June 2022 Newsletter
Living Encounters
Our desire here is not to teach a formula. It’s not that there aren’t Biblical principles, because there are. But intimacy with God is the real model that Jesus gave us.
JOHN 5:17; 19-20
“My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working. Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”
JOHN 15:9;15
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
We learned from Jesus that the Father is always working. We are His friends, and He desires to show us what He is doing. But we need to consciously revolve our lives – every experience, every encounter, every fast food order, every stoplight, every fillup at the gas station, every telemarketer – around the awareness of His presence and the subtleties of His voice. Because His very desire is to speak – and He is already speaking – we need to draw from Him as our center.
How do we build this kind of awareness?
WALKING WITH COFFEE
Have you ever walked with a full cup of coffee or anything hot for that matter? How do you walk when you walk with coffee? You don’t run of course. But you can get around. But you walk cautiously. Every step you take, you walk with the cup of coffee in mind. You look ahead and see the pitfalls. You look out for swinging doors. You’re not only thinking about the coffee, but it’s amazing how the cup of coffee can stay in the forefront of our mind.
In the same way, every step we take is with the awareness of the presence of God, with sensitivity to His voice, and with a conviction of what we carry in our hands.
And we can go about our day and totally be effective in our jobs and do regular life with this level of awareness.
And if we find ourselves having walked on in our day without this kind of awareness, we can stop and ask God: “Daddy, make me aware of your presence. Show me what You’re doing. Show me where you are, right here; right now.
THE HOLY SPIRIT SPEAKS
Our intimacy with God is always going to put us in the crosshairs of where God is and what He’s doing. But it’s important for us to realize that God doesn’t necessarily speak to us in the way we’d like Him to, nor does He encounter us in the same way every time.
HOW DO I KNOW I’M NOT MAKING THIS UP?
First, a word of encouragement: your make-it-upper is right next to your revelator.
When God speaks, He generally speaks to us in our imagination. I mean, that’s the reason He created the imagination in the first place. We don’t access God just in our minds. He has lofty thoughts and ways. And many of His ways will insult our minds.
Often words and impressions from God are very faint. He uses a still small voice. Still small voices are a mark of intimacy. Booming voices are not. Don’t be offended. God shares His secrets to the ones who are His friends. So learn to enjoy His whisper.
Even if a word, a vision, a physical impression isn’t loud, look for a certain weightiness and quality and texture about it that is different from your own.
Faith is a risk. You will take risks with words. You will miss them sometimes. But more often than not, we’ll misinterpret them. But it’s all part of learning His voice.
- Paul Dabdoub
Paul and his wife Jessica have been ordained with TDC for nearly 11 years. They are living and loving in Arroyo Grande CA with their girls and running their business and ministry.
This month we would like to feature Rick and Maria Sainz of Red Seal Ministries in San Diego.
Rick and Maria were ordained as with TDC in 2015. Around this time they were hosting a home fellowship from the Rock Church. After an overflow of 100 people squeezed in their home for these meetings each week, they decided to move the gatherings to Clairemont Christian Fellowship. At that time the gatherings tripled in size. They’ve been stewarding these weekly Tuesday night meetings there for the last seven years. Each week many are being saved, healed and delivered with notable signs and wonders to follow the preaching of the gospel.
Red Seal is a non profit organization and holds meetings and outreaches throughout San Diego. It is an apostolic hub hosting revival meetings and focusing on equipping the body of Christ. They minister in churches all over San Diego area igniting people into their destiny preaching the full gospel of Jesus Christ with the demonstration of power and signs, wonders and miracles following. Their desire is to see the kingdom advanced by igniting and equipping the body of Christ into their true Identity. Then, as sons and daughters, they’ll walk out their call and destiny with confidence and power to ignite others.
Recently, we’ve sensed a shift in the ministry to change our meetings to Saturday revival meetings focusing on His presence and honoring Holy Spirit in the meetings. We launch or first Saturday meeting on July 2nd at 6 pm at Clairemont Christian Fellowship. We'll continue to utilize the Tuesday nights for Red Seal Revival School which will be set aside for equipping and training. www.redsealministries.com
We are still looking forward to hearing from more TDCordained leaders. Stay connected; What is God doing; Share your testimony! info@thirddaychurches.com