It’s been a while, I know! So sorry. I have been writing though. My New book out in a month or two. But that is not my topic for today. As many of you know I have written often about our walk through the process of dealing with a child trapped in the arena of addiction. But today I want to focus on my 2 other boys and my amazing bride. This morning they flew out of Fort Lauderdale on their way to Haiti. They are probably landing as I type. Let me start with Tyler. This is my baby boy who is nearly 6′ tall. He is a hugger and loves to laugh. He laughs loud and hard. It is infectious. I am so proud of the musician that he has become. Not because of the talent he possesses but because he uses it for the Glory of God. Alex is quietly funny. He is the guy who cracks up the people who know him, and surprises those who don’t know him well. As Alex becomes a handsome, mature young man, he is totally getting out of his comfort zone. Boarding a plane and going to Haiti for a week! No A/C! No showers! But he had a need to discover this area of ministry which he had never experienced. Proud? That word doesn’t have enough depth to describe my heart for these two boys.
My beautiful, amazing, talented, patient and praying wife. I send her off with a heart of excitement for what she will experience. Her’s is a heart for those who cannot help themselves. One of her greatest joys in life is ministering to young moms who may have never had a healthy family modeled to them. I can’t wait to see her face when she returns. I know I will see more passion, more conviction and a re-energized resolve to be the hands and feet of Christ to a hurting world.
And also during this week, i get a chance to spend some quality time with my two girls. So different and still so beautiful in their own ways. Without ever leaving the safety of Palm Coast, I know I will be impacted for a lifetime through this missions trip, Our family will never be the same.
Change is Good,
Pj
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I,m not really sure how to begin this entry. I’ve been on a bit of a blog-cation. I have been writing but the writing has been a manuscript for a book. That is where the draining effect has entered my life and though I have moments of peace, they seem to be fleeting at best. Let me start at the beginning. About six months ago I came to realize that I had offended several people on our team. This is not a secret so I’m not divulging any confidences here. Though this was difficult information to hear, a process of seeking truth, forgiveness and ultimately reconciliation has been embraced. After discovering this Biblical process and walking through it, putting the entire step by step program into a book was weighing heavy on my heart. I finally relented and began writing. Well I have to tell you Satan has not stopped tormenting my mind and my thought for more than 24 hours since the time I began writing.
The book is a process by which one can recognize what is truth and what is a lie. Each step is straight from scripture and has been right in front of me all along. But I had never used these verses in this type of process. I now am discovering how important these steps are as I am driven to use them day after day after day.
I am tormented with lie after lie after lie and the key verse throughout the book is one that I am pressed to put into practice daily.
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
I have come to a place where as my mind wonders to negative thinking those thoughts must be held up to the light of truth and weighed. I write now to put the devils schemes on the street. I know that I am not alone in my battling of negative thoughts and fighting not to embrace them which would drag me down the path toward sin.
I know that the book is the catalyst for the pounding attacks. I know that I must be bringing to light a process that the devil desires to keep hidden. I also know that I have two more concluding chapters to write and I am spiritually drained from the battle.
My prayer is that as I take a ten day break in April that I can be refreshed by the journey, the change of pace, the opportunities to share and just by hanging out with old friends.
I love serving our Savior and I love sharing the love of Christ with the lost and equipping the body for works of service. However my flesh is what it is – flesh. I can feel my mind slipping and dwelling on some of those negative thoughts. I feel myself coming closer and closer to acting on many of those thoughts, but I praise God that the Holy Spirit within me has allowed me to take a second, second to push those thought to obedience of the Word.
Drained? yes! Defeated? Not by along shot! As long as the Holy Spirit is my source I will prevail.
The Battle Belongs to Lord,
Pj
We are tired after a very long weekend. Stacy and I left on Thursday night after supper and drove six hours to Penfield for Adam’s graduation on Friday morning at 9 a.m. Once again we witness man after man come and testify to the gifts that God has instilled in Adam; His leadership, his Bible knowledge and his compassion for the other men. Then Dr Bill King asked me to come to his office with him. Bill and I had made a connection when Stacy and I visited on Family Education Day when he pulled me aside and told me that God had instilled in him that he should pray with me for Adam. I wasn’t quite sure why he prayed with only me, I just chalked it up to a “God thing” but was thankful for a moment when I felt like God reached out to comfort. So I walked to Bills office with him and he began by saying how much God potential he saw in Adam. Then he revealed to me the catalyst to this God connection. Bill’s has a son named Adam, and his Adam was an addict. Not just an addict an opiate addict. Bill shared with me that the Holy Spirit instilled in him that he was to tell their story to give us a great hope in what God will do. Bill’s son was the same age as Adam when his addiction began. Bill’s son was the same age as Adam when he went to rehab. Bill’s son was the same age as Adam when he went to rehab the second time. Bill’s son is not only living a clean life, he is a lawyer and the father of two.
Bill and I knelt and prayed that this would be the starting over point for Adam. That he would give up himself and totally surrender to what God has planned for him. Bill handed me a little wooden cross to remember that moment. I have it on the dash of my truck.
Well, we packed up Adam and his stuff and drove him the three and half hours to LaFayette, GA. To his next step in recovery. Adam has committed the next year of his life to live at Yobel House. An accountable living residence. He will live in an apartment with 4 other men. He has to find a job, pay rent, contribute for the groceries share the cooking and cleaning, while attending AA meetings, Bible classes, church services, as well as account for every dime he earns. A Resident counselor lives at the house with them and helps them with transitioning to a clean and sober lifestyle.
The biggest difference from last time to this time is the sense of peace we have but more importantly the peace that was evident in Adam. This was the place that he felt the Holy Spirit was nudging him to go.
Sorry for this being so long – but a lot has happened in a short period of time. We left Adam there and drove eight hours back home and enjoyed a night of worship on Saturday and great celebration service on Sunday at Lifecoast Church.
True Peace can only be found in trusting Jesus,
Pj
PS
If you would like to write to Adam here is his address. I’m sure he would appreciate any encouragement he can get.
Adam Barksdale
151 Bell Rd.
Lafayette, GA 30728
This is Day # 21 and many of you have discovered the power of faithful prayer as you have triumphed over, what may have seemed to be, a giant ready to defeat you.
If you have never read the account of David and Goliath I would ask that you turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 17 and read that account before you continue reading this final devotion. Go ahead – I’ll wait for you.
Dr. Wesley Stafford is the President of Compassion International. It is a Christian organization that sponsors underprivileged children and gives them a chance to climb out of poverty and see the love of Jesus.
While we were driving to GA yesterday I had the chance to hear Dr Stafford on the radio while he was speaking at Moody Bible Institute. He shared a story from his childhood.
Young Wess Stafford grew up as a missionary kid in the tribes of Africa on the Ivory Coast. He shared how he was the only white kid out of all his friends and how he prayed to one day wake up and be black so he would not be different. But every day he woke up white. But that didn’t seem to matter to any of his friends. They played together and hunted together and they learned the Bible together from his parents.
When Dr Stafford conveyed that they played together he told a story of all these young boys and their sling shots. They carried them every where they went. In these particular tribes in Africa, the sling shot is not just a toy, but it is also a weapon, a lifestyle, a lively hood. You see it was with a sling shot that they defended themselves against predators, killed animals for food as well as protected their crops from scavangers. Those boys, out of shear repetition and necessity, became lethally accurate with their sling shots.
One morning Wess’ mother was sharing the story of David and Goliath and how David through great faith fought a giant and defeated him. Dr. Stafford conveyed a different take on the story that he and his friends discussed after the Bible lesson was over. You see, to them, it didn’t seem so much like a story of great faith but from their perspective it was actually a story of a very stupid giant, who wasn’t smart enough to stay a safe distance from a young boy and his slingshot.
I believe we need that kind of confidence against our enemy. Through repetition, we can become so lethally accurate with the Word of God (our Slingshot), that the giants in our lives (the temptations of the evil one) will seem stupid for coming too close or they will flee with fear.
I pray, over the past 21 days, you have honed your skills in the Word and that only a stupid giant would dare come within range.
Come tonight to the Life Center at 6:30 and tell us about the giants you have slain over the past 21 days.
I’ll be there with my sling,
Pj
I just wanted to keep everyone informed and thank you all, once again, for you continued prayers and words of encouragement. As Adam comes to the completion of the Penfield Program, it seemed like Faith Farm was the next step in his recovery process. However as the week opened up the intake counselor from Faith Farm began to hesitate and even suggest that Faith Farm would not be extending an invitation to Adam at weeks end. This caused my heart to panic! You see Stacy and I would be driving six hours to pick Adam up and then nine hours to bring him to Faith Farm and now we were being told that they may not have the space for him.
At Lifecoast we have been fasting and praying for the past 18 days and inviting God to move among His people. Adam was part of my prayer focus for this time as we were all too aware that his next step could make his recovery or trigger another set-back. So our prayer was a seamless transition. This did seem to be seamless at this point. As God would have it the intake counselor at Faith Farm asked me to arrange for Adam’s counselors at Penfield to call them so they could exchange information in order to help Adam make the best decision for his recovery. Well, When I made that call, Adam’s counselor, Allen told me that he was going to have Adam give me a call from his office phone later that evening as something in Adam had changed. When Adam called he shared with me about a recovery residence that visited Penfield and shared their program and residence from the house shared testimonies of their journey. Adam told me that he only attended because it was mandatory as he was turning his thinking toward transferring to Faith Farm. He then shared with me that he was so overwhelmed by the presence and prompting of the Holy Spirit that he was unable to stay seated and went to speak with the representative about Yobel House (Yobel is Hebrew for Rams Horn). We talked about the details and what God was telling him. His bed at Yobel House is guaranteed and it is also in Georgia, Northwest of Penfield in LaFayette.
I am giving God all the glory for directing Adam and leading him toward his next step. After all if Adam is going to own his recovery he has to have the desire to be where he is and the heart to allow the Spirit to direct him.
Just a little note: One of the men of the church took Stacy and I aside during our Praise and Prayer night and told us that God clearly told him that Adam was about to have a spiritual breakthrough. I know in my heart that hearing from God and responding to His voice was that breakthrough. Thanks Dave.
So we leave Thursday night to attend Adam’s completion ceremony on Friday morning and then we continue north to bring him to his next step on his journey.
That’s where we are – We are at peace – which beats panic by a long shot.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. God isn’t often early – But He is NEVER late.
Praising Him,
Pj
Over the past few weeks of the fast we have been taking a deeper look at the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew Chapter 6. We have covered a lot of ground and this morning I have begun a process of reviewing what I have learned and taught. As I began walking through this prayer, which Jesus himself taught us, I thought it might be a good time for all of us to review what we have been discovering;
Our Father in heaven
The very first word “Our” is a purposeful reminder of the importance of corporate prayer. Praying not just for each other but with each other.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
The word “Father” is a constant reminder of how God wants us to come to him; As one who is the source of our being, our Creator, our Father, our Daddy. It a healthy Father – Child relationship that God wants us to always be mindful of as we pray.
Matthew 7:11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
In Heaven is that constant reminder that God is on His throne. God the Father is ruling over all things and He is unchanging, unyielding and unwavering. He is constant and over all. What a great sense of stability these few words can be in a world that seems to ever changing and unstable. Knowing that God is in control is what can keep our walk steady and true.
Hebrews 6:17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
Holy is your Name is putting the name of God in it’s rightful place. Holy means “set apart” and the two names of God which are revealed to us from Scripture are Yahweh (I AM) and Jesus. Are we setting these names apart? Are we treating them as holy? Do we hold them dear?
Revelation 4:8 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”
Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven
Remember all three phrases,(Holy is your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done) are all attached to the last phrase (On earth as it in heaven). We should tune our eyes in to see how we can be a catalyst to put into practice on earth, the very thing that is already happening in heaven. God’s Name can be Holy through us, His Kingdom can come through us, and His will can be done through us. Heaven is the template and earth is the target.
2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
Give is this day our daily bread – Does this just refer to what we eat or even all the stuff we think we need. Jesus is reminding us that we are to seek God each day to bring us what we need. But even more importantly , as believers, are we watching with spiritual eyes to see how we can be fulfill this for others as we put into action the previous thought (Heaven is the template and earth is the target), and look around at what God may have placed in our hands to give to others. Where is their daily bread? Perhaps God entrusted it with you and I to present to them in Jesus Name.
Matthew 25:45 ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtor – A constant reminder that Forgiveness IS the gospel. Our desire to forgive should be just as strong as our desire to be forgiven. I know that praying this daily is a heart check for me to live out the gospel in my own life.
I hope my review has helped you as much as it has helped me – Jesus meant every word He gave us. This prayer is both a template and reminder for us to be living our life, our whole life, for Him, on purpose.
Live The Prayer,
Pj
As I wake up this morning I feel my stomach telling me that it is empty. I just don’t feel hunger I feel empty. It is a stark reminder of my life before I trusted Jesus with all my heart. I gave my heart to Jesus when I was 16yrs old but nearly 10 years went by before I really truly began to turn all of my life over to Him. I guess you would say I took the scenic route to Total Surrender. I did my share of partying and carousing and even though I was having “fun” or so I thought, I still, at the end of the day, felt “empty”.
I guess you can’t even fully comprehend that your soul is empty until it’s been full at least once. The ways of the world are all we know as we grow up and they seem to be working for all those people around us who engage in them. But as I have grown older I see a truth that I never saw when I was young. Anything might “work for” someone for a time. But if that pursuit or belief system is not truth, at some point that person will be left empty. Kind of like my stomach feels this morning.
Fasting reminds me to pray for those who are involved in empty pursuits, vain actions and worldly gains. I pray that, sooner than later, God will allow them to feel that empty place – which opens their eyes to seek the truth, Jesus.
Now I think I will have some tea,
Pj
1 Peter 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
While I was posting I thought I would update everyone and thank you all so much for your prayers. Adam is doing well I spoke with him a few days ago and he is pursuing acceptance into a long term rehab program Called Faith Farm. It is hear in Florida 2-4 hours from us depending on the campus (they have 3). He completes the Penfield Program on Friday the January 21st. If he hasn’t heard anything from Faith Farm he will have to enter a Half -Way house, location undetermined at this time. He was hoping to stay on at Penfield as a Servant Leader for a few months but he does not meet the age requirement (25 – I think). He looks healthy and clean and again his leadership gifts are shining through.
Stacy and I had a good time visiting him on family day but it was obvious that God wanted us there more to speak life into some of the other families. Stacy was amazing as I watched her walk along side a woman whose husband, who was in ministry, fell into addiction and has left her to care for their children. Then a very unexpected thing happened. The lead councilor pulled me aside to speak with me. At first I thought to myself, “Oh No! What has Adam done?” But as we came to a private place he turned and looked me in the eye and said, “I just wanted you to know that I see God all over your son, and God has told me that Adam is going to lead many out of addiction and into a relationship with Jesus.” He also said, “But Adam has to stop fighting God and let Him do His work.” Through my tears I shared with Bill that what he sees in Adam, many Godly people have also seen. The last thing Bill said was this, “God has led me to come to you and that we are to pray, in agreement, that this is the time for Adam to give up and surrender to God.” By this time all I could do was nod in agreement. We locked arms and Bill lifted Adam up in prayer to the Lord.
So that is where we are and that is where Adam is. I sometimes feel like I have asked so many to pray for so long and it makes me feel greedy and selfish to continue to ask people to pray for Adam yet again. So I will leave it to you – and let the Lord lead your path.
To all those who have emailed, called, written, sent cards, facebooked, texted and contibuted financially. Our family is overwhelmed by your love and support.
As I shared with the people of Lifecoast a few weeks ago. My sin was revealed to me as I could feel my hope dwindling in Adam doing the right thing. But I repented of that sin and realized that my hope was dwindling because I was putting it in what Adam could do. But now my hope is fully in what GOD will do IN Adam.
Put your hope in The One who never disappoints – and you will never be disappointed.
You Are All In Our Prayers,
Jeff
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. 1 John 4:1-6
I know I am a little late today. Please forgive me. So let me get right to the point. During this fast many, including me, have listened to thoughts and impressions which seem to be pointing us in a negative direction. I know that I often think that I could spot the evil one a mile away, but I have come to realize that he lurks waiting for a weak moment and then takes full advantage of that weakness. As we continue in our fast let us be mindful of the truth of God’s Word and the power that is in those words. Read them, dwell on them, consume them as if they were the very food you are craving. Satan will stop at nothing to move us from our walk with our Savior. One man shared last night at men’s group that Satan even used scripture to try and make him feel defeated. Take God’s Word in its context for your circumstances. We are God’s children and we are overcomers. Embrace who you are and live it out loud and on purpose.
Be Strong,
Pj
The Bread of Life
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35
I just wanted to write a little bit about bread today. Over the past few days I have read and heard that many people are beginning to struggle in their fast. Some are gaining momentum, but many are hitting a rough road. Our bodies are beginning to remind us, with a greater urgency, that we are not supporting them in the manor to which they have grown accustom. I just wanted to let you know that this is normal and you are not “starving to death” as one person told me, and you can persevere through this feeling of great need.
What I simply want to point out is this…
When we deprive ourselves from communication with Jesus – why don’t we have the same spiritual reaction to this spiritual “starvation” as we are now having to this feeling of physical starvation? I ask myself this same question and pray that I never, ever again neglect the spiritual nourishment of communicating with my Savior. The Bread of Life
On Sunday Pastor Mike will be returning to the Lord’s prayer and talking about the phrase, “…give us this day our daily bread.” – You Do Not Want to Miss It!
I’m just a beggar who found some bread and I’m trying to show those who are still starving, where they can get the bread of life. Steve Brown
Please Pass The Bread,
Pj
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