Hello friends. I was talking with a friend about Max Lucado and how much we love his books and teachings. He wrote many, many books. He just wrote a new book about the end times. As I was listening to his interview inCarey Nieuwhof’s podcast I was very surprised how open he was about his life, ministry challenges and his wife’s battle with depression. He also transitioned out of being the lead pastor of his mega church and talked about that challenge too.
God keeps him very busy. I recently read in Christian news that now he is an interim teaching pastor for Gateway Church (the church where Robert Morris was lead pastor until his resignation due to sexual scandal. Gateway Church is in good hands with Max Lucado as their interim pastor. Let’s keep praying for Gateway Church. 🙏)
You will learn a lot about leadership, management and relationship from Carey Nieuwhof and his guests. Carey Nieuwhof was a successful lawyer before God called him into ministry. He passed the torch of his thriving mega-church in Canada and now, he’s focused on training Christians to be better leaders and communicators. Please subscribe to his podcast and listen to his guests. They are all brilliant people to learn from. Here is the interview with Max Lucado:
As I was talking about Max Lucado to my friend, she told me that he was sexually assaulted when he was a boy. I was shocked to hear that. Here is his testimony. I think it’s important to hear his story – to be warned on how sexual predators work but also to see how God can heal someone supernaturally in their mind and soul from the greatest trauma like sexual abuse.
One of the things that our Esther prayer group prays regularly is that abusers and predators become exposed and that our children, grandchildren, churches and schools are protected from these evildoers. However, if the unthinkable happens to one of our own despite our prayers and precautions; it is very reassuring to know that God can heal someone supernaturally like He did for Max Lucado. Please listen to his testimony.
Max Lucado Testimony: Jesus Healed Me From Sexual Abuse | Praise on TBN
Here are the statistics on sexual violence in our country. Data are from few years ago and reports coming in show that it is higher today. But it’ll give you an idea of how prevalent this is in our country.
https://www.nsvrc.org/statistics?mibextid=Zxz2cZ
After I heard Max Lucado’s testimony, this church’s sermon came up afterwards. This pastor did a sermon series on “Abuse”. He said that he feels compelled to speak about this topic because if he doesn’t, then he is concerned that his people will be vulnerable to abusers and predators. I 💯 agree. I listened to all three parts of sermon series on “Abuse”. It was very informative. I highly recommend you to listen and learn what the Bible teaches about abuse. I especially learned a lot from the message on “What does God say? To the Abusive.” If you have to choose just one to listen to, I recommend that you listen to this one because for many of us, we cannot understand how abusers think. They are predators. Jesus told his disciples to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” I want you to be aware about abusers and predators to minimize you and your family’s risks.
Abuse: What Does God Say? To the Abused // Mike Novotny // Time of Grace
Abuse: What Does God Say? To the Abusive // Mike Novotny // Time of Grace
Abuse: What Does God Say? To the Church // Mike Novotny // Time of Grace
Sight & Sound TV is streaming the story of David for FREE from August 9-11! Here is the link for the access.
DAVID | Streaming Free August 9-11! – DAVID — Streaming Free August 9-11! – Sight & Sound TV
King David was the greatest king of Israel and by the time his son, Solomon took over the throne; Israel was a very powerful kingdom in the Middle East. Here’s a very brief summary of David if you want to read this before watching the show.
Thinking about King David made me think about the cod and the catfishmetaphor. King Saul was King David’s catfish. If you’ve never heard this concept in a sermon before, I found this one that you can read. This author used the Bible character, Jacob for the demonstration. It was very well thought out and written.
God’s Catfish | Keep Believing Ministries
One for Israel is a very good ministry that I read to help me figure out the old and new history of the Bible and Israel; and it also informs me of current events happening in Israel. This article shared recently gave me information and spiritual insight with prayer points about the Druze people in Israel.
The Druze: Key People in Israel
I focus a lot of my attention and time on studying the Bible because it gives me guidance on how to live and speak; as well as make my mind, spirit and body stronger. Sid Roth’s guests offer me…the wonder of God. He posts a new guest once a week. Since miracles and the supernatural are very rare in this region of churches, please listen to his guest once a week. It’s only 30 minute long.
Enjoy this song “Worthy of it all” by CeCe Winans:
She is touring if you want to go see her:
“God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.” – C.S. Spurgeon
“You will know broken dreams and frustrated plans, but be all the more determined to serve God no matter what. If it’s not one way, He’ll give you another and it’ll be something better and greater than anything you could have ever planned yourself. In the end, disappointments are God’s appointments if you let them be, and your detours will have been the call of God on your life.” – Jonathan Cahn
“God is looking for sons and daughters, people like you and me, that He can entrust not only with his resources but more importantly with His people.” – Pedro Adao
– To reach me, please send a note to:
estherprayergroup2016@gmail.com
Journal of Faith 