Dear Family of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Thank you for stopping by for a CUP!
When you have a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ……….
Wherever you are going, God has already been there and paved the way for you. Matt 6:27-30
”One must keep on pointing out that Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.” –C.S. Lewis (in the chapter “Christian Apologetics” of the book “God in the Dock”)
I grab onto this quote today and share it with you from C.S. Lewis. Our Christian Faith must not be moderately important. We must stand in the gap for God, that is our mission here at FGGAM, standing in the gap for God and His people. Sunday afternoon flipping the TV Channels for Christmas programming, I was hoping for a Charlie Brown Christmas, I ran across that Christmas story of Tim Allen becoming Santa LOL! LOL!. It has been a long, long tome since I have watched secular TV. I was shocked that an ad ran for a smoke shop on this TV channel My 50 TV an Albuquerque TV station. My Police officer friends just shut down one of these joints here on the Westside. These Smoke Shops sell Drug paraphernalia, just all sorts of nasty stuff. Is this what we want our children, youth to adsorb, stuff from a smoke shop? This is horrible that a TV station would air such ad’s. I called the GM of the station yesterday and he called back and left me a message and did the usual song and dance and said he would “talk to his team” about the ad. I also talked to the Governors office about this and placed a call to the FCC to see if they think these type of ad’s are in the Public interest. Jesus turned over tables and I believe this one would have him do the same! What are we doing to God’s children? It is our responsibility to take care of His children here on earth. I invite you to go to youtube and watch my TV program I did with Richard Griffin on how God and his family fought the heroin addiction of his son, who lost 2 best friends to that nasty stuff. I am as old as dirt, a fuddy duddy who comes from the Broadcast field where you do things whether you are in Secular or Christian Broadcasting in the Public’s Best interest advertising stuff like smoke shops is not in the Public’s best interest!!!!!! Here at FGGAM we help people with drug addictions, our hope is to get them into a Church and Pastoral relationship with outside counseling. I challenge anybody to tell me that advertising smoke shops is in the Public’s Interest, they certainly are not in the interest of our Lord Jesus Christ and His children.
We must stand in the gap for those who cannot stand!
We must not take our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ moderately!
We must not HINDER our Children with such things as Smoke shops and other garbage!!!!!!!!
“Do Not Hinder Them”
“People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them, says Bible verse Mark 10:13. “When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them” (verses 14-16).
Herbert Lockyer, in his well loved book All the Children of the Bible, describes the special relationship Jesus had with children:
“The gospels portray Jesus as a lover of children. Having entered the world as a child, He knew the child heart, and thus childhood was always sacred in his eyes. What strong condemnation He had for those who outraged the rights of children, and how warmly He welcomed the little ones whom He presented as models to those aspiring to the Kingdom of Heaven!…
“Jesus yearns over all the children of the world, irrespective of their color and race, and we should share to bring them to Him because they need Him as Saviour, Teacher and Friend” (pages 51-53). My wife and I believe Jesus’ invitation welcomes not only us but our 6-year-old daughter into a loving relationship with him.
What can we do to promote in our children the love, trust and worship that we ourselves feel for our Lord and Savior? How can we help them, too, to embrace Jesus Christ as friend, helper and loving master?
Let us now go into prayer………….
This from Shari……..
Good morning to the folks I know in whom I can depend for sincere prayer. I have a dear friend at church, her name is Paula Boggs and today she faces surgery to have hopefully just a part of her colon removed because of cancer. She is a 43 year old mother of 4 beautiful children, one of which is Down Syndrome. And recently she accepted 2 foster children, one of which is severely handicapped. She is an AWESOME woman. My heart is broken for her and her family today. She has a wonderful godly husband. Please pray for her today. I’ll be heading to Marietta, Ohio shortly to be with them. The surgery is at noon today. Two of her children are in my teen department and just like her, they are rock solid Christians. Thanks in advance. I’ll reply probably later this afternoon when I find out how the surgery went.
We are praying, yes we are!!
Hi Dewey,
I was going to ask you..a friend is battling cancer and is in the hospital. Her name is Chantel and like Martha she is fighting hard but needs God right now.
Thank you
Roger
We are praying now for Chantel.
Yesterday I traveled to Portales, NM to visit Gretchen. Please pray for her and the anxiety that comes with College and peer pressure. Our Children are in such a different world than we were at that age, Their menu has more than quadrupled, it is the internet……..on and on the stuff our Children face.
From Victor Martinez……….
Please pray for our 12yr old dog Jazz. He has severe pancreatitis and is receiving treatment at animal hospital. Prognosis is guarded and day to day. A truly sweet and great dog.
We are praying Victor! yes we are! Victor I just sent Karen Rowe James Robison’s book on God and Pet’s, it is an awesome book that shows how special are animals are.
When people come to the CUP for prayer they know that there are over a 1,000 prayer warriors now praying! PRAISE GOD!!!!
November 28, 2012. When times get difficult, often the only remaining help is from the Lord himself. Many have befriended you. But in all honesty, you wonder about your friends in times of trouble. Where are my friends? King David often felt this way. Once he found himself in a cave “all alone” with no one to help. Yet David was a friend of God. He was a great warrior gaining many victories. His battles often were within his heart and soul. He was often discouraged and depressed. But look at the final outcome. He is revered even today throughout the nations and peoples of the earth. How? God was his help and came to his side. He won the battle of the heart and soul.
Psalm 142:4-6 (NLT) “I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me. Then I pray to you, O LORD. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life. Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.” Ras Robinson
Now this from our Dear, Dear friend Shari Johnson
Colossians 4:1-6~ Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
As Christmas approaches, I’m mindful of the sweet spirit that comes from the season. Even the grumpiest of Grinches hearts seem to expand during this time of year. Reflections of childhood can bring sweet memories and bitter heartache for many as I’m aware. I was blessed with a great childhood; godly parents and a huge extended family that filled my grandmother’s home to the brim. Seven children and their children would gather there for Christmas with many of us who lived a distance away spending the night. We crossed the Elk River in Braxton County, West Virginia by john boat to get to my Mommaw Vada’s humble home with three cast iron beds, a hide-a-bed in the living room down stairs and one other bedroom. We’d have twenty and upwards spend the night and if you do the math, there were not enough beds to go around; so we’d pile as many kids in the hide-a-bed sofa as we could and giggle till the wee hours of dawn. Until grumpy Uncle Dennis would threaten to beat us with the yard stick!
Those are memories that I pray stay etched in my mind forever! But what I discovered as I grew up was that my generally tender hearted and kind Uncle had just gotten back from the Vietnam War. As kids we had no concept of what he had seen and experienced on the battlefield. But apparently it sounded somewhat like six giggly rowdy girls banging metal hide-a-bed legs on the floor, but not nearly as funny. As kids we had no concept of his struggle with the noises of war, but as adults we are without excuse.
During this season there are two prayers that I desire to see answered:
Open Doors
Paul said to pray that God would “open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ.” Hearts are indeed tenderer this time of year. We need to be ever mindful of an opportunity to share the love of God through Word and deed. There’s no shortage of broken hearts this time of year or any other really. A word of encouragement can go a lot further than you’d imagine. It doesn’t cost a dime to stop and say a prayer for someone. Visit the elderly or invite someone to church. It cost very little to drop a card in the mail to a veteran to let him know you remember the sacrifice he made, or go caroling at his home with a basket of fruit and thank you card. What about sharing some goodness with the parents of a soldier now deployed, these are rough days for them. The mystery of Christ is not such a mystery when the door is opened to share Christian kindness.
Open Hearts
Paul also reminded us to “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” We didn’t know what was going on in Uncle Dennis’ mind when he towered over our bed with his 6 foot 6 inch silhouette. We only knew that we better be still. God reminds us that there are times to speak, and times to be silent when dealing with the hearts of men. Our hearts need to be open and ever conscious to say the right thing, at the right time, especially during this season that might just bring a bad memory alive instead of the good.
I hope this Christmas that God opens doors for us to open our hearts and share the love of Jesus! I pray that the pathway is filled with opportunities to let our little lights shine!
God Bless you!
Shari Johnson
www.theJesusChick.com
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