Christmas Memories

So this is Christmas....

Samuel turns 4!

Samuel turned 4 on December 14th and we had a great time celebrating with him this week. The night before his birthday we surprised him by taking him to Chuck-E-Cheese. He had a blast and said he wants to go back for his next birthday. Today we took Samuel to get his first haircut. We felt the Lord leading us to wait until Samuel turned 4 as a way of consecrating him to the Lord. What a handsome little man he is!

We made it!

We have arrived in Baton Rouge! We had a great trip along our way here. We stopped to see my sister and her husband in Colorado for one night and then drove to Missouri to see my family for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to get to spend a few days with everyone. While there we announced to my family that a little bundle of joy should be making his or her debut into our family sometime near the end of June! We are excited about this new addition and blessing to our family. My morning sickness has been minimal and seems to stay away as long as a eat often.

God Speaking

by: Mandisa

Have you ever heard a love song set your spirit free?

Have you ever watched a sunrise and felt you could not breathe?

What if it's Him?

What if it's God speaking?

Have you ever met a stranger who already knew your name?

Have you ever cried a tear that you could not explain?

What if it's Him?

What if it's God speaking?

Who knows how He'll get a hold of us?

Get our attention to prove He is enough.

He'll do and He'll use whatever He wants to,

To tell us, "I love you."

Have you ever lost a love one who you thought should still be here?

Do you know what it feels like to be tangled up in fear?

What if he's some how involved?

What if He's speaking through it all?

His ways are higher. He's ways are better. Though sometimes strange.

What could be stranger than God in a manger?

Who knows how He'll get a hold of you?

Get your attention to prove He is enough.

He'll do and He'll use whatever He wants to,

To tell us, "I love you."

God is speaking...."I love you."

The devils Achilles heel

Our worship is a war-ship. When praise is on the lips of Gods children darkness disintegrates and the Kingdom of heaven is ushered into the atmosphere. Darkness cannot stand in the midst of praise and worship. In fact, praise on the lips of Gods children is the devils Achilles heel. No matter the situation, level of darkness, or weapon formed against us, if we align our hearts and minds to bless our God with our lips the atmosphere of heaven and the presence of our Lord will break into time, and light will permeate all darkness.

Whatever weapon the hordes of hell have fashioned against you will not prosper if you lift your eyes to Jesus and simply bless His name. Paul and Silas were bound in prison, but as they sang songs to their God the weapon formed against them was broken. Their worship touched heaven and brought an earthquake in the natural realm. Whatever prison you are placed in whether physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually, lift your voice and heart to honor your King and watch heaven invade earth and a spiritual earthquake destroy your chains.

All of the devils ploys are to direct Gods children's eyes off of Jesus. At all costs, he devises countless schemes to dismantle our focus. Essentially, he wins if our eyes are off our Savior. Sometimes we simply need to bless Gods name with our lips to redirect the focus of our hearts off of self, anxieties, fear, discouragement and all the fruit of hell. Even if our emotions are raging against God, if we will begin with our lips to bless His name our hearts will soon follow.

Our Father cannot resist the adoration of His children! He runs to us and releases His presence where there is praise. When I come home from work sometimes Samuel swings open the front door to the house when he sees me and runs toward my vehicle with his voice raised high yelling, "Daddy, Daddy!" In that moment he is irresistible to me. Let us not underestimate the power of our praise and worship. It ushers in the Presence of our Father and brings the devil to his knees.

References:

Psalm 22:3

Isaiah 54:17

Acts 16:25

Pumpkin Carvarama

No Training Wheels

My Little Pumpkins

My little pumpkins have been such great helpers this month. Samuel has shown an increase in wanting to help with different chores around the house. He likes to vaccum, wash dishes, clean the counters and he always wants to help me make dinner. And whenever Samuel is doing something, Abigail wants to be right there with her brother. :)

Last week we made home-made pizza dough! It was a lot of fun to watch Samuel have fun with the rolling pin and the pizza tasted great. There's something special about smelling that home- made stuff baking in the oven. If you would like to try the pizza dough recipe that we used I have adapted the recipe from the following site: www.greatpartyrecipes.com

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 pkg active yeast
• 1 cup warm water (105 deg. to 115 deg, no more)
• 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (I used butter)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the olive oil and yeast mixture into it. Stir until it begins to form a ball, then turn it out onto a clean, floured surface and knead for about 4 or 5 minutes.

Your pizza dough should be a smooth, elastic ball. Lightly oil the ball and the inside of a large glass bowl. Place the dough in the bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. For better crust, punch down the dough, reshape into a ball and let it rise again. You can refrigerate or freeze the dough at this point.

Next, you can divide the dough into 4 portions if you want to make 4 mini pizzas. We used all the dough and made one big pizza on a rectangular cookie sheet. Work on a lightly floured surface and stretch the dough and work it with your fingers or a rolling pin. The outer edge of the dough should be a little thicker than the body, forming a rim. Add toppings.

Transfer to a pizza pan or pizza stone. Bake in a 500 degree pre-heated oven until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted, 10-13 minutes.

Can unforgiveness keep us from the banqueting table with Jesus?

Our lives are not short on opportunities to be offended. In fact, Jesus was tempted with offense until His very last breath. His cross was stationed between two other crosses with two very different men on them. One of these men cried out for mercy and the other was a tool in the enemies hand. The devil in his final assault used a thief on the cross to slander our perfect Savior and give room for Jesus to be offended before His death. If offense was received into Jesus' heart the manifold plan of salvation would have been destroyed.

Offense gives birth to bitterness and unforgiveness. Unforgiveness short circuits our relationship with God and gives legal right to our enemy to torment our lives. Many Christians have diseases, illnesses, tormented minds and souls because they will not forgive.

Recently I met with a Christian friend. Before we met I received a vision from God. I saw my friend sitting at a long, rectangular, banqueting table with a white table cloth. He had a large, eloquent plate before him inlaid with gold, and piled on the plate was food fit for a king. My friend was ready to eat with fork in hand and napkin stuffed in his shirt, but he couldn't. There was a huge black figure behind him with red eyes keeping him from eating. That figure was a demon and his name was bitterness.

When my friend and I met he shared from a place of frustration, desiring to have more experiences with God and hear His voice. I then shared the vision with him that I had before our meeting. I asked if he was holding unforgiveness toward anyone or if he had felt betrayed. His lips lifted up on one side, a kind of half smile, as if he was caught. He began to open up and share a painful experience that presented opportunity for him to become offended. I then led him in a prayer of repentance and he forgave this person by whom he was bitter towards. We bound the spirit of bitterness and unforgiveness and cast them out of his life.

I told my friend that the banqueting table I saw in the vision was the fellowship table with Jesus and that he was made to feast from this table. My friends relationship with God had been hi-jacked and he wasn't having greater experiences with God because he took the bait of offense and allowed tormentors into his life. Unforgiveness can destroy a persons life.

The devil is working feverishly to cause offense in our lives and sometimes through those we care for the most. If the devil gets us to take the bait of offense, demons are released into our lives and they will reek havoc. If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. Out of Gods mercy he allows demons to torment those who do not forgive in order that they might cry out and be released from the prison of unforgiveness. (Read Matthew 18:21-25, 6:14-15)

In His last breaths Jesus said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Likewise we are commanded to do the same. Every time we release forgiveness toward someone we re-present Jesus and release the kingdom of God into men's lives. Mercy triumphs over judgement. Let us feast at the banqueting table with Christ and steer clear of all offense. He who is forgiven much, loves much.

Grace and Peace,

Cody

Samuel the Biker

Joy is irresistable, especially at the workplace.

When heaven invades earth, people come to Jesus. They can't help it, they find out how good He really is. In heaven the joy never runs dry. When joy is released into a world where people are without hope and God, heads turn, and lives change. David is one life that has been changed by the joy of heaven.

My boss has been praying for David to come to Jesus for over 5 years. When I started working for this company four months ago, David's heart was closed to the gospel. David is now believing, experiencing, and hungering for more of God. What was the shift? The atmosphere of Heaven is irresistible. And when we take heavens atmosphere with us where we go, miracles happen, even at work. Imagine that?

Shortly after I started working for this painting company the realm of Heaven started breaking in on the job site. Explosions of joy would interrupt our work. Bummer, I know, joy at the workplace? Outrageous joy and belly laughter would sneak up on us and change everything in the atmosphere. Had I not known that God's kingdom is full of joy I might have been surprised why this laughter came unexpectedly and for no apparent reason. Often as I was filled with increasing joy and mucho laughter, a smile would creep up on David's face, and then a laugh, until he couldn't stop laughing. It seemed as if most of the time I would start laughing, then David, and sometimes it spilled out to others on the job site. But God was doing something special between David and I. God was ambushing David's heart with laughter. This is no exaggeration, in four months the joy of the Lord has come on the job site more than 20 times. Looking back, God was drawing David with His cords of loving kindness, and opening his heart to the gospel.

One night after work I prayed for David and God answered my prayer and did much more than I asked for. David came to work the next morning explaining that after I prayed for him he felt like he was wrapped up in a warm blanket of love. He said that feeling did not leave that whole night. He laid on his bed with a funny look on his face and his fiance asked him if something was wrong. He said, "Nothing's wrong, it's God." After that prayer he has been reading his bible on a nightly basis, talking about God at the job site, and still enjoying the joy of the Lord. One day at work while we painted a base board side -by- side, David began expressing how much he was thankful for me and told me that I have brought happiness back into his life.

David has been moving in the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work and has been exhorting and encouraging my boss and I. The other day he came back from an appointment with his psychologist and he said it was terrible, and he didn't know why he was paying his psychologist money for the last session. He found himself counseling his psychologist when it was suppose to be the other way around. He said his heart was burning to tell her about God. Now that's transformation!

He recently came to work and shared with me that the previous night something amazing had happened. He sat on his bed awake. With his eyes closed and he had a vision. Images played across his mind like a movie. God showed him his future and gave him a list of areas in his life to change and then showed David how to do it. He could not sleep the whole night because he was overwhelmed with happiness.

My boss and I have shared a few words here and there with David about God. But, it wasn't our words that drew David to Jesus. It was the presence of our King that we carry with us. Many prayers have gone before God for David and have culminated towards this wonderful work in his life. Yet, I believe it was the presence of Heaven invading the earth that tipped the scales in Davids heart. The fragrance of Christ rests on His children in varying measures. The more we cultivate the presence of Jesus in our life, the greater the works that Jesus can do in the atmosphere around us. As we draw closer to His heart we begin to love, sound, look, and smell more like Jesus. Where we go, He goes. If we are saturated in Jesus then He supernaturally spills out and draws men unto Himself.

Grace and Peace,

Cody

A cup of coffee and deliverance?

I didn't expect to be casting out a demon when I went to coffee with a friend this week. But what better place to release the kingdom of God and cast out demons than the local coffee shop.

To protect my friends identity and honor him, we will call him Larry for this post.

With bibles open Larry and I enjoyed each others company and the sweet presence of our Lord as we shared from the heart about life. It was like all the other times we met for coffee, until Larry began to share that often he feels condemned and shamed about himself, and he beats himself up over different situations. He explained how often he hears accusations in his mind like, "That was stupid. You're an idiot. Why did you say that?" He also confessed looking in the mirror and cursing profane words at himself recently.

I knew we were dealing with a demon as Larry was sharing. The Holy Spirit told me it was a spirit of Self Hatred as the magnifying presence of Jesus was thickening in the room. I led Larry through a deliverance prayer and we cast the demon out of his life and asked the glory of Christ to fill that place in his heart. The atmosphere was charged by the Holy Spirit and joy filled the room. We continued to encourage one another as my friends eyes were filled with tears of joy and the Love of our Father.

Later that day I received two texts from Larry explaining how amazing he was feeling and that God was speaking to him all day about how much He loves him. I saw him again that night and he said, "Thanks for this morning. This has been life changing."

Sometimes we don't need to forgive other people, rather we need to forgive ourselves! Jesus remembers our sins, mistakes, and failures no more and cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. Jesus peers into our eyes with breathtaking grace. His kindness leads us to repentance and His grace empowers us to believe we can take on the world.

I thoroughly enjoyed coffee and deliverance. I think I would like to give it another go.

Isaiah 61

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
² To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
³ To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness...

Grace, Grace, Grace,

Cody

Growing So Fast

We moved into a house at the beginning of August. It has been great. It has 3 bedrooms and a nice fenced in backyard. Abigail will be 14 months in 5 days which is crazy for me to believe. She loves playing with her big brother and copies him often. She likes giving hugs and has started saying, "hi," recently. And if you tell her to go put something, like her diaper in the trash she can do it! I have started doing some preschool with Samuel and he is picking up on things very quickly. He is able to recognize almost all of his letters, he can sing the alphabet song, he knows his shapes and he can count to 10. This past Thursday BSF started up again. This year we are studying the book of Acts and some of the books Paul and Peter wrote. I've enjoyed reading the Word a lot more this year than any other time in my life. I am looking forward to this study and the discussion I will get to have with my BSF group. Samuel really likes going to his bible study class. Last week after his class he asked me if I knew Luke was a doctor. Here are a couple quotes from Samuel the past month:

While looking up at the sky at a small plane he said, "How can a person fit in that small plane?"

While walking in downtown Cody, he said, "Did you know those buildings are called scraper skies?"

For the Sake of Love

I love the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I sometimes feel like the Holy Spirit is the most forgotten. The Body of Christ forgets that He is still as much alive today as He was when the disciples experienced His power in the book of Acts. I recently started to do a study looking at scriptures in the Bible about the Holy Spirit. Here is some of what I found.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your rememberance all things that I said to you. (John 14:26)

Jesus told his disciples..."It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you...He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." (John 16:7, 13)

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

It's an adventure living for the King. You never know where His Spirit might lead you. It could be to pray for a woman at the grocery store. He could lead you to buy lunch for a co-worker. Or He could lead you to move to a state that you have never been to before. We don't need to be afraid to step out and follow Him. He is a good leader. His leadership is perfect. And as we step out in faith when we feel those little nudges He will speak to us more.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." (John 14:12-14)

In the above passage Jesus says that anyone who believes in Him will do greater works than He did through the power of the Holy Spirit! And He says whatever we ask in His name He will do. He wants us, His Bride, to know that we have authority in Him. And ANYTHING that we ask in the name of Jesus that is according to His will, He will do it. This is our inheritance. He is giving us an invitation to partner with Him. He doesn't want us sitting on the sidelines bored with the pleasures that the world has to offer. He wants us in a real relationship with Him. Moving where He moves. And stepping where He steps. He desires to see His Bride stepping into the fullness of the calling He has for her.

The Lord wants us to move and walk in the Spirit today. He desires to see believers loving the people around them. Healing the sick, setting the captives free, and loving the unloved ones. Do we desire this kind of relationship with the Lord? How far are we willing to go for the sake of love? How abandoned are we willing to become?

If we give ourselves whole heartedly to the Lord, give up the idols in our lives and allow His Spirit to consume us like a fire than He will move through us in ways we never could have imagined. There are people in the Body of Christ that have a calling on their lives to do great things for God but because they are not willing to become fully surrendered in every area of their lives the Spirit is not able to do these "greater works" through them. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is dwelling inside of us. Are we willing to surrender everything to partner with Christ and watch Him change the world one person at a time?

Oh Lord, I give up the idols that I hold onto in my life so I can have the fullness of what you have for me. I want your Spirit to move without limits in and through me. That I wouldn't care what I might look like or what others might think of me. I want my heart to be humble, lowly. I want to be a vessel used for your glory. That many might be saved, delivered, and brought into the fullness of your Kingdom.

Love,

Jess

Abigail 13 months

A Prayer

Dear Lord,

Help me to spread your fragrance wherever I go.

Flood my soul with your spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me, but only you, O Lord!

Stay with me, then I shall begin to shine as you do; so to shine as to be a light to others.

The light, O Lord, will be all from you; none of it will be mine; it will be you shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise you in the way you love best, by shining on those around me.

Let me preach without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to you.

Amen.

-John Henry Newman

(One of Mother Teresa's favorite prayers, said every day by the Missionaries of Charity)

We Are Family

It was a huge blessing to spend the past 5 days with my family. My mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, sister, brother-in-law and 3 month old neice Miko all came to see us in Cody, Wyoming! On Tuesday we celebrated Abigail's first birthday and my sister-in-law Tara's birthday. Abigail was born on Tara's birthday-July 26th. My friend Laura made Abigail's birthday cake. It was delicious. On Wednesday we went to Yellowstone and saw Artists' Point, the Mud Volcano, Norris Geyser and Old Faithful. While they were here we had a wonderful time hanging out, watching the grandkids play and just had a great time being together. Thank you all for coming! We love you all and miss you already!

Samuel's

1st

kite

My

big

brother

still

knows

how

to

make

me

laugh :)

Happy

1st

Birthday

Abigail!

Tara helped Samuel cut out things to become "Samuel the Chef."