Pastor Mitch Minney

Parkerburg, WV

Wow! Where did the year go!

The holiday season is upon us again already. The scriptures say a day is like a thousand years to our God ‘Yahweh’. To my mind a week seems like only three days, but feels like a month to my body.

My wife Lena & I are realizing that if we want to enjoy the future holiday seasons of our older age, now is the time to make the proper mental, physical and nutritional adjustments to do so. The catalyst to motivate us in these areas, I believe, is a healthy, joyful loving relationship with our ageless Heavenly Father while here on earth. Proverbs 17:22 says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones".

Nothing increases the joy of my spirit as pondering the marvels and wonders of the Father of all creation who is excited to interact with me on a personal, individual level. Showing his true kindness to the peoples of the earth through his son ‘Yeshua (Jesus), it is now possible for me and you as well, to pursue as intimate a relationship with God as we are willing to give our time to. Our time is fast and fleeting like a wisp of smoke that appears and is gone just as fast. Such is Life.

Now is the time for change. Knowing that I am pleasing to the Father and that Jesus is not ashamed to call me brother. I have the confidence, self-esteem and encouragement to care for myself and make adjustments to live a longer, healthy, productive and prosperous life.

I am also motivated to enjoy the more simple pleasures such as family and friends, taking longer looks at nature and wildlife, knowing these are gifts to me from my Heavenly Father to enjoy.

The holiday seasons often bring about unnecessary financial stress. We are bombarded by commercials to spend! Spend! Spend! We are intimidated by gift giving and gift receiving. I haven’t checked the statistics lately but the suicide rate usually climbs this time of year. So much pressure, high expectations, disappointments and depression takes its toll.

Christians are right there, caught up in the thick of it with everyone else also.

I say let’s be different! We may be jars of clay like everyone else but we are full of great treasure, God’s glory.

We may be hard pressed at times but never crushed. We may be at a loss and see no way out but not in despair, struck down but not destroyed.

When we are cursed, we will bless. When we are criticized, we will endure. When we are slandered, we will answer kindly.

We know in whom we have believed and are confident that He believes in us.

For this reason, that our Heavenly Father has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ and has given us everything we need for life and godliness,  let us celebrate him! Everyday is a Holiday for us. The reason for the Season resonates inside of us all year long.

Society celebrates from a distance, but we do it face to face. He loves the world but Good enjoys us. While children climb into the lap of Santa, we the adopted sons and daughters climb into the lap of Father God. We kiss his face and hug him, pour out our adoration and thankfulness and pour just plain old-fashioned love out to him. You and I have within us the very life, the very Spirit of God, which allows us to emotionally touch the heart of the Father, and he yearns for it, he thrives on it.

How wonderful to see the good intentions of the world celebrating the birth of the Savior Jesus who just happens to be your doting, fun-loving, kind-hearted older brother who adores you and has tremendous affection for you. Yes, time is passing fast, and time spent in the presence of the timeless God of love is time well spent. Happy Holidays.

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PASTOR JENNIFER MORRIS

ST. MARYS, WV

BORN TO TAKE THE GIANTS FROM THE LAND

God said to Jeremiah:
" Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
In Acts 10:34 Peter said God shows no partiality of persons. Therefore that means you and I are also sanctified and ordained by God just like Jeremiah.
Sanctify= set apart for a sacred purpose,
Ordain= to invest officially with ministerial or priestly authority

And in Romans 8:30,those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Esther 4:14
"And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"


What has God set you apart and ordained you to do? Why are you living in this period of time and not two thousand years ago or one thousand years in the future and so on?
Let's go to the book of Numbers 13:1-33
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them." So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

Okay! Sending men to spy out the land of Canaan was not God's plan in the first place according to Deut. 1:20-25, but came from the people. Nevertheless, God worked with them and gave them mercy and grace as He has with us when we say, no I think this way will work much better.

Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, "Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains, and see what the land is like:
~whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; ~whether the land they dwell in is good or bad;
~whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds; ~whether the land is rich or poor;
~and whether there are forests there or not.
Oh yes, don't forget to be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land."
So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness. They took note that the land was truly the Promise Land as God had said. The fruit was plentiful, the land flowed with milk and honey, but fear came upon them at the sight of all the mighty men whom inhabited it. Even worse, they saw the descendants of Anak. (GIANTS).

So they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness with the report.
"We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan."
In all the excitement Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "Hello, what part did you not understand? We are not able to go up against these people, for they are stronger than us. The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

They have, as a whole, failed the test!

Many times we go to the THRESHOLD of our promise but never enter in because of the GIANTS in the land!
Most times it may seem like we hit a brick wall in the path to our promise. Fear arises at the thought of having to get out of our comfort zone. I know, because this has been my enemy in the past, moving beyond what I cannot control in my own right.
But who do we see ourselves as?
What we think in our hearts, so are we!
God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind!
Many times giants are formed in our mind. I think at times we make a mountain out of a molehill! Too many times we see our inadequacies and not having self-confidence. Actually, we are crucified with Christ; it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us. So, we are to cast down all vain imaginations and watch what we are speaking out of our mouths, for out of the abundance of our heart the mouth speaks. Are we walking by faith or by sight? We don't need self-confidence nearly as much as we need GOD confidence!
Jesus said He would never leave us nor forsake us. Moses told God, "if Your Spirit doesn't go with me, don't send me out from here." I agree with Moses and I take Jesus at His word.

The adversary is great at brow beating God's people when they don't understand who they are in Christ. We can do all things through Christ Jesus who gives us strength!
God will never call you into anything He has not equipped you to do. If it's in His plan, He must know what He's doing. After all, He created us.

Did you know that a rat when cornered will puff his body up in a stance to make himself LOOK bigger than he really is? God showed me that Satan does the very same thing. He recognizes who we are and sees the damage we can bring to his plans. Therefore he puffs himself up to lead us to believe that he has more power than we, but, greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world!
We are a THREAT to him and we need to take note of what Isaiah 14:16 says about him, "Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,'

Have you ever heard of Beelzebub? It is a Canaanite "deity" which name means, "lord of the flies!"
Flies swarm sores and infest with disease! It's a nasty devil that does what devils do best. They come to kill, steal, and destroy our lives if we let them. Remember, most times giants start in our minds because that's were the devil attacks us first. If he can get your attention he might be in control of your thoughts, therefore keeping you from fulfilling your destiny in the Lord.



We are to submit to God first, resist the devil and he will flee from us.

David confronted his giant by standing in the word of the LORD.
While at the same time there were those who dressed for battle daily but never entered in. They were afraid of what this Philistine Goliath might do to them. They saw themselves as grasshoppers just as their forefathers saw themselves when going into the land of the giants. They did not recognize that if God be for them, who could be against them.

Esther could have lost her life while facing the king on behalf of the people, but she said, "I will go in and if I perish, I perish!"

Caleb said; "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." Evidently, he took God at His word when He said in Ex. 23,
"Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared

"I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come,
and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive them out.
One scripture says He will scatter the enemies. (They will flee for their lives!) God continued by saying,

I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field become too numerous for you.
Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.
How do you eat an ELEPHANT? One bite at a time!
If you are faithful over the little things, He will make you ruler over much!
But, make sure that it is God, and then wait for His timing for you to go forth. Never try to open doors yourself or you might start a mess you cannot clean up. God will make it happen. Then it will be your responsibility to step into your promise. It might be a battle, because the kingdom of God suffers violently, but the violent take it by force. Go for it! God sends His angels forth before you making the crooked ways straight, setting a table for you in the presence of your enemies. He will take care of you. His promises are for you and you were born for such a time as this. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of the testimony loving not our lives even unto death. And remember, God is not a man that He should lie.

Be watchful of wounds of the past that can hinder us!
Many of us are carrying hurts that have been committed against us. Every time we think the scab is almost healed, something happens to fester the memory of the painful event. Then we start replaying it over and over again in our minds, therefore picking the scab and making it bleed. Sounds rather gross, doesn't it? But that's what we do when we rehash in our minds what needs to be forgotten and forgiven.


Let me give you an example:
I know a woman who was married to a man that was very abusive to her and her children. They eventually were divorced and both remarried other people. This did not stop the man from calling the woman several times a month for a period of five years, begging her to come back to him. The woman became so troubled in her mind even to the point of hating her ex-husband that she started dreaming about ways to do away with him. Kind of scary, isn't it?
Anyway, she would wake from these nightmares crying out to God for help. She really didn't want to hurt him; she just wanted it all to stop.
God started dealing with her heart, talking to her about forgiving him. Her response was, "Why should I for give him when he's the one in error? God said you have to forgive him so I can use you. He also led her to recognize that forgiveness would bring healing to her heart and her mind.
She thought about how wrong this man had been at invading her new life and the unfairness of it all. Yet her love for Father God meant more to her and the freedom this would bring. She pondered on how she could get a word in the routine one-sided conversation between her and her ex-husband. Then it happened. He called! As he started the same begging which she knew would end up in an argument. Somehow she spoke these words which could have only came from God, "I forgive you!" The man said, "what for?" She continued to tell him how Father God said to let the hurts and the pains committed against her and her children are forgiven him.
The man at first was dumbfounded, not knowing what to say, but quickly regained himself and started his same routine. Nevertheless, she said goodbye and hung up the phone. A great pressure fell off of her as she learned what true freedom truly felt like. She never let him cross the boundary again even though he tried. She chose to forgive, and God kept His promise to her calling.

Let's not allow unforgiveness to have a hold of our hearts. In other words, "don't pet devils!"

Millions of people were delivered from the bondage of Egypt. But only Caleb, Joshua, and those who were under twenty years of age went over to the promise land. Everyone else had to die in the wilderness.

Let's not allow the giants we see bring fear to govern over our faith in God. Or have unforgiveness rule our hearts and control our minds. It's time to trust the Holy Spirit's direction, and it's time to take the land for the kingdom of God for we were born for such a time as this.
Step over the threshold, out of the boat, and into your calling.
God bless you on your journey.

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PASTOR DELORES STRAHLER

MARIETTA, OH

FACING MY GIANTS

One night I had a dream, I woke up my husband about 2 a.m. I knew God had given me the dream and he was directing me to have a women’s ministry. I struggled with him, saying Lord I can’t do this. A few weeks went by and I had the same dream again. I explained to the Lord that I couldn’t do this.

I would be absent from school on days that I would have to stand in front of the class to give reports and I would rather take an F than to do a report that required me to speak in front of people. I could talk in a one on one situation, but not to a group.

I was saying every day, "Here I am Lord, use me". Well he was trying to use me. I had heaviness in my chest every day. One day I did it, when I saw my pastor I asked him about starting a women’s meeting, he said, "yes". God even put the people in my path to help.

Time was coming fast to have my meeting. The week before I started to get sick; my face broke out, my chest hurt and I could not sleep. Finally, I said enough is enough. I am going through this, know matter what happens I am going to face my giant. I did it and it was great. Now we are getting ready for our second women’s meeting. God is there helping me plan things out. He has given me a name for the ministry. "Sisters". It is about a relationship with God and each other, love, togetherness, praying for one another, trusting in each other, helping each other and being able to open up and share our hearts with each other. God loves unity and wants us to love each other. We have fun, there are special quest speakers, wonderful praise and worship, each of us loving others through him.

He has given me a scripture for the ministry. Philippians 4:13 – "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

The meetings are for anyone who wants to attend. So, Come join in and let God love upon us.

We meet at the Celebration Center in Marietta, OH the 4^th Friday of every month at 7 p.m. Come and meet your sisters in Christ and face your giants.

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PASTOR ROBERT STRAHLER

Marietta, OH

ARE YOU A DOUBTING THOMAS?

What does it take a person to believe in a miracle. God can do all things if you pray and ask him. This is my story of how I was healed.

As a Catholic for forty-four years, I thought I knew God. I did what I was told to do. I went for years to a Catholic High School. I was not taught that Jesus could heal me. I was saved in 1979, but salvation had not changed my life. Yes, I had admitted I was a sinner, but I still sinned. I believed that Jesus was my savior, but I didn’t do anything to show it in my life. I never read my Bible. I just went to church like a good Catholic man.

Our loves are like seasons and I had gone through many. I knew by observing my brother-in-law, who was a very good Christian that something was missing in my life. It was the letter C for Change. When I was saved, I hadn’t changed from my old ways. I hadn’t let God work in me. I had admitted I was a sinner and that I believed in Jesus, but my life style had not changed. I had realized that God had been carrying me through all my life.

Many seasons of changes had come and gone in my life. I was working in a plant when I had my first heart attack. It was in 1994 and I never really asked God to help me, because I never believed in that. By this time, I was going to a Baptist church with my fiancée and her two sons. We attended there for about ten years.

We met this wonderful and woman who asked us to attend their Thursday night bible study. It was a wonderful three years. I had surrendered my life to God. I finally gave up my old ways of thinking and could believe that God could heal a person if you asked.

I loved lifting my hands to the Lord and just surrendering myself to him and praising him. That was a big change in my life. I now know that by his stripes we are healed.

There has to be a time in your life that you truly, in your mind, heart and soul believe what Jesus did and can do if you ask him.

It was now 1996 and I had a second heart attack at the plant. I was taken to the hospital and was taken to intensive care for four days. A good Christian friend of mine came to see me. She came everyday praying and giving me giving me teaching tapes on healing, to listen to by Norvel Hayes. On the tapes, he would rebuke Satan and all his works. Norvel would tell Satan to leave his body and never come back. I learned that the Blood of Jesus healed me. After listening to my friend and the tapes she gave me, I knew Jesus had healed me.

The Doctor’s had come in on the third night and said that I was very bad and I needed to go to Riverside in Columbus for more x-rays. The x-rays had shown that the heart attack left scar tissue and blocked arteries. This would have scared me in the past, because then, I didn’t believe what Jesus could do for me. Now that I was a Christian and Jesus was my Lord and Savior, I was not afraid.

That night, God came to me in my dreams and told me I was healed and didn’t need to go to Columbus. The next morning the hospital workers came in to take me to Columbus. I told the Doctor’s I did not need to go. They asked me what I based this on. Years ago I wold never have said this or believed it, but now I said from my heart to them, "Jesus has already healed me." I asked them to send me to Parkersburg, WV for a Heart Catherization.

The Doctor’s thought I was crazy to say this, but this is what I wanted and knew God wanted. They took me to the Parkersburg Hospital and at the same time warning me that I was so bad that I might not make it. I told them that God is the Great Physician and he is with me and the blood of Jesus heals me. After going through the medical procedure, I was laying in a room where my fiancée and four other Christian friends were praying for me the entire time. The surgeon and my family Doctor came in, looked at me, and said that I must have received a miracle. They had compared x-rays and there was no scar tissue, that I have the heart of a nineteen-year-old. They couldn’t believe it.

Thirty years ago, I was a doubting Thomas. I had to see it to believe it. Now it had truly happened to me.

Today I read the Bible and study God’s word increasingly. I pray to Jesus for everlasting love for Him. I thank God for all the Blessings he gives me everyday. I hunger more and more for his word and his love. I am now studying to be a minister, to teach someone else Gods words. For God has been good to me.

I am thankful for my new wife of four years and my stepdaughter, God has given them to me to love also.

God not only gave me a new heart but a new heart to love others with.

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FRANKYS CORNER

This month, I'm recommending a song from the first album  by Barren Cross.

The name of the song is 'Rock for the King'.  Those of us who listen to Christian Metal should have a place in our heart for this song.  As Christians who love Rock and Roll, we should rock for the one and only true King of Rock, the King of Kings... Jesus Christ.  He is the rock and foundation we stand on.  So go ahead and Rock for the true rock, Jesus, with a little help from Barren Cross.

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This is the last newsletter for the year 2007. 

 

We would appreciate it if we could hear from you with articles and pictures to share with other Full Gospel Church in Christ affilliates. 

If you have internet access you can log on to www.windsofchangeintl.com.  Click on FGCC - then click on The Voice.  This will take you to the blog site where you can read the articles and see the pictures we receive of people submitting articles.  If you would like to contact us by phone please call and leave a message at 304-428-0823.  Your call will be returned.

Thank you.

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