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"Jacob also went on his way and the angels of God
met him.” --Genesis 32:1  Printer - Friendly Version
There is a timeliness to ministry. Jacob was returning from exile to claim all that God had promised to give him. But first he had to face the brother whom he had deceived and enraged twenty years earlier. It was at that time that God sent angels to encourage, comfort, and strengthen Jacob on his journey. If the angels had appeared earlier or later in Jacob’s life, they would have missed the opportunity to prepare him for two life-defining confrontations, one with his brother Esau the next morning, the other with God that very night. Without their ministry at that time, Jacob may never have been transformed into Israel, the “prince who had power with God.” (Genesis 32:28 KJV) Jesus referred to a timeliness in ministry when He instructed His disciples, “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” (John 9:4) There are moments when windows of opportunity for ministry are open before they then close. If you and I don’t seize the opportunity when it is offered, it may never come again, and we will miss the full blessing God had intended either for us, or through us, for someone else. What divine appointment or assignment has God given you? What opportunities for real ministry have presented themselves? How have you responded to them? What blessing have you and I missed because we didn’t seize the moment of opportunity God gave us? What blessing have we denied someone else because we missed that opportunity? As I reflect on the last several months and the multitude of God-given opportunities that I have taken, it is the missed opportunities that haunt me, rob me of sleep and elicit tears in the night. Whose life would have been saved, whose mind would have been changed, whose heart would have been drawn to Jesus if I had taken those opportunities? So while I have confessed my negligence as sin (James 4:17), I am filled with gratitude for the opportunities given . . . and taken. One opportunity that has captured our hearts at AnGeL Ministries in a unique way is the invitation to hold Just Give Me Jesus in New Orleans on the first anniversary weekend of Hurricane Katrina. After days and weeks and months of seeing pictures and videos of the devastation along the Gulf Coast, and after reading so many personal stories of those who are still radically impacted, we feel as though we ourselves are citizens of the area. Individually, we have wept . . . and prayed . . . and sent resources, yet have been so busy in the ministry to which God has called us that we have not had a physical presence there. While our hearts longed to be directly involved, there seemed to be no open door. Until January 18th . . . On that day, I received an email inquiry from 30 pastors’ wives who had been meeting for months in prayer together. These women of different denominations, races and ages had not known each other before Hurricane Katrina, but are now bound together by the desperate need to minister to their devastated city at “such a time as this.” Listen to their heartbeat in the words of this email . . . August of 2006 will be the one-year anniversary of Katrina’s devastation in New Orleans. We have all been affected by her fury last year and the effects are still overwhelming. Our city is recovering but it will be years before the city is back. Nearly 60% of the city is still without water and electricity. There were [thousands] of square miles of devastation . . . most of the churches in the city will never open again and many of the larger churches will relocate to other areas. This, in itself, is a tragedy. We have experienced a third world tragedy in a first world country.
In spite of this great tragedy, God has blessed us and it has been amazing to see the hand of God work in a new and fresh way. The hearts of the people are open and receptive to the Holy Spirit like I have never seen before. It reminds us of the mission trips we take in third world countries. People are more open to the gospel now than ever before. I have prayed for years to see our city turned around for Jesus. I thought people would be angry at God but instead they are blaming themselves for what has happened. Half the people we have in our church are all new believers since the storm. There is a whole new group of people coming into the kingdom. All of the churches and people have been touched by Katrina. And many of the people are having a hard time rebuilding. This is why we, as pastor’s wives in the city of New Orleans, would like for Anne to come. To encourage us to stand strong and [remember] that Jesus is our source of strength. All we need is Jesus. August will be a fearful time as the reminder of Katrina approaches our city. We all want to invite Anne to come and minister to the lives of not only our members but to the lives of the women in our communities. We believe this would make a major impact on them as well as help them to transition into a healthier, stronger relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It would also aide in helping us get back and reignite the passion for Christ in our lives. Keeping in mind that we are not in a financial situation to help out with the expenses. All the churches are struggling to survive. Please accept this invitation to come to New Orleans on Saturday August 26, 2006. I wanted to be very cautious in my response because I had such a strong emotional desire to accept the invitation. Yet I knew that unless God had opened the door, any attempt to minister there would be wasted effort. So immediately after returning from holding Just Give Me Jesus/Panama and our I Saw The LORD church event in San Diego, I asked Carole Inman, our Director of Ministries, to make a site visit. On March 2, Carole brought back the following report: The pictures we see on the TV screens really don’t do justice to describing the scene on the streets in New Orleans. It’s unimaginably worse! The good news is that the women I met with described a revival underway! In meeting with about 25 pastors’ wives, nearly every woman reported of church buildings destroyed, and of services held wherever they could find congregants and space – some even traveling to Houston or Baton Rouge on Sundays to gather members. They talked of previous church ‘programs’ being replaced with providing food, clothes, prayers and the Good News of Jesus Christ from tents in their parking lots. One said, “We could have planned and programmed for years and never been able to come up with the real ministry and outreach which is now showing up on our doorstep every day. People are coming to us, asking for prayer!” The women also shared that because of the practical help being offered, the evangelical church has gained credibility it never had before the disaster. People feel the government and insurance companies have failed them . . . but, months later, the churches are still there with help. Waves of Christian volunteers from all over the country continue to show up every week and it’s the local New Orleans churches that are hosting and deploying these volunteers. Denominational, racial, social, and geographical differences never surfaced as a topic during my visit. Instead, this was a group with a single, unified focus. They are committed to make sure that on a potentially unsettling weekend -- the storm’s anniversary -- the women of New Orleans are offered a Rock on which they can stand. To the woman, each member of this team agreed to band together while the window is open in order to give Jesus . . . just Jesus.
After carefully reading Carole’s report, consulting with my “counselors,” counting the cost, and seeking God in prayer, I have accepted the invitation to hold a one-day Just Give Me Jesus revival in the New Orleans arena on August 26th. What a privilege to partner with such a team of women in order to just give them Jesus! As I look ahead with joyful expectancy to Just Give Me Jesus/New Orleans and Just Give Me Jesus/Toronto, I am more committed than ever to working “while it is day.” This AnGeL wants to be “in time.” 
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