each.

I have also supported Diane Harrington full time for many years.  She's a full-time missionary that was in my Sunday School.  I gave haphazardly for many years to her and others.  I settled down to $30 per month several years back.  I did the same with TBN and Salvation Army for years...$20 here and there or $50 or more.

I had settled down, in a more organized giving to several ministries, when the LORD led me to give into Women Who Pray, and then, let WWPray give to the ministries.  I continued giving the same amount and supporting the same ministries for awhile.  

As time has gone by, there are now other ministries...some that I gave along the way and some new.  We give to a couple of pro-life ministries...to 2 full-time missionaries...to 2 widows who pray daily with me and have become widows in the last 3 years...to 3 orphanages (Mexico, India, and Uganda).  

God has given me the love for giving that I prayed for, and He has blessed me more than I could have ever dreamed.  I can't out give Him.  

Just in the last year, the prayer blanket has been translated into Tegulu, and Indian tongue, and has been used in evangelism.  It is to be translated into Hindi and into Afrikaan (S. Africa).  

The LORD has laid on my heart to share with You how He has blessed me, and to invite you into this magnolia tree blessing.  Right now, $30 has been our ceiling..I would love to give more...because I want to invest more into the Kingdom work.  

I also have others asking for us to support them...another orphanage in India.  

Now, I know that God is going to bless me as He loves a cheerful giver...and He challenged me to Trust, Try and Prove Him...and I did and He fulfilled His promise to pour out His blessings.

If you are struggling now...please hear me...it was when I was struggling that I began to give.  God is the multiplier. He's the promise giver and promises 10, 30, and 100-fold blessing.  If you are not seeing your return, it's because you haven't bought into the Kingdom principle of giving.

It's not the amount...the woman with 2 mites pleased God more than the rich men.  

Today, the LORD has laid on my heart to just spell it out...

If the 1800 people that are friends on fb with us gave $5.00 a month to Women Who Pray, we would have $9,000 a month.  We, together could increase what we give to the 3 orphanages and add the one that's been asking.  We could help in the production of the Prayer Blanket as it goes world wide.

I was really criticized for asking for financial support last year, and I now know that I was not bold for the LORD's work as I should have been.  The LORD says, "You have not because you ask not."  He's also said , "Ask and it shall be given to you...and even talks about men pouring into our bosom..."

Some of you tithe, and I praise God that you do.  I want to ask you to give us a small gift each month...$5 or $10.  

Others of you are not in church, and you need to be giving into the Kingdom.  Why? Because you are to be a doer and not a hearer.  We are doing the work of the church...James says perfect religion is giving to the widows and orphans.  

I'm giving you the Truth.  It is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit! He the Spirit of Truth will teach us all things.  The Truth is that we are to be building the Kingdom.

I heard a sermon yesterday that really spoke to my heart yesterday.  The pastor said, "We have not been born again in order to go to Heaven.  We have been born again to live the life of Christ in this earth. Heaven is our final resting place, but it is not all there is.  The abundant life is the life of doing the works of the LORD! What would Jesus do?"

Well, my Jesus, healed the sick, delivered those who were bound by demons, He bound up those that were bruised! In other words, He was about His Father's Work.  We're to do greater works because we are to be multiplied christs in His earth.  He is the first of many brothers!  

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us! We have His Spirit to do His Works!! To Do His Word!! Jesus is LORD when we obey Him!!

If you had told me that I would be writing prayer on the internet/facebook and people would be healed or delivered or saved, I would have not believed it! Who could have imagined this great time period! We've been born into this time just like Esther, and we've been called to take the Word to the uttermost!

Amazing how God's Word works!  All through History, wherever the Word has been sown, and people have been saved, the standard of living has improved!! It is a fact!!!

Our economy is a mess...as is all of Europe...and around the world...we have given into the world's system instead of the King of King's system.  And, we have had to settle with 1% interest that we've gained with investing into the world or 2% ...when we've ignored the 30, 60, 100-fold return.  I was there for a long time.  I had to have someone share with me the Kingdom principles of sowing and reaping.

So, if you sow into Women Who Pray, I promise you...you will reap a Harvest!!! 

I am reaping...and those who have sown with me are reaping...

We now know that the magnolia blessing is ours! We can take our regardless of size amount and join in the Magnolia tree blessing of a ministry that has been sowing a long time. 

I want to see every single one of my friends and family blessed by this ministry.  I'm going to be blessed because God says so.  I just love sharing with you all.  Think on it...He owns it all...the earth is His and all the people...it's not His will that any be lost...so we're about taking the Word to the nations.

Joshua asked all those years ago, who is on the LORD's side? I can only answer for me...I am!  And if He is for me and with me, who can be against me?

Woo Hoo!!! Glooorrryyy!

Until the next time...

Teddi 

Follow the Leader June 14, 2012

I always loved to play the game, follow the leader.  It was always fun to be the leader, infact, all children love doing things their way. 

However, some had much more creative things to do than I seemed to come up with.  Of course, those creative, witty people were usually older than me. 

Actually, it was ok once in awhile to follow someone youger, but it was obvious that they didn't know as much as the ones older.

Interesting that I would see sheep following their shepherd at least every day or two.

I've observed several pictures...

All shepherds aren't the same.  Some go along behind, prodding and yelling...

But the shepherds that are most impressive are those walking ahead, leading the sheep.

When the shepherd is in a relaxed mode...allowing sheep to graze an area...the sheep may have their backs to him...or there may be several up against him...or there may be some going a little out of range...

However, when you see the shepherds in Israel, and they lead the sheep...the sheep may be walking 2 by 2...or maybe 1 by 1 on a narrow road...

David in Psalm 23, speaks of God as our Shepherd.

The new testament refers to Jesus as the Shepherd...leaving the 99 to find the one that is lost...

Jesus says, "My sheep hear my voice and the voice of the stranger, they will not follow."

Amazing to me...so amazing...

Christian means Christ follower. 

So, Christians not only hear their shepherd, they follow their shepherd...right?

Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep...His lambs.

Now, what does that mean? Peter was not Jesus.  Who was Peter?

He was a disciple of Christ...a follower.

What does follow mean?  What does a disciple do?

First he learns what to do.  He learns how to follow Christ.

How?  Where is Jesus, today? 

That's right.  He's seated at the right-hand of the Father.

So, just how do we follow Him today?

In Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20, we find what is known as the Great Commission. 

It tells us to..."Go therefore into all the nations and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you to do, and lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world."

Who gave that commission and who received it? Jesus commissioned His disciples to go in His authority and to preach the good news of the gospel...getting people saved...and then, He told them to teach all that He had taught the disciples.

Paul, who came along after Jesus' resurrection, and who was first involved in persecuting Christians until the LORD met him on the road to Damascus...was converted and became the greatest evangelist in the New Testament...also a great Apostle. 

Paul said to those He was teaching, "Follow me as I follow Christ."

Now, if we look at this analogy between the Christian walk and the sheep following the shepherd...just what is this saying to us?

If all disciples throughout the ages...all sheep...had followed the Shepherd...had heard and heeded His voice...I believe that the Church would not be where it is today.

There's something just not quite right about the Church of 2012...I mean the Church worldwide.  There is poison in the pot. 

I mean, exactly how did we get to the point where there are so many divorces in the Church...almost as many if not the same number as in the world.

Exactly how did we get to the place where so many men and women...very young...and even elderly...are in physical relationship with someone they are not married to...how did it happen that the church condones significant others?

How did it get to be that in church and school, on ball teams, in children's clubs, and even political figures, that you can't always trust the adults involved to be people of integrity?

Why are the children disobeying their parents? Why are they allowed to act out at home and in public without serious repercussions? Why are so many parents and grandparents...and leaders in schools, churches, etc., shirking back from their responsibility to raise up men and women of honor, honesty, and even valor?

We see in all areas, especially the church, novices leading.  We see many inexperienced leaders! 

Paul told the men that if they had no control over their household that they were not to be deacons or pastors.

Now, pastor means shepherd.  They are not only to be able to preach the gospel for salvation.  Pastors have the responsibility of leading.  Deacons and teachers, song directors, etc., in the church are suppose to be leaders.

We've forgotten that a leader has to be one qualified to lead.  Must they live an exemplary life? Yes.

Perfection ... or completion ... is an on-going process.  We are to strive to look like our leader. 

I remember as a young woman just beginning to learn about submission to my husband...I had to look for someone who was striving to be a submissive wife. 

As Paul taught us, the older women are supposed to teach the younger women to love their husbands and children...etc.

How? By example. 

Yes, it's true that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things.  But, just how do we expect Him to do this?

When our parents train us in the way we should go...that's Holy Spirit teaching us.

When older couples set the example of love in marriage...with the husband as head of the household...and him loving his wife as Christ does the Church...that's Holy Spirit teaching us.

When parents....teachers...mentors...live a life of prayer ... that's Holy Spirit teaching us to pray without ceasing.

When those ahead of us spiritually, provoke us to good works...that's Holy Spirit teaching us that we are to work out our salvation.

The neatest picture I saw among all the pictures was one with the shepherd in front and just skads of sheep...single file...for as far as one can see.

If any got out of line, they would get hurt...or be lost...

So amazing!

I believe during these last days we need to have those close in front of us that we can trust to follow in their footsteps...and we are to have those behind us...learning by our example that we are not always the leader...sometimes we follow.

A good leader must be a good follower!

Following is what Jesus came here doing...He followed the Father!

He modeled the life of out of control...the life of surrender!

All He said and all He did, He pointed to the Father!

Then, He said, "If you've seen me, You've seen the Father!"

Glooorrryyyy!!!

That is what I want said about me...how about you?

LORD, grant that I be able to say to those You've given me..."Follow me as I follow Christ!"

Then, when I see You, LORD, I will be soooo excited to hear..."Well done, Teddi, thy good and faithful servant."

I pray for you that you hunger and thirst after righteousness every day of your life, and that you also desire with all your heart to say and to hear these same words. 

Until the next time...

Teddi

Magnolia Tree Blessings

June 12, 2012

I received this email from Emily this morning.  She’s my faithful prayer partner for about 30 years, and we have prayed together every morning of the last 9 years.  We begin our 10^th year in six days.  Hallelujah!!!

I pray your are blessed as you read this:

As Teddi and I talked this morning about how the Lord’s financial blessings work, I saw Giving To the Lord differently from how I’ve seen it before.  I’m going to try to put on paper what I saw then.

When I give something the one time, it’s just that small amount, say $5.  Even if I give $100 or more one time, it’s just that one amount.  But when I commit to give on a regular basis, let’s say $5 a month, that gift becomes larger and larger - $5 the first time, then $5 more, then $5 more, $5 more, $5 more… and so on.  

After a year I’ve given $60.  That seed of $60 is much larger than the $5 I started with, and the blessing promised to me is much, much larger than for my first $5.  We receive a 100-fold reward for what we sow into the Kingdom!  Plus, God rewards faithfulness… and perseverance.  Then, as we keep on giving, we accumulate another year’s worth of seed, then another and another...

Now imagine a magnolia tree.  Think about a magnolia seed pod, with more than a dozen red seeds in/on it.  Well, each magnolia tree produces many, many seed pods…..and a huge, old tree will produce hundreds of seed pods, thousands of seeds each summer. Giving into the Kingdom is like that.  When we’ve given for years, think about how many seeds God has to work with to multiply His blessings back to us!

And when we add our gift to others gifts, because we are giving to an organization that gives, the power of our little seed is multiplied again. Women Who Pray gives $30 a month to each of several different ministries, each of which has a proven track record of bringing souls into, and bearing fruit for, God’s Kingdom. 

Teddi and Women Who Pray have been giving to some of these ministries for years.  When we put our money into Women Who Pray, we are digging wells in Africa, feeding victims of famine, evangelizing India with Vijay Raj and the prayer blanket, broadcasting the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth with TBN, etc.  

And for those of us who haven’t been giving long, or who don’t have much to give, we don’t have to begin with one tiny gift …out there all by itself.  No, we can step in and join our gift to what is already reaping extreme magnolia tree blessings, the multiplied goodness of the Lord back to those who feed His sheep, clothe those in dire poverty, minister to the orphans and the widows, pray for and lay hands on the sick, and on…

We are fulfilling the Great Commission.

Until the next time….

Teddi

 

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The LOVE of the Shepherd!! June 9, 2012

I had the funniest picture yesterday in my mind of a shepherd and his sheep…

I love the 23^rd Psalm! 

The LORD is my Shepherd!!

I shall not want!!

He makes me lie down in green pastures…

He leads me beside still waters…

He restores my soul…

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake!

Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…

I will fear no evil!

For He is with me!

His rod and my staff…they comfort me…

He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies…

He anoints my head with oil…

My cup runs over!!

Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!!

And, I shall dwell in the House of the LORD, forever!!!!

Isn’t that a wonderful picture….

My Shepherd…my Jesus…leads me and guides me…feeds me…

He protects me! 

I have nothing to fear even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death because He’s with me!

He will never leave me or forsake me!

What a Shepherd!!

Right??

Well, guess what picture the LORD gave me yesterday…

I’m the sheep right?

He’s the Shepherd right?

Well, the picture that I saw was a shepherd shearing his sheep…

The strong burly man has the nice size sheep over on its side, holding it down in order to shear…

Does the sheep like it?  No.   The description even says that the sheep is thrashing as he’s shorn.

Not a word like in Isaiah 53, but not a happy camper…

Why does the sheep need shearing?

Heat can cause death if not shorn…

Also, they can have maggots in the wool…

How gross is that?

So, I now realize what’s going on sometime…when I am very uncomfortable …I know the LORD loves me but I’m not sure I like the place I’m in…

And, then, voila!! I’m wonderful!

All that wool is gone!!

I love when the LORD gives me a new perspective!!

Be blessed!

Until the next time!

Teddi

Loving the LORD with All Our Minds

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I posted this on our Women Who Pray website June 6, 2012...moved here because I had planned to save each post and could not.  So....I'm adding to this blogsite...:) 

Funny about our minds…

They are compared boy some as a computer…

Before I ever had a computer, when I was setting up files and file folders as a secretary…

I would say, when I heard a Truth from the Word…or something shared by a friend or pastor or Sunday or Bible School Teacher…

If I did not have some place to assimilate the new information…I’d say, “I’ll file that for later.”

Then, when I got my first computer, and it contained files to store information in categories, etc., I realized that I had seen my brain that way for awhile.

When I taught students, I would teach in math about input = output. You can’t put out unless you put in. Just like brains for a test. If you don’t study…put the facts in the brain…they won’t come out on the test.

On the negative side, just like we trash what we don’t need to save in our computers…our minds need a cleaning out of all the trash that has been put in.

Going even further, we must not, as Christians, put things in our mind…read, watch, play, or just meditating…that we don’t want to bear fruit.

Minds are made of dirt…remember? Leave us alone and will go back to dirt…that’s an absolute…just like trees and plants…and animals.

We can fill our minds with whatever we choose…it is totally up to us!!

Our Prayer Warriors pray this aloud daily:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments – imaginations – and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when our obedience is fulfilled. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, may we let our minds dwell on these things.

Our weapons are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds and casting down arguments and thoughts! Because we are to not think like the flesh…the world. Evey high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…every thought that does not agree with God’s Word…is to be brought into captivity to obedience of Christ. We are to think only on what is True…Honorable…Right…Pure…Lovely…of Good Repute…Excellent…Worthy of Praise! We are to let to allow to discipline our minds to dwell…to stay…on these things.

What I see is that we don’t have enough pure, right, lovely, excellent thoughts in us unless we read pure, right, lovely, excellent things.

I remember when Ken and Gloria Copeland wrote about learning to live by Faith…they were broke…and they were hearing about the walk of Faith from Oral Roberts and Kenneth Hagin…they shut their doors to all except the Word…they listened to the Word by tape…they read the Word…they listened to songs filled with the Word…they listened to tapes by men and women of Faith…filling only on the Word…only on the True, Honorable. Right, Pure, Lovely, things of Good Repute, Excellent things, and things Worth of Praise.

After learning to walk in these Truths…they taught and still are teaching them…Glory To God!!

Sanctify them by Your Truth. Your Word is Truth.

Who said this? Where do we find this?

Jesus prayed this in the Garden of Gethsemane to Our Heavenly Father.

We are the them He’s praying about.

I remember wondering why people only “sprinkled” when they could be “dunked” completely under the water.

As a Baptist, dunking was what we did. I’ve been whelmed with water more than once in my life.

Each time, I have realized a deeper walk with the LORD…

I didn’t understand at 8 years old, that this symbolic picture was of me being buried with Christ, and that as I was arising to new life in Christ as I came up out of the water…even though the pastor was saying those words.

At 24, I saw a new me that has never turned back.

I chose to be re-baptized in the Jordan since my Daddy had done this before me. In fact, I did this with 2 sisters. Again, it was a newness for me…I had gone to Israel for my Mother’s and Daddy’s sake…all 4 of we daughters…

Daddy had come back a different person…and, I now, see that I did, too!!

I saw the Word of life come to life in me in Israel…I won several Jews and one Muslim to the LORD…

I laid hands on the praying wall…to release all the prayers to the Me said the LORD! I obeyed. Wow did I feel His presence.

It was shortly after this trip, that we began praying the prayer blanket everyday!!

If you are not praying daily, repent. That means turn from not doing the Word…being a doer of the Word…and not a hearer only.

If you only pray a few minutes…and/or feel that He’s not hearing…you need more Word in you to pray…

I will send you the prayer blanket to hold in your hand…or you can pray with us on the website…look at today’s Daily Prayer…

Until the next time…

Teddi

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It Is Written June 6, 2012

This is the Day the LORD has made!  We will rejoice and be glad in it!!  (Ps. 118:24)

How do I know this?

Because God says so!

Where?

In His Word!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4: 13)

How do I know this?

Because God says so!

Where?

In His Word!

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. (Matthew 5: 6)

How do I know this?

Because God says so!

Where?

In His Word!

The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1: 17b)

How do I know this?

Because God says so!

Where?

In His Word!

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases…(Psalm 103: 2-3)

How do I know this?

Because God says so!

Where?

In His Word!

I know I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but I’m hearing from so many, asking for prayer for  physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual needs.   I do pray for each and everyone, but I’ve begun to talk with each one about their prayer life.

A younger me separated my Bible study time and my prayer time.  I’m not sure I was taught that, since both were included in what was deemed my “quiet time.”  However, I wrestled with it…I found that study meant understanding what I was reading.

I can remember asking the LORD if I could count my study time as prayer time.  Funny, huh?  The very request shows how young in the LORD, I was.  I was in my early 30’s when I began like instead of reading some favorite verses, or just a couple here and there out of context…I began to read each book of the Bible written by Paul as a letter.

I mean verse 1 is his introduction…and the end is his saying goodbye…so I determined that in order to understand the book or letter to the individual church…I needed to read the whole…beginning to end, as I would a letter from you.  If there was a 2^nd book, it was the letter that followed the 1^st one, so I would read it in order.

When I said that my request was funny, I mean that, since the Bible is God’s Testament to us…His Church…that my reading with comprehension (my study) was God’s revealed Word to me.  He was talking to me…to Teddi…not just to the church in Rome, or Ephesus, or Thessalonica. 

After I’d read, I found that, if I journaled  my thoughts during the study…questions, feelings, etc., that I’d be writing the answers and the fixing of my feelings.  I mean there would be intimate conversational writing! 

Now, notice, I didn’t say that after I read a novel…or after I watched a scary movie…or after I played a game…or talked with a person on the phone…

I said, after I meditated on the Word, then, I would hear /think with a renewed mind.  I’d have answers via Holy Spirit in me…God the Holy Spirit is His Name, in fact, and He will teach us all things!  How do I know? For Jesus said so!! He said He would send us one just like Him that would never leave or forsake us and who would teach us all things.  Where? In the Word! 

It’s not by accident that the story of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness clearly gives us the LORD’s reply to each temptation!  He says, It is written!!!  He was our model for wielding the sword at the enemy.

Notice that every WORD that proceeded out of the LORD’s mouth at that time was already written in the Holy Books…before they were all together like we have them in one place now…our Bible. 

Why did Jesus need to say what was already written?  Because it is the Word of God!!!

Who is Jesus?  He is the WORD in flesh…who dwelt among us…who is now seated beside our Heavenlly 

Father…and His Spirit…Holy Spirit of God…is in us doing the will…the work of the Father!

Now, you might say, “I’m having trouble doing the work of the Father!”

I would answer You the same as I had the answer given to me…

You do not have enough WORD in you to do the works…and the greater works like He said would be done.

Some do…and some are doing the works of the LORD…but all of us are not! 

James tells us, “Be ye doers of the WORD! Not hearers only!”

That means that to be endowed with the privileges…the rights and responsibilities of the end days Church…we have to wait on the LORD…to renew us…refresh us…strengthen us…to accomplish the end days mission.

Wait means to serve like a waiter.  We serve Him with gladness.  We praise and worship for who He is.  

We meditate on His Word to us…His Church!!!

We feed…hungering!!

We drink…thirsting!!!

Where? In the Word! 

It is manna! Bread of Life!!

It is drink…living wells of water…and the washing or our mind in the Word…transforms our minds!

Somehow, we have become such an “instant grits” generation, that we think a taste, a lick, a drop, a fraction, of the Word will get us there. 

I would say that we need to re-read Matthew 25 about the 10 virgins awaiting the LORD!

All had their lamps lit!!!

Let me repeat myself…you heard me correctly….

All had their lamps lit!!!  All were awaiting the bridegroom!!!

What lit the lamps? Oil.

What does oil represent in the Bible? 

Holy Spirit.

What happened to 5 of the virgins?

They began running out of oil.

What did they do?

They asked of the other 5 to share!

What did those 5 do?  They said if we share, we won’t have enough…

Then, while the other 5 went to get more…

The door opened to the bridegroom…let the 5 who were prepared in…

Then the door shut.

Do I know all this means?

No…but I do know…when I asked…the LORD showed me cars on the road.

Some stopped for gas…others didn’t…

What happened?

If you’ve ever watched a race, what happened?

Some run out of gas…never finishing the race.

If you are not in the Word every day…repent and be glad!!

You will never be sorry!!

I memorized a lot of Word as a child…at least I thought so…until the LORD told me to pray His prayer instead of mine…

I said, “Your prayer, LORD?”

He said, “MY Word is my prayer. “

Well, I didn’t have enough Word in me to pray for an hour as He was telling me…

I kept hearing, “Can you not tarry one hour?”

So, with His help…and bringing together several who pray His Word…the prayer blanket came to be!

Praying this Blanket for nearly 9 full years…can you imagine how much more Word is in me than was there before!!

Woo Hoo!!

To God be the Glory!!!!

Teddi