ME AND MY BIG MOUTH 👄 One evening I was looking for something in my house and having a difficult time finding it. At the same time various family members were asking for my help with different things they were doing. I could feel the pressure mounting, and we all know that when pressure mounts up, the mouth flies open. In my frustration, I blurted out, "This place drives me crazy! I can never find anything around here!" Instantly, God called my attention to my words. He had me examine exactly what I had just said. First of all, I had lied. He told me, because I can and do find things that I am looking for in my house all the time. Just because I could not find something one time does not mean I can never find things. We all have a great tendency to exaggerate horribly when we feel pressured. We magnify things, blowing them all out of proportion and making them sound much worse than what they really are. The careless words we speak in the heat of the moment may not mean much to us, but they definitely carry weight in the spiritual realm. The Lord further said to me, "Joyce, not only is it a lie that you never find anything, but it is also untrue that you are going crazy! Your house is not going to drive you crazy. But if you keep saying it often enough, it just might." If a person has had any mental illness in their family bloodline, the enemy would love for them to open a door to continue the curse by such foolish talk. If you notice, a lot of people make negative statements about their mental capacity and condition: "That just blows my mind." "I feel like I'm losing my mind." "Sometimes it seems like I'm going crazy." "My brain just won't work right." "I forget things all the time." "I can't remember anything anymore; I must be getting Alzheimer's Disease." "If this continues I just know I'll have a nervous breakdown." "I am so dumb, so ignorant, so stupid!" Just listen to other people, and yourself, and you will soon see what I mean. One day my husband Dave and I played golf with a man who must have called himself "dummy" a dozen times in the course of four hours. I thought, "Mister, if you had any idea how you're cursing your own life, you would stop that." If you ever do feel that you're having problems with your mind, pray about it, then prophesy good things about your mental capacity so your future can be different from the past. What most of us have done in the past is pray about it, and then negate our own prayers with a negative confession. Speak Life, Not Death! It is the Spirit Who gives life [He is the Life-giver]; the flesh conveys no benefit whatever [there is no profit in it]. The words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life. John 6:63 When I suggest that you prophesy your future, I am not talking about telling others what you believe you are going to do or have. There may be a time for that, but not at this stage. I am talking about prophesying to yourself first while driving to work, cleaning the house, doing yard work, working on the car, or going about your daily routine. Speak out faith-filled words, believing, as Jesus said, that the words you speak are spirit and life. Speak life into your life, not death. When you enter a crowded restaurant, do you say, "We probably won't get a table, and if we do it will be a bad one with poor service"? Or do you say, "I believe that I have favor in this restaurant and that we will get a good table and excellent service"? You might ask, "Joyce, does that really work for you?" I cannot honestly say that it always works for me, but I would rather stay positive and get 50 percent good results, than stay negative and get 100 percent bad results. An additional benefit is that when I am positive I am happier, and people enjoy being around me more. Take just thirty seconds a day to declare that God gives you favor everywhere you go; the results may astound you. I remember going in a store and looking at coats. Many of them were on sale at 50 percent off. I found one I really liked but did not see a sale sticker on it. I asked the clerk if it was on sale, and she answered, "No, it isn't." Then she looked at me and said, "But if you want it for half price, I'll let you have it. I wouldn't do that for anybody else, but I'll do it for you." I didn't know this woman, and she didn't know me, so there was no "earthly" reason for her to do what she did. God delights in giving His children favor. What He did for me, He will do for you too. Line your mouth up with His Word and get ready to be blessed. Always remember to return the praise and thanksgiving to Him. God is good, and several times a day we should tell Him that we realize that fact. -Joyce Meyer (ME AND MY BIG MOUTH)

A word for September 7

Tortured for Five Years: Venezuelan Anglican Bishop Freed After Toenails Pulled, Chest Burned by Guards Venezuela has released Anglican Bishop Dr. Jylman Red Jurado Farfán from Rodeo III Prison in Miranda State after more than five years behind bars — a captivity marked, he says, by brutal torture at the hands of prison guards. He was one of 81 prisoners freed on August 14, according to the UK-based human rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). Authorities arrested Bishop Jurado Farfán on July 30, 2021, after summoning him under false pretenses. He had been called in to explain an academic project — a leadership and civic values program — that he had been developing. He was subsequently charged with terrorism, criminal association and conspiracy, with authorities accusing his social ministry work of being an attempt to destabilize the state. Prior to his arrest, the bishop led an active social ministry providing free legal assistance to political prisoners and running community soup kitchens. The judicial process against him was marred by serious irregularities, including his case file being withheld for nearly ten months, and his trial being suspended after almost two years of hearings without any conclusive evidence presented. Concerns for his welfare heightened this past June, when he reported serious health issues including atypical pneumonia, intercostal neuritis, and gastrointestinal bleeding. During his time in custody, he says guards pulled out his toenails and burned an open wound on his chest with electricity. Following his release, the bishop offered a statement of gratitude and faith. "My beloved brothers and sisters in the unity of the body of Christ, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, my fraternal hugs; and I bless God for the feeling and the desire that God placed in your hearts so that this liberation would be possible, where the Lord broke the chains of oppression, of fear, of torture, and gave us physical freedom," he said. Bishop Jurado Farfán serves in the Archdiocese of Venezuela of the Holy Spirit, part of the independent Latin American Anglican Church, based in Caracas — a body with no affiliation to the Church of England or the global Anglican Communion. CSW's Director of Advocacy, Anna Lee Stangl, condemned the treatment he endured and called on Venezuela to end its harassment of religious leaders. #JylmanJuradoFarfan #Venezuela #ChristianPersecution #ReligiousFreedom #AnglicanChurch #FreedomFromTyranny #ChristianMessenger #ProphecyNews

Christian baker Jack Phillips has won a major victory after more than a decade of legal battles over his refusal to create cakes carrying messages that violated his Christian convictions. The Colorado Supreme Court vacated lower-court rulings against Phillips and dismissed the lawsuit brought after he declined to create a pink-and-blue cake celebrating a gender transition. Phillips has remained clear about his position: Masterpiece Cakeshop serves everyone, but he cannot create every message customers request when that message conflicts with his faith. After years of being dragged through court, Phillips credited God for sustaining him. “God is in control of all these issues,” he said, explaining that trusting Him is what kept him going. Phillips said Christians must remain faithful despite opposition: “We have to stand for what we believe,” adding that those beliefs come from God’s Word, the Bible. Photo: YouTube

I Am the Lord That Healeth Thee (November 11, 1922) We have in this precious Word a real basis for the truth of healing. In this scripture God gives very definite instructions to the sick. If you are sick, your part is to call for the elders of the church; it is their part to anoint and pray for you in faith, and then the whole situation rests with the Lord. When you have been anointed and prayed for, you can rest assured that the Lord will raise you up. It is the Word of God. I believe that we all can see that the church cannot play with this business. If any turn away from these clear instructions they are in a place of tremendous danger. Those who refuse to obey do so to their unspeakable loss. James tells us in connection with this, " .. .if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death ... " (James 5:19,20). Many turn away from the Lord like King Asa, who sought the physicians in his sickness and consequently died, and I take it that this passage means that if one induces another to turn back to the Lord, he will save such from death and God will forgive a multitude of sins that they have committed. This scripture can also have a large application on the line of salvation. If you turn away from any part of God's truth, the enemy will certainly get an advantage over you. Does the Lord meet those who look to Him for healing and obey the instructions set forth in James? Most assuredly. Let me tell you a story to show how He will undertake for the most extreme case. One day I had been visiting the sick, and was with a friend of mine, an architect, when I saw a young man from his office coming down the road in a car holding in his hand a telegram. It contained a very urgent request that we go immediately and pray for a man who was dying. We went off in an auto as fast as possible and in about an hour and a half reached a large house in the country where the man who was dying resided. There were two staircases in that house, and it was extremely convenient, for the doctors could go up and down one, and my friend and I could go up and down the other, and so we had no occasion to meet one another. I found on arrival that it was a case of this sort. The man's body had been broken, he was ruptured, and his bowels had been punctured in two places. The discharge from the bowels had formed abscesses and blood poisoning had set in. The man's face had turned green. Two doctors were in attendance, but they saw that the case was beyond their power. They had telegraphed to London for a great specialist, and, when we arrived, they were at the railway station awaiting his arrival. The man was very near death and could not speak. I said to his wife, "If you desire, we will anoint and pray for him." She said, "That is why I sent for you." I anointed him in the name of the Lord and asked the Lord to raise him up. Apparently there was no change. God often hides what He does. From day to day we find that God is doing wonderful things, and we receive reports of healings that have taken place that we heard nothing about at the time of our meetings. Only last night a woman came into the meeting suffering terribly. Her whole arm was filled with poison, and her blood was so poisoned that it was certain to bring her to her death. We rebuked the thing, and she was here this morning and told us that she was without pain and had slept all night, a thing she had not done for two months. To God be all the praise. You will find He will do this kind of thing all along. As soon as we anointed and prayed for this brother we went down the back staircase and the three doctors came up the front staircase. As we arrived downstairs, I said to my friend who had come with me, "Friend, let me have hold of your hands." We held each other's hands, and I said to him, "Look into my face and let us agree together according to Matthew18:19that this man should be brought out of this death." We laid the whole matter before God, and said, "Father, we believe." Then the conflict began. The wife came down to us and said, "The doctors have got all their instruments out and they are about to operate." I cried, "What? Look here, he's your husband, and I tell you this, if those men operate on him, he will die. Go back and tell them you cannot allow it." She went back to the doctors and said, "Give me ten minutes." They said, "We can't afford to, the man is dying and it is your husband's only chance." She said, "I want ten minutes, and you don't touch his body until I have had them." They went downstairs by one staircase and we went up by the other. I said to the woman, "This man is your husband, and he cannot speak for himself. It is now the time for you to put your whole trust in God and prove Him wholly true. You can save him from a thousand doctors. You must stand with God and for God in this critical hour." After that, we came down and the doctors went up. The wife faced those three doctors and said, "You shan't touch this man's body. He is my husband. I am sure that if you operate on him he will die, but he will live if you don't touch him." Suddenly the man in the bed spoke. "God has done it," he said. They rolled back the bed clothes and the doctors examined him, and the abscesses were cut clear away. The nurse cleaned the place where they had been. The doctors could see the bowels still open and they said to the wife, "We know that you have great faith, and we can see that a miracle has taken place. But you must let us unite these broken parts and put in silver tubes, and we know that your husband will be all right after that, and it need not interfere with your faith at all." She said to them, "God has done the first thing and He can do the rest. No man shall touch him now." And God healed the whole thing. And that man is well and strong today. I can give his name and address to any who want it. Do you ask by what power this was done? I would answer in the words of Peter, " ... his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong ... " (Acts3:16). The anointing was done in the name of the Lord. And it is written, "The Lord shall raise him up." And He provides the double cure; even if sin has been the cause of the sickness, His Word declares, "If he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven." You ask, "What is faith?" Faith is the principle of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Word, is called the Spirit of Truth, and, as we receive with meekness the engrafted Word, faith springs up in our heart - faith in the sacrifice of Calvary; faith in the shed blood of Jesus; faith in the fact that He took our weakness upon Himself, has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains, and that He is our life today. God has chosen us to help one another. We dare not be independent. He brings us to a place where we submit ourselves to one another. If we refuse to do this, we get away from the Word of God and out of the place of faith. I have been in this place once and I trust I shall never be there again. I went one time to a meeting. I was very, very sick, and I got worse and worse. I knew the perfect will of God was for me to humble myself and ask the elders to pray for me. I put it off and the meeting finished. I went home without being anointed and prayed with, and everyone in the house caught the thing I was suffering with. My boys did not know anything else but to trust the Lord as the family Physician, and my youngest boy, George, cried out from the attic, "Dadda, come." I cried, "I cannot come. The whole thing is from me. I shall have to repent and ask the Lord to forgive me." I made up my mind to humble myself before the whole church. Then I rushed to the attic and laid my hands on my boy in the name of Jesus. I placed my hands on his head and the pain left and went lower down; he cried again, "Put your hands still lower." At last the pain went right down to the feet and as I placed my hand on the feet he was completely delivered. Some evil power had evidently gotten hold and as I laid my hands on the different parts of the body it left. (We have to see the difference between anointing the sick and casting out demons.) God will always be gracious when we humble ourselves before Him and come to a place of brokenness of spirit. I was at a place one time ministering to a sick woman, and she said, "I'm very sick. I become all right for an hour, and then I have another attack." I saw that it was an evil power that was attacking her, and I learned something in that hour that I had never learned before. As I moved my hand down her body in the name of the Lord that evil power seemed to move just ahead of my hands and as I moved them down further and further the evil power went right out of her body and never returned. I was in Havre in France and the power of God was being mightily manifested. A Greek named Felix attended the meeting and become very zealous for God. He was very anxious to get all the Catholics he could to the meeting in order that they should see that God was graciously visiting France. He found a certain bedridden woman who was fixed in a certain position and could not move, and he told her about the Lord healing at the meetings and that he would get me to come if she wished. She said, "My husband is a Catholic and he would never allow anyone who was not a Catholic to see me." She asked her husband to allow me to come and told him what Felix had told her about the power of God working in our midst. He said, "I will have no Protestant enter my house." She said, "You know that the doctors cannot help me, and the priests cannot help, won't you let this man of God pray for me?" He finally consented and I went to the house. The simplicity of this woman and her childlike faith was beautiful to see. I showed her my oil bottle and said to her, "Here is oil. It is a symbol of the Holy Ghost. When that comes upon you, the Holy Ghost will begin to work, and the Lord will raise you up." And God did something the moment the oil fell upon her. I looked toward the window and I saw Jesus. (I have seen Him often. There is no painting that is a bit like Him; no artist can ever depict the beauty of my lovely Lord.) The woman felt the power of God in her body and cried, "I'm free, my hands are free, my shoulders are free, and oh, I see Jesus! I'm free! I'm free!" The vision vanished and the woman sat up in bed. Her legs were still bound, and I said to her, "I'll put my hands over your legs and you will be free entirely." And as I put my hands on those legs covered with bed clothes, I looked and saw the Lord again. She saw Him too and cried, "He's there again. I'm free! I'm free!" She rose from her bed and walked round the room praising God, and we were all in tears as we saw His wonderful works. The Lord shall raise them up when conditions are met. When I was a young man I always loved the fellowship of old men, and was always careful to hear what they had to say. I had a friend, an old Baptist minister who was a wonderful preacher. I spent much of my time with him. One day he came to me and said, "My wife is dying." I said, "Brother Clark, why don't you believe God? God can raise her up if you will only believe Him." He asked me to come to his house, and I looked for someone to go with me. I went to a certain rich man who was very zealous for God, and spent much money in opening up rescue missions, and I asked him to go with me. He said, "Never you mind me. You go yourself, but I don't take to this kind of business." Then I thought of a man who could pray by the hour. When he was on his knees he could go round the world three times and come out at the same place. I asked him to go with me and said to him, "You'll have a real chance this time. Keep at it, and quit when you're through." (Some go on longer after they are through.) Brother Nichols, for that was his name, went with me and started praying. He asked the Lord to comfort the husband in his great bereavement and prayed for the orphans and a lot more on this line. I cried, "Oh, my God, stop this man." But there was no stopping him and he went on praying and there was not a particle of faith in anything he uttered. He did stop at last, and I said, "Brother Clark, it's now turn to pray." He started, "Lord, answer the prayer of my brother and comfort me in this great bereavement and sorrow. Prepare me to face this great trial." I cried out, "My God, stop this man." The whole atmosphere was being charged with unbelief. I had a glass bottle full of oil and I went up to the woman and poured the whole lot on her in the name of Jesus. Suddenly Jesus appeared, standing at the foot of the bed. He smiled and vanished. The woman stood up, perfectly healed, and she is a strong woman today. We have a big God. We have a wonderful Jesus. We have a glorious Comforter. God's canopy is over you and will cover you at all times, preserving you from evil. Under His wings shalt thou trust. The Word of God is living and powerful and in its treasures you will find eternal life. If you dare trust this wonderful Lord, the Lord of life, you will find in Him everything you need. So many are tampering with drugs, quacks, pills and plasters. Clear them all out and believe God. It is sufficient to believe God. You will find that if you dare trust Him, He will never fail. "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up." Do you trust Him/ He is worthy to be trusted. I was one time asked to go to Weston-super-mare, a seaside resort in the West of England. I learned from a telegram that a man had lost his reason and had become a raving maniac, and they wanted me to go to pray for him. I arrived at the place, and the wife said to me, "Will you sleep with my husband!" I agreed, and in the middle of the night an evil power laid hold of him. It was awful. I put my hand on his head and his hair was like a lot of sticks. God gave deliverance - a temporary deliverance. At 6 o'clock the next morning, I felt that it was necessary that I should get out of that house for a short time. The man saw me going and cried out, "If you leave me, there is no hope." But I felt that I had to go. As I went out I saw a woman with a Salvation Army bonnet on and I knew that she was going to their seven o'clock prayer meeting. I said to the Captain who was in charge of the meeting, when I saw he was about to give out a hymn, "Captain, don't sing. Let's get to prayer." He agreed, and I prayed my heart out, and then I grabbed my hat and rushed out of the hall. They all thought they had a madman in their prayer meeting that morning. I went down to the end of the parade, and there was the man I had spent the night with, rushing down toward the sea, without a particle of clothing on, about to drown himself. I cried, "In the name ofJesus, come out of him." The man fell full length on the ground and that evil power went out of him never to return. His wife came rushing after him, and the husband was restored to her in a perfect mental condition. There are evil powers, but Jesus is greater than all evil powers. There are tremendous diseases, but Jesus is healer. There is no case too hard for Him. The Lion ofJudah shall break every chain. He came to relieve the oppressed and to set the captive free. He came to bring redemption, to make us as perfect as man was before the fall. People want to know how to be kept by the power of God. Every position of grace into which you are led - forgiveness, healing, deliverance of any kind - will be contested by Satan. He will contend for your body. When you are saved, Satan will come round and say, "See, you are not saved." The devil is a liar. If he says you are not saved, it is a sure sign that you are. You will remember the story of the man who was swept and garnished. The evil power had been swept out of him. But the man remained in a stationary position. If the Lord heals you, you dare not remain in a stationary position. The evil spirit came back to that man and found the house swept, and took seven others worse than himself, and the last stage of that man was worse than the first. Be sure and get filled with God. Get an Occupier. Be filled with the Spirit. God has a million ways of undertaking for those who go to Him for help. He has deliverance for every captive. He loves you so much that He even says, "Before they call, I will answer." Don't turn Him away. Published in The Pentecostal Evangel Free Downloads at www.teleiosministries.com

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https://www.youtube.com/live/U4erUpJH-Z4?si=cqcRxi3ekxDCpSPb MAPLEVIEW COMMUNITY CHURCH, BARRIE, ONTARIO, CANADA – Sunday Service September 6, 2026 ( EST ) Live streaming commences JUST BEFORE 10.30am - actual schedule is 10:23am EASTERN STANDARD TIME ZONE. ( this is the church which Robin Stephen Aldrich attends )

A word for September 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTysdcXWBHs ESCAPE THE NOISE - 5 HOURS OF PEACEFUL CHRISTIAN MUSIC FOR PRAYER, REST & TIME WITH GOD

Pastor David Gibbs

⚠️ HE HATED CHRISTIANS SO MUCH, HE ATTACKED ONE AND LEFT HIM FOR DEAD. BUT THE MAN HE ATTACKED DIDN’T RESPOND WITH HATE. HE PRAYED FOR YASSIR. YASSIR NEVER FORGOT IT. YEARS LATER, HE SAYS EVERYTHING CHANGED. THE MAN WHO ONCE HATED CHRISTIANS BECAME A FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST. Yassir Eric says he grew up in Sudan as a devout Muslim and became deeply hostile toward Christianity. According to his testimony, that hatred eventually turned violent. While studying at a university, Yassir encountered a Christian student named Zakariya. Yassir says he and others attacked Zakariya so severely that they believed they had killed him. But Zakariya survived. And instead of responding with hatred or revenge, Yassir says Zakariya did something that deeply affected him: He prayed for the people who had attacked him. That response stayed with Yassir. According to his testimony, Zakariya's forgiveness and prayers became part of a journey that eventually led Yassir to reconsider what he believed about Christians and about Jesus. The man who once hated Christians eventually became one. Today, Yassir Eric follows Jesus Christ and shares his Christian faith with others. His testimony is a striking picture of the radical command Jesus gave His followers: 📖 “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” — Matthew 5:44 The Christian Yassir attacked didn't overcome hatred with more hatred. He prayed for his enemy. And that enemy eventually became his brother in Christ. SOURCE: Yassir Eric's testimony, published by Christianity Today in September 2025.

Darlene Zschech recounts composing and singing 'Shout To The Lord'

In 1950, one of the most famous couples in Hollywood had a baby girl. And the doctors told them to give her away, put her in an institution, and never speak of her again. They were Dale Evans and Roy Rogers — the Queen of the West and the King of the Cowboys, adored by millions on screen and on the radio. Their daughter, Robin Elizabeth, was born with Down syndrome and a serious heart defect. In 1950, that was treated as a family secret to be buried. The advice they got was the standard advice of the day. Years later, their daughter Cheryl remembered how the doctors put it: place Robin in a hospital, and visit her as little as possible, because she was never going to know them anyway. Put her away. Move on. And for a Hollywood star, there was a second layer of pressure on top of the first — the studio assumed that fans would recoil at the sight of a child with a disability. The smart thing, the safe thing for her image, was to keep Robin out of view. Dale and Roy did the opposite of everything they were told. They brought Robin home. They decided, as devout Christians, that God had given them this child for a reason. And then they did something almost no one did in 1950: they refused to hide her. When the family posed for publicity photos, Dale insisted Robin be in them — every time — even as the studio warned that audiences would be repulsed. She would not pretend her daughter did not exist. Before Hollywood, Dale had been Frances Octavia Smith, a girl from small-town Texas with a big voice, singing her way up through radio and stages until a new name and a new life found her out west. She had reinvented herself more than once. But nothing she ever did on screen would matter as much as the choice she made about Robin. For almost two years, that little girl was the heart of the household. Her body was fragile — the heart defect was never repaired, and everyone knew her time might be short. But she was loved without reservation, and those two years were sweet ones for the whole family. Then, just before Robin's second birthday, the mumps swept through the house. In a child as delicate as Robin, it turned into a swelling of the brain her small body could not survive. She died two days short of turning two. The grief was crushing. And out of it, Dale did something that would reach people she would never meet. She sat down and wrote a book. It was slim — you could read it in an afternoon — and it was unlike anything on the shelves. She wrote it from Robin's point of view, as a child looking down from heaven, telling God about the brief mission she had been sent to carry out on earth. In Dale's telling, Robin had not been a tragedy or a punishment. She had been a small messenger, sent for a short time to teach the people around her something about love they could not have learned any other way. She called it Angel Unaware. Several publishers turned it down. Dale believed it was her job to tell Robin's story anyway, and in 1953 the book finally reached print. It became a phenomenon. It sold and sold, was translated around the world, and landed in the hands of thousands of frightened parents who had been told, as Dale had been told, that the right thing to do was to hide their child and grieve in silence. Here was one of the most famous women in America saying the opposite — out loud, in print, on the front tables of every bookstore. That a child like this was not a source of shame. That such a child could be loved, openly, exactly as she was. Dale gave the money away. Every penny the book earned went to the National Association for Retarded Children — the period name for one of the first major organizations fighting for these families — funding research and care. And slowly, the culture shifted. Parents who had kept their children behind closed doors began to bring them out. Families started showing up with their sons and daughters at the rodeos where Roy and Dale performed, no longer ashamed. A small book narrated by a two-year-old had helped a whole country see something it had refused to look at. Dale and Roy were not done. They went on to build one of the most unusual families in America for the era — adopting children of different races and from different countries, a blended, international household at a time when that was almost unheard of. Dale wrote "Happy Trails," the song that would become their signature, and more than twenty books after that first one. But she always understood that the little volume about Robin was the most important thing she ever made. She used her fame, for the rest of her life, to speak for children who could not speak for themselves — long before there was a disability rights movement to give it a name. When she died in 2001, at the age of eighty-eight, she left something larger than any western she ever filmed. Robin Elizabeth Rogers lived one week short of two years. She never spoke a full sentence, never grew up, never knew how famous her parents were. And she changed how a nation saw children like her — because her mother refused to be ashamed of her, and sat down at a typewriter to say so.

https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/p0p821kf BBC's weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world. Picture: Patient Tim Andrews (centre) with Dr Tatsuo Kawai (left) and Dr Leonardo Riella (right). Credit: Kate Flock/Massachusetts General Hospital. Presenter: Holly Gibbs. Music composed by Iona Hampson

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce30vp55dnlo UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true size

TWENTY-SIX MIRACLES. A woman brought her child, who had twenty-six major diseases, to our meeting. I'll never forget this as long as I live. The boy was born blind, deaf and mute. Both arms were crippled and deformed. His elbows protruded up into his little tummy; his knees touched his elbows. Both legs were crippled and deformed; he had club feet. When he was born, his doctors said that boy would never live to see his first birthday, but they were wrong; he was approaching four years of age. Of course, his condition was breaking his mama's heart. She came to our meetings all week, and I got concerned about that boy. In those crusades, we had each person with a need fill out a prayer card, and as the Holy Spirit moved, we would pray for the needs God inspired us to pray for. And the Holy Spirit didn't seem to be moving us to pray for that little boy. The following Sunday, his mother came to me and said, "Brother Schambach, I'm down to my last twenty dollars. I've paid the hotel bill, but we've been eating in the restaurant, coming to three services a day and giving in every offering. All the money has run out. My baby has not been prayed for." She was very upset, and she was ready to give up and go home. I said, "Ma'am, I can't apologize for the moving of the Holy Ghost. I know you have to leave tonight, but if you come to the service and, once again, the Holy Spirit leads in another direction, and your son's prayer card is not drawn for prayer, I will personally take your baby to the man of God's trailer house and see that he lays hands on your baby. You will not leave disappointed." And I meant that from my heart. That night I came out, and I led the singing in that evening service. Then I introduced Brother A. A. Allen, and he came bouncing out on that platform and said, "Tonight we're going to receive an offering of faith." I had never heard him use that expression before, and I saw eyebrows lift all over the congregation. He went on, "Now, if you don't know what I mean when I say an 'offering of faith,' I mean for you to give God something you cannot afford to give. That's a good definition, isn't it? If you can afford it, there's no faith connected to it. So give Him something you can't afford to give." As soon as Brother Allen said that, I saw that boy's mother leap out into the aisle and come running. Three thousand people were watching her in that Birmingham Fairgrounds Arena as she threw something in that offering bucket. I never saw anybody in such a hurry to give, and, I confess, I was nosy. I came down off that platform to see what she had given. You know what I saw in that bucket? A twenty dollar bill. I knew that was all she had. She had told me that. She had driven from Knoxville, Tennessee, to the meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. She didn't know how she was going to get home or what she was going to use to feed herself and her baby on the way. I went behind that platform and wept. I prayed, "Lord, I've been trying to teach that woman faith all week. But now I'm asking You to give me faith like she's got!" I don't know whether I could have done what she did, and you don't know if you could do it. We will never know, unless we are in a similar situation. But Brother Allen went on and collected the offering and launched into his sermon. But about fifteen minutes into his message he stopped and said, "I'm being carried away in the Spirit." I said to myself, "Here we go again on another trip." This is how God used him: he said he could see what the Holy Spirit wanted to communicate to him like he was watching it on a television screen. He would describe it as he saw it. That night he said, "I'm being carried away to a huge white building. Oh, it's a hospital." Of course, I heard this kind of thing every night that I worked with Brother Allen so I was sitting there unmoved. Then he said, "I'm inside the hospital, and there's no doubt in my mind where I'm heading because I hear all these babies crying. It's a maternity ward. I see five doctors around a table. A little baby has been born. The baby was born with twelve, no, sixteen, no, twenty-six diseases." When he said that, I started getting chill bumps up and down my spine. I said, "Oh, my God, tonight's that baby's night!" Brother Allen continued, "Twenty-six diseases. The doctors said he'd never live to see his first birthday, but that's not so. That boy is approaching four. Now I see the mother packing a suitcase. They're going on a trip. Another lady's with her. The baby's in a bassinet. It's in the back seat of an old Ford. They're driving down the highway. I see the Alabama/Tennessee border. That automobile is driving in the parking lot. Lady, you're here tonight. Bring me that baby! God's going to give you twenty-six miracles." That woman came running again for the second time that night. She put the baby in Brother Allen's arms. I jumped up to stand beside him, and everybody in the audience—3,000 strong—was standing. Brother Allen must have wanted to be sure that the audience was agreeing in faith for the miracle because he said, "Everybody, close your eyes." But I thought, Not me, mister. I'm going to be scriptural on this one. I'm going to watch and pray. I've been waiting for this all week. That little boy's tongue had been hanging out of his mouth all week. The first thing I saw as Brother Allen prayed was that tongue snap back in the mouth like a rubber band. For the first time in four years, the little guy's tongue was in his mouth. I saw two little whirlpools in his eyes, just a milky color. You couldn't tell whether he had blue or brown or what color of eyes. But during the prayer, that whirlpool ceased, and I saw two brand new brown eyes! I knew God had opened his eyes, and if God opened the eyes, I knew He had unstopped the deaf ears. Then those little arms began to snap like pieces of wood; and for the first time, they stretched out. The legs cracked like wood popping. All of a sudden, I saw God form toes out of those club feet as easily as a child forms something with silly-putty. The crowd was watching by this time going wild! I've never seen any people shout and rejoice so much in all my life. I saw that baby placed on his feet, and he began to run for the first time in his life. He had never seen his mama before, never said a word, but he began running across the platform—and I was running right after him trying to catch him. He leaped into his mama's arms, and I heard him say his first word, "Mama." This miracle charged up the people of God so much that even more miracles began to happen there in Birmingham. We stayed for a week after that. People were bringing their handicapped friends and family members. There were about twelve or thirteen people in wheelchairs over against one wall on the left side of the platform, and about fifteen or so people who had been brought from the local hospital on stretchers on the right side of the platform. When everybody saw the power of God at work, all the handicapped people in wheelchairs stood up like a platoon of soldiers and walked out of there healed by the power of God, without hands ever being laid on them. Then 3,000 pairs of eyes, like they were being conducted by a conductor, looked in anticipation from the wheelchairs to the stretchers. The next thing you knew, everybody on the stretchers got up and walked out of there healed by the power of God! Six blind people in the audience came running down the aisle with their white canes and threw them on the platform. Their eyes had been opened! Hearing aids began to pile up, then canes and crutches. Everybody in the building was healed.It was an incredible time of miracles, and the power of God fell, starting with the twenty-six miracles for that one little boy. The following Saturday after his healing, I received a special delivery letter from his mother. She knew that I had a soft spot in my heart for her little son, so she wrote me. She said, "Brother Schambach, I took the baby to the hospital Monday morning, and the doctors won't give him back. They have kept him all week. They have called in every doctor from all over the country who has had anything to do with the case. They have pronounced my baby cured of twenty-six major diseases." Of course, we went on to get the copies of the affidavits from the doctors certifying that boy's life was a genuine miracle. But there was a P.S. in that dear lady's letter, and a P.S. always means there's something more to the story. Her letter continued, "You remember that last Sunday when I told you all I had was twenty dollars? God knows that was the truth. But when that man of God said to give something you can't afford, I leaped into the aisle. The moment I hit that aisle, for the first time in my life, I heard the devil talk. The devil told me, 'You can't give that; that's not yours. Fifteen dollars of that goes to the doctor. Five dollars is for gas to get home.' The faster I ran, the faster he talked. But as soon as I turned loose of that money, he stopped talking. Ain't no use talking now. It's gone! It's been put in the bucket now. "Brother Schambach, all you saw was those twenty-six miracles, but there is one you don't know anything about. After you were gone, people were staying there. They wanted to see the baby and see what God had done. People shook hands with me. When one lady shook my hands, I felt a folded piece of paper between our palms. I opened it up and saw it was a twenty dollar bill. As I shook hands with the people who had lined up, every one of them had a folded paper in their hand. I went into the ladies room and counted $235! "Isn't that just like God? He not only gave me twenty-six miracles for my baby, but He allowed me to stay in a hotel for a week, pay my bills, eat three meals a day in restaurants, give in three offerings every day, and still go home with more money than I came with!" You can't beat God giving, no matter how much you try. Hallelujah! I believe with all my heart, as a result of what I saw, that the miracle had its origin in that gift of faith. When God dealt with that woman, she gave her last, and her last became her first. - RW SHAMBACH (You Can't Beat God Givin')

We're having church !

Kevin was hosting a Christian Bible study when an angry young Muslim man walked in. Furious that an Iranian would dare speak about Jesus, the young man began shouting, arguing that Jesus was only a prophet and had no business being worshiped as the Messiah. He stormed out of the meeting still consumed by rage. The very next day, Kevin heard a knock at his apartment door. When he opened it, the same young man was standing there — and he fell to his knees in tears. He explained what had happened. After leaving the meeting angry the night before, he'd gone home and fallen asleep. In his sleep, he had a powerful dream: he saw Jesus, and in that dream, Muhammad came and bowed down before Him. The dream shook him to his core. He realized Jesus was far more than a prophet — and right there, on his knees at Kevin's door, he chose to commit his life to Christ.

Pastor Steven Furtick ( Elevation Church ) - Direction in the Drought