Rain, Pain and Gain.

This summer has been the rainiest season I remember for the eastern states of the USA. Yesterday, a teen sent a message out over Twitter saying "I am tired of the beach. It rains all the time." I replied, "It's raining everywhere." Well, "everywhere" at least in the region of the world we live in.

I am personally experiencing a season of pain, too. A few weeks ago, I slipped in my garage (rain had dripped from our vehicle on the cement) and strained my back. I give thanks that I somehow didn't fall and bust my head wide open, but still I've had an aggravated sciatic nerve (I'm diagnosing myself) ever since. It mostly provides discomfort in my back, but the pain runs down my right leg as well. I've taken plenty of ibuprofen for some relief and was anointed for healing by four pastors last week. Still, while the pain is manageable most of the time, it's still making me somewhat weary.

Yesterday, I drove 400 miles so I can preach seven times at The South Carolina Wesleyan Campmeeting at Table Rock, South Carolina. It was a lovely ride. Especially, the last three hours of the ride were breath-taking. Coming through the Carolina Mountains is so inspiring to my soul. I arrived around 8 p.m. and though I was like the first one to get here, I had a welcoming committee of one -- yes, a precious little beagle puppy. It touched my heart deeply.

I made my way into the lodge and found my room. A full laundry basket of snack foods, soft drinks, fruit, etc. greeted me. What a blessing. I like it here at the lodge. I had athe privilege of preaching here several summers ago. The room is very clean with oak furniture and bright decor. I have my own bathroom and linings are provided. There's even a kitchen just a few steps from my door. While I do have phone service and Internet, there is no TV in the room, which is a blessing, indeed. So after I arrived, I enjoyed a quiet evening of settling in and fell asleep praying for the mind of Christ.

So, I've talked about the rain and my pain, now I want to ask for your prayers. Yes, I want my time here to bring about gain for the Kingdom of God. As I write, rain continues to hit the window outside my room. And yes, my pain is still present, but all of that is secondary to the spiritual reason I am here. I will speak for the first service of the campmeeting at 6 p.m. this evening. It's an open air tabernacle in the shadow of Table Rock -- a lovely setting, indeed.

I do believe I have the mind of Christ -- the message He desires me to preach. It's a new message for me. As a matter of fact, I have been saturating in the passages for over a year and have been carving out the presentation over the last 2-3 hours. Please pray that the souls will be open to hear "what saith the Lord" through me. I remain His humble but willing messenger.

Perhaps for this preaching engagement, the Lord knows without some rain on the outside and my pain on the inside, there would be no gain for eternity? I'm good with that, as long as He is.

"Deo Volente" is my prayer. Yes, "Whatever God Wants!"
Grateful

Note: My text for tonight is Matthew 11:28 and John 15:4. Please pray for favor. Thanks for my friends who have already let me know they are with me in the Spirit of prayer. I am humbled.

   

Latest Weather Report from India

If you read my blog post yesterday, you will be delighted to hear this latest weather report from India from last evening:

What a joy Pastor Kerry! God has heard our prayers and it has been raining all around West Bengal. In Kolkata City (Calcutta) it has been raining very much this evening -- three hours without stop at the writing of this e-mail. God is great and He is mighty. Thank you very much for your prayers. Really!
Pastor Ajay

Thanks to You, Lord, for hearing our desperate cries for rain.
We are humbled.
India is helped.
You are honored.
Amen & Amen.
Grateful

Answers Out Of The Storm

If you are presently in a life-storm, yes if you are barely surviving a confusing season of life where God seems to be silent, maybe even absent, take heart, for while the wind is blowing, the rain is pouring, the lightning is striking, and the thunder is booming, you just might be about to get an answer from the Lord.

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm.
-- Job 38:1b (NIV)

Note that while God answered Job out of the storm, the confusing season of life he was barely surviving, God also had some questions for Job as well. If you are bold, I invite you to read Job 38 in its entirety.

Click here: Praise You In This Storm Casting Crowns

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

God's Gift To Those Who Obey Him...

...The Holy Spirit... is God's Gift to those who obey Him.
-- Acts 5:32b (Good News Translation)

Click - Holy Spirit Rain Down (worship video w/ lyrics)

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

Remember Your Creator Before The Storm!

(1) Remember your Creator when you are young, before the days of trouble come and the years catch up with you. They will make you say, “I have found no pleasure in them.” (2) Remember your Creator before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars turn dark, and the clouds come back with rain.
-- Ecclesiasties 12:1-12 (God's Word Translation)

Holiness unto The LORD!
Grateful

A New Song of Beautiful Joy

For the one who belongs exclusively to God, yes for the saint, suffering is not merely something to escape but something to be entered into so that a new song of beautiful joy might be born and sung for the glory of the Lord.

A new song of beautiful joy always requires the blessing of bountiful rain storms. Lord, give me wings to rise above the storms of suffering with singing. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The suffering You sent was good for me... Psalm 119:71 (NLT)

Sing a new song to the LORD!
Sing His praises from the ends of the earth!
Sing, all you who sail the seas,
all you who live in distant coastlands.
-- Isaiah 42:10 (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

From Nothing to Something to Everything!

There's a powerful, faith-filled prayer story in 1 Kings 18:42b-45:

(42b) And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, (43) and said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing." And seven times he said, "Go again." (44) Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he (the servant) said, "There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!" So he (Elijah) said, "Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’" (45) Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. (NKJV)

We can outline the Elijah prayer story in three parts;
(1) There was nothing -- initially, there was a cloudless sky.
(2) There was something -- eventually, a small cloud appeared.
(3) There was everything -- finally, there was a heavy rain.

As Elijah prayed for rain, the servant kept coming back with the same weather report over and over: THERE IS NOTHING! Yet, Elijah continued to plead face-down before the Lord for rain. Finally after seven times, the weather report changed from THERE IS NOTHING to THERE IS SOMETHING! It was only one small cloud the size of a man's hand rising up over the Mediterranean Sea, but it was something big to Elijah's faith. Elijah jumped up and began to run off the mountain, knowing that a mighty rain storm was approaching Mount Carmel and the Jezreel Valley. So, the man of faith-filled prayer ran for his life. We realize that the whole time he was praying face-down between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jezreel Valley, Elijah believed His God would change a nothing forecast into a something forecast and that something forecast meant everything to Elijah! AND YES INDEED, FINALLY A MIGHTY RAIN NEARLY WASHED MOUNT CARMEL OFF THE MAP!!! Be careful what you're prayerful about.

James 5:16b-18a (NLT) -- The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. (17) Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next three and a half years! (18) Then he prayed for rain, and down it poured.

Let's keep praying and hoping in the Lord. Eventually, our seemingly nothing forecast will turn into a something forecast and that something forecast will turn into an everything forecast for His glory in our lives!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful