“God-Incidences”

The last post I talked about my belief…that there are no coincidences, only “God-Incidences”. So I feel the urge to share about the biggest thing God is doing in my life right now and how He is speaking to me. You may not even believe this is true. I would not even post this if I was not standing in complete faith…

I am expecting for the 3^rd time in 3 and ½ years; a few months sooner than my plan. I was asking God to let this be the last pregnancy and make it permanent because with 2 children I am at my threshold and with 3 I am over my limit. So I am waiting for my 1^st appointment and since the health care I use is at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, and many veterans don’t have babies, they outsource prenatal care and delivery to Eastern Virginia Medical School. This takes ages for paperwork to process so I am still waiting for my first appointment and I am almost 3 months along.

2 weeks ago I had back to back prophetic dreams from God. One dream was about a friend and I woke up and I felt the urge to immediately call her and tell her the dream. I waited until afternoon and she said she has been having that same situation go on in her life! This is generally what the 1^st dream was about:

In my dream I was having a dream about my friend. Then I woke up and I saw her. She asked me a question and then I said, “I just had a dream that you said the same thing!”

Hopefully you are following me. I had a dream that I had a dream. Ha!

Then the next night, I had another dream and this is what it was about:

I was at my 1st appointment getting an ultrasound. The lady printed out the picture and handed it to me and said you are 17 weeks pregnant. I looked at the picture and there were 2 baby faces side by side that looked just like David (my 11 month old). I was obviously having twins. I then went into another room and a different nurse gave me another ultrasound and said, “You are 14 weeks pregnant and look they are twins!” I said, “The other lady told me I was 17 weeks.” The nurse said, “Well this says you are 14 weeks.” So I said, “That is strange.”

Then I woke up. I immediately remembered all of the smallest details not mentioned here. Usually when I do, I ask God, “What are you saying, is this prophetic?” I said/asked, “Oh my God, am I having twins?” I told my husband about my dream and I was like, “I am not sure if it was from God, but how funny would that be?” So he said, “Honey, you remembered all of those details, I think it is from God. Just a few days ago I had a thought cross my mind, 'What if it is twins?' But I did not think twice about it. I have never had those thoughts before with our other boys.”

I then talked to a friend who is spiritually discerning and asked her to see if God tells her anything about the truth of my dream. She then called me the next day. She said, “I haven’t really prayed much about it but I think something that I don’t want to say for sure.” So I proceeded to drag it out of her and I promised not to hold her in contempt if she was off. (ha!) So she told me as she was going to pray for the pregnancy she said to herself, “Let me pray for the babies.” Then she told me that she has never thought in plural about my other pregnancy. An since that slipped out of her mouth she then asked to the God, “Is it true, twins?” and then felt in her heart, “Yes.”

So I try to dismiss the whole thing. I think, “Yeah right, twins does not run in our families and I am just focusing on it too much.” I cannot get this out of my mind though.

So this past week, on Monday or Tuesday night, I had another dream:

I was dreaming that I was having my original dream about the twins. I then woke up and called my aunt who is not a believer and I told her about my dream. I told her that I was going to have twins and had not been to the Dr. yet but God spoke to me through my dream.

I woke up and I said, “Am I supposed to tell my aunt, Lord? to testify about You being living and active and speaking to me?” I did not feel an urgency to do so then and I waited and kept asking for confirmation. She has previously rejected any conversation regarding God, church or prayer.

So now Friday, I was on my way to an appointment in VA Beach. I have not told my mom about the dream or “twins” yet. So she calls me and asks how Malachi is doing since he was sick. I say, “He has an ear infection.” She said, “Oh he is just like his aunt Destinee, she has one too, tell him that she is his twin.” I say to myself, “Ok God very funny.” Then on the way home I passed a public bus stop that I usually glance at and there is a lady standing there with 2 strollers with twin girls! I do not want to believe this is true and my husband starts laughing and saying, “God is going to keep confirming this until you believe it!” So I get home and I let my son watch a cartoon called Dilbert, first time seeing this one. In the cartoon, Dilbert and his mom went to pick up his friends, twin boys Jeremy & Jeffrey.

Yesterday, we go out to eat at Peking before church on Saturday and get 5 fortune cookies. We have 4 in our family. I get two of the exact same fortunes! Twin fortunes! Shawn is now laughing again and saying, “Do you believe it now?”

I kept ruminating on the fact that I would not have a prompting from the Lord to tell my aunt unless it was true and going to bring glory to Him, for her to believe. So today after church, I called her and told her as I did in my dream. I had a strong urge to do so and could not stop thinking about calling her so I knew the Holy Spirit was prompting me to call her right now. By the way, I now had that many more “God-Incidences" to share with her.

I will get an ultrasound on my 1st appointment since EVMS has them in all rooms and they usually use it to check heartbeat at all appointments. I will medically confirm the God confirmations then. I will be sure to post the results here. 14 weeks begins May 16th and I expect my appointment to be during that week. Now it’s time to work on my patience…

Coincidences?

Yes, I am far behind with posting regular blogs about my prayer life. I must do something different and I have come up with a plan so things should begin to improve. God has been speaking to me about obedience!! I talked to Carrie Pollock, my partner in crime, and guess what?? Obedience. I told my husband about what I have been hearing and guess what? He has been hearing obedience as well.

How have I “heard” this? I started to read a recommended book by Brad Jersak, called “Can you hear me? Tuning in to the God who speaks”. In it, he talks about obedience. He also talks about disobedience. If prompted to say or do something and we fail to obey exactly as ordered, then we do not see the consequences of how that affects so many others, not just us!! Then, Wednesday morning, I happened to look for the weather on TV and I caught Joyce Meyer. I do not regularly watch her but I “just happened” to stay on her channel. She was talking about obedience! She said, “When God tells us to do something that no one else does, don’t look at them, you just be obedient, don’t complain.” I do not think there are any coincidences. As soon as I stopped assuming so, then everywhere I turned, I saw where God was speaking to me. I am not sure if it was always that way, but I feel that since I now look for it, it happen a lot and I see clearly when God speaks to me through others and things, even on TV! So this morning, I let my son watch some cartoons. On TBN they have Christian cartoons and it was the 1^st time I saw this one. There was a little cherub singing and talking about reading your bible every day and letting it sink into your heart and OBEYING what it said! It seems he is currently speaking obedience to Shawn, Carrie & I. And you? What is He speaking to you about? How is He speaking? Please share!!! prayer@freedomlifechurch.com

And what about coincidences? Think twice the next time you start to say, “What a coincidence”. God speaks to me all the time through those “coincidences”. About a year ago I was on campus at ODU (I am a late bloomer will be done with college in December) I was thinking about John Pollock, (Carrie’s son) who is a traditional student. I had something in particular on my mind about him and so I was praying silently as I was walking to class. Then I ran into him! I said, “Hey! I was just in the middle of praying for you about ____. " He was surprised! I never ran into him before at that time of day. I always walked the same route to class from my car at the same time in the morning. Coincidence?

CELEBRATE OUR RISEN LORD

Sunrise Service
6:30 AM, Sunday, March 23

The Hamptons Golf Course

(320 Butler Farm Road, Hampton, just off of Magruder Blvd. across from Tysinger Motors).

**Breakfast to follow at FLC at 7:30 AM**
Join us until the 9:15-10:30AM service begins!
2nd service 11-12:15PM



24 Hours of Prayer
Will be leading us up to the Sunrise Service Easter morning!
5:30 AM Saturday March 22nd through 5:30AM Sunday March 23rd

Look for the Prayer Wheel at FLC this weekend.
Interface Prayer Ministry will start signing up FLC’ers this weekend for 30 minute slots (that’s 48 people, although we will certainly double-up or triple-up if necessary!!!).
Prayer Focus is relationships, where do you fit in with FLC as we are starting a 3rd service?
Where can you get plugged in when it comes to relationships?
How can we improve our vertical relationship with our God as well as horizontal relationships within FLC?

A time of sharing will take place at the Sunrise service for anyone moved to do so; otherwise just come and worship in the early morning hour as we remember together that Christ rose from the grave and gave us VICTORY!!! That’s reason to be EXCITED!!!

For Questions, please email Tara Fisher or Carrie Pollock at prayer@freedomlifechurch.com

The Word Continued...

Okay, I have to continue this discussion about the power of THE WORD!!! The power of praying scripture. I just found this tremendous scripture today:

Jer 23:29 "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"

WOW! Okay God! Yes, Your Word is like a hammer, it is like a fire!!! We must not try so hard in our flesh when we pray. I used to do that. I would pray and it was like I was trying to make something happen while I was praying it, but then I meditated on this powerful verse:

Jer 1:12 (MKJV) And the LORD said to me, You have seen well; for I will watch over My word to perform it.

You LORD perform Your Word! We don't perform it! Our only job is to pray the Word then step out in faith to receive what He has promised us already! We pray it and claim it, then our only job is to believe He is performing it! How do we believe it? Just as Paul said:

Acts 27:25 (RSV) So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.

BELIEVE GODS WORD AS IT SAYS!!! Don't doubt! Amen!

Okay, I am probably a little too "exclamationy" but I get so fired up for His promises. Once I started taking hold of them in my life and seeing the fruit of studying the Bible and claiming the promises, I just can't help it. :)

So you may see there are several different versions I have used. Wording is different for different versions. You can go to www.biblegateway.com and look at all the different versions side by side for FREE. Another great resource I just learned about for FREE is www.bibleexplorer.com, then go to "library". You can look at the Greek and Hebrew text and learn in what context a word was used in. Also www.blueletterbible.com was recommended by Lisi last night at women's bible study. These are all free and Power Bible is not.

Please go dig...

I can't sign off without giving an example. God is speaking about His Word(s) again here so please read verses 20-24 to get the context... This is copied and pasted from my notes in Power Bible. In the brackets are the Hebrew words from which the verse came. The Greek/Hebrew words are only given when I click on the King James Version on Power Bible:

Proverbs 4:22 For they are life (chay) unto those that find (matsa')them, and health (marpe)to all their flesh. (basar)

Next I clicked on (marpe') and I pasted below the definition from the Strong's Hebrew Dictionary:

marpe', mar-pay':properly, curative, i.e. literally (concretely) a medicine, or (abstractly) a cure; figuratively (concretely) deliverance, or (abstractly) placidity:--((in-))cure(-able), healing(-lth), remedy, sound, wholesome, yielding. )

So now after studying that one scripture today, instead of just praying, "God, your Word is life to me and health to my flesh" I prayed, "Your Word is health to my flesh, it is medicine to my body, it is my cure, it is deliverance, I am whole! I claim it, your Word is like a Hammer! It is like fire!! In Jesus' name!!!"

So can you read the difference? I do not mean to be writing "to you" as I am sure many of you are versed better than I am in all of this. I hope this little step by step example helps. Please email with any questions, suggestions, comments....prayer@freedomlifechurch.com

Why Pray Scripture?

What is the benefit? Why read the Word? I try to study and memorize the Word as much as I can. Only because it directly affects my prayer life! If someone asks me for prayer at church, or on the phone, or I am praying in my private prayer time, scriptures will be brought to my mind that I have stored up in my memory. So then I pray those, as they are brought to my mind, over that person or situation. I also like to have my Bible open and reviewing scriptures before and during my time of prayer. Sometimes I get directed to certain places in the Bible. These places may be of scriptures I have forgotten or new ones. I often end up turning to a verse and then I will get a thought of someone in my head; I have learned that is my way of knowing to pray that scripture over that person or situation. I will not tell someone that I was praying for them unless prompted by the Holy Spirit.

2 years ago, I was awake at a very odd hour, like 4 in am, and I was praying scriptures from a brochure over the missions team. I got stuck on this one verse. I could not take my eyes off of it. I just said it out loud and gave it to God. I kept saying it out loud over and over for a good minute, then I got a picture in my head of someone dear to me. I prayed this scripture over them for about the next 4-5 minutes until I felt that I could move on. I made a mental note of the exact time. Later when I saw them, I got a thought in my head to tell them what scripture it was and what happened. They happened to be going through a physical ailment that scared them. They thought they were all alone and could not make it through at that very moment. They were trying to fight fear in prayer and could not believe what I told them!!! If you get woken in the middle of the night, then it may be God! He is looking for people who want to be used in prayer.

The Bible gives us the following powerful versus concerning the Word of God….

Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

1 John 5:14-15 (NIV) 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Okay, I’ll stop there. If we meditate on just those 3 scriptures, who wouldn’t want to pray scripture? I would just like to encourage you, don't think the Word is intimidating, just pick a spot and start there. Biblegateway.org also has a search engine that you can search topics and read all the scriptures pertaining to that topic right there online in the same spot. I have a Power Bible CD that a friend, Carol, recommended and I would highly recommend it if you enjoy studying the Greek and Hebrew, since it gives you the ancient words next to the translation with the definitions all with just a point and click of your mouse.

Please let me know how studying the Word helps you! Send me your testimony! I will be posting several topics and what the Word says regarding them throughout the year.

If a 1 & 1/2 Year Old Can Do It...

....then why is it so hard for us to do the same? We must make it a lifestyle! This clip of my son Malachi was taken on my phone 1 year ago, February 28, 2007. I was thinking, "Yes Malachi, you're making me look good!" Carrie & I showed this clip during a portion of the sermon a few weeks ago when Pastor Chris was preaching the series, "Extreme Makeover, Family Edition". We were asked to share what we did with our children to raise them to have a Christ-centered focus. Of course, (cough, cough) my little 2 1/2 years experience pales in comparison to Carrie's; so I had to let her have the most time of our 15 minutes or so. :) There are so many other parents with many great things they do, have done and are doing with their children. Please email us your pearls of wisdom so we can share here on the blog. One thing I am getting questions about is the book I referenced that my husband, Shawn, bought online: The Memory Bible Narrated by Kirk Cameron and written by Stephen Elkins. Here is what it looks like:



If our little ones can memorize a nursery rhyme, then they can memorize these little memory verse songs. They are all scripture which most Praise & Worship music is. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God; so Malachi gets these little songs stuck in his head and runs around singing them building every one's faith within an earshot! Amazing!

7 Steps to Answered Prayer

Be Specific and stand on Gods promises: Once you know what you want from God, find the scriptures that definitely promise you these things. Ask God for what you want: Then believe that you receive them according to the Word. Be positive in your thinking: Let every thought and desire affirm that you have what you have asked for. Guard your mind against every evil thought that tries to make you doubt God's Word: Do as Jesus, "it is written" and quote your scripture that promises you complete healing, etc... Meditate constantly: Speak out loud God's promises upon which you have based your answer to prayer. Continually thank God for the answer: In your every waking moment, think on the greatness of God and His goodness, and count your blessings. Once you have asked him for it, just stand in faith thanking God for making it happen rather than praying for it all over again! Make every prayer a statement of faith: It is thinking faith thoughts and speaking faith words that lead the heart out of defeat and into victory. Interface Prayer Ministry www.freedomlifechurch.com Praise, Petition & Persevere!