By Martha Bush

The news is spreading fast about our Lynn moving to Portland, Oregon. Quoting her in a comment on facebook in Marching Around Jericho---

“God has called me there as a voice for His kingdom.  WAHOOOOO, I can’t wait!”

And we all know that when Lynn’s voice speaks, demons flee and chains fall off people. I just know beyond a shadow of a doubt, the old devil is dreading to see this 5 ft. 2 blonde come to his city. 

And, if any of you live up in that area, you might should go down to Walmart and give the managers a fair warning. Let them know that the little blonde-headed lady does her thing in the checkout line.  Tell them about the time when there was so much confusion going on in the checkout line that she stepped out of line, pranced herself up to the front of the line, and started speaking in tongues.  Tell him not to worry---the chaos in the store changed immediately.  (Leave out the part about Mike almost fainting!)

Also tell the manager about a recent incident in Temecula. Would you believe she looked at the man behind her and said, “Brother, Jesus told me to tell you that you are loved!”  The man let out a shout that could be heard all over Walmart, “I am going to go call my Grandma and tell her this!”  Now, all the grandmas in Portland will be sending their grandchildren to Walmart to get prayed over!  Oh yeah! Business will increase, and Grandmas' prayers for their grandchildren will be answered – Lynn Donovan has arrived at Walmart in Portland.  As for the rest of the city???  You going down, devil, you going down!

INDEED! God has called her there as a voice for His kingdom. 

Today, I thought it would be nice if we gave Lynn a big send-off to her new home. I have already placed a picture on the blog of one of her favorite things - - a mylar balloon. To complete the balloon image, in the comments, give Lynn words of encouragement, blessings, and above all say a prayer for her and Mike as they make this transition in their lives. (BTW - My husband made the balloon image for Lynn.)

Some of you have already started sending blessings and prayers on her video post from Friday.  Let's keep the ball rolling.

After all, she has given to us may times.

Listen in..... 

By Martha Bush

Picture this scene:

You are on The Dr. Phil Show pouring out problems you have had with someone; you tell him how you have dealt with those problems, but “they” just don’t get it. Thinking he would agree with how you handled the situation and give you comfort, he suddenly leans in close to you and says:  “How is that working for you?”

Stunned by his lack of comfort when you so need it, you ask, “What do you mean? I am telling them the truth, but they just don’t get it. In fact, they even say to me, "Stop preaching at me!"

Once again, Dr. Phil looks you square in the eyes and says more sternly this time, “When you keep saying and doing the same thing over and over again, and it is not working, perhaps you need to change your way of doing things.”

Aha! As the saying goes, “I've been there, done that!”

Having gone through years of telling “them” the truth, and “them” not getting it, I finally had to resort to digging deep and studying long and hard on:

• when to speak
• when not to speak
• how to speak
• how not to speak

Guess who changed and finally got it, well sort of. You know the answer to that - - ME!

Switch gears with me now, and let's go to the scripture I want to concentrate on for this post.

 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’?

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!

They are ripe for harvest. (John 4:35 NIV)

My friends, I believe our calling for this hour is the words of Jesus in John 4:35. All we have to do is look at the world around us and see a mission field ready to be harvested. Our coworkers, neighbors, and family members are the people God has placed us among as a laborer in the fields. Or perhaps the Lord may want us to pack our bags and move to another state or country to work in another field. 

Some questions we perhaps need to ask ourselves as one of His laborers are:

• Are the people I talk with turned off by my words?
• Do I need to change the way I say things, even if they are true? 
• Do I need to be more bold or less bold?  Keep in mind, there is a big difference in boldness than brashness." 
• And now as Dr. Phil would say, "How has what you have been doing or not doing been in the past working for you as a laborer in the fields?

May we all, myself included, ask the Holy Spirit how He wants to change us in order to tell “them” the truth of the gospel, so that our delivery will be received. We might also ask to be nudged for the right time.

The fields are ripe for harvest.  Are we?

 Please share your thoughts in the comments on things you have learned about being a better witness to those around you. 

“See you on the next episode of the Dr. Phil Show to see how things are working for us." (grin)

Hello Friends,

How many of you have read or heard me speak about the transitions in the Kingdom of God? I hope all of you are aware of this interesting aspect of God's Kingdom and His timeline for our lives.

A quick recap.... Each year as Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur approach, I've noted a pattern. Rosh Hashana is the beginning of the Jewish Calendar year. The ancient time line of God's children. This marks the end of the past year and I find that several aspects of my life come to a close during this time.

Significant assignments, relationships, things we want out of our lives and at times things we are sad to let loose. But regardless, I see God close out, remove or change my life purpose, employment, relationships and more during September. This is approximately when the year draws down to a close.

Then with Yom Kippur, I'm convinced we receive new assignments. And these are often answers to long held prayers, dreams we have held in our hearts, new relationships, employments, changes in location and more. The Jewish tradition is that on Yom Kippur the Lord takes an account of your life over the past year, then assigns and released new assignments to us that begin in October. 

Well I think I'm in the middle of watching this happen again in my life in real time. So, I have more to share with you next week about all of it.

For today, I want you to consider what the Lord might be bringing to a close in your life right now. And if you are struggling to let go of something He is asking of you, pray into this. Because I promise GOOD stuff is ahead.

Also don't forget to register for the Spiritual Gifts Seminar. It's going to be fantastic. Next Thursday. And if you can't make it, you will receive the recording. Hugs. 

In this seminar you can expect:

• Biblical teaching about supernatural gifts
• Defining the difference between gifts and how they manifest in an individual.
• Discover your gifting set. 
• Discover your children's gifts, your spouse. 
• Exercises to continue to develop supernatural gifts.
• Pray to reactivate your gifting, cleanse it from demonic interference and dedicate it to God.

There is new material in this class that isn't in most teaching on the Gifts of the Spirit.

This will be a one hour Zoom seminar on August 26, 2021 at 11 am PACIFIC. The live seminar will offer you the most effective portion of our prayer time. However, if you are unable to attend, you will receive the video. All purchasers will receive the video link after the seminar. 

Sign up now. $10 for the class. Live Q&A at the end. Come with your questions. I can't wait to help you launch into your gifts. Hugs, Lynn

Click on the Buy Now button.

By Martha Bush

Grandma Grace? What in the world is that?  Stay with me.

When my first grandchild, Hannah, was two-years-old, she was sick all week with a stomach virus. Her family’s routine changed: clean-up from “throw-up” was done every hour, sleep was nonexistent, and nutritional food fell below the norm. Having a mother as a health fitness instructor, Hannah had learned to eat broccoli from the crib.  However, Mom consented to ice cream for a meal just to get something into her system.

In a few days, Hannah was well. As she sat down to her first nutritional meal in a week, she screamed, “Ice cream!”  Normally Hannah is a good natured little girl, but when the answer came back “no” to ice cream, she threw a fit, and wanted down from her highchair, which she was allowed to do, minus the ice cream. Hannah pranced herself into another room where her howling continued for the next 45 minutes. Finally, she wandered back to her highchair and said, “me want my “vegees” now.”

Being the sweet, loving grandma like all grandmas are, I said to my daughter: “Couldn’t you have pampered her a little longer?”  “Mom,” Hannah didn’t need pampering. She just wanted her way.”

Think about it: Isn’t that the way we are sometimes?

We want to play the sweet Grandma role to others,
and enable them to repeat their same old mistakes,
so they will stop throwing a screaming fit.

A few examples that I can think of are:

Addicts: Giving into an addict’s demands, and not allowing him/her to be responsible for their own actions.

Family Relationships: Sweeping things under the rug to keep peace and harmony within the immediate and extended family by ignoring temper tantrums, name calling, disrespect, and God forbid, cheating or porn.

Overlooking an offense:  There are times when an offense should be confronted with friends, neighbors, church members, or co-workers. However, because we don't like confrontation, we just let it ride.  Meanwhile, the offender keeps repeating the same old offense.

Rushing to Reconcile: Last week, I ended the series on grace when Jacob and Esau met for the first time in twenty years.  (Grace With Men) Four things took place in that meeting as Esau extended grace to Jacob for deceiving their father and stealing Esau's Blessing: (1) Esau gave his brother a kiss; (2) Esau rejoiced with Jacob over his wealth and family; (3) Esau refused payment from Jacob for what he had stolen from him; (4) Esau's face radiated grace like the face of Jesus .

Actually, I thought I had completed the series, but later in the week, I felt a red flag of precaution go up in regards to what should be considered before reconciling with our offenders, which is why I have added a thought about rushing to reconcile. 

I have found that a lot of people feel forgiveness is enough in addressing offenders. It is, indeed, the foundation on which we stand on to deal with any circumstances we may face. What Christ has done for us, definitely pass it on to others. (Colossians 3:13)

However, forgiving others does not always stop the sin from occurring in their lives. We have a tendency to let people off the hook after forgiving, but that doesn’t mean they’re off God’s hook if they are still repeating their same old sin. He wants to deal with them, but first we have to quit "fixing" their problems, get out of the way, and let Him do it the right way. 

Just like Jacob had a character flaw of deception, there came a time when the character flaw in Jacob’s life had to be dealt with. God had a plan for his life; deception could not be a part of it. God took him to the wrestling matt and He came up off that matt a changed person. (Genesis 32)

My friends, grace is a free gift from God. However, it is not cheap; it was bought with a high price by our Savior. Therefore, may I not cheapen it by getting in God’s way while He is dealing with someone about repeated sin in their life.

_____ 

Now, do you see what I meant by “Grandma Grace?” 

BTW---my granddaughter, Hannah is a strong Christian young lady today, entering her senior year in high school this year. I praise God that her parents didn’t pamper her screams for ice cream that day or over the years when she wanted her way, but brought her up in the ways of the Lord, and she is growing in His grace.

Please share your thoughts in the comments.