I was at Richard and Charlotte Moore’s, my brother and sister-in-law’s house recently to celebrate some family birthdays. Richard and Charlotte are helping take care of two infant grandsons while their Respiratory Therapist son, Chris, and Surgical Nurse daughter-in-law, Debbie, work unusual shifts in local hospitals. Richard was in the kitchen having his morning devotionals, and I was in the living room, sitting in a rocking chair with my usual morning coffee/cocao drink. I was reading the Word from my iPhone Bible App and read something that caused me to cry out to God for guidance, saying,

“Lord, show me a sign!”

I immediately glanced up at a children’s book, face out, on a nearby shelf. The above is a picture of it! I knew God was using that book as a “sign” that He is, indeed, going to start giving me signs! Maybe a dream,  a vision,  a prophecy,  an extraordinary circumstance? Or, beyond that, even an unexpected or highly unusual phone call.

Signs help tell you what to do or where to go. Some signs are much more obvious than others. For instance, if driving a car, a loud clanging bell and swinging red lights warn you of a deadly freight train coming. Other road signs may be more difficult to read, like an unlit street. But if you miss the sign, you may be late or even never arrive at your desired destination.

I have written previously how, through the years, it became increasingly difficult to schedule meetings in churches. I recently decided that I no longer wanted to make “cold calls” pressuring pastors to let me preach in their churches!

I prayed and believed God to supernaturally open doors of ministry for me. But how much longer, I pondered. That Baby Signs book was a long-awaited answer: SIGNS WERE SOON COMING!

Only days later, I was speaking on the phone with a supporter. She said she had told her pastor he needed me to come to their church. (I had ministered there years previously, and subsequent attempts to schedule more meetings with him were unsuccessful). With her encouragement, I called him again. Long story short…we schedule a four-service revival! (I had only one of those in 2024!).

I know this was just a “baby sign” but it was an encouraging start! I believe in my spirit that Warford Ministries has transitioned into a new season of increasingly more frequent and sure signs to help guide our way forward.

Remember the story of how the Lord had been speaking to me with the sign of my eyes being led to clocks that at that very moment read 5:55? March 18, 2023, at a church in Colorado, Brandy Morris (who had heard nothing about my 555 sign) felt led to give me a check for exactly $555. What an extraordinary sign! I thought surely I would be released to my Isaiah 55:5 ministry in no time. But a year later, I was still waiting.

I recently noticed that it was March 16, 2024, that a life-changing event happened. I have many hundreds of songs downloaded on my Spotify app. For years, I mostly listened to (older) secular music. (I, frankly, didn’t enjoy most modern religious music). There is one religious album, however, I appreciated. It was Pastor Jack Hayford’s album Men In Worship. On my way home from the gym one afternoon, I listened to one of its songs: All Heaven Declares. As I drove, I had somewhat of an epiphany. In my spirit, I could visualize Jesus seated on His Throne in Heaven, and I was among those worshipping him. You can imagine how many worship services I have been in, especially as a traveling evangelist. Yet, I had never felt such beauty, joy, and revelation of my glorious eternal future as I did that day. Afterwards, I started carefully searching for other praise and worship songs that I could appreciate and downloaded them. I checked today, and I have over 8 hours’ worth of Christian music to enjoy. PTL!

I also started compiling “Crusade Songs” because I believe God is going to fulfill my heart’s desire and my calling to win the lost to Him through salvation and healing crusades, especially designed to attract the unchurched. I hope you will join me in prayer for that and even soon visit one and, with me, watch in amazement at the miracle of the fulfillment of the 555 sign!

March 2023: First witness by a 555 check.
March 2024: An Epiphany of the power of heavenlike worship songs.
March 2025: A child’s book promising signs! And a phone call scheduling meetings!

I love signs! Asking for signs is scriptural. Some mistakenly think that when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for asking for a “sign” in Matt. 12:38, 39, He categorically made such requests evil. No! Jesus had already shown so many dramatic signs that He was the Messiah, and these should have been sufficient. The Pharisees wanted some sign from heaven that was so dramatic that it would take no faith whatsoever to accept Christ’s Lordship (Or the lack of such sign to be “proof” of their rejection of Him as the Messiah. The Lord will not release anyone from the requirement of being saved by faith.

Yet, on the other hand, there is a clear precedent, or even encouragement, to seek signs. The Lord showed Gideon clearly what he should do, yet he asked twice for supernatural signs as a witness. And in Isaiah 7:11, King Ahaz was told by the prophet,

“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”
That is precisely what I did. I asked for a sign for myself, and a Baby Book was it!

Apostle Paul was sometimes led by signs: Prophets, angels, a dream. If any man didn’t need signs to know what the Lord wanted him to do, it was Paul! So don’t think of yourself as so spiritual that you shouldn’t ask and shouldn’t be looking for a guidance witness from signs. In fact, if you haven’t been, start asking him now to give you signs! The mighty prophet Isaiah encourages you to do so!

What kind of signs should I be looking for, you might ask. Synonyms for signs could be symbols, graphic representations, or things in the natural world. God used animals in the Bible as signs (I have written about how the Lord used a donkey to speak to me). But the “signs” I most want to see are miracles of healing and deliverance, which in Acts are called “signs.”

Philip the Evangelist performed miracles and even a sorcerer was, “amazed, seeing the miracles and SIGNS which were done.” (Acts 8:13). I know my vision of many lost souls coming to Christ will only happen because God adds “signs” (of special miracles) to my preaching ministry. Isaiah 55:5 reveals the glory that is coming to me AND the body of Christ, which includes you.  Say Hallelujah!

But this will not happen automatically. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, they will be done…deliver us from evil.” There is great resistance from the kingdom of darkness. Paul experienced that same resistance and thus BEGGED the church to pray for him. Again, I beg you to pray for me!

I received an email from a friend, supporter, and intercessor, Maria Esguerra. She has a picture of my family. She wrote,

“I lay my hand daily on this picture and pray for safety wisdom, provision and protection.”

I realize not all who read this will do as Maria feels led to do. But, I will gladly mail you a picture of my family, with the hope that you might put it in your Bible or on your refrigerator as a reminder to hold the Warford family up in prayer.

If the Warford family is about to enter into our “glory,” you are also!

If you will send me a picture of you, or you and your immediate family, I will pin it up in my office to help me pray for you and yours. We need each other’s prayers!

Meanwhile…

Your personal Baby Signs will beckon you!

Missionary/Evangelist Nathan Warford’s Report:

Hello, dear friends, supporters, brothers, and sisters in Christ! The weather is changing and Spring is finally here in Japan.  This past month we started several new ministries and are seeing God continue to do a new work here.  Although, at times, the fruit can be slow, we are building a strong foundation.  We continue to have 20-25 people on a weekly basis in our church.  We’ve also had several missionaries and mission teams join us as well.  I had the opportunity to share my testimony and give a teaching on communion. 

Throughout the week we have had our weekly community nights where we have a Bible study and dinner together.  I and another team member have started Bible Study nights for men.  We had 5 men come last week and it was incredible how quickly we were able to have vulnerability.  One of the Japanese Christians who came, named Hiro, shared that his previous church’s pastor passed away last year and since then they were unable to find another pastor.  So the church continued but without any leadership.  He admitted that his faith in God has spiraled down over the past 6 months.  Sadly, this story is all too common in Japan with many believers leaving the church and dwindling in their faith.  Hiro felt refreshed and renewed in his spirit to meet with brothers in Christ.  I’ll begin meeting with him one-on-one on a regular basis! This is why I am here! Not only to see souls won for the kingdom but ultimately to see Japanese discipled and raised up as leaders.

Another disciple of mine, Sho, came to our church for the first time in a long time! No doubt this is an answer to prayer.  I seek to get him and others I’m discipling more involved in our ministries so that they can begin taking ownership of their faith!  Recently, we did a prayer walk and vision casting event in a new area in which we want to pioneer ministry.  While there, my heart was further broken and reminded of the desperate need of the Japanese.  While walking we found internet cafes where Japanese will spend hours alone.  Many of them do this because they are overwhelmed by the heavy burden of society or have no peace in their homes due to bad family life, so they stay away as long as they can.  The lonely and outcasts of society are a big burden on my heart, so please pray for divine ideas and appointments as we pray into how we can further connect with these desperate communities.  Please also pray for continued protection and good health for our team.  Nearly everyone was sick over the past month.  I also could use prayer as I am prayerfully looking to move out into another apartment in a month or two, one that will serve my ministry best! 

Finally, please continue to pray for open doors to learn and practice Japanese further! It’s a challenge, but I’m slowly learning! I cannot fully thank you enough or express how much it means to have people like you support me financially and in prayer.  I feel your love and prayers empowering me through the spiritual warfare here.  Continue praying! Breakthrough and revival is coming! And continue giving generously as God leads. You are directly a part of what is happening!  God richly bless you!      Nathan