WHEN YOUR
WORKING THE HARVEST WITH ALL YOUR HEART
HE GIVES YOU...
"
Handfuls On
Purpose"
(RUTH 2 )
A PUBLICATION OF GLORYBOUND MINISTRIES
JIM AND PENNY RAINE
P.O. BOX 671, LAWRENCEBURG TN 38464 (931) 852-2422
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www.awesomeglory.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JUNE, 2002 VOLUME 5 NUMBER 3
Dear Friends,
Isn’t it wonderful that the Lord
never stops teaching us? Some people think they got it all figured out, and
have no more to learn. But we are so pleased that the Lord continues to keep
us humble enough to realize we are nothing without Him. Let me share with you
how this ministry works. Jim will tell you He is called to do 3 things, not
always in the same order, Pray and Worship, Fast, and Preach the Word. He
appoints most everything else to me as administrator. Preaching of course also
covers teaching and counseling beginning with our own family and stretching
out to others. Hours a day are spent in prayer and teaching first our own
children. This is a priority around here, they are our legacy. They are what
we take with us (eternal) and also what we leave to the next generation, they
are the ones to which this ministry will be passed down. They are being
trained to minister to God first then others. Then there are the others to
whom God has called us, those from the jails, broken families, prisons, those
who are lonely and sometimes very needy, and the ones that just divinely cross
our path. Also we are blessed to minister to families who have a heart to walk
out what Jesus has put before them but just need some practical advice on how.
So yes we put in our 40 hours and then some. We have a full time job and Jesus
is our employer. But what about payday? Are we on a payroll somewhere? No. Do
we have particular churches that commit to support us monthly like
missionaries? No. We are paid by Jesus Himself as He moves upon His people,
and we wouldn’t have it any other way. If you have been on our list awhile you
might have noticed the little insert that comes with the envelope. It does
have little check marks for prayer request or to give a gift, but it purposely
never asks if it is a one time gift or a monthly gift. That’s because we don’t
want to know. We don’t want to count on a monthly thing, we want to count on
Jesus. We are so grateful for those of you who obey the Lord as He leads you
to give to this ministry, but our trust must always remain in Him. A few years
back a dear sister commented that she couldn’t live like us, Hand to Mouth,
she said. At the time I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by it, and it could
have hurt my feelings if I let it. But the Lord recently brought it back to
me. He said that is what we were going through, an opportunity to see His
hands to our mouth. Living by faith has it’s ups and downs, it wouldn’t be
faith if it were always up. While He always keeps the cupboards and the deep
freeze full there are some months that are down right scary. That is it would
be scary if you were looking with you eyes instead of through His word. It
could be scary when the house payment is due and the checking account is at 0,
or the electric bill is due. We live very simply but there are still the
necessities, even without car payments etc. So what to do, give Jesus a two
week notice and find another job? I don’t think that would go well. Or we
could moonlight with a second job, no, you got to sleep sometime. So there is
really only one option. Stand on the word that He is our employer, and just
keep showing up for work. Yes that means show up for ministry when the gas
tank looks empty. It means trust Him, even when it’s hard. It means actually
living the faith that we preach about. And it means rejoicing in it!!!! Yes
there is a freedom that comes with trusting Him completely!! Jim and I are
both skilled and could easily find a good a paying job, we are not here
because there is no where else to go, we are here because we choose to follow
Christ and His calling. And so we rejoice!! And we are here for you. Over and
over in the old testament the Lord put strange circumstances on the prophets
so that they could thoroughly learn the lesson they were called to teach.
Jeremiah was physically put in chains to display what was about to happen to
Israel. So yes the Lord keeps us in a needy place sometimes to give us that
Hand to Mouth thing, That daily coming to Him for everything, that daily manna
thing. There is an area in YOUR LIFE where He is saying , “Come to Me”. There
is something in your life, a needy area that you can’t fix, a place only He
can fix. He wants your total dependence, He wants to feed YOU hand to mouth,
His hand to your spirit!!!!! I urge you to give in to Him. Give Him total
reign in your life, stop trying to do it yourself. There is freedom in
realizing that He can do what you can’t. There is freedom in realizing that He
is God, creator of the universe and we are not. All we have to do is show up
for work (pray, fast, teach) and He will do the rest. So ask Him what is
calling you to do, then do it. It is that simple, this walk really is very
simple. That is once we give in to His will and not our own. Remember the
woman with the issue of blood? (Matt 9:18-26) She tried everything. Then she
finally just gave up and gave in to Him. It is all about picking up the cross
and following Him, not comfortable, not glamorous, not self-fulfilling,
painful and death. But that is where the true life is!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!
So we continue to follow Him and show up for work, and love every minute
of it. We go to the county jail, the prison, the outreach center, the prayer
groups, and meetings. We teach at home and on the radio, we counsel families
and lonely people. And He feeds us daily, many times through those we minister
to. Recently at the county jail Jim saw a young man who was really hurting,
physically and spiritually. He had that hard, mach look, a real tough guy you
wouldn’t really even want to talk to. But after the service he came up to Jim
and just broke, he gave in to the conviction with trembling and weeping. He
confessed his need for Christ. He had come to the end of his rope with no way
out, the way we all need to. He submitted to Jesus, and even though he is
facing years in prison he is a free man. Yes Jesus fed us that day, His hand
to our mouth. We were fed joy and an extra measure of faith. If He can change
hardened hearts then providing for this ministry is a small thing. Thank you
for this recent lesson Jesus. May we share it with others.
So, how can you
pray for us? You can pray the same thing that Paul asked for in Ephesians
6:19. “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth words may be given to
me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I
am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I
should.” Much of the church today has a warped view of the Gospel. They think
if it isn’t sugar sweet, then it isn’t Jesus. But sugar causes cavities. They
want to remind us over and over that prophecy is encouraging and edifying.
They would probably call Jeremiah a false prophet, and Jesus for that matter,
they would say the word was too hard. Yet it is edifying when a prophet says
“get right or die”. All depends on your point of view, are we looking at the
temporal (today, flesh) or are we looking at the eternal, His kingdom.
Remember Jesus said, “eat of my flesh and drink of my blood”. He didn’t say
anything about sugar. So we pray that we all look with His view, and that we
are open to His words that cause us to grow. Not to things that pet on our
flesh, and exalt our pride.
So those of you who are led to support us we
greatly thank you, pray that we continue on fearlessly. We sincerely thank the
Lord for you and pray His blessings upon you. We pray that our lessons in life
are not in vain and that we somehow touch your lives. In His Great and Mighty
Name we serve, The Raine Family, Jim, Penny and
children
