From the Desk of James W. Goll
The Day of Mentoring with R. T. Kendall this past Saturday was a true delight and a rare opportunity to sit at the feet of one of the choice apostolic teachers of this generation. R. T. brought wit and content to the plate from his 25 years of experience as the former senior pastor of Westminster Chapel in London. Below you can click to download the free MP3 download of his teaching on "The Sensitivity of the Holy Spirit". Soon you will be able to purchase the 4 CD set of the Day of Mentoring with R. T. Kendall containing two teachings on "God Meant It for Good" along with an interview and Q and A time. It was a pleasure and an honor to host this tremendous time.
Perhaps some of you saw my interview on TBN a week ago with Mark Chironna. I was able to cast the vision for PrayerStorm and touch the angelic encounter concerning Israel Awakening. This week on Friday, I will tape a TV show with Cornerstone TV in Pittsburgh, PA highlighting these two emphases again. PTL for the increased exposure!
The Coming Israel Awakening book has come out at a critical time. It is a must read for all who hunger to understand what the Spirit of the Lord is saying in this hour. It is meaty, readable and eye opening! Get a copy, read it and pass it on to others! It is possibly the most thorough of any of the books I have written to date and has received a good review that I would like to pass on to you.
Compassion Acts will be partnering with First Nations leaders this spring for another outreach to the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma on April 24 and 25th. We will send out details next week on how you can be a part of this trip and give toward food relief for the Cherokee Nation.
I felt that it would be good to give you a very personal inside look at some of the challenges and changes we are embracing as a family and ministry Six Months Later. As most of you know, it was six months ago that Michal Ann graduated to heaven after a long battle. I miss her terribly. Life will just never be the same. But it does march on – and we must also. Just in case you did not know, there is a place on our web site where you can compose a tribute to Michal Ann is you desire. Just thought some of you might want to know. She touched so many lives…
So, sit down, get a cup of tea while you read this week’s A View from My Chair…. It might just make you ponder a while…
Thanks for your prayers and on going support of the ministry of EN, CA and Prayer Storm. We cannot do this without you.
In Christ Jesus our Lord!
James W. Goll
Right click to download: The Sensitivity of the Holy Spirit
It is about the Holy Spirit Himself – not our sensitivity to Him – but His nature.
In this classic message by apostolic teacher R. T. Kendall, he brings us lessons of how we can cooperate with the Sensitive nature of the Holy Spirit Himself. He teaches us not to model “pigeon religion” but how to be perch where the Holy Spirit will not only descend but will remain upon your life, family and ministry. This is a must listen for all those wanting to create a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit today.
Downloading Instructions:
To download these files "Click" on the Session title (colored in blue). This will open a dialogue box where you can save this file to your computer for future use or simply play it. By downloading these files rather than playing them through you media player in your browser window, more people will be able to access these each month without any additional cost to Encounters Network.
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Six Months Later
by James W. Goll
I sit in my chair in the Living Room of our family home in the rolling hills of Franklin, TN as I compose this note to you. As I muse while sitting here, I see Michal Ann everywhere. She is on the wall in the picture of Tyler and Rachel kissing her on the check. She is in the splendor of the colors she used when she painted our kitchen so it would have an “African motif”. She is in the large framed crazy glass paisley angel which hangs over the fireplace that she designed for me before we ever had any kids. She is at the piano in our foyer. She is in my heart and my thoughts every day.
It has been six months since Michal Ann Goll departed from this planet and her body laid to rest in beautiful Dover Cemetery in rural Missouri. Her family and friends around the world miss her. Life will never be the same. How could it be when you were married to an angel…? I write notes in a journal called “Dear Annie” that sits on my laptop that no one sees but me alone. I tell her what the kids are doing, what life is like without her, how I see her in the barn everyday as I feed her horses, how much I miss her and I ask her questions…. And I wait for a reply….
I ask things like, “What is heaven really like? What songs did she sing today? Did she fly on the back of an angel and explore some galaxy beyond my view? Has she touched the four living creatures? What are they really like? Has she sat in her mansion and chatted with Joan of Arc, Harriet Tubman, Kathryn Booth and all those other women she wrote about in her Women on the Frontlines books?” I get no answers, but I ask and ponder anyway…. It is a part of my process…. My journey into life six months later….
I understand Michal Ann better today than I ever did while she was with us. I never understood that crazy woman on this side…. But in her absence I am learning some key things in life. It finally dawned on me the other morning; a light truly went on inside my being, while sitting in our barn that she loved so much. Michal Ann knew and lived a life of contentment…. I probably never have. But as a widower – which I never thought for one moment I would ever be – to move forward in this life – I need to learn the qualities that this dear woman exuded everyday. Michal Ann Goll embodied contentment.
I have always tended to try to fix things. Fix people. Fix the government. Fix the church. Fix the poor. Fix the cats. Fix her. Fix the kids. Even fix me! (I think it is partially a guy thing.) But she could leave things alone and let them be….. the beauty of the power of contentment. It does not mean she need not see the need for change or even spend hours praying about such things (especially fixing me). But she could rest in the moment and lived in the present. Me? I have tended to live in the future and miss the fragrance of life along the way.
But six months later, I think, I might ever so little – be changing. I weep as I compose these musings just at the idea that a 56-year-old codger like me could actually change. Wow! Could I, too, learn the power of contentment? I have taken comfort in the words of Paul, the bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ, where he wrote, “But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:10 – 13 NASV
Did you see and hear those words? I have learned. How awesome is that?! It did not come naturally – Paul had to learn to be content. So Praise the Lord, there is hope for me (and you too)! I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. So I am struggling to learn, but I am leaning into the heart of my Master to be changed from one who strives into one who rests.
That peculiar woman could sit in that humble crummy barn and love being there. She could ride bumpty bump in a land rover in the hills of Thailand and Burma and be content and filled with joy. She could preach to thousands and not be impressed or swayed. She could stretch a dollar into two and she could smile at the future while having excruciating pain in her body while racked with cancer. She learned to change what she could change and then pray and leave the rest to God. She learned the power of contentment. Six months later, I am ever so slowly learning as well.
I will never let go of three basic things. 1) God is Good All the Time. 2) All Things Work Together for Good. 3) The Best is Yet to Come! Now my brain still goes into tilt on the third point. But because I do believe in the first two points, I trust that point number three is true as well. After all, He does exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. So, yes, even in my pain, even in my family's great loss, somehow, some way – The Best is Yet to Come!
I miss my Annie. I love her more today than yesterday. I hurt more today over our loss than I did 4 months ago. But I also understand Michal Ann Willard Goll better today than at any other time in my life. I am more grateful today than ever before that I really did marry up!
So six months later, I am offering up the sacrifice of praise to the only one who is worthy. Jesus, you alone are worthy to be praised. You do all things well.
A View from My Chair,
James W. Goll
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