Today is a pretty emotional day for me. It’s a weird feeling knowing you were the tool God used to stir up so much commotion.
On January 22, I sent out 19 red envelopes (I only had 19 stamps!). At the time I thought it would be great if my intercessors sent envelopes too. I figured if we sent a thousand all together, that would be really amazing. Here we are, two months later. I think there have been over 1000 churches involved at this point, let alone letters.
In the spirit of things, I am sending a few more red envelopes today. I am stamping 8 and putting them in the mail, and I am putting about 20 in a priority mail envelope, and I am sending them certified. I figure, if one is going to be a nuisance, one should at least carry it through.
This whole thing has been a major test of my character. I felt that God was telling me not to profit from this, and not to use this for my won personal gain. I also have felt very strongly that I was not to build a large organization around this. I know when I go to sleep at night that I walked with integrity. For me, that was worth it all.
Since so many are sending envelopes, I felt I would to put my own messages on the back, and so here is what I am putting on my envelopes:
“When America ceases to be good, America ceases to be great.” Alexis de Toqueville
“And the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.’ But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.” Exodus 8:19
And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s innocent blood cries from the ground.” Genesis 4:10
“This was their finest hour.” Winston Churchill
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
“That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom–and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Abraham Lincoln.
I stumbled on this video tonight. Most people never know the impact they have on others. For some reason, I am blessed to see the fruit of my labor. Thank you, GOD!
The red envelopes have caught on because there is still a love of freedom in the hearts of many in this country. Each time someone passes on the idea, and sends an empty envelope, they are not just showing their moral outrage over abortion. They are saying “I believe in ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ and I am not going to let it get taken away.” Those envelopes represent the voice of a new American Revolution. It is a revolution about love and it is a revolution about life. People know this, and they know in their gut that this might be the last time they get a chance to say something and send a message.
These are the same people of whom the candidate told his followers to “get in their face.” Every envelope represents a face that has received the ridicule of someone who believed the lies and half truths of the mainstream media. They took it quietly. Now they are willing to shell out their own time and money, with no organization, and no leadership other than the sense of the Still Small Voice, and send envelopes. They know that something is wrong, and without bloodshed, they are flooding the mail with red.
Here is a continuation of what I shared in my last blog post. Go here to read the first part. It is an excerpt from my book, The Glory of a Wasted Life.
This is probably a good time to talk about the different ways God might speak to you. I have already mentioned the Bible, so I will not include this on the list. An audible voice. Throughout scripture God spoke to men and women through an audible voice, including Moses, Samuel and Jesus. Although I have not had this experience, a few friends of mine have. This may be the rarest way God speaks. An internal voice. In my experience, this has become the way God speaks most often. The internal voice is much like the “still small voice” that Elijah experienced after the confrontation with the prophets of Baal. When God speaks to you in this way, you may sense a thought or word form in your mind. Very often, God speaks in a conversation within the context of prayer. You pray, and God speaks. God speaks, and you pray. The goal is an ongoing conversation with God, where you are interacting with him, and he is guiding you. After praying for a house for six months, God spoke to me and showed me the house. It came to me as a thought that was clearly not my own: “This is the house you are praying for.” A dream. God spoke to the patriarch Joseph in dreams, to Jacob, and to Joseph in the New Testament. God often speaks in dreams to people today, but many dismiss them or fail to remember them.
In the period when I was first consistently walking out of the homosexual lifestyle, I had a dream that I was walking down a city street late at night. I was walking through a cool neighborhood lined with cafes and nightclubs. On the corner was a very handsome man who was cruising, and who propositioned me. In the dream, I kept walking, and then glanced back. On the corner was a huge wolf with fangs, licking his chops. I then awoke, remembering the dream. God was showing me that some of the habits I had developed seemed outwardly innocent, but really were deadly for me.
Before bed I ask God for a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and I keep a notebook on my nightstand. If I am awakened by a particularly vivid dream, I try to write it down. God can speak to us while we sleep. I also pray for protection from evil dreams and nightmares in the night. Visions. One day I was praying for my friend Alice. While I was praying for her, I saw a picture of her in a red dress, and she was beautiful. I could have dismissed the picture, but instead, I prayed into it. God was giving me insight into the desires of my friend’s heart. This was a vision.
There are two kinds of visions. The first is an internal picture, almost like a day dream where you might see something or imagine a picture in your mind. This happens to me often when I pray, or when I pray for others. It is one way that God speaks and guides your prayers.
The second, is an “open” vision. This is like the vision I had of heaven described in the first part of my book. Open visions are sometimes dramatic, and are used by God to give you clear revelation of his will or his direction. There are many times in scripture where men and women experienced visions. Two significant visions occurred in Acts. The first was when God wanted Peter to expand his ministry to the Gentiles in Acts 10:9-16. Paul had a vision in Acts 16:6-10 that directed him to go to Macedonia.
Visions are an important way that God speaks and clarifies other directions he gives to his people. The Prophetic. In November 2005, three members of a prophetic ministry team prophesied that I was about to experience a great transition, that I needed to stock up on groceries, and that was about to start something big. This surprised me, but I knew that God had made promises to me about a future ministry that had not been fulfilled.
Often God speaks his word from one person to another. When he does this, it is called the prophetic. Usually, when a person has a prophetic word for you, it is confirmation or an expansion of what God has spoken to you in other ways. In looking over the past decades when God has spoken to me through others, I can think of possibly twice where the prophecy was something God had not already told me. Prophecy is rarely directive, but more often confirmation. Unusual Circumstances or Signs. In 2004 I began finding pennies in odd places– really odd places, like balanced on their side on restaurant tables, on gas pumps, in my shoes, and on the ground outside my car door every time I opened it. It happens so often, that for a while I thought I was going a little crazy. It was not until the fall of 2006 that I heard Patricia King start talking about people who find pennies everywhere. She said that the pennies, “ONE CENT” were a sign of an apostolic calling—the Sent One. Since that time, the pennies no longer annoy me, but are a sign that God is encouraging the call he has placed on my life.
Unusual circumstances can be a way that God speaks. Any time something happens repeatedly, begin to ask God if he is trying to tell you something.
Whenever you begin to think God may be talking to you, write it down in your journal. Make the things that God is speaking to you a matter of your prayers. Ask God to give you confirmation in multiple ways. God can give you clarity, and help you have greater understanding of what he is saying. If God begins to give you direction, ask him how to obey the word that you have been given.
In terms of the red envelope idea, that came to me initially as a strong mental picture during my prayer time. As I prayed into it, I felt that my next step was to send my friends an email about it. It was not for about two weeks until I began to see the unusual response to the idea that I was sure that it was an idea from God.
In my next post, I would like to talk about how God uses the imagination.
It’s exciting to see how God is guiding people all over the world, and how creativity keeps being released through this red envelope idea. Yesterday I spoke with a young man in Texas, named Brian Potter. He came up with an idea for a Red Envelope Day. After talking, he sold me on the idea of helping groups and individuals to focus their attention and energy on sending their red envelopes on March 31, 2009. Brian also started a Facebook group that has over 50,000 members.
On other fronts, three of the admins of red envelope project websites have joined with me to focus all the attention on redenvelopeproject.org as the main website for this movement.
Finally, if you are interested in how God prepared me for this adventure, check out my book The Glory of a Wasted Life. A large portion of the proceeds from my book go to help build a new sanctuary for my church, Congregacion Leon de Juda, in Boston.
Since it’s Friday, and it has been a very intense week, I thought I would include an upbeat number in this post. This is the song “Sympathique” by the West Coast group Pink Martini. I like to listen to this while I slog through the slush in Boston on my way to my prayer ministry. It has a nice beat and I can dance to it.
“I don’t want to work. I don’t want to lunch. I don’t want to remember you, so I sit and smoke.” In case you were curious.
Yesterday I was interviewed on the Sirius/XM radio program The Catholics Next Door. They told me I would be on the air for about five to ten minutes, and was on for over 15! It was great to share how this started, and how this wild fire continues to grow.
I have been praying and asking God to show me the next step. I am beginning to get some attention, and sense that these envelopes need to be joined with our prayers. A great prayer to pray when you send your envelopes is this one:
Jesus, I plead your blood over my sin, and the sin of my nation.
God end abortion, and send revival to America.
Along with a flood of red that represents the innocent blood, we will be flooding this nation and our leaders with prayer.
As things develop, I will be adding them here, so please check back often.
Three weeks ago I was doing my usual routine of prayer, Bible study, and quietly listening to God. Usually I begin the day with “Lord, what’s on your agenda today?”
That day, my mind wandered a little, and I imagined hundreds of red envelopes in the mail room of the White House. On the back, a simple message stating that each envelope represented an innocent life lost. I took that idea, and sent it in an email to my 120 ministry supporters. They in turn, sent it to their friends.
In the past few days that simple act of obedience to what I thought God was telling me to do has been described as “a phenomenon,” and an “act like the Boston Tea Party.” There are now three designated websites, countless blogs, and two Facebook groups based on my idea. From the sketchy information I have found, I am estimating at least 100,000 have been sent so far.
Who says one person can’t make a difference?
I am humbled, and amazed by what has happened. I am staying with friends, and they have said “this really is AWESOME.”
There have been some funny things, too. Like all of the emails from people asking me “why do you call yourself ‘Christ’?” There have been a few folks who have made it like they started the idea, telling others when they should send the letters. And my favorite, the people who have changed the email, made me a “she” and their friend.
I am really grateful to the new friends that I have made in this too, especially Edie and Brad, who “get it.” This is not about politics, it’s about changing one man’s heart. And if that one man can CHANGE, then maybe others can too, and maybe there still is HOPE.
Antonin Scalia once said that he wanted to end abortion, but he could not do it alone. “Where is the moral outrage?” he asked.
