What comes to your mind when Christmas is over and New Year’s Eve approaches?

For a majority of Americans it’s College football and the NFL playoffs. So, aside from that,
what comes to your mind? I think for most people it’s a time of reflection of the previous year and looking
forward to the New Year.

I do firmly believe in making New Year Resolutions. But if you really think about it most of these new goals and commitments are usually never followed through on and we fall right back into the norm of making ends meet, doing the 9 to 5. I read a report a few days ago that

Chris and I gave a update on Facebook, here it is.

For the last week, the Agape 1040 team has been in full effect in South Korea close to the border of North Korea. Many of you have not heard of the plight of the North Korean Christians. Last week, 80 people were publicly executed and hundreds of their families were put in hard labor concentration camps for life for possessing what the North Koreans call, “Pornography”. It was bibles, Christian teaching and Christian videos.

North Korean Christians cannot even meet in house churches because the danger is beyond anything we have seen in the persecution of todays Christians. The Christians must meet one on one with other believers. South Korean missionaries that we met along the way, are smuggling Christians out of the country through an elaborate system of paying off officials and army men, and holding the people in holding tanks to avoid detection by Chinese and North Korean authorities. They are trained one on one across the border in China and then some are brought back into the country. In many cases bringing a Bible back across would mean certain death, therefore our literature and others literature and Bible verses are memorized over a period of time and then taught person to person.

The North Korean government has gotten very good at finding Bibles. They teach the kids at school a game called “the little black book” game.

One of my friends (Chris Harrison) post this on Facebook this morning and I’m just passing it on because it’s inspiring and because it actually shows and reveals the Lord’s desire for you.

I want to challenge everyone that if you don’t like where your life’s destination ended up, change it. What’s stopping you! You have one life to make the most of it. Don’t make decisions to please everybody in your life. Find that God given destiny inside of you. The one thing that keeps popping up in your heart. Launch out and make it happen with Gods grace! Don’t be afraid! Only believe!!

 

Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

This involves taking Action.

I’m a member of a website community where the motto is:

Dream it, Believe it, Plan it, Achieve it!

I love in Chris’s quote, “The one thing that keeps popping up in your heart. Launch out and make it happen with God’s grace.”

You’ve heard the saying, “You are where we are today because of choices you made yesterday,” or “I am who I am today because of choices I made yesterday.” Yesterday can actually be “over the past several years,” etc.

In my life I’ve had no problem dreaming big and believing big. My weakness was having a plan of action. Once you write your plan of action out on paper you will begin to see things unfold.

Life is meant to live with purpose and adventure and excitement, especially for followers of Jesus! We are to live a life of faith. We walk by faith and not by sight and in Him we live and move and have our being.

So put a little fuel to the fire and start delighting today in the Lord like you’ve never done before. Start dreaming bigger, believing and knowing the God’s got your number and wants to bless you in ways that will blow your mind away!

On a side note, the Agape team just returned from the Philippines where we had our Festival of Love (picture below of altar call) where over 2000 people called on the Lord and were born again! And we had a pastors/leaders conference.

The festival was the first city wide event that included local churches where pastors met each other for the first time. It produced a unity and sense of belonging in the local Body of Christ as these pastors are now connected and excited to come together and partner to follow up on salvation’s and begin to work together to reach their city for the Lord.

Thanks all for your prayers and support for this event. It was very powerful and thousands of lives were touched by the Lord.

What’s that one thing that keeps popping up in your heart?!

Do you ever have any questions in regarding life’s difficult situations? Of course we do!

My friend Chris Harrison and President of Agape International is in the process of creating a new website, it is Bible Answers dot co (not dot com).

I believe it’s going to be a great site!

The newest article is, “Can marriage fights with your spouse hinder your prayer life?”

Here is the opening paragraph:

Did you know that those way-to-often fights and negative words with your spouse
could be hindering your prayer life? What if unity in your marriage was so important
that your answers in prayer were affected by it?

I believe it’s going to be a valuable website that offers insights in a straight forward approach because that’s who Chris is.

He’s grew up in the ministry and has seen his share of “the good, the bad and the ugly,” (more good though!)

We have a lot in common, other than he’s a Alabama redneck
At one point in our lives we both had left the ministry and our calling, suffering great consequences from it and then experiencing the awesomeness of God’s grace and His power of absolute restoration.

The Lord couldn’t have united me with a better ministry and family, including his parents Dr. Mike and Stephanie Harrison and all the Agape International family around the world!

He makes a point in his article that:

Actually the word hindered is a very harsh word. Strong concordance defines the Greek word to mean, “To cut down as you would a tree, to cut out or to hew down.” OUCH! The Bible is teaching that our prayers can be TORN DOWN or cut down like a tree if we don’t treat each other right.

I’d like to give a quick comment on that point. First, it is very true. Secondly, it also applies to how we treat others, especially those in the household of faith.

We are to love as He loves.

The Bible says the world will know that we are His disciples by our love for one another. That’s pretty powerful when you think about it.

Just love people for who they are as the Lord does. I’m so very thankful He doesn’t hold our past against us.

He restores, heals and leads us in a life of purpose and abundance as we follow Him in a spirit of meekness and humility, seeking to impact the world with His love and encouraging His people everywhere!

Anyhow, check out his site, it’s only a week new and a whole lot more to come.

I just started to read “The Cause Within You” by Matthew Barnett, founder of the Los Angeles Dream Center. It’s all about finding the one great thing God created you to do in this world!

That’s a great question to ask yourself as we come to a close of another year, launching into 2013. I say “launching” because this is what we need to do, this is the mindset we need to have.

Launch into 2013 with renewed passion and vision for your life and your family and for that “Cause Within You.”

Life is so exciting when we have this mindset and attempt to live our lives above and beyond ourselves.

Looking forward to a great new year as we, by God’s grace and power touch the lives of thousands around the world!