* GOD MOMENT: 9/11

Scheduled for months to be in the New York area for an important meeting on September 11, 2001, I began to hear these words in prayer about six weeks ahead when I prayed about the coming meeting: “Don’t make any plane reservations, don’t make any hotel reservations, don’t drive.”

These words came several times during prayer over the weeks as September 11 approached, sometimes in abbreviated form: ‘No airplane reservations, no hotel reservations, don’t drive.” 

Since the appointment was so important, involved many people, and could not easily be changed, I asked my minister and his wife to come to the house to discuss and to pray.  All seemed dumbfounded at what might happen if I did not show up at the meeting.  One said, “You can’t go!”  And the other said, “You have to go!”

Finally, Cathy and I made the decision to fly up several days ahead so as to already be in the area on September 11.  The morning of the 11^th, we went to the sight of the meeting.  As we walked on our way through the lobby of a building across the street, we were drawn by a stranger’s alarm to a television set in the lobby lounge.  And we stood there, silent, watching on the television the horrible scenes of airplanes striking the World Trade Center.  A man at a nearby table prayed, thinking this was the end of the world.

We just stood watching for several minutes.  Once in a while we would look at each other and nod.  After a while we walked on to the building of our meeting.  In short order a plane crashed into the Pentagon.  Our meeting was canceled for the day.

God had warned us.  We weren’t even supposed to be near.

Copyright © 2018 by John Newlin

[NOTE:  This article may and should be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with appropriate attributions included (including the copyright and the ministry contact information).  It may also be quoted in part as long as appropriate attributions are given.  We in fact encourage you to do all this and to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.]                     

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

(All contributions to John Newlin Ministries, Inc. – whether money or material goods or stocks or bonds – are tax deductible.  John Newlin Ministries, Inc. is a 501 © 3 nonprofit corporation.)

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Email: info@johnnewlinministries.org       Twitter.com/johnnewlinmin       
Blog:  johnnewlin.blogspot.com

* GOD MOMENT: SIGN OF THE DOVE

Cathy and I had long loved the beach environment and we one day finally realized we could live and work there.  Our goal was to find a house close to the ocean with a good view.  But after weekends of driving two hundred miles from our home and then searching and finding little that fit our desires or pocketbooks, we were becoming a bit depressed.  Finally, we decided to rank what we had found.  Two houses came out at the top of the list.

A second-row house had a great view but a walk-through revealed wood floors suffering from water damage, repair work underway on interior walls and floors, and a general musty smell.

The other house had been decorated by someone with great taste and flair, but it had no ocean view, and huge threatening dogs lived in a pen backing up to it. 

We turned to prayer, seeking God’s guidance.  One day I came home from work to hear these words from Cathy: “I think our house has something to do with the word, ‘dove.’  That’s what I keep hearing when I pray.  And I also hear it is “farther down the beach.”

So we returned to the shore yet another weekend.  We scoured maps and searched everywhere for Dove Street, Dove Avenue, just any street that included the name dove, or for a development with that name.  We also looked farther down the beach.  Nothing was found. 

Just before driving home, we visited a house under construction.  It was a few hundred feet from the ocean, on about the fifth row of houses.  As we looked about, the couple that lived across the street came to meet us.  After telling us how wonderful the neighborhood was, the husband said, “We would pay fifty thousand dollars just for the right to live in this neighborhood.”  Quite an endorsement.

The next weekend we returned and drove again to the house under construction.  We had by now realized it was indeed “farther down the beach,” about four blocks farther down. 

Cathy and I walked through the construction rubble into the house.  The rooms were taking shape, and the wood sub floors were down.  As I looked about the main living area, Cathy continued out the back door.

Suddenly in a firm but not loud voice, I heard her say, “John, come out here.”

I walked to where she was standing.  She had a finger at her lips, motioning me to be quiet.

Cathy said not a word but pointed down to the right.  There standing quietly and looking back at us was a dove, a real, living dove.  For a moment we were overcome and absolutely still, looking at the beautiful bird and realizing the incredible hand of God.

We quickly checked out the entire house and even climbed onto a high unfinished deck.  No stairs had yet been built so we had to use a ladder.  Once there, we stood in awe, shocked by a spectacular view of the ocean.

We bought that house, the house farther down the beach, the house of the dove, the house to which Cathy had been guided.  It was also the house with our desired view of the ocean and, as has proven to be the case and as we were told, with a great neighborhood.  God is so good!

                                                                          Copyright © 2017 by John Newlin

[NOTE:  This article may and should be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with appropriate attributions included (including the copyright and the ministry contact information).  It may also be quoted in part as long as appropriate attributions are given.  We in fact encourage you to do all this and to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.]

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

All contributions to John Newlin Ministries, Inc. – whether money or material goods or stocks or bonds – are tax deductible.  John Newlin Ministries, Inc. is a 501 © 3 nonprofit corporation.

P. O. Box 15797, Wilmington, NC 28408       910 395 1465        

www.johnnewlinministries.org

Email: info@johnnewlinministries.org       Twitter.com/johnnewlinmin      

Blog: johnnewlin.blogspot.com

A WORD

[Received Late At Night, February 12 ]

God puts kings in places.

And God takes them from their thrones.

He has people elected to positions.

And he has people lose elections.

And still the people struggle.

Still they wonder,

Those that ask at all.

Over and over the people fail tests.

They do not hear his prophets.

They do not see his words in action.

People ask,

            Has God done anything since

            Jesus and the disciples?

It is all as God has said to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:9-10).

It is all as Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 4:4).

And the few, the remnant, who

See God’s actions, who hear

His voice, who see the miracles

And the healings,

Who live in peace with God but struggle

In distress at the world and those

Around,

They wonder:  How long, O Lord, How Long?

Soon.

I am coming soon.

Yes, He is.

Real soon.  The evidence is in.

The prophecies fulfilled.

He is coming soon.

And still the people stumble.

Still they murmur.

Will they ever repent?

Will they ever learn?

Only God knows.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).

It is true.

Yet their ears, their hearts

Can’t hear the knowledge,

Can’t receive the truth.

They don’t even give it

An opportunity.

Narrow is the way

And few are they who find it (re Matthew 7:14).

So true.

The Lord will come with a shout,

An angel’s call, a trumpet blast,

And the dead in Christ will rise first.

To do what?  Walk the earth?

Who knows?

Then we who are still alive

Will together with them meet

Christ in the clouds.

And there we will be with Him forever.

God – our God.  Our Lord.

It is a remnant.

A remnant.

With a last second revival.

How many more?

A remnant for now.

And the time is running out.

If you do not stand in your faith,

you will not stand at all (Isaiah 7:9b).

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

                                                                                               (March 2017)

                                                                                       Copyright © 2017 by John Newlin

                                                                                                                                        

[NOTE:  This article may and should be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with appropriate attributions included (including the copyright and the ministry contact information).  It may also be quoted in part as long as appropriate attributions are given.  We in fact encourage you to do all this and to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.]

P O Box 15797, Wilmington, NC 28408       910 395 1465      

www.johnnewlinministries.org

                  Email: info@johnnewlinministries.org       Twitter.com/johnnewlinmin    

                                        Blog:  johnnewlinblogspot.com

* LISTEN TO GOD

Simple to say.  Wonderful Advice.  The key is to do it! 

We all know every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ should pray regularly and should keep his spiritual ears open to hear the Lord.  God will speak through the words of the Bible certainly.  He will speak through circumstances and events, and even through other people.  And he will just speak to you in real words.  My experience is that most of this occurs in that famous still small voice of God that you alone will hear.  Sometimes though he might speak to you in an audible voice, or at least a voice that to you is bold and audible whether it really is or not.

What else can you do of more importance than to truly live a life of prayer and always, always be in an attitude of listening expectantly for God’s word, for his guidance?

Anyone who has followed us has heard or read of instances in my life where the Lord has spoken.  I only write or speak about a few as appropriate to what I am writing.  And too, some of God’s words are just for me, or for Cathy and me.

Let me present one great example of the Lord’s speaking to me.  It occurred in August and September of 2001.  Cathy and I had an important meeting scheduled near New York City for September 11 of that year.  It involved many people and had been fixed for some time.

About six weeks prior to that date, one day while sitting quietly in prayer about that upcoming meeting, God spoke:  “No need to make airline or hotel reservations…”  That’s what he said.

Then in succeeding weeks he spoke again and again on this.  Always the words contained advice about taking no airplane.  Sometimes they included no hotel and no car.

All in all, he spoke about five or six times on this.

Needless to say Cathy and I were concerned about these words from God and about the meeting.  We even invited over the minister of the church we were attending and his wife.  They were obviously amazed.  One said “You can’t go!”  The other said “You have to go!” 

So we pondered and prayed.

Finally we made what seemed sensible from a human standpoint.  We flew to the area early, before September 11.  And then we took a hotel quite a few miles away and rented a car. 

So on September 11 we were there, in a city outside New York City, and we drove to the place of our scheduled meeting.  We parked in a garage, got out and walked through a tall hotel on the way to the building of the meeting.  While walking through the lobby we encountered a television set blaring in the lounge in the bar, and one or more people standing rapt in attention watching.  We stopped.  The television was showing an airplane flying into the World Trade Center.  It was quiet.  A man at a nearby table prayed out loud.  The moment was overwhelming.  Cathy and I looked at the television and at each other.

Soon quietly we stumbled on to the place of our meeting.  A few minutes there and we heard another plane had hit the World Trade Center and one had hit the Pentagon.  The meeting was postponed.

Cathy and I left.  Later in the day I telephoned the minister back home.  Simple comment.  “Did you see what happened?”  Of course he had.  No words fit.

God had warned Cathy and me over and over about 9/11.  He never told me what was to happen, but he told me what we needed to do to protect ourselves.  In terms of the gifts of the Spirit, this could be called a gift of knowledge, and perhaps also a gift of prophecy.  It was a warning to us about an event to happen, and thank God we at least adjusted our travel plans. 

In these difficult days leading up to the Lord’s return, we all need as much of God’s guidance as he will give us.  Listen to God.  Ask him to speak.  Seek him.  He will be found by those who seek him.

Who knows the truth but God?  Who knows the future but God?  Who cares more for you than God?

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

                                                                                              (December 2016)

                                                                                          Copyright © 2016 by John Newlin

[NOTE:  This article may and should be copied, printed, or forwarded by email to others so long as it is copied, printed, or forwarded in its entirety with the appropriate attributions included (including the copyright and the ministry contact information).  It may also be quoted in part as long as appropriate attributions are given.  We in fact encourage you to do all this and to give printed copies to those who you know would benefit and do not have access to computers.]

P O Box 15797, Wilmington, NC 28408       910 395 1465      

www.johnnewlinministries.org

           Email: info@johnnewlinministries.org       Twitter.com/johnnewlinmin     

                                     Blog:  johnnewlinblogspot.com