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My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth (Psalm 57:7-11). YHWH is so amazing. We are constantly aware of His goodness and His abundant grace toward us. The fact that our Father continues to minister through us to His people is beyond our understanding. Over the past month we’ve met with pastors and wives individually and as couples. Some tell of their victories, visions and dreams. While others share their hurts, frustrations and failures; revealing the frailty of the flesh and relentless attack from the Adversary of our souls. In it all, we recognize as King David did that the favor the LORD has given us is not because of or for us, it is to serve His people. (And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel and that He had exalted his kingdom for His people Israel's sake (II Samuel 5:12).
In addition to meeting with various pastors and pastor couples for encouragement and fellowship during May, we were also delighted to host our first Mini Prayer Summit for Pastors. The Father spoke to Ron’s heart quite some time ago to bring pastors and spouses together for short sessions of worship and prayer; building on the Annual Pastors’ Prayer Summits by gathering pastors in a local area 2-3 times in the year for half days of refreshing. We held our first one in Oroville on May 22nd with 15 pastors/spouses in attendance. The morning began with a time of fellowship after which we were led into the Presence of the Most High by Stephanie Haydon. She is such an awesome worshipper and we were grateful for her willingness to lead us in a time of corporate worship. Ron shared briefly about the need for armor bearers (based on Luke 22:31-32) and afterward we broke into four groups. Pastors Rick Rockwood, Kenny Malone, Ed Redfern (these three pastors are our spiritual covering in Oroville) and Ron circulated to each group praying for them as individuals, their marriage, their children and their unity. It was a great time of mutual blessing and encouragement. Several pastors and wives commented that they needed it and were grateful for the LORD’s provision through Raven Ministries. Thank you for allowing us to serve the servants of the Most High God in this way. Our desire is to have two more in Oroville and at least one in Petaluma this year.
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