From the desk of Steve Shultz:
God hears our prayers over our family and loved ones...yes! This is an excellent word from Victoria Boyson on the importance of prayer and leaving a spiritual heritage for others.
Be encouraged by what Victoria shares: Listen to me, the prayers you pray for your loved ones cannot go unanswered. You may not see it. In fact, you may see the opposite happen in the natural, but God promised and He cannot break His Word.
Remember that your prayers are powerful: "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective" (James 5:16).
Enjoy!
Steve
To receive daily, encouraging prophetic emails from The Elijah List to your inbox CLICK HERE.
***
Note from Steve Shultz:
Your support for the Elijah List helps to pay the cost to deliver daily Words from the Lord to you for FREE. You help us by simply purchasing your prophetic and other Christian resources from a selection of over 6,000 products directly from us at: elijahshopper.com.
We appreciate our dear readers and we thank you for supporting your Elijah List staff!
To receive daily, encouraging prophetic emails from The Elijah List to your inbox CLICK HERE.
Victoria Boyson:
You Have a Spiritual Heritage - Your Eternal Wells Are Overflowing!
Digging Family Wells
My mother, Ellen, who died when I was 16, celebrated the 30th anniversary of her graduation to Heaven on March 14, 2014. I am very happy for her, but I miss her. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Ellen Mae Thompson. My great-grandma Ellen was married to a large man named Matthew. He was extremely strong and from a strong Scandinavian/Viking ancestry.
Back before there was machinery to dig wells, he was famous for the wells he dug. If you needed a well, you got a hold of Matthew Thompson. He dug faster and deeper than any other well digger in the area, because of his incredible strength! Unfortunately, Matthew had a temper to match his physical strength.
He and Grandma Ellen had five girls and then had five boys – two of which died in infancy. It was of great importance to my great-grandmother that her children knew God, and she faithfully read the Bible to them. But Matthew believed spending time on religion was a waste and would become furious when she read the Bible to their children. He wanted the kids out in the fields working. Anytime she read the Bible to them, he would storm at her and bellow and holler at her.
But she stubbornly refused to stop reading to them...
She quietly continued through his storms of temper and kept on teaching her children about God. She knew what was important in life and was determined her children would know it too. She dug wells full of living, eternal water into her children, and after she died, her children continued to love her God. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)
My grandfather, Elvin, who I loved very much, was the second youngest of her children, and although he did not live for God, he did love God. And when my mother, Ellen, who was named after his mother, was born to him, he adored her. When she decided she wanted to start going to church, he went with her, because he loved her so much.
As my mother grew in the Lord, the wells my great-grandmother dug to produce the eternal well-spring of life in her family and their descendants became more and more apparent. She was a fountain of the life-giving water. My mother, Ellen, was never anyone this world would consider "great," but she was known by Heaven for the way she loved the Lord and His creation.
Not one time, that I can remember, did she teach a Sunday school class, lead worship, or have any position in the Church. In fact, she was often shut down when she would try to share her passionate love for her Lord. But she didn't care, she knew positions didn't matter – to her, people were what mattered and she loved them. She loved EVERYONE, regardless of who they were or what they did. The love of the Father had full reign in her life.
I can attest to the fact that SHE dug wells of God's love in my life. She laid the foundation of everything God's done in me. She showed me that the key to the amazing life she lived was to bind myself to Christ – to seek Him for everything and in everything, for God alone was her strength. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)
She had such extraordinary wisdom, because she was simply dependent on Heaven's wisdom (see Proverbs 3:5). She had all of Heaven's knowledge because she had the mind of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:16). And her simple, loving wisdom blessed everyone who was blessed enough to come in contact with her.
It has been 30 years since she went to be with her Lord, and people still talk to me about the wisdom she shared with them in her life on earth. She never failed to take advantage of sowing seeds and digging wells in peoples' lives. No matter who you were or what religion you were, she showed you respect and love – it was her greatest pleasure in life.
She loved everyone, and they loved her in return – she was like sunlight in human form! And when she and my younger brother died in 1984, over 700 people came to their funeral, and our hometown population was only 750! There was no church in town big enough for her funeral – we had to use the school gymnasium, and even it was full to capacity. Every business in town shut down during her funeral so the business owners could attend her service.
Now, even 30 years later, my mother's and great-grandma's wells are still producing the eternal water they intended they would. I doubt any of my great-grandpa's wells are still producing, but mom's and grandma's are! And if I have anything to do about it, I will tell everyone about my famous (to Heaven) well-digging mother and grandmother!
So, I say to all you mamas and grandmas – dig your wells for the eternal Kingdom – you will never be sorry you did! You never know what God will do with your seemingly insignificant love.
Spiritual Heritage
In 2 Timothy, the Apostle Paul was confident, not in Timothy's faith, but in the seeds of faith imparted to him from his mother and grandmother. "I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also" (2 Timothy 1:5).
Seeking to encourage him, Paul reminded Timothy of the heritage of faith that was imparted to him from his mother and grandmother. If Timothy had little faith in himself, he could have faith in those whose lives and faith had affected his own. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons by Pierre Edouard Frere)
Paul sought to encourage Timothy's faith by reminding him of the spiritual heritage he was given, and he breathed the life of the Spirit on the seeds planted in his heart by his faithful family who loved God. He knew they had discipled Timothy in the great love of the Father, and Paul wasn't going to let the eternal seed of God's Word lay dormant in him.
Listen to me, the prayers you pray for your loved ones cannot go unanswered. You may not see it. In fact, you may see the opposite happen in the natural, but God promised and He cannot break His Word.
The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with My word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honor to the Lord's name; they will be an everlasting sign of His power and love. Isaiah 55:10-13
The Lord has promised. Truly, He has obligated Himself to His Word. So, don't worry if those you've shared the Word with do not seem to receive – it will bear fruit. It may look to you like the enemy has gained the advantage in their lives, but God has promised that where once the thorns grew up in their hearts, He would make the cypress trees grow. Trees! Not just tiny plants or blades of grass – TREES! Large, beautiful cypress trees. And where the nettles grew, HE would cause the myrtles to grow! (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)
His Word is more powerful than our minds can even conceive of on this earth, and He has committed Himself to His Word. So, as you share even the simple truth of Christ's love, you are digging a well that will have lasting, lasting, lasting, eternal effects on those who drink of its life-spring of water!
Vital Importance
Many years ago, after my mother died, God gave me a dream. In the dream, I was a very little girl and my mother had dressed me in a beautiful dress, brought me to a church, and sat me down on a sofa against the side wall near the front. I could see the minister in the pulpit up front and the congregation listening to him. In front of the sofa was a coffee table, and on it she placed precisely everything I would need and arranged it neatly for me.
Amidst this peaceful scene, in walked a woman dressed in battle fatigues and she was very angry. She screamed at the pastor as he tried to speak to his congregation, and she called him all kinds of names, lying and slandering him. He stood there, unable to speak.
As she continued to harass him, I caught his eye and shook my head, mouthing the words to him, "Don't listen to her." That's all I said, and the woman turned her attention on me. She started to scream at me like she had at the pastor, so I rebuked her.
As I awoke from the dream, I felt an overwhelming sense that my mother had prepared me for whatever I would encounter in the future. I had that dream about 20 years ago, and a lot has happened since. But what I learned from my mother was the work of the Lord is mercy, grace, and love, and His works are as powerful today as they were when He used them to turn the world upside down! (Photo via Flickr)
My mother embraced these truths as foundational, and they penetrated every area of her life. She lived by them and taught me to as well. These truths override so called truths that entangle us in anger, hostility, and strife. If your truth turns you into an angry person, hating the lost instead of loving them, then you've gotten off your foundation. We can have different views on relative beliefs, but still keep loving those we disagree with – that is CHRISTianity! They will know we are Christians by our LOVE!
Dear friends, my mother died when I was 16. I had only 16 short years with her. If the Lord gives you even 16 more years on the earth, what will you do with them? I think you can plant a great many seeds and dig many wells.
We are not promised tomorrow, but if God gives you tomorrow, what will you do with it? Will you use it to prepare the next generation for the future they will have to live? I hope so. My mother's preparations in my life have been some of the most important and powerful things God has used to help me. Don't live your life for today, but for eternity – what you have to offer is of vital importance.
Don't let your life live you, but you live your life for Him!
Victoria Boyson
Speaking Life Ministries
Email: victoria@boyson.org
Website: victoriaboyson.com
Victoria Boyson met Jesus at the age of seven. At thirteen, she started ministering using music as a platform to tell others about Jesus. She and her husband, Steve, ministered as pastors in the mid-west, but in 1999, the Lord told them to move to work for Francis Frangipane, who was extremely influential in their development as Christians and as ministers.
Victoria is a powerful prophetic voice to this generation and co-founder of Speaking Life Ministries. Based out of the Houston, Texas area, she is called to awaken and prepare the Bride of Christ for the end-time harvest and compel His Church to embrace a passionate relationship with their Heavenly Father. She is the author of The Birth of Your Destiny and His Passionate Pursuit.
To subscribe to The Elijah List go to:
http://elijahlist.com/subscribe
