Subject: "How to Walk Close to God During Troubled Times" Session 2 Part B

Dear Friends,

Praise God, for His Mercy Endures Forever!

As I prepared to write you this morning, the Lord reminded me of Psalms 136. This chapter speaks of God as our Creator, our Deliverer -specifically the deliverer of Israel, our Redeemer, and our Benefactor. He is everything to us, all that we have need of it is found in Him. "His mercy endureth forever" is written after every declaration; twenty-six verses, twenty-six times the author declares, "His Mercy Endureth Forever."

As I read through Psalms 136, I reflected on the victories of 2016 with a profound sense of humility and an intense gratitude. He commissioned us to stand in the gap and pray for our Nation. He instructed us to pray for His Cyrus; His choice for the 45th President of the United States of America. We obeyed. We sent out the call, and you were faithful to join us each week, during the Gatherings, during your Joel's Army Prayer Cells, and in your private time of prayer. Collectively, we prayed for God's will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. In His great mercy, God, our Creator - looked down upon our Nation and as our Deliverer, he freed her out of the hands of our enemy in 2016. Instead of heading deeper into the throws of the New World Order, we are headed to our deliverance! Yes, His Mercy Endureth Forever!

On January 20, 2017, at the age of seventy years, seven months, and seven days, Donald J. Trump will take the place God ordained for him, as President of the United States. This day will forever be a reminder of God's mercy as we see our Nation delivered and turning back to God! There is much work to be done; this requires prayer and commitment, after all, reforming a Nation is a tall order.

2017 began with a renewed excitement for many. Let us not forget God's mercy on our Nation's behalf, let us remember to thank Him for His mercy, and let us continue to come together and pray for His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Tremendous change is coming - Reformation is coming - our prayers are needed now more than ever, because we want to ensure that God's will is accomplished here, not man's. Why? Because man has little mercy and even less endurance. But, God's Mercy Endureth Forever!

I'm not big on New Year's resolutions that begin January 1st; I like to wait it out a bit...get over the excitement of this fresh start and then set a course of action. It's January 10th, time to set my course for the year; I'm going to pray more, dig deeper into His Word... along with a few other things. But, because His mercy endures forever, I will seek His face like never before on behalf of our Nation, and I want to invite you to join us on our Corporate Prayer Calls. They resumed last week with a great show of intercessors. Join us, set yourself aside to seek the heart of our merciful Lord on behalf of this Nation throughout 2017. Join Joel's Army, walk your neighborhoods and school campuses to pray for our youth, serve Him in all that you do. I can promise you; you will not only impact the lives of others, God will impact you.

Reformation is coming my friends...because His Mercy Endureth Forever!

Blessings & love,
Ricci Wilson








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“How To Walk Close To God During Troubled Times”

Session Two

Part B

By Nita Johnson

Seattle Services


People don't want to be changed. They don't want to be told that they need to change. Do you ever find yourself struggling in those areas? Thank you for your honesty. If there is a struggle, that means there is a battle for truth. If you're not battling, you've already lost. Truth has been lost and Satan has won. Ouch, huh?

We must come to a place where we are willing to unclothe our soul with us and to clothe ourselves with Him, ultimately, completely. And it's the hardest battle there is. It's doable. You can do it. Anyone can do it if they want to badly enough. It's doable. It is just that not all people really want it. Not all people are willing to be taught. People come to me all the time, years, I'm talking about decades of seeking God, and people will come to me and say to me, "Please mentor me. Help me know how to walk with God so that I can have union. Please mentor me." And in the past I would often say, "Okay. I'll teach what I know, that's all I can give."

But you know what I learned? I learned that people don't want to change. People don't want to be told that they have to change. People resent being corrected. Do you know anyone like that? It's understandable, right? It's not easy to be corrected. The Bible clearly tells us that life in Christ is a life of correction. So whereas you may know people that don't want to be corrected, the fact is, if you are going to walk with the Lord you are going to have to learn how to receive correction. It's really the hardest part, what I'm giving you right now. It's the hardest part. Everyone wants to think that they are lovable just the way they are, and maybe they are lovable just the way they are but that's not going to necessarily help the real deep things that hide in our soul that will destroy the life of Christ. We can't like ourselves too much. Do you understand what I am saying? 
 
What did Jesus say to the rich, young ruler? Remember when the Lord kind of corrected him, "You know what to do, now do it." And when he was told that, that was a correction, right? What was his response? He turned and walked away. And what did the Lord say about that? Yes, but how do we discern what is rich? Does it mean that he's really a rich young ruler and only that class of people will find it difficult? Or does it further mean, deeper mean that the people that are going to struggle with this the most are the people who are rich in their self-love?

If a person is rich in their self-love, does not like correction, loves the Lord, loves hanging around with the saints, maybe they have a great ministry, maybe they don't have any ministry at all – in the eyes of the church that person is highly prized, but what is hidden deep in the recesses of the heart is “I love who I am, what I am, what I want. I don't like to be corrected. I don't like to be challenged, to be changed. I don't like those kinds of messages.”

How many of you know what that feels like? But the fact of the matter is if you really want union you have to come back to the center and the center has to be changed from self to Christ. When that happens, things inside of you will change. Maybe even some of the old things that are so deep you never thought they could be changed. The Lord just doesn't pay attention to the “couldn'ts” and “can'ts.” If He knows that He owns you, He will bring you through whatever it is going to take to make the changes that have to be made.

But if you are not willing to be corrected, if you're not willing to take off the old, how can you put on the new? How can you clothe yourself with Christ so beautiful, so pure, so desirable if you're not willing to take off the old man, wrinkled, spotty? If you're one of those Christians that always has to be right and no one can question you on it no matter how badly it's needed, you'll never have union, ever. He won't even play with someone like that.

You have to be a person who is broken. Can you say broken? Who is contrite. You have to be a person – I'm feeling His love so great right now. Don't reject what I have for you tonight. Don't. Please don't. Please don't. He loves you so much and He loves you enough to tell you the truth. I've learned in my walk with Him that the best thing I can do is just never try to hide myself from the things that need to change. Just don't. Be the first one to mention it then you don't have to wage the battles publically. You can take them in before the Lord and He'll help you. But if you are always one of those that can never admit that you are wrong, never take correction, never – you are so afraid to see what He sees every day.

Can I share an experience with Him that I had in my earliest days of knowing Him? May I? Now when I got saved, I got saved out of a pretty worldly life and my life was like that because I was very broken as a young adult. I had lots of family problems, lots of family issues. I was very broken so it was very hard to take correction. I didn't even know where to go to get the kind of correction I needed, actually. But I needed correction, I needed it so badly and the very correction I needed I just wasn't yet ready for. And so I would talk to the Lord. I'm not saved, but I would talk to Him and I would tell Him, "I want Jesus as my Savior but somehow, some way I feel like it's not what everybody says it is."

You know, you don't get saved and move into the happy camp of life. You have to look at things you don't want to look at. You have to change in areas you don't know how to change in. I mean deep inside my heart. I don't know if you guys went through this but I am a real analyzer – I analyze everything. It's like my brain never wants to shut off and I'm that way with the Lord, too. So anyway I am thinking, "How am I going to deal with this? I want to get saved but at the same time all this picking of the pricks sounds so scary and so painful I don't know if I can handle it." Did you guys ever feel that way? I’m the only one, huh? Oh, okay!

Little did I know that what I was seeing in my heart was what life is like when you want deeper things in God. I didn’t understand that part. And I also didn’t understand that there is a living grace that helps you to see what you don’t want to see, what you feel like you can’t tolerate. When you finally come to the place of realizing that if you don’t like it He probably doesn’t either, so the best thing we can do is get on with the plan. Once I came to grips with that – that no matter how bad it looks, He will remove it and move me into greater places, and that it does not mean rejection. Can you say that? “Does not mean rejection.” Being corrected only means being redirected. It does not mean rejection.

To be continued next week...

In His Amazing love,

Nita Johnson 
Kansas, Gathering of the Eagles, 2017!

Dates:
March 14-17 , 2017
Schedule:
Tuesday - Friday
10:30am - 1:30pm
& 6:30 - 10:30 pm

Location:
Holiday Inn KCI Airport & Expo Center
11728 NW Ambassador Dr.
Kansas City, MO 64153

Room Rates:
King bed or 2 Queen beds - $109.00

*Room must be booked by 2/12/2017 with group code: WJG to receive this rate.

Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register!!

Seating is limited to 550 intercessors!

March 18, 2017 - Immediately following the Gathering of the Eagles, 2017 we will hold a Joel's Army Day. This is a day of teaching and fellowship for both new recruits and Joel's Army veterans.

KCI Expo Center (same room as the GOE)
Holiday Inn KCI Airport & Expo Center
11728 NW Ambassador Dr.
Kansas City MO 64153
816-801-8400

Saturday March 18
9:30-12:30 PM
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This Week's Schedule:

We invite everyone to stand with us as we fight for the healing of our Nation.

Click below for PDF with:
Flash Phone Instructions

Flash Phone Access
Then enter the number and access code for the any of the desired lines.
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Corporate Intercession Line
712-770-4160
Access Code: 182152#

Chinese Translation Line
641-715-3650
Access Code: 336087

This week's prayer times are as follows:

Tuesday January 10
5:50pm - 7:30pm PST
6:50pm - 8:30pm MST
7:50pm - 9:30pm CST
8:50pm - 10:30pm EST

Wednesday January 4
10:20am - 12:30pm PST
11:20am - 1:30pm MST
12:20pm - 2:30pm CST
1:20pm - 3:30pm EST

Thursday January 5 & Friday January 6
5:50pm - 7:30pm PST
6:50pm - 8:30pm MST
7:50pm - 9:30pm CST
8:50pm - 10:30pm EST

Tuesday January 17
10:20am - 12:30pm PST
11:20am - 1:30pm MST
12:20pm - 2:30pm CST
1:20pm - 3:30pm EST
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Sunday January 15

Interactive Corporate Prayer Call
East and West Coast calls combined!
5PM PST
NEW NUMBER - SAME ACCESS CODE
712-770-4160
182152#

Chinese Corporate Intercession
5PM PST
641-715-3640
ACCESS CODE: 800754#

Canadian Corporate Intercession
3:20 PM PST
Call in: 712-775-7035
Access code: 444928#

NEW!! Korean Corporate Intercession
On the 2nd & 4th Sunday of each month
January 8th & 22nd
5:30PM PST
712-770-4160
Access Code: 206983#

All are welcome to attend any of the above calls.
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CedarWood Int'l

The CedarWood Pantry served a grand total of 10,927 people in 2015!
This is thanks to those of you who contribute to this effort, Pastor Matthew & Su of Bethel Chapel for allowing us to rent so much of their facility for our CedarWood programs, our amazing volunteers and of course, our CW team for making this possible!

Monday 
January 16th
1-2:30pm

Location:
Bethel Chapel
23010 66th Ave W
Seattle, WA 98043

Here are some pressing needs our CedarWood department has:

  • Shoes
  • Blankets - All sizes
  • Sleeping bags for the homeless
  • Volunteers
  • Diapers (Size 3 & up) & baby wipes
  • Baby Food & Formula
  • $5-$20 Gift cards for Gas for our volunteers who transport the food to and from the Pantry

Most donations can be dropped off during the Pantry or mailed into our office. Tax deductible receipts provided.


Coats & Clothes Closet:
Open Mondays and by appointment. We need volunteers to help organize and prepare clothing for visitors
   
The need is great and our numbers are increasing every week. Please pray that our volunteer base will increase as well!
 
If you would like to help, contact Vivian DuPorter at VivianD@worldforjesus.org
 
If you would like to help with BackPack Kids, contact Ken & Kathy Rickey at KathyR@worldforjesus.org 

We extend a special thanks to our CW Team and volunteers for their faithfulness every week.


Joel's Army brings together intercessors to intercede for their nations. If you are interested in learning more:
5730 N First Street, Ste. 105-307, Fresno, CA 93710, United States
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