Pastor Jerald & Dixie Freeman pastored Ascension Church in Skiatook, Oklahoma for over 50 years! There must be some kind of a reward in heaven for that! It is called a crown of faithfulness.
When he goes on his knees with the prayer requests on a Sunday morning one has a feeling that heaven actually listens…
He bred quarter horses and won many competitions with his horses and still has a barn with a few horses behind his home. I learned so many lessons from him. The first thing he teaches a show horse is to stand absolutely still.
God told Moses to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord when the Israelites faced the Red Sea and the Egyptians pursued them. God told them: ‘be still and know that I am God!’
That might be a word for someone reading my mission report right now: ‘be still and know that I am God! Just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!’
One of the hardest things to do is to stand still or to be still! You want to do something to change your situation or to speak and defend yourself, but the Lord says, be still and let me handle it!
I revisited Skiatook while we are here in the US. I used a GPS in my rented car to get from Tulsa to Skiatook.
Everyone needs a guide. The pioneers that mapped out America needed Indian guides. Louis and Clark could not discover America without the help of guides that knew the terrain.
It was easy for the disciples to follow Jesus while He was on the earth, but when He left they had to learn to depend on the Holy Spirit. Jesus said it is more beneficial for them, because the Holy Spirit will be in them. We have to learn to listen to that inward still voice for guidance in our lives. Once you learn how to hear from God from an open Bible you will hear the Holy Spirit speaking to you. He never speaks contrary to the Word of God for He is God.
Lean not unto your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your way smooth. If you need some guidance in your life today just put your trust in Him and He will guide you with His Holy Spirit that has been given to lead and guide us into all truth and even show us things to come!
My granny taught us how to obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit. She was baking bread and heard the Spirit tell her to go to a certain street to pray for someone. Immediately she left the bread dough and walked to that street. In the street the Spirit told her to go into a certain house. When she knocked on the door a little girl opened and said: ‘my mother has just been praying that God would send someone to pray for her because she is very ill with cancer.’
My granny, Daisy Pelser, led the lady to the Lord and then laid hands on her and rebuked the cancer.
Two weeks later she revisited that house and the lady opened the door.
‘Come in Mrs. Pelser I have something to show you!’ She fetched a canned fruit bottle with blue spirits and inside was the cancer roots and all! It fell out after granny prayed for her!
I preached on divine guidance in the morning and prayed that people will receive guidance from God. I pray the same for you as you read this article.
In the evening I preached about ‘The Forgotten Animal’ the donkey. No one pays much attention to donkeys but God marked them with a cross when He created them.
When Baalim the prophet was called by Balaak to curse Israel he accepted the bribe but when he passed through a narrow opening his donkey stopped. He beat the animal and then the animal spoke to him: ‘don’t you see the angel with the sword?’
The donkey might be an insignificant animal but it was the first animal to see into the spirit realm and it was the first animal to speak! The donkey saved Balaam’s life. God allowed him to go if he would bless Israel and not curse them. When King Balaak complained that Balaam did not do what he wanted him to do Balaam explained, ‘how can the man whose eyes God opened curse the people of God?’
When we look at the church it does not look like much, but when our spiritual eyes are opened we see that it is the genius of God at work! Then ordinary people become beautiful!
When Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem Mary rode on a donkey! When Jesus had to enter Jerusalem triumphantly He rode on an ass and the foal of an ass according to the prophecy of Zechariah!
The donkey might be a forgotten animal but it is marked with a cross on its back!
The first time my family went to Hong Kong we went to a church where young people risked their lives to smuggle Bibles into China. They were called Christ’s mules. They risked being arrested and put into prison by the Communists. When they prayed over the first group to leave it was a solemn moment. I will never forget it.
Jesus said if we want to follow Him we should deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.
Believers are marked with a cross on their lives. We bear the cross of Christ – just like the forgotten animal.
When Jesus needed the two donkeys to enter Jerusalem they were tied up in a place where two ways meet. He sent His disciples to loosen them and to bring them to Him. If anyone asked what they were doing they had to tell them, ‘the Master has need of them.’ The owner probably knew the prophecy of Zechariah as well.
Today the Holy Spirit wants to loosen us of our two dimensional way of thinking (where two ways meet can be interpreted as two dimensional thinking such as cause and effect, trying to find a reason for everything that happens to us) and bring you into the third dimension of spirit where we walk by faith. Then we have an entirely new perspective on life, things and people and see the plans and purposes of God in situations.
This is the word of the Lord for you today: ‘the Master has need of you!’ There is something only you can do for God. But you have to be released from your narrow way of thinking in order to become useful. Today the Holy Spirit releases you from your old mindset and gives you freedom to become useful to the Most High!
As you enter Ascension Church in Skiatook there is a double rack where you hang up your coat and your cowboy hat. I hung my hat up there again!
Apostle Andre Pelser
