Pray For Africa Mission

Dear beloved:  I have just returned from a time of rest and relaxation at a retreat for ministers and missionaries, thanks to the generosity of some ministry partners.  I feel refreshed and renewed, ready to embrace with vigor the call God has placed on my life, and the immediate projects that are before me at this time.

We have successfully completed the fundraising for the young Kenyan exmuslim lady who will be coming to Kansas to work as a counselor at a nearby Christian youth camp.  Thank you to all who contributed to her expenses.  For those of you in the Norton area, please feel free to contact me if you would like to meet her and the other counselors who will be coming from East Africa. There will be 8 total that will work at the camp.  We will have a barbecue get together at the Haven House in Norton this summer, so let me know if you are in the area and would like to meet them.

Plans are being finalized for the Africa crusades to be held in September of this year, and I must say this is going to be the most exciting time ever in Africa for me.  I have heard recently from the Pastors who are planning the Uganda crusade in Busia province, and they say anticipation is building there for a great pastors conference as well as three day crusade.  In addition, I will be going back to Goma, Republic of Congo, for another pastors conference and three day crusade.  In 2012 we had 350 pastors come to the Goma conference.  In addition to all that we will finish in Nairobi at Strathmore and Daystar University campuses, with the crusade being held at Strathmore.  I am looking forward to working with the students who kicked off the 24/7 prayer movement that spun out of the Nairobi crusade in Tassia in 2012.  God is really adding the fire to that movement.  Anyone wishing to go to Kenya for the Nairobi leg of the tour, please contact me, as I have arranged for housing in Nairobi and a tour of the Masai Mara wildlife refuge to finish out the stay

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Please pray for provision and for the success of these crusades.  The spiritual battles involved in Kingdom endeavors such as these are very intense, so I need your continued prayer support. For those in the Norton area, a fifth Sunday offering will be taken for me at the Norton Christian Church on June 30,  so any donations made through that will be tax deductible.  If you have any questions, please contact me at pureprairie@hotmail.com, I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.  Contributions to the mission fund can be made to Gather the Outcasts Ministry, Box 92, Norton, Ks. 67654. 

Trials and Tribulations

Dear beloved:  Many of you are undergoing trials and tribulations, and you may be wondering, is there any relief to the trials that I am facing?  The intensity of the trials will become greater as we move into the time of sorrows, or birth pangs that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24:8.  And just as birth pangs grow more intense as they grow closer together, so too will the pangs we experience grow more intense; there is a birthing coming, a new heaven and a new earth, and all creation, including each of us as individuals, experience the groaning of the new birth.  The apostle Paul tells of this coming birth in Acts 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. v21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  v22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. v23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit (those born again), even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

So what then is the solution to the trials, how can we find relief in the midst of the darkness that is swirling around us?` The divine wisdom of James, the half brother of Jesus, is given to us to help strengthen and encourage us in the face of various trials and tribulations.  He says in James 1:2, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations`(trials), v3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. v4 And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So what he is saying is the exact opposite of the way we usually react to trials, which is often times  to complain, grumble, and shake our fist at God for allowing all this temptation and difficulty to come into our life and upset the calm water.  But James says do this: "Count it all joy!"  Not an easy assignment, but a radical shift away from the the mindset we have that life should be placid and easily encountered, especially after we have become Christians.  In fact, the opposite is true: we are marked for destruction by Satan, and he delights in trying to destroy us and separate us from fellowship with our Creator.

James says that when you persevere you will be perfect, not in the sense of sinless, but complete and made whole in the name of Jesus.  So the testing of our faith eventually leads to wholeness, restoration, and the coming  full circle where we can be joyful and thankful for every difficulty, knowing that we are maturing and growing in our kingdom walk.  And because of this perseverance we will be lacking in nothing.  God is for us, He wants us to be lacking in nothing, and so in His infinite wisdom He allows the trials so we will not be lacking, that we will continue to grow and mature.  Isn't that what we want, to grow stronger in our faith walk with the Lord?  So give God the thanks today that He is allowing trials to come into your life, and that because of that you will have the perfect result and be lacking in nothing.  God forward believing you are being made whole!  May God bless you as you pray today.  in Christ, Jim www.gathertheoutcasts.com