EvangeCoach Ministries Ken Ramey – Coaching the Church in Evangelism – – – WA State Field Representative for "My Hope with Billy Graham"

Psalm 32:8 “The LORD says, ‘I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you’.”

Beloved,
Today, and this week, we are passionately seeking the face of God in extended times of prayer, reading & meditating on the Word and listening to the Holy Spirit’s counsel as we find ourselves at a major crossroad in our life and ministry. Pray with us. Listen to the Lord. Bask in the undying love, grace and mercy of our God! We appreciate you!

As a part of my prayer time, I love to read the written prayers of others. There are entire books of written prayers that are deep and powerful! The following is a compilation of some prayers that have been specifically meaningful to me today. Diane & I prayed this prayer while on our knees today.

“Our Father in Heaven . . . Lord God Almighty!

We know that You are Jesus, and that You died for us. We know that you rose again, live inside us, and have given us the promise of eternal life, as we are your children. We praise Your Holy Name today! We thank you for all you are and all you have done for us.Control us today by Your Holy Spirit. Let Your Holy Spirit Testify through us and speak the Truth through us. Let Your Holy Spirit Love through us- a perfect unselfish Holy Love; so that we lay down all worldly ambitions, give up our wills, and do Your Holy Will.

Take our thoughts away from making money, or finding security and success in this world. Take our desire away from seeking worldly wealth or fame. Take our eyes away from looking on vain worldly appearances, which deceive and mislead us. Keep our thoughts on doing Your Holy will, not on seeking worldly material things, or vain worldly status. Let Your Holy Spirit give us our ONE desire and ONE purpose. To do Your Will. If You desire us to walk paths of poverty, then so be it. If You desire us to lose everything, that we think is important or valuable, then so be it. If You desire us to sacrifice everything we have and our lives, then so be it. If You desire us to endure pain and seasons of harsh conditions, then so be it. If You desire us to live or die, then so be it.

Let Your Holy Will be done in our lives. For, even our lives are not our own. We owe everything to You. Keep us from looking in the mirror and admiring our own beauty, which is not beauty at all. Let the True Beauty be in us- Your Holy Spirit of Truth and Grace. Keep us from pride and love of self, which is our enemy.

Bless us with absolute, total, unselfish Love – which is only possible through Your Holy Spirit. We give You our lives. Do with us as You Will. Make our lives useful to Your Service. The only ambition we have is to humbly, and honestly do Your Will. We want to lift up Your Name Jesus, not our names. We want to make known the power of Your Holy Spirit, Jesus. We want You to claim us for Yourself, and use us according to Your Divine purpose.

We are convinced that You have given us a Mission – thank You for your call on our lives. But, no matter the job or task that You assign to us, we will be contented, and full of Joy, to do Your Holy Will, Lord Jesus.

Let Your Holy Spirit’s POWER be alive in us forever, and give us, and continue to give us, Purpose, Hope, and Peace and Joy. For without You, we perish.

Lord, we give up all our own plans and purposes, all our own desires and hopes, and we accept Your will for our life. We give ourselves, our life, our all, unreservedly to be Yours forever. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit. Use us, O Lord, we pray; send us where You want. Work out Your whole will in our life at any cost, now and forever.In the precious name of Jesus, we Pray! Amen & Amen”

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

Evangelist Ken & Diane Ramey

Home address:
14400 SE 270th Pl
Kent, WA 98042
Phone: 425-495-3723

A small vision of what a church service could be –

On early Sunday morning, May 31st, I lay in bed excited to go to church at New Life Community in Lake Tapps for the first time. God gave me a vision of what an exciting church service would be for me. Throughout the many years of pastoral ministry, I have had the joy to attend some fantastic “staff meetings” in many local churches where I served. It was these staff meetings that I looked forward to the most! At a Spirit-led church “staff meeting”, all the elements that should be in the church service, happened:

• The leader (Sr Pastor) prayed and planned for excellence in each staff meeting
  There was excitement and anticipation of all the staff and most were always early (a leader who is ‘on time’ is LATE!)
• We started on time (having already had ‘small talk and fellowship in the office before staff meeting) and began with the leader praying for God’s presence and blessing on our time.
• Then we worshipped – either with a worship pastor leading with his/her guitar or with CD’s on a stereo. The worship is awesome because we are in love with Jesus and love to sing His praises together! Worship clears out the enemy and unifies the worshippers. God is glorified!
• After worship singing, or during, we shared and prayed for one another. We shared personal burdens, concerns, hopes and dreams. Many times we would all gather around a specific staff member for intense prayer.
• Then we would move to a challenge from the Word – from the Sr Pastor or from one he asked to share. The message to the staff was always intentional and strong… not just milk.
• After the Word, we had discussion around the table: each shared what was happening in his/her ministry; each had specific prayer needs in their ministry; many would seek help or counsel about something specific they faced in their ministry.
• Then prayer happened again – specifically for the ministries!
• Finally, the leader would bring a challenge focused on the big picture – the Mission of the church and the Vision – how are we doing to accomplish the mission? It was a “get all excited” message and “keep on keeping on” challenge!

EVERYONE always left the staff meeting trained, blessed, encouraged and challenged to be all we could be for God’s glory for the accomplishment of His purpose in our church.

In my vision on that Sunday morning in May, I saw the Sunday church service. If all believers are really ‘ministers’ (staff members), the church service could be seen as a staff meeting! Yes, this would be difficult for large churches, therefore the small groups would be ‘staff meeting’ as the church trains, blesses, encourages and challenges every member to be an effective and successful Christ Follower for the Glory of God and the growth of the local church. I believe this kind of church service would cause every member to feel like an equal staff member – part of the team doing the work of ministry – each in his/her mission field.

To me, this is an exciting vision! I want to see this happen in a church someday!

Last summer, our precious grand-daughter, Emma, decided to go fishing. She went alone. She tried and tried. She was … patient. She finally used the right bait. Emma caught her first fish – it was little and a ‘throw back’ but her first fish!!! She will never forget it! She was so excited she talked about it for days.
Just last week, Emma caught a 14” trout. We didn’t get a picture but she, once again, was thrilled. The fight was fun and the prize was worth it!!! This is a “Jesus picture” of what He meant to be our life’s-joy . . . following Him and allowing Him to make us “Fisher’s of Men!”

Following Jesus is at the core of Missional Living

“Follow”: to get behind; to get in back of; to be in the same way; going in the same way; signifying a likeness, companion or union.
To follow someone means not taking the initiative, not suggesting a certain path and not challenging the direction you’re going.

1. To follow Jesus means reaching out to people! Matthew 4:19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

2. To follow Jesus means discarding dead ways. Matthew 8:22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

3. To follow Jesus means not hesitating. Matthew 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. John 1:43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

4. To follow Jesus means to deny yourself. Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

5. To follow Jesus means to let go of materialism. Matthew 19:21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

6. To follow Jesus means to listen. John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

7. To follow Jesus means to sacrificially serve Him. John 12:25-26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
Service means sacrifice!!! By the death of personal desire and personal ambition a man becomes a servant of God. Only by spending your life do you keep it!!

LOYALTY is what Jesus is talking about!!! We have only to think of what this world would have lost if there had not been men prepared to forget their personal safety, security, selfish gain and selfish advancement. The world owes everything to people who recklessly spent their strength and gave themselves to God and to others. No doubt we will exist longer if we take things easily, if we avoid all strain, if we sit at the fire and enjoy life, if we look after ourselves as a hypochondriac looks after his health. No doubt we will exist longer–but we will never live.

Playing it safe is not a part of being a follower! Being a follower is risky business! It means loyal service to our Master no matter what He asks or where He leads!!

8. To follow Jesus means to follow Him without getting distracted by other things or other people! John 21:15-22 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

Step #1 in reaching our co-workers, neighbors, friendship groups, fellow-students, etc, with the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ is simple to say but the challenge-of-a-lifetime for the committed Christ-follower: It’s all about ‘being’ not ‘doing’; it’s being ‘right’ with our Savior one minute at a time; it’s being in fellowship with the Lord all the time; it’s being a man or woman who makes Jesus the Lord each day; it’s being filled with the Holy Spirit; it’s just ‘being’ in the presence of God – walking with God! (1 John 1:5-10)

I must confess that ‘doing’ is much easier than ‘being!’ It takes daily, moment-by-moment discipline to ‘be’ all God wants me to ‘be’ on the inside – and that’s hard! Our battle is against the flesh and against the enemy who does not want us to be in constant relationship with Christ. The devils intent is to destroy that sweet relationship with God through Jesus Christ (John 10:10).

Before we can become a ‘doer of the Word’ we must strive each day just to ‘be a child of God in right relationship with our Heavenly Father ’.

For me, it means starting the day by talking to the Lord in prayer and worship. I use the “Lord’s Prayer” as an outline for my daily prayer and sing songs of worship and praise during my prayer time. This intimate time also includes confession, repentance, and seeking the control of the Holy Spirit.

When I was working at Bellevue Honda, I would use the 35-minute commute to have this special prayer/worship time with the Lord.

Unless we are walking with God in the ‘inner person’ we will not be able to ‘shine for Jesus’ as a missionary at our workplace! Our goal must be that when we walk into the job (school, gym, etc) it is obvious that we have been with Jesus because the ‘shine’ of joy, peace & love’ is all over us! This will draw people to Jesus through us!

I KNOW this is true, because when I fail to discipline myself and ‘be’ the man of God, my attitude and countenance shows it and people say, “What’s the matter with you, Ken?”

My dear friend for 19 years, Jim Quayle, is my living example of ‘being’ before ‘doing!’ His is a true “Missional Liver” and God used him at his workplace for 28 years in the lives of countless men and women! Jim sees the vision and he and his wife, Jan, are faithful team-mates in prayer and financial support.

Today, May 4th, is my precious mother’s (Anna Ramey Carpenter) 82nd birthday and this Sunday is Mother’s Day. From childhood my mother has been committed to prayer and reaching the lost. Her father, my grandfather, Ira Myrick, was a ‘crazy’ evangelist. At the end of his life of ministry when he was ‘just to old to get preaching invitations to churches’ he hitch-hiked up and down Highway 101 in California. When he would get a ride, he would bring out his big King James Bible and begin preaching the gospel to everyone in the car! When he couldn’t get rides (because he looked so old) he would bring my grandmother, Carrie, with him because people would feel sorry for her. Grandpa Myrick won many people to Christ in their car – others dropped him off as fast as they could!!! One convert was a California Highway Patrol Officer who picked him up for vagrancy. By the time they arrived at the jail, this CHP officer was born again!

My mom’s 1st husband, my dad, Arthur Ramey, was an evangelist/pastor. While my mom was at BIOLA, ‘preparing to be a missionaries/pastor’s wife’ she ran into this loud man standing on a wooden box and preaching the gospel on the sidewalk of Los Angeles. She eventually married that man. They passionately served the Lord until my dad was taken to glory while preaching the gospel message in his church pulpit in 1980 at the age of only 56.

Mom was married a year-and-a-half later to pastor Bob Carpenter. Together they are faithful in their church and pray every day for the lost in their neighborhood and all over the world. They pray for us every day. Dad Bob and mom are behind our “Missional Living” ministry and believe it is a need in the church today.

I honor the life of my dear mother today. I know she is praying for us. My mother has been a “Missional Liver” all of her life!!! O how we need this kind of ‘old school’ commitment today!

The familiar NT story of Jesus allowing his friend Lazarus to die then raising him from the dead has a challenging message: It was done for “The Glory of God!” John 11:4 & 40.

But just what is the “Glory of God?”

If we read the complete story in John 11:1-48 we find that what brings Glory to God is people “putting their faith in Him (Jesus)” vs 40-45. Many of the Jews . . . who had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in Him.”

This is what brings Glory to God – people coming to faith in Jesus Christ! Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.” Matthew 5:9. A ‘peacemaker’ is one who points people to God, helping them make peace with God through Jesus Christ, thus helping them find peace.

This is our call! May this be our prayer and ‘cry out’ to God today:

“O God, Glorify Yourself at my expense!”

This is the place to share prayer requests, witnessing ideas, missional living insights, helpfulhints for all who love Jesus and desire to bring that love to his/her sub-culture: extended family; workplace; school; club; special intrests; groups; etc.

Jesus said, “Come, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19

God has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation! 2 Corinthians 5:19

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NIV

Let’s have a discussion. Let’s help one another to fulfull our great commission – GO!!! TELL!!!