Christmas Season 2009

Hi there. I have started a new job and it's keeping me very busy. So I apologize for not writing. I'm still witnessing as the Lord leads and giving out tracts and praying for people for healing and deliverance... that I will never stop.

So my advice is keep going! I am amazed at how God finds time in my busy day for worship, bible study and prayer if I ask him to help me prioritize my time. He's the best scheduler I know!

We are entering a new season. I can tell as I have been getting a lot of new songs to usher it in. I encourage you to press into more of the Lord's joy and peace this season, as it is a mighty weapon against the enemy.

Also, don't be surprised if the personal warfare you experience is increasing. I have noticed this and a few of my friends have noticed that the amount of personal warfare they are experiencing has increased dramatically. It is becoming more and more important that we live holy lives so that the enemy doesn't have a landing strip or fortress from which to operate in our lives. I have been claiming that, "the pride of my heart will not deceive me" (Obed. 3) and that, "no sin will have dominion over me because I love his word." (Psalm 119:133). In addition I always want a great guard on my mouth. and a wise,discerning heart. God promises wisdom to those humble enough to ask and receive it so I have been asking.

I have been resisting a lot of distracting thoughts and sleepiness whenever I try to spend time alone with the Lord. As I resist the enemy in Jesus name, he must flee, so I have been doing that.(James 4:7) So heads up, the devil knows his time is short and he knows that you are transformed more and more into God's image when you spend time in His presence, so it's no wonder he tries to stop you from worshiping and abiding in Him. (2Cor. 3:18) Do not let the enemy win.

I pray you all have a precious time with Holy Spirit this Christmas season. My He be exalted in our lives, truly.
You are Blessed and Highly Favored in Jesus' Name!
Shalom,
Brenda Gale Thompson

XPmedia.com - Witchcraft through Words

XPmedia.com - Witchcraft through Words

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My "MO"

My "MO" or method of operation is to be one of God's kids and since He speaks and things happen we, his kids, should be doing the same thing.(ref. Eph. 5:1)

I like to use the following scripture verses a lot.
I am calling those things that be not as though they were. (Rom. 4:17)
I know that life and death is in the power of my tongue (Prov. 18:21)
I am daily practicing speaking words that will bless, give hope and help people.(Eph. 4:29)
"I open my mouth with wisdom; and in my tongue [is] the law of kindness.(Prov. 31:26)

I am living by faith and not by feeling, sight or sound because that's the only way to please the Father. (2Cor.5:7, Heb.11:6)

My faith is the substance of the things I have hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. (Heb. 11:1)
My imagination is the drawing board that God uses to relay new ideas and impressions to me. (Eph. 1:18, 3:18-20)

I just wanted to share a few thoughts on how I walk out promises in the Bible using scripture verses and things the Lord has shown me.

When I set myself to seek the Lord through praise, worship and the word, I end up in His presence. Sometimes Holy Spirit will show me things and I'll get a picture or He'll remind me of scripture promises that I have heard before. This is the time to really pay attention because what He reveals to you is yours. (Deut. 29:29) You just have to decree it out of your mouth, because the bible says decree a thing and it shall be established.(Job 22:28)

Sometimes what you decree will come to pass quickly and sometimes what He shows you is prophetic in nature and Holy Spirit is wanting to get you going in a new direction. Ask Holy Spirit lots of questions so that you know what to do with the picture, words or promise that He shows you. Make sure you write it down so that you can remind yourself of it and keep declaring those words over your circumstances. (Habb. 2:2) The truth of God's word changes circumstances. It's a supernatural word and it always accomplishes what it is set out to do. (Is.55:11)

Holy Spirit will give you confirmation of things too, if you ask.

Remember "When you pray, believe that you receive and you shall have what you have prayed for."(Mark 11:24) Use this verse to get things on Earth to line up with Heaven... THY will be done, THY kingdom come, on Earth as it is in Heaven."

In a nut shell, I praise and worship, pleading the blood and repenting as Holy Spirit shows me stuff that needs cleansing. It's like going by the alter of sacrifice and the Bronze laver for the washing of the Word.

Then we can enter through the gates of thanksgiving and enter his courts with praise... Then we can go into the Holy of Holies as you feel the leading to worship the Lord. Then you are in His presence because there is no veil anymore. Hallelujah!

So when the awe of God come on me or the rarefied air I get really quiet and wait for Him to talk to me. IF I get distracted thoughts I say "Jesus, Jesus." and focus on Him. He always has something so special for us. It's the greatest joy of my life!

Lately I've been getting laughter and tears when I'm in His presence. This is not a bad thing, just a new thing that God is doing. The Quakers quaked, others have done, shaking and falling down in His presence, etc. etc.

May I pray for you? Lord I ask that you would impart a desire for this precious person to get into Your presence and that You would make it easy for them Lord. Show them something of Heaven and You Lord. Help them to see things from Your perspective Lord, in Jesus' name I ask. Change them from Glory to Glory as they behold You, Lord. Amen! (2Cor.3:18)

God communicates!

I want to go through some basics about how God communicates and take the mystery out of it. It should be as natural for us!

The most frequent way God speaks to people is by Holy Spirit inside of you. From John 10:27 we can see that, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." So we should all be able to hear God's voice if we've made Jesus our Lord and Savior. If you have not yet asked Jesus into your heart, it is not too late. Just ask Jesus/Holy Spirit in your own words to come into your heart and reveal Himself to you.

Okay then, so how I started hearing God/Holy Spirit was recognizing that"Yes" is a peace deep inside and "No" is a queasy, something is not right feeling in your gut area. Many people identify with this long before they openly acknowledge God. Isn't that amazing? (more on that in another blog article)

Discerning God's voice gets easier with practice. Yes that's the big key, we have to practice every day. Sometimes we are so busy that it's hard to still ourselves enough to hear His quiet voice. I try and ask at least 20 questions a day of the Lord. Be a question box for the Lord.

Some people have heard God's voice audibly but that is not the norm for most of us. Holy Spirit has only yelled at me once in twenty five years and that was when I was going to make a horrible mistake and marry the wrong man. Trust me you never forget it!

I love hearing his voice. To me that's one of the biggest miracles of all, that I can hear his voice all the time. His voice sounds like your voice in your head and He's always encouraging, always hopeful, always the counselor. If this seems a bit far fetched I encourage you to start with the word of God because Holy Spirit will never disagree with the whole counsel of the word of God. You can learn to discern His voice by comparing it to the word of God (the Bible).

For example, we know that God will never condemn you because the Bible says that there is therefore no condemnation for them that follow Christ.(Rom.8:1) Now that is not to say that He won't correct you but He (Holy Spirit) will always leave you with hope and a solution. Condemnation does not do that. It leaves you in despair.

I want to mention how important it is to renew your mind with the word of God (Bible) because some traditional teaching is not backed up by the word of God. This is where 'the voice you know' comes in to effect. In John 10:6 it says that the voice of a stranger we will not listen to. That's good and I agree with that. Unfortunately some of the things I was told, I got used to, so they were not the voice of a stranger anymore and I did listen to them. Thus, I had a very unhappy life. As I started to speak who I was in Christ and root out all the garbage from my past I became a lot more peaceful and had much more victory in my life.

Also, it is easier to hear God's voice after you have died to your own will. That is the hard part. When we still have our own ideas or desires that we have not fully died to, that is when His voice gets skewed by our own voice/will. So I use Rom. 12:2 as a help and I "offer myself a living sacrifice to him" every day. Sacrifices are supposed to be dead, right? That is the interesting part. When you get to the point where you can honestly say that you do not care what the answer is, whether yes or no; you just want to hear His Voice, THEN you will hear Him clearly. After all the bible says "that you will seek Me and find Me when You seek me with all Your heart." (Jer 29:13)

Visions:
Another way that God speaks to you is in visions. In Habb. 2:2-3 we read, "Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision And make [it] plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. "

There are different types of visions. Some of the different types of visions that I am familiar with include: visions in our mind as we think about God, visions that appear as pictures overlapping our regular vision, visions that happen as we soak in His presence with our eyes closed and visions that happen as we conduct our daily lives. Sometimes a deja vu can be a vision that we've had previously.

Dreams:
Other ways that God spoke to people include the use of dreams. God spoke to Joseph, the husband of Mary in dreams and thus kept Mary and Jesus safe Matt. 1:20 Matt. 2:13,19.. That is another cool way that God can talk to you. My daughters get these little dreams that are prophetic and it is so neat how the Lord is showing them that they are significant so they will start to write them down and pray into them.

This is not an exclusive list by the way, just a start.

I hope this helps you to dare to believe that God wants to talk to you. It is your right as a child of God to hear Him. So go have fun being a 'question box' to your Heavenly Father aka Daddy.
Bless you in Jesus' name!

Almost There

Learning how to walk tight with Holy Spirit is a learning process. I wish I could say that I have arrived but after twenty plus years, I'm still catching myself once in a while.

Last night I asked Holy Spirit what He wanted to show me and I saw a cave with some rock icicles hanging from the ceiling. It was so dark I didn't want to stay in the vision but Holy Spirit said there was more to see. Trying to focus I noticed a translucent window that begged investigation. I moved over to see a morbid scene; a road leading down into the earth and people behind a partially built wall in the road.

Something was happening! The partially built wall, in the road was hindering the people from going down the road to you know where. I was squeamish at the sights and sounds and I didn't want to be in this vision. I was upset and horrified at what was happening before my eyes and I wanted to scream at the people to run the other way, but they couldn't hear me.

Shaken... I asked Holy Spirit what was the point of showing me this scene? He showed me that the bricks in the wall were parts of christian character, and how a life totally submitted to the Lord, mature, full of Holy Spirit will cause us to be such a witness that many will be turned to Him. In essence, hindering people from going to Hell.

Too much you think? I thought it was presumptuous too. So I asked the Lord for more confirmation, after all we are supposed to ask for two or three witnesses before establishing something.

Holy Spirit showed me Col. 2:9-10 and to paraphrase it we have Holy Spirit, which is the fullness of God, in us right now. OR, We've been filled with the fullness of God now... already. Christ means 'the anointed one and His anointing' which is Holy Spirit, the powerhouse of Creation. (Gen.1:2)

Then Holy Spirit brought two more verses to my attention. We are the light of the world (now). (Matt. 5:14) We are the salt of the earth. (Matt. 5:13)
Holy Spirit wants our lives to so shine with God's glory that people are turned from their unbelief to a living faith.

I was thinking about this whole thing yesterday and I was reminded of a time before I was saved. I was on a transit bus and there was a man sitting on the seat over the rear tire. He had white hair, a white shirt and trousers on. His countenance was so lit up that he glowed and I desperately wanted some of what he had. He had nothing naturally to make me attracted to him... yet I could sense goodness, hope, love and laughter around him. I couldn't stop glancing at him from my seat on the back bench of the bus. He seemed oblivious to me, just looking out the window and taking in all the sights. I wish I had had the guts to ask him what made his countenance glow. I am now convinced that he was a Christian full of Holy Spirit. (2Cor. 3:18)

Anyhow, I want to be like that man. As I drive my school bus, or move people may those around me see something of God in me.

God is looking for a few good people, men or women, who will dare to believe His promises. We haven't seen too many people who glowed with the Glory of God yet, but it's coming. I want to sign up for all that God has for me.
How about you?

(For Further reference; Rom. 12:1-2, John 10:27, Luke 12:32, Phil. 2:13, 2Chron. 16:9, Psalm 24, Jer. 29:11)

In Myself

When I am tempted to think that I'm really something... it's time to go through my scriptures verses again.

In myself I am nothing. (Gal. 6:3)
In myself I know nothing. (1Cor. 8:2)
In myself I have nothing. (1Cor. 4:7)
In myself I am and can do nothing. (John. 15:5)

Protect me Lord from haughty eyes and an arrogant heart... which are sin. (Prov. 21:4)
Thank You Lord that I will not allow the pride in my heart to deceive me. (Obediah 3)

The more the Glory and power of God flows through our words and actions, the more we need to be reminded that it's God-- not us.

Yes, we co-labor with Holy Spirit as we obey Him, but the Glory is all His. He will not share it with anyone! (Isaiah 42:8) I heard someone say that if we give God all the Glory, He'll give us all His benefits. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Benny Hinn says to live a Holy life. I agree. Holy Spirit is attracted to us more and more as we take thoughts captive, watch our words and live a holy life. (2Cor.10:4-5, Matt.12:35-37, Phil 4:8) In Job 22:30 it says, "He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands." Wow! I love that verse. To me this verse means that as I live a holy life, I can pray for others and Holy Spirit will set them free. Amazing! That's good news.

Isaiah emphasized the importance of submitting to the holiness journey, "See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another." (Isaiah 48:10-11)

Therefore, if we want to keep flowing in Holy Spirit we must make sure that we give God all the glory.

I know myself because it's happened to me. As soon as I started to think I was something special, I started drifting away from Holy Spirit. A few hours later when I asked Him a question, I didn't hear an immediate answer. That scared me.... I don't want to be here if He's not with me. I did a quick inventory and started repenting and asking Holy Spirit what I had done wrong. Thank God for His Mercy and Grace!

So let's all say, "Thank You Lord for using us today. We give you all the Glory, before and after for what You are going to do. Please warn us Holy Spirit when we start to walk in pride. Give us humble, teachable hearts so we can always have sweet fellowship with You. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen."

Gift After Gift

I was reading the Gospel of John a couple of weeks ago and it keeps coming back to my remembrance. It goes, "We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift. We got the basics from Moses, and then this exuberant giving and receiving, This endless knowing and understanding-- all this came through Jesus, the Messiah." John 1:16-17

I want to write a song about this. Imagine, we live off of His generous bounty! I never thought of life like that. I took so much for granted when it was all a gift. Oh the love of God, that we should be called the Sons of God! Such amazing love -- the Message translation brings it out in a whole, new way.

I love the next verse where it talks about endless knowing and understanding. I was a child who got told to be quiet because I asked too many questions. In Heaven we will never be told to shut up and we can keep learning forever. That really appeals to me.

I remember the time I just cried out to the Lord, "I want to sit and watch you run the whole show!" Oh, that blessed me so much! He wants to show us how to do the stuff. Amazing! I wouldn't be bothered with the likes of me some days!

I remember a time when I messed up really big and I thought, "Oh no, there's no way I'll ever fulfill my destiny after this screw up." After wallowing around in self pity for a while, I started to worship and I felt Holy Spirit drop into my heart, "My love and plans go on forever."

I was so thrilled! It doesn't matter how badly we mess up, God always has a back up plan.

I don't understand why my Dad was taken away from me suddenly, without warning and I don't understand why I missed a great full-time job because of the funeral; but I know that He who called me is faithful and He will complete that which He has started in me.

I know He's trustworthy... I know He's worthy of all my trust-- even when I don't understand it with my limited perspective. He'll give me beauty for ashes and somehow He'll turn it to good.

I do know I had a great dad for 48 years and many people I didn't know told me what a gift he was to their lives too.

Ultimately, "I Thank You Lord for so many gifts in my life. Open my eyes to see the gifts you have given me and help me to appreciate them every day, in new ways.
Amen."

Make Each Day Count!

Life is short so I'm making the most of each day. Every new day I want to make sure I make time for the Lord, to praise and worship HIM and to hear His thoughts for my day.
It's amazing how much better my day goes when I do this. You would think that I would have learned this by now and have no problem putting God first.

However, there are a lot of sneaky distractions in life. Kids, walking the dogs, work, husband, commitments in church, errands, housework; need I say more?
In themselves they are not "bad" but when they get between me and the worship that Jesus deserves then they become idols. I keep saying to the Lord that I love Him more than anything... then by my choices I say that He's last on my priority list.

All I can do is repent and get real with Him. Sometimes I'm aware of the distractions and sometimes I'm not. The devil does not want us to worship God because he knows that we will get refreshed and come out of His presence empowered. Thus he tries everything in his arsenal to keep us from seeking the Lord and basking in His presence.

It's a learning process. We all have to journey through the land of distractions and learn to ignore them and just keep seeking the Lord.

Yesterday, I asked the Lord to protect my time with Him. It really helped. I had a great time with Him (Holy Spirit) and got some great downloads to think about.

Today, I finally got to a place where I could sit down after supper and the Heaven's felt like brass. Aha! I've been there before. So I put on a couple of worship songs on youtube (Chris Tomlin and Hill Songs) and agreed with the songs they were singing. Then I started singing my own new song while the songs were singing.

Breakthrough! It worked again! Heaven's open and His presence is all over me etc, etc.
Thank You Jesus for Breakthrough! Now I'm decreeing things He's told me before, calling in the promises He's given me and asking Him who needs prayer (shoring up, protection) and where is the enemy active.

Now that's living! And some people think being a Christian is boring. They don't have a clue!

Got to go... Holy Spirit wants another song and it's another opportunity to make this day count for eternity.

So You Are Excited About Reaching Out...

I wrote a little note to a friend who was all excited about getting out in her neighborhood in her part of the world to make a difference for Jesus by herself. She was very excited about her new commitment to the Lord, but was unsure of how to deal with her fear issues, which is very understandable.

Jesus sent them two by two. So if at all possible go out with another believer. Until then, you can pray that the Lord will give you a prayer partner and witness wherever you go... ad lib.

Ask the Lord to bring to you someone who will pray with you. Ask the Lord for opportunities to witness every day, every where you go.

We want to take Baby Steps of Obedience. I hear your heart sister and if you start now, you will make a huge difference for the Lord.

So lets fight fear by building up your inner man with scripture confessions like:

"Thank You Jesus, that you arm me with strength and power and you make my way perfect." 2Sam.22:33

"Thank You Jesus, that you haven't given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self control." 2Tim.1:7

Thank You Jesus that I'm bold as a lion, because I'm righteous. Prov.28:1
Thank You Jesus that Your love is shed abroad in my heart by Holy Spirit." Rom. 5:5

Thank you Lord that you've given your angels charge over me and my family. Ps. 91

You'll Find other scriptures as you read your bible that will help you so that you are not in fear anymore but "strong in the Lord and His mighty power."

Start where you are with the situation you are in. We all grow by baby steps. Ha ha! How many times do babies fall down when they are learning to walk? I can't count.

Maybe the first thing to do is pray till His compassion and love drives out the fear in you and you have His heart for the people. Romans 5:5 says that His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Ask the Lord if that makes sense for you.

Have fun with the Lord. Keep asking lots of questions. That's the best way to learn Holy Spirit's voice.

Whose Report Will You Believe?

I fractured my right wrist June 26th in a freak accident that shouldn't have happened. I spent a few hours in emergency and was x-rayed and my right arm was put in a cast.

My arm swelled up as soon as the ice was gone and by the next day I had to have it recast because it was cutting off the circulation in my hand.

I had a couch ministry for a week. I was in so much pain all I could do was keep going over my scripture confession sheets and rest. I cut way back on my food intake because I didn't want to gain weight.

By the third week of having a cast on it was really loose and I was learning how to eat and write with my left hand. It was quite the learning curve and I found it very humbling. I was keeping my chin up and trying to make lemonade out of my lemons but it was tough. I even started watching movies again, something I haven't done in years.

I did help with the hay by driving a tractor and baler and I did help put square bales in the barn when the kids were getting frustrated at having to work. I figured if I was working with one hand, they could do it with two hands. It worked! We got it done before it rained and I wasn't sore for very long afterwords.

I was able to slip off my cast to get the hay out and then I put it back on. Mean while I was working my faith over time. I got all my friends to agree with me that by His stripes I was healed. (Isa. 53:3-5)

A girlfriend gave me some dvd's by great preacher Dave Hockaday and I watched them and built up my faith.

Well, I guess I took off my cast one too many times to air my sweaty, smelly arm because my daughter Tricia started playing with my cast and she got the bandages on the inside all twisted up. I couldn't get my hand back in that cast no matter how hard I tried! I felt like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar!

I got a wrist brace to fix my predicament and to keep my family pacified. It worked well.

A few days later a friend told me that I should get x-rays on it so that I could get confirmation it was healed and then go start physio therapy.

So I went to emergency at the local hospital and waited 5 hours only to hear that my wrist had not healed at all. I asked to see the x-rays and she showed me the break. I said, "That can't be right. Look how I can move my hand around," I exclaimed and demonstrated.

She wouldn't listen to me and put on another tight cast. I couldn't hold my arm across my chest to keep it elevated so while it was setting I broke the arm edge so it wouldn't pinch so bad.

I was upset to say the least. 4.5 weeks in a loose cast that I told the specialist was loose and he said it was okay! Now the emergency room doctor is saying it hasn't healed at all?!

I went home and called my mom. I told her that I wanted to cry. I've got on my third cast. It's itchy already and I know that "By His stripes I was healed!" All I could do was keep standing on the Word of God.
I told everybody that this was a test and I was going to pass it. Holy Spirit kept saying to me, "Whose report will you believe?" All I could do was sing back to Him, "We will believe the report of the Lord."

As an act of faith I started to pray for other people that had broken arms or bone problems whenever I would feel and ache or pain myself. I didn't know exactly who else I was praying for, but it sure felt good to knock the devil back a loop or two.

That third cast started falling apart around my hand pretty fast and it was only a day or two and I pulled it off. The splint wrist brace was much more comfortable and I could wash it when my arm got all sweaty.

Two days before I was to go to the orthopedic specialist I was worshiping and spending time alone with the Lord. This had been a tough thing for me to do as disappointment stole my desire for fellowship with Holy Spirit. Also, it sure didn't help that my house was so busy. In desperation I cut off a girlfriend on the phone saying, "I've only got half an hour before the house gets busy again. I need to go worship and hear from the Lord."

Thank God for understanding girlfriends. She said she would pray for me and let me go.
Holy Spirit was right there, as soon as I started to sing. (You can't tell me it doesn't help to have friends who know how to get a hold of God!) Holy Spirit downloaded some things to me and when I just thought about my wrist I felt Holy Spirit say, "None issue."

I wanted to laugh. It might have seemed like a non issue for Him, but this wrist was messing up all my summer activities and job hunting to boot!

Never the less, I held onto that word and kept it close to my heart. I didn't even tell anybody. I couldn't risk another disappointment at that time.

I did get two girlfriends to agree with me that the x-ray would give a correct result and that there would be no mistakes. I also prayed for favor with the doctor regarding my lack of a cast.

I went to the specialist in the city by myself. I didn't want to hear another, "I told you so," if the x-ray results were bad.

The specialist didn't say anything about me not having a cast on -- he just sent me for an x-ray to see how I was progressing.

I got back and he told me, "Okay you are good to start physio therapy and make sure that splint is off for good in a week... 10 days tops."

I replied, "Everything's okay?"

"Yes," he answered.

"Do you know that they told me last week in Arnprior that my wrist hadn't started healing at all?", I asked.

Dead silence. He just looked at me.

"Okay, I'm good to go then?" I asked.

Yes, go start physio," he said.

I walked out of his office and it hit me as I was going out of the hospital. Just like Holy Spirit said-- it was a 'non issue.'

I don't know what happened in that week between the emergency room doctor's report and the specialist's report but I know who who gets the Glory! Jesus! You are awesome and I magnify Your Holy Name! Great things You have done for your little girl!

Let me pray for you now:   "Lord what You have done for me I freely give away.  Let the person reading this be ignited with fresh faith to believe You and Your report over any other.  I loose the Joy of the Lord for their journey and I declare and decree that they are fully satisfied in this lifetime.  Every God given dream come back to life now!  Every place where hope deferred has stolen from them, be healed now, in Jesus' name!  Amen!  You are blessed and a blessing wherever you go and you make a difference for God today. Amen!"

Big hugs,
Brenda Gale

New Songs!

Thank You Lord for new songs of praise and worship to lift up and Magnify your Awesome, Majestic Name!

The last few months I've been in a war and as I was praying Holy Spirit showed me how the enemy was distracting me from worship by all the negative circumstances, accidents and negative news going on around me. The devil wants to be magnified and this is how he gets us to take our eyes off of Jesus.

We are in a war of worship. We all worship something. It can be our kids, our husbands, our hobbies or our jobs. Whatever takes our focus gets our worship. It's dawning on me that the enemy is trying to beat us down by keeping us busy and distracted so we don't make time to magnify the Lord. Without God's input daily, our spiritual gas tanks soon run on empty and then we have nothing to help others with, never mind ourselves.

I am going to make a conscious effort to magnify the Lord at least 7 times a day. I remember King David doing that and the Glory of the Lord was in his life in a great way.

Discernment is required to recognize the attack of the enemy to steal our time and our worship.

For a few weeks I had a hard time singing, there was such an attack of oppression on me and I was asking the Lord what was going on. It is not normal for me to not be able to praise and worship. The Lord led me to the article I wrote about "filling your spiritual gas tank" and said that because I was helping so many others by giving them keys for breakthrough the enemy had launched a counterattack. I immediately asked the Lord what to do and He said to bind the spirit of backlash and retaliation. The next day was much better. Hallelujah!!! It's been getting better every day.

This is a battle we are destined to win! We have been equipped with Heaven's arsenal. Holy Spirit wants to help us and God has Angels to help you and I.

Let's press on to know Him more.

Bless You in Jesus' name as you sing the cry of your heart to Him!

Things I Don't Take For Granted Anymore

There are so many things I've had to quit doing or adapt to new methods. I never realized how hard it could be to learn how to be a lefty after being right handed for so long.

1. Doing up a bra is next to impossible for me. I wonder how amputees manage?
2. Writing is a tough one. My writing is now worse than my 11 year old daughters. Just this week I've been able to start using my right hand to help me type a bit.

3. Cutting up vegetables is very difficult. The first couple of weeks I couldn't use my right hand to help at all. On a good note, I am eating a lot slower these days.

4. Pulling up your pants is difficult on hot summer days when everything wants to stick and roll. You get the drift. I gave up on jeans and belts. Can't do them up. Ha, Ha!

5. Having a shower in our tiny shower stall was interesting because I wasn't supposed to get the cast wet. Hubby helped, Thank God and we had a few good laughs.

6. I was so upset at not being able to train my horses. Summer is so short and here I am, can't go riding or hubby will shoot me. So I tried doing some lounge line work 2 days ago with my three year old and it worked. My hand was a bit sore after but it healed up fast.

On a very good note, I have had lots of time to read and worship, without the piano of course. I know the Lord understands. He's always after the cry of our hearts. So I have been singing about frustration, pain, adapting and determination. Sometimes our dreams get delayed but if we won't give up God will continue to help us work towards our dreams.

On that note I'm going to keep dreaming and talking to the Lord Jesus about His dream for our lives.

July, 2009

Hi all. Sorry I haven't been around. I've been driving a school bus on a very long run (1450 kms per week)

Just last Saturday I was riding one of my younger horses when she threw a little temper tantrum. I didn't fall off but my hand hit the saddle horn hard and caused a fracture.


I'm right handed and having my right arm in a cast is slowing me down to a snail's pace.
Haying still needs to be done... yeah. Only a farmer can know the stress haying can put on a family. It's one of the most weather sensitive, labor intensive crops on a farm.
Let's Pray....
"Thank You Lord for good weather and good times haying this year. Thank You Lord for supernatural healing in my wrist and arm and that my wrist is better than ever!
Thank You Lord for camaraderie in our home and on our farm & that we all get along and the kids are not resentful about having to help more. Thank You Lord that You have work for Roy and I. Please continue to lead us and guide us by your Holy Spirit. Amen!" (Isa 53:3-5, Phil 4:13,19)

Bless you!
Big hugs,
Brenda Gale Thompson

Being Available And How To Fill Up Your Spiritual Gas Tank

You are important to God. Your life matters. Your life counts for a lot and God wants to use you now.
It's not about how old you are or how young you are or how qualified you are. It's about being available because God can equip you to do His work, He just needs your availability.

You might not think you have much to offer, I know I wondered what I could do when I started out. I had no clue what I was called to do as a baby Christian. I just had Holy Spirit's love in my heart and I wanted to make a difference. We can all make a difference as we ask Holy Spirit to shed abroad His love in our hearts. (Rom.5:5) Then we move out from that overflow of love into our world, going about our daily business, bringing the sweet fragrance of the Lord with us. We change circumstances and the atmosphere around us because we are carrying His presence on us, which is so totally amazing. (2Cor.2:14)
If you are available, get filled up with Holy Spirit and then move out and watch Holy Spirit use you.
The gifts of Holy Spirit will start to flow. This is completely natural. You might notice that you've got a word for someone or you know how to organize an event or you notice that you are gifted at praying. These are all ministry gifts and they all start with Love.

Some gifts come naturally, and some take more effort. I was asking the Lord for more words of knowledge so I could witness more because not everybody is sick. As I asked the Lord and shared with people the impressions I was getting, I grew in the gift. I also started studying how other prophets functioned in their gifts and learned from their example. I would not worry if you don't have the gift you desire from birth because God will answer you as you seek Him and pursue Him for more to help His people.

You will seek Me and Find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. (Jer. 29:13)
The desires of the diligent will be fully satisfied.(Proverbs 13:4)

We need to desire the gift in order to go after it. If you don't, who will? That is what the Lord told me. He was desperate to have someone who could (and would) lay hands on the sick and pray in public and at work. He wants us to be available to go give someone an encouraging word. This is how we go out and impact people with Jesus. People are tired of being told stuff, they want to see a demonstration of the gospel.

They do not know that they don't have to stay addicted, full of fear, full of bitterness, wondering if this is all they can ever hope for in this life. Jesus is the answer and we (you) can do this. You can be the answer to someone's prayer as you make yourself available. This is not only for the pastors in the body of Christ. God gave the great commission to all the body. Everybody, not just a few. (See Mark 16:15-20)

A big key to being an effective witness is, "Tarry in Jerusalem until you receive power." (Luke 24:49) This is very important. I think a lot of us think we can do ministry running on empty. We all need to fill up our spiritual gas tanks with Holy Spirit every day so we have something to offer people.

One of the best ways I have found to fill up my spiritual gas tank is to just set aside some time every day to just worship the Lord. This works even if you are not a singer because you can speak words out loud. It's all about the words you speak out loud or sing out loud.
Let me give you an example. It's the middle of my day I've got a ten minute break so what am I going to do? I want to worship the Lord I want to enter into His presence so I say something like, "Lord show me how."

I tell Holy Spirit, "I just want to enter into your presence now. I just want to love on You, Lord today. Did I tell you Holy Spirit how much you mean to me today? Did I tell you how much Your salvation means to me today? Did I tell you Holy Spirit that You are the best thing that's ever happened to me? You make my life worthwhile. You are my life. You are my hope and You are my joy and I thank You Holy Spirit for waking up with me this morning. I thank You Lord that You are with me all through my day. I thank You Lord that You are helping me to bring You glory throughout my day."

Now if you just say something like that to the Lord, (out loud) you can feel Holy Spirit all over you like a glove, like a beautiful shawl around your shoulders. If you don't feel His presence ask Him why. Sometimes sin that has not been repented of will hinder us from hearing His voice or feeling His presence.

We were created for fellowship with an awesome God. We can all spend time with the Lord and tell Him how much we love Him. It's like a friendship that grows as we spend time with Him.

Tell Him what He means to you, in your own words. Tell Him how you treasure those little nuggets He gives you or tell him how much you love it when He highlights a verse in the Bible for you. Tell Him how you love to play the blessing game, where you try Bless the Lord and Holy Spirit more than He's blessed you. Tell Him how you long to serenade Him today. Pretend you are Romeo or Juliet, singing your love to Him from a balcony and if you don't know a love song ask Him to give you a special one just for you and Him.

Sometimes I'll ask the Lord what song He would like to hear to bless His heart. Then I'll sing that song to Him and You know what? He always finds a way to bless me back!
These are just a couple of ways that we can enter the Lord's presence so we have something to offer the people around us that we see in our day.

May you spread the fragrance of Him everywhere you go today! (2Cor. 2:14)

Dreams and Hard Work

I have been getting a horse ready for sale the last two weeks. It's a lot of work. She (Tina) is not quite three and would like us to believe that she has forgotten everything she learned last fall with the trainer. It takes a lot of time, dedication and vision to see the potential in a horse when they are acting like broncos or spoiled brats. The miracle is that with enough time, patience, training and hard work we can turn them into show winners.

In the same way there is no short cut to fulfilling a dream. They all take time, dedication, a willingness to learn and lots of work.

I think that is what Jesus meant when He asked us to consider the cost before we committed to Him. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? (Luke 14:28)

What would happen if I quit on my horse? She would never attain her full potential and there's a very good possibility that her life would be cut short. Horses with bad manners, that you can't ride are not good for much.

To me the cost is worth it. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel because my trainer and I have trained a few horses. I know that if I work hard now, in a while she will be more manageable and it won't be so hard next year to get her ready for riding.

Can you see the light at the end of the tunnel? If you work hard can you see a part of your dream coming to pass? I guess the big question is, "What are you willing to go without or do without to pursue your dream?"

I know for me... I have been committing a couple of hours every second day to training plus the additional time of handling, grooming, feeding every day. I do not have time for many things right now, but that is okay, because I have made the choice to do this. When we decide what we will do with our free time it empowers us somehow. It's easier to sacrifice when it's not forced on us by others.

On that note, I am still trying to help a lady with her dream of learning to play the piano. She now knows how to chord a worship song and I am teaching her some music theory along the way.

What I've noticed though, is now that she's realizing how hard it is to play the piano well, she is reconsidering how much she wants the dream. You see, she has three young children and she works and she still wants to read her fiction books every night. As you can imagine... practicing the piano is not happening.

This happens to many people. We start off great but then when we realize that it will take a lot longer than we imagined to achieve our dream, we want to give up. Do not shelve or give up on your dream! Instead, break your dream down into many small steps and figure out what one step you can start on now. Be realistic with your goal setting.

For example, I am going to encourage the piano lady to make some baby sized goals to start with and see how see does with that. It can be a challenge breaking down a dream into manageable, bite-sized pieces, but it can be done. Pursuing a dream, however slowly makes us more alive, more vibrant. Do not let anything or anyone steal your dream because "hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12) Even achieving the smallest part of a dream gives you courage to keep believing God for more and along the way or journey we become a tree of life to help others pursue their dreams. It is amazing how God changes us and uses us along the way!


Lord Jesus, You are so awesome! Bless this reader as they pursue You and Your dream for their lives!

Big Dreams Need Help

I do not know how to make my dream come true. It is so huge that only God can orchestrate it.

I felt the Lord tell me to get involved helping people make their dreams come true. Then I could use "my help" as seed for my dream harvest. I didn't have any teaching on this, just a nudge from Holy Spirit that He would be pleased if I did it.

We know from scripture that seed time and harvest, day and night, summer and winter, cold and heat will not pass away while the earth remains.(Genesis 8:22) I have used this Law of the Spirit to sow for a harvest of self control, friends, finances, jobs etc. I had not heard of anyone doing it for dreams but Holy Spirit thought it was okay, so why not? I had nothing to lose.

Over the years I have had the greatest time helping people make their dreams a reality. Sometimes it's only encouragement they need, or an alternate idea to get them going again in the right direction. On other occasions I have been able to facilitate their dream come to pass and watch it happen.

I know it has changed me into a more Christ like person. I have been partnering with the Biggest dream maker of them them all -- God, and it has stretched me to dream bigger and higher. Also, I am not a dream stealer anymore. I know that All things are possible with God. (Matthew 19:26)

Right now I am giving free piano lessons to a lady who always dreamed of being able to play the piano. Another friend got a dream job but has no way to get there the first week so I am going to drive her.

Then there was the lady from work who always dreamed of learning how to crochet so I taught her how to crochet. She has now completed three large blankets in various patterns.

Another lady always dreamed of having an appaloosa horse so I tried to give her one of mine; a beautiful black and white spotted filly. She didn't understand the "Seed being worth more than money" principle so I was able to explain it to her. She ended up giving me a nominal amount for the filly, just to keep her husband happy.

I don't think we can go wrong helping people pursue their dreams. The bible says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish,..." (Prov.29:18) A dream gives us focus, purpose and a destiny that we would otherwise not have. I remember once just thinking about God and how He has lost so much and yet His dreams are coming to pass in the world. He never quits. You know what He told me that day? He whispered to me that His love and plans go on forever. What a concept! It doesn't matter how many times we 'mess' up, He always has a back up plan.

There is hope for the dream He has given you. It might take some time to rediscover your dream but it is possible. Ask God to help you. He's really good at that. "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:..." (Psalm 37:4-5).

For more encouragement and direction in pursuing your dream I suggest you read the book, "Chicken Soup for the Soul, Living Your Dream". It has many uplifting stories of how people have pursued and achieved their dreams.

Bless you in Jesus' Name as you pursue God's dream for your life.

A Dream Given to God Doesn't Die

Sometimes you have a dream so big you don't know how it's ever going to happen.

I know that God can make dreams come true because He's done it for me before. You see, when I was in Engineering I had my western saddle situated in my bedroom and whenever I would get tired of studying I would look at that saddle and what it represented, and I kept going, because I knew I needed a good job to pay for my dream.

Well life didn't work out like I thought and when I moved out East years later with my 18 month old daughter, I didn't have room in the trunk for a saddle, never mind the expense of boarding a horse. The Lord told me to move out here; I had no connections, no job and one friend that said I could stay with her a couple of weeks till I found my bearings. I had five weeks left of Unemployment Insurance to live on till I either found a job or went on social assistance.

Time moved on and three years later I was living in the country and married to a great guy -- two major miracles. Then, two years later, I had the opportunity to rent some property behind our place and get a horse for my daughter!

If you had told me that moving out East was reasonable, I could tell you about all the people who thought I had lost my marbles. Guess what? God always has the last word.

So if you ask me, "Does it pay to obey God?" I would say, "Yes!" Even if it doesn't make sense... obey God. If you are wrong, He is able to correct you. If you don't obey, you will never know what you might have missed.

Give your dreams to the Lord. Trust Him in this and He will bring them to pass (in His perfect timing)(Psalm 37:4-5)
P.S. The picture is of my daughter and horse in our first horse show.

A Wholesome Tongue

Diane Maartens, from South Africa is on Face Book and has quite the ministry encouraging believers in the Word of God with 770 friends thus far. Here's a snippet of a daily quote she wrote.

"Proverbs 15:4: Tells us that, "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit." You have your very own tree of life, IN your mouth, the words you speak must bring life to you and those around you. Create your own miracle garden, with the words of your mouth, which are seeds...."

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. (Gal 6:7) Do not mock God by saying He brings sickness to you, He has clearly said as a man sows so shall he reap. When we speak things that are not consistent with the Word of God and with our nature which is the God nature, it causes calamity. Proverbs 18:21 tell us that life and death are in the power of your tongue..so a perverse tongue will bring death and destruction to your life, so what are you saying?"

That's food for thought eh? Lord help us all to keep a better guard on our mouths. (Psalm 141:3)

Loving with Actions

Last Friday I heard that some people that we know were moving. They have three young children so I asked my husband, Roy if we could go help. He said he would go for the morning and I convinced him to take my 14 year old son. I couldn't go as my other two girls needed chauffeuring around town. My son wasn't too happy at first but I know it was the right thing to do. We did not have to help. We were not asked. We have not gone to that church in over a year and we live 45 minutes away -- but it was the right thing to do.

You see, I remember trying to move a three bedroom house when I was eight months pregnant. We had let all our friends know and the church know and when moving day came, only one of Roy's friends from Toronto showed up. (He drove five hours to help us).

I tried calling some people but everyone was busy. I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I felt. The crew included my husband, his friend, myself -- as big as a house, and my twelve year old. She helped me look after my four year old and three year old while I moved boxes etc.

We somehow did it. I had everything packed up which helped. I was praying for supernatural help most of the day. I was crying out, "Lord! Where's the body when we need it?" That was a 12 hour move with a 29 foot UHaul van. It took us three trips. I drove because I'm used to driving big vehicles. We cleaned the house later. We didn't even unpack, as we were too exhausted. Nobody got hurt which was a miracle.

Ever since then, I make sure we show up when people are moving. I am not going to let that happen to someone else!

I am not sure why, but so many churches do not have a community spirit, when it comes to work. I'm not sure what to do about it. I really started praying that God would raise up the men out of their complacency. There's nothing wrong with a good day's work. You feel like you accomplished something at the end of it. Best of all, you make better friends when you work and take breaks together.

The church we are in now is different. Two of the members are great at calling the men to get help for big projects. That blesses me so much! The ladies are great at pulling together for funerals, baby showers and the like, but it really makes a difference when the men pull together. It gives me hope for Revival in our area because Revival is a huge team effort.

Anyhow, that's what was on my heart today. Incidentally, my son was quite happy after moving because Roy took him to Canadian Tire, to buy him a badminton racket for the school team. He was telling his dad how he whooped them on Monday. LOL!
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." (1John 3:18)

Remember...

"I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done." (Psalm 143:5) It's very important that we remember what God has done for us. We don't want to be like some of the Israelis who forgot what God did for them, by his power. (Psalm 78:42) God was really angry with them for forgetting all that He had done for them!

The other reason that we want to keep remembering these things is because the bible says that, "the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophesy." (Rev 19:10) As we remember what God has done, the same supernatural (God kind) of faith is released so that we can do it again. That's reason to rejoice!

So I have a couple of pages of personal testimonies I've written down, in point form. They are not in chronological order. If you want, I can elaborate on any that you are interested in: scripture promises, or details of how they happened.

May your faith be encouraged as you read about our Supernatural God!

-Supernatural help writing my 1st year Circuits exam. Did a 3 hr exam in 20 minutes and passed the course with a "C"!
-Bus Driver freaked out and God told me to pray in tongues and he got set free!
-God witnessed to leader about me. Ha Ha! Yay God!
-Atmosphere changed in my University classes, over and over again.
-Got given a motorcycle for work.
-Thunderstorm moved out of the way. God left a tiny piece of it so I would know it was Him answering my prayer.
-God handed me a plum job working in the Dept. of Education in 3rd year. We can never out give God.
-Supernaturally protected from physical assault.
-Job after graduation.
-Gas multiplied in my car for 1.5 weeks and I used my big Monte Carlo for sales!
- Two cars given to me!
-Prophesy and a place to stay in Ottawa.
-Daycare opening in 2 months, not two years like they said.
-Gift of healing. Chromosome trans location healed and had three healthy babies, after 6 miscarriages.
-Sex and characteristics God told me to claim for my children.
-Husband... God found him and brought Him to me and Even got my attention so I didn't dump him on our first date.
-Deliverance from lust.
-Horses again and a hobby farm. Dreams do come true!
-Bees from God when we had exhausted all our options to get our orchard pollinated.
-Huge downspout (small tornado) that descended on our neighbors barn obeyed my command and went immediately back up into the sky.  No one got hurt including the cows, although there was tons of damage done to the milking barn.
-Pigeon problem taken care of by God..... never had them since.
-Our horse Blue supernaturally healed so she could canter again (The Vet said it could never happen).
-Healthy foals with no complications.
-Protection from demonized horse at a farm. It couldn't get around me to hurt my children. Ha!
-Our calf protected from harm at our friends place. His twin died from pneumonia in the stall right beside him.
-Rain stopped at the border of our property so we could hay.
-Thunderstorms circling our farm but not able to rain or hail at my command. We baled dry hay!
-Sparky our cat raised up from his death bed. He got healed so well he was trying to make kittens again!
-Friends delivered from drugs.
-Dry hay in a wet summer. Local farmer couldn't believe it and had to check some bales for himself. Yay God!
-God had me take authority over a demon when a man was choking a young lady. He suddenly stopped and looked like someone waking up from a bad dream.
-Psychics confounded in the mall. Couldn't give any detailed readings.
-Words of knowledge from God for all the people waiting to see the psychic. It Really blessed some people to know that a Christian was trying to make a difference.
- At TACF, a huge revival Church in Toronto, God had me pray.... and a demonized lady was held quiet till an alter call was given right after the worship.
-Prophesy, "I'll never be sick another day in my life!"
-Job at "Nortel" after asking 4 years earlier for a job there.
-Lady in the mall got close to me and all of a sudden we felt an explosion in the air. She burst into tears and kept saying 'Thank you!' over and over. Holy Spirit said she was delivered!
-Lady at church got dramatically set free when I interceded as the Lord told me to.
-Palliative Care ward ministry. Stroke victim and pastor helped and Lee discharged from palliative care.
-Allergies healed.
-Rabbit dead with a word-- my daughter will never forget that incident!
-Piano playing skill saved 15 years for me.
-Found bad product on skids and production lines by words of knowledge, many, many times. Saved the company thousands of dollars in rework costs.
-Got gifts to play tambourine, sing harmony and make (design) jewelry and write books.
-Our horse, Tina's markings, sex and temperament just like the poster we had on our wall.
-New careers when I needed them.
-Lord told me to ask for my mother in law's car. Got it three months later at the trade in value.
-Countless number of people healed so far.
-Over 100 songs by Holy Spirit's inspiration.
-So many words and visions to help!
-Angel helping me to street preach at the Dept. of Justice in Ottawa. What a miracle!
-So many words of knowledge to prove that God is Alive and Real. PTL!
-Power Grid around our home protected countless times from lightning strikes and power outages.
-Huge storm with sheet lightning on three sides of our property. Didn't touch us at my command. We hayed the next day.
-Demonized man stopped manifesting when he got to the perimeter of my claimed area on Sparks Street preaching. He walked quietly through my area right in front of me and when he got about 15 feet past me is started manifesting again (yelling, swearing and cursing). What a sign to him that God is real! (You should have seen the people look sideways at me, LOL.)
-3 week old puppy healed from pneumonia.
-Little boy helped in Sunday school (set free from a tormenting spirit)
-15 dump truck loads of free logs for firewood given to us last month....

Can you see why I can't be discouraged for long? When ever I get under attack, I pull out my sheets of testimonies and remind the devil and myself how many times God has come through for me.
Best of all, He never changes! What He has done for me, He will do for you. We have mountain moving faith because He's inside us! So remember all He's done and put the same mountain moving faith to work again!

Bless you abundantly as you speak to your mountains!
Love,
Brenda Gale

My New Scarf

I stand amazed at God's goodness today. I just got back from a girlfriend's place and she gave me a new, big scarf. I like the really big, square scarves that keep your shoulders and neck warm. (The pic has my Boston Terrier, Brandy on my new scarf.)

This scarf came all the way from Italy and it still had the tags on it. It was even in fall colors that suit me so well and to top it off, it has western saddles on it. What are the chances?

My girlfriend wouldn't say how much she paid for it but she got it at the Opportunity shop in town, so I know its wasn't more than a dollar or two.

Isn't God Good? He knew how much I loved these big scarves, so He had someone buy one in Italy, probably on holiday and He made sure it matched my hair color and my hobbies! Then He had the recipient of the gift, not like it, so they would donate it to the Opportunity shop so my girlfriend would spot it, see how big it was opened up, and purchase it for me.

God, You are amazing! It was such a small thing, but it means so much to me. These scarves are hard to find!

Now then, if God will go to all that trouble for a new scarf, how much more will He engineer things to get you that job, or husband/wife you have been waiting on? Truly, He hears our heart's cry and our dreams are safe with Him. "Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4)

Encouragement From The Vineyard

One day when I was discouraged about ministry opportunities that are not opening around here Holy Spirit told me to go pray upstairs.

When I got upstairs He told me to check out Matthew chapter 20, the parable of the the Workers in the Vineyard

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard." (Matthew 20:1-3)

I understand this part. This is the route that many students take. They go to school to become pastors so they can work in the vineyard right away. That's what I wanted to do but the Lord said no. He wanted me to work for a season. I didn't think it would be for 23 years! Let's continue with the parable.

"About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' (Matthew 20: 3-6)

This is where my heart cringes. It might look like these men are "doing nothing" but I beg to differ. These poor guys have been waiting patiently in the market, enduring the judgmental, perhaps scornful looks of people passing by. They have their work gear on and they are acting enthusiastic, trying to get the Vineyard owner's attention so they will get picked next. I imagine by five p.m. their hopes are flagging. No one likes to be the last person picked on a team. Remember the anxiety you faced as a child trying not to be the last one picked? That happened to me far too many times. The rejection these men have endured is humiliating and they deserve credit for waiting this long. Most people in a casual work pool won't wait past 8:30 a.m. never mind enduring the heat and the looks till five p.m.

"'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'" (Matt 20: 7)

This is what I am waiting for. I have been diligent. I have been hoping and waiting and getting ready as Holy Spirit has led. I have three libraries full of books, teaching tapes and cds that Holy Spirit told me to study and testimonies that would fill a couple of books. Am I in the vineyard full time? No, not yet. I keep trying the doors, but none are opening, yet. I am wearing the right clothes and I am asking Holy Spirit to put the right perfume on me so I smell good to the Vineyard Owner. For sure, I am not taking the opportunities to get offended and quit.

"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.' The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'" (Matthew 20: 8-12)

I see resentment from the earlier workers because they felt cheated. I wonder what is harder, to work all day with your job and your diploma and the respect of the people... or to wait, working a regular job with the hard work of keeping a dream alive over so many years? I think both are hard positions, but if you are where you are supposed to be, you will hear Holy Spirit say, "Well done," every day. I know that is what I am living for. Let's finish the parable.

"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' (Matthew 20:13-16)

So here's the kicker, we all get the same wages. In fact it seems totally unfair to the college grad that started in ministry right away. What was the point? I totally agree. If God isn't calling you to be a pastor or leader you don't want it. It's a heartbreaking job. Almost like being a parent multiplied a hundred times over.

This is where motives really tell. If they were doing it because Holy Spirit told them to, then they will hear His "Well done."

For those of us still waiting to be told, "Go work," this is really encouraging. He knows how long we have been waiting and He has not forgotten us!

I know I am called to do evangelistic crusades and God will open the door at the right time. In the mean time does anyone want to go street preaching, prophesying, and healing with me? I need prayer back up and a witness, in case something bad happens. LOL!

Teaching Sunday School Today, etc.

I had fourteen precious children today in my Grade 4 and 5 class. They didn’t do their homework and didn’t have their agendas so I improvised.

I felt to teach them about how to have miracles in their lives. Miracles are a fruit of intimacy with the Lord Jesus. So we looked up Psalm 100:4 where it says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving in your hearts, enter His courts with praise. We will say, this is the day that the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad.” (my paraphrase) To apply this scripture, we praise the Lord till Holy Spirit leads us to worship, then we worship till His manifest presence shows up and then we stand and receive all He has for us. 2Cor.2:16-18 says we are transformed from glory to glory as we behold Him or stand in His presence. Hallelujah!

We, His sheep hear His voice (John 10:27) and the voice of a stranger we will not listen to (John 10:6) So we cry out to the Lord, “Talk to me Lord! You promised that we would hear Your voice and we are hungry for You. Thank You Lord for speaking to us now.” Then we pause and listen. Then we check with Holy Spirit, “Is this what You are saying, Holy Spirit?” and we ask clarifying questions.

The kids were listening and I was so blessed.

I then taught them the number one reason why people don’t receive in church. Are you curious? Jesus nailed it when He said, “that a prophet is with honor except in His home town.” (Mark 6:1-8) Familiarity is the number one reason people don’t receive. We look at people through our physical eyes, with all their imperfections and don’t honor Holy Spirit, who is working through them. We can’t receive from people we don’t honor. Holy Spirit doesn’t work that way. I believe that’s why the Apostle Paul said that, “from here on in we judge no man after the flesh.” (Rom 14:13)

Then we did a word search on Proverbs chapter five (their homework text) and those who wanted to, read verses from the chapter out loud.

We then blessed ourselves using my book, “Bless Your Children Every Day,” by Ruth Swope. Many of the children had never heard of this so I explained Matt 12:35-37 where we have the choice to speak words of life or death and how they affect us. I could see revelation in some of the children’s eyes.

Our classroom was so crowded that we took a break and played dodge ball in the gym. I put one of the young men in charge and when the kids started fighting about the rules we decided to go back to the classroom. He was upset about how it went and I told him that’s how teachers feel some days. They have all these great plans but they can’t do them because one or two won’t follow the rules. That "hit" him because normally he’s the one causing the disruption. (Go God!)

So we had about 5 minutes left till the end of the service, so I asked the kids if they knew how to bless people. They didn’t so I gave them a couple of pointers. First make sure your heart is “love, wanting the very best” for the person. Then throw away all your preconceived ideas about the person and ask Holy Spirit for what HE wants to share with them, to encourage them. Then I demonstrated how to do it. I was able to break curses over one young man by doing it generally, for the whole class. Then I spoke blessing over all the children. I got told to tell one child that he was a mighty man of God and that he should look in the bathroom mirror every day and say,”Thank You Jesus that I am a mighty man. “ Another young girl had a teaching gift with the anointing of compassion that I called out for her to recognize and receive. In all about five children were specifically blessed. Hallelujah!

It was an awesome time. The service was extended and the parents were receiving in the sanctuary. The children were getting restless so I let them make paper airplanes and I told them that they wanted their parents to receive from God, because the more they received, the more they would become better parents. (more light bulbs going off in their heads. I love it.)

The young boy that I broke the curses off did such a one eighty, in behavior and attitude that it made me cry at God's goodness. He immediately took an interest in the lesson and stood close to me the rest of the service so that I could bless him again and again. Thank You Lord for keeping him free! To God be all the Glory!

It was a great morning. I met someone after the service that had a sore throat so Tricia (my daughter) and I prayed for him and rebuked that cold and loosed healing. We claimed, “Supernatural lubrication on his throat and vocal chords so he can preach and teach 24/7.” Amen.

Then at the grocery store I met a lady from work that had a pinched nerve in her neck. I asked her if I could pray for her and she said okay. So I told her that by the stripes of Jesus she was healed and I asked her to agree with me for the Lord to heal her. (Isa 53:3-5) Hallelujah, I know God’s working in her life. I told her to say “Thank You,” and that I would pray and God would heal her.”

Holy Spirit was happy so I wasn't worried about my preaching. We get better with practice.

Yay God! Now that’s living. He always answers the prayer, "Here I am Lord. Please use me today." And it’s only 3:30 p.m. There is lots of time to do stuff with the family and find time to go worship and praise Him. I love being His favorite mug! (2Tim 2:20-21)

Bless You, in Jesus' Name!

Bishop Vladimir Gnica

Bishop Vladimir Gnica
By Brenda Thompson
July 25, 2000

I was reading a book titled, "Holy Fire; From Holy Laughter to Holy Fire" by Michael Brown and a little passage about a certain man has really impacted my life.

Bishop Vladimir Gnica was a believer who was imprisioned in the Solviet Union because of his faith. He was made to walk his cell constantly and only given a mat seven hours a day to rest or sleep. If he quit walking he was beaten or hosed down with cold water. This went on for twenty years. After twenty years he was sent to a labour camp in Siberia where he lived another three years before going home to be with the Lord.

He is noted for saying these words...

"Lord, take my heart and never give it back to me. Why was I born if not to love you passionately?"

I am not there yet. I am like everybody else who tends to compare themselves with others instead of comparing themselves with Jesus and the saints of old. In the days of the apostles the Greek word for witness meant martyr. In those days I've read that the leadership considered themselves wheat to be sown. They knew their deaths would produce 30, 60 and a hundred fold harvest. They knew leadership meant laying down their lives for the brethren. I can't help wondering if I am doing all I can to carry the torch for the next generation.

Lord help me to pick up my cross daily and follow You where ever You lead. I too want to be found faithful in all things. I want to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I appreciate all You've done in my life, Lord, but please don't stop. In Jesus's name I ask these things, Amen. (Matthew 10:38, 1 Corinthians 4:2, Philippians 3:8, Romans 8:29)

Haying This Summer (written Aug, 2000)

The weather this summer has been horrible for the farmers in our area because of the incessant rain. This also happens to be the first summer we are harvesting our own hay. It could have been a recipe for disaster but I've been crying out to the Lord for mercy and guidance because I know so very little about what to do to get good quality hay for our horses.

Thankfully God always gives grace to the humble and He's been making up for our mistakes, which have been huge and hilarious in hind sight.

After we had harvested half of our first cut of hay our neighbor, Dick, who also happens to be a prominent dairy farmer in the area came over. He couldn't believe that we had baled dry hay. He kept commenting on that so I asked him, "Would you like to inspect our hay?" He said, "Sure," so he, my daughter and I went up into the loft to inspect the hay.

He inspected a number of bales of hay and said, "I can't believe you've got dry hay." He was checking for moisture which leads to mould and worthless hay. He asked me, "How did you do it?" and I said, "I prayed. I asked God to have mercy on my husband and I, 'city slickers', and to help us not ruin the crop." What a testimony God gave us!

Just this week we were trying to harvest our second crop of hay which is mostly alfalfa and the weather had turned against us. (In hindsight I realize that I believed the weather man more than I believed God because I hadn't even prayed that morning.)

I called the farm around the corner and got a hold of Case, Dick's father and asked if they could use the hay for silage since it didn't look like we would be able to bale it before it went mouldy. He said "No, we aren't set up for it right now." So I said, "Well, I had better start praying." He commented, "You should be happy with a barn full of good hay in such a bad summer." He was right of course but we were believing that we would be blessed abundantly so we could give an additional offering to one of our ministries.

We said our goodbyes and I prayed and asked the Lord to intervene with the weather so we could be a blessing to others again.

I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to go rake the hay around lunch time but it was still really overcast and the weather forecast was for thundershowers in the afternoon. A few minutes later I felt the prompting from the Holy Spirit again so I obeyed and went and raked the hay in fourth and fifth gear. By two o'clock when I was finished raking the hay the weather had completely changed and it was partly sunny with nice white clouds. I called my husband to come home to help and I started baling (square bales) with my 13 year old daughter.

Around five o'clock Case came by and talked to me on the field and said, "Look what happened when you prayed! I remember what you said at lunch, that you said you were going to start praying. The next time I need help with the weather I'm going to pray and come see you for help to pray too, okay?" I said, "Sure." He said "We are cutting hay because we are running out of time." I said, "But it's supposed to thundershower for the next three days."

He remarked, "Is it?" and he had a big smile on his face. I understood that he was hoping I would pray for him (which I did). Guess what? We didn't get any thunder showers. They all went by us in response to our prayers. Isn't God good? We were able to put 500 bales of excellent quality alfalfa hay in our barn which will sell for $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 depending on market conditions. Case and Dick's hay didn't get ruined either, Praise the Lord.

I'm so thrilled that I finally realized that my ministry is wherever I am right now. The Lord Jesus sure gave us a witness this summer! I'm praying that the Lord will encourage them and bring them into a stronger relationship with himself.

I Missed a Breakthrough

I was in Rochester, New York on the weekend. We had a great time getting some great teaching and making connections. After the course finished we went for a drive and ended up at Wendy's for a bite to eat, before heading back home.

Right outside the door was a homeless man, sitting on the ground with his back leaning against the garbage can. I walked by him into the Wendy's praying about what to do. It was bothering me that he was out there. At that point, I was fighting fear, so I ordered my salad and kept praying.

I waited for my friends to get to the table and asked my friend if I could borrow ten American dollars because I was out of American money. "No problem," she said and we proceeded to eat our lunch. As it turned out, she forgot to give me the ten dollars and I forgot to ask her again for it.

We talked a bit after lunch, then left. I didn't see the man on the way out. I didn't think about it till we had left the parking lot and I remembered that I had forgotten to get him a meal. My friend was driving away so I prayed out loud, "Lord send someone else."

I missed a great opportunity. You see, that was a love test and I chose to be comfortable rather than to risk upsetting my friends or embarrassing myself. I used to be really good at talking to homeless people. In Winnipeg, where I grew up, they used to come talk to me all the time. Sometimes they just wanted to talk. Sometimes they pan handled and I would ask Holy Spirit what to do. He always protected me.

You know Holy Spirit always rewards those who will love the least of them. He is always searching for His lost sheep. (Matthew 18:11-13) Sad eh? This man could have been an angel for all I know. It has happened before. The Bible says, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels." (Hebrews 13:2)

I could make excuses for myself, but I know the truth. All I had to do was treat him like a human being and ask him if he was hungry. It's not rocket science. Then I could ask him what he would like and order it while he goes to wash up. For me washing is important and if he gives me trouble about it, I would joke with him saying, "Don't you want to look your best eating lunch with a pretty lady like me?"

That's how easy it is. $7.00 can keep a homeless man going for another day. The Bible says, "He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given." (Proverbs 19:17) If you are bold you can tell him about Jesus and His power that can set him free from addictions and save him from hell. If that is overwhelming, then give him a tract and let him eat by himself. He'll be glad for a good meal.

Here I have been asking the Lord for the spark I need to get this revival bonfire going in the valley and this man was the situation I needed. You see I have learned from experience that outrageous love leads to outrageous breakthroughs.

So you can understand why I am asking the Lord for another chance. If you dare, you can pray this with me; Lord have mercy on me, and help me get back to where I used to be -- totally, outrageously in love with You. I'm too comfortable these days, too apathetic. I want to be Your hands and feet in this dying world, really I do. So help me Lord to be more like You. Amen.

Bless you as you go love on purpose, in His name!

Great Teaching This Weekend

Hi there... I've been away for a few days. I got so much to share, I'm not sure where to start. In the mean time there are chores pressing in on me so please bear with me. I'm going to make a pot of chili and worship as I do it and think about what I want to share.

God's been so good!

Bless you. Let's keep learning how to worship as we work. Lord help us be aware of Your vineyard. Amen.

A Favorite Verse... Hebrews 12:1

Hebrews 12:1, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

This is one of my favorite verses. I can get lost in thinking about the great cloud of witnesses. Are they angels, or people, or both? How many are around me today, Lord? Does the number change from day to day? What are they saying right now? What would they tell me, if they could?

Then I move on to the second part of the verse. What have I got to throw off today, Holy Spirit? Some days, it's hurtful words from the past, that the enemy is trying to use to keep me from moving forward. Sometimes habitual sin, that I am struggling with is the problem. Other times it's the "accuser", coming at me through circumstances, or someone who doesn't have their mouth under Holy Spirit's control. My choices are very important and I cannot get involved in offense or unforgiveness and call myself a good soldier. (2Titus 2:4)

The next part of that verse leads me to ask, "What sin is entangling me today? Unforgiveness, offense, bitterness, or habitual sin are the usual culprits. Bad eating habits have been highlighted to me, to work on by the Lord... not people. There's a big difference when Holy Spirit says, "Sweetheart, it's time to change this." I can take His correction much better than peoples comments. I am determined to get to the point where Holy Spirit is 100% in control of my food intake. I will not quit! I have come so far, baby step by baby step. Gluttony will not master me, because I want to prosper and the bible says that a "drunkard and glutton tend to poverty." (Proverbs 23:21) Sobering eh? If I want to prosper, I can't keep making excuses to overeat. Holy Spirit is not fooled for one second.

The final part of that verse is something I have been working on for a while. Perseverance is available to me as I ask for it. I have asked Holy Spirit to help me run my race with great perseverance. He is so amazing. I have also asked Him for joy along the way, because the dream He gave me to pray about, is a long term project... LOL. The verse that the Lord gave me to tie in with this part, was Isaiah 42:4, "I will not falter or be discouraged until Your justice is established in the whole world." So you see, I can't quit. I have decreed this verse over myself so many times, it's a part of me. Hallelujah!

As I run my race, I want to remember that there is supernatural power in the Word of God, power to bring "itself" to pass in my life so I can live the "divine life" here and now. (2Peter 1:3-4) The Word of God is supernatural seed and I love getting nuggets from the Word and applying them to my life. (Isaiah 55:11) To God be all the glory. Great things He has done!

What God has done for me, He can do for you.

Excuse me, I have got to keep running...

What Grieves My Heart... Part 2

This post is a follow up to the previous post.

I spoke to this lady yesterday after prayer group. I was probably too gentle, but I love this lady and so many times when we are upset we will say things that we don't really mean. Then someone figures they have grounds to "warn" someone else... and so it continues. I asked her to be careful what she says because some people will react in fear and will start looking for dirt to substantiate the "warning." I also mentioned how I felt that Holy Spirit would warn people if there was a problem and she didn't need to interfere. All in all it went very well. She's still talking to me and I was able to talk to her gently, which is a miracle for me. (Thanks for your prayers!)

The whole time I prepared to speak to her I was keeping in mind the scripture verse, "You therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things." (Romans 2:1) I wanted to be very careful that my words didn't come across as judgment, because then I'm part of the problem. I was really hoping she would see my words as exhortation to act more like Jesus and to trust Holy Spirit to warn people, if it was necessary.


I do not want the devil to win, so I have been blessing them both, on purpose and praying that Holy Spirit will help all of us to grow to be more like Jesus. The scripture verse that came to me was, "Let no sin have dominion over us Lord, because we love Your word." (See Psalm 119:133)

I was thinking how much this is like the Veggie Tale called "The Rumor Weed." Life is weird and wonderful at times!
Bless you!