Birthing Ministries Out of Our Pain

Mark Virkler's picture

Your greatest problem, once resolved becomes your greatest ministry.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose
 (Romans 8:28).

God brought Jesus Christ through the lineage of David and Bathsheba’s adultery (Matt. 1:6) God saved the nation of Egypt through the jealous actions of Joseph’s brothers (Gen. 50:20). God has used us to teach over one million people how to hear His voice after I was not able to identify it for the first 10 years of my Christian life. God is truly amazing, and will do amazing things through your life if you simply say "Yes, Lord." 


I just had the privilege of doing a Communion with God seminar in Millersburg, Ohio for the Millersburg Church of God which was using the event to raise money for their food pantry. We did raise thousands of dollars for the food pantry, plus 84 people also learned to hear God’s voice and 17 were baptized in the Holy Spirit with the gift of speaking in tongues in an afterglow session, so it was a wonderful and fun weekend.

Meet Pastor Dave Masters and their church’s food pantry

The seed that birthed the food pantry: Brother Mark, when I was seven to eight years old, my father just up and left the family.  There was my mother, my sister, and myself. After a few weeks, we were down to 1/2 of a jelly jar of bacon grease and a little flour. I had the task of gathering sticks to burn for heat and looking for dandelions that we could eat.  For several days of a week, what I could find made our meal for the day. 

At some point in this time frame, a kind family brought us two brown paper bags filled with store-bought groceries. The one thing that I remember, which brought tears of joy, was the fact that in one of the bags was a pack of hamburger.  It had been so long since we had meat that I could not even remember what it tasted like. Within a week of that happening a man showed up in a flatbed truck with wood scraps from a factory in town. Oh to be warm again.

This happened to me forty-nine years ago. That is why I'm so passionate about running a food pantry. I purposed in my spirit that my children would never know the hunger, or the fear of no home, which were things that I had suffered with as a child.

I, Mark Virkler, had the privilege of participating at the food pantry prayer station

Pastor Dave has an amazing operation which distributes nearly 1/2 million pounds of food a year out of the back room of their church on the 48 Friday afternoons it is open annually. The Friday I joined them at the food pantry, over 100 people came for food. Each one left with a shopping cart loaded over the brim with food. Since most food is donated, and volunteers run the food pantry, each shopping cart of food that rolls out their door costs only 12 cents!!! Personally, I cannot even wrap my head around that fact. 

I joined the prayer station, where people are asked as they leave the building, what needs they have that we can pray with them for. We prayed for many desperate needs that day. I saw deep into the hearts and lives of some very broken and needy people.

Stories of those being helped

First story: It was in early winter.  We had a wet snow on the ground and it was cold.  Through the door came a young man. When he took off his hat, I could see a military hair cut.  He looked at me asked, "Are you the pastor?" I replied," How can I help you?"  This is his story.  "Sir, I just got home from being employed in Iraq.  I have not received my travel money or last pay from Uncle Sam.  My son is sick, his prescription medicine cost $40 dollars and I only have $60 to my name. That leaves me $20 to buy food. Sir, I cannot feed my family on $20 dollars, can you help me?"  I told him first, thank you for your service to our country and protecting my freedom.  I told him that I could help him with the food and instructed one of our volunteers to load him up. After he went through the line, I met him at the food station.  There were already tears in his eyes when he looked at me and said,"Sir, you don't know what this means to me."  I told  him,"Son, this is straight from the hand of God to you. We are just the truck drivers."  I saw this young soldier one time after that.  My personal belief is a hand up, not a handout.

Second story:  An older woman has been coming to the pantry to receive food.  At the prayer station she told Pastor Dave that before the pantry she had to choose to pay bills or buy food. She is trying to live on $800 a month.  Now, she could pay her rent and provide groceries for her grandchildren.

One fact you may want to know is, the majority of clients are single mothers, the working poor, grandparents raising their grandkids, and the elderly.

Some charitable fundraising organizations spend 85% of the money that is contributed on administration and ONLY 15% (or less) goes to the actual people in need. Consider giving to this food pantry where 99% goes to the people in need, and they are prayed for every time they visit.

You can give to this worthy cause by: providing a donation on their Paypal account here or by contacting Pastor Dave by email or by phone (330-231-7058).

He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor (Prov. 22:9).

Cross-pollination of spiritual gifts and callings

The Lord led me to suggest to Pastor Dave that running some free training for these people could also meet their deep needs. Topics such as healing heart wounds, physical healing, hearing Gods’ voice, receiving God’s creativity, how to obtain solid employment and good money management principles could be very helpful in their lives. Hopefully some of these services can be added to this food pantry ministry.

I have had others cross-pollinate my mission and the call of God upon my life. I have been called to saturate the world with communion with God. I initially believed it would take six weeks of teaching before I could ask people to begin hearing God through two-way journaling. I believed I needed to provide a theological and philosophical introduction and then teach the 4 keys before they would know enough to journal.

Then Bill Dupley told me he had people journaling after his first session!!! Yikes! Really? How did he do that? I watched him do it and now, after my first session of teaching, I have people journal. They no longer need to wait six weeks.

And you know what? On Sunday mornings, I only teach 25 minutes, while people fill in this 4 Keys handout. Then we journal and share our journaling in groups of two, and then some come to the front to read their journaling to the congregation. Amazing! It works!

And the best was yet to come. Julie True teamed up with us to create our Sea of Galilee CD, which leads people into an encounter with Jesus in 5 minutes. A few days ago I handed out our free flier of this free streaming Sea of Galilee Encounter to a person I had just met for the first time. I encouraged them to try the 5 minute visualization walk with Jesus along the Sea of Galilee. I received an email from them this morning, saying they tried it that evening, and the two-way journaling worked!

Wow, down to 5 minutes to get a person hearing God’s voice, and it wasn't even necessary to teach anything, but rather simply to lead them into an encounter with Jesus! A picture IS worth 1000 words! Yes, there still is a place for my 6 hours of teaching, but it does not need to precede hearing God's voice. Don't you love the effects and power of cross-pollination? 

  • So we can cross-pollinate one another with our gifts, and improve the effectiveness of each others' ministries. 
  • Lord, give us ears to hear and meekness of spirit, so that we allow (and invite) others to speak into our lives and ministries and improve the giftedness we present to the world.

What brokenness has God healed in your life, that is now to become your ministry?

Journaling questions

  • Lord, show me the brokenness in my life that You have healed and You now want me to release healing to others, allowing Your stream of life to touch them through me.
  • Lord, have I invited others to speak into this ministry vision, helping hone it so it can be all You desire it to be?

Resources


 

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4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice

4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 305 Pages | Retail: $16.99

Have you ever wished you could just sit down and have a long talk with the Lord? Wouldn't it be wonderful to move beyond having a theology that states that God loves you to actually hearing Him whisper words of love into your heart? When you're worried or confused, wouldn't you love to see the situation from His perspective and hear how He wants you to respond?


Price: $14.95

Dialogue with God

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 296 Pages

This top seller for 30 years from Bridge Logos provides a narrative, right-brain presentation of the principles of how to hear God's voice. Especially enjoyable for personal use, it makes a great gift for introducing a loved one to the voice of God. This book teaches the four keys to hearing God's voice in readable style, and also devotes two entire chapters to moving samples of people's journaling (i.e. their two-way dialogue with God).

Price: $17.95
Hear God's Voice Guaranteed Package

Hear God's Voice Guaranteed Package

9 Books | 10 CDs | 10 DVDs | Save Over 20%

Have you ever wished you could just sit down and have a long talk with the Lord? Wouldn't it be wonderful to move beyond having a theology that states that God loves you to actually hearing Him whisper words of love into your heart? When you're worried or confused, wouldn't you love to see the situation from His perspective and hear how He wants you to respond? When things don't seem to be going your way and your prayers aren't answered the way you had hoped, wouldn't it be great to hear Him tell you where He is in the midst of it, and what He is working out in your life? Are you ever just a little bit jealous of others who say with such confidence, "The Lord said...."?

Price: $175.00

How to Hear God's Voice

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 317 Pages

We recommend that you order the newest revision of this book titled 4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice. It includes 95% of the content of How to Hear God's Voice but is reorganized so it fits perfectly with the 10 DVDs on this subject by Mark Virkler. In addition, it gets you started using the four keys earlier in the book and gives you more journaling samples and exercises. Since we have removed the large margins, it is a smaller and less expensive book.

Price: $24.95

Prayers That Heal the Heart - Revised & Expanded 20th Anniversary Edition

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 320 Pages

Prayer counseling that breaks every yoke! Everything you need to experience deep healing of your soul and spirit.

Did you know that you don’t need to be continually plagued by negative thoughts, feelings, pictures or memories?

It is not part of the "human condition" to feel the constant nagging of doubt, insecurity, or anger. No matter what sin you are trying to overcome, what lie you think you’ll always believe, or what traumas your heart has suffered in the past, you will receive total freedom and restoration by praying these prayers in faith. 

Price: $19.95

Twelve Weeks to Spiritual Mastery - Group Coaching

A group coaching experience with Mark Virkler

Because I could not find a Spirit-anointed teacher/coach, I spent ten extremely frustrating years seeking to hear God’s voice!!! Suggestions offered did not help me, things like: “You just know that you know. It is a still small voice. He speaks from your heart.” No one could give me the answer I needed which was: Hearing God’s voice is as simple as quieting yourself down, fixing your eyes on Jesus, recognizing His voice as spontaneous, flowing thoughts and writing down His flow as it is coming. Test what you have written after the flow is done, NOT while it is occurring.

Price: $1,200.00

Counseled by God

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 146 Pages

Have you ever been defeated by negative emotions such as anger, fear, guilt, inferiority, condemnation or depression? Have you tried to fight them off unsuccessfully? Is there an answer that is deeper than simply trying to mentally reason yourself out of these emotions? Is there a way that Jesus can speak a word of life into the depths of your emotional despair and bring healing on a deep level? Is there a form of Christian counseling that begins and ends with the movement of Christ within your heart, rather than simply with the words of man?

Price: $10.95
Hear God Through Your Dreams Workbook Cover

Hear God Through Your Dreams Workbook

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 92 Pages

A newer book has been released that accompanies this workbook: Click here for Hearing God Through Your Dreams by Charity Kayembe and Mark Virkler (featured on Sid Roth's "It's Supernatural", with almost a million views just on YouTube).


Do you often wake up feeling there was a significant message in your dream, but you’re just not sure what it is? Like Daniel and Joseph, do you long to be able to help others understand their own dreams and win them to Christ as you explain His night messages to them? Wouldn't it be nice if you could receive mid-course corrections from the Lord while you sleep? Do you wish you could be receiving divine inspiration, creative solutions to problems, and direction from the Lord during that third of your life that you’re “just” sleeping?

Price: $11.95

Hearing God Through Your Dreams

by Mark Virkler and Charity Virkler Kayembe | 292 Pages

Learn How to Hear God’s Voice, Even When You Are Sleeping

It is always fun to be on the winning team. Well look what God has done with Charity's new dreams teaching. It has taken off like a rocket with a live TV interview on Cornerstone Network and her Sid Roth interview which has almost a million views on YouTube!

Price: $16.99

Everyday Angels

by Charity Virkler Kayembe and Joe Brock 289 Pages

You can partner with Heaven’s angelic hosts!

Do you have guardian angels? Does God want you to know them? Find out what Scripture reveals and how YOU can interact with the company of Heaven!

The supernatural realm permeates our natural world! Therefore, experiencing angels should be an everyday occurrence–we simply need to open our spiritual eyes to their reality and role in our lives.

Price: $16.99

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