I know many Christians are tired of being tired...trying to measure up to God's perfection...trying to please him a little more...and wondering if he is ever pleased.
GOOD NEWS! God does not desire that we try hard in our own strength to be holy in order to please Him. INSTEAD, God invites us to die to ourselves--to our agendas, our carnal affections, to our fleshly ambitions, and our sinful nature--so that Christ can live in us. It's when we stop trying to live for Him, that He can live through us.
And herein lies the problem: we can't deliver ourselves from our flesh and sinful nature. WHILE Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from sin, ONLY the cross sets us free from our sinful habits when we die to them.
Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son or God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Jesus died so that we can live. We can live when we die to ourselves and let Him live through us.
This 'death thing' is not a one-time decision. Jesus says, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). When I die to myself, Christ's life can enter me. Then I become a slave of righteousness (Romans 6) instead of a slave of sin.
So let's stop trying to be super-spiritual and striving to be perfect. We simply cannot. But let's embrace the cross five times a day if necessary. Then the overcoming life can be ours, and we can boldly share our faith without fear and love others with the true heart of God.
Are you ready to live? Then let's lose our lives and embrace the cross to make room for Christ to live through us!
Intentional for souls,
Tom Elie
Evangelist/President
Oasis World Ministries
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
977 prayers for salvation in one night!
I recently returned from my 41st trip to the great harvest field of India! THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS! Without prayer, we have no favor. What comes from heaven is first loosed on earth by prayer.
This trip was marked with opportunities to sow into the next generation of evangelists and reap a harvest of heaven-bound souls.
Highlights
ONE-MINUTE WITNESS TRAINING AT COLLEGES
I trained the One-Minute Witness faith-sharing tool at four colleges. Around 1,000 students are now equipped to share their personal testimony. After training, we took them out to apply their new tool, and they came back with fresh excitement.
THOUSANDS CONFESS JESUS AS LORD
In two open-air 5-day festivals, thousands came to the altar to indicate their desire to follow Jesus as their one true God. These festivals were held in areas that have never hosted a gospel festival before. During the final night alone, we saw 977 people expressing their desire to follow Jesus. Photo gallery>
MANY MIRACLES OF PHYSICAL HEALING
By God's grace, we verified the opening of blind eyes and deaf ears, heard many testimonies of vanishing body pain, and two miracles I had never witnessed before.
The first was that of a boy who was born with a paralyzed fist. After prayer he was able to opened his hand for the first time. Watch>
The other miracle was that of a 12-year-old girl who was born mute and spoke for the first time. Watch>
WELLS AND CHURCHES DEDICATED
Twenty Hindu neighborhoods now have fresh water provided by our Christian donors. At each fresh-water well dedication, the gospel message was delivered and dozens have prayed for the gift of salvation.
In addition, three villages now have their first Christian church building to declare the love of Jesus. Photo gallery>
NEXT, we leave on our first trip to the country of Nigeria, West Africa, and a return trip to Liberia. Please continue to pray for us March 22- April 7. We are asking God for 20,000+ people to pray to receive Jesus. Prayer requests>
AGAIN, THANKS also for your financial support. We still have a need of $20,000 for this large Nigeria crusade and pastor's seminar. They are expecting 2,000 pastors and leaders for the seminar alone. Donate>
Intentional for souls,
Tom Elie
Evangelist/President
Oasis World Ministries
P.S. Also, let's continue to pray for the people of Japan, that their hearts will be turned to Jesus in this great crisis.
This trip was marked with opportunities to sow into the next generation of evangelists and reap a harvest of heaven-bound souls.
Highlights
ONE-MINUTE WITNESS TRAINING AT COLLEGES
I trained the One-Minute Witness faith-sharing tool at four colleges. Around 1,000 students are now equipped to share their personal testimony. After training, we took them out to apply their new tool, and they came back with fresh excitement.
THOUSANDS CONFESS JESUS AS LORD
In two open-air 5-day festivals, thousands came to the altar to indicate their desire to follow Jesus as their one true God. These festivals were held in areas that have never hosted a gospel festival before. During the final night alone, we saw 977 people expressing their desire to follow Jesus. Photo gallery>
MANY MIRACLES OF PHYSICAL HEALING
By God's grace, we verified the opening of blind eyes and deaf ears, heard many testimonies of vanishing body pain, and two miracles I had never witnessed before.
The first was that of a boy who was born with a paralyzed fist. After prayer he was able to opened his hand for the first time. Watch>
The other miracle was that of a 12-year-old girl who was born mute and spoke for the first time. Watch>
WELLS AND CHURCHES DEDICATED
Twenty Hindu neighborhoods now have fresh water provided by our Christian donors. At each fresh-water well dedication, the gospel message was delivered and dozens have prayed for the gift of salvation.
In addition, three villages now have their first Christian church building to declare the love of Jesus. Photo gallery>
NEXT, we leave on our first trip to the country of Nigeria, West Africa, and a return trip to Liberia. Please continue to pray for us March 22- April 7. We are asking God for 20,000+ people to pray to receive Jesus. Prayer requests>
AGAIN, THANKS also for your financial support. We still have a need of $20,000 for this large Nigeria crusade and pastor's seminar. They are expecting 2,000 pastors and leaders for the seminar alone. Donate>
Intentional for souls,
Tom Elie
Evangelist/President
Oasis World Ministries
P.S. Also, let's continue to pray for the people of Japan, that their hearts will be turned to Jesus in this great crisis.
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