I have just returned home after 32 days in Brazil and I cannot stop praising God for all that He did! From May 31-June 27, we had two very large groups at the mission. The dining room measures about 20 x 30 feet. Imagine 33 people in that room for 3 meals a day, Bible study, worship, prayer, and fellowship. WHAT NOISE! WHAT MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF FOOD CONSUMED! WHAT SINGING! WHAT PRAYER! WHAT HEALING! WHAT FRUIT!
 

One 15-year-old young man has a home situation filled with confusion and turmoil. One day as we were praying at the mission, he was on his knees on the floor in communion with Jesus, his face glowing like an angel. When the hour-plus prayer time ended, he protested that it was over too soon! He said it only seemed like 10 minutes! That night he told of a vision he had seen, and of the confidence he now has that he can go home and pray for his family. He knows now that God will be with him and he is no longer alone.

“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 of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.” – John 15:16

We visited a total of 16 churches during the month of June. The services typically lasted from 6:00-10:00 p.m.It is IMPOSSIBLE to calculate the number of SALVATIONS, HEALINGS AND THOSE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT in those services. All I know is that no matter how tired we were, when it came time to get up and pray for people, the GLORY of GOD came down night after night!!

“A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS.” – Matthew 7:18-20

I am realizing more and more that when we see Jesus, only two things are going to emerge with us through the fire of His holiness and glory:

- the FRUIT that remains

- the kingdom relationships that He has given us

“Every branch in Me that does not bear FRUIT, He takes away; and every branch that bears FRUIT, He prunes it, that it may bear MORE FRUIT….. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear FRUIT of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears MUCH FRUIT; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” – John 15: 1-2,4-5

Join us for our October 3-17 mission trip to Brazil.Call the office at 706-353-1546.

Betty McKinney

Rick Bonfim Ministries

www.latterain.com

“Therefore ENCOURAGE one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing….” – I Thess. 5:11

“But everyone who prophecies speaks to men for their strengthening, ENCOURAGEMENT, and comfort.” – I Cor. 14:3

This past Wednesday David Wilkerson (author of “The Cross and the Switchblade” and founder of Teen Challenge and Times Square Church in NYC) died suddenly in a car accident. Some of my close friends have been perplexed by my reaction to this news. “It is sad, Betty – but why are you taking this loss so personally?  What’s the big deal?”

The big deal is that David Wilkerson has been a voice of encouragement directly from the heart of God to me for over two decades.  When I learned of his death, I emailed a friend.  I wrote:  “No one else speaks to the struggles we are going through the way he does.  WHO will bring such ENCOURAGEMENT to weary believers now that he is gone?”

Even as I typed the words, I heard in my spirit the answer to my own question:

“YOU DO IT.”

“ME????”

“YES, YOU.”

Well, Lord, I am definitely no David Wilkerson!  Excuse me, but he had a worldwide ministry and impacted hundreds of thousands!  But I knew what the Lord meant by “you do it.”  David W. was someone who persevered under severe trials and yet always lifted others up.  Now, we who have received a blessing of encouragement are to take up his mantle and continue to encourage others.

Look at your own life – then look at 2 or 3 people close to you – then take a step back and look at the shaking of everything on the world scene, including economy, nations, and weather patterns.  It’s overwhelming, isn’t it?  Afflictions and trials relentlessly press us from every side! And you know – its easy to “kvetch” and complain and wonder, “Why are things so bad?  What’s going on? Why isn’t God solving these problems?”  But I want to challenge you — and myself:  Are you going to be a voice of doubt, unbelief, fear and complaint?  OR are you going to be a voice of ENCOURAGEMENT,  reminding yourself and others that though the battle rages and burdens are great, GOD IS FAITHFUL – GOD’S PROMISES REMAIN TRUE -  God loves you — God will deliver you in due time if you hang on!

The need to carry on the ministry of exhortation, ENCOURAGEMENT, and comfort is greater than ever.  Will you take up this mantle?  ENCOURAGE SOMEONE TODAY!

Wait for the Lord!  Put all your trust in Him! Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord.  Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.  Amen!

Betty McKinney

Bible Teacher and Group Manager

Rick Bonfim Ministries

“Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about 100 years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised” — Romans 4:19-21.

ABRAHAM had received a PROMISE from God: “Count the stars if you are able to count them……so shall your descendants be” (Genesis 15:5).  But 10, 15, 20 years had passed.  It didn’t LOOK like the promise was coming to pass.  Sarah wasn’t pregnant – she was just OLDER.  It didn’t FEEL like the promise would come to pass. Abraham could feel himself getting older too!

But the scripture says that Abraham did not waver.  In fact, the longer he waited to see the promise fulfilled, the stronger his faith grew. And he continually gave glory to God, who is able to do WHATEVER He promises.  Abraham did not focus on how much TIME had passed – he focused on the faithfulness of God.

Did you receive some promise from the Lord once upon a time?  Has it been a year? 10? 20?  Perhaps life has become challenging and unexpected trials have come.  Maybe you have even made some mistakes along the way.  Abraham did too! 

So perhaps you have either dismissed the promise as a figment of your imagination – or concluded that it is no longer valid.  After all, it doesn’t LOOK like it is coming to pass. It doesn’t FEEL like it. 

But, if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are a SON OR A DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM.  You are one of his descendants by faith – and His God is your God.  He is the same “God who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist” (Romans 4:17b). God has not changed. If He made a promise to you, He will fulfill it. That is who HE is.

Your part is to make up your mind to be like Abraham:  with respect to the promise of God, do not waver in unbelief, but grow strong in faith, giving glory to God (v. 20). 

I encourage you to dig that promise back out from wherever you buried it. Be fully persuaded that God keeps His promises, and start believing again today! 

Betty McKinney

Bible Teacher

Rick Bonfim Ministries

“And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time [ Amplified: in due time and at the appointed season] we shall reap if we do not grow weary” 

– Gal 6:9

I think that we all know that “due time” refers to GOD’S time, not our time.  He clearly tells us, “’My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord” (Isa. 55:8a).

So what is the KEY as we hope for God’s promises to be realized – as we wait (sometimes for years) for the seeds of prayer and faith and hope to bear fruit? Since we already know that our time frame is out of proportion with God’s, focusing upon HOW LONG we have prayed, believed, and waited does not do us much good.  In fact it only makes us frustrated and creates doubt as to whether our cries are even being heard by the Lord.

Habakkuk 2:3 says, “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.”

WHat we need to discipline ourselves to do is to focus instead upon the character of GOD.  Someone told me long ago: “God may be very, very slow, but He is never late!”  What I may count as “slow” in my world (i.e.…..”This is taking forever, Lord!  Hello? Are you still there?”) is apparently PERFECT timing in God’s world.  One thing is sure: He is not going to be TRUE to MY time frame; He will ALWAYS be TRUE to HIMSELF.

To keep sanity and faith intact, our focus CANNOT be on how much TIME has passed.  Our focus must be on the TIME-KEEPER, the One who causes ALL things which He has promised to come to pass at HIS appointed time!  It is not in His character to deceive us or mislead us or intentionally disappoint us with empty promises.  This is not who HE IS!

As the scripture says, “Let God be found TRUE, though every man be found a LIAR” (Romans 3:4a).  Your heart can deceive you when you measure “how long.”  But GOD IS TRUE.  Focus on who HE is as the TIME KEEPER of your life, thank Him for it, and be encouraged today!

Betty McKinney

Bible Teacher

Rick Bonfim Ministries

Bible study at the Rock in Brazil

“And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.” Galatians 6:9

I am meeting a lot of weary, discouraged Christians these days.  They are wondering when their “due time” is coming to reap the blessings promised, when they will see the desires of their hearts fulfilled and the power of God demonstrated to remove the heavy obstacles blocking their paths.  Are you one of these weary Christians?

The prophet Daniel, speaking of the Antichrist, says that “he will speak out against the Most High and wear down (or make weary) the saints of the Highest One”  (Daniel 7:25). The Apostle John writes in I John 4:1 that this spirit of  antichrist is already in the world.  It is a spirit that tries to negate the promises of God in your life.  It speaks against the power, love and faithfulness of the Most High and tries to infiltrate the hearts of His saints with discouragement, doubt and fear.  However, John goes on to say that no matter how real or pervasive this spirit of antichrist is, no matter how unrelenting he is at trying to tear down our faith and remove our hope, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (I John 4:4).

Many years ago when I lived in Montana, I used to LOVE growing a vegetable garden.  I started by preparing the ground, then I went to the store and took hours to carefully choose the seeds.  I was full of anticipation as I planted those seeds in straight rows and placed the envelopes in which they came on stakes at the ends of the rows.  Those envelopes showed pictures, a “promise” if you will – of what I expected to get out of all my labor:  carrots, onions, peppers, squash, tomatoes – all kinds of good stuff.

The problem is that long before I would see any sort of harvest, the garden required weeks and months of working in the hot sun, watering, pulling weeds, fertilizing and fighting insects.  All of this for some little seeds buried under the dark earth that I couldn’t even see.  What if they were dead? Would they ever really produce anything?  Shouldn’t I just go to the grocery store and buy some carrots? And since this garden was in Montana, there was always the risk that an early frost could come and destroy everything I had worked so hard to accomplish.  Was all of this work worth my labor and my aching back and knees?

When a “seed” – a promise, a desire, a hope – has been planted in your heart by Almighty God, at first you may at first have great expectation of what will come forth out of that seed.  But months and years go by, and you are still watering and weeding and watching.  You may be tempted to grow weary and give up on the seed coming to fruition.  You might even think it is dead.

Paul says….do not lose heart…..do not stop your labor.  Do not abandon your garden to the weeds. Do not depend only upon what you can see.  That seed is in there!  Stay with the promise, stay with the dream.  IN DUE TIME, a harvest is coming.  In the meantime, guard your heart from the one who wants to wear you down with discouragement and doubt.  HE who first planted that seed in you is GREATER than everything that comes against you, and He will finish what HE began.

Next……I will write about DUE TIME.  Thanks for your support and prayers.

Betty McKinney

Rick Bonfim Ministries