In the beginning….

VERY THANKFUL

THANKSGIVING NOTE 2020

This month I am not sending out any pictures, because I really want you who care about me, to see my heart as I write to you.

A few months ago, one of you who has been supporting me since I moved here in 2002, who knew I was having more maintenance on the Cadillac Deville I was given just 3 years ago, wrote what is copied below. *****But after you read this, please keep reading as I have a much more pressing need right now….and if you have an extra RELIABLE vehicle, I would be happy to come get it!

“My thoughts is basically two-fold.  I think it might be easier for people to embrace the need for transportation freedom in our American world.  There could be people that might not typically donate on a regular basis for monthly living expenses, but definitely see the need for good, reliable transportation. We could prayerfully target a specific amount that would yield the purchase of a good car, like $20,000. Some person might offer a reliable set of wheels that say wholesale Blue Book’s for $15,000.  We could then try to raise the funds from you supporters to purchase, etc. Anyway, I think there are very viable options to take a burden off your mind. I don’t believe what we are discussing is a WANT, rather it is a NEED – at least here in AMERICA. I am thinking that having reliable transportation for those being supported in their full-time service for the LORD is rather basic.  You calling is to be “on your knees” before the LORD instead of “on your knees” trying to have your car fixed.  Obviously this thinking is wrong if the LORD is trying to teach you something through the car repair process.  But for the most part, your effort is to be in IHOP 24 hour prayer room. Secondly, a $15,000+ car is not an outlandish, luxurious request.  You would want the newest, least miles and best repair vehicle.  For example, my wife has an 2008 Toyota 4 Runner and it only has 85,000 miles on it.  We bought it brand new and the only costs have been regular maintenance – nothing unusual, and I suspect it will run at least another 10 years with minimal repairs.  Blue Book retail price is $11,000 and probably another $1,000 could be added for low mileage.” The only thing I change in his words was to remove his wife’s name for their privacy.

I had no idea new cars cost so much! I have never had to buy one. In 2009 a family gave me a 2008 PTCrusier that lasted me until November 2017 when another friend gave me this 2003 DeVille….and the summer of 2018 he was going to exchange it for another one, but he died….

Anyway, I have charged close to $6,000 due to repairs and replacements, and I have just paid off all those charges. I am thankful I have such good credit because I always pay my cards off early, and now I am about to charge almost the same amount for urgently needed home repairs.

****THIS IS MY CURRENT MAIN REQUEST….AND AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO BE BLESSED, BY BLESSING ME. I REALLY DO BELIEVE THIS STATEMENT OF RECIPROCITY IS TRUE****

Most of you (although I am sending this out blindly to everyone I have an email for) know when my basement flooded a few years ago, I lost almost everything that was down in that apartment. It is still totally stripped and unfinished and at times even leaking just a little now! A contractor who was asked to come look at doing the repairs on the basement said to my supporter, my house was a piece of junk and not worth repairing….well I love it and its perfect for David not having to move again! ***Anyway, The washer and dryer were moved upstairs into one bedroom, and David lost his finished off garage bedroom because the few things that I was able to salvage were put in there. He has been sleeping on the sofa ever since.

I have finally found a team of three who can move the washer and dryer into part of the finished off garage and do the plumbing and electrical and drywall work, so there will still be a small bedroom in there as well, and David can have the bigger bedroom where the washer and dryer have been. They are scheduled to begin on Thursday, and I can charge this with my credit card, but I have been helping people remain debt free since I was in Virginian using the Burkett envelope method, and hope to pay it off SOON with your help.

Please pray, and PLEASE HELP IF YOU ARE WILLING because I know everyone is able to help to some degree. I am eternally grateful for the handful who have been supporting me on a regular basis since I moved here, your reward is noted in heaven. I am very thankful for many of you who have generously shown your support also over the years when you could. Every gift has come in perfect timing! God bless you each and every one.

I do believe this note will be heard in your hearts as an appeal from not just my heart, but as an invitation from heaven, for yours!

www.facebook.com/701312366/posts/10158199211677367/

I LOVE TO PAINT

Interview with Debra Cossu

After twelve years as a missionary in the house of prayer, Debra Cossu is certain that there is nothing else she would rather do. But what gives her such confidence to spend her life devoted to prayer? Last month, in a coffee shop, I met with Debra to find out.

This interview was not our first meeting. I first introduced myself to Debra through a tiny note several months ago. I had been pacing in the prayer room and feeling like I was failing at being an intercessory missionary. Then I looked over at Debra, sitting at her corner table with her bible propped against the wall and LOVE colorfully written on the pages. I knew nothing about her, but I heard the Lord say, “She is a deep well”. Since that day, I have experienced the truth of those words many times.

Therefore, I was excited to meet again, last month, and learn more about Debra. We settled in our chairs at the coffee shop and thanked one another for the opportunity. Then I began by asking her how she came to live a life devoted to prayer. 

“I was not raised in a Christian home,” said Debra, “but I found myself calling out to God and feeling like he was my Father.” Debra was praying even before she knew God. But one day, there came a point in Debra’s life where this God she was calling out to had to respond.

“Something happened at home, and in tears I walked out the front door telling God that if He did not show me He was real I was not going to go on living any more,” said Debra. That very same day, Debra gave her heart to Jesus in a Methodist church up the street from her house. She was sixteen years old.

Now, 43 years later, Debra is still praying. For her prayer is all about relationship.“Prayer is simply a conversation; a relationship, not something you do, but who you are,” said Debra, “God is wanting to share his heart with you, and wants you to share yours with him.”

At this statement, I looked up at Debra and nodded my head in agreement. But within my heart I questioned, “Is that it? What about results? What about answers?” As I continued listening, I found out that Debra understood my struggle. Many times she was faced with her own humanity seeing people in crisis situations that would take divine intervention to help. And she cried out for God to answer them. Yet she did not get discouraged when the answers didn’t come. “There are mysteries in life…we don’t always see answers to prayer, but its not about results its about the person we pray to. We must grasp hold to the One who is the answer,” said Debra.

Once again, Debra centered her life devoted to prayer in the context of relationship with God. There is someone listening to us. And it is this someone – Jesus Christ – that Debra desires all people to get to know. “Jesus loves you and is closer than your skin. We are longing for love from the moment we come into the world, and Christ is love,” said Debra.

Helping people connect with the indwelling Christ and “listen to love speak” is Debra’s life passion. Whether through her newsletters, teaching, or writing; Debra seeks to help people rest in the reality that they are loved by God. “We can face anything, if we know we are loved,” said Debra.

As I came to the end of my questions, I felt deeply encouraged as intercessory missionary. We prayed together and thanked one another again. I smiled big. I knew that the next day she would be in her regular chair in the prayer room, doing what she had always done – praying.

Connect with Debra Cossu on her facebook or twitter account.

---

Intercessory missionaries raise their own funds to continue full-time in the house of prayer. Sponsor Debra to continue doing the work of intercession. Go here and enter DC835194 for online giving through IHOPKC or give a gift via PayPal to dlcossu@gmail.com. The Father rewards such giving (Matt.6:4). 

Being an intercessor as a calling, over the decades I have come to acknowledge I must be partnering with The Intercessor, Christ Jesus The Lord, and the declarations of His heart. This month I am freshly aware there are others also who join in the symphony to see God’s Kingdom Come on earth…..a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on from that balcony in heaven. Pause for a moment. Rest in the reality, whatever you are facing, you are not alone. Jesus and our Father are having conversations Concerning YOU, even right now. Also, those you know and love who are awaiting your arrival in Paradise, are keenly aware of your needs, and the destiny for which you have remained this side a while longer. I am certain, when they are asking in your behalf, every request will be fulfilled! May the coming year, the entire decade, hold many sudden fulfillment’s, long awaited answers and joy to strengthen and encourage you to continue on with a smile! A M E N

Grief touches us all, and must be acknowledged and even embraced for our hearts to heal. Many times it suddenly comes out as anger or depression. We usually don’t have reason or understanding for the sudden outbursts, until we remember the losses and heartaches that have left a void within. Be patient with others during this holiday season, and even more so with yourself. Peace….one day, it will all be made right. There is One who weeps with you….

Revelation 21:5 “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!”

Vision:

I was in front of a large warehouse.

Across the door was written:

“Piece’s Restored”

As I went inside there was a myriad of all different kinds of  boxes. Most like shoeboxes, some the type roses would be carried in, some cartons, and crates, and even coffins! 

They were all sizes and shapes and colors. Each box had a string that held it tied securely, and a tag with a picture of the contents.  This was the largest warehouse I had ever seen, and it was full, with more boxes being brought in all the time.  I walked down the row I had begun, and FINALLY reached the end where there was a worktable set up just inside the exit door. 

There stood the Lord, with tools laying all around Him, and a big vat of something very thick and sweet smelling.  It contained a liquid that was a ruby red, very glossy and shiny.  He had just completed what He had been working on, and turned it around for me to see.  It was a beautiful Tiffany style lamp, unlike any on earth.  He placed the tag that had come with it underneath the base of this beautiful lamp as His signature card.  It was a picture of what had come into His hands from the box….Ugly and broken pieces of junk all jumbled and disorganized had been tossed into the box and cast aside.  All of these boxes in the warehouse  held similar contents of broken and discarded pieces, parts that were useless and unwanted or tossed aside. 

Now that these contents had been made new, it was placed on a serving tray to be  carried out the exit door.  Above the exit door was written:

‘Peace is Restored.”

Word of the Lord:

My peace I give to you.  You have given Me the pieces of your life, and I make all things new.  Out of broken dreams will come the dream I have waiting just for you.  From destroyed hopes will come My hope fulfilled for many.

It is the blood I shed for you that is the very essence which has carried you through, and will keep you together for what lies ahead. Life is in the blood, and I restore life to you this day.  My life poured out, will flood into you, and I will seal and secure the pieces brought to  Me. Even those you withheld out of shame or pride, or a combination of both, I will mold into something beautiful to show forth My glory!

It is My love poured out that has filled in the empty places, and now holds all things made new.  Even if you feel like some of the pieces are still missing, I declare to you this day that is just more space for My love to flood in and fill you.  The varying sizes and shapes of the pieces do not matter in My hands, for as My blood, the blood of the covenant you have entered into with Me, seeps into the cracks and crevices of your life, every part will be held and molded in place.

Then, as each of you has been rebuilt and reconstructed, I shall form and fashion you together in ways that were not possible before you were broken and needed to be made anew.

Piece’s Restored, Peace is restored.

To you,

made new,

in My love.

WELCOME

Through the ages, a devotional approach to fellowship with God has been called by various names. Madam Guyon called this expression of prayer “the inner way.” Brother Lawrence named this lifestyle of fellowship with God “Practicing His Presence.” Others have referred to it by such terms as waiting on God, basking in His presence, beholding the Christ within, the way of the heart and the prayer of silence. These approaches, as well as many others, are as divers and unique as the individuals who pursued communion with the indwelling Christ in these ways. God, who lives inside every believer, has things to say, and will speak to His own who are wiling to listen.

Silent waiting in faith upon the indwelling Christ is our beginning, We focus our entire being upon the Indwelling One, who has taken up His abode in the very center of our being. This devotional lifestyle begins with opening our hearts to receive from Him. We are simply responding to the hunger that He has already put in our heart because of His desire to fellowship with us. We respond to our hunger by quieting ourselves in His presence and simply letting Him love us.

After receiving His love, we are enabled to love Him in return as never before. We love Him because He first loved us and encountering Him on the inside helps us to put first things first. Christ is waiting for us to come aside in silence and experience Him always with us. He works on behalf of those who are willing to wait for Him, and we are changed in the process!

The Lord’s invitation to be still and know Him is truly a command for these last days-to keep our hearts from growing cold in all that is about to happen-and the Holy Spirit will escort us to where we cannot go on our own. There are depths of the Presence of God inside each one of us that are reserved for those who will stop, be still and know Him.

Having a history in God, of deep relationship with Him, is how those who are persecuted for their faith are sustained, and how we remain faithful through the trials and sorrows of life. He is the sustaining power of our lives. In the days ahead, life in the secret place with Him is what will keep us alive, in His love!

These are to be times of rest and encounter for your heart. Listening prayer is a place of relief from petitioning and an entrance into partnering deeply with,   and within, the heart of Christ.

Intimacy with Jesus is a private experience. His way of coming to us is defined by Him alone. He meets us according to our present relationship with Him, and the measure of our hunger for Him. Every experience with Him is unique, so do not compare what happens in your heart to what anyone else has told you. Listening prayer cannot be taught. It is simply the fulfillment of your heart’s desire, and of His, for encounter. It is not defined or restricted by any method, although there are various ways to begin. It is your own journey inside, and into His Presence! He has been awaiting your arrival, and with joy will meet you through feelings and pictures and words, as you come and behold Him!