MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
DECEMBER 2023
Have you noticed that God tends to be a “disrupter”?
“Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.” (Luke 1:13b). “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call His Name Jesus.” (Luke 1:30-31) “When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 1:18b) “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem…” (Luke 2:4) “And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth… because there was no place for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7c) “And in the same region there were shepherds… And an angel of the Lord appeared to them…and they were filled with great fear.” (Luke 2:8a, 9). “Where is he who has been born ‘King of the Jews?’…When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” (Matt. 2:2a – 3) And these are just a few of the multitude of “disruptions” the Father has instigated in the Scriptures and down through the ages.
All too often, we think that Jesus is going to make everything perfect in our lives to our way of thinking. When in reality He is going to disrupt our lives, so He can mold and shape us into His way of being. Oswald Chambers wrote, “Thousands of people are happy without God in this world. If I was happy and moral till Jesus came, why did He come? Because the kind of happiness and peace is on the wrong level; Jesus came to send a sword through every peace that is not based on a personal relationship to Himself.” (December 18 – His Utmost for His Highest)
Zacharias and Elizabeth had accepted they were not going to have any children. Joseph and Mary were not planning to conceive until after they were married, and certainly not to give birth in a stable. Herod was not expecting another king during His reign. The shepherds were totally unprepared to be serenaded by angels.
Jesus comes to transform us, to disrupt our comfortable patterns and belief systems and give us His mind and His heart. He has come to set us free from thinking “if I am good enough” and “if He would just make things better, everything would be alright”. Jesus came to invite us to give up our way of thinking and become totally dependent upon Him. This is why He fills us with the Holy Spirit. Why He gives us His mind. Why He gives us new hearts. “I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new Spirit I will put within you.” (Ezek. 36:25b-26a) Jesus came to deliver us from our “do by self” attitude and transform us into sons and daughters who only do what the Father tells us to do and to say only what the Father tells us to say, just like His Son Jesus did. It is His transforming power at work within us that empowers to as the song says, “Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His Word.”
As we celebrate the birth of the Son of God and launch into a New Year may you continue to walk in His freedom and set captives free to light up the world that is clothed in darkness.
Great news!!!
- You can go to: vmtc.org and register for the first School of Prayer Ministry of the year in Redding, California, February 1-3. Click on “Prayer Ministry Schools” and then scroll down to the bottom and click on “Redding”, then follow the directions.
- We have begun the process of switching over our website to make it more “user friendly” and more up to date. “Connecting Points” will be developing and managing our website from now on. If you have any recommendations or suggestions, please let me know ([email protected]) and/or Tom Schrock ([email protected]).
- The calendar is our gift to you to help remind you to pray for the Ministry and its growth in the New Year. It is because of your faithfulness and generosity we can do this.
- In the “not so good news category” the Board has received and accepted the resignation of Rick Vance as a member of the Board of Directors. He shared with us: “At this point, I hear the Lord saying I’m in a new season. With that, the Lord is taking me through some changes. I am asking to be changed effective this month to Board Member Emeritus, no longer an active Board Member… I have felt so privileged to work with each of you for the last five and a half years to set the captives free. The deep satisfaction I have felt at the end of every school can only be experienced, not adequately described.” Rick’s joy and enthusiasm will be sorely missed, as well as his deep love for the Lord and the gifts of the Holy Spirit he brought to this Ministry.
- This means, as a Board, we will be looking for at least one new Board Member. So, I would ask you to lift up in prayer this need, as well as for additional Board Members the Lord might raise up.
- Your prayers and generosity have made this year exceptional in covering all the costs of doing ministry. This included having three of the largest schools we have had in years. We have been able to invest $8,000 in the growing ministry of VMTC in East Africa, where Uganda just finished its first “Freed to Live” seminar and “School of Prayer Ministry” unassisted. They had 2 “Freed to Live” seminars with a total attendance of 106 and a “School of Prayer Ministry” with 11 attending, plus their team. Cameroon also had a school in November with over 30 in attendance. Kenya will be having a school in January. God is so good.
May you indeed be blessed this Christmas season and be filled with the Holy Spirit as you enter a new and exciting year.
Love and blessings.
VICTORIOUS MINISTRY THROUGH CHRIST – USA
P.O. BOX 1804, WINTER PARK, FLORIDA 32790-180404