The Power of Prayer

In January 2010, Pastor Ron Crum from King's River Worship Center in St. Albans, WV was at the MCM Ministry School teaching. One of the mornings, I was leading prayer at our Prayer School and afterwards he approached me and asked if I could come down and lead corporate prayer at his church. I agreed at once. We have since then tried to work out our schedules and now happened to be the opportune time.

Since Monday night I have lead the congregation here in prayer for an hour each evening and we are already seeing the power of prayer in action. The first evening was beautiful and there was such a Spirit of Prayer in the sanctuary. Time passed as we drew near to the master and entered into the throne room. That night we ended up by praying for Pastor Ron and his wife Phyllis. On her way home, she was rear ended. The culprit drove off from the scene. But Phyllis kept on hearing the word protection ring in her inside. She stepped out of the car without any injury. Witnesses of the accident were expecting her to be severely hurt but instead angels kept her safe.

Friends, there is such a power in prayer. Our lives need to be based on prayer. At present Mission SOS is in a forty day fast. God moves when we seek him. We are praying for breakthroughs in many areas and we are seeing the results already.

If you want to be fit and have a fine trimmed body, you need to spend time at a gym and exercise those muscles in your body. Sometimes even push yourself beyond your limit. The same is true for our spirits. For us to be spiritually strong we need to exercise our spirits through prayer. You need to build up your spiritual stamina through hours in prayer.

Paul wrote to his son Titus to build himself up in his most holy faith while praying in the Holy Spirit. Tit 1:20. We need to pray a lot in the Spirit, building ourselves up so that we become strong warriors in the Kingdom of God. 

The End Time harvest is at hand and we are privileged to live in this times. We will see the greatest harvest of souls that the world has ever seen and then our King, Jesus Christ, will return and take us home. 

Will it be easy? NO. Will it be worth the fight? YES. But we need to be prepared.

Soldiers train more during peace times. When the time comes for battle they need to be ready. Are you ready for the battle? Take the challenge! Step up to the plate! It is time for warriors to arise and take the world for our King! 

If you feel inadequate and poorly equipped for the task at hand then I urge you to come to MCM Ministry School and be trained for a year for the End Time harvest.

Hope to C U in Pittsburgh in the near future!

/Peter

Published: By: The Almqvists - 4:46 PM

Building the Kingdom!

Lately I've been thinking a lot about what we do when we build the Kingdom of God, and what it means to be a part of just that. The Kingdom of God is HUGE and great and I'm so honored to be a part of it, but every Kingdom is made up of little bits and pieces, or bricks you could say. There is no great building that just "started to exist" and that is all in one piece from the start... You have to start building, digging for the foundation, laying the foundation, then laying brick after brick after brick - until the building is great and huge.

The Kingdom of God is the same way, the brick is you and me, and what we do for the Lord. When we do our very best, whatever task we have in front of us, whether it's mothering your kids, taking care of your home, helping your neighbor, preaching, working as a nurse, lawyer or an admin assistant, we are laying yet another brick to what is the Kingdom of God. So it's so important that we serve the Lord with all our heart, always trying to do our uttermost best, to be excellent AND dependant on God! Sometimes when I am doing something that I don't think of as very significant or important I try to remind myself; I'm laying another brick to the Kingdom - and all of a sudden the task that I thought was quite boring becomes more fun :)!


Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters...

Col 3:23

You are a Kingdom builder - be meticulous, excellent and serve with a heart full of gratitude, in the Holy Spirit you can!

/Martina

Published: By: The Almqvists - 2:25 PM

Great Buy!

A few weeks ago Johannes Amritzer released his fourth book; A Public Spectacle. This is a great book about the ministry of the Apostle that I greatly recommend! Here's a little appetizer on what you'll find in the book:

Paul uses the words “a public spectacle” to describe the ministry of the apostle. Today, almost 2000 years later, that description can still be applied. The apostle is often slandered, jeered at and strongly questioned. Few are bold enough, and enough aware of their callings, to follow Paul’s lead and entitle themselves Apostle.



This book is a simple Bible study about the apostolic ministry. What is an apostle? What is his purpose? The book shows what characterizes an apostle and what victories await him who dares to take his calling seriously. It is an encouragement to all the church planters out there, and all the pioneer missionaries among the unreached peoples. The book is an inspiration to apostles who feel like fools for Christ – just like Paul. In this public spectacle, you are in good company!


This book is only $10, so order your copy today! Email usoffice@missionsos.org asap!

/Martina Published: By: The Almqvists - 3:18 PM

Met a Hero Today

Today I met a true hero; her name is Sarah Graefe and she is a missionary that just came home from Harar, Ethiopia. Sarah spent the last 9 months in the city of Harar working as a SOS missionary. She has many wonderful stories to tell about her time there, and when I asked her if she had any questions about her stay there her answer came quickly; "when can I go out again?!"



Sarah is a true missionary, her heart, love and passion for people shines all around her, she is like a magnet that draws people to her and leads them to Jesus! She has done a tremendous job, working at the mission base and also heading up the childrens ministry in Harar Church of Joy. Sarah, we couldn't be prouder of you, you are amazing and we know that many many will thank you in eternity for showing them the way to Jesus!

Welcome home!

/Martina Published: By: The Almqvists - 10:19 PM

Jersey Shore and Heavenly Fire

In Acts chapter one we can read about a group of 120 disciples that had locked themselves behind doors. They were hiding in the upper room. Hiding from what you may ask? Or from who? They were scared to death because they had believed that Jesus was the deliverer. And after he died and rose from dead They were accused of fabricating
his resurrection and were scared of their fellow country men, the Jews.

Reading chapter two we see the disciples preaching boldly on the streets about Jesus and them seeing thousands turn from darkness to light and receive salvation.

Question is: what happened? The answer is found in the first couple of verses of chapter two.

Holy Spirit showed up. Looked like fire. Sounded like a thunderstorm. Changed everything. Why did Holy Spirit come? First of all because Jesus said he would. But also so that we could win the world.

When Holy Spirit comes over us we are dipped in Jesus' river of liquid fire and we come out burning. That fire
- eradicates fear
- makes us bold for our King.
- shakes the ground we stand on
- enables us to win the world

This weekend is Pentecost. The Jews celebrated Pentecost as a feast of the harvest. Today Pentecost needs to be all about the harvest again; not wheat and corn but souls, souls and more souls.

I am in Lakewood, NJ with Pastor Wes Lindquist and Ricky George. They are treating me like a king. Today we had lunch at Surf Taco




Last night Ricky hosted a Pentecostal Youth Rally and my friend Greg Hubbard preached. Wow! The man can preach. He only has one gear: full speed ahead. He preached out of Num 16:42-50 where Moses and Aaron stopped the plague.

In the altar ministry time we prayed for baptisms in the Holy Spirit. Many began speaking in tongues for the first time. I prayed with several (Gypsies) teenager boys and they were baptized in fire.

When we say yes to Jesus we are on our way to heaven. But there is so much more to life than that and in order for us to experience the full life of God we need to be dipped in that river of liquid fire. The world needs Christians that are burning with that heavenly fire. Those people will change the world

Tomorrow I am preaching at Calvary Lighthouse on the Fire of God and why we preach the Gospel. It is Pentecost weekend and we need the fire.

C u soon

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Published: By: The Almqvists - 2:09 PM

Walmart has the answer to everything?

Saw this commercial today - thought it was just so great!!!



/Martina Published: By: The Almqvists - 10:06 PM

A Mama's Saturday :)

Started this Saturday early, got my coffee, packed lots of snacks (I'm talking like 20 different ones :)) and then got all kids dressed and in the van. Time for horseriding lessons for Josefina at 09:00 - in Zelienople (about a 40 min drive from our house). Got there, great times, got to talk to one of the moms whose daughters are riding too. She is wonderful!

At 10:00 - back in the van. Run to Walmart to get a few things and then off to Fox Chapel for Michael's soccer game. Got lost in Fox Chapel :) not very unusual for me, and Michael made it to second half of the game. (I should say that after asking for directions the second time, and still not finding the soccer field, I was almost in tears...) Well there I met a wonderful couple whose son plays on the same team as Michael, we had a good time. Then off to a birthday party and now I'm home!

The other day I felt a little lonely since Peter's not home, but I guess I just didn't look around hard enough to really SEE all the amazing people that God placed in my life. Today I think I did, and guess what? IT WAS WONDERFUL! God has placed so many awesome people in our lives, sometimes we are just too busy with everything (and sometimes too busy with minstry...) to really see, spend time and enjoy them, but they really are there the entire time. Thank you Jesus for all the great people and things you have given me!

Just had to post this latest pic of my little princess!

/Martina Published: By: The Almqvists - 3:49 PM