September 2023 Newsletter

Dear friends and family in Christ, may He bless you mightily! While praying for you, I heard the glory of the latter house will be greater than the former! (Haggai 2:9) The best is yet to come for you! I asked for a gift of faith be given to you that you believe for greater things! In Genesis 26, Isaac planted a crop and harvested 100 times as much in a time of famine! Amazing! All is possible with the Lord! Let’s ask!

What fun to teach on the shield of faith a few Sundays ago at CFC! It was a thrill that 5 children prayed to get born again! (Rt pic is them writing that they have decided to follow Jesus!) At Chapel this week, I preached “Run to Win;” 16 children came and prayed to get saved! Then, it ended up being almost every child coming to pray at the altar! It was anointed, precious, and powerful! Such glory!

Lord willing, Yezekiel and I start to the Philippines October 11! May God confirm His word with signs and wonders! We’re so grateful for you being part of us sharing the love, power, and truth of Jesus!

We know it is important to pray, but it’s more important that we pray in faith. How do we build our faith? First, we need to be born again. When we become a new creation, we get faith from Christ! Hebrews 12:1b-2a shows He is the author of our faith, “...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...” We

must be intentional in looking to Jesus, in praying (listening & talking) to Jesus, in praising and worshiping Jesus, and in reading His word. His faith will be imparted to us more and more.

The importance of hearing the word of God is shown in Romans 10:16-17, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Hearing His Word and listening to anointed preaching of the word is a powerful way to increase our faith. Jude 20 also shows that praying in tongues (in the Spirit) builds our faith.

Here is some word that builds our faith about praying in Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” A problem for many is that the results are not always immediate. Jesus reveals in a parable about an unjust judge that He is looking for persevering prayer.

Here is Luke 18:1-8, “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell

you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” Let’s ask and ask again.

Hebrews 6:11-14 confirms, “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.’” The Lord promised He will bless and multiply us, so let’s believe that and keep asking for help!

Philippians 4:6 shares, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Jesus said in John 16:23-24, “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

Mark 11:24-25 instructs us, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” Praying with forgiveness protects our faith. 1 John 3:22 concludes, “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” This is all by His grace. Let’s ask for the amazing!

Love in Christ, Steve, Jill, Judah, Yisaac, Jonah, Yissachar, Jakin, Yezekiel, Jerusalem, & Justice