Greetings from
Louise and I have been experiencing one of those periods of time when life is very INTENSE. Just 2 weeks ago we were about to go to Louise’s parents for a pancake dinner to celebrate the birthday of one of our nieces. I opened the garage door to discover a man we know very well sitting outside our gate. He was drunk, suicidal, and manifesting a spirit of violence. Well, there went the birthday dinner. That night he received deliverance from the violent spirit (which had been destroying his life for more than 40 years). He spent that night and the next here with us (on the other side of a locked, steel security gate), and then we secured lodging for him. He has now begun a new life, and I believe it is the one Father has had stored up for him from the beginning. A few nights ago his wife, a very religious lady, came for counseling. Four hours later she left, having received counseling. Rather more important than that, however, was that she had been born again, and also received deliverance. When she left she said that she hoped that, just once in her life, she could do for someone what had been done for her that night. This afternoon a lady in our congregation came to our house to be baptized. She longs to begin a new life in the Spirit, and wanted a tangible beginning of that new life. It was wonderful for us as well as for her, and I believe she got what she wanted (see photo). Experiences like these serve to remind me why I am here.
A few days ago I gave the message in
When we moved into this house the areas outside were pretty ‘trashed’. After a lot of work cleaning up the back ‘yard’ (‘garden’ here), we finally had a lawn put in (see photo). Some things are amazingly cheap here, and this is one of them (about $130 delivered and installed). Abel, the black gentleman with whom we share this place (see photo of him with his wife, Miriam, in their new hats), has taken it as his mission to make this new lawn flourish. I’m pretty sure he will succeed. We got it just in time for Philadelphia’s celebration of ‘the last and greatest day of the Festival’ (the Feast of Tabernacles), when He announced that if anyone was thirsty they could come to Him and drink, and that out of them would flow rivers of living water – by which He meant the Spirit (John 7:37-39). What one does is erect a temporary shelter (or ‘tabernacle’) somewhere, such as in the back garden. You cover it with palm branches and such, decorate it with fruit – or in this case, decorated paper fruit made by the children. Then you sit under it and celebrate the truth of the above Scripture (see photo). It is well worth the doing.
A not-so-nice aspect of life in
I have been doing a lot of work on the ’12 Acts’, which is a comprehensive approach to ALL of the Scriptures, using the paradigm of Father acting, and then man reacting. It has become an instrument for fresh revelation – repeatedly. For example, Louise and I realized some time ago that the birth of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, was a significant event. Well, today I approached a nearly blank page with the word ‘Seth’ at the top, and realized that I did not have even ONE cogent thought in my little head on that topic. OOPS! Within a few minutes, however, I had been given several thoughts that actually seemed (to me, at least) to make sense. I never cease to be amazed by the Scriptures that regularly crawl out of hiding – always in plain view in the realm of ink and paper, but hidden from the spirit until the right time.
We have had a number of unexpected opportunities for ministry open up lately. For example, one family in Philadelphia Fellowship has an employee who never learned to read or write (or do arithmetic, or . . .). Louise has been meeting with him regularly in our house, and he is now learning with great enthusiasm (see photo). It is very wonderful to see someone so happy to learn, rather than denying their need due to shame. It’s difficult to SEEK and HIDE at the same time. May all believers find the same courage to SEEK!
Love from
Lary and Louise
