All pioneers like Moses endure as seeing him who is invisible. Only they who fix their eyes on the invisible One can reach the goal of their endeavour. God grant us today that in the walk of faith and trust we may press on and on knowing that we shall succeed if we faint not.
We’re on the way to a great discovery. The people of Alberta will be recognized the world over. I’m most anxious that our people may be worthy of the respect and admiration that will surely be yours. You must bear the torch of practical Christianity to a sin-cursed world – that’s your problem, that’s your responsibility.
Premier William (Bible Bill) Aberhart, August 23, 1936
Alberta is a land with a rich spiritual inheritance. Early missionaries as well as thousands of God-fearing pioneers sowed their faith deep into the prairie soil. Premiers “Bible Bill” Aberhart and Ernest Manning built upon this righteous foundation by preaching the uncompromised gospel to the whole nation every Sunday for over 30 years on their Back to the Bible radio broadcast. Because of these faithful men and women, Alberta has stood as a standard bearer for righteousness in our nation and has rested under a canopy of God’s favour and blessing.
If there was ever a time that Canada needs to hear the call to come “Back to the Bible” it is now. And as we mark the 80th year since Premier Aberhart’s prophetic declaration over the destiny of our province, we believe the Spirit of God is calling to the Church of Alberta to raise up the age-old foundations and carry the torch of practical Christianity to the lost world around us.
But first we need the rain of His presence to awaken the fire of first love in our own hearts. This August 18-20, the Lord is calling the family of believers in Alberta to gather in Edmonton to worship and wait on Him as we cry out for the rain of His presence to fill our province once again!
Rain Down 2016
When: August 18-20, 2016
Where: C3 Edmonton - 9425 76 Avenue. (Please note: the church has no information about the gathering so please do not contact them with questions. Any questions, please email info@thealbertaproject.org
Schedule of Meetings
Session 1 Thursday August 18 7:00 p.m.
Session 2 Friday August 19 9:30 a.m.
Session 3 Friday August 19 1:30 p.m.
Session 4 Friday August 19 6:00 p.m.
Session 5 Saturrday August 20 9:30 a.m.
Session 6 Saturday August 20 1:30 p.m.
Session 7 Saturday August 20 6:00 p.m.
** Please note: While we do our best to adhere to the schedule, we also remain flexible to the Holy Spirit.
Hotels
For a list of nearby hotels, please follow this link (will take you to a hotel listing in Expedia).
Children
We believe children play an integral part in God's plan for our province. More details will be coming soon about special plans for the kids at the gathering.
Hearing God
The gathering is not a conference but a call from the Lord to worship and wait upon Him corporately. We encourage you to seek the Lord to know if He is asking you to attend; your blessing is not in an event, it is in your obedience to the Lord.
If the idea of hearing God is new, and you would like to learn more, click here.
Sowing Seed
Rather than charging a fixed registration fee, we ask each person to seek the Lord and sow in obedience as He directs. Donations of $20 or more will be issued tax receipts at the end of the year.
If you would like to learn more about the kingdom principle of sowing and reaping, click here.
Registration
Registration is available online by going to our secure server by clicking here.
The Journey to Hear God's Voice
by Kathi Pelton
Hearing God in the dark night of the soul
A number of years ago I was going through a tough time in my life in which I really needed to hear the voice of God on a constant basis to keep me moving forward through the obstacles that I was facing. I found that the hardest time to hear the voice of God is when seemingly negative circumstances are screaming in your ears and glaring in your eyes. But I also knew that this "crisis" had given me an opportunity to press into hearing and seeing Him like never before. Circumstances that are challenging can either be a brick wall to keep you from moving into a greater level of hearing or, with the help of the Spirit, it can become a doorway into greater intimacy with God.
During this difficult time I found it necessary to focus intently on Jesus and to immerse myself in the truth of His Word. Being the mother of four active young children at the time posed a challenge as far as finding time to focus. Due to the enormity of the circumstances that I was facing at the time it was difficult to move beyond the natural realm and go into the spirit realm. In desperation, I found that the night hours became my times of refuge. I would often sleep for a couple hours and then get up in the wee hours of the morning to journey into hearing and seeing the One whom my heart longed to hear from.
These times usually began with an hour of pressing through my own fears, thoughts, doubts and confusion. I often found myself praying through the Psalms of David because so many of them begin in fear and doubt but end in hope and faith. During this season, when darkness seemed to be closing in around me like black turbulent waters, each night I had to journey through my fears and doubts in order to find those "still waters" where the voice of God can be heard and His loving embrace felt.
I would reach into the darkness to find the hand of my faithful Father who would lovingly lead me through the pain and the fears right into His peaceful arms. By the end of the night's journey I would have heard the voice of my Shepherd speak words of peace into my storm. Sometimes "hearing" came through a verse in His word that birthed faith out of fear. Sometimes it would come through waves of comfort that would pour into me like warm water. Other times it would come through a picture or vision that would remind me that I am never alone and then there were even times where the morning would dawn and His voice came through the morning embrace of one of my small children. I learned through this the true meaning of "His mercies are new each morning."
The journey of learning to hearing the voice of God in trying times imparted perseverance and tenacity within me. These times also birthed testimonies of His faithfulness that have carried me like a lifeboat through many more storms. In the beginning of my journey of walking with God I rely on the stories of others to give me the faith to face the storms, but as my journeys took me through these storms, they become personal testimonies of His faithfulness that give to me greater faith and also gave faith to those whose journeys have just begun.
Hearing God day by day
Although hearing God in the storms can be a challenge, they also give us a reason to press into Him. As our life in Christ goes by year by year sometimes the challenge becomes to remain sensitive to pressing into Him even when things are going well.
For me the key has been to walk in constant communion with Him. Not long after I left the dark season that I spoke of above, the Lord invited me to journey with Him into a new exciting season of hearing Him in the journey of everyday life. Each day I would commit my steps to Him and then trust that He would interrupt my plans so that He could order my steps to take me where He wanted to go.
I remember one day in particular. I had the desire to go downtown and get a coffee at a local coffee house. I had a regular place that I always went to get my coffee but this day I just had a "feeling" to go to a different place. I went to that place, fully expecting that God wanted to show me or tell me something. I ordered my coffee and sat down and waited. As I sat there I didn't hear anything or see anything out of the ordinary. After a while I thought that maybe I just "missed it" and it was just my thoughts leading me there and not God's voice. So I got up and walked out.
As I walked out of the coffee shop, which was located right next to a grocery store I remembered that we were low on milk so I went into the store to buy some milk for our family. As I went into the store I saw a debit cash machine and a strong sense went through me to stop and get $100 in cash out of it. Once again I obeyed the "sense" (it was not an audible voice, just a clear thought!) I withdrew the money and went to get my milk. As I walked down the aisle I could hear a couple talking in the next aisle. It was a husband and wife arguing over whether to buy toilet paper or milk for their kids (obviously they only had enough money for one or the other). In that moment, I knew that they were the ones who the money was for. I quickly went to the aisle that they were in and approached them.
I briefly told them the story of my morning and that I felt that God wanted them to have the money. The husband began to weep right there in the grocery store. He shared with me that he and his wife were new believers and he was wondering if they had made a mistake in their years as unbelievers by getting married. They had kids but never had enough money. He had asked God that very morning to show him through a tangible sign that He was for his family and for his marriage. This gift of provision was his sign and he knew it. He had heard the voice of the Lord through my act of trusting that I was hearing the voice of the Lord...yet neither of us heard an audible voice.
God speaks through pictures, thoughts, senses and even the natural circumstances of our lives. Though there are those amazing stories where people have had the visitation of angels or heard an audible voice in the night, these are the exceptions rather than the rule. God speaks mostly in that still small voice of our thoughts and senses. As we learn to trust these we learn the difference between the voice of our Shepherd and the voice of a stranger.
"...and the sheep hear his voice, and when he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. When he puts forth all of his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee because they do not know the voice of strangers." John 10: 3-5
Because the voice of our Shepherd leads us into green pastures and to still waters where we are refreshed and others are refreshed, the voice of a stranger leads us to places that are barren and full of chaos. Although the green pasture may take on the form of Calcutta, India or Gulu, Uganda they are still green pastures if the true Shepherd has led you there. They will confound the wisdom of men.
I remember as a young believer reading a quote by a missionary to Calcutta, India, Mark Buntain. He said that he was the happiest man on earth. Although he, his wife and daughter were living in the poorest and most filthy place on earth, it was his green pastures because he trusted that he heard from God and traveled to this distant land from his home in Canada. There he found his greatest joy...God's love for India.
Take a step of faith
I want to encourage you to accept God's invitation to hear Him in everyday life. It will be the most fascinating journey that you have ever embarked on! It will take you to places you never dreamed of and have you doing things you never thought possible. Hearing God's voice will be the most joyful sound you have ever heard...even though you may never hear an audible sound! Each day ask Him to order your steps and you will find yourself hearing things that leave you speechless.
Kathi Pelton and her husband Jeff live in Windsor, California and are directors of Compassion Arise. For 4 years they served as directors of The War Room in Kelowna, British Columbia. Kathi has a deep passion to see Canada fulfill its destiny and to be a resting place for the Lord. She is a frequent contributor toThe Elijah List.
The Law of Sowing and Reaping
by Don Rousu
In the Book of Genesis, which means the book of "beginnings", we find the expression of a seed principle that runs throughout the scriptures, and a principle that will endure as long as earth. Chapter 8, verse 22 reads, "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." In other words, seedtime and harvest, that is "sowing and reaping", will be as unchangeable and predictable as day and night.
Sowing and reaping is a law, like the law of gravity. The law of gravity always works the same way for everyone. So does the law of sowing and reaping. It's a fixed principle that God built into his creation. In Galatians 6:7, we are told, "Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."
Essentially, this means that every action has a predictable consequence. If I sow corn, I'll get corn, not potatoes. If I sow radishes, I'll get radishes, not squash. If I sow beans, I'll get beans, not watermelons. It also works the same way in the spiritual realm. If I sow (give away) life to others, I will reap life myself. If I sow provision for others, I will reap provision for myself. If I sow forgiveness toward others, I'll reap forgiveness for myself.
In Luke 6:38, Jesus assured us that we could count on it. The law of sowing and reaping always works, and it always works the same way for everyone. If you sow bad things, you reap bad things. So He starts off in verse 37 with a warning: "Do not judge!" Guess what happens if you do? You guessed it - you'll reap judgment. But if you refrain from judgment and condemnation, you'll escape reaping it from others. And then he goes on to apply this law of sowing and reaping to our giving of material goods: "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
This addresses a very human fear, namely, that if I give anything away, I won't have anything left for myself. Jesus says that just the opposite is true. Give the very thing you need, and you will get more. Not only will you have enough for yourself, but the more you give, the more you'll be given. The bigger the sowing, the bigger the reaping.
Any farmer knows that. If you want a small crop, you sow just a little seed. If you want a big crop, you sow a lot of seed. And Paul expands on that principle in II Corinthians 9, where he has been encouraging the people of Corinth to give generously to the believers in Jerusalem who were going through a famine and needed help. He says, in verse 6 of that chapter that "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously."
In Galatians 6:7, Paul says something very interesting about sowing and reaping. He begins by saying, "Do not be deceived." The reason he says that is because so many people are deceived about sowing and reaping. And then he assures us that we will reap whatever we sow. So what's the big deception? It has to do with a lapse in time between the sowing and the reaping. For example, some people sow the sinful deeds of death and then, because they don't see the immediate consequences, they come to the conclusion that they got away with something. But sooner or later, the law of sowing and reaping will work, because it always works the same way for everyone. Sowing the sinful deeds of death will eventually and inevitably bring a reaping of death and destruction. Violent people reap violence. Unfaithful people reap unfaithfulness. Bitter people reap bitterness. Selfish people reap selfishness. It's a law, like gravity.
But the deception also works on the other side, with sowing good seed, righteous seed, the seed of generosity and good works. How so? We can sometimes be deceived into thinking that, just because we don't see immediate results, that the law of sowing and reaping doesn't work. God promised that if I would give, it would be given to me. But there may be a significant lapse of time between the sowing and the reaping. In nature, if you sow rabbit seed, it takes about 31 days to reap a crop of rabbits. If you sow elephant seed, it takes about 22 months to reap a baby elephant. But sooner or later, you always reap exactly what you sow! And Paul offers these encouraging words to people who spend their lives sowing love, kindness, and generous provision, verse 9: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
God always invites us to trust Him, and to believe that His only desire is to bless us. He invites us to invest heavily in the things of the Kingdom, and expect that we will, in the end, reap an abundant harvest of righteousness. Some of it will come back to us very quickly. And some of it will come back to us more slowly, but just when we need it.
What we need to understand is that God's invitation to give generously is an invitation to invest in His purposes. And when we invest in the purposes of God, He always pays us back with interest. Let me demonstrate from God's creation. When you put one grain of wheat into the ground, how many grains do you get back? Well try it. Pick the stock of wheat that grows from that one grain and count the number of grains in that one head of wheat. Let's say you got twenty back. So what percentage of interest did you gain on your investment? If you're slow at math, it's a 2,000 percent interest on your investment. When's the last time you earned that kind of interest by leaving you money in a personal saving account in your local bank?
God invites you and me to invest in an unseen kingdom and trust that the reward on our investment will go beyond our wildest dreams. "Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, flowing over will be poured into your lap!" The real key, though, is asking God where he wants us to sow, and then obeying his voice. He's full of "hot tips!" He knows where the growth potential is! So when you hear the Lord, be wise and sow generously, because the more you sow, the more you'll reap - and that's a promise!
Don Rousu and his wife Ruth pastor Harvest Vineyard in Edmonton.