How Great is Thy Faithfulness

It feels as if that every time I share with you that I start with how faithful the Lord is.... But this is so true I just can't help bragging on him. He has seen to every detail of what I have needed. And this season more than ever I have realized how key it is to see him as the faithful God.

Have you ever had anyone ask you which Bible character you most relate too? For me its Abraham. It's not the typical one people choose. I know that I am a go getter like Deborah and that I am a fighter like Jael, but in this season the Lord is really teaching me how to cultivate the gift of faith. And let me tell ya, Abraham is teaching me so much right now. He was a man that held onto the promises of the Lord like his very life depended on it. He didn't let go. He might have tried to make things happen in his own timing, which he learned later that it would really be through Sarah that his offspring would be reckoned and that God would see to it that it happened that way.

Abraham is counted in the great Hall of Faith in Hebrews as a righteous man, because of his sincere faith. One of my all time favorite verses in the Bible comes out of Hebrews 11... shocker lol.

Though Abraham was well off in years and his wife Sarah was barren, God enabled him to become a father because he considered him faithful who made the promise. Hebrews 11:11

Abraham knew in his heart that God would come through like He promised.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrew 10:23

Then there is this nugget... Hebrews 6:12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

I am such a literalist, I don't mean to be, but I am if I am really honest, I take people at their word. This can get me in trouble some times when people say "I didn't mean that literally" or "you thought I was serious?" Actually I did. So its probably easier for me to read the Bible and take hold of what is written on the pages, because I know that it is true. Every word is true.

So these scriptures are basically saying that if I imitate Abraham and consider God faithful I will inherit the promises over my life. C'MON!!!

Let me brag on God some more!! He is faithful.
In my last blog update I shared a little of my hopes to go to Wales with a team from Pasadena. I had no way of going. No extra finances, and plane tickets aren't cheap. All I had to go on was "Go to Wales with Lou" That was it. How does that work with out money? Let me tell you, when God invites, He fits the bill. Less than one week later someone gave me 60,000 air miles and I was on a plane going to Wales with Lou. Its that simple... He said go and He made a way. Wales is a place of remembrance for me. Not only remembering the Welsh Revival of the past, but a time where Holy Spirit inspired me to rap in a park behind a castle in Cardiff and preach the gospel to many drunk men who encountered the love of God. It was incredible to see God minister to those men. Lots of tears for sure. We got to go and see Reese Howells Bible College, and see where WWII ended through intercession as these simple old women prayed earnestly 8 hours a day that the Germans would not invade the coast, and these women got the victory for sure! It also was a treat to learn that this was where Rienhard Bonnke went to school. We were blessed to go to Cymbran to witness for ourselves the outpouring we had gone over to see.  The three nights were were able to attend, many were saved and healed every night. Lord you are so faithful to all you have made! Breath on that little church in Cwmbran and let another Welsh Revival sweep a nation.

When the Lord gave me those air miles he began laying a foundation in my heart truly that if He invited me to a place that He would get me there... wherever "there" would be. He etched on my heart... "I AM FAITHFUL"

So several weeks have gone by since my trip to Wales and yet again the Lord is proving himself everyday that He is faithful. 

I was blessed with a short season home to meet with some supporters which are dear friends and spent time with my folks learning where I get so many of my quirky traits. That was definitely a hoot. My parents are hysterical! I was really hoping to make a little extra cash at home to put towards a ticket for Circuit Riders this summer which would go from Lancaster, Penn, to Kansas City and back to LA.
It was a very good visit home, but honestly wasn't able to come up with any extra cash. It was a little disheartening but knowing that the Lord is so faithful I knew that He would make a way.

I haven't got my ticket yet, but I am convinced that He will provide through any means that He would like, He is God anyway. The Lord has provided in "Spectacular" ways and that is for sure!

Spectacular=

Beautiful in a dramatic and eye-catching way

In all reality its not about how big my faith can get or anything that I can do, but that the Lord would get center stage as we marvel at how awesome He is and how great is His faithfulness.

Your love oh Lord, reaches to the Heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Psalm 36:5

Here We Go...

I am overwhelmed by the faithfulness of the Lord. When things look like they might be a little uncertain or I am not sure about what will happen next the Lord gives me another puzzle piece. Thank you Jesus!  He so knows what to let me in on for me to say yes to his plans. And I want to say yes to his plans. I am very much in the beginning stages of all of what the Lord is wanting to do. But I am so very excited to walk into it all. 

Teaching and mentoring women, is still very much a key part of what I get to do and I love it! I have really begun to see the Lord broaden my influence and am now seeing more and more women come into greater fullness of who God has created them to be. They are walking in greater freedom and have a greater hunger to know God and make him known. I have the privilege of teaching many women at a time and also one on one. This is one of the greatest joys of my heart, am so thankful to the Lord that this a part of what I get to do. 

This summer, the team of revivalists that I get to live in community with and I are going to be ministering/training in partnership with the school of the Circuit Rider in several locations here in the states. We will be going to Pennsylvania, Kansas City, and back to LA, where we will be equipping young people and helping them prepare for long term missions. The last 2 years that this school has been going we have seen thousands of salvations and almost as many healings have occurred. We have had several opportunities to team teach in many settings here locally in Southern California and doors are opening up for us to travel to other locations as well. Most of which we will begin to see in January. Things are about to shift into high gear.

We have felt a momentum especially coming off of the Ekballo fast that we just did with Lou Engle, where we prayed and fasted 40 days for revival, for the house of prayer to be established on the campus of the U.S Center for World Missions, and a student volunteer missions movement to be birthed. On April 10th, the day after our fast ended we learned later that Wales has been experiencing an outpouring of signs and wonders, and revival in hearts. As long as the empty vessels show up to be filled, God fills them. I totally believe that this outpouring is happening because people were praying for God to do it again, and the Lord loves to pour himself out on those who are hungry. The house of prayer here in Pasadena is sending out a team to Wales this Saturday the 18th to attend a few of these meeting that are being held at Victory Church. I am really hoping to be a part of this team that goes.  May I catch this fire Lord. And may your Spirit move here in Southern California again as well. May we see another great awakening here in America. I am in for the long haul. Whatever it takes. 

Would you please prayerfully consider financially supporting me monthly or even a one time contribution to help me continue to mend the hearts of women, and minister with my team as we train and equip young people with the gospel to go into long term missions? And also would you pray about being a part of my story, whether it be this trip to Wales or just sowing into the ministry that the Lord has called me to do and be about on a daily basis?

Would you also consider adopting me as someone you would pray for regularly? Prayer is so powerful and really does release unity when we do this together. Your prayers pave a way for the gospel to be poured out. 

Thank you,
Love you so much!

Erin Crain

Believe

I truly believe that a work done in the heart; a God transformation is worth more than a thousand words. I am blown away by Jesus and His ability to never cease to amaze me. Here He goes again establishing His faithfulness deeper in me! I am convinced that He can do all things! And I am seeing that as I come out of trying times and as the Lord reveals my heart and breaks me through to a greater place of intimacy with Him, He gives me tools and words to express to women and to others how to do the same.

I have found myself recently battling areas of the mind again. Thoughts that have tried to take me out. Thoughts that have tormented and tried to snuff the life out of me. And then getting frustrated that I was struggling yet again with the matter. But in all reality this isn't a one time prayer or choosing one time to have good thoughts. This is a life time of keeping a clean house, of choosing to think on things that are true and noble and right and pure and lovely and admirable like it talks about in Philippians 4. This is a daily choosing to trust the Lord, and believing that He is the One, True, Living, Breathing, Wonderworking God who comes by fire! The KEY is BELIEVING.  I am super thankful to the Lord for His great perspective and  workings of His Holy Spirit. Clarity of my mind has truly been one of the greatest gifts that Jesus Christ has ever given me next to my Salvation. This clarity allows me to fix my gaze on Jesus and His great love for me. I truly believe that our mind is where we engage in conversation with God. And we worship God with all of our heart, soul, MIND and strength. We have to think on it. We have to believe on it. Our minds are constantly inundated with all kinds of STUFF and at times it is really hard to differentiate between truth and FLUFF. And FLUFF does not sustain. But in Hebrews 1:3 it says that "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all
things by his powerful word." 

And in Ephesians 1:13 it says,  "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word    of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.  Having BELIEVED. Where do we believe? We have all heard that phrase "with all my heart". Romans 10:9 says that if we confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. At the end of the day we have to believe. We have to believe that Jesus is who He says He is. We have to believe that we are just as He has said. And the belief in our hearts has to couple with our thoughts that swirl in our minds. 

In Hebrews it tells us that the Israelites didn't enter into the Promised Land because of their unbelief. They didn't enter into rest because they didn't believe. I believe that God is giving us today the same invitation that He gave the Israelites. He is offering us REST and peace of mind, if we just believe, we may enter in.

This season has been marked by radicle breakthroughs in my heart and mind and I have had several opportunities to walk women through similar battles like the ones I have recently just come out of. It's no accident we go through trials. But Praise God that through it all its not for nothing. It is an amazing joy to be able to articulate what I have just been through and it helps others. May we continue to BELIEVE. May we continue to believe the TRUTH of the word of God. May we continue to believe God and not let our minds wander. 

Simply put, I am being transformed by the renewing of my mind. And by faith, like Paul, I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. The past will not dictate my future. And at the end of the day I can only please God through my faith which is simply putting action to what I believe. I am taking hold of that invitation and going to a deeper place of intimacy with Jesus, enjoying the pleasures of having a mind at rest.