Category: Believing

My husband had a forty-five-minute commute to work through heavy traffic in a large city. We both agreed that it would be best for our family if we moved across town to make his commute shorter. We also needed a home with better parking to meet the needs of running a Branch and home fellowship for the ministry. My husband asked me to take on the task of finding us a new home that met our needs in the area we wanted. I happily agreed! The first thing I did was get clear and concerned like I have practiced for many years since taking my first Foundational Class, and I made a list of all the things we were looking for in a home. Some of the things on the checklist were: ample parking for fellowships and classes, enough room inside to run classes for the Branch, a guest room and office, a family-oriented neighborhood, and a community pool for our son to learn to swim and make friends. I then began the search online for homes for rent in the area to which we wanted to relocate. The choices were sparse, but I finally came across one that partially fit our criteria. It didn’t have all the things we were looking for, and going to see it was really a long shot, but because it was the only one I could find in the area where we wanted to move to, we decided to take believing action and take a look at the home.

I got in my van with my eighteen-month-old son and started the drive across town to see this home for rent. As I was driving, I began to get more convinced about the need to move so my husband didn’t have to drive through all of this heavy traffic. I arrived at the house early and sat outside waiting for my husband, who would be meeting me on his lunch hour. I wasn’t very impressed looking at the house from the outside and wasn’t even sure I wanted to go inside. As I was waiting, one of the neighbors came outside. I decided to get out of the car and ask him some questions about the house and the neighborhood. He was a very nice gentleman. After he filled me in on the area, he told me that if we don’t like the house we came to see, he had a beautiful home for rent right down the road if we wanted to go take a look. I was so excited at the possibility of going to see his rental home because the one in front of me was NOT very appealing.

Shortly after my husband arrived, we decided the house we came to look at wasn’t going to work for us and we didn’t even need to go inside it. So, we asked the neighbor if we could go see his home for rent instead. We got in our cars and followed him down the street. As we pulled up to the house, I knew right away this was going to be our new home! It was lovely and had EVERYTHING we needed to be able to run a fellowship and Branch from our home. All the items on our list were checked! It was Ephesians 3:20! It was above and beyond what we were looking for. God certainly blessed our believing action as we took steps in looking for a home. We never would have found this home had we not gone to look at the first one, even though it didn’t match all the criteria.

As we stay faithful to do all we know to do, God brings to pass the desires of our heart! We enjoyed living in that home for eight years and ran many fellowships and classes, and the community pool became a center of outreach for us as well. It was a wonderful home for us to move the Word together as a family!

I served in the United States Army for ten years, five of which were spent as an Army Special Forces operator. During my military service, I deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan four times. Each time I deployed, I saw God’s magnificent power protect me from harm as I faithfully stood for Him and believed to be victorious. I have driven over improvised explosive devices (IED) and they did not go off; I’ve had rockets land near me and not go off; I have had ammunition rounds land within an arm’s reach and not touch me; and I’ve been in situations where we were outnumbered and outgunned and everyone on my team walked away without a scratch.

One of the most tremendous incidents I experienced happened during my third deployment overseas. My team went on a mission that took place over the course of three days. Problems arose during the first two days that extended our timeline and put us in an area that we were not supposed to be operating in. On the second night, we found a nice hilltop overlooking a village, and our explosive ordnance disposal technicians (EOD) began to clear the hilltop to make sure there were no booby traps, mines, or any improvised explosives. After our EOD gave us the green light to occupy the hill, we set up our security perimeter, set up a guard roster, and stayed for the night.

When daylight hit, my team began to form a course of action to get us back to our base. It was then decided that one of our Afghan trucks would drive back the way we came to determine if there were any passable routes out of the valley we found ourselves in. When the truck took off down the hill, the rear tire popped. What was thought to be a possible flat tire turned out to be the detonation of a blasting cap on an enemy improvised explosive device (IED). This blasting cap was connected to 120 pounds of homemade explosives and was rigged in a way that was undetectable by our mine-detecting equipment. After analyzing the explosive, our EOD technicians reported that the chemicals in the device had gone bad, which is why it didn’t go off. Had the IED gone off properly, I and six other teammates (who happened to be standing ten meters away) would have been killed instantly. Out of twenty-three Americans on this mission, everyone would have been killed or wounded except for three. Talk about God protecting His own!

What an honor it is to be able to claim this victory! What a privilege it is to be able to know that our Father is always protecting us and is ready to answer our prayers! And what a great pleasure it is to share such an experience with the household so that I get the opportunity to build the believing of those around me! To God be the glory!

There are many incidents in my life where I applied the Word of God that I learned from The Way Ministry. And the application of that Word yielded great fruit. I can really see God’s hand throughout in my life. It started with having a godly mom. She was not instructed in The Way Ministry, but she loves God and did the Word to the best of her ability. Looking back on that, I can see how God worked in her to protect us and provide for us. God’s blessings continued as my brother went to college, where he met a believer from The Way Ministry. The believer witnessed to my brother, and my brother witnessed to my twin brother and me. I was about sixteen years old when I took the ministry’s Foundational Class. Getting my dad’s permission and having him pay for it was a miracle. Again, I can see God’s hand in my life. It was in the Foundational Class where I learned verses like Mark 11:23 and 24.

Mark 11:23,24:
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

I learned that “believing equals receiving.” I soon started applying the Word I learned from The Way Ministry. I grew up with little money, getting by with my mom working at Kmart and the little jobs I would get over the summer. My goal was to go to college without taking a loan, a goal instilled by my father and supported by the Word. I learned about living within my means, getting my needs and wants parallel, and of course abundant sharing and believing.

The day my twin brother and I planned to move in to college, we packed our stuff and drove up to the college. We went to the Financial Aid Department to see if all of our grants came in. For four years of high school, I worked to get good grades, I applied to all the scholarships I could find, worked and saved my money, and prayed and believed. The task was double because of my twin brother. The office told us we could not afford the college without taking a loan.

We went into our dorm room. We just sat there looking at something we thought we could not have. With melancholy, I volunteered to not go to school and to go to work so my twin brother could go without taking a loan. I then led a prayer for God to find a way. Then my father and brother and I left the dorm and drove back home. A day or two later, we got a new financial award letter. And God found a way for both my brother and me to go to college without taking a loan. Deliverance! God is always faithful. Regarding this victory, there are so many concepts and verses that the ministry taught me that I applied, that I cannot list them all.

But the victory did not end there. I also went to graduate school to get my master’s. This time there was an added challenge that certain grants and scholarships would not be available to me anymore because this was my second degree. I used the previous victory as a model. I had to work harder, but I was committed to not taking out a loan. By God’s grace and mercy, He found a way. I got different grants and a fellowship to pay for school. Six years, two degrees, and I left school with no debt. In fact, I left having made money. God is good—my loving heavenly Father, the Father of mercies, the Almighty. Thank God for The Way Ministry that taught me the Word about believing. Because of my victories at college, I continue to reap the benefits. Since graduate school, I continue to work in a profession related to that degree. I have supported myself and my family for years living that more than abundant life!

I Was Able to See God Meet My Need

I am very thankful for the things that I have learned from our ministry’s teachings. One of those things is believing God to meet my need. In Volume I of Studies in Abundant Living, The Bible Tells Me So, I learned that a big key to getting results to prayer is to get clear and concerned about what I want to see come to pass. I also learned that the power of prayer is magnified when we team up to believe for things.

Several months ago, I found out that my car needed a number of expensive repairs. Rather than spend all that money on my older vehicle, I decided that it would be better to save up for a more recent one. I had enough funds saved to start looking for a good-quality used vehicle, which was a good thing, as the condition of mine was getting progressively worse. I started my search, but couldn’t find anything that I liked. My wife reminded me to write down specifics—the model and even the range of years for the vehicle. She helped by looking on the Internet and found a few that fit the specifics. The next day I called to see if those were still available. Some were already sold, but I found one that was still available and arranged to see it. It was the right model, within the acceptable year range, in excellent condition, and had several luxuries that were beyond expectations. The salesperson also found out that the price had just dropped several hundred dollars, as they wanted it to sell. After it passed our mechanic’s prepurchase inspection, my wife and I agreed that it was a good deal, and bought it.

Without the Word that I had learned in this ministry, I would have most likely searched in an unclear fashion, which may have taken months. With the Word, I was able to see God meet my need by staying focused and believing together with my like-minded spouse.

God Was Able to Take Care of Me

There have been many principles of life I have learned since I have received an understanding from The Way Ministry of what God makes available through His Word.

Here’s one incident that is very vivid in my life, that I continue to share with others whenever they are challenged looking for employment. I had learned from the teaching that I received on believing that being clear and concerned about what you need is an important aspect of receiving anything from God. I had just moved into a new area, and I began to look for employment; but before I did that, I sat down and went through my living expenses and what I needed to live comfortably. When I ventured out, the first interview I had was with a company that had a good position for me, but their starting rate was below the amount I needed. After talking to the interviewer and sharing with this person the necessary need I had plus my ability, and expressing I would do the job above and beyond the normal, I was granted not only the job, but they were willing to raise the pay rate to accommodate my need also.

In future times, whenever I look for employment, because I saw how God was able to take care of me by my remaining clear and concerned on what I needed, I am confident that whenever I pursue different avenues of life, I will have the right tools to gain the desired results.

In the fall, I was relaxing in our apartment pool, enjoying the Labor Day holiday, when suddenly I felt like I was going to faint. I headed for the side of the pool but never made it. I passed out. My eight-year-old son noticed me floating facedown and attempted to pull me to the side of the pool.

I’m told that an adult passing by the pool area noticed the trouble and came in and assisted my son in pulling me out of the pool. By some miracle, I had not gotten any water in my lungs. The next thing I remember, I was out of the pool and was told that an ambulance was on the way. That made me mad because they are expensive. (Pretty silly.)

If my son hadn’t been there making a commotion, I surely would have drowned. The paramedics immediately assumed I had hit my head, and they put a neck brace on me.

I was taken to a hospital and put in a coma to slow brain activity. It just “happened” that the hospital where they took me had one of the top brain surgeons in the country.

Through a series of surgeries and rehab, I made a complete recovery and returned to work by January. No doubt this was due to a combination of much prayer and believing by so many people (people I didn’t even know), and my believing mind-set. It never even occurred to me that I wouldn’t be coming home and returning to work.

God was truly at work. My employer financially took care of us by making up the difference between what the insurance paid and my regular salary. My need was completely met.

I’m convinced that without the Word of God that I learned from this ministry, I would not be here today.

God Came Through Ephesians 3:20-Style!

I was definitely lost and without hope in this world when a loving Way Corps believer shared some fantastic Biblical truths with me. God saved my life through the Word I heard and readily believed from The Way Ministry classes and teachings. To learn that Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly thrilled my soul! Knowing that God loves me unconditionally and that in Him is NO darkness at all were only a few of the truths that set me free.

Throughout the thirty plus years I’ve stood with the ministry and continued to grow with God, He has done many amazing feats in my life. One such incident occurred when my young daughter was diagnosed with a condition that would require a serious surgery. I forced my mind over and over to remember and believe the truths I had been taught. Because of my relationship with my heavenly Father, I knew He would carry us through and that we would be victorious. A coworker had shared that her mother had this same procedure and ended up blind as a result! Fear tried to take over, but I knew that my God was not going to let that or anything else happen to my little girl. I believed for the best possible outcome, drove my mind to the Word I’d been taught, and engaged my fellowship coordinator to pray and believe with me.

God came through Ephesians 3:20-style! During a presurgery visit, the doctor was astonished to find no evidence, of any sort, that she ever had an issue. The x-rays were 100 percent clear. I was believing that the surgery would be a success, but God went WAY above and beyond that. What a loving and powerful God we serve.

It is such a blessing to experientially know God as my heavenly Father. I am forever thankful to Him for rescuing me and am excited to see His power manifested more and more in the days and years to come.

Inspired to Pursue a Nursing Career

Ever since high school, I wanted to become a nurse. Right after high school, I entered a trade school and became a surgical technician and then began working. That same year, I took our ministry’s Foundational Class, learning about the Bible for the first time in my life. Right after finishing the class, I received my first Way Magazine in the mail. That particular issue contained in-depth accounts of believers participating in the ministry’s yearlong outreach program. I devoured that issue.

Although I had been accepted into the pre-nursing program at a New England college, I decided to change my route and participate in an outreach program that focused on serving God’s Word to those who were hungering and thirsting for God. Thanks to our ministry’s many resources, I was able to study and understand God’s Word. Inspired through growth in God’s Word, I became a household fellowship coordinator, got married, and had two children.

After a few years, I was again inspired to pursue a nursing career. My husband and I discussed the cost of my schooling. We were uncertain that we could afford it, but I was determined I could accomplish it debt-free. With continued prayer and believing and the promises of God’s Word in mind like Psalms 37:4 and 5: “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass,” I did the diligent work of discovering all the private and public scholarships that were available, including federal and state grants. I worked part-time at the hospital and received tuition reimbursement. I filled out many applications, I wrote many letters, and I made many follow-up phone calls to my school’s financial-aid office as well as many other offices willing to provide funds. As a result, I was able to pay for tuition, books, and supplies and had enough left over for child-care costs for our preschooler. God abundantly supplies our need. God’s Word works!!

I’d been standing faithfully on God’s Word for seventeen years when I found myself a single mom with two young boys, four years old and nine months old. This was certainly not a situation I desired or ever envisioned for my life. With the help of wise counsel from my ministry leadership, I moved to a different area of the country to heal and start fresh. I chose the specific area I moved to so I could be close to a Way Corps couple who’d known me when I was a young believer in college. The wife and I were dear friends, and I knew they would believe with me during the challenges ahead.

I thought back to how God had cared for me in the past as I stood on His Word. This wasn’t the first time that I’d had to trust God to be my sufficiency in a challenging situation. I recalled when I had just taken the Foundational Class and decided to stand on the accuracy of the Word I was taught. This decision came with the need to become self-reliant; so at eighteen years old I moved out of my parents’ home and began living on my own, financially independent of them. God supplied my need again and again during that time, with believers to live with, jobs to work heartily at, college scholarships so I could complete my chemistry degree debt-free, and a great job in my profession after I graduated. I had proven the promises of God before and stood faithfully. Surely God would be with me again as I faced this upset in my life!

A family of faithful believers welcomed us into their home to stay until I was back on my feet. The mom even provided in-home day care for my boys. I’d been a stay-at-home mom for the past four years, but now needed to find full-time employment to support my family. I had a goal to secure a job within two weeks. Although I was diligent to take believing action to apply for jobs in my field as a chemist, no doors were opening. Because I was determined to secure a job by my two-week deadline, I applied for and got a job with a fast-food restaurant. When I got home from securing that job, I received a call from a temporary staffing agency that I’d previously contacted after seeing a job opening for a customer service representative for a scientific product distributor. They were specifically looking for people with degrees in chemistry or biology.

The temp agency scheduled me for an interview with the company on the day I was to start at the fast-food restaurant. I contacted the restaurant and received permission to start a day later. I went on the interview and got the job! (Needless to say, I called the fast-food restaurant and let them know I would need to decline their position.) I worked as a temp for three months, was then hired on full time, and still, over twenty years later, am with this same company and have worked my way up into management. As I’ve heard it said before, “God’s never late! He cuts corners pretty close sometimes, but He is never late!”

God supplied my need abundantly with housing, day care, and a job. I improved my mental tenacity to believe the promises of God, moment by moment, living one day at a time. I was determined to raise my boys in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, doing the best I could as a single mom. Today I can see how I lived this quote from the Give and Share Series booklet Refusing to Quit: Faithful to Believe: “Life can be, and is at times, filled with challenges that many times are beyond our control, but we can always decide to believe the Word of God that applies to our specific situation.” No matter the circumstance, no matter the situation, God is there and His Word is faithful to come to pass as we believe it. Because of the Word of God I’ve learned in The Way Ministry, I was able to overcome and be victorious.

I was so blessed with the clarity and simplicity of the teachings that were given through the Power for Abundant Living foundational class and other programs and publications in The Way Ministry. After taking the class, I was deployed with the Special Land Forces Commandos (BIR) on the eastern border and then in the northern region of Cameroon: two very remote areas where my isolation from the household was complete. I had only two elements with which to stand, God in Christ in me, manifested by speaking in tongues abundantly, and the Bible. I had learned in the Bible that the Word of God is the will of God.

Thanks to the Word of God that had been taught to me, I knew how to receive anything from God. I had learned to believe rightly and had built up great experience in this field. Everything I asked God for in my personal life, I received.

Romans 10:10:
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

My need to be assigned to a place where I could have access to the resources of the ministry and to the fellowship of the saints was now clear. In July 2008, I began to be clear and concerned in my prayers. At the end of 2008, God answered my prayers with a promotion to the BIR command post in Yaoundé, the capital.

In 2009, I got married, and my wife and I fellowshipped with the household of believers. With great interest, I took the whole series on The Way of Abundance and Power. It allowed me to understand how God so wonderfully equipped us with His Word and His spirit so that we lack nothing.

I continue to build spiritual maturity by keeping God first in my life, by reading and studying His Word daily, and by manifesting His gift. The heart and commitment of my family is to serve God and His people, not because necessity is imposed upon us, but out of love, in recognition of what He has manifested to us in Christ, making us His children.

I Thessalonians 2:8:
So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.

My appetite for the Word of God remains big. The more I know this Word, the easier I can give it to those who hunger and thirst for the truth.

May God continue to abundantly bless the ministry of The Way International which teaches us God’s rightly divided Word.

Does God care about your grades in school? If you do, then He does. As a student, time is crucial; but as a young, spiritually developing believer, time for God, His Word, and His people adds a whole new dimension to scheduling.

Many incidents come to mind of how God blessed me in making good grades, but one stands out from my first year in college. We had a large ministry meeting over the weekend. I had a big test the following Monday. After much studying and memorizing for a math test, there were a few formulas that were challenging to remember. I did my best to prepare. I remember having a thought to write down on my test paper as soon as I got it in my hands all the challenging formulas while they were fresh in my mind. That way I wouldn’t have to think about them anymore through the test.

Everything I wrote down on the test paper was needed to answer the questions! God worked in me for complete success. We aced it! That set a precedent for me to work hard and believe big. God always came through.

After almost two decades of running my own construction business, I decided I wanted to do something different for a living. For over a year, my wife and I prayed for this while still successfully running our company. A heart’s desire was to teach and train others using my experience and education in this field.

One day, I had the thought to call a local trade school near us and see if they had any positions available. I left a message with one of the school’s executives expressing my desire to teach and asking if they could use my help. Before the day ended, the president of the organization called to inform me that they just had a position open up and to invite me in for an interview the next day.

Not only did he say I was a perfect fit for the job, he offered me the position on the spot. I checked with my wife and we decided I would take the job, but we needed a higher salary than what was offered. When I informed him what I needed, he replied, “Yes. I can make that happen.” I would be teaching students from different high schools an introduction to the construction trades. Not only am I now on the same schedule as my wife, but I also have summers off. No one can deny that God worked mightily to get the perfect job for me. He supplies all our need, always!