Faith saves us. Faith keeps us. Faith allows Christ to live in us. Faith
vindicates, justifies and is made genuine in us as we go through the trials
and tribulations and yes, the suffering. Faith teaches us to wait with
great expectation. Faith gives us the VICTORY! Why not fight it? Why not
allow your faith to give substance to what you are believing God for? 1
John 5:4 says, Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Remember
beloved, we are in the world but we are not of it. We have to fight and
believe the world is not the way for us.

So in the face of seeming defeat, when faith seems weak and victory lost,
fight the good fight of faith! Hebrews 11:1 says, Faith is the substance of
things hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Let your faith give
substance to things you hope for. Speak things that be not as though they
were. Use the power and authority God has given you in the name of Jesus!!
Faith says God is working out His perfect will and plan in my life, and I
can wait, endure, and suffer. Why? Because faith does not make anything
easy, but it makes all things possible. Hallaleujah!

By Pastor Troy Brewer
Open Door Ministries
Joshua, TX

Her name is Isabella. I saw her for the first time several years ago. We will both be forty-two this winter. Past that, there’s not much in common. Though we grew up on the same planet, during the same time, we have lived in two completely different worlds.

When I was eighteen, I drove a 1971, Ford truck named “Ned Pepper” after the bad guy from True grit. It was a shinning time for me, full of music, friends, high school graduations and hope for the future. That same year, when Isabella was eighteen, her family sold her to the trash dump in Matamoros Mexico.

Across the river

The search for a better life had brought Isabella’s family to the border. They had heard there were jobs that couldn’t be found in the mountains of Southern Mexico. They didn’t find jobs but found hardship and predators that prey on desperate people. After spending some time without a home, they were offered a piece of property with no money down, where they could build some kind of a house from things found at the nearby dump. What seemed like a good opportunity was actually a trap. Because they didn’t understand how interest works, it wasn’t long before they couldn’t make the payment.

The terrible ultimatum demanded by these Mafioso loan sharks is that your wife and daughters can either sell their bodies as prostitutes or the whole family can work in the trash dump. Of course they are promised they will be able to pay off the debt, and of course they are never able to. Years go by, people loose hope and slavery goes on within a few hours drive of where you are reading this now.

A cross to bear
I don’t know all the details but Isabella became property of the dump the same year I was eating ice cream at the Dairy Queen in Joshua. She paid the price for her family at the age of 18 and her family went back to the village. She was 36 now but looked much older, emotionally disturbed and a little bit crazy. Isabella had spent every day of her last 18 years in untold hardship and every night in unspeakable darkness.

Her “boss” was there that first day we met her. He sat in the truck watching her and some twenty others mine through the filth for anything of value.

Through several local people, we were told her story and we approached her about the possibility of freedom. I asked if it was possible to pay her debt and set her free. She didn’t say anything she just smiled and pointed to the guy in the truck. A local Pastor hacked out a price for this human being and all of us on the team collected our money. Out of the 10 of us we were able to muster $631.00. He took the money, went and had a talk with her and drove off to parts unknown.

We set Isabella free that day. Free to find her family. Free to live wherever she wanted, however she wanted. At that moment I felt like one of the most privileged people who ever lived. It was a good day.

Crossing back over
I visit the dumps there several times a year, so four years later it wasn’t out of the ordinary for us to be there again. When we topped the hill with our truckload of food and clothes, I thought I recognized her. There in the trash she was collecting cardboard. Isabella was back. My heart sank.

It wasn’t the loan shark or another con. She was there working on her own free will. “Forgive me”, she said to our team, “I don’t know how to live out there; I only know this place.” She looked for any sign of mercy and all I could do was hug her and tell her it was ok.

Every time I go there I see her now. She runs to the truck before we can even get out and we are always happy to share a day together. In fact we put special things aside for her and her family. I got to put brand new shoes on her little boy’s feet last week and my wife paid to put all of her kids through another year of school.

Yes, I’m disappointed she chose to stay in the dump, but she is still very precious to the Brewer bunch. I just don’t think Isabella could see her self outside of that terrible place. Because of her self-identity, the dump still has her. I wish she could see herself like we see her because we think she’s awesome.

I see all of us in Isabella. Christ has set us free and so many times we choose to go back to the trash. It’s hard to see yourself as clean and set free when on the inside you feel filthy and tied up. That’s why it’s so important to believe the truth especially when it comes to identity. When we believe a lie we empower the liar and that’s just a shame. May we all learn to see ourselves a little more like God really sees us.

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32

“Few people listen as well as they think they do,” explains Dick Fetzer, a professor of elementary education at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. “But relationships can be enhanced, improved–even salvaged–through reflective listening.”

In reflective listening, the listener “reflects back” to the speaker what he thought he heard, and awaits confirmation or correction. Anyone can learn the skill, asserts Fetzer. In his book, “Please Listen to Me!: A Christian’s Guide to Reflective Listening” (Pleasant Word, 2008). Fetzer addresses the ten most common stumbling blocks to effective communication.

The biggest stumbling block is that we ask too many questions, he says. “When you ask questions, you’re not truly listening; you are trying to get information so you can give advice. The conversation quickly becomes focused on the questioner rather than on the speaker’s needs.”

Fetzer recommends allowing the speaker to be in control of the conversation. “Listening is not about having to solve the speaker’s problem,” he says. “The greatest help we can give is to get out of the way and allow the speaker to express herself without interruption.”

Advice-giving is another common deterrent to effective listening. “The person who presents a problem frequently has the answer to her own problem– although she may not be aware of it,” Fetzer says. “It is absolutely crucial that we ignore the urge to give advice.”

“Listening reflectively is different from a casual conversation,” Fetzer notes. “When we listen reflectively, we sense the speaker’s need to share her heart, work through an emotion, or resolve an issue… the focus moves from our needs and concerns to the needs and concerns of the speaker.”

In this world of sophisticated communications systems, effective communication boils down to our ability to listen reflectively, Fetzer believes. “When we listen reflectively, it’s a win-win for both the speaker and the listener.”

To order, visit: www.WinePressBooks.com or call 877- 421-7323. For a review copy or to schedule an interview please contact Adam Cothes at 360-802- 9758 or adam@winepressgroup.com.

Christian Newswire

But isn’t that how we do God?  1 Peter 5:7 says, Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you (KJV).  Now, I know God sees the time limit.  I know God knows exactly what to do.  But, I sat there and worry about it anyway.  God said He’s never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread, Proverbs 37:25b (KJV).  If God has never seen it, it can’t happen to me!  Now that’s a powerful statement.  After all He’s an All-Knowing and All-Sufficient God who also is called Jehovah-jireh, our Provider.  Okay, in ending, repeat after me:  God cares about me and He knows more than I do.  Now, don’t you feel better?  I know I do.  Just keep saying that to your spirit and mind.  No situation or trouble or issue can ever change what He is to you and His promise toward you.  Author, Bayless Conley, stated in his article, How You Can Live Victorious Over Worry,  and I quote, ‘Worry doesn’t empty tomorrow of it’s sorrows, it just empties today of it’s strengths’.   

Tonight I had the pleasure of looking at a show on the television with Bishop Brown.  One of his favorite shows is ‘The Big Idea’ with Ronnie Dorsch (this spelling could be wrong, but it isn’t him that I’m talking about anyway). 

He interviews people with their inventions and business ideas and he calls them ‘A Million Dollar Idea’.  Tonight he focused on a young woman who resigned as a stock broker in New York.  Her million dollar idea was cookies that she called ‘Food for The Soul’. 

Now, that was a great idea, for the body (hmmmm, cookies), but what about food for your soul?

The soulish realm of your mind, will, and particularly emotions.  Can you really say you have fed your emotions with the word of God or are they running a-muck. 

The bible says in Romans 14:17-18, For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.  For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. 

You can’t feed your soul what you feed your body.  We must feed our minds, wills, and emotion the precious, loaded with benefits, bread of life, word of God.  It has all the nutrients we need and unlike the cookies the young lady made. 

Is your service acceptable to God? 

You know you could be like me at 4:16 am this morning.  My mind and emotions running crazy with worry and anxiety about an issue. 

I reacted as if I hadn’t fed off of the word ever in my life.  But that wasn’t it! 

It was that I had enough word in me to get my peace, but I wanted to focus on the issues and not the word of God.  It kept me awake for at least 2 hours until I realize that I was the head and not the tail, and that I was above only and not beneath. 

My soul was hungry and it was thirsty for the peace that passes all understanding.  It was looking for something to stop it from going haywire and squirrelly.  Doubt and unbelief will strip you of all the nutrients the word of God will give you.   

Bless You,
-Pastor Linda Brown
Victory International Church
A Life In Victory Everyday

When I asked the question is transformation necessary?, I think about the cartoon called the Transformers.  These were cars that turned into huge monsters made of a mass of metal.  The thing about it is that they always had a reason for turning into this giant, tall, and powerful weapon ready to do battle. 

Wouldn’t it be nice if the believer took that same authority and did battle with principalities, wickedness in high places,  and evil rulers in the unseen world.  Clearly transform means to change form, nature, character or disposition.  It says to be something different.  I say to my son all of the time, if you want a change from the results or outcome you get doing something, then you have to change the way you do it.  Renew your thinking toward it.  Think the way the Lord thinks.  Let the mind of Christ be in you in everything you do.

As a Christian, when we become a new creature, a new saved person in Christ, the old way is done away with and everything we do will be new to us.  It won’t be considered the norm anymore.  As a matter of fact, people will call you crazy because you’ve change the way you see and do things.  Why?  because we are doing things God’s way.  We are coming out of conformity.  We are coming out of agreement with the world’s way and the old way.  Not doing what mama them always did it.  Transformation means breaking out of the box.  You begin to pray and ask God to make you usable and not just use you.  Break all the molds, thoughts, and ideas we were accustomed to before salvation.  Make us more and more like Jesus and then and only then can we be usable.  It won’t be just with our mouths but with the heart and spirit.  We are no longer bound by the box, but we are transformed and blood-bought children of God.  Ready to be transformed by the power of God into whatever He wants us to be.  I say yes!  Transformation is necessary. 

By ANDREW WALLMEYER
awallmeyer@acnpapers.com 

Gazette photo by Andrew Wallmeyer Alan and Raleane “Rae” Kupferschmidt in the living room of their Lake Elmo home Sunday afternoon. Rae was pronounced brain dead on Jan. 17 but has since mounted a “miraculous” recovery and could return home from the hospital this week.

LAKE ELMO, Mn. - Four weeks ago, Alan Kupferschmidt was planning his wife’s funeral. Today, he is planning her homecoming party.

Doctors pronounced Raleane “Rae” Kupferschmidt brain dead on Jan. 17, two days after a massive cerebral hemorrhage put the 65-year-old into a coma. In her living will, she told her family she did not want to live the last years of her life as a vegetable, so after saying their tearful goodbyes they reluctantly told doctors to remove her breathing tube and waited for her to die.

“Family was all around her. The minister from the church was there, and we had a small prayer service. We had already begun the grieving process – my mom was gone,” Lisa Sturm recalled Sunday.

But Rae Kupferschmidt’s heart kept beating.

Doctors told her family it could take anywhere from a few hours to a few days for her to pass away, so they decided to take her home and make her as comfortable as possible for as long as she lived.

That was all Sturm was trying to do when she used an ice cube to wet her mother’s dry lips on Jan. 18, a few hours after she had been placed in a hospital bed in the family dining room.

“When I put the ice cube on her lips, she sucked on it. But I knew suckling is a very basic brain stem function, so I didn’t get real excited. But when I did it again she just about sucked the ice cube out of my hand, and I looked at my aunt and said, ‘Did you see that?!’ I was wondering if I was seeing things just because I wanted to. ‘Yeah, I saw that!’ she said. So I leaned down and asked, ‘Mom… Mom, are you in there?’” Sturm said. “And when she shook her head and mouthed, ‘Yes,’ we all just about fell over.”

At the time, the Kupferschmidt’s Legion Avenue split-level home was packed with family and friends who had come to say farewell to Rae and console one another on their loss.

Even after Rae’s return, her family tried not to get their hopes up, since they had been told terminally ill patients frequently have a “lucid moment” shortly before they pass away.

“We saw it as a gift,” Alan Kupferschmidt said. “It was a chance to say goodbye; a chance to speak with Rae one last time.”

Again, she defied belief, and her “lucid moment” stretched into a lucid weekend.

“We asked the doctors, ‘How long are these lucid moments supposed to last?’ And they said anywhere from a few seconds to 20 minutes or so,” Sturm said. “I told them, “Well, I’m pretty sure we’ve broken all of your records then.”

Alan Kupferschmidt said that is when he knew it was time to reconsider his wife’s treatment plan.

“‘We’ve got to turn this train around,’ I said, ‘because hospice is a one-way track to the funeral home, and Rae’s not ready to go,” he recalled.

Though Rae Kupferschmidt doesn’t recall much from that week, she said she remembers an exchange she had with her daughter.

“She kept asking me, ‘Mom, do you see any angels that you recognize?’ She wondered if they were there to take me home,” Kupferschmidt recalled Sunday afternoon. “And I said, ‘No, they’re not here to take me home; they don’t want me. They’re here to help me.’”

Sturm remembers the conversation vividly.

“She kept saying the house was filled to capacity with souls that she didn’t know, but they were all angels, and they were her to heal her,” she said.

With that guidance, the family pushed for more proactive medical treatment, and on Jan. 21 plans were made for a surgery the following day that would drain the excess blood from Kupferschmidt’s skull.

But later in the day she was slow to wake, and she told family members she was feeling different. Afraid they might lose her again, they called her doctors and moved the surgery up.

The operation went well, and Kupferschmidt has been recovering at United Hospital in St. Paul ever since. She remains weak, but apart from the fact that her right eye now looks slightly off to one side, she appears to have suffered little long-term damage. The experience even seems to have alleviated some of her lupus symptoms – the joint pain that she has lived with for the last 35 years is now gone.

Kupferschmidt spent Saturday and Sunday at home on a trial visit. If all goes well, she’ll move back for good on Thursday.

No matter where she is, Kupferschmidt and her family said they now see every day as a gift from God.

“I’ve been the recipient of God’s grace, and given a second chance in life. God is not done with me yet. I’m not finished with my purpose,” she said. “I don’t know what God’s purpose is in continuing my life, but I know I will dedicate my life to His work, whatever that is.”

Alan Kupferschmidt said he’s convinced his wife’s recovery is divine karma for decades of selfless volunteer work. He proudly points to her involvement at Christ Lutheran Church in Lake Elmo, the Stillwater Senior Center, the Lake Elmo Fire Department Auxiliary, prayer circles around the world, and numerous other charitable activities.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people have prayed for this woman in the last month,” he said. “I had no idea how famous she was.”

At that, Kupferschmidt cut her husband off, “Stop it. I’m not famous, I’m lucky, and it’s only by God’s grace that I’m here,” she said.

Regardless of why they are given, the Kupferschmidts said they feel every day is a gift.

Though he’s always loved his wife, Alan Kupferschmidt said he now makes sure to let her know how much every day.

Sitting together on their sofa, they beam.

Though she still doesn’t know what her mission is, Rae Kupferschmidt said she knows one thing she can do is tell everyone who will listen to visit the doctor if they have persistent headaches.

“I still don’t know what my task is here on this Earth, but I know God’s not done with me yet. How else could you explain everything that has happened to me?”

To learn more about Rae Kupferschmidt’s recovery visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/raleanekupferschmidt.

Take a look at this and leave your comment.  Love you much

 - Pastor Linda

Sin, a Hindrance to Answered Prayer

By Carlos Garcia

Have you ever found that the prayers you have before God have gone unanswered? Have you ever wondered what it could be that is holding back the answer to your petition? After spending some time in fasting in prayer the Lord revealed to me five hindrances to receiving prayers answered, they are the following: sin, fear, self, time and disorder. Today, I’ll be discussing the first point, sin.

God’s word says that without obedience there is no blessing. Disobedience to God’s word is sin. We may be faithful in tithing and church attendance, but if we are not walking according to God’s word, we are in disobedience and sin.

We may want to become angry with God for not answering our prayer, but if we walking in disobedience to God then we are hindering ourselves from receiving a blessing.

Sin seems to develop in stages, A) Thoughts, B) Words, and C) Action. The Scriptures state, “as a man *THINKS in his heart, so is he.” If the thoughts of your heart are angry, lustful, jealous, and the like, then it is an indication of whom we are, even if it is not whom we want or claim to be. (cf. II Co 10:3-5)

As Christians we must strive to keep our thoughts pure and in line with the word of God. Philippians 4:8 challenges the Believer, “Whatsoever things are holy, … pure, … and of good report …think [meditate] on these things.”

If we keep our thoughts on the Lord, we will be much more effective in keeping our thoughts pure. And since our objective as Christians is to be more like Jesus, we must meditate (keep our thoughts) on the Lord so we can become more like Him. And if we walk in obedience we will be at a place to receive the blessing we have petitioned God.

The Bible state, “the power of life and death is in the tongue” and we will eat the fruit of those words. For example, if we are asking God for a financial blessing, but on our “non-prayer” time we keep speaking doubtful or negative words, we will eat the “fruit” of our doubt and miss the blessing of our prayers.

Action speaks to what we live and walk out in our day-to-day lives. There are believers who have the misconception that because we “talk the talk,” behind close door we are not obligated to “walk the walk.” Yet, in Galatians 6: 7-8 it states plainly, “God is not mocked…he that soweth to the flesh…will reap destruction.” We cannot look to blame others for our lack of blessings.

In essence, if we live life as if God is not omnipresent [present in all places] and omniscient [all knowing], than we deceive ourselves. Our Christianity is not only about words, but it’s about actions. As it says in the book of James, “Faith without works [actions] is dead.”

If we desire the blessing of the Lord, we must walk in line with His word. If we walk in obedience we will be in the place to receive God’s blessing.

Have you ever found that the prayers you have before God have gone unanswered? Have you ever wondered what it could be that is holding back the answer to your petition? After spending some time in fasting in prayer the Lord revealed to me five hindrances to receiving prayers answered, they are the following: sin, fear, self, time and disorder. Today, I’ll be discussing the first point, sin.

God’s word says that without obedience there is no blessing. Disobedience to God’s word is sin. We may be faithful in tithing and church attendance, but if we are not walking according to God’s word, we are in disobedience and sin.

We may want to become angry with God for not answering our prayer, but if we walking in disobedience to God then we are hindering ourselves from receiving a blessing.

Sin seems to develop in stages, A) Thoughts, B) Words, and C) Action. The Scriptures state, “as a man *THINKS in his heart, so is he.” If the thoughts of your heart are angry, lustful, jealous, and the like, then it is an indication of whom we are, even if it is not whom we want or claim to be. (cf. II Co 10:3-5)

As Christians we must strive to keep our thoughts pure and in line with the word of God. Philippians 4:8 challenges the Believer, “Whatsoever things are holy, … pure, … and of good report …think [meditate] on these things.”

If we keep our thoughts on the Lord, we will be much more effective in keeping our thoughts pure. And since our objective as Christians is to be more like Jesus, we must meditate (keep our thoughts) on the Lord so we can become more like Him. And if we walk in obedience we will be at a place to receive the blessing we have petitioned God.

The Bible state, “the power of life and death is in the tongue” and we will eat the fruit of those words. For example, if we are asking God for a financial blessing, but on our “non-prayer” time we keep speaking doubtful or negative words, we will eat the “fruit” of our doubt and miss the blessing of our prayers.

Action speaks to what we live and walk out in our day-to-day lives. There are believers who have the misconception that because we “talk the talk,” behind close door we are not obligated to “walk the walk.” Yet, in Galatians 6: 7-8 it states plainly, “God is not mocked…he that soweth to the flesh…will reap destruction.” We cannot look to blame others for our lack of blessings.

In essence, if we live life as if God is not omnipresent [present in all places] and omniscient [all knowing], than we deceive ourselves. Our Christianity is not only about words, but it’s about actions. As it says in the book of James, “Faith without works [actions] is dead.”

If we desire the blessing of the Lord, we must walk in line with His word. If we walk in obedience we will be in the place to receive God’s blessing.

The Benefits of Obedience
By Pastor Linda Brown