Gather the Outcasts

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Thursday, December 26, 2013

Pursuing Your Destiny pt 5

Dear beloved:  When God begins to reveal your destiny to you, the question ultimately becomes: Are you willing to follow where He leads? Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. v25 For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.  When God speaks to you in whatever way He chooses, you are then presented with the decision, do I follow where He leads, or do I sit pat on the status quo and let fear and inaction determine my future?  Before you start to walk with your cross, you first have to pick it up, get it off the ground so to speak.  But realize this, whatever God call you to do, He will be there to strengthen and provide for you. The Apostle Paul said it this way, 2 Corinthians 12:9 And God said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  v10 Therefore, I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 
In 2009 I had been praying and fasting for the Lord to expand my territory and give me greater authority and anointing.  I had done some international ministry, but primarily I had been preaching in the prisons for many years, for what I see now was a time of preparation.  The Lord gave me a very vivid dream showing that the door was going to be opening for me to preach in Africa. I had not been thinking of Africa, had no real ties to anyone or anyplace there, had no real desire to go there, it wasn't really on the radar at all.  In the dream, I was standing on a platform preaching to thousands of African people.  In my right hand was my bible, I was holding it up in the air as if to say, "Here is the sword of the Spirit."  In my left hand was a big burlap style bag, only it was pure white and had written on it in bold letters, Revelation 22.  The bag was full of big ears of corn as if to say, "This is going to be your provision when you go to proclaim the gospel, the good news of the new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem.'  Behind the platform was a 2,000 bushel grain bin, filled to the top with ear corn, the same kind as was in the bag; so the Lord was showing  that He was going to be the provision, that where he had given vision for His kingdom,  He would provide for that which He was calling me to do. The last aspect of the dream that was very unique was that between myself and the African people, standing on the ground between us, was 40 or so men in blue shirts and red hats, the men of the prison who He was appointing to be intercessors. 
So I started to pray into that dream, wondering what the Lord was up to here, but waiting on the Lord in anticipation.  Isaiah 40:31  And those that wait on the Lord will renew (or gain) their strength. They will mount up with wings of eagles, They will run and nor get tired, They will walk and not faint.  Within just a few months I received a phone call from an evangelist brother of mine, who told about a worship team that was going to Kenya, and they needed some preachers to go along with them to preach in the revivals.  Boom! the door was open.  Needless to say, I didn't have to pray about it very long to decide that I wanted to go, for the Lord had already prepared me and given me notice.  Since then the Lord has blessed and provided for me to go back several times and preach crusades in Kenya, Uganda, and the Republic of Congo, with many more on the horizon; and He is also opening up other doors in Africa to build orphanages for the children who are victims of the AIDS epidemic.   Beloved, God wants to  move you, but you must be willing to pick your cross up off the ground and step out; but fear not, for He will anoint your head with oil.  God bless you as you pray this day,  in Christ, Jim  www.gathertheoutcasts.com

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