Joe & Becky Cruse

How are you today? We are in revival at Fellowship of Ft. Bend in Rosenberg, TX this week and the meetings have been wonderful. The people are very hungry and the Lord has been faithful to meet us in every service. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers this week. We are praying for a great harvest!

Our dear friend, Glenda Rose, sent me this note this week, and it was such a blessing to me so I’m passing it on. Enjoy!

“This Sunday Pastor Becky taught on some of the spiritual doors we all encounter in our Christian walk. One of those doors is the door of opportunity. Truth be told, I wonder how many of us fail to read the sign that reads “Opportunity” on that door and so call it by another name: problem, attack of the enemy, trial, tribulation.

I worked many years in furniture retail, in the operations department: front office, warehouse, delivery…that sort of thing. My boss, the vice president for our area, was clearly more sales oriented than operations, and if you’ve ever worked in any kind of business with sales and operations, the two often collide.

“We have a problem,” I would say, using my most serious voice and somber expression.
He’d just give me an annoying, knowing grin and say, “We have no problems. Only opportunities.”
He taught me to view the “problems” from a different perspective and see that there was always an opportunity to exceed the expectations of our customers. It is a lesson for which I am still grateful.

But I didn’t have to learn this from the world. I have Jesus as my example.

In John 11, Jesus was given the news that His friend Lazarus lay deathly ill. He responded immediately: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Two days later Lazarus died. Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

The fact in the natural was that Lazarus was dead, but the Word said that death was not the end. It was an opportunity for God’s Son to be glorified.

If you’re facing a problem this week, I encourage you to call it by another name: Opportunity. Don’t call it being fired or laid off. Call it a promotion! Don’t call it a negative bank balance. Call it an opportunity for God to provide according to His riches, not your need! Like Father Abraham, call those things that be not as though they are (Romans 4:17). Believe that God works all things together for our good because we love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

Remember: It’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity for God to move in you, for you, or through you”.

Friends, I believe that is a powerful word for all of us this week! God is at work in all of us and His plans are for our good. As we pray this week, let’s be aware of the fact that every opportunity has some opposition, but God will use it for our good. Remember what Joseph said as he stood before his brothers–

Genesis 50:18-20 says, “His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Let’s agree in prayer for—
• The door of opportunity to be open wide for members of CWC (1 Cor 16:8)
• That people discover their strengths and identify areas of weakness that need to be changed as we grow together in building the kingdom of God here in SW Austin
• People that need direction for key decisions about jobs, careers, moves, family, mates, etc (Joshua 24:15)
• The destiny that God has for all of us—that we would know God’s plans are far beyond our own finite plans (Eph 1:4-14 and Jeremiah 29:11)
• That we would all be ministers of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:17-18)
• A harvest of souls for the services this week
• Finances for AC and for regular operating needs of the ministry

Church, we pray you are blessed abundantly this week. Look for those open doors of opportunity and move on through in faith!

Don’t forget to tell someone about the AWE (austinworshipexplosion.com) conference coming up June 24-26 with Ps Ross Parsley, Cindy Cruse Ratcliff, and Ps Joe and Becky. Help us spread the word! We are believing for some supernatural doors to be opened that week!

Love you all,
Ps Joe and Becky and the team

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Becky's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.