MYDC: March/April 2012 by Oral Roberts Ministries

makeyourdaycount

Volume 9. No. 2 • March/April 2012

e v e i l Be u are o y S Y HE SA o h w you are

• Potential

for Greatness

by Lindsay Roberts

• No Longer

Ashamed by Denise Renner

• In the MYDC

Kitchen

with Jordan Roberts

‘I Was Healed Listening to this CD’ Many callers to the Abundant Life® Prayer Group experience healing before they ever talk to a prayer partner. It happens as their faith is activated while listening to Richard and Lindsay praying God’s Word through the healing Scriptures on their CD He Sent His Word and Healed Them. I WAS ABLE TO FALL ASLEEP

I want to thank you for playing the scripture CD He Sent His Word and Healed Them for people on hold with the ALPG. One night when I was having trouble sleeping, I called the ALPG. I was put on hold, and as I listened to the Scriptures, I fell asleep before even talking to a prayer partner. —Husie from Georgia I CAN MOVE MY KNEE FREELY

I had been dealing with a knee problem for at least a year when I decided to call the ALPG for prayer. While on hold, I listened to the CD He Sent His Word and Healed Them. It just so happened that I heard the section where testimonies are given, including the testimony of a woman whose knee was healed. I received that word for my own healing. The pain has decreased, and I’m able to move my knee freely for the first time in a year. —Janet from Nebraska THANKS FOR YOUR CD

I wasn’t feeling well and I was having trouble breathing. While on hold with the ALPG, I listened to the healing scriptures from He Sent His Word and Healed Them. I was abundantly blessed listening to that CD! Suddenly, I was able to breathe, and I felt great! I appreciate that CD so much. —Freda from Texas To order your copy of He Sent His Word and Healed Them—or to plant a seed to help us continue to serve people in need 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—call the Abundant Life® Prayer Group at 918-495-7777, or log on to our website at www.oralroberts.com. CD $10

Believe Him...

You are very special! T

he Bible says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV). That is good news! And that’s not all—we all have been given special gifts and talents, ordained by the Lord for a specific purpose. In this issue of Make Your Day Count magazine, I want you to see just how very special and highly valued you are. In my article, Potential for Greatness, I encourage you to allow God to help you realize your full potential and then use those gifts for His glory. My husband, Richard, brings a wonderful Easter message, Overwhelmed by Love, reminding us that the price for us was paid—Jesus paid it in full! And our

friend and ministry partner Denise Renner, wife of well-known Bible scholar Rick Renner, shares a poignant message, No Longer Ashamed. Denise uses her own personal testimony of healing to show us how we can leave behind the emotional and physical scars that hold us back in life. My friends, Jesus’ work on the cross redeemed us from sin and death, and those stripes represent our healing. Between His work, and God’s potential on the inside of each one of us, I believe we can fulfill our purpose, be a blessing to those around us, and make our lives count for the Kingdom of God. God bless you!

Potential for GREATNESS

by Lindsay Roberts

ichard and I were talking to a teenager about one of his favorite things––playing sports. I asked him if he planned on playing sports in college. “I couldn’t do that,” he said. “I didn’t play at my high school, so how could I ever play in college?” “But you played and real ly excelled on a city league,” I replied. “Yeah,” he said, “but I’d never have the nerve to try out for a college team.” That caught me off guard. His father, a professional athlete, had put his son in the same sport when he was two years old. I’d seen the young man play and he was really good…yet there was something inside that was keeping him from realizing his full potential, his “untapped” potential. What do I mean by untapped? I believe God has given all of us 4

MAR/APR 2012

talents and abilities that we have not even begun to use. Sometimes we may not realize a certain gift is inside us, or we may have let fear make us too afraid to do anything about it. But the gift is there, just the same… waiting for us to release it and use it for the glory of God. Let me give you an illustration that I believe may help us learn how t o beg i n t o u n le a sh t he f u l l p o t e nt i a l…t he p o t e nt i a l fo r greatness…that God has placed inside each and every one of us. Immobilized by the Layers Have you ever gone outside on a day that was so bitterly cold, you had to put on layer after layer of clothing just to stay warm? True...they kept you warm. But boy, did all those layers ever affect your ability to

function! There are so many things you just can’t do with all those layers of clothing on. In the same way, sometimes we layer ourselves with excuses to not use the potential that God has given us: “I’m too old.” “I’m too young.” “I don’t have enough money.” “I don’t have a job.” “I just know I could never succeed.” You know what I think? I think we don’t need to cover ourselves in all those excuses…All we need is God as our Source and faith in His ability to help us unlock the potential He has given us.

planned for us ( Jeremiah 29:11). It can deny God the opportunity to help us bring out the potential for excellence that He has placed inside all us…a potential that, once realized, can not only bless your life, but the lives of others as well.

Giving Up Can Close the Door I’m reminded of the story of a man who had every reason not to reach his full potential. Poorly educated as a child, he told people he wanted to be President someday. As a young man, he ran for the state legislature and lost. The woman he loved and planned to marry died of typhoid fever, causing him great distress. Even though he was elected to the state legislature eventually, he was later defeated in a race for the U.S. Senate. He ran for Vice President and lost the nomination, then was defeated again for the Senate. If ever anyone had an excuse to quit, it was this man. But Abraham Lincoln went on to become one of the greatest presidents our country has ever known…because he kept tapping into his potential instead of giving up. I believe giving up can close the door to the bright future God has

I believe giving up can close the door to the bright future God has planned for us.

Take the Step Maybe now is the time to ask yourself: What are the hopes and dreams I used to have? Have I allowed God to help me realize my full potential…or have I just settled

for what was familiar and comfortable in my life? Imagine what could happen if we peeled off all our “layers” to reach the place where the only thing left for us to say was, “Yes, Lord, I’m ready to unleash my full potential in You.” When we begin to peel off the layers of excuses we’ve been using to avoid taking the first step of faith in God’s direction, I believe we can come closer to being the people He always planned for us to be. Y W W W. M A K E Y O U R D AY C O U N T. C O M

Some pain goes deeper than just the physical… and only God can take the scars away.

NO LONGER ASHAMED

By Denise Renner

ust being a teenager can be a challenge, but when I was about 13 years old, I developed severe cystic acne. It was all over my forehead and cheeks and down my neck. The acne on my face wasn’t just ugly, it was also painful…it actually hurt to touch my face. But the pain of the acne wasn’t just physical. Kids at school made fun of me and rejected me because of my face. I was even rejected from being part of musical groups in school, though I was a talented singer. 6

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Rejection seemed to follow me through my early adult life too, when I didn’t get jobs I was fully qualified for. As a result, I became ashamed of myself. Hope for Healing Over the years, I tried several different doctors and treatments to get rid of the acne. Nothing seemed to work. But one day my miracle finally came. I was 25 years old when I first grabbed hold of 1 Peter 2:24, which says, “By Jesus’ stripes we are healed.” I had never before had real hope for

my healing—I had suffered with acne for so long that I had begun to think, I’m going to have this for the rest of my life, so I’d better just deal with it. But God’s Word penetrated my heart, and I began to pray and declare out loud: by Jesus’ stripes I am healed. Letting It Go I continued to confess 1 Peter 2:24 for several months, but nothing happened. Then one day I heard a preacher on the radio ask, “Do you want to be healed?” It was as if God was asking me that question. I said, “Yes, Lord, I want to be healed!” I felt the Lord gently telling me that in order to grab on to His healing power, I had to let go of the self-pity I had come to embrace. I was so convicted in my heart—I realized that part of me had become comfortable with feeling sorry for myself. And I sometimes craved the attention I got from the people who loved me. I was saying with my mouth, “By the stripes of Jesus I’m healed,” and I was even having other people pray for me, but on the inside I was still embracing and nursing my pain. When I admitted this to God—and to myself—I was finally able to repent and to let the selfpity go. Shortly after that, I went to bed one night with cystic acne all over my face—just like I had for 13 years. But when I got up in the morning and looked in the mirror, it was all gone!

There was absolutely no acne on my face! I was completely delivered that day, and I’ve been healed of acne ever since. Erasing the Scars of the Past Praise the Lord, the acne was finally gone! However, it left scars behind—both physical and emotional. As I got older, the acne scars began to appear more prominent, especially on camera. I’m a trained opera singer and my husband is a pastor, and I frequently minister on camera. The old feelings of shame were returning. I would watch my husband minister to others, and he seemed so free. I thought, What’s wrong with me? I decided to have laser treatment to remove the scarring from my face. Everything went fine until I developed an allergic reaction of some kind. My entire face broke out in bumps, and after 25 years of being acne-free, I felt like I was right back where I had started. In desperation, I prayed for the bumps to go away. What I didn’t know at the time was that God was about to heal me of the problem that was even bigger than the bumps on my face, and that was the shame I had felt for so many years. Seeing Myself As God Saw Me I asked a friend to pray for me, and he prayed not just for my physical healing, but for the shame that had taken root in my heart. As he prayed, W W W. M A K E Y O U R D AY C O U N T. C O M

God allowed me to see my life through all those years of rejection. Then He spoke to my spirit and told me that I was as good and as beautiful as anyone…I didn’t have to live a life full of shame. That day I caught hold of the revelation that God loved me... unconditionally...no matter what. My life has been totally different since then. I thought I was just having a medical procedure on my face, but God performed surgery on my heart, removing my shame and healing all of me. God’s Unconditional Acceptance What I learned through my healing is that we have to find our identity in God, not in what other people think of us, or even in what we think of ourselves. Even if we feel that nobody else in the world cares for us, we can

take hold of the Word of God and realize that the Lord truly loves and accepts us just like we are. I once heard a preacher say, “Jesus took our shame and gave us His glory.” What a trade! Our shame was nailed to the Cross many years ago. Jesus became a ransom for us that day, so we can now live glorious, abundant lives, no longer ashamed. Y A native of Oklahoma, Denise Renner is an author and trained opera singer who ministers alongside her pastor husband Rick. The Renners live in Moscow, Russia, preaching the Gospel, training leaders, and establishing churches in Russia and throughout the world. For contact information for Denise Renner, go to www.oralroberts.com and click on TV guests.

Has God touched your life through this ministry? Send us your testimony! To upload a video testimony for MyLP, go to www.oralroberts.com/MyLP. To send your testimony in writing, go to our praise report page at www.oralroberts.com/ praise.

Has God touched your life through this ministry? Send us your testimony!

To upload a video testimony for MyLP, go to www.oralroberts.com/MyLP. To send your testimony in writing, go to our praise report page at www.oralroberts.com/praise.

www.oralroberts.com is here for you!

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in the

MYDC

kitchen

with Jordan Roberts

This pie is absolutely delicious! It’s a great party hit and no one has to know how easy it was to make. –Jordan

KEY LIME PIE Ingredients 5 egg yolks, beaten 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk 1/2 cup key lime juice 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust

1 carton heavy whipping cream confectioner’s sugar to sweeten the cream

Directions Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and lime juice. Mix well. Pour into unbaked graham cracker shell. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool. For the topping, whip the cream with a hand mixer until slightly thickened. Then add about 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar and about one tablespoon key lime juice. Whip until soft peaks form. Serve chilled.

I am serious... These are the most delicious “healthy recipe” muffins I’ve ever had!

SWEET TATER MUFFINS Ingredients 2 1/8 cups whole-wheat flour 1 /8 cup ground flax seed ¼ cup oat bran ¾ cup agave syrup 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt ¼ cup melted unsalted butter ¼ cup olive oil 1 cup mashed cooked sweet potato* 1 egg, beaten ½ cup buttermilk (or ½ cup regular milk plus 1 T white vinegar) Pecans can be added if desired

Directions Heat oven to 375° F. Grease 18 muffin cups or add paper liners. Combine flour, oat bran, flax, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, whisk melted butter, olive oil, agave syrup, smashed sweet potato, egg, and buttermilk. Fold wet mixture into the dry; stir until just combined. *If you don’t have sweet potatoes, canned pumpkin can be used. Fill muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

When you feel God’s call on your life but nothing seems to happen, you may find yourself wondering,

Have you ever received a word from God, only to wonder later, Did I misunderstand what He said to me? Well, can you imagine what it must have been like for Oral Roberts to receive specific orders from the Lord when he was 17? It must have been challenging at times to walk out God’s plans. Talk about pressure! But that’s exactly what my sweet motherin-law, Evelyn Roberts, talks about in this article. She explains to us in her simple and loving way how we can peacefully move through God’s crucial time of training and equipping in order to be ready to accomplish His plans for our lives. God’s timing is rarely the same as ours, but I believe if we’ll put our trust in Him and seek direction from His Word, He can equip us for whatever we may face, and just in time! Wherever you may be in the timeline of finding and fulfilling God’s purpose for your life, I pray that you may be encouraged by Evelyn’s words—and don’t despise the training time, the preparation time, because it all works together for our good! —Lindsay Every Dayness is a tribute to Evelyn Roberts who went home to be with the Lord in 2005. Her husband, Oral Roberts, went home to be with the Lord in 2009.

MAR/APR 2012

Did I

Misunderstand

God?

by Evelyn Roberts

y friend, Daisy Osborn, once said, “Isn’t it amazing that when God calls you to do something, He seems to ask you to do what you don’t know how to do?” Then she added, “God doesn’t call the equipped, but He equips the called.” I believe there will come a time in your Christian walk when God calls you to do something for Him… when He sets His purpose in your heart. When that happens, Ephesians 4:11-12 tells us that God already has a plan to help you fulfill His calling. I Got the Call…But Did God Hang Up? Of ten, there is a sea son of preparation between the time God calls you and the time for you to actually fulfill what He has in mind. Moses, David, Joseph, and the apostle Paul all had times of preparation before they launched into their ministries. Oral and I certainly experienced that. When Oral was seventeen, God

told him to go into the healing ministry. Twelve years elapsed from the night God spoke to Oral to when he actually launched out to follow God’s call. Oral called those the “dead” years. But I said, “No, Oral, they weren’t dead years. The Lord was using that time to equip us.” We learned so much during that season of preparation! And then, after years of being faithful, God’s perfect time came for us to launch out i n f a ith i nto the hea l i ng ministry. God Is Still on the Line I’ve heard people say, “God has called me to do something, but He hasn’t shown me how to do it. How do I get started?” The best advice I can give you is this: Study the Word of God to really learn what God thinks and how He speaks. Then listen to His still, small voice speaking in your

From Dust to Dust?

heart. When you hear Him, obey what He tells you to do. I believe when He feel s you a re f u l ly equipped—when you have completed your season of preparation— He can help you launch out in faith and fulfill His call on your life. Y

funnybone A young child asked his mother, “Mom, is it true that we came from the dust and we will return to dust?” “Yes, it is,” she answered. “Why do you ask?” “Because I think somebody is either coming or going under my bed!”

Love Overwhelmed by

by Richard Roberts

one of us were there 2,000 years ago when Jesus was crucified on the Cross. We didn’t see what He endured that day when He was beaten and reviled and hung on a cross to die. The Bible calls Jesus the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). This was God’s plan: Before we were ever born…before the world was even created…Jesus went to the Cross for you and for me. 14

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Jesus Paid the Price When I went to see the movie, The Passion of the Christ, I wept through nearly all of the film. As I looked around the theatre that night, I saw that most of the audience was weeping too. I think we were completely overwhelmed by the love of God that was so accurately and powerfully portrayed in the movie. We couldn’t help but weep when we saw that God

loved us so much that He gave His only Son to pay the price for our sin. Think of the love Jesus had for us in taking the terrible punishment that was inf licted upon Him. He paid the price that we deserved to pay so we could be free from sin. Thank God, Jesus never has to go through that terrible torture again! As He hung there between heaven and earth, He declared, It is finished! (John 19:30). The price was paid once and for all! And He believed that you and I were worth the price He paid.

If you’ve never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you can do it now by praying this simple prayer with me: Lord, I repent of every sin, and I lay my sins at the Cross where You took it all for me. I renounce the devil and all his works. By my faith, I receive Jesus as my Savior, my Healer, and my Deliverer. I declare that I am born again! In Jesus name, Amen. Y

Healing Is Yours! In those days, a sentence of 40 lashes was virtually a death sentence. So the authorities gave Jesus 39 lashes, just one lash short of killing him, and the beating left Him The Bible says that every one of those unrecognizable. But the Bible says that every one stripes from the lashes on Jesus’ back was of those stripes was for our healing: for our healing. He [ Jesus] was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our Us Stand in Agreement with You Let iniquities; the punishment that brought If you have just received Jesus us peace was upon him, and by his into your heart, or if you have wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5 rededicated your life to the Lord, NIV). And I believe you can receive I encourage you to call the that healing today. Abundant Life® Prayer Group now The greatest way to show your at 918-495-7777 and let us know gratitude for what Jesus did on the the good news of your salvation. Cross is to receive His gifts— A prayer partner will gladly pray including healing and salvation—in with you over any needs you may every area of your life. I encourage be facing in your life. you to give total control of your life You are special to us and to to Him today. Lay everything down God, and we want to stand in before Him at the Cross and receive agreement with you for miracles! everything He’s done for you. W W W. M A K E Y O U R D AY C O U N T. C O M

my miracle story... I sustained a back injury 30 years ago. I had intense pain and pressure in my lower back and I had not been able to stand up straight for many years. My husband and I drove to Tulsa to attend the Richard Roberts Healing Meeting. During the service, Richard called out for people who needed healing in their backs to come forward for prayer. He laid hands on me and I felt God’s power go right through me–all the way down to my lower back. I actually felt the bones in my spine line up and straighten. For the first time in many years, I stood up perfectly straight. The pain and pressure were gone! I don’t lean forward to walk anymore! To God be the glory for what He has done! –Kay from Missouri

Richard prays for Kay and many others at the Summer 2011 Healing Service in Tulsa, Oklahoma

For prayer anytime day or night, call the Abundant Life® Prayer Group at 918-495-7777. School of the Spirit® classes in the convenience of your own home ®

The online teachings of Richard and Lindsay Roberts are available on-demand for download 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, in the convenience of your own home. View them whenever you like, at your own pace! Watch your spiritual life grow as you step into higher places with God! Just go to www.oralroberts.com/ schoolondemand.