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We're praising God for:
An anonymous $500 gift in June. To
the giver, thank you so very much!
Our two-day personal prayer retreat
in Tucson the first week of June, where God confirmed our
current path and vision.
The donation of a bright orange,
3' x 7' tall, free-standing FREE PRAYER banner by Group Imaging
in Mesa. This will make us much more visible and will eliminate
damage to the motorcycle from the clamps that hold our present
poster-board signs.
Three new intercessors and an increase
in our monthly support!
Our celebration of nine years of
marriage on the 4th of July.
Emil's recent speaking engagement
at Tempe's Christians in Commerce.
We're asking God for:
Continued protection on the road.
Divine health.
The desire of our hearts to see greater
signs and wonders as the Bible says we should expect. Jesus
said in John 14:12, "I tell you the truth that anyone
who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will
do even greater things than these, because I am going to the
Father."
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- Like Father, Like Son!
Roadside Report from Emil
A 44-year old son and his 62-year
old father stopped. The son goes to church and plays guitar
in the worship band. His mother and father came to live with
his family three months ago and now the two are working together.
They asked for prayer because it's "sometimes hard in
our living arrangement."
The son said Jesus was #1 in his
life. He was so adamant that he was saved that I immediately
felt we were to turn our focus to the father. So I asked the
father if he knew if he was going to heaven and he responded,
"No, but I've been a good person and raised my six kids
right." As the Lord gave me the words, I began to talk
to the father about the love of Jesus and forgiveness of sins.
Unbeknown to us, the Holy Spirit at the same time was working
on the son and showing him he wasn't saved. The Holy Spirit
broke the heart of the son with the realization that he had
never asked Jesus into his heart and shattered his confidence
in his own salvation. God then spoke to his humbled heart
that he too needed to pray.
So when the father said, "I
want this!" and we began to lead him in prayer, the son
began weeping. They put their arms around each other and to
our amazement, right there on the side of the road, father
and son prayed together the prayer of salvation!
Romans 10:17 says that "faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." You
never know where God is working and who is listening when
you talk to someone about Jesus!
- "Why Should You be Allowed
in Heaven?"
He drove by and strongly felt he
was to turn around and check out the Free Prayer sign. He
said he was a Christian, that he prays all the time. I noticed
as we talked, though, that he never brought up the Lord and
I felt the Lord say to ask Him where He was in his life. "On
a scale of 1 to 10, one being worst and 10 being best….?"
He replied, "Definitely between a 7 and 8." "Ask
him how many times a week he reads his Bible." "Never...but
I pray a lot." "Ask him if he was to die right now,
does he know that he's going to heaven?" I felt funny
asking him but I felt the Lord tell me again to ask. "Yes,"
he said and then, "Well, I hope so." I asked him
if he'd ever prayed for forgive-
ness and asked the Lord into his heart to be his Lord and
Savior. "No." "So ask him...why does he think
he should be allowed to go to heaven?" "Well, I
pray and I try to do what's right." "But that doesn't
give you a place in heaven," I told him. "It says
in Romans 10 that unless you confess with your mouth and believe
in your heart that Jesus is Lord, you're not going to heaven.
God asks two things of us...that we ask Him into our hearts
and that we have an intimate relationship with Him."
He said he would really like to do that, so we prayed. I gave
him a Bible and told him it is the manual for running his
business, handling his money, and being a husband and father.
"Really, all that's there?" 'Yeah but you have to
read it!" He promised. "Read this as a love story,
not as a set of rules. This book will change your life!"
As we were parting, I asked, "Do you know the Bible says
that all heaven rejoices-right now-when one person comes to
the Lord. All heaven is throwing a party for you!" He
gave a huge grin and said with a tear in his eye, "I've
gotta think about that for the rest of the day!"
- "So, Do People Take You
Seriously Out Here?"
A man pulled up in a car and waited
as I talked at length with another man. When it was "his
turn," he stated that he was a Christian and then said,
"This is really an interesting thing. I've never seen
anything like it. So tell me about it." I did and then
came the questions: "How do people treat you out here?"
"Fine." "People don't bother you?" "No."
"So do people take you seriously? Do you get non-Christians
to stop?" "Yeah, a lot." "That guy you
were just praying with...he's a Christian, right?" "He
thought he was-but he definitely is now!" "You mean
to tell me that while I was watching you from my car…?
I saw you praying with him but I had no idea he was giving
his heart to the Lord! That's unbelievable!"
I then asked him, "So how did
you get saved?" He said his brother got saved and kept
talking to him about it which made him really angry and he'd
punch him out. So his brother fasted and prayed for 40 days
for him. At the end of that time, he dreamed that he was going
to hell; it was so vivid that he woke up and gave his life
to the Lord! Now his brother doesn't follow the Lord anymore.
I felt the Lord say, "Tell him he needs to repay the
favor." So I said to him, "The Lord said your brother
fasted and prayed for your soul. Now you need to do the same
for him. He may even punch you out. But if you do this, the
Lord will bring your brother back." "WOW!"
he yelled out. "That's an unbelievable revelation! That
had to be God. I'm going to do it!"
He then told me he wanted prayer
to forgive his business partner. I heard, "Tell him he
has to come out of agreement with the spirit of pride."
I said to him, "The Lord says you have a spirit of pride
and He wants to deliver you." He seemed so shocked that
I asked, "Does that mean anything to you?" He replied,
"I never thought about it but you're right, I do walk
in pride. How do I get rid of it?" I explained that we
could pray right then and he said, "Yeah, I want it gone!"
He came out of agreement with it and when it was cast out,
he said, "Wow, do I feel better!" I said, "The
Lord says you need to go to your partner and repent and ask
him to forgive you for all the words you've spoken against
him." He said, "I'm going to call him right now
and go see him." His parting comment was, "Wow...and
I just stopped to see what the funny sign said!"
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- Lessons from 30 days OFF the
Roadside
By Karen
On the second day of our June prayer
retreat, I was shocked when I felt the Lord say that we were
to be off the roadside for 30 days. I waited to see if Emil
would get the same word. After a week of varied circumstances
keeping us off the road, Emil too heard, "You're off
the roadside for 30 days!" Our initial response was the
same-"But Lord, we just got shot at! We don't want them
to think they scared us off!" But God impressed upon
us His will, and so we grew to be at peace with that. The
other day Emil heard that our first day back on the roadside
will be Tuesday, June 26th at 11 a.m. Our 30 days is drawing
to an end. What have we learned?
God showed me it's okay to not like
to be out in 100+ temperatures. It's okay not to be excited
about the dust and the dirt and the sweat. It's okay to admit
that sometimes I'm not always excited about the environment
to which God has called us! A missionary spoke at our church
this week who said after 20 years on the mission field, he
still doesn't like the heat or the food or climbing the mountains
and swimming the rivers to get to the people to whom God has
called him! And yet, he sees the power of God move daily.
God also encouraged me that when
we go back out, I won't care how hot it is; I will be on fire
to win souls!
By Emil
Jesus is like the air. No matter
where you go, you need it. It is inside of us, in our bones-spreading
the love of Jesus to those who need it the most. When Jesus
becomes like oxygen to us, He becomes the life-sustaining
force.
I was burned out by "ministry" when God told us
to go off the roadside for 30 days. But still I felt guilty
about it and had to have His confirmation several times before
I could embrace it and find peace.
Now I realize that the word "ministry"
feels like a boat anchor! But the name of Jesus excites me
and propels me forward. People do not need "ministry."
People need JESUS! We do not work for the "ministry."
We work for the Jewish carpenter who already did all the work.
All we do is to tell everyone of the awesome job He has already
done for us all! I never tire of telling of His forgiveness,
love and freedom!
- Just a Cheap Shot
One recent Friday morning on the roadside, a white pickup
truck caught my attention because it really slowed down. As
it passed, the two guys stared at me. They went by and I looked
away. Then we heard a loud noise and what sounded like a piece
of metal bouncing around us. Karen felt something hit the
ground next to her chair and thought my metal Bible must have
fallen to the ground but she saw nothing. In my heart, I knew
I had heard that sound one other time on the road. I said,
"Lord, did we just get shot at again?" When we went
to the bike later to pack up for the day, we were still praying,
"Lord, what's the truth?" and there next to the
bike lay an empty 40 caliber bullet casing that wasn't there
when we had arrived a few hours earlier. We also had our answer
to the prayer we had been praying earlier that day, "Lord,
are we still on track with the vision You gave us?" We
high-fived each other and said, 'Yes, we are!" In worship
two days later, I heard the Lord say, "Don't worry about
Friday. The devil just took a cheap shot at you!"
- He Had His Answer Ready
Every day we pray and ask the Lord
what time and what road but this day the answer was different.
"You need to go see _____ in jail this morning."
I asked, "What do you want me to say to him, Lord?"
He told me to give him the timeline of the events of the two
weeks leading up to his arrest and then to ask him a specific
question.
When he saw me coming across the
room, his jaw dropped open. I told him what God had told me
to tell him and then asked the question that God had given
me, "You know what it's like to not have Jesus in your
life...would you like to find out what it's like with Jesus
in your life?" He burst into tears and finally said,
"Let me tell you why I got so emotional." Three
days before, he had prayed and said, "Lord, you've been
trying to get my attention and you've got it. I don't like
my life but I don't know what to do about it. Whatever you
tell me, I'll do." Instantly he had a vision of me sitting
in the very seat I was sitting in and he was seated in exactly
the place he was seated in, and the Lord said, "Emil
is coming to see you and he's going to ask you a question."
Then he heard me ask him the exact question I had just asked
him and the Lord said to him, "You need to have an answer
for him." That morning at 5 am, he had prayed and again
got the very same vision. So when I walked in and everything
happened just as he had seen in the vision, he came undone.
He said, "The answer is yes, I'm ready." We prayed
together and he accepted the Lord and the Holy Spirit.
Two days later he called to say that
he had read Matthew, Mark, Luke and part of John, "Everything
you told me is true--I'm reading it now in the Bible!"
He had found a Bible study in the jail and led it one day
when God had shown him the scripture about coarse language.
So he talked to the guys and they were all convicted!
He was recently sentenced to thirteen
months in prison and was angry about it. He heard an audible
voice say, "Don't be afraid. Everything will be all right."
He looked around but no one was there. He immediately picked
up his Bible and all his fear left and peace flooded him.
We now have a daily 10-minute Bible
study on the phone!
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