WORLDWIDE UNITED PRAYER FOR CHRISTSUMMER 2000 NEWSLETTER
Volume 2 Issue 1
1112 Firth Avenue, Worthington, Ohio 43085, USA
Summer 2000
Tel. (614) 846-3803
Website: www.worldpray.org
E-mail: prayer@worldpray.org
POPE JOHN PAUL II on
The Mystery of the Incarnation for
The Great Jubilee 2000
"In Jesus Christ the history of salvation finds its culmination and ultimate meaning. In Him, we have all received "grace upon grace" (Jn 1:16), having been reconciled with the Father (Icf. Rm 5:10, 2 Cor. 5:18)... The whole of human history in fact stands in reference to Him; our own time and the future of the world are illuminated by his presence. He is "the Living One" (Rev 1:18) " who is, who was and who is to come" (Rev. 1:4). Before Him every knee must bend, in the heavens, on earth and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim that He is Lord (cf. Phil. 2: 10-11).
Testimonies on God's Healings
(Note: The following testimonies are from the healing and evangelization ministry of Lorna Lisk and her husband Thom which is coupled with the promotion of the Worldwide United Prayer for Christ. Lorna Lisk is its founder-president).
"I took my sister to a healing service of Trinity prayer group because she is ill-also blind for two years. This nice lady Lorna Lisk came and God healed a lot of people through her. I myself had lost my left eye due to diabetes- had two surgeries, have implants- still could not see. While I was praying for my sister to get healed, my left eye opened (and) can see well now. Glory to God!
My sister claims she can see now. She fixed her own supper that night...My sister became a believer. We thank God for our healing and we praise His Holy Name forever. Amen.
I was diagnosed with colon cancer by an oncologist in Ohio. I had colonoscopy and the biopsy was positive. I was advised to have an immediate operation. A second opinion was sought by me with another oncologist who concurred with the diagnosis of the first specialist...In about a month in July 1998, Lorna Lisk conducted a healing service which was integrated with the Sunday service of our congregation. Six months after being first diagnosed with cancer, my first oncologist administered colonoscopy again to determine whether there was necessity for operation. Fortunately and praise the Lord, this oncologist found no cancer and told me I will not have surgery anymore. I attribute the reversal of my colon cancer to the power of the Holy Spirit in whom I give honor and glory for His miracle.
SEND PRAISE REPORTS
Prayer Partners, if you have experienced God's miracles and blessings in your promotion of Worldwide United Prayer for Christ, please share them with us to thank and glorify Him.
Testimony on the Power of Miracle Prayer
"(When) I was dying in the hospital, a nurse gave me the Miracle Prayer of Fr. Rooky. There was internal bleeding in my artery. I survived with the help of the Lord and the blessed Mother."
(Note: Miracle Prayer and 7 Petitions - daily prayer of Prayer Partners of WUPC).
2000 PILGRIMAGE TO HOLY LAND, CAIRO, EGYPT AND Worldwide United Prayer for Christ NETHERLANDS, NOVEMBER 9-20
CALL LORNA LISK, 614-846-3803E-MAIL: prayer@greenapple.com
HOLINESS
By Rev. Francis Martin
(The following are excerpts from Praise Him, July and August 1998, Channing, TX; with permission)
Baptism in the Spirit: The Grace to Know Jesus Christ. We have been given the Baptism in the Holy Spirit - this inestimable grace, this incredible mercy of God- so that willingly and consciously we can yield to the Holy Spirit to be made Holy.... The baptism in the Holy Spirit is an action of the Holy Spirit revitalizing the grace of baptism; it is a grace by which the believer is brought to a personal and intimate awareness of the reality of Jesus Christ and His majesty as Son of God, Savior, and Head of the Church. Many people were first made aware of this grace through a very dramatic experience of the gifts of the Spirit- tongues or prophecy. But the grace that lies at the heart of all those manifestations, the grace to which all those gifts bring the believer who possesses them is the grace of knowing Jesus Christ, loving Him, trusting Him, and giving our lives to Him....
Holy Lives: not Disordered Lives - First and foremost, lead holy lives that make sense... lives that are radiant with a simple quiet faith in God our Father who loves us beyond our wildest dreams. Lives that imitate Mary, the Mother of God, the most perfect human being who ever lived...
Worship - The second way that we can help people understand is through a life of worship, and especially in the liturgy...The Word of God is alive at the liturgy. At the liturgy our Lord Jesus Christ comes to reveal Himself in that act of love for which He died and rose, that act of love which He shows to our Father for our redemption, and He comes to bring us into that act of love... Our whole obligation is to let the Lord show Himself by making the Eucharistic celebration on love and reverence and praise and faith. The people can say, "this grace of baptism in the Spirit really change lives."
Lives of Self-Control - The third way is to develop theologically something that really holds together. Let those of us who have been touched by this baptism make sense to our colleagues so that they will see that there is something here that is real. I think there is a call to us to overcome...immaturity, by living wholesome, meaningful lives that are free from sin and show the obvious signs of being able to curb self indulgence in food, in drink and in television because we have something more important to do with our time and energy... We have a living hope because Jesus is here with us right now. He loves us. He has come to gather us into His own heart; He is our living hope. The one who knows that best is Mary, the mother of God...The last lines of the Document on the Church talk about Mary, that all apostolic activity must come from a maternal heart...And that's what love does, it pushes us to evangelize. We preach the gospel because we love people and want them to have all that God has in store for them.
Do not be afraid when you suffer, commend your life to God, learn to trust Him.
The Secret of Holiness - The secret of holiness, "Though you have not seen him you love him and even now you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible joy for you are gaining the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Pet. 8-9). That is the work of the Holy Spirit in us- that we love Jesus and want to give our lives to Him. Wherever you are right now in your life, know this; that you are called to be, that is holiness. Having purified yourselves by repentance and obedience to the truth, submitting to the reality and the majesty of Jesus Christ, this purification is for a brotherly love that is free from hypocrisy. So love one another from the heart with total commitment. That is a holy work of the Holy Sprit. This requires death to self. Forgive each other. Let us not judge each other, let us build each other up and show the world that the call to holiness is a call to trust in suffering, to being receptive like Mary, to praise like her and to care about God's people and all the world with a maternal love. Then we will hear fulfilled in us what the Lord has told His people: "Be holy as I am holy." (1 Pet. 1:16).
WORLDWIDE UNITED PRAYER FOR CHRIST SUMMER 2000 NEWSLETTER
WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE NOT HEALED
Part I
The following are reasons why people at times do not get their healing.
1. Lack of Faith – Jesus said to the woman with hemorrhage and to the blind man (Mk. 5:34, 10:52), “Your faith has saved you.” Few were healed in His hometown of Nazareth because they lacked faith.
2. Presence of Sin - Sin blocks God’s graces. Eighty to ninety of illnesses, divorces and breakdown of relationships stem from unforgiveness.
3. Tested in the furnace of Affliction (Is. 48:10) - Our faith in Him is being tested further. Do we still love the Giver even if we are not given gifts or healing?
4. Refined like Silver (Is. 48:10) - Many are closer to Him when they are ill or need help from Him. Deeper love, patience and other fruits of the Spirit are developed during their illness. Being refined also are faithful workers who deeply love and serve Him.
5. More Remarkable healings with Gifts of Healing (1 Cor. 12) - More healings take place, too, when there is anointing in a workshop gathering. - there is power of united prayer (Mt. 18:19). There is also power in all prayers. “Pray for one another that you may have healing.” Ja. 5:16 (To Be Continued in Next Issue).
GOD’S LOVE
By Fr. James Coleman, PIME
WUPC Spiritual Director
I was brought to focus on the simplicity of Christ’s words. The secret of life is we are loved by God., who wants us to spend all eternity with Him in the never ending, joyful celebration of Heaven which is like a wedding feast.
It is a very clear dogma of the Church that God, as a loving Father is very active in showering upon His people, that is, each person individually, tons of graces daily.
He is very much involved in His graces in every detail and the dimension of His children’s lives. If He gave us His only Son…..and if, as St. Augustine writes, God loves each of His children as though they were the only one. He adds, if there were only one child left when Christ came, He would have gone through His passion and death just for that one.
He wants to challenge us. He wants to perfect us. He wants us to learn the power of love.
God’s love is warmer than the warmest sunshine, softer than a sigh.
God’s love is deeper than the deepest ocean., wider than the sky.
God’s love is brighter than the brightest star that shines every night above.
And there is nothing in this world than can change God’s love.
Though the mountains may fall and the hills turn to dust.
Yet the love of God will stand.
As a shelter to all who will call on His name.
Sing the Praise and the Glory of God.
SANCTIFY US, LORD
By Lorna Lisk
WUPC Founder-President
As we celebrate the Great Jubilee 2000, let us focus on our mission or, in the words of Pope John Paul II, “destiny of communion with God” on earth and for all eternity. Let this be top priority in our Christian walk and various endeavors.
The only blockage of such union with Him and eternal happiness is sin (John 8:34). Hence, it is most essential for us to repent of our sins (Mt. 3:2) and continually sanctify our lives. This means obeying His commandments and His Word which are summed up in the first two commandments, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind” and you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:40). 1 Cor. 13 states that even if we have the gifts of the Spirit, gave everything we own and hand our body over, but we do not have love, we are nothing. The following will aid us love God and others as ourselves, most vital and the core of Christianity.
The first key to sanctification is daily and constant prayer (1 Thes. 5:16). Aside from repenting daily from our sins and asking for His forgiveness, let us acknowledge that He is our Savior and Lord of all areas of our lives, ask for His grace and the infilling of the Holy Spirit and declare that we will follow Him everyday of our life. These are embodied in the Miracle Prayer or the Prayer of Commitment which millions of Prayer Partners of Worldwide United Prayer for Christ pray daily together with 7 petitions (the first being the conversion of the world and sinners to Jesus). Prayer Partners are supported in daily prayer. See prayer card or flyer. Such prayer when sincerely prayed daily has blessed people with transformation, baptism of the Holy Spirit, material and spiritual blessings and miracles according to our feedback. See testimony on page 4. This is basically the same prayer several hundreds of thousands of Christians prayed when they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, received baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), a personal relationship with Jesus, blessings and miracles.
To pray constantly is to talk to our living Best Friend throughout the day.
“Listening to His words (reading the Bible daily) and acting on them” (Lk. 7:47) is the second key to sanctification or being Christlike. This equates to having the fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5:23 which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It is also obeying His commandments and His Word which gives us and our children long life and prosperity (Dt. 4:40), happiness (Dt. 6:24), protection and the ability to withstand life’s storms (Lk. 7:47). If we frequently inculcate in our mind the scripture that will help heal or solve our problems, sins or shortcomings, eventually these will be rooted out. He said in Jn. 15:7, “if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask what you want and it will be done for you.”
The third key to sanctification is service to God and His people. In. Dt. 7:13, His will and command is for us to serve Him and in Mt. 28:19 to “…make disciples of all nations.” In Jn. 21:17 he said, “Feed my sheep.” He wants everyone to be his disciples, be united with Him and have eternal happiness. Many could ask how they can serve Him when they are very busy working to provide for their livelihood. Our family are our first ‘nation” to evangelize. This might be a lot easier for people in some countries than others. Rather than provide for our family’s material needs alone, it is important for us to also teach and train our families to have good moral Christian character and values and be doers of the Word. We should also share the Good News and bring them to church. In addition, even those busy as beavers can easily pray daily for the conversion of the world and sinners to Jesus and for other people. Those who can make time can evangelize more extensively, do corporal works of mercy and work for the church. “God does wonders for His faithful one.” Ps.. 4:4 .
The fourth key to sanctification is receiving the Eucharist. By eating His body and drinking His blood we are in total union with Him. As He said in John 6:54, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life…” Healings have also been reported.
Joining prayer groups and communities is the fifth key. Here we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve Him better. Seven years after I received baptism in the Spirit and faithfully attended prayer meetings God gave me the gift of healing. Long before that He gave me gifts like leadership, teaching, prophecy, sharper wisdom and discernment, faith, tongues, etc. We also grow in holiness making our prayers more powerful (Ja. 5:16).
For the above to happen we need His grace, our surrender and docility to the Holy Spirit blended with our steadfast efforts and prayers. Let us implore Him, “Sanctify us, Lord.”
AROUND THE GLOBE
BRAZIL - Out of population of 165 million people there are an estimated eight million Catholic Charismatics with three million young people involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. There are over 460 prayer groups of 2,000 plus people. In San Paulo, the Mass draws 50,000 people every week.”
UNITED STATES - Nearly two years after the St. Louis Archdiocese (Missouri) began promoting it, every one of its 227 parishes has some form of Eucharistic Adoration: 24 perpetually, 125 weekly, and the rest at least monthly.”
*Excerpts from Praise Him, January. and March, 2000, Channing TX with permission
To Fr. Jim Coleman, our Volunteer Staff Pat Ickes, Pierina Pizzutti, Simi Tomsic, Phyllis Sizemore, Dr. Eufrosina Millan, Dr. Vivien Talisayon, Mina Reyes, General Enri and Celia Bulan. To cardinals, bishops and priests for their support. To leaders and members of prayer groups in USA, other countries and all others who gave financial and prayer support and helped promote Worldwide United Prayer for Christ and the Miracle Prayer.
VISIT OUR WEB SITE
www.worldpray.org Peruse in 11 languages the Miracle Prayer, newsletters, etc.