May 25, 2016
by Dr. John Neihof
Here is a prayer for hope and a harvest at Wesley Biblical Seminary. I started writing this prayer in November, 2015. Since then, WBS has operated for six consecutive months with income meeting or exceeding expenses. We are in the black as we approach the end of the fiscal year, 2015-2016. We have just graduated 11 students in the class of 2016. Enrollment has held over 100 for three consecutive semesters. God has worked mighty miracles. I thank and praise Him. Thank you for your prayers, support and encouragement to our team in these incredible days. You have witnessed a 21st century resurrection from the dead with the rebirth of Wesley Biblical Seminary. To God be all of the glory!
From Dr. John’s blog, Dr. John’s Stories and Prayers
Jeremiah 31:17
“There is hope in your future, says the Lord, That your children shall come back to their own border.”
Dear God,
You gave me this promise for Wesley Biblical Seminary on June 18, 2013. Since then, You have been fulfilling this promise in thrilling and dramatic ways. WBS enrolled 48 students in August, 2013 for the first semester of our recovery. We have seen steady enrollment growth, and today we have over 100 students for three consecutive semesters. “Your children shall come back to their own border.”
Thank You for fulfilling Your promise for Wesley Biblical Seminary. I praise You for being true to Your Word to bring students to study at WBS.
You promised that the weak Hebrew nation, repatriated to Jerusalem after Babylonian captivity, would defy nature: “For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth—A woman shall encompass a man” (Jeremiah 31:22). Make this once weak and struggling thing, Wesley Biblical Seminary, to triumph victoriously against all natural and supernatural forces. Defy explanation, so that You alone may be praised!
You promised that Jerusalem would experience Your renewed blessing as a “home of justice, and mountain of holiness!” This is our distinctive! Wesley Biblical Seminary must be a mountain of holiness in a plain of mediocrity and nominal Christianity. Bless us, to that end, for Your glory!
“And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks” (Jeremiah 31:24). Thank You for the shepherds who once again are studying at Wesley Biblical Seminary. Thank You for the hard labor of our team who are plowing ground, planting seed, harvesting, and building for the future!
But Your answers to prayer have come at a price. Our souls are weary. Our bodies are tired. The lack of adequate finances is a constant pressure. You told Jeremiah that in the midst of restoration and repatriation, that You would strengthen the exhausted and sad. “For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul” (Jeremiah 31:25). Exhaustion and sorrow plague us. The sorrow of our financial woes often overshadow the miraculous return of students to WBS. We desperately need strength and encouragement. You promise to be the Source of both. Be our resource!
Fulfill Your Promise! “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:27-28). Sow seeds of hope. Grow a harvest of a prosperous future. Watch over Your field and flock, Wesley Biblical Seminary.
We love You. We need You. We seek to do Your work and Your will. Strengthen our hands to plow straight furrows, sow seeds of faith, and reap a harvest. “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).
In the Name of the God who gives the increase (I Corinthians 3:6),
Amen.