August 15 -- I Like To ... -- Kraków

Good Morning,  surprise, surprise, I do not have a cup of coffee with me.  I had some earlier.  Now, however, I am having a caffein free mint tea.  It is delightful.  I smile again just thinking about the last sip.  Mmmmmm, so nice.  Whether you are having coffee or tea or something else, I hope you are also having a delightful and relaxing moment in your day.  Mariusz went for a swim earlier in the day.  Now he is out for a walk because he, like myself, enjoys walking on a pleasant day while he is making telephone calls to the people God has entrusted to him.

Thinking of communications - My iPhone will not be restored to me until sometime after I return to the USA. So, while iMessages still reach my iPad, other forms of text messaging seem to not work to reach me.  But, Faceook messenger and Skype both work fine. They work for both messenges and for calls.  Viber is phone dependent so it will not work.  I am working on ways to solve this problem but today is a national bank holiday in Poland so all businesses except restaurants and the like are closed today.

I was awake a couple times during the night and then up at about 6:30 this morning.  This gave me opportunities to pray with and for some folks in North America as they were still up on Sunday night.  One young mother was feeling ill.  It was a great opportunity for her to allow her apostolic husband to lay hands on her and pray for her healing.  She tells me today that Holy Spirit revealed the source of the problem and she is taking care of it.  Another young mother I was praying for recently thinks her family has found answers to the problems they were facing.  Our God is so amazing and gracious !

Yesterday, I drafted an email to Gretchen, my amazing travel agent who takes such good care of me.  (If you ever need an absolutely excellent travel agent  for either International or Domestic travel call her: +1 (954) 947-2514).   In the email I gave her my best guess of what Holy Spirit wants for the rest of the itinerary for this trip.  Even as I type that I am wondering about other things that He might want me to do before I return home.  But, the email contained my best guesses and will allow me to visit in Canada (east and west), Texas, New Mexico, California, Oregon, Utah, and Colorado and return to the Washington, DC region in time for New Years celebrations.  I will let people who need details know them as details become available.

I have been thinking this morning about how much I am enthralled when I get the opportunity to be in the midst of a large group who are singing and swaying to the powerful worship music of great musicians.  I imagine Michael W. Smith, Kari Jobe, and Matt Redman in concert together.  Wow Wow Wow ! ! !  My emotions get to stirring and swaying just imagining such a time.  I have a very dear friend who leads a group here in Poland who told me just a few weeks ago how much he likes such powerful emotional experiences.  He would like to lead a group of ten thousand people and have those kinds of experiences with them on a regular basis.  Wouldn't that just thrill your emotions too.  

I have another friend of many years who is thrilled with the idea of ministry in Africa, specifically in Zambia.  He is ready to sell everything he owns and go to Zambia to be a minister.  While he waits for that ministry to open up, he is fully engaged in building a ministry in his home town.  He is thrilled with what he is doing.  He is sure and clear and he has no questions except about why God does not give him more money more quickly.

I have another friend.  She loves her babies.  She is excited about the opportunity to sit and rock them and nurse them and devote all her energy to her infants.  The problem is only that the older children interrupt and her husband cannot come home from his job enough to take care of all the cleaning and dishes and older children supervision to give her the time she needs for her beloved infants.

A couple days ago I was writing to a young disciple.  He had made a commitment to me that he would do a minor task once each day.  But, it was not getting done.  I asked him if he had changed his commitmen.  He replied no, but he was not feeling well and so the task was very hard.  It was then that I said to him, "I can explain why the task is so hard.  It is because Father knows that in your Apostolic Ministry in the years ahead, it will be necessary for you to continue to love and serve people through all sorts of discomfort:  Sometimes physical like the present;  Sometimes social like when you have a nasty boss or a neighbor who acts ugly toward you;  Sometimes emotional like when satan starts messing with your mind to keep you distracted.  But, Father is teaching you now that when you persevere and remain faithful in the small details, then, and only then, can He set you in charge over larger more important matters.  This is a test that I have had to go through many times in my life.  I am sorry you do not feel well.  Now get up and do what God gave you to do."

Over and over I find that my friends fall into the trap of satan.  The trap is the deception that what feels good must be God; and, what feels bad must be not God.  Just because I feel good when I sing worship music with 10,000 people does not mean that God has anything to do with what I am doing.  Just because I feel good when I travel in ministry does not mean this is what God called me to do.  Just because I deeply enjoy holding babies (especially my grandchildren) does not mean that is God's purpose for my life.  Just because I hate sitting down and writing or typing does not mean God wants me to stop.  Just because I like Ice Cream, Pasta, Fresh Baked Breads and Pastries, and Sour Cream Filled Baked Potatoes does not mean that should be my diet.  My feelings are perhaps the most deceptive thing in the whole world to me.  I need to take control over my feelings and require them to operate in submission to my spirit and to Holy Spirit.  "If it feels good, do it."   That is a lie.  That is a deception straight from the pit of hell.  It resonates in the soul of every self centered person.  It is a high form of satan worship.

Beloved, please, stop following your feelings.  

Stop leading others on the basis of appealing to their feelings.  

His, thus Yours,

  Stuart