{"id":3552,"date":"2018-06-05T20:27:23","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T20:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/5riversinternational.org\/?page_id=3552"},"modified":"2018-06-06T03:48:56","modified_gmt":"2018-06-06T03:48:56","slug":"because-you-came","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/5riversinternational.org\/?page_id=3552","title":{"rendered":"Because You Came"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDo you remember this family?\u201d my pastor friend asked. We were doing a home visit and having chai with a young couple and their 3 year old daughter.  I had brought ministry teams to this area a few times before but now it had been more than two years since my last visit. \u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d I replied. (My memory isn\u2019t that good and I have prayed for many people over the years).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThat little girl was dying because her throat was obstructed and she could not eat.  She was scheduled to have surgery but you prayed for her.  She was healed and did not need the surgery.\u201d I looked at the little girl laughing and playing and then at the mom who was looking at me with eyes filled with tears of gratitude. \u201cBecause you came, God changed our lives,\u201d she said. My heart was overwhelmed by the goodness of God.  Here was a little girl I did not even remember\u2026but Jesus had come…He had loved\u2026He had healed\u2026and they would never forget.<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the next few days the pastor took me from place to place. \u201cDo you remember this woman you prayed for to have a baby?\u201d \u201cYes, I remember\"\"<\/a> this one,\u201d I said holding her beautiful little boy in my arms. \u201cDo you remember prophesying over this man and woman about their ministry? They are now pastors and are training others in intercession just as you said.<\/strong>\u201d \u201cDo you remember praying for deliverance for this boy who had been tormented by evil spirits?  He is totally free and his mother and grandfather have become believers.\u201d (That one I really remembered – it was powerful!)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over and over he took me places to show me the fruit of past ministry.  Fruit that still remained. In my spirit I kept hearing the woman say \u201cBecause you came, God changed our lives.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many times we are moving very quickly from one place to another\u2026praying and ministering to as many as we can as fast as we can.  Sometimes I wonder, \u201cAm I making an impact?  All the travel, all the money, all the sacrifice, all the lonely nights, the time being away from my family\u2026does it make a difference?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

By God\u2019s grace He was reminding me that, yes, what we do does make a difference \u2013 but it\u2019s not really what we do, it\u2019s what He does through us. I will never lose the awe of God allowing me to do this ministry. But I also know the only reason we are able to go is because people like you send us through your prayers and your giving.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I plan to be in this same region again during my next trip.  We will be there for one week and we will be trekking mountain villages where there are no Christians.  Please pray that we will bring Jesus into these villages and through a demonstration of the Spirit\u2019s power we will make Him known to those who have never heard.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDo you remember this family?\u201d my pastor friend asked. We were doing a home visit and having chai with a young couple and their 3 year old daughter.  I had brought ministry teams to this area a few times before … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/5riversinternational.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/5riversinternational.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/5riversinternational.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5riversinternational.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5riversinternational.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3552"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/5riversinternational.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3565,"href":"https:\/\/5riversinternational.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3552\/revisions\/3565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/5riversinternational.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}