Wednesday, March 31, 2021
March 31 - Vignettes on Prayer
March 31 - Vignettes on Prayer
Isaiah 54:2, states, “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.” The next couple of Vignettes I want to share with you what happened as a result of the revival. The youth group exploded to where on any given night there was never less than 50 youth. A warlock named Doug was saved. Roy, who was the drunk dealer in town got saved. Several Bible studies started and the average attendance was never less than 50 for over two years. For at least 3-4 years this little church sent over 20 young people to Bible College each year. Churches throughout the town were impacted. The Pentecostal Church had to be remodeled to accommodate the crowds. This church went from 60 to no less than 150 people for every service. The altars were filled with people seeking God for years. Sunday evening services were packed for years. People from other communities came to see what God was doing. They often said, “If God can do it here He can do it in our community and He did.” Isaiah gave an exhortation to extend what you have because when you do, God will do his part.
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
March 30 – Vignettes on Prayer
March 30 – Vignettes on Prayer
Psalm 80:19, is where David asks the Lord to revive and restore us. I shared my story because it runs parallel to the Buntings and the amazing things that would happen next. I had to work the following Sunday and Monday so I was not privy to what happened next. The Sunday morning of the special services were exciting. Without no advertising but word of mouth, a board member of the Lutheran church came and got saved. He brought to the evening church service his four other board members and three of them got saved. God was moving and things were rolling. The Monday night the local Canadian girls in training group came to the service. Out of the seventeen girls who came sixteen came to the Lord. I came to the Tuesday meeting and saw salvations, healing, deliverances and miracles. It was amazing for an old Anglican my whole world was shaken but in a good way. By the end of the week over one hundred people had been saved and the community was shaken to its very core. God had been faithful to what He said He would do. The Buntings had a revival that would go for an indefinite period of time. Ask and you will receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you.
Monday, March 29, 2021
March 29 - Vignettes on Prayer
March 29 - Vignettes on Prayer
I have been giving you snapshots of my life. In Jeremiah 33:3, it says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” That is what God was about to do. The following Sunday after going to youth group I went to the Pentecostal Church with George and Brian. As I walked in took my spot in the front of the church, Rachel Davies began to cry. The little boy who had played in her back yard who she had prayed for was now in church gloriously saved. Alice Sibbald let out, “A praise the Lord.” The little boy who she brought to Vacation Bible School now was raising his hands and praising the Lord. Never, never, near give up praying. Never grow weary in well doing for in due season you will reap a harvest. As I write this account I am the only pastor left in ministry from that revival. I am a testimony of what God does when you pray for revival. So don’t quit God’s answer is on the way.
Sunday, March 28, 2021
Friday, March 26, 2021
March 26 - Vignettes in Prayer
March 26 - Vignettes in Prayer
Acts 16:30, is such a great verse. It is the verse we all must come face to face. God brings us all to a point of decision. The Philippian jailer asked this and we must all come to that place. The following morning we got up had our breakfast then went to the morning service in the Central Park in Havre Montana. A bearded young man talked about how many of us tried so many things. While he was speaking it was like he was talking about my life or reading my mail. Then he came to the climax of them message. He said, ”you have tried everything else now try Jesus.” He then instructed us find a place of prayer and ask Jesus into our hearts. I went off to a tree in the middle of the park. I did not know how to pray and more prayer went something like this. “Jesus if you are real come into my heart.” No lightning bolt or thunder just a simple prayer God heard in that moment changed my heart. I walked out of that park transformed. Years of faithful praying, Alice Sabbald, Rachel Davies and so many others I was saved. Don’t give up, never stop praying. God is not finished.
Thursday, March 25, 2021
March 25 - Vignettes on Prayer
March 25 - Vignettes on Prayer
In Acts 4:11-13, the people in Jerusalem were amazed at the message and boldness of Peter. The young people’s meeting that Friday night in Havre, Montana amazed me. These people really loved Jesus. I was attracted and drawn to this fiery faith. Later that night I was billeted out to a home and my roommate was a young man from Calgary. I asked him about the service and he told me he came because his parents forced him. He hated church and wanted to do his own thing. Doing your own thing was the Mantra for the day at that time. We talked into the night about motorcycles, girls and trucks. I went to sleep wondering what I had gotten myself into but the possibility of meeting girls loomed on the horizon and I was going to jump on that subject the following day. Little did I know that God has something different in mind. Our role in prayer is to pray for the lost but never tell God how it should be done. He is more reactive, resourceful and wiser at this than we are. Just pray, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done and He will do it.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
March 24 - Vignettes on Prayer
March 24 - Vignettes on Prayer
Acts 16:14 is such a great scripture, Paul had been preaching in Philippi when a woman named Lydia from Thyatira listened and God opened up her mind. It was the last week in September 1974, when two of my friends, Perry Johnson and Dwayne Tofsford asked me to go to a young people’s convention in Havre, Montana. I asked why I should go and Perry said, “You can meet girls.” Now being seventeen and running on hormones I said, “Yes,” immediately. They arranged a ride for me from the youth pastor of the Church of Christ in Lethbridge. His name was Ken Mckenzie, I met him at the bus station and we drove to Havre, Montana that afternoon it was thanksgiving weekend 1974. We arrived in Havre just in time to register and go immediately into the evening service. There I saw people raising their hands, worshipping God and loving Jesus. To a boy raised in a liturgical church this almost separated my head from my shoulders. It was amazing and frightening. Remember I am a raw heathen dropped into a Jesus people service. God was working though. Remember God knows our hearts so when you pray for the unsaved asked God to open their hearts. God did with Lydia and he did with me.
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
March 23 - Vignettes on Prayer
March 23 - Vignettes on Prayer
During the late sixties and early seventies the hippy movement was in full swing. I grew my hair long, became an environmentalist, socialist, study the occult, was a Mormon for two years and finally at the age of seventeen asked satan to come into my life. Funny thing, was I already belong to satan. You see the Bible says you are either of the Kingdom of light or darkness. All who do not know the Lord belong to satan. He leads people around by the nose and they don’t even know it. That is why when you are praying for people you must bind satan, and his ability to blind, causes spiritual deafness and keep the light from entering their lives. You and I are the warriors of intercession. You are fighting for souls. Remember in 1 Cor 10:4 says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We fight in the realm of the spirit with prayer, the word, the armor of God and united prayer. Today fight for those you love because it is not the end of their spiritual destiny it was not the end of mine.
Monday, March 22, 2021
March 22 - Vignettes on Prayer
March 22 - Vignettes on Prayer
James 5:16, encourages us to pray for one another. In my case that is exactly what happen. Just two doors down from where I lived was a lady named Rachel Davies. Little did I know that she was aware of our situation as a family. Now she had a great back yard with a clothes line platform which to me looked like a boat or semi or any other thing my imagination gave it. I would climb her fence and play in her backyard for hours. Often she would look out her window see me and pray for me which I did not know till years later. She prayed for me, my family and our salvation. She never stopped me from coming or scolded me for playing in the backyard using her fence as a tightrope or whatever else I did. She just prayed because she knew my soul was on the line. When you pray for others remember you are fighting for their soul. We moved to another part of town but she never stopped praying for that little boy. Never stop praying even when they are out of sight. Whoever you are praying for is in God’s vision and sight.
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Saturday, March 20, 2021
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