DON’T MISS THESE THREE GREAT MIRACLES!!!
This last Friday I received my weekly call from H.O.B. and need to share with you an unexpected and “over-the-top” trio of miracles. I hope it is understood that this is not “over-the-top” for GOD, but it sure feels so to us quite often.
For years though I have prayed for GOD’s interventions in ways that I cannot even imagine in my limited view of how great GOD really is. We live in a world of very limited faith in our GOD. The secular world does not recognize Who He really is, and I’m afraid the “Church” for the most part does not either.
We pray our prayers more as a ritual or what is expected at the moment, but really having very little belief that GOD might really take us up on our faith. I am also well aware of the fact that most of us have experienced many prayers that were not answered as we would like. We also struggle with the great evil in the world and wonder why GOD, as an example, does not reach right into the middle of a devilish pedophile ring and destroy it. Some of us have seen the more gruesome side of our short existence on this planet and wonder: “Where is GOD in all this?” Believe me, I have been there as well. In fact, I face things in my own life that could cause me to doubt my GOD, if I let it happen. I refuse because I have read the last chapter of the Book and know that GOD settles it all—and I get to be part of it because my whole life is under His Lordship. How about you? Really—think about this seriously without justifying any lack in your true submission to our KING—where are you really at? He knows what you think within your inward being and so it is no use trying to hide it from Him.
So, after all I just wrote, let me give you the short version of what transpired this last week with House Of Blessing, Jerusalem.
HOB was pretty excited when he called this last Friday and couldn’t wait to share what GOD had done. The long and short of it had to do with the following three miracles.
- Miracle #1 was this. Very few of the folks that are reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ in the war-torn areas of the Middle East have any money. This last week a handful of folks that had left the Muslim faith, finding Jesus, the true Messiah approached R*****, the founder of HOB, told him that if anything happened to them, that their money go to purchasing more Bibles printed in Arabic so that the Muslim people can read it. Almost as if on cue, some of these folks were killed this last week due to their faith in Jesus. It turned out that one of these men had the equivalent of $1,000 in U.S. currency. I’m not sure how much the rest added up to, but I’m guessing only a small percentage of this amount. The amount is however not important because they gave their all—just as the widow’s mite that Jesus used as an example in the gospels. This was miracle #1.
- Miracle #2 was that a high-ranking U.N. official was reached with the message that Jesus left us, and he made his own personal commitment to Jesus and His Lordship in his own personal life. GOD’s love is absolutely amazing! His sovereign actions are also quite strategic so that His eternal purposes get completed as laid out from before the foundations of the earth were laid by Him.
- Miracle #3 had to do with provisions that this official was able to make available to the destitute living in refugee camps. Because of his position of authority, he was able to make the contents of two huge ship containers available to H.O.B. This was a huge blessing because the refugee camps have hundreds of thousands of people in them. Those of us living in America have no idea how destitute their situations are. Not only were these people running for their very lives and not able to take much of the very little they owned to begin with, but the extreme weather destroyed much of what they had and what had been provided as humanitarian aid to this point. I saw many photographs of this. It really tore at my heart, and for H.O.B., it was much worse because he was incapable of meeting these great needs. These containers contained at least 1,000 mattresses and very warm blankets, which none of these people could have afforded to purchase. Here in America we think nothing of buying expensive mattresses. We pamper ourselves with “Sealy, Silver Rest, Simmons, Posturepedic, Healthopaedic, and many other high-dollar mattresses so that we can get a good night’s sleep. These people are happy to have a place to lay their head’s down. The contents of these huge containers also had food and way too many other items to list here. They even were provided sugar. The people were so amazed that GOD loved them so very much to even provide things they didn’t even ask for that all they could do is praise and worship their Savior. The ONLY thing they had prayed for was more Bibles to give out to the millions who had no idea that there really was a loving GOD who paid the ultimate price for their eternal forgiveness and an inheritance with this wonderful Creator GOD in paradise. This certainly does not fit the history of the vicious hateful demon, Allah!
Once again, I found myself having to take stock of my own walk with GOD! What are my wants and desires? How high is my LORD on my priority list? It is way too easy to say He is #1. How I live my life—what my decisions are—how many “gods” may have priority that they should not have in my life—how much I trust GOD with my future, my career, status in my community, need for entertainment, the protection of my acceptance, and about a hundred other things, is where I really am—not where I pretend to be, or fool others into thinking where I really am.
These are things that tend to offend people—especially church-goers. Why do we think that most every one of Jesus’ followers left Him in John 6? It is because He would not mince words, nor would He compromise the requirements of the Father. We need to reconcile ourselves with this, because GOD is not going to negotiate the terms with us. NEVER! We either follow Him or we don’t!
This unbending requirement of the sovereign GOD was displayed on Mt. Carmel when the prophet Elijah confronted King Ahab, the prophets of Baal as well as the prophets of Asherah was a classic example of how GOD sees things. Elijah asked a question that has been a question for humanity ever since. He asked, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him, but if Baal is God, follow him.” (I Kings 18: 21, NIV)
The minority of the day were followers of Jehovah GOD; the majority followed King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in their pagan beliefs. There was a third group of people though that resembles many of our day.
Elijah made it clear that GOD required the people to choose one or the other. Many however were trying to placate both “gods”. They would worship GOD in Jerusalem but then would also indulge in the detestable practices up in the “high places” where the priests and temple prostitutes of Baal assisted in these rituals.
How many so called “Christ-followers” are addicted to the materialism of our day? How many can’t get enough of the “over-the-top” entertainment available? Church-goers have gotten to the place to where they are “inconvenienced” by church. We have too many other things to do! After all, we need our family time! We need “quality time” with our kids! We work so many hours that we need this time to rest—after all, GOD said we should take one day for rest and we just worked six days! We feel that life today is so demanding that church should not add to it! After all, that is probably legalistic to expect us to show up week after week after week! If we are not inconvenienced (and we know this is obviously a trick of the devil), we fall for trap of doing nothing but criticizing the multitude of things wrong with the corporate church of our day. Don’t misunderstand me folks; I am not saying that much of the criticism may not be valid! The western “church” is wimpy for the most part and has no depth of teaching offered. This is because people really don’t want it! WE ARE SPOILED, and it is destroying us and our effectiveness as Jesus spoke of in the “Great Commission”. The world around us is desperate for “real” answers and we give them “religious platitudes!” This is why Jesus complimented the Church of Philadelphia and lambasted the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3. Most of our churches and church programing resembles Laodicea more than it does Philadelphia. This is problem that we will be condemned for if not corrected with genuine repentance—in the spirit of “sackcloth and ashes as in the Old Testament! We have very little idea what this is like! We need to learn…and in short order.
In trying to tie this to the connection we have with House of Blessing in Jerusalem, I would ask each of you to do what my wife and I have already done. We have searched our hearts and asked GOD what we can do to help. The most effective tool at this time, second to the prayers of righteous saints of GOD, is MONEY.
I have already mentioned more than once that I am not one to raise money. I do not like asking people for money; I’d rather cover what I can myself, but this need is way greater than a handful can meet. It will take all of us! It is however well worth it. Tens of thousands have met Jesus since early April through what GOD has arranged since then. What the true number is, is not known because the message of the love of GOD has gone viral with these folks.
The time is now very short. The doors are already beginning to close in some of the Middle East nations. Political alignments are forming quickly and ancient prophecies from the Old Testament are coming to pass every day now. For example, Bashar Assad, the dictator of Syria has said that he intends to win the battle against the insurrection even if Damascus is destroyed in the process! This very thing was foretold by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah thousands of years ago in Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49. We are there folks!
What value will all of our abundant possessions have in heaven? Will we be able to take anything with us when we die? Only what was done as GOD instructed us is worth anything. That is worth some thought and submissive prayer!
I am not asking anyone for a dime, but I beg of you not to ignore it if GOD tugs on your heart strings to help with the purchase of these Bibles. I am not asking for anything that Anne and I have not already done—and to an extent we would not tell anyone. It is a God-thing. We have as a result been blessed. We have also felt the hatred of the evil one! But, I enjoy angering those that rebelled against GOD—as long as I know GOD was the One that told me what to do. Don’t miss the blessings that will carry through for eternity–for you and those that are blessed with the Word of GOD.
This is the State-side address:
H.O.B. CITY OF JESUS MINISTRY
3206 SW 45th Street
Redmond, OR 97756
KEEP LOOKING UP!
JAKE