Hey Friends,
I hope you are doing well. Nancy & I and the kids are doing great. The church is doing very well. I’m writing to share with you an opportunity that I have to spread the Gospel.
At the beginning of this year a friend of mine, Eldon Tracy, a missionary for many years/decades asked me if I would join him on a mission trip to Monrovia, Liberia. His plan is to travel there by way of Belgium. When he first brought it up I thought “Well, I’ll pray about this and see what the Lord says.” But while I was thinking that, I heard the voice of the Lord very clearly say, “Go with him.”
Eldon and I met for prayer here at the office a while ago. That prayer time was a profound experience. The Lord seemed to be making things very clear that it was His will for us to go.
We leave October 15th and I’ll be back two weeks later. Eldon will stay an extra week after I leave.
In Monrovia there is a church called Faith In Christ Church. We will be having a conference on Leadership, Giving & Tithing, Evangelism and Church Growth. 4-500 people will be in attendance along with several pastors. We’ll have meetings every morning and afternoon for four days. While I’m there I’ll be doing most of the teaching. The conference will continue the following week with Eldon teaching.
So I need your prayers and your financial support. The cost of the trip is over $7,500. I want to raise the funds for travel costs for Eldon and myself, then include the costs of the conference as well.
So please pray for us: pray for our safety, our effectiveness, for divine appointments, for miracles, for the message to come forth with clarity and for every need to be provided.
Pray also what the Lord might have you do financially. God might whisper in your ear or put a desire in your heart. Either way follow what He says. If each part of the Body does what He says then there will be no lack, only abundance. How wonderful it would be for me to take a financial gift to those in need over there as well.
On the way to Liberia, I will have a chance to minister in Brussels on Sunday afternoon. I’m really looking forward to that.
Well, my friend, the ball’s in your court.
If you want to give you can go online using Paypal(you don’t have to have a Paypal account) at www.familylife.cc/donate.
If you want to donate by check you can write the check to Family Life and send it to
Joseph Barlow Ministries(c/o Liberia Trip)
640 East St. Charles Road
Carol Stream, IL 60188
Remember we leave in mid-October and the expenses need to be paid soon. So, just follow the Lord.
I’ll write back and tell you how the support is coming unless you write and tell me to exclude you. J
I love you all.
Keep seeking God’s will for your life.
Joe
Pastor Joseph Barlow
Family Life Christian Center
640 E. St. Charles Road
Carol Stream, IL 60188
31828
About a month ago I had my annual physical. The results were good with the exception of a growth (mass) the size of half of my little finger in the kidney and a small kidney stone that showed up from the ultrasound. Next they sent me for a CT scan to go over everything again and to make sure it wasn’t cancer. That was about two weeks ago. Just after the scan on a Sunday during worship at our church The Lord whispered in my ear, “I will heal you!” His voice is unmistakable but it is the first time He whispered to me. Kinda neat! Today I saw the doctor for follow up and you guessed it, there was no evidence of a growth or stone. Now you know the rest of the story! No brag, just fact as Walter Brennen would say. I’m telling you this because I believe we need to tell what God has done for us. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!”
Psalm 5:12
For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;
With favor You will surround him as with a shield.Here’s my response:
Journal August 2009
Saturday August 1st, 2009
What would you like to talk about?
Hey Friends,
THIS WEEK’S WORD…
It’s a new season, it’s a new day. It’s time to put the past away!
Focus on Me and follow My lead. For where you’re going there is no map, no paradigm, and no previous trail to follow. Therefore, you must depend completely on Me. You’re an original. I desire to blaze a new trail through you so that others will be able to follow in your footsteps. I’ve called you to be a way maker and to be a unique representation (re-presentation) of My goodness. I have new depths of glory for you to experience and new exploits for you to accomplish. But you cannot move forward glorifying the past. You must forget what lies behind. You must wake up every day with a brand new mindset. Old things have passed away. Behold all things are new. My mercy is new everyday and yesterday’s failures must be put away. You cannot step into the unknown while focused on the past. No, it’s a new day! Expect Me to speak. Expect Me to guide you. Make a demand on the unction that resides in you. Pray in the Spirit, and expect the interpretation. Expect Me to speak to you in unusual ways. Expect Me to speak to you at all times and you will find that hearing Me is easy. You must get and keep yourself in a position to hear My voice. How can you follow Me if you can’t even hear Me? My sheep hear My voice and I am leading You, so press in until you are able to abide in the secret place even in the midst of turmoil around you. Your source of life is found only in Me, therefore You must learn to abide in My presence.
Hey Friends,
My Struggles are About Him
by Max Lucado
What about your struggles? Is there any chance, any possibility, that you have been selected to struggle for God’s glory? Have you “been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1:29)?
Here is a clue. Do your prayers seem to be unanswered? What you request and what you receive aren’t matching up? Don’t think God is not listening. Indeed he is. He may have higher plans.
Here is another. Are people strengthened by your struggles? A friend of mine can answer yes. His cancer was consuming more than his body; it was eating away at his faith. Unanswered petitions perplexed him. Well-meaning Christians confused him. “If you have faith,” they said, “you will be healed.”
No healing came. Just more chemo, nausea, and questions. He assumed the fault was a small faith. I suggested another answer. “It’s not about you,” I told him. “Your hospital room is a showcase for your Maker. Your faith in the face of suffering cranks up the volume of God’s song.”
Oh, that you could have seen the relief on his face. To know that he hadn’t failed God and God hadn’t failed him–this made all the difference. Seeing his sickness in the scope of God’s sovereign plan gave his condition a sense of dignity. He accepted his cancer as an assignment from heaven: a missionary to the cancer ward.
A week later I saw him again. “I reflected God,” he said, smiling through a thin face, “to the nurse, the doctors, my friends. Who knows who needed to see God, but I did my best to make him seen.”
Bingo. His cancer paraded the power of Jesus down the Main Street of his world.
God will use whatever he wants to display his glory. Heavens and stars. History and nations. People and problems.
Rather than begrudge your problem, explore it. Ponder it. And most of all, use it. Use it to the glory of God.
Through your problems and mine, may God be seen.
Friends,
Hey Friends,
Hey Friends,
Joseph Barlow 