Tuesday, July 24, 2012

In God's Gaze


For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

(ChristiansUnite.com)
 

Eyes watched the sprinkled stars above.
You bound me in the gaze of solemn love.
You're there, I prayed.
I'm here, you said.


Alone, near the Hindu Kush one warm night,
I knew the presence in the desert sight.
You're there, I prayed.
I'm here, you said.


Face to face with the hooded black snake.
Cobra, you must do what the Master bade.
I prayed, God I'm yours.
I'm here, you said.


Hanging high from the mountain cliff,
the periled black bus bound in strife.
If I live, I live; if I die, I die.
My life is in your hands.
I'm here, you said.


Fifty men hold packed grey stones in hand,
as we exit the myriad tile mosque, stand.
I really didn't plan to die this way.
I'm here, you said.


She's the royal beauty I want to meet.
Wait, don't move, the princess greet.
I backed against the white wood wall.
I'm here, you said.


Years in a row, the morning dawn,
rays of your cosmic light across the lawn.
Excited, I know this day
the Lord has made.
I'm here, you say.


– Bill Hunt © 2012


Then He inaugurated Joshua the son of Nun, and said, "Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you" (Deut 31:23 NKJV).

God revealed his presence to me in the night sky,
alone in the deserts of the Hindu Kush,
face to face with a venomous black cobra,
hanging in a bus over a high mountain cliff,
about to be stoned to death by a Muslim crowd,
in selecting miraculously my beautiful wife,
and multiple times in the daily gift of life.

Heb 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Heb 13:5 NKJV).

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Can You Pray at a Distance?


Do you believe God is limited by time, space, or matter? Think of what that means.

Jesus Heeds the Woman
(Artist Unknown, ChristiansUnite.com)

 
People wonder how well prayer works at a distance. They want to pray by phone, on the Internet, or even around the World. Perhaps, they forget they are dealing with the God of the Universe who knows no limitations. Not time, not matter, not space.

I was delighted to find a woman across the country healed of two serious conditions recently, one short term and the other chronic, after prayer over the Internet. This, even by chat typing on Facebook.

Jesus shows us in scripture. 


A Syro-Phoenician woman in the Region of Tyre and Sidon, not normally accepted by the Jews, begged Jesus to heal her possessed daughter who remained back at her own house.

But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."
28 And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."
29 Then He said to her, "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter."
30 And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed (Mark 7:27-30 NKJV).


Jesus healed the paralyzed servant of a pagan Roman Centurion who would also not cause Jesus to return to his house.

Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,
6 saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented."
7 And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."
8 The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.
9 "For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Matt 8:5-10 NKJV).


A nobleman came from Capernaum to Cana and begged Jesus to heal his son dying at home.

The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"
50 Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."
53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household (John 4:49-53 NKJV).


Yes. You can pray at a distance, by phone, by radio, by mail, by computer, by Internet, or indeed, spiritually, across your neighborhood, across the country, or even around the World. Do you have Faith? God knows no limitations, other than your heart before him.

The World needs your prayer.

– Bill Hunt
World in Christ


Saturday, July 14, 2012

Nigeria Bloody Massacre


Nigeria, 50 Christians martyred in church, 100 killed in 12 villages, farm crops ravaged by Boko Haram rebels.

Nigerian Farmers by Mike Blyth
   

Church of Christ in Nigeria reeling from massacre.

JOS, Nigeria, July 11 (Open Doors News) – Church of Christ in Nigeria officials tell Open Doors News that their members in the Jos region are fleeing their homes, fearful of more violence in the wake of last weekend’s mass killings in Plateau state. 
 
After a week of rising tensions between the mainly Muslim ethnic Fulani and the mainly Christian ethnic Birom, about 50 members of the Church of Christ in Nigeria around the village of Maseh had fled their homes, taking refuge July 7 in the home their pastor.
The gunmen came Saturday, entering the home and opening fire. Then they burned the house.

Fifty of our church members were killed in the church building where they had fled to take refuge. They were killed alongside the wife of the pastor and children,” said Rev. Dachollom Datiri, vice president of the Church of Christ in Nigeria, in a July 11 interview with Open Doors News at the church’s headquarters in Jos.

Church officials said that in all, about 100 Church of Christ members were killed in the weekend attacks in 12 villages: Maseh, Ninchah, Kakkuruk, Kuzen, Negon, Pwabiduk, Kai, Ngyo, Kura Falls, Dogo, Kufang, and Ruk.

In a country where Christians have suffered violence for more than a decade, last weekend’s mass killings nonetheless have left the Church of Christ, and much of the country, in shock.

They are psychologically traumatized, and their productive economic activities are impeded,” said Rev. Obed Dashan, general secretary of the Church of Christ in Nigeria, of surviving church members. 

Most of them are peasant farmers and the attacks have not allowed them to go to their farms. Even those that have planted crops have had their crops destroyed by the Muslim attackers.”

Church leaders claim the Nigerian government is turning a blind eye to persecution of Christians in the country, and fear more violence will occur as a result.

The whole thing is coming to a head,” Datiri said. “It’s been a long-term thing planned by the Boko Haram. This is a jihadist movement with the agenda to Islamize the country. It is a jihad, a religious war against Christians for refusing to embrace Islam. So, they are using terrorism as a weapon. That is the reason you see that the target of their attacks are Christians and our churches.”

Copyright 2012 Open Doors News.
OpenDoors News is distributed to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted by active subscribers only.


Let them be like chaff before the wind, And let the angel of the LORD chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery, And let the angel of the LORD pursue them. For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit, Which they have dug without cause for my life. Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly, And let his net that he has hidden catch himself; Into that very destruction let him fall (Psalm 35:5-8 NKJV).

The moron bully boys have slaughtered God's people, their own countrymen, butchering men, women, and children. The Christians killed are in the glorious presence of God.

We pray for the families and friends. We pray for the salvation of all the nation and people of Nigeria to be very strong in battling the cowardly attackers. We pray for the victory of the Nigerian Army.

We pray for God to overcome the Boko Haram rebels, to return them to peace and responsibility, to see the value in all God's Creation and people. We pray for their salvation.
 
Bill Hunt
World in Christ


Monday, July 9, 2012

God's Wedding Invitation—Mary Hunt


Are you now ready for Heaven's Wedding Feast?

Wedding at Cana by Mattia Preti, 1655
 

Gather my people, tell them to come.

Gather my people, I've sent my Son.

Tell them I love them, tell them I'm real.

I wait to touch them, I long to heal,

Everyone. Tell them, Come!


Would you miss heaven? Would you want hell?

Gather my people, you have to tell.

Tell them I love them, tell them I'm here.

Gather my people, I'll take their fear,

Everyone. Tell them, Come!


The feast is ready, the day is here.

Gather my people, tell them I'm near.

I stand at the door, the door of their hearts.

Knocking this hour, coming in power,

Everyone. Tell them, I come.

Mary Hunt © 2012


"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 'Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'
"So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.
"But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.
"So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless.
"Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
"For many are called, but few are chosen"
(Matt 22: 8-14 NKJV).