“And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”
— Genesis 5:24, NKJV
The purpose of our new book, JESUS FOLLOWERS, is to urge you to walk with God. Starting now, if you aren’t already. Now. While you have the opportunity.
I continue to be thankful for how Rachel-Ruth seeks to pass the Baton to her three girls and also diligently endeavors to pass it to other children and their parents, who need encouragement as they run their race of faith.
As you read Rachel-Ruth’s story from JESUS FOLLOWERS, I pray you will be prompted to seek opportunities to pass the Baton to those within your home, as well as to others in your wider circle of influence.
For His Glory,
When we’re walking in step with God, the Holy Spirit may give us a nudge, an intuition, a sense of foreboding, an urgency, a strong vision of a person or situation, a burden on our hearts, a nagging feeling, a check in our spirits. We have to be careful not to ignore these “red-flag warnings”. Instead, we need to take whatever it is to prayer immediately and allow God to show us how to take action, if that seems called for.
Even though I often feel insignificant and powerless, I know God uses my prayers. I have been leading my mom’s personal prayer team for the past ten years. She established a prayer team when she started her ministry, because she knew she couldn’t do all that God had called her to unless she was covered in prayer. We meet once a week for the singular purpose of praying through any prayer requests she may have personally or in her ministry. Each of the other seven ladies who meet with me are amazing prayer warriors, some of whom have been on my mom’s prayer team for over thirty years.
One fall morning in Raleigh, we were praying for my mom, who was teaching her yearly seminar at The Cove in Asheville. As we prayed through each of her requests, I kept getting a picture in my head of a bear! I felt an urgency to pray that no bears would harm Mom while she was staying at a cabin on The Cove property in the mountains, especially since she loves to go on walks. Honestly, I felt a little like I was being overly dramatic, but I knew it was the Lord putting bears on my heart. The Holy Spirit was giving me a serious red-flag warning, and I needed to respond to it by praying.
That afternoon Mom called and told me about something that had happened when she headed out for her afternoon walk. As she left the cabin, she realized she had forgotten her cell phone, so she returned to the cabin to get it. When she went back outside, she noticed a movement in the woods below the cabin porch. She quietly stood, staring at the movement, then realized it was a bear. Because my mom is adventurous, she at first thought how fun it was to see a bear out in the wild. Then, to her astonishment, she saw that the bear was heading straight for her! She immediately ran into the cabin and shut the door. The bear walked up on the cabin porch, where she had just been standing. She described him as looking deranged, like he was half-starved. He had bald patches on his back, he was thin, and he was growling. He jerked his head back and forth, sniffing the air. Then he looked into the cabin through the large window. He stood up on his back feet, growling. He actually walked around the cabin two more times; but in the end, praise the Lord, he walked away. Mom said that if she had not returned to get her cell phone, she would have begun her walk on the gravel road, and the bear would have caught her too far from the cabin for her to run to safety.
What would have happened if I hadn’t responded to that burden to pray against any potential threat from a bear? How faithful God was to give me those spiritual instincts—those red flags from the Holy Spirit—to know when and how to pray.
God continues to remind me to heed His prompts. At times I’ll skip a particular gas station and drive to another because something doesn’t feel right. Or I’ll be talking to someone and get an uneasy feeling, a warning in my spirit to be on guard with that person. Or I’ll be listening to a conference speaker, and an alarm bell goes off in my head, warning me that what the person is saying is not true to God’s Word.
Is God warning you about something? Could the Holy Spirit be giving you red-flag warnings to protect you and those around you? To get you to change direction or alter your schedule? Or to alert you how to pray?
In these last days of human history, now more than ever, I know I need to spend time in prayer and in God’s Word, developing a sensitivity to the Spirit’s warnings as I choose to heed the red flags. He is my Defender. My Protector. My Good Shepherd will lead me in the right paths if I follow Him. My walk of faith is much safer when I do.
For His Glory,
Rachel-Ruth L. Wright
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.”
— Revelation 2:7
This is a picture I took of the actual bear Rachel-Ruth speaks about in her story of Red Flag Warnings. I’m so thankful for a daughter that heeds His warnings! Only Heaven will reveal all the unknown dangers God has protected us from throughout the years in answer to prayer.
Message taken from Anne and Rachel-Ruth’s new book, Jesus Followers. Releases October 2021.
Bible Study: Walking with God
Once a week, I walk with a friend. We have two rules that we follow: we must walk at the same pace and we must walk in the same direction, or we won’t be walking together. The same two rules apply to walking with God. We must walk at His pace which is step-by-step obedience to His Word, and we must walk in His direction, which is the surrender of our will to His. Isn’t it time you took a walk with God?
*Restate the command God gave to Abraham in v.1. Give the three phrases that indicate Abraham’s obedience to that command in vs.4-5.
*How old was Abraham when he followed through on his commitment to pursue God?
Click here for the Bible Study especially developed for this newsletter.
What a joy to share Mother’s Day with my family…and with you! To help celebrate, I pulled in Rachel-Ruth and her youngest daughter, Riggin, for a video blog. Each of us spontaneously shared life-lessons we took from our mothers. The thread through the generations was the example of authentic faith in God’s Word.
Every May, Naismith Hall of Fame Basketball Coach Sylvia Hatchell invites Rachel-Ruth’s Bible study, plus friends, neighbors and family from far and wide to come for a picnic at her beautiful home. Hundreds of men and women gather for inspirational music and barbecue. Then as the sun sets and the geese fly overhead, Rachel-Ruth and I have the privilege of sharing God’s Word.
Dr. Ed Young graciously invited me to give the message at all three of his Mother’s Day services at 2nd Baptist Church in Houston, TX. I was warmly received by all. Dozens of people responded to the invitation to surrender their lives to Jesus.
What a privilege I was given to address the United in Purpose attendees on the opening night of their conference–in ATT Stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play! Coach Tom Landry said the difference between good athletes and great athletes is about 18 inches– the distance from the head to the heart. I made the same comparison using Isaiah as an example of someone who made the transition from his head to his heart when he experienced personal revival as a result of deep repentance of sin. Then I invited the attendees to draw a circle around themselves, and make sure everything in the circle was right with God.
Steve Dick, the president and CEO of Inspiration Tours, is my dear friend who has organized three of my trips to Israel and is now supervising the plans for my Mother’s Day Tour in May 2022. He also hosted the Fresno/Clovis, CA, Prayer Breakfast which was held in the Grizzlies Baseball stadium, and invited me to speak to those gathered. It was a fully blessed time of ministry that included a visit to his office.
After not traveling for fourteen months due to COVID restrictions, my first time on the road was to Austin, TX, to speak to the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast. I was richly blessed by Governor Abbott who went out of his way to affirm me personally, then gave a powerful testimony of his faith in God and the importance of prayer in his life.
Preorder Now!
JESUS FOLLOWERS
Real-Life Lessons for Igniting Faith in the Next Generation
Hardcover — Releases October 5, 2021
The daughter and granddaughter of Billy Graham offer a warm and inspiring glimpse into their family life, sharing stories that reveal spiritual wisdom and practical insight for raising the next generation of Jesus Followers.
In order to instill truth that leads to genuine faith, parents and grandparents must be intentional. Using the metaphor of a relay race, Anne Graham Lotz and her daughter, Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright, demonstrate how the baton of faith is passed from generation to generation through our witness, our worship, our walk, and our work. Within the framework of Anne’s exploration of biblical characters from Genesis 5, Rachel-Ruth tells family stories that will encourage, inspire, and motivate Christians to follow hard after Jesus and to develop their children and grandchildren into Jesus Followers.
While some stories are funny, some heart-wrenching, others awe-inspiring, each “snapshot” conveys a spiritual truth along with an application that will help you continue, or begin, building a legacy of authentic faith.
When you preorder Jesus Followers,
you will also receive:
- A Praise Printable: Creating a Legacy of Worship | Jesus A to Z
- A Legacy Printable: Creating a Legacy Reflection Cards
- Access to a Zoom Event with Anne and Rachel-Ruth
Watch Anne and Rachel-Ruth LIVE from The Cove
For their Seminar:
Leaving a Godly Legacy
August 20-22, 2021
Register for the LIVESTREAM here.
Join Rachel-Ruth for Bible Study in September
Anne’s daughter, Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright, is leading an online women’s Bible study. You can join her live or review the recorded study on our website (click here to visit). Here is a personal note from Rachel-Ruth:
If there was ever a time to be in God’s Word it is now!! I am so excited to have Bible study starting back up! We are going to study the second half of Genesis this year. I love the Old Testament, and I felt like the Lord led me to go back to the beginning . . . where it all started.
I’m looking forward to all that God wants to teach us. I think we all need it and are hungry to hear from Him. Since we will be online, let’s pray God gives wings to this Bible study to reach people all over the country and the world!
Join Anne and Rachel-Ruth
for This Unforgettable Mother’s Day Tour of Israel
I can’t wait to go back to Israel and share this blessing with you! I have chosen May 3-13, 2022, as the dates for the tour because they include Mother’s Day. How special it will be to enjoy this Mother’s Day Tour: For Women Only, as we also celebrate this meaningful time of the year. Together.
Many of you have come to know my daughter, Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright, through her weekly online Bible study. I have invited her to share the teaching responsibilities with me so that at each significant site you will be richly fed.
I promise this is a blessing you won’t want to miss! Please invite your friends, your daughters, your granddaughters, your mothers, your grandmothers, your aunts, and your sisters to participate in what I know will be a life-enriching and faith-strengthening experience.
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