MERRY CHRISTMAS

We are so happy to have our daughter, Bess, visiting us in Redding. Rick just took her down to Turtle Bay so I could get my newspaper article done, and wish you all a Merry Christmas!

God has been so good to us. We thank you all for partnering with us in prayer during this year and we thank God for His provision through so many of you.

We are humbled, and homesick for you all.

We extend a welcome to any who would like to come visit us and attend some of the services, conferences, and healing rooms. It is a special place, with amazing people from all over the world. We are so honored to be able to study, work, and minister alongside them.

I just want to let you all know that God loves you more than you realize. He's a good God and wants the best for you. His dreams for you are your dreams. He's for you all the way. And so are we.

With all of our love in this special season as we celebrate Christ, the Son - in us - our hope of glory,

Rick and Chris

Healing, praise and prayer

It's early Saturday morning and raining in Redding. I'm curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee and cinnamon toast and my trusty laptop thinking of our friends in snowy, cold Colorado, and missing the warmth of a woodstove. (Sigh...)

Holiday Feast

Today, Rick and I are doing food prep and clean-up for the Holiday Feast at Bethel Church, where 1200 homeless people and people in need will enjoy a wonderful meal. Church families sponsor tables and bring their own china, silver and Christmas decorations to adorn the tables and guests are treated like royalty. The children get photos with Santa, there is entertainment, and afterwards, they are invited to take home clothing, blankets and sleeping bags, collected for them through the year.

Pastor On Call Team

This week, our Pastor on Call outreach team manned the office phones and called those who had asked for prayer during the last weekend at Bethel. Cards they filled out were distributed among 7 of us and they were from across the U.S. and Canada and beyond. People travel from all over to visit Bethel for a weekend, attending services and coming to the Healing Rooms. It was so fun to call them. They were thrilled to get a call letting them know their request had been prayed for and asking them if there was anything else we could pray about.

Blood count goes to normal

I prayed with a woman whose five-year-old son with Down's Syndrome received some healing for a leukemia blood count concern. He had leukemia when he was younger, but it has been in remission. Lately his blood count concerned doctors, and he was due to have a medical test to see if the leukemia was back. His mother brought him to the healing rooms, and when they returned to Washington and he had another blood test, his levels were normal - a change of 1200 points! We praised God together for this healing, and then prayed for him to be healed of Down's Syndrome, a hernia, and just prayed for her and the rest of the family.

A changed life

Another 56-year-old man had been to Bethel and had an encounter with the Holy Spirit that has changed him. He was so happy to hear from us, and said he was coming back for some inner healing.

Cancer in remission

A man Rick prayed with was from Colorado. He came all the way to Bethel to receive healing and was excited to get a followup call. He had Stage 3 cancer - lymphoma - and after returning to Colorado, everything that had been visible signs of cancer on his legs was healed. His doctor was astounded, and told him it looked like he was in remission. Rick shared Colorado stories with him and prayed for further healing.

Home blessed

Another woman I called has cancer through her body. I prayed with her caregiver - her sister - for healing, and for peace over both of them and the Lord's presence in their home.

In recent weeks we have prayed in people's homes and a local hospital for those who have called Bethel to ask for us to come to them. They've had such conditions as injury, H1N1,cerebral palsy, extreme birth defects, epilepsy, and depression. We have prayed not only for the patients, but their families and caregivers. Our team brings God's joy, peace and love into their atmosphere. It is quite an experience.

We feel so privileged to be able to do this kind of ministry. Prayer is so powerful!

We appreciate your prayers!

Although I have been working for the local newspaper, it is not enough to cover our expenses. Rick has been unable to find a job here. The unemployment rate is high and jobs are scarce. We are learning to trust in God's promises of provision. We know many of you are struggling as well, and we want to let you know we are praying for you and for our home county - Grand County - for new jobs, prosperity, and blessing!

"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19.

More Praises!

(The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Rev. 19:10)

Jobs

Rusty, our son, who was laid off in November, will be starting a new job in January!

Healing

Chris, who has suffered from migraines for many years, has been healed of migraines, and back pain too. One day, Bill Johnson, senior pastor, called out a word of knowledge that God wanted to heal migraines - the kind that are weekly and tend to have something to do with allergies. I stood up, and when I did, I felt electricity moving up my spine. That day I had a migraine headache. It was gone in three hours without medication, and I have not had a migraine in 8 weeks now. I have also had much healing in my back. It's a process, but I'm believing for more!

Help

Rick and I have been able to keep up with homework. Yes!

They're growing!

God is a God of joy and fun. Two of our young students were out with their outreach teams, and witnessed legs being healed. One leg was shorter than the other and causing back pain. So the team prayed, and the leg grew out even with the other leg. The person was quite delighted and instantly felt better. This is so common in the healing rooms for people with back pain. These two young women - Steph from Kansas and Naomi from England - are beautiful and absolutely love Jesus. They are both rather short, and decided they would ask God to make them taller. They declared that over themselves and both have grown 2 to 3 inches. Steph laughed and said she can't wait to see her sister at Christmas because now she'll be taller than her.

The Blank Check

The Blank Check

As kids, many of us dreamed about being granted one wish. Solomon got the "one wish." When God appeared to Solomon and gave him that opportunity, it forever raised the bar of our expectations in prayer. The disciples were given the same "wish," only better. Instead of one blank check, they were given an unlimited supply of blank checks. And this gift was specifically granted in the context of their friendship with God.

Surrounding their promotion to friendship, Jesus gave His disciples this amazing list of promises. Each promise was a blank check they were to live by and use throughout their lives for the expansion of the kingdom. They are as follows:

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." (John 15:7)

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you." (John 15:16)

"If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." (John14:14)

"And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Fatherin My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." (John 16:23-24)

In order for us to properly receive what Jesus has offered us in these verses, any robotic understanding of what it means to be a follower of God has to change. God never intended that the believer be a puppet on a string. God actually makes Himself vulnerable to the desires of His people. In fact, it can be said, "if it matters to you, it matters to Him."

While much of the church is waiting for the next word from God, He is waiting to hear the dream of His people. He longs for us to take our role, not because He needs us, but because He loves us.

From the book Dreaming With God, by Bill Johnson, Senior Pastor, Bethel Church