Matthew 6:33-But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. God wants to give us the desires of our heart and the only thing He asks in return is that you seek after Him. I know that there are those who think that they can manipulate God to give them what they are searching for, but God cannot be tempted nor can He be manipulated. I have heard some people testify that they gave God an ultimatum like “God if you do this for me then I will do this for you” then they didn’t get what they wanted. To those the only thing I can say is you got what you deserved. You cannot manipulate God so why bother to try.
 
There have been those however who in desperation or having no other knowledge of Him have sincerely asked God to get them out of a situation or help them with something and He has out of the grace in Him has done it because of their sincerity. They did not manipulate Him because they had no idea and out of their need they discovered God and his grace and mercy. You must be sincere in your desire and seek God first and foremost before you will ever see your desire fulfilled.
 
What is the desire of your heart? Is it a new job, a new car, better finances, or could it be to find peace in your heart and in your mind. The desires of your heart can vary in so many ways. Let me share with you the desires of my heart as an example. There are basically two continuous desires that I pray for every night. The first is that God will use me to speak into the lives of those who don’t know Him that they may be saved in the Name of Jesus. The second is that my heart would be changed in every aspect and that I would become like Him and put away the worldly side of myself. There are other desires that I pray for also like my family, my two daughters and their husbands as well as my grandchildren that each one of them would turn to Jesus and follow Him, but other than those that is it. I have no desire for material things because as the bible says therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17. The things of this world are not what we should search for but our salvation and Jesus Christ.
 
If you will seek after God first and foremost you will see changes in your life that will blow your mind. Jesus should be the first thing on your mind when you get up and the last thing on your mind when you go to bed. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you. That is not just a statement but a promise from God. Don’t try to manipulate Him because the only one you fool is yourself. Seek after your desires with sincerity and honesty and you will see them come to pass. Ask God to give you what you need and not what you want and you will see the latter come your way. God knows what you need to get by in your everyday life and what you need to follow Him. He totally understands us in every way and is ready to give us our desires. Seek Him first and you will see.
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​I can’t help but think of all the people in this world who may never know Jesus Christ because of their stubbornness or their ignorance. I have spoken to people all over who are so dead set against Jesus that no matter what you say they will not change their mind. I think of those who are dying in a hospital somewhere who have never said yes to Jesus. What are they thinking and why are they so against the only person who can assure that they would live in eternity with God the Father. Before they die, do they call out upon the Lord for forgiveness in the eleventh hour or do they just pass on never uttering a thought or word accepting Him.
 
These are all questions that I am willing to think about and pray upon to help as I go out and minister to people around the world. I realize that there are going to be those that no matter how hard you talk and how much truth is in what you say to them who will in no way ever surrender to Jesus and that is a very hard and sad thought. I have spoken to those who have said that they prayed and asked God to heal them yet they had not been healed and now they are going to die. My response is this, God said He would heal them but He did not say when or how. Maybe their healing comes in the form of accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior and then knowing that when they do die they will be in paradise. Maybe their healing comes within hours of when man says they are going to die, or maybe it is only when they surrender to Him. God is never early and He is never late. He hears our prayers and He answers them in His time and in His will.
 
Even though I will continue to think about why some people will never surrender to Jesus, I will not be so focused on it that it consumes me. I know the answer and that is all I really need to know. Jesus said to go preach the gospel and that is what I am going to do and leave the saving to Him. God made me a mouthpiece for Him and my one and only job is to tell them about Him and then get out of the way and let Him take it from there. I would love to see everyone come to know and follow Jesus but the bible says that there will be those who will be cast into the pit of hell no matter what. Not everyone will be saved and there will also be those who say they are saved and yet their life shows no remnant of it and when they stand before the Father he will say to them and then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:23. You can’t hide a thing from God. You may be able to deceive man but you will never deceive God.
 
If you have never said yes to Jesus there is no time like right now this very second. I can promise you that if you accept Him with your entire heart you will never be the same again. Every Christian in the world all had at one time had to say yes with their heart and mean it. No one is exempt for accepting Jesus and He tells us in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” What does that mean to you and me? It says, first of all there is only one path that leads to Heaven and to God the Father and that path is through a man called Jesus Christ. Secondly it tells us that there is only one truth about the path that leads to Heaven and that truth has a name and that name is Jesus Christ. Thirdly it tells us that there is only one life that leads us to the Father and that life is in Jesus Christ. Finally it tells us that unless we know Him as the way, the truth and the life we will never see or enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and there will be no reconciliation with us and the Father. Seems like there should be another way but Jesus made it clear and for more than you think, made it extremely easy for it to happen in our lives.
 
When you find that there is nowhere else to go and that you have reached the very bottom of the barrel there is Jesus Christ. The decision that I made way back in 1988 to follow Him was the best decision I have ever made. Sure I spent some time away from Him but when I came to my senses in 1992 and cried out to Him, He was right there and it was like I never left. Oh I had some repenting to do and some forgiveness to search out but since that day I have been changed and I now have a desire to see others receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
 
I have had the honor to see literally hundreds of people surrender their lives to the Lord yet I still want to see hundreds more. One of those could be you and like I said, Jesus made it extremely easy to receive Him. All you need to do is to cry out to Him and ask Him for His forgiveness. Accept the fact that He came to this earth and died on a cross then rose from the grave three days later just to save you. If you say those things and you mean it with your every being and whole heart you will be saved and your name will be written down in the Lambs Book of Life. You will be the one that I will hear from telling me that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you will make me a very happy person and you will become my brother/sister in Christ.
 
I am not going to say that being a Christian is going to take away all of the pains of this life nor am I going to say that everything is going to go smooth from this point on. What I am going to tell you is that no matter what you have to go through whether good or bad, Jesus is right there with you and He will see you through. He always has and He always will. In Deuteronomy 31:8 this is what the Lord has to say to each and every one of us, The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. That is a promise that you can stand upon and you will feel His presence every step of the way. I tell you the truth, Jesus loves you more than you will ever know and He will be there with you.
 
I love each and every one of you with the love of Christ and I will be praying that you will have an experience with Jesus that will change your life forever and it will be an experience that will assure you of the love He has for you. I would appreciate your response to this invitation to receive Jesus as you Lord and Savior and I ask you that if you do ask Him into your life that you let someone know. The bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9. Just let someone know and then get into a good bible believing church so you can be disciple in the ways of the Lord. Get a bible and then read it. My suggestion is that you start with the book of John and then Psalms and Proverbs but read John for sure. If you don’t like to read like me, read it anyway. I had to force myself to read but it was the best read ever for me. I still don’t read a lot of books but I do read the bible because of all of the truth and the awesome stories of God’s love.
 
Remember God loves you and as the bible says, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10.
 
God bless you and keep you
Steve

​Have you ever taken the time to think about what eternity means to you? That is one of the questions of life that really consumes my thoughts. I have spent the past few years telling others about Jesus Christ and the love that He has for them and my thoughts can’t help but wonder what is happening in their lives. For some, they have made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, but for others they either sit on the fence not sure which way they want to go or they just flat out reject what God has for them. It is those latter souls who are the ones I am consumed with.
 
I realize that God has given each of us a free will to choose for ourselves. One of those free will decisions is whether or not to accept Jesus. Of course for me I would prefer for them to accept Him and have eternal life with Him, but like I said they have the free will to choose for themselves. As I write these things I can’t help but wonder why. Why can’t they see what God has done in others’ lives and want that for their own life. But then of course there are those who at one time knew Him and chose to walk away for whatever reason. The thing that I want everyone to know is that it is not too late to change your mind and that Jesus is right there waiting to forgive you.
 
Now with that said, what about the eternity question. I wonder if there are those who never realize the ties between Jesus and eternity or maybe they don’t think that there will be an eternity. For those of us who know what the bible has to say, it is our responsibility to continue to minister to those who are lost, sitting on the fence, or have changed their minds. God told us to go and share the gospel and that means to everyone regardless of whether or not you have done it before. We need to continue to minster the gospel until Jesus comes back, because it is those soles are needed in the kingdom and throughout eternity.
 
Take a quick look at this line, __________________._____________________, notice the little dot in the center of that line? That little dot is actually what our life looks like in the plan of God. That dot could represent 20 years or 90 years but in eternity, it is just a little dot. In the overall scheme of things our life is very short when you compare it with eternity. Notice also, that after the dot the line is just a continuous line that never ends and keeps going and going and going like for an eternity. That is the part we need to concern ourselves with. Will we spend it in Heaven or in Hell that is the question? The bible is clear and concise about what each is like and for my money I choose Heaven. How about you what direction do you choose? What do you choose? Do you prefer to accept Jesus or do you prefer what the world has to offer.
 
Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” and if you don’t understand what that means, it means that unless you have a one on one relationship with Him, you will never spend eternity with Him and His Father in Heaven for eternity. Eternity is huge and you definitely do not want to miss out on the right way to go. But, the choice is yours and it will be the biggest decision you will ever have to make. Listen to your heart and allow God to speak to you. The decision you make will be the difference between life and death. Choose wisely and then watch how your life changes. There are those who never in their wildest dreams could have ever guessed that one day I would be saved and preaching the gospel, but there was that day when there was nowhere else to go and someone spoke to me the way that I am speaking to you today and I listened and then I chose God. I have had a lot of ups and downs but there is one thing that I know and that keeps me going and that is that one day I am going to get to spend eternity with Jesus and praise Him for what He did in my life. God didn’t promise me that everything in my life would become perfect, but He did promise me that I would have life eternal and that my name would be written down in the Lambs Book of Life and that is more than enough for me. Why don’t you make the same decision and you will find like I did just how much Jesus loves you and how much He cares for you. My life will never be the same again and for that I am thankful.
 
God bless all of you and may you hear God speaking to you and then respond to His voice and not miss out on the rest of your life.

Just recently I came to the conclusion that I am complacent, or at least that is one of the seven steps in the book “Activating Your Prophetic Gift”. The author of the book said that when you are called by God to prophesy and you are not actively practicing that gift then you become complacent. So, I have become complacent. I know that God called me to the prophetic and I know that I do not always use that gift. It is not out of fear because I really don’t care what people think about me but, for the most part it is because the churches today have gotten away from either allowing that gift or they just don’t practice it. There are churches that believe in the prophetic but they do choose not to promote it for a lack of better words.
 
I have traveled all over the Philippines and everywhere I have gone God used me in a powerful way speaking into the lives of people. When I return home however it is a totally different atmosphere. Sometimes it seems like people no longer want to hear from God and follow what He wants them to do. They say I am a Christian and the only thing they do is go to church on Sunday, spend at the most two hours and then head back to be the way they were before going to church. Not that it is a bad thing that they only go to church but they spend no time in prayer for their needs or they don’t have time for those who may be able to give them the encouragement that they are searching for. Then on the other hand, part of the blame lies on those God has called to prophesy.
 
I don’t want to be a part of any problem and after reading the book I had to repent and look deep inside myself and decide to prophesy no matter what. I want people to be encouraged and I want people to hear from God. God is speaking constantly to us and we just don’t take the time to listen. I am the first to admit that I have asked myself why God is speaking to me and now I finally understand, I am not listening. There have been times when God has told me to say this or that to someone and I have not been obedient to do it, shame on me and Father forgive me.
 
One of the decisions I have recently made is that even if I have to write out what God is telling me I will do that and speak when told to do so. Another thing that I have realized is that, sometime ago I stopped writing in my journal and again I have dropped the ball. The book I read said that if you write down what your thoughts are and what is going on you will begin to realize that you are not only beginning to listen but you realize completely that God is indeed speaking to you.
 
So, as for me, my eyes have been opened and I will do my very best to speak the words that God has given me. Be encouraged that if you really want to know what God has for you then stop and listen and you will hear and you will know. God is constantly speaking and the words He is speaking to you will change your life forever just as it has mine. The love God has for you far surpasses anything that you can think or imagine and the things He has to say to you are blessed, anointed and just for you to help you each and every day.
 
God bless you.
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For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. Luke 19:6. Do you realize what those words mean? Are you aware of those words and the one who said them? How about this! Do you pray before your meal especially when you are in public?
 
I ask these questions because I have seen many times in a restaurant people who set down to eat and never pray first. Or, I have heard people who I know to be a Christian who shy away from telling others that they are a Christian because of fear or what I perceive to be fear. What are they afraid of? Are they actually afraid or are they embarrassed to admit who they are and what God means to them? Whatever the answer may be, each of us need to understand what Jesus said when He said, for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. He is telling us that if we are embarrassed of him before man then He will be embarrassed of us before His Father.
 
I guess I don’t understand how someone cannot tell others about what God has done for them. I am so thankful and grateful for what He did for me that I can’t wait to tell others. I am not ashamed to let others know what they may need to know to help them in their lives. Whatever God has done in a life then that person should want to tell others with great expectations that God would do it in theirs.
 
What about sharing God with your friends or family? Have you told them about Jesus or are you waiting for someone else to do it? Just to pass along a little bit of information, but someone else died and it is your responsibility. Can you imagine one day standing before God and your friend is just ahead of you in the line and God asks them, “why did you not follow me” and they tell Him that it was because you did not tell them. What do you have to be afraid of? Every person is going to have to go through the same process as you did and how can they do that unless we tell them about Him? It is our responsibility and it should be a responsibility that we take seriously.
 
The day I get to heaven I want God to say, “Well done my good and faithful servant” and not say, “Why did you not tell others about me.” If you really want to know if you don’t already, it is easier to talk about Jesus before complete strangers than it is family and friends that is why it is so important for us to get over ourselves and bite the bullet and get the boldness to begin to speak. Ask God to pour into your life boldness. Ask Him to give you what you need to complete the task He has set before you. The bible says, and he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Mark 16:15. The key word in that scripture is PROCLAIM. Proclaim according to the dictionary means, announce officially or publicly. If I can give you any advice as a minister of the gospel, that advice would be to tell everyone about what Jesus has done for you and then let Jesus finish from there. Your job is just to tell them about Him and not save them that is His job. If you are a farmer do you plant the seed and then cause it to grow? No, you plant the seed and from that point on it is up to God to grow that seen into whatever it was supposed to be. Same rule applies in telling others about the gospel God says tell them and from that point on He takes over and grows that seen to the point of they either accept Him or reject Him, the choice is theirs because of their free will.
 
Have faith to know that God knows our hearts and our minds and if we will surrender to Him we will never have to wonder if Jesus is going to be ashamed of us before His Father. Be who God has called you to be and follow the way Jesus leads you and you will always do it the right way.
 
God bless you and Jesus loves you!
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I am totally amazed to be where I am at today. God called me to what I do and I have fought Him all the way. I have gotten so impatient that I tried to move out ahead of Him and do it myself only to fail miserably. When I failed then came the depression and the, I can’t seem to do anything right feelings. Not only did that all happen but I wanted to quit as well. I couldn’t understand how God could call me to do something and then allow me to fail the way I have. I have gone several years fighting all the way and the one thing I have never done is give up though that seemed the only option.

I remember a time when I knew that I knew that God had called me to preach that Lorraine and I took an entire summer traveling from church to church all over the state visiting many different churches. We were meeting pastors and hoping to get an opportunity to bring our ministry into their church. The only thing that we walked away with for that summer was a lot less money and absolutely no invitations. I remember asking God, what is wrong with you and why did you call me and then just abandon me? I know that He answered me, but I could not accept the fact that I wasn’t doing what I was called to do because there were no invitations coming.

We went on for months and nothing. It was only about a year ago when it finally hit me that God wanted me to obey Him and wait upon Him and He would open the doors. It was then I realized that I had indeed been doing what He had called me to do, but it didn’t look like what I had dreamed up in my mind. We traveled to the Philippines several times and have seen great miracles and literally hundreds of people saved and/or delivered. We had been put into situations where God would move as we spoke with different people about the things happening in their lives.  People had come to us for our counsel and it was then I realized that we had been doing what God had called us to do all along.

What does ministry look like? It looks like reaching out to the hurting and the lost one on one or in a small group. Reaching out on the social media or by phone whatever it takes to tell others about Jesus Christ. Minister with whatever you feel in your heart that will lead others to Him. God did not say you had to minister just in a church to be used by Him, He said to them, “Go into the entire world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15 If you noticed in that scripture it said nothing about inside a church. OK I get it God and I will obey.

Yes, I have learned that I need to wait upon God and He will make a way and the awesome thing is, I am OK with that. After all He does know more about it than I ever will. I will be a witness for Him in the way I live, the things I say and most of all the things I do, and I don’t have to do that in a church, just in my everyday life.

God bless you
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Steve & Lorraine

It has been two weeks since I returned home from the Philippines and I just can’t seem to get the thoughts of what God did while I was there off of my mind. I witnessed some of the most miraculous changes in people’s lives as God reached down from Heaven and touched them. I don’t want to forget them, but there was a reason God keeps bringing them to my mind.
I witnessed God instantly healing this person or that person. I felt the power of God in the churches I was visiting bringing what God had placed on my heart and in my mind. As I ministered I would tell those who wanted to receive from God to come forward for prayer and come with expectation in their hearts. Expectation that God will answer their prayer and that there would be a mighty move of His Spirit in their lives. You know what, I seen it all happen. There was a man healed 100% from tuberculosis. A woman who could not lift her arm would be able to not only lift it but extend it far above her head like nothing was ever wrong. I witnessed a young man being healed from asthma as he struggled to take each breath as he come expecting a miracle from God and how suddenly his breathing changed before our eyes and he could breathe normally as he yelled at the top of his lungs, I am healed, I am healed.
Ever since I got back home my email has been busy as I hear from others who have been touched by the power of God. How they were uncertain at the time but then there was an interesting event happen in their lives and they knew that God had touched them. About three or four weeks ago we had prayer for a young couple who for three years had been trying to have a baby. God spoke and said that they would become parents and to watch for His hand in their lives and they would know. I heard from one of the pastors that the couple have finally conceived and are going to have a baby. Praise God for all of the answered prayers and the ones that He is still going to answer.
I know that God wants to heal His people and I know that it will be done in His time and in His will. Don’t give up on your requests for healing because God heard you before you even asked and it did not come as a surprise to Him. There are times when we seek healing that God wants something from us like maybe a little more faith or maybe a trust in Him. Whatever the case may be His plan is to heal us and to touch us. But, you say I prayed and prayed and I was not healed or my loved one passed away anyway, what would you say about that? My answer is simple, I am not God and I have no idea why they weren’t healed but God does and there will come a time when it will revealed to us. I do want you to know that who said they weren’t healed or that you weren’t healed. Did you go to God with expectation that you would be healed or did you just ask because that is what Christians do?
My answer to any of these would be press in. Don’t allow the world to dictate to you that some get healed and some don’t. God wants you to be healed in the Name of Jesus and if He didn’t He would never have sent His Son to be beaten so that we would be healed. By His stripes we are healed, Isaiah 53:5. If press in does not work then you need to press in and continue to press in until you have a move of God. Press in with expectation that God is going to do what He said He would do and never look back. PUSH-Pray Until Something Happens. Don’t give up keep pressing in. God will meet your needs because He promised in His word and that should not only be enough, but more than enough.
I know that God is going to do more in people’s lives and the many people who were prayed for will get the answer they have been seeking. It is always good to see a miracle at the very moment you pray but more than anything else it is all about God. I did witness one of the greatest miracles in my book and that is there were somewhere in the neighborhood of four-hundred people receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. There was a witch delivered, healed and set free the very moment she received Jesus. I can’t complain about what I hoped to do, I can only thank God for what He did with what I had and the places I could not go because of finances were only places that maybe we wanted to go but God had laid out our plan and kept us to it.
I will so look forward to the next trip and the next mighty move of God where ever that may be. God is in control and I will follow Him all the way to the very end of my life.
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