Greetings all who wrestle for the Kingdom.

And Then it Rained  …

Anyone who has been involved with the “W” for any length of time knows the Offringa family.  They were with us full time for about two years and then God called them to Africa.  Bob and Christian are in Tanzania right now conducting training for Pastors and leaders.

The region they are in has been experiencing a severe drought for the past many months.  As the Pastors conference progressed they were prompted to pray prayers of repentance for past sins of their people and for breaking curses off the land.  As they finished praying they heard sound on the tin roof of the church and the rains started.  It has rained two to three times a week since the prayers and this region is the only area getting rains for the crops.  What an awesome God we serve.  You can hear and see the rain at www.activationinternational.blogspot.com.  More testimonies are at that as well.

In a similar vein Vern and Carla Sterk asked Claudia and I to come and speak at a course they teach at Western Theological Seminary last week.  Vern and Carla were missionaries in Mexico for many years and saw God do many amazing miraculous things.  They had heard about the “W” and visited us last year and asked if we would come and share some of what God has been doing.  The class we were to share in was titled “Demonstrations of Power and the Supernatural”. 

At the beginning of the class time one of the students came in severe pain and asked if we could start the class by praying for him since he could not move his neck and was in great pain.  We instructed them in doing a swarm and then we all prayed.  You could see the muscles relax and his countenance change as the pain went away completely.  He was at a prayer meeting earlier in the day and was going to ask for prayer but felt strongly that he was to wait until our class time to be prayed for and God responded in order to demonstrate to these future pastors and leaders that He indeed heals today and that they can walk in the knowledge and application of the truth of God’s word in this area.

It is not just in Africa and the foreign fields that God wants to demonstrate His power.  It is also here in West Michigan and in America.  These signs will follow those who believe  …  they will lay hands upon the sick and they shall recover.  All things are possible to those who believe.

True in Africa.

True at Western Theological Seminary.

True in our lives if we trust His word and pray believing.

Let the rain begin to fall.

Here are some additional demonstrations of His supernatural care for us over the past month  …

REPORTS:

• A woman was prayed for at the “W” two years ago for tumors and cysts in her mid-section and ovaries and she was just getting married.  The doctors had told her there was an excellent chance she would be infertile due to the inoperable situation she was in.  She came two weeks ago with her three month old little girl.  This time they came for prayer because they had both lost their jobs at the beginning of December and were in dire financial straits.  As they were driving from Holland to get to the church a rear window went down on its own.  It was odd since that switch did not work and because it was broken they could not get it back up.  They decided to come anyway.  After the ministry time a team went out to pray over the car.  No change at all.  It was raining and I gave the woman my coat since she had come outside without hers and another man went to his car and got a blanket for me.  They chuckled when they saw the blanket since it said “Gentex” on it.  That was the company that had laid them off.  Since there was no change in the window they went around to the other side of the building where one of our regulars had his truck which had plastic that could be put over the window to help them get home.  As I came back into the building someone gave me a one hundred dollar bill which someone had given to them but they did not feel it was fro them.  I took if for the young couple thanking God for the delay that allowed this money to migrate to them.  Then as I was loading my gear into our car the Lord said “The blanket is not for you.  Give it to the young couple so they will know that their provision is not from Gentex but from Me.”  So I did.  They came back last week to say thanks and to give testimony to the fact that the window was repaired at no cost as well.  Wow, God You do indeed demonstrate a great love for Your children.

• A Baptist Pastor in Houston was taken into the Hospital with a liver issue, his kidneys were shutting down and he could not breathe as well.  As the team was prompted they prayed that God would be glorified in the family, the church and in the Hospital as well.  The Liver began to function so well that the Hospital took him off the priority one list for liver transplants.  The people from church started to come by (not one had come prior to this prayer) and the Surgeons and Nurses are stumped because the Liver started to work and his breathing went from 90% not functioning to 65% fully functioning within 18 hours.  God, You were glorified indeed.

• A man with Cancer with no hope and days to live has now been pain free and Cancer free for four weeks..  We serve an awesome God.

• A young man was looking for work and began to pray for a job that would allow him to bring God’s presence to people’s lives.  The next day he was called in and hired to work in an assisted living center.  Father, we now ask for the fullness of Your presence to be loosed in that place via Your faithful servant.

• A young man was led to go to a coffee shop and wait.  He did but did not know why.  His glasses were broken so he could not see at a distance very well so he asked the Lord; “Do You want me to go find the person You want me to talk to?” and God said “No, I will send them to you.”  Within a few minutes two girls from his church came over and said; “We were just having a discussion and your name and your book came up and when we looked up we noticed that you were here.  It was about the question of whether God still speaks to us today.”  He laughed and told them what God had just done.  They chatted and he went home rejoicing that he had obeyed and that God had used him again to advance the Kingdom.  Thank You Lord that You do indeed still talk to us today.

• A man was asked to pray for healing for another man in his small group.  The prayer focus had not come to him yet so his need for healing had not been addressed.  As he prayed for healing for the man he felt a tingle in his own body and when were done praying he realized that he had been healed while ministering to the other man.  We bless you Healing Lord.

• A story came in from a woman who came to the “W” in massive pain.  She was prayed for in a small group and as they prayed her pain went away and it has not returned.  Father, You heal today.

• An intercessor who is a part of the W on a regular basis asked for prayer for her 93 year old Father last week.  He needed surgery and the doctors felt he would probably not make it through the surgery but they had to perform it.  The report came back that he not only made it through the surgery but he is doing remarkably well.  We serve a remarkable God.

• A man had asked for prayer regarding his job as many people were being laid off and his new boss seemed to be dissatisfied with him as a person.  The report came back that this past week another 70 people were laid off and it included his boss.  He now reports to a man that he worked with before and they like each other and respect each other and he was praising God for the provision above and beyond what he could have asked or thought a week earlier.  Provision is Your name Lord.

• A woman who had an $1,100.00 bill and had no way to cover it had sent out a text message requesting prayer.  She sent out a follow up two days later saying she had earned over $220.00 in tips in a four hour shift which is unheard of.  Three days later she sent out a text that the entire bill was paid.  Thank You Lord for caring for Your daughter well.

Here are some additional things to be aware of as WT members;

OPPORTUNITIES:

·         Please pray for Ted and Claudia regarding a consulting contract in Dallas that might grow into a more substantial relationship.

·         Please continue to pray for the staff and workers at Mars Hill.

·         Please pray for the team that is in the process of identifying and bringing in a new Teaching Pastor/Shepherd to work alongside Rob.  They need wisdom and the mind of Christ to see with spiritual eyes the person who is needed.

·         Please continue to pray for Ted and Claudia and the OMWB as they speak and minister;

o   July 26^th the OMWB will be leading worship at the Gun Lake Chapel south of Grand Rapids.

o   We are in discussions to have a regional Church Prayer Leaders Network conference in Grand Rapids in August with Ted as a Keynote speaker.

o   Ted will be a Keynote speaker at a regional Church Prayer Leaders Network conference on November 6-7 in Lititz, PA (near Hershey and Lancaster).

·         For March the team leaders for the Wrestling Team will continue to be Steve and Ruth Zwierzinski and Joe Martino.  They will be “on the ground” before and during the services to assist with any questions or prayer needs that might come up while we are in and out of town.

You are appreciated and prayed for often.  

Ted and Claudia Kallman

Wrestling Coaches

“Many Christians suffer today, more perhaps than in any other preceding age, from a sense that the world is out of control.  The impact of world tensions and problems is often so great that Christians, because they see and feel and care more than non-Christians, frequently become over-anxious and exaggerate their own responsibilities.  We all need to be reminded that God is by no means baffled or bewildered by mankind’s muddles and follies.  We all need to remember that our strength lies in quietness and confidence, not in frantic hysterical efforts.  The world remains primarily God’s responsibility, and the best we can do is to find out our own part in His vast purpose and make sure we are fulfilling that to the limit of our ability.” (page 7)

“The writers of the New Testament Epistles never regarded the Christian religion as an “ethic,” still less a performance.  To them it was an invasion of their own lives by the living Spirit of God; their response in repentance and faith provided the means by which the Divine could penetrate the merely human.  They lived lives of super-human quality because they believed quite simply that Christ Himself was alive within them.

                For some reason or other we seem to regard this belief as somewhat presumptuous, and much of our present-day Christianity is a rather gauche performance designed to please an external God.  The real presumption, indeed the impertinence, of our modern attitude is that we do not really accept God’s full generosity; we do not really believe that Christ is alive and operative in every true disciple.”

J.B. Phillips, Making Men Whole, Macmillan Company 1952, (page 8)

This was published the year that Claudia and I were born.  She found the book in a junk shop in OK on our way home from TX and the quotes rang true to both of us.  It is still deeply true of the church today.  Lord train us.

Ted Kallman