Keep On Walking II

Keep On Walking II I want to clarify some things from my last post. I started New Disciples Ministry on June 11th, 2008 with a handful of friends. Since then, I've made many friends through Myspace, Facebook and my website www.newdisciplesministry.com . It's amazing when you're hearing all the ups and downs of peoples' walk with God from all over the world. I hear from friends in the United States of course, but also from India, Australia, Israel, Latvia, The Phillippines, and more. We get to tell each other about the beautiful things we've seen the Lord do in peoples' lives and some of the horrible attacks the enemy has made as well. We've heard of how churches have banded together to help victims of disaster. We've also heard of the division among churches that keep them from fellowshipping with each other and that has torn some apart. We share news about how church members received miraculous healings from God through the prayers of loved ones and we share about how friends have been hurt by fellow church members as well. I know of people who have been cured of cancer by the Lord through the prayers of church family and friends. I also know of people who have had to search for new churches because someone twisted the good works they were trying to do and turned it into a lie in order to hurt them. There's no greater feeling than to see the hand of God touch someone in your life and heal them or save them. There's hardly a worse feeling than to see someone who has been hurt by the church, the one place that a person should feel is their refuge. During the Follow Me Tour, me and the other five guys I travel with have shared a lot of these stories the last couple of months. It feels so good when we talk about the movement of God we're seeing that so many people don't realize is going on right now. It'also really hurts when I see my brothers, Godly men, tell me of how they have been hurt by churches in their lives as well. I know the feeling. I've seen God work miracles in healing the sick and saving the lost and I've seen my childhood church torn in half by jealousy and lies. I've personally witnessed churches helping drug addicts with food and counseling and I've had people I've known most of my life put me down because I go to a different church than they do. I vented this frustration in my blog called "Keep On walking" the other night, then noticed that there were twelve deleted spaces on my friends list. I don't even know who it was that deleted themselves. All of my close friends and ministries that I work with are still on here. Maybe someone felt convicted for what I wrote and didn't like it or maybe Myspace deleted their accounts for some reason. Maybe someone thought I was aiming my words at them, which is strange because I was talking about some things that happened to me months, even years ago and others that happened to friends on the other side of the world. All I know, is that I don't launch personal attacks on anyone. I write about what is on my mind and more importantly about what God has put on my heart. If someone doesn't like that, there's nothing I can do about it. I make no apologies for what I write. I never mention names or point fingers no matter how or when I feel someone I love or myself have been wronged. When I say someone I love, it could be my mom's church experience from my childhood, my loved ones' experience of being judged by strangers on the streets, my brothers from the tour being hurt by someone over the years, or my friends in Arizona, or India, or Latvia, and so on. The thing is, that no matter what kind of negative event we come across in our in our walk with God, it's far outweighed by the movement of the Lord in our lives. We all have scars from things that have been done to us by people 'playing church'. Those I think hurt the worst. You don't go to church expecting to get hurt and I've listened to a lot of people tell me lately about that happening to them and I've experienced it lately myself in planning events and running into opposition. I've felt that hurt and know how bad it stings. I also know how amazing and humbling it felt the day that God touched me, convicted me, forgave me, and saved me. All of us need to remember that. Like I said before, when the enemy lays something in your path, you've got to shake it off and keep on walking. Thank you to all of my friends, for all of your support of my ministry. I pray that God continues to bless you in your lives and l the lives of those you love, Amen. Your brother in Christ, Pete. Pete 8-5-09