A Christian Ministry Pioneer for God’s Glory

Fifty years ago while a student at Oral Roberts University, I received God’s call to serve as a Christian media pioneer. I am so thankful that the Lord guided and led me for decades to produce thousands of ministry and Bible teaching TV and radio programs. I feel very fulfilled in that, and I have no regrets. But if there's one aspect of my story that I have been understandably ill-prepared for, it is during my latter years knowing that I have so much more to give as His vision continues to burn brightly within me, but that opportunities seemingly have escaped me.  We face things that we cannot explain, and they drastically affect our plans and potentially even our destiny. But I am not deterred from following the Lord. I'm still “stepping out in faith” because we are “Holy Spirit led.” (James 2:18b, Romans 8:14)

Perhaps going through difficulties and setbacks is (in the wisdom of the Father) God’s way of teaching us what we can only learn in such places of brokenness. 

So, as a pioneer, I have become fluent in the language of broken dreams having “groanings too deep for words" (Romans 8:26) as I take these situations before Him, seeking His answers, and receiving the strength “with power through his Spirit in my inner being" (Ephesians 3:16) to continue trusting Him. 

I fully expect that God is not finished with me yet. I am not underestimating the importance of the times of “being laid on a shelf” simply as an observer. It is humbling. But “what is impossible for man is possible with God.” (Luke 17:27) I pray that the experiences as a media ministry pioneer along with the extended season of being sidelined are preparing me and making me more pliable or flexible to yet fulfill the plan of God to use me in the future. I am totally surrendered to His will. There is no longer an exultation of accolades of prior accomplishments— only trust as I listen for “His still small voice” (1 King’s 19:12b) to guide me.

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” ~~ 1 Peter 5:6–7 (NASB)

I am not settling, and you shouldn’t either for “we walk by faith and not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7). 

 

A Day of New Beginnings

Due to the pandemic, like many of you, I was furloughed from my job.  If you have ever lost your job, you know how this feels and the potential negative effects upon your psyche, finances, and maybe even upon your reputation. 

Today Is Different

This time is different because I feel God’s presence so close to me. I have been hearing His voice speaking reassuring and comforting words deep in my spirit simply to trust Him. For the last several weeks I have been literally RUNNING toward the Lord Jesus, my Savior – calling upon His Name, falling down before Him in worship and praise, fasting, praying, and seeking His face.  And what have I been hearing back in my spirit?  The Lord reassures me that the passage in Romans 8:28-30 is still true:

 

“Moreover we know that to those who love God, who are called according to his plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good. God, in his foreknowledge, chose them to bear the family likeness of his Son, that he might be the eldest of a family of many brothers. He chose them long ago; when the time came he called them, he made them righteous in his sight, and then lifted them to the splendor of life as his own sons.”

This job loss is one of those “All things” that are working together for good in my life.  Losing a job does not seem that it could work together for good to us. However, I have experienced in my own life when I lost a previous job – that within a few months I had another job that paid over twice what I was making. So, I trust God!  He is in control. He sees the future. He loves me. He loves you, too!... more than we both know.

So this time, as I emptied myself and became broken before Him, I felt His loving arms reaching around me (as it were) – His really strong, loving arms holding me, caring for me, loving me. I need His presence. I long to be in His presence. But sometimes we cannot feel Him near us, yet thankfully, He is near, and today I feel Him near - comforting, encouraging, letting me know "It's All Going to Be Okay."  

Pressing Into His Presence

More and more as we press into His presence and call upon His Name, and as we break the power of our earthly desires and simply ask Him to give us and impart to us His desires – His plans, – the burden actually lifts from us.  

What burdens?  The financial pressures mainly, but also the feeling that I want to be useful to the Lord and find that place where my skills, talents, and abilities are valued. So, when we don’t know what to do, I heartily recommend pressing into God, worshiping Him, praising His Name – giving a sacrifice of praise  - the fruit of our lips giving thanks. Not seeking God for a handout, but just to be in His presence worshiping Him, thanking Him for His blessings, for we truly are rich in Him.

I don’t know about you, but there are times when I feel like the world, the cares of life, even our jobs and daily responsibilities seem to take so much of our time that God is pushed out a bit from the rightful place He deserves in the daily routine of our lives. It's not something we overtly do, but sometimes we just become too busy. 

Well, for right now - at least for these past few months, I have had time to spend time in His presence.  This has been a time of humility, a time when I feel needy – yet this is a time when I am beholding Him, His beauty, His faithfulness, His joy, His rest, and His peace.

As A Little Child

I come before Him empty, needing Him as a little child – with no power of my own to pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I am utterly dependent upon the Lord. And I am finding that He is faithful– just as He promised He would be.  How can this be? Because God has given to each of us a measure of faith.  My faith in Him probably could be stronger. I recall the scripture passage in Mark 9:4: "Lord, I do believe! Help me to believe more!" WE version).  For I am human, but I do have faith. We all do. And at this time in my life ONCE AGAIN, God is reminding me to USE my faith to literally SEE WITH the eyes of faith HIM ANSWERING my prayers.  And with my own words, I speak forth BY FAITH (which sees the answer in the Spirit-realm before it happens in the natural realm) that I HAVE A NEW JOB... NO, I have that new HIGH-PAYING CAREER that God has for me ... and JESUS receives all the praise and glory for it.

My Ministry As a Paraclete

I also feel God calling me into having a ministry of my own. For decades, I have been a paraclete called alongside others in ministry.  What is a paraclete, you ask? One who serves as an advocate, intercessor, comforter, helper, exhorter, who enables others. But now the Lord is saying that He has invested much into my life. And I have much to give out. He wants to use me directly to minister to others from the "well of salvation" He has placed within my life.

You know, it is possible that what I had been doing – where I had been working – was only meant to be just for this season. It has been a season of growth and provision. But looking back on it, it has been a time of preparation, too.  Now I am looking unto Jesus more than ever – the Author and Finisher of my faith.  The Passion Translation reads this way the verse in Hebrews 12:2:

 “We look away from the natural realm, and we fasten our gaze onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection.”

If and when my faith seems small, I latch on to Him and His faith. I pray and seek His face, and I He finds me right where I am and comforts me.  For Jesus will not despise any who come unto Him IN FAITH; and I am a Believer just like you are. We are not doubters; we are Believers ---  a whole new species through which the Lord will perform His good and perfect will. He will do this for you and for me so that our lives bring Jesus glory and honor.

Of course, there is that scripture in Deuteronomy 12:28 that tells us:"

“Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.” (HCSB)

We are to observe all these words that He commands us today, that it may go well with us and with our children after us – forever. So, when things do not seem to be going our way, we certainly do need to consider, and if need be – REPENT for any known sin, and ask God to redeem and DELIVER us… and He will.  We need to become teachable in areas where we are going 'round the mountain again. Frankly, I am tired of it. I am ready to move forward, and I am asking the Lord to teach me and train me, then to do a new thing in my life.

Yet, meanwhile, we can’t give place to the devil and allow our enemy to beat us up over simply being human.  All of us make mistakes. We are all learning and growing and maturing. We must be confident of this very thing that He which began a good work in us is FAITHFUL to COMPLETE IT!  ~~ Philippians 1:6.

So, we take our hurts, our failings, our disappointments, our losses, our burdens, and all offenses - choosing to forgive others, and we cast all this care – all these things of the world upon the Lord. He is big enough to take it. Jesus died to pay for worry, anxiety, and the cares of life. He will work out our situations and circumstances that seem to be negatives – FOR OUR GOOD.  Amen! Hallelujah!

Redeemed: How I Love to Proclaim It!

Jesus is my Redeemer! Yours, too! He said that in everything (that means EVERYTHING) by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we are to let our requests be made known unto God. Then He will give us His peace that He has not only heard us, but that He is on the scene answering our prayers. ~~ Philippians 4:6. Because if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and if He hears us, then we HAVE the petitions we ask for by faith! ~~ 1 John 5:14-15. So right now, I RECEIVE the answer to my prayers, and God gets all the glory.  

So, we will see what God has in mind at this time in our lives – for that new season that is just ahead. We will see God’s faithfulness. We will have a fresh, new lease on life – a clean slate of opportunity, for His mercies endure forever.

God is a businessman.  Here is the great exchange... Our lives for His. Remember Saul of Tarsus? He thought he was doing God’s will – maybe just like us. But God arrested Him – got his attention, and in Saul’s brokenness, God restored him, changed his name, gave him a fresh vision, a hope, a purpose, a mission, and prepared him for a bright new future as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Saul’s response to God was, “Lord, what would you have me to do?” ~~ Acts 9:6.  

Lord, what is it that You want me to do?

This is the prayer of my heart today. And He will show me, and when He does, I purpose to obey. I will do all I can. When He speaks, I will listen, and whether it is something I feel I can do or something that seems so impossible, as long as it is the Lord speaking, I know God will accomplish His perfect will through me.  Amen!

I hope this has blessed you. I am walking humbly with my God. My life is like an open book. I desire that others who follow will see that it pays to serve the Lord to walk in covenant with Him. Hallelujah! And we all will see a miracle taking place in each of our lives when we put Him first. Matthew 6:31-33 (JBP) says:

“So don’t worry and don’t keep saying, ‘What shall we eat, what shall we drink or what shall we wear?! That is what pagans are always looking for; Your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart on the kingdom and his goodness, and all these things will come to you as a matter of course.”

We truly are rich already. And the Lord desires to give us even more because He is all in all. Praise the Lord.

I am praying for you to be continually and abundantly blessed. My God shall supply all of our needs – your needs as well as our needs. Many of you have shared your needs with me, and now I have shared mine   ----- my deepest heart cry with you. We are in agreement that God MEETS all our needs.  This is a time for miracles ----- for God to show Himself strong. We are already rich in Him. We have exchanged poverty and lack for His riches. We have exchanged sickness and disease for His health and wholeness. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. His ways are beyond and above our ways. 

Now we use our faith and speak forth that the answer COMES NOW, in the authority of Jesus' Name! We have our breakthrough. We see it by faith. God's answer is on the way. He is Jehovah Jireh, our provider. The Lord is El Shaddai, the all-sufficient One Who has seen ahead and placed provision for us on the road of life EXACTLY where we will be so that we will connect with that provision when it is needed. And in it all, He is the oasis. He is the refreshing. We look to the Lord, not to what we perceive to be the answer.  We keep our eyes on our Source.

Surely our checkbook and bank accounts, our stocks or mutual funds are not our source. Our jobs are not our source. Our own selves, our physical strength, our own abilities are not our source. We must look continually to the Lord! He is our Source. We trust in Him.

Thank You, Jesus, that You know our hearts and are making a way through the wilderness for us to follow. We receive Your answers to these our written petitions, and we thank You in advance and rejoice in You! Amen!

Be an Encourager

Be An Encourager

by

Gene Steiner

God has raised me up to be an encourager. I Thessalonians 5:14 tells us that we all should encourage other Believers....those who have had the spiritual wind knocked out through adversity.  Jesus even predicted that the world would hate us Christ-followers. This has happened to many of us - maybe to you as it has to me, for though we are in the world, we are not OF the world.  Life can be difficult, and at times we can become discouraged. Some get to the point where they even want to give up. Yet He who calls us also sustains us. He is faithful, and He gives us the ability to be faithful, too (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)..."Who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

Then we go through "stuff" we need other Believers to stand with us - not just in empathy - but in FAITH. God will bring you through whatever you are experiencing - and you WILL have the victory, for it is not how clever we are. It is not a person's bubbly personality. It is God's Word that we speak that encourages. 

Before David became King, in the Book of 1 Samuel Chapter 30 we find that he became discouraged and dismayed because he lost a battle and his family and the families of all his men were captured, all their belongings were stolen, and their homes were burned. It got to the point where his men wanted to kill him. But David was a man of faith. He knew his God.  And we read in 2 Samuel 30:1:  "David was very upset, for the men were thinking of stoning him; each man grieved bitterly over his sons and daughters. But David drew strength from the LORD his God." 

What did he do? When there was no one else to encourage him, he encouraged himself!  We need that today. Maybe no one else is coming to your rescue, you seemingly have little hope.  But when you know God, you have the power to encourage yourself in Him in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

So, look around you. Find someone who needs encouragement.   If it is yourself, become encouraged in the Lord first, then lift up others. Pray for them. Speak the Word over them. Share with them that we have the victory IN Christ. We must encourage one another to persevere in our faith.  We do this through our actions toward one another, through our professions, and continually upholding others in prayer. The Lord has called us to this ministry. We are paracletes called alongside of others to lift them up and support them in Christian love.  And when we see another Believe stumble, we should be quick to forgive and restore - considering ourselves and how the Lord has forgiven us.

Hebrews 10:24, 25 tell us  "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-----  and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

Do you see the Day approaching?  I know I do. We are closer now than ever to His appearing. All the more reason to meet together in prayer, in praise, in worship, and to encourage others; for we need each other!

Copyright _© 2015

Gene Steiner

Five Words That Can Change Your Destiny

by

Gene Steiner

VISION

In Joshua’s day, the Israelites needed to know that their leaders had a vision. What was true then is still true today! As the Bible says, “For without a vision, the people perish.”

Moses had just left the scene, and the setting demonstrated the need for Joshua to have a fresh vision from the Lord. He reviewed the track record of God's faithful provision for (and protection of) His people, the Israelites. He sought God, and received directly from the Lord the confidence that the Lord was with him just as He was with Moses. He then challenged the people to believe in God because of God’s track record. No purposeful destiny can be achieved without an underlying vision of God’s plan, a goal and purpose that can be comprehended, and a promise in which one can trust. Without such a vision, the people will perish.

DESIRE

Joshua confronted the people with the issue of desire. His words were, "if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." Without the desire to serve a faithful God, the wrong choice will be made every time. Has God implanted within you a desire to make a wise choice? Each of us has to have desire before we can make that choice.

CHOICE

"Choose for yourselves this day!" Joshua commanded. He knew, and all of us must realize, that choices make the critical difference as to our destiny. Making a choice is like buying an airline ticket for a desired destination. You purchase your ticket based upon a having made the choice ahead of time of your specific destination. Few would want to board a plane if the pilot had not chosen to head that plane with its load of passengers toward the specific agreed-upon destination.

COMMITMENT

When Joshua confronted the Israelites, he suggested that they had to make a choice: "Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve." He required that they each commit to following through on their decision. Joshua reiterated to the people his own choice for himself and his family and that was to serve the Lord, to hear and obey His voice and to commit to follow wherever the Lord led them. He sought all Israel to get on board with God’s plan. The same goes for us today. Are we willing to make that commitment? Once we choose, we must diligently stay on the path, stay on the road of obedience and commit to stay in fellowship with the Lord.

FOLLOW-THROUGH

Joshua's challenge to the Israelites emphasized serving as much as it did choosing. Without the serving, choosing is an empty eggshell; there is nothing to produce life. Each one was to be involved, to do his part, and then to follow-through for the good of the whole group.

Five words of destiny! The difference between a homeless man on the street and an executive with a six-figure income is in these five words: vision, desire, choice, commitment, and follow-through.

What vision has stimulated your desire, that now brings you to the point of choosing and committing to your destiny? Finally, are you following-through to do your part?

Copyright © 1999, 2015

Jesus is Faithful

I don't understand everything about life, about aging, accidents, pain, loneliness, about losses and prayers that seem to go unanswered;  but I am confident in our Lord Jesus Christ's love, mercy, grace, and power to be all we need for each day. I rely and fully trust Him even when things don't seem to turn out well for the moment. 

Jesus walked the same paths in His life on earth, experienced the same temptations we all face, and He overcame in each situation. And since we are in a personal and loving relationship with Him, and since He paid the price, and we choose to continue to believe that ALL things are possible with Him -- we overcome too!  We are victorious in this life. He cares for us all. He meets ALL of our needs!  He is faithful - especially today! So we fight the good fight of faith and receive perfect peace every moment.

God is soooo good!

It is Thanksgiving time; and I personally give thanks to the Lord every day. We all should. But this is the special time of year when we reflect upon the goodness of the Lord and all the many blessing we have and the lives and things He has entrusted to our care.

It's also a time to get together with our loving family and friends. And with the miles that separate us for most of the year, it takes an effort to maintain these close ties.  But in our family, it has been so worth it - to travel each year for joy-filled reunions and to celebrate the milestones, the accomplishments, and this year the miraculous births of our preemie twin grandsons William and Jackson.

We are so incredibly blessed.  When we look into the eyes of these little ones who are thriving and doing so well, we know that God has great and awesome plans - a bright hope and a future for us all.  We who are born again have eternal life - and the life we live in this world is so brief in comparison with eternity we have to look forward to - being with our Savior and Lord forever!

So we thank Him today, tomorrow, on Thanksgiving... and forever. We place a hedge of protection around our lives, and say "Thank you, Lord."

Right now, we see through a glass - as the Bible says - "darkly" or "dimly."  Sometimes the view of the future isn't as clear or bright as we would like to see it, but we know Who holds the future, and we are in His care.

Lord Jesus, we give You all the glory.

Twin Grandsons

Kathy and I are so blessed by the Lord to have two new grandsons - preemie twins by Alyson and Justin. God has been so good to us this fall for which we praise Him. Thanks to all who have been (and continually are) praying for us. The Lord Jesus gets all the glory!