J U L Y
5 ,
2 0 1 0
The Weekly
Living Water www.nothingwillbeimpossible.org
Matthew 5:14-16 NKJV
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
We are all similar to trees in the sight of God and it is imperative that we bear good fruits. – Pastor Jocelle
Guided by His Spirit, we can become great blessings to many Thank you for sending in your testimonies and prayer requests. God can’t be glorified enough, so keep them coming. For next week, please submit prayer requests and testimonies no later than Sunday, July 11th to support@nothingwillbeimpossible.org Also, don’t forget to check Pastor’s Corner on our website, www.nothingwillbeimpossible.org. This week’s scripture reading is the entire book of PSALMS.
Inside this week’s issue Testimonies & Prayer Requests “Roller shoes” open doors; also, join us in prayer for those in need
Rob’s Sidewalk
Pastor’s Note
WITHIN REACH Robert discusses how the will of God for our lives is within our reach
FRONTLINES Sword lessons with Pastor as he breaks down this week’s spiritual messages
THE WEEKLY LIVING WATER
SUMMER 2010
Testimonies
knowing that she had someone in her life to encourage her spiritually. This woman and I could have just passed by each other with a smile, or a nod, but it became more than that. She could have just kept walking, but she didn't. She and I both stopped to talk about the Lord. Together we were able to lift up the His Name and give honor to the Lord for His doings. Now we're able to intercede for her, for a complete and speedy recovery. As a parent, it's also a great blessing knowing that my young son was used in this way to help open up our conversation, so that we may be an encouragement for one another.
What has God done in your life lately? Here is an encouraging story we have to share this week.
Roller Shoes Opened the Door We never know who we'll meet and how our meeting will come about. Many times over the years, the Lord has used my children as a way to start up conversations. Thank God that the conversations always go back to Him and glorifying His name. I needed to run to the store really quick on Friday to pick up some juice for the Pastor's trip to Santa Monica. I had the kids with me and Miah was wearing his roller shoes, so I was actually pulling him along side of me. I saw this woman coming out of the store and I knew that if I timed it right, we would cross paths. It wound up that as we got next to each other, she turned to me and commented, "I wish I had a pair of those shoes." This was directed towards Miah as he rolled on by. Then, I turned to her and told her briefly about what we do in the ministry. She was so receptive and wanted to hear more. After talking for a few minutes I asked her what her name was so that we could pray for her within the prayer group. She said, "Carla, with the recent neck surgery." She said this as she pointed to the right upper side of her neck. I could see that there was small scar that the stitches had left. She was really sweet and seemed really faithful as well as supportive of what we're doing. Then she asked that we also pray for her mom. She mentioned that her mom has a pretty strong connection with the Lord. It's almost as if she couldn't explain the depth of it, but she gestured as if drawing a line upwards. I know that this must have been such a support for Carla in her walk by the way that she looked at me as she told me this. It was such a blessing to talk with her and even greater was
By Carolyn
Got Testimonies? We’d love to hear about and publish them so they can be an edification for everyone! Just shoot an email to support@nothingwillbeimpossible.org. Please try to keep each story to about a paragraph so we can continue keeping The Weekly Living Water concise. 2
THE WEEKLY LIVING WATER
SUMMER 2010
Need Prayer?
Prayer requests received for the week Please pray for Stella P. who recently found out she had colon cancer; the tumor has been removed, but the cancer has spread to the lymph notes in surrounding areas. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy.
Pray for Kathryn’s & Robert’s baby en route, that the Lord provide for the baby to be full term and completely healthy. Continue praying for Nancy (the foster mom we prayed for last week), as her arm surgery is in September.
Pray for M.F., as he has been diagnosed with spondylosis (degenerative osteoarthritis of vertebrae joints). He also has a painful foot bunion (awaiting approval to have removed), skin/muscle irritation on his upper torso that he feels lumps, and enlarged prostate that he will be getting seen for.
Continue praying for ever deepening wisdom, power, covering, provision, and direction for Pastor Jocelle from the Lord. Please continue pray for the covering and Holy Spirit manifestation of our ministry team; also, pray for the development of the ministry online site and the support of outreach efforts.
Please pray for R.D.’s scheduled job interviews this week as well as future job opportunities, that all be left in God’s hand.
Updates Here are some of the updates we have to share on prayer requests previously submitted We just found out that Stella from last week’s prayer request (requested prayer for hardships) has colon cancer and is currently going through chemotherapy. She praises the Lord and gives Him glory in the midst of this trial, saying, “I know I am already healed!”
3
THE WEEKLY LIVING WATER
SUMMER 2010
Robert’s Sidewalk Within Reach Life obstacles can be overwhelming at times, but they are even more overwhelming if you are trying to overcome them by yourself. Realizing that the will of God is at our reach is something we need to understand and believe. In this world, the will of any parent for a son or daughter is for them to operate successfully in
world to prepare them for what may be inevitable. Our Father in heaven wants something a bit different. He wants us to first come to Him without any hesitation and be willing to bring everything we have been carrying as baggage to Him. He is more than willing to take it from us as long as we repent and believe in the gospel. It is all within the reach of our fingertips, but we have to make the first step of choosing Him over ourselves. It is like the Parable of the Lost Son. A certain man
had two sons and the younger gathered his possessions and wasted them with prodigal living; he lost everything at a point in his journey and no longer had food to eat or a place to stay. However, he goes back to his father, asks for forgiveness, and his father forgives him. The father was full of joy because his son was lost and in the process was found. Repenting and acknowledging our faults is part of the walk we will experience because it is through trials that our faith will be tested. Keep in mind, God does not tempt us; we are tempted once we are drawn away by our worldly desires. Then, desire is conceived and it gives birth to sin. Christ could not be tempted by the devil; therefore, Christ himself does not tempt anyone. Let’s get rid of us and welcome Him in our lives. Mark 1:14 The Kingdom of God is at hand John 3:1-21 Born again Luke 15:11-31 The Parable of the Lost Son James 1:12-18 God does not tempt 4
THE WEEKLY LIVING WATER
SUMMER 2010
A Letter from Pastor Jocelle responses, and so on. I am sure that the Lord will recognize the work that we are all doing for Him as one unit, and that He will all recompense us greatly. There's a lot of work that needs to be done towards furthering our ministry. Souls are getting blessed each and everyday. This by all means is a positive sign that we are all doing the right thing. We believe in such a great God who is alive. He will speak to each and everyone of us, provided that we continue to humble ourselves and seek Him passionately and diligently. My goal is to lead you towards having a stronger relationship with GOD through JESUS and to become a definite blessing to many. It is mandatory to become fruitful, which is the second greatest commandment: To love your neighbor as ourselves. The best thing that we can ever do to help someone else is to show them how much that we love God, that we love Him with all of our hearts, souls, mind and strength!
Peace in Christ to all of you, Well, another week has passed and we're thankful to God for allowing us to become great blessings to many. Please be reminded of the importance of becoming fruitful in the presence of the Lord. We are all similar to trees in the sight of God and it is imperative that we bear good fruits. This is not difficult if we are guided by His Spirit. It is He Himself who will guide and lead us to places where we will become great blessings to many, allowing us to do the things that are beneficial to His work. In a sense, we become the diamonds whereby His rays of light may shine through to all, thereby glorifying God because of His awesome Power manifested through us, His own people. I'd like to thank all of you again for your responses to the spiritual messages that we have been sending throughout the week. It is imperative that we keep our minds pre-occupied with the things of God. As His WORD also represents the SWORD, understand that when you keep yourselves preoccupied with the things of God, you are simultaneously fighting the multitudes of Spirits that are present in the "air". I encourage you to keep up with the scriptural readings, prayers and admonitions, praise and worship, and to continue to be an edification for one another. Also, please continue to pray for the website, www.nothingwillbeimpossible.org. After spending many hours researching various companies that will host it, I believe we've found the right company to go with. We are praying that the website will have a big impact on peoples' lives throughout the world. The work that I'm doing for the Lord, for example, allows me to reach thousands of souls as well as direct them to the site and be blessed. Therefore, please continue to pray for the site that many may be blessed through the messages, testimonies, your
If you have a very important visitor coming to your house today, will you need time to clean up or are you ready? The Lord is coming!!! Imagine having someone that you know well, come and visit you without first letting you know that they're coming. Chances are, you'll make a bunch of valid "excuses" for the unpreparedness, or that you may be ready for the unexpected guests. Spiritually speaking, you can only be prepared for His coming if you are filled with His Spirit and awake. Without this awareness, it is very difficult to realize that we are surely in the end times. Instead of becoming aware of this reality, we'll become preoccupied with life here in this world. This does not mean that we shouldn't care, but we should learn how to prioritize according to God's expectations: 5
THE WEEKLY LIVING WATER
SUMMER 2010
A Letter from Pastor Jocelle (continued) God first, then everything else. (When we say God, we should always have the full understanding and respect of what it's really all about, knowing that HE is omnipresent. The fact is, many say "God bless" because it is a common thing to say, but imagine having the relationship with God and really praying that He blesses the person you are saying "God bless you" to. The point is, if you are close to God and possess His Spirit, the clear message would be that HE IS COMING. If you remain filled with His Spirit, you'll have the tendency to just keep on "cleaning.�
The greatest obstacle for many in fulfilling objectives is themselves. This is mostly from giving up easily & assuming there's no way out. Much patience leads us to greater knowledge and understanding, and true knowledge can only be attained by having a strong relationship with God. Without hope and faith in God, the amount of patience that we'll have towards objectives will become insufficient. The power of God is manifested at times when we are proven to be weak. Yet, having God we become strong; lacking of understanding and yet we are given God-given directions that is greater than that of what we thought we understood. Surely, without God, our hopes are nothing but vain hopes leading us nowhere, only to give up, because there's really no way out except God.
God will allow you to achieve the things you want-if the honor & glory is for Him. Again, that's PROVIDED THAT THE HONOR & GLORY IS FOR HIM. When we really want something, it is, either we become stubborn or persistent about it. We become "persistent" once we know God's will and follow through on it. But on the contrary, we become "stubborn" when we pursue with our own will and desires, disregarding the will of God. Men who do not see the true ways of God clearly have different ambitions. They may claim that it is to benefit the things of God, but yet God claims to not have any part of it. When we truly set our hearts to the things of God, HE allows us to achieve many things, blessing us also with the true riches that come only from HIM. Say, for example, that you want to tell as many souls as you can about the goodness of God, and you really mean it. He will surely provide you with everything thing that you'll need to accomplish it. Likewise, if you're not sincere, He'll know about it even before you speak it. Such an awesome God that we have!
Imagine a camel going through the eye of a needle. Imagine yourself leaving all that you have so you can follow the Lord. WHICH IS EASIER? A camel going through the eye of a needle? What a sight that would be. Imagine squeezing that camel into that eye of the needle! The point is, this really would be much easier than it would be for someone who can't leave the things that the Lord wants them to leave for HIS sake. Of course, it's always easier to refer to the rich man who couldn't leave his possessions, or Peter who sank because he doubted, or Thomas who didn't believe that the Lord resurrected. Again, the point is that we must examine our own lives to see if there are things that put us into the same category as the rich man who couldn't leave his possessions (or Peter sinking, or Thomas doubting). No doubt that we at various points in our lives have been put into tests to see how and what we'll do. A better and more sincere answer should be about us doing better next time with the help of God. 6
THE WEEKLY LIVING WATER
SUMMER 2010
A Letter from Pastor Jocelle (continued) Set your timer to 1 minute. Count how many times your heart beats within that minute. Then, thank GOD that HE continues to keep you alive! God surely did breathe on us and gave us life, every second of it. We're totally dependent on HIS everlasting mercies. It is easy to forget how precious "air" is during our normal lives. We ought to try to temporarily stop breathing, to the point where we find ourselves grasping for air, so that we may continue to breathe and live. Having been involved with many outreach efforts, and helping organizations that deal with serious illnesses (such as cancer, hemophelia, the elderly convalescent and dementia homes, as well as with homeless individuals), we've come to learn how to appreciate and understand the value of life, and how much we should thank God for keeping us alive through His mercy. Be reminded that the normal process is that you inhale, then exhale... inhale again and exhale. Try exhaling without inhaling and see how long you can keep it that way (don't forget to inhale once you can't handle it anymore). Thank God once you're reminded how precious life really is!
7
THE WEEKLY LIVING WATER
About Pastor Jocelle Pastor Jocelle Cruz resides in Three Rivers, California with his wife, Carolyn, and children: Christian, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. He travels weekly to Santa Monica, California, where the Lord currently has him reaching souls through music. To learn more about Pastor Jocelle and his ministry, visit us at www.nothingwillbeimpossible.org.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! The Weekly Living Water P.O. Box 127 Three Rivers, CA 93271
SUMMER 2010