Moving at the Speed of Grace

Dear Friends:
Please pray for our ministry and for God's provision in the days ahead. Only a month ago we received a phone call offering us a contract for The Colors of Grace. A week after that the trip to Kenya was set before us. Two weeks from today, I will be flying to Nairobi then driving to Nakuru to teach the Nakuru District Pastors.

This week we received another contract offer. This time for our first book, Moving at the Speed of Grace: Discover the Way God Always Works.

The financial commitment necessary for us to move forward on these fronts has come in a marvelous fashion. Karen and I committed personal funds to cover the cost of intiating the relationship with the Tate Music Group. South Hill UMC, the Danville District, and others including my mother-in-law have already given $2,590 of the $3,000 needed for the Kenya mission. We are praying for the $410 balance and some additional money for a digital camera and a small amount of spending money.

The financial commitment needed to initiate the book project is $3,985.50. One thousand dollars has been invested into this calling as a 0% loan. We are thankful for this commitment and are asking for God to move others to support the book being published and distributed. Join us in praying for this to happen quickly.

God is accelerating his grace in our time. We have multiple projects we know God is calling us to pursue. After Moving at the Speed of Grace, the book, Life at Godspeed will be coming out. After that, the sin book, Stomp the Shadows will come out. I am also writing music at a quicker pace. We believe this relationship with Tate Publishing will allow us to record for free by this time next year.

Pray! Pray! Pray, like you never have before for us! Breakthroughs are bursting forth!

What If No One Notices?

Most people want to get credit for what they do. Most people want to be remembered and recognized. Maybe this is why we have monument businesses and not tombstone businesses.

Some said last week the reason Professor Gates got so upset with Officer Crowley was because the officer did not know him or recognize him. There may be some truth to that.

I was watching Chuck Missler on god.tv last night and he was teaching from the end of the gospels where the resurrected Jesus goes unrecognized by his own disciples. I marvelled along with Dr. Missler at the depth of suffering Jesus went through for his body, and particularly his face, not to be recognized by his friends.

How much do you have to love someone to go through this? "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting." (Isaiah 50: 6) How much do you love someone to know this is coming and still march towards it? The next verse, Isaiah 50:7 prophesies it and the gospels echo it. (Luke 9:51)

How much do you have to love someone to suffer this and more, knowing those for whom you do it will not recognize you or perhaps, never acknowledge your love? How much do you have to love someone to give your life for them whether they notice or not?

Jesus loved you and me that much.

Saturated in Joy

Yesterday, I got a surprise. I had just walked in the door a few minutes earlier when Karen came in from work bearing a package that had been in the door downstairs. Inside, was a contract offer for my book Moving at the Speed of Grace.

In just four weeks, I had received and signed a contract for The Colors of Grace, experienced a super week at the Aldersgate Conference, offered and accepted an opportunity to teach In Kakuru, Kenya, and seen God move in several significant ways at South Hill UMC. I feel soaked by God's awesome grace!

But, this is just the way our God works. He accelerates his grace when we are ready to ride with him. Psalm 16: 11 says "You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

This is the way God works. If you are not experiencing that fullness of joy, ask him to draw you deeper into his presence. Lord, break down any barricade to your grace in my heart or mind. Let me walk close to you. This path of joy is for everyone who follows the pathway of grace.

1. God starts us with joy. Psalm 19: 7 says "The law of the Lord is perfect" returning us to the starting point of joy between God and us.
2. God surprises us with joy to boost our faith and keep us open to the way his testimony can be repeated in our lives. (Psalm 19:7)
3. God strengthens our joy as we appropriate God's word and statutes. (Psalm 19:8)
4. God brings us success with joy. The focus of our service is sharpened and received more securely when presented with joy. (Psalm 19:8)
5. God enables us to stand in joy. Our worship, our reverence, our joy is the overriding influence that brings peace in every situation. (Psalm 19:9)
6. God sustains us with joy. What we practice and what we produce, our faith and our fruit become one.

I pray today that the joy of the Lord is your strength!

War in the Heavenlies

There is a war going on in the heavenlies. You won't read about it in your local paper. You probably won't see anything about on the internet. It is a battle for the soul of every man, woman, boy, and girl.

God has set forth his Son, Jesus Christ, as the Champion that deserves our praise and allegiance. The Holy Spirit is at work to draw all to Him!

The opposition is not so obvious. They hide behind "light and enlightenment". Some argue we are the champions, not Jesus. Some's very existence depends on their ability to diminish the influence of Jesus or intimidate those who submit to Jesus.

Our country is not immune to this battle; whether it is couched in the words of the President when he says, 'we are not a Christian country' or when the assault is more direct, http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=105227.

Our leadership seems "hell-bent" to promote folly over faith, debt over discipline, and corruption over character. Maybe it seems "hell-bent" because it is. Pray with me against "spiritual wickedness in high places". Pray for our leaders that they would be moved to hallow the name above all other names - the name of Jesus. Pray with me that our leaders might be advocates for God's kingdom on earth, free in Jesus' name to resist the enlightened voices of darkness.

Lord, in the midst of the war in the heavenlies - Have mercy!

Command Yourself to Operate at Godspeed

James 1:2-3 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." Please don't take this verse the wrong way and try to be happy when you know you are not.

I would translate "consider it pure joy" as "Lead yourself where God exerts divine influence upon your heart." James knows that there are things all around us - experiments for good and experiences of evil- that we cannot avoid. These motley tests can pierce us through and work at cross purposes against us.

It is in the face of these trials that we remember Proverbs 3: 5 and its call to "trust in the Lord." Be like the white-tailed deer and 'hightail it' to God. When you are surrounded, leading yourself to where God exerts divine influence upon your heart (even if that means running straight into trouble or difficulty) God will make a way for you.

James 1:13 says God's purpose cannot be adversely affected the same way ours is and you can certainly know, God never works at cross purposes against himself. This is one of the early confessions of the church: "If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown (contradict or deny) himself." (II Tim. 2: 13)

The Lord abides faithful. Jesus stays in this given state and relationship with himself. James tells us we have to lead ourselves back to this point. We have to make corrections and adjustments. Grace not only allows for it; grace insists upon it.

There are two things for which we can always labor. {You never go into labor for the sake of labor. You go into labor to give birth or produce something.}
1. Lead yourself to where God exerts divine influence upon your life until that's where you always are.
2. Lead yourself into agreeing with God until you always do.

The labor of life, surrounded by a motley myriad of choices and responses, is to produce joy - so that living now and living in the kingdom is a seamless transition - enter into the joy of the Lord!

The Name Above All Names

How do you recognize God's unique call upon your life if you answer to multiple names? I asked Karen with my own nickname for her, "Ba", which is short for "Baby", "What name does God use when he speaks to you?" She didn't have an answer except to say she couldn't remember being called by name.

I know God calls her and in a way that is unique to her God calls her by her 'nature' which is what a name represents. God would have to call Karen that way; otherwise there are too many names from which to choose.

My wife's name is Karen Elizabeth Ramsey, formerly Karen Elizabeth Nash. Most people call her Karen with the exception of one church member at one church who called and probably still calls her Sharon. her nickname is Karo. her license plate calls her KROBETH.

At the last church we served she was Miss KK because that's what the two boys we kept called her. So what does God call her when God calls her by name? God speaks the "name that is above all names" into her soul and every place that name finds resonance, her soul responds to the voice of God.

I wish I was that open to the Lord. God has to call me "Naum" to get my attention. With Karen, just the breath of God moving over her life brings her to attention. Do not despair if you've never heard God call you by name. Perhaps your "nature" is open enough. Just move as the Spirit breezes over your life. Just be ready to move at the mention of "the name above all other names"!

Called by Name

My linguistics professor in college told me that I was raised in a dialectical gap. He even had a map and pointed out where I lived by how pronounced my accent was. You would probably say my 'out' sounds more like 'oat', and my 'house' more like 'hose'.

Another interesting feature of our speech growing up was the way we dropped our "r"'s. Corn became "caun". My name, Norm became "Naum".

As children we theorized this was because you could yell "Naum" louder than you could Norm. Whatever the reason, I still identify myself internally as "Naum".

What does that have to do with God's call? Maybe, nothing. Maybe, everything.

Karen and I recently attended the Aldersgate conference. The auditorium where we gathered held about 1200 people. I was on the worship team so I was up on the stage in the front of the auditorium. Little pockets of conversation swirled all around the room. We were talking to each other on the stage. My head still snapped around though when Karen quietly said, "Naum" in the back of the room.

As we saw yesterday, God calls us the very same way. God calls us by name. Some of us may not have as definite an internal name as I do but we can still become familiar with the One voice that turns us around. Let's try to avoid the method one friend told me about today, "God just hits me upside the head when he wants to get my attention."

Let's ask Jesus to get our attention the way he prefers - call us by name!

Did Somebody Say My Name?

Isaiah 43: 1 "But now, this is what the Lord says - he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine'." This is the claim God makes over every soul.

You know how it works. Your mind is occupied. You're doing something and suddenly your attention is arrested by the mention of your name.

Your friends may tell you, "We weren't talking to you. We were just talking about you. Go on back to what you were doing."

But, God doesn't turn us away. Jesus says in John 6:37, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out." When your attention is turned or drawn to Jesus God is calling you by name.

When your attention is turned or drawn to Jesus God is making his claim upon your life. The Apostle Paul says "we are God's workmanship." God has a proprietory interest in you. God desires an exclusive between your heart and His. This is why the Old Testament law asserted God is a jealous God. God is jealous for you.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16) I'd say anytime you remember that verse, pay attention: God is calling you by name!

Can You Hear Me Now?

Why is this an important spiritual question? Because God says salvation depends not on our works or best efforts but on responding to the call of Jesus the Christ. Romans 9: 16 says, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."

But how does God extend his mercy? God extends his mercy through the call to follow Jesus. "This is the work of God that you believe in (respond to) the one whom God has sent." (John 6: 29) Do you believe in Jesus? Is your life a response to his call?

Romans 9: 11 points out that this is the way God has always worked. From Genesis to Revelation, salvation is intiated by God as a gift of grace. The whole pathway of grace begins in God's call. It doesn't matter who your daddy is. Your history doesn't matter. Your lineage makes no difference.

This is all true "in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works, but by him who calls". (Romans 9: 11) This keeps what God sets forth out of his word consistent. We are all created equal. We live and are saved as we respond to God's call upon our lives. Jesus broadcasts that word to the world. "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He that believes (responds to my call), as the scriptures has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38)

Let Me Prove My Weirdness Again!

Most of you need no further proof but I want to share something I got stuck thinking on last night. I watched the movie "Knowing" starring Nicolas Cage. They used imagery from Ezekiel and tried to show how the world could come to an end but we would not have come to our end. Of course, they left out the best part. They left out Jesus.

Before the movie started I had been writing on what does it mean to be predestined. I asked Karen what she thought and she answered what most of us have been taught: predestined is to be predetermined where you're going to go- heaven or hell, whether you are going to be saved or unsaved. Too bad, so sad - that way of looking at it is all wrong.

Predestination is not about where we are going. It is about where God has already gone. To be predestined is to have the specs drawn up for us to follow. God has already done that. He has set forth Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. John 14: 6 tells us "No one makes progress to the Father but by him."

Back to the movie. It was filled with numbers that warned of disasters and the final catastrophe. The numbers provided dates, fatalaties, and the latitude and longitude for each event.

I asked myself what coordinates does God give so that we will know we are in the right place when the final catastrophe comes. I googled how you determine the location of an object in a three-dimensional space. I found out you need three points, three coordinates {x, y, and z} to determine your location.

Well, here's where my weirdness kicks in. I found the coordinates, {the x, y, and z} that will put anyone and everyone in the right place when disaster comes. It is found in Peter's confession to Jesus in Matthew 16: 16. You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Using the first letters of each important word in that confession we find our proper coordinates. You are the X, the Y of the Z. Is that where you are? Is that your confession? Are you in the right place?

I invite you to be weird like me; postioned in the world by your confession of Jeus and your commitment to Jesus!

God Answers Prayer in an Amazing Way

It was an extraordinary prayer to start. Karen and I had just met this young lady from Kentucky, Sharon Bailey. She asked if she could pray for us: our family, our music and our ministry. Of course, we said "yes".

She had said her calling was to pray and intercede. I could tell that was true the moment she began praying. Her compassion, her remembrance and attention to detail were all signs of God's work in her.

She prayed for our children with unerring accuracy to their needs even though we hadn't talked about them. She prayed for Karen and asked God to heal and deliver her from a recurring situation even though we hadn't mentioned that situation. Then she began to pray for me and the influence of our ministry.

I will not list here all the details of her prayer. I will list just one.

In the course of her prayer she began to share country after country all over the world where we would minister. The first country she mentioned on the African continent was Kenya.

A week later the opportunity to join a United Methodist Volunteer in Mission trip to teach the principles in our first book, Moving at the Speed of Grace, was dropped in my lap by my District Superintendent, Jack Martin. Three days later Karen and I decided God had confirmed that we should say "yes" and go to Kenya!

I leave August 14th from Dulles on my way to Africa. As the Apostle Paul said, I will be there to complete one task, that of "testifying to the gospel of God's grace". Our ministry must raise the needed support in a very quick time. Already $2000 has been donated. We only need $1000 more. If you can help us, send your support to Norman Ramsey Ministries, 805 Hutcheson Lane, South Hill, VA 23970 for the "Kenya trip"!

All of the Above: Healing and the Word of God

This week we have looked at the connection and the similarities of how we receive the word of God and healing. We saw that healing can come instantaneously much like a revelation from God's word. We saw that healing can arise over time much as our understanding increases as we are in meditation in God's word. Healing can also occur through separation as we "hate what is evil and cling to what is good".

The last way I want to share with you is the combination of all of the above.

I suffered a back injury my senior year in high school. I tore the muscles that connected to my hip and pelvis leaving me unable to lift anything without meticulous attention to how I picked it up. I couldn't run or jump into activity without serious consquences.

Of course I prayed for healing and forgiveness for not paying attention to how I did things. My doctor said I should be reconciled to never being able to function as I had before. That was the one thing I decided not to do.

My years of college were filled with special physical education classes designed to rehab my back and restore myself to normalcy. I had a special weightlifting class designed for me. I had a swimming regimen to strengthen my back without the stress of other exercise programs. I was the sole male member of the ballet class. I meditated and practiced every thing I knew to do to restore my broken back.

Everything I tried resulted in no visible progress. I was careful in how I approached any activity. I separated myself from any jerky movements or poor form I may have used in the past. I wanted to be ready to perform normally when God healed my back.

In seminary, I sought God in every way I knew how. I was a United Methodist student, attending a Southern Baptist seminary, and going to an Assembly of God church. I wanted to go and do whatever I could that would put me in the place God was moving.

Finally, one Sunday morning the revelation came. "Today is the day" for your healing I heard in my spirit. I thought out loud, "God, I don't think it's going to happen anywhere I've been going." I opened the phone book and closed my eyes. My finger came to rest on this church listing: Trinity Church on Seatonville Road and that's where I went to church that day and that's where I was healed!

Hold steadfast in your faith. Combine everything you know to believe and do and wait on the Lord. God will renew your strength. The revelation will come and so will your healing.

The Word of God and Healing

Yesterday, we shared that the movement of God's word and God's healing are experienced in us in the same ways. The changes they bring can be received as a revelation and by meditation, instantaneously and gradually. Today, I want to share one of the other similarities between healing and the word of God.

Healing and the word of God can be appreciated in us through a call to separation. The word of God is, Hebrews 4:12 says "quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The word of God, the Psalmist says is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path and leads us in the way we should go. It gives us a spiritual diet for us to follow.

Healing also can arise out of following dietary or behavioral directions. We close the gap between how we are and how we were meant to be by separating ourselves from how we were meant to be from how we are. We are intentional about maintaining the distinction between our will and God's. We observe what is good for us instead of what is not.

This method is called for when we pray in the Lord's Prayer "Give us this day our daily bread." This literally means we are asking God to prescribe for us what we need each day and we will follow it until we have achieved the desired outcome. Healing comes about in the same fashion.

Some of us need to keep this similarity in mind when we are in wait mode for healing. We are tempted to think if healing hasn't already occurred it is not meant to be. Do we do that physically? No, we do not.

Do you ever tell your doctor you don't deserve a diagnosis that will heal you? You haven't gotten better so it must be meant to be. Separate yourself from that kind of thinking spiritually. The Great Physician is willing to prescribe what you need for healing and wholeness. Consecrate yourself, separate yourself unto his words until you have healing.

All in Good Time

One of the lessons I learned last week at the Aldersgate Conference was healing works just like the word of God in us. Sometimes we hear a word that becomes a revelation for us. Our life, our mindset is changed and we are never the same. This rhema, this anointed word from our loving Lord touches us and instantly we are different. Healing occurs sometimes in this way. It is a sovereign moment and instantaneously we find ourselves healed and free.

More often, our experience shows us we learn the word over time, "line by line, precept by precept". Instead of arising out of a powerful revelation, our understanding is widened by continual meditation on God's word. Healing sometimes and most often takes this gradual route. Some might say it is the natural way we ordinarily recover. Meditation and memorization of the word are important. Do not forsake these for some wished-for vision from heaven. Without the faith-filled daily disciplines of meditation and memorization the wished-for vision may come but not necessarily from heaven. But, without these disciplines you won't discern the difference.

In the same way, do not be disappointed if your wished-for healing doesn't occur instantaneously. God loves you. God is working everything together for your good. Last Tuesday, I had a thirty-year-old prayer answered when Tate Music Group said "Yes" to marketing our music and ministry. What if that immature eighteen year old boy had someone say "Yes" to him thirty years ago or even twenty years ago? "Lord, have mercy!" Well, the Lord did.

The Lord is good and his mercy endures forever. That is the truth. God has already promised you that you will be spotless and without blemish before his glorious throne. You can trust God for that. Ask the Holy Spirit to be your teacher in residence. I am sure you will have revelations and I am sure you will have things taught to you that require meditation. Be happy to receive both.

There are parts of me that are in wait mode for healing. I still earnestly expect it though one particular point of asking has been ongoing for over 25 years. All in good time.

Tomorrow, we will see some other ways receiving healing corresponds with receiving the word of God. Invite your friends to check out the blog at http://YourDailyGrace.blogspot.com. Until then... I love you and am praying for your healing and wholeness. Let me know where you are in wait mode for healing. I will join you in asking Love to come and make the difference there in you.

You Gotta Love It!

Karen and I just got back from the Aldersgate Conference on Spirit-filled living. It was great! The worship, the testimonies, the outpouring of God's love manifested itself in healings, deliverances, and mighty experiences of joy. We are looking forward to the same kind of experiences now that we are back home at South Hill.

"God is love", I John says and that love is constant: the same yesterday, today, and forever. We see love is trinitarian in its nature just like the Godhead. Love is Almighty. "It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things; Love never fails. Love abides". When all else passes away Love still stands.

Love is active. Love became flesh and dwelt among us. The words of good news tell us love can be seen and recognized in Jesus. That active Love inspires activity in us as we follow Him.

Love can be apprehended and appreciated. We can receive and appropriate the Almighty and Active Love of God. We can receive the Holy Spirit. This is how we feel love, by actively having Almighty Love live, move and be Active in our hearts by faith. Romans 5:5 tells us "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us." You gotta love it!

"Ask and (LOVE) shall be given unto you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and (LOVE) shall be opened unto you." (Matthew 7:7)