With power and with the Holy Spirit

I am constantly reminded how narrow my vision is. I have a cheerleader, go getter, mentality and so things that often seem impossible or at least really difficult to others present a fun challenge for me. But, I'm also human so when I can't see the future and my day dreams have ceased to be romantic I  need fresh vision to keep me going.

We all need a little pep squad action from time to time. I have come to experience an almost continual refreshing and renewing of my mind in the Holy Spirit.

A while back I did a few posts on mountain top experiences. I wasn't able to really bring those thoughts to a conclusion because there was something missing in the context of the value of both the mountain and the valley. Additionally, I could not explain how to get and stay there. I realize now why. I can't get there and stay there.

My son said something relatively childlike but with profound significance to this subject. He said "I know why God didn't create us with super powers in the beginning." I said "Why is that?" His reply, "Because if he created us with super powers in the beginning then they wouldn't be super powers they would just be normal."

So too with the Holy Spirit. If we were born with the Holy Spirit, his power in us would not be anything new or significant because everyone would have it. But by a baptism of the Holy Spirit we can receive a renewing of our minds, even if we are already born again.

Picture this: Two born again Christians living out their lives in faith and in accordance with God's design. They do their best to be obedient to him and be in the world but not of the world. They are faithful to their church, prayerful about their work, finances, home, and children, and recognize God's calling on their lives to ministry. Sounds like a pretty good deal. But what if the couple is missing the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. That great intercessor, the still small voice, the ability to act out the power of God! Missing that part of the trinity can really narrow their vision.

These are just some out loud thoughts as we seek to be obediently sold out to God. Have you found something lacking in your desire to follow God?

Where our help comes from

We are not being given a salary by our mission sending organization nor are we fully funded by our sending church. There are all different kinds of ways that missionaries get to the mission field. The way God has called us to serve is by raising our own funds (or salary).

There are many advantages to this way of mission funding.

• It frees us up to do exactly what God is calling us to do. We can prayerfully follow the unique vision he has given us for planting Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Japan. We will not be employees with a standard job description.
• As independent missionaries we are not tied to denominationalism. We will be vision casting among many different churches within Japan and hope to make this a united cause.
• Our accountability responsibility is to our partners in ministry. Our quarterly newsletters, monthly email updates (coming soon), and one on one visits with our partners allow us to keep everyone up to date with ministry happenings as well as how the provided financials are being spent.
• Our mission sending organization provides prayer, support, and insight, as well as financial accountablility. They do not provide a job description. They are a part of our support team.

We truly are grateful for those who have already agreed to come on board with Share-Affirm Ministries. As we have shared with many of our partners, it is clear that God has open the doors for this ministry in Japan. As we work on building our language abilities we will also be building relationships with Japanese Christians and other missionaries in Japan and sharing the vision for pro-life work. This is essential ground level work. You can not begin to build a building until the foundation is first poured.

If you are interested in hearing more about how to partner with Share-Affirm Ministires or the stories of God's provision and open doors please contact us at piercefamily@worldim.com

Family Values

We are currently working on a study called Setting Sail in preparation for moving our family across the world. This study's goal is to draw you closer as a family, set a firm foundation for you to draw upon in hard times, and get each member of the family to realize their value as a part of our mission team.

Tonight we discussed creating a mission statement for our family so that each person clearly knows our Beliefs, Goals, and Priorities.

Here are what we as a family came up with:

Beliefs:
In God and in Jesus Christ his son who came to die for us and in the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Protecting unborn life and affirming the value of all life, preborn or otherwise.
Sharing the Gospel is our Christian responsibility.

Goals:
Learn Japanese.
Establish crisis pregnancy centers in Japan.
Make friends with Japanese people.
Help women.

Priorities:
Follow God always.
Save babies.
Love mothers (and fathers).
Live out the Gospel.

Now we need to put all of this together in a few sentences that the children can memorize. Would you like to help? Put your suggestions in the comments below!

Hi, we're the Pierces

We are the Pierce Family!

We are missionaries with World Indigenous Missions (WIM). Our mission field of calling is Japan. We will be on our way there December of 2013.

We are called to family and women's ministry. Shara, the mom, has been working with Crisis Pregnancy Centers for over 8 years and our vision is to plant centers in and around Tokyo Japan.

Dave, the dad, is an associate pastor with Lighthouse Christian Fellowship. Together, we will work with church planting ministries along with establishing indigenous Pregnancy Center works.

This is an exciting time for our family as we prepare to go. We have been learning the Japanese language and plan to arrive with a basic understanding of the language and how to get around. We will be attending language school when we arrive.

We are seeking partnerships for our first two years on the mission field.

With 50 people pledging to give $100 a month for 24 months we will be able to establish a solid foundation of language and cultural understanding as well as begin to build important church relationships needed to spread the vision for ministering to those in crisis and unplanned pregnancies.

How can you be a partner with Share-Affirm?

• Pledge to be one of the 50, or partner with another family/individual to each cover half of a monthly pledge ($50 per person).
• Share this blog post or our facebook page (www.facebook.com/shareaffirmministries).
• Or talk to your pastor or ministry leader about allowing us to come share with your church.

You can also become a prayer partner by pledging to pray for our family as well as the work of Share-Affirm ministries.

Financial pledges can be made online at www.worldim.com/give or by sending a check to:

World Indigenous Missions

P.O. Box 310627

New Braunfels, TX 78131-0627

Please include a note with branch #262 on it but make the check out to WIM.

Your prayer pledge can be added in the comments below or sent to sharalpierce@yahoo.com

May God Richly Bless you!

Closet Fuji

Matthew 28:19-20 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age."

The above was said while the disciples were on the mountain with Jesus. He called them up there for instruction. When we commune with God on our "mountain" (closet, porch swing, bed, locked bathroom) we receive instruction. We are filled up (Matthew 5) as we talk with God (Mark 6:46). I see the importance of the mountain top in a new and fresh way. I want to be there daily.

My mountain is in my closet. I have a generously sized closet. I grab my Bible, journal, pillow, and a pen and head in there. Often the journey to get there can be tough, like climbing a mountain. When I crawl (literally) out of bed I risk waking our youngest who is very sensitive to my presence, especially when it is missing. She's exceptionally needy in the morning and if she wakes, the mountain waits. I have to choose carefully whether I will tell my other kids where I am going. On one hand they are old enough to know not to disturb me but on the other, they will know where I am. My bathroom doesn't lock, so it's not an option. It requires a certain level of discipline to get there each morning but as I have been observing the events of my life post mountain times I realize discipline is also a product of that time.

This is not meant to be an exercise in legalism or works based theology. Often when I have been admonished to be in God's word, pray without ceasing, and have a quiet time I have counted my success in that area as meaning I was pleasing to God. Consequently, I saw my failure to be faithful in these areas as a personal offense against God.

So how has that changed for me? I now see "quiet time" as relationship building time. What brings us joy when we are with others? Singing, dancing, laughing, reading, talking, or being quiet and still together? Do these things with God daily. I like to talk (and write), so I take joy in sharing my thoughts with God and knowing he is listening. I take joy in knowing there is a time of the day set aside for me to pour my heart out and have undivided attention. I do listen, and pray, and read the word during those times. The desire for those things comes out of knowing God is listening to me and will always give me wise counsel through his word and prayer.

It's Quiet Up Here

Matthew 5:1 "Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain and when he sat down, his disciples came to him."

The mountain top experiences I have been referring to have been those times spent in the presence of other believers sharing in the message given by a Spirit lead speaker. But those times don't happen everyday. Even if you regularly attend a church and the pastor is a gifted teacher, one can not live on Sundays alone. We are meant to get in to the presence of God, up on the mountain as often as we need it and we need it more often than we realize.

When Jesus went up to the mountain in Matthew 5 he was going away from the crowds of people. His disciples followed him likely because they had the same need, to be alone with their teacher. It was no big planned event. They didn't pay big bucks to have a speaker flown in or string extension cords up there so that the guitar would sound just right. It was just the disciples and their teacher. I could be wrong, but I'd be willing to say Jesus probably didn't have a bunch of notes prepared for what he would share with them either. It was his heart to theirs, pouring out, refueling, and filling up.

Mark 6:46 "And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray."

Jesus went where there was peace and solitude to pray. Turns out a mountain is a pretty good place for that. The mountain is where God pours in to you. You talk to God and then sit and listen.

I am a busy minded person. If my body isn't moving you can be sure that my mind is. In fact I have to repeat the word "off" and I imagine turning off a light switch at night so I can go to sleep. Even then I start making up scenarios in which I might be turning off a light and before I realize it my mind is wide awake again counting down a row of 572 light switches. I understand the difficulty of quieting the mind but I want to imitate my savior. He went to the mountain for quiet and to fellowship with the Father.

Matthew 28:16-17a " Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him the worshiped him..."

They went there to SEE Jesus. Jesus is on the mountain. I want to be WITH Jesus.

Let us go up the mountain

"Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths." Isaiah 2:3b

We NEED the mountain top. It is a place of growth. From there you can see the vision that God sees and look out over the vastness of his perfect plan. It gives new resolve to putting one foot in front of the other and clarity in walking along the path.

A large gathering of born again believers can be one way to climb the mountain. There is power and passion when we all get together. Usually there is an anointed speaker, an on fire worship leader, and a well thought out program that has been bathed in prayer. Typically those in attendance at these events are the ones truly hungry to grow which also provides a clear invitation to the Holy Spirit. All of those things help to bring us to the mountain and the feet of Jesus. But those events are few and far between, or too costly and time consuming to commit to more than one or two a year.

We need passion, vision, and direction every day of our lives here on Earth if we are to live God filled lives that pour out on to all those we minister to. We need to be filled ourselves.

Each Christian possess within themselves the ability to be filled to the top with the rich blessings of God. Not material or worldly things but the abundance of God's treasures to us on Earth. The fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). The Holy Spirit does not only show up when we put on a show.

I am learning in this time as well. I will continue to share my thoughts and meditations about how we can be in the high places with God each day of our lives.

No one really wants to come down off the mountain

"Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain..." Ephesians 32:15

We had an amazing mountain top experience for 5 days this week while at the World Indigenous Missions International conference. Our whole family was bathed in the love of God and we climbed to a spiritual high. The worship was anointed, the speakers were anointed, the fellowship was anointed (and the food was good;o). Each experience a ledge which we used to hoist ourselves higher in to the presence of God.

Yesterday I lamented to a few of our fellow attendees that I was sad to leave, feeling as though I was climbing back down the mountain when I really wanted to continue to sit in the presence of God.

Moses had to come back down. In fact his climb up the mountain and his resulting time with God wasn't much good to anyone besides himself unless he came back down. The purpose of our time this week was to receive refreshment and new resolve for our time on the mission field, where we suspect we will spend time in some very deep dark valleys.

However, I know that one can not survive on a triannual climbs up the mountain alone. So my heart before God has been, Lord how do I stay right here and yet serve down there.

"And now I will go up to the Lord...So Moses returned to the Lord..." Ephesians 32:30a, 31a

Many times over my 15 years of being a born again believer have I heard "read the Word every day", "pray without ceasing", "go to church", "fellowship with the saints". All with good intentions but received by me in a spirit of legalism. Just another thing to do to be a good Christian. I have wanted a deeper relationship and I thought these "things" would bring that about.

I have grown in the Lord, but not because I did these things. I hope to write a few posts about how my mountain top experiences, the valleys that I climbed down in to, and a fresh outlook on being in God's presence have brought me to a place of maintaining a spiritual "high" and a deep relationship with God, even in the valley.

When abortion isn't an option - Christian responsibility

Today Texas Governor Rick Perry signed in to law a bill that would put stricter regulations on abortion facilities and ban abortions after 20 weeks gestation, when it is proven the unborn baby can feel pain. One out cry from the pro choice community is that this law will close down all but five of the abortion providers in Texas. Today it was also announced that three of those facilities will be closing.

Before we do any major celebrating we need to think about what we will provide as alternatives for the women who would have run to these facilities for answers to their unwanted pregnancies. You don't have to be well versed in abortion alternatives to help. One important thing you can do is to be familiar with the nearest pregnancy care center. Know their phone number, where they're located, and their hours if possible.

Be a listening ear and open arms. There may be a lot of people who are mad, disappointed, and upset with her. Be that person she wants to come to. Listen even if she is thinking about abortion. Instead of saying "you will regret that" or "that is a bad choice" ask her what she knows about what her choices are and suggest she take her time looking at her options. She doesn't have to rush in to a decision, especially an emotional charged one.

The truth is abortion hurts women. Adoption and parenting are not easy options. Each women needs to feel loved and supported to make the decision that affirms her life as well as her child's.

We can not have the victory without the responsibility to share the burden.

South Texas Pregnancy Care Center 830-303-2151
Options for Women 830-629-7565
Central Texas Life Care 512-396-3020
San Antonio Pregnancy Care Center 210-614-5433

We are "them"

I know the story of a girl who loved the Lord and wanted to do good. She knew of the power of Jesus and his bodily sacrifice so she could receive forgiveness for her bad decisions. She felt quite helpless to fight against the unhealthy things in the world that tempted her to do wrong.

She knew some day her bad habits would catch up with her. That's why she often found herself literally crying out to God to stop her. She thought she understood her own powerful emotions, yet she was still powerless to control them.

She was right in that her continued rebellion against her own conscience would cost her in some physical way. She found herself pregnant, unmarried, and still in high school. The time to make responsible decisions had passed and now she had to make reasonable ones. She tended to be a bit of a loner and a quick when it came to decision making.

She had many good reasons to end the pregnancy and the life of the child. For one, she would not have to be tied to someone who tended to make poor decisions himself. She could turn her life around and look forward to a prosperous future. And, when it was all over with she could stop making unhealthy decisions and live without having to fear the consequences of her actions. As for the baby; it could not possibly grow up happy or receive all the love it deserved. Statistics showed children born to unwed teenage mothers go on to live lives of poverty. The child would suffer for a long time and so would she.

She didn't choose to abort. It wasn't ever really an option though she couldn't tell you why. It was certainly reasonable. It wasn't an abortion that would give her a fresh start in life. Adding more pain, both physical and emotional, wasn't the answer to getting her life back on track. Two wrongs didn't make a right.

It was the responsibility of caring for another's life that gave her a deep sense of desire to make good choices. Wasn't it Christ's love that drove Him to the cross? Motivated by love, she was driven to choose life for her son. She sacrificed what could have been and made the most of what would be.

Her child is happy and greatly loved. He is the oldest child of four. His younger siblings were born in to a God-ordained marriage. A loving and happy union. Many good decisions have been made since that one fragile one. Never again has she had to choose between life and death as a result of a wrong she committed.

She, is me. I am her. I was her then and I am still her now.

A woman who is today standing on the edge of a life altering decision is no different than me. I want her to live and not to hurt any further. I want her to do the most precious and sacrificial thing she can, choose life for her child. To start again now with a positive choice. To tell the darkness in her soul to leave as she takes a leap forward in to the light. The next good decision she makes will be easier and some day she will be proud of who she is.

The New Rule

I was talking with my husband the other day about how things change; how previously unheard of things become permissible and the exceptions to the rule soon become the rule.
We were talking politics at the time but the same can apply to many things.

There is one disturbing trend that must be stopped. The acceptance and/or quiet dismissal of the murder of unborn children around the world. As a Christian I have always bristled a little when someone would try to tell me Christians ignore the topic and as a result allow it to continue. I'm not quiet, I don't want to allow it, I don't want to believe other Christians don't want to take action.

Have you heard of Kermit Gosnell? What about Douglas Karpen? Do you know what they did to BORN children? Does it make you angry, sick to your stomach? Do you think of how deranged they must be to do those things day after day? It is no wonder the media does not want to talk about it.

There was a point in time in my life when previously allowable things became repulsive to me. It was when I saw the gravity of my own wrong doings on my life and the lives of those around me. I do believe we can reverse the trend. We can change the acceptable.

We must be faithful to bring light to the gravity of wrong doing that is abortion. We must say that it is not ok to kill children ever, under any circumstances. We must pray for God to provide a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13) for those who believe they have no other choice.

Be willing to be unpopular, someone's life depends on it.

Countless second chances

What does getting a second chance mean to you?

What does it mean to the life of an unborn child who isn't even able to make their own decisions?

What would it mean to their mother?

What does it mean to a Christian?

We will screw up and we will not always get a second chance. God is merciful and long suffering, but some times there is no second chance. After an abortion, there is no second chance. Some cultures believe an aborted child will go to a holding place until they are later wanted here on earth. That is not truth. Once that child's life has been taken they will not return again to this earth. Their potential, their choices, their future, their second chances are gone.

Take a minute to worship God and thank him for second chances because "second chances are heaven's heart."

Love the least

I recently finished reading an excellent book called Love the Least (a lot). It was written by the creator of the abort73.com website and put out in digital form for free. If you have a Kindle or Kindle ap go download this book at Amazon.com. 

The author, Michael Spielman, could not find a publisher for his book because he was told books about abortion do not sell. So he chose to make it available for free.

In this book he quotes R.C. Sproul as saying "If I know anything about God I know he hates abortion." Speilman really put the pieces together for me, showing me why that is a completely biblically accurate statement.

He also shows how apathy towards the abortion issue is really apathy towards the gospel. He boldly declares "If you've distanced yourself from the open condemnation of abortion, you've distanced yourself from Christ."

Please take time to read this book and ask God to show you how to Love the Least of these. Share-Affirm ministries can help. Contact us at piercefamily@worldim.com

Why fight?

"He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light but came to bear witness about the light."

"I am not the Christ... I am voice of the one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord'..."

"I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to unite."

John chapter 1 vs. 7-8, 20b, 23, 26-27

Humbly we walk down the road of missionary service. Not as great speakers with a large following. Not as esteemed teachers with many years of Bible education. Not even as wealthy Christians with the means to "save" the world. What we are are a couple of world worn Johns who have lived messy unkempt lives and have seen the grace and mercy of a loving father.

Why would we fight for the lives of babies? Because once there was one fighting for its right to exist in my own womb. Why would we go to a Godless foreign nation to speak of Christ? Because once we were Godless, foreign in the eyes of our father, and in need of Christ.

Because "I am not the Christ...I am the voice crying out in the wilderness..." and "among you stands one you do not know,".

Shara

Sent

It's hard to know just what to write when you're on a life long journey. You don't want to bore anyone with the details but it is truly in the details that God shows himself.

After being prompted to be still in the presence of God and allow him to re-affirm his calling for us to minister in Japan we have picked back up with our fundraising efforts.

If you've ever championed a cause and asked people to get on board with you you know how amazing it is when they say yes. You also know the feeling of desperation that can some times creep up in your soul making you feel as though the work is too great & the worker (You) are too weak.

We recently watched all 10 episodes of the new Bible mini series. What stuck out to me most was hearing the disciples words said instead of read. Real people wrote those words. Real people felt and saw and experienced those things.

There are real people on the other side of this blog on a journey, following Christ, saying, "send us". And we know there are real people on the readers side saying "go, we will send you". Like the disciples encouraging one another to serve where God has called them.

Thank You for reading and thank you for sending.