Stepping out in faith involves risk.
But I think God loves when we believe and trust Him. It's gotta put a smile on His face when we take him at his word and we stand on it.
Last week we had planned an open-air worship time intermingled with evangelism/prayer ministry on the streets. But as the time drew near for our outreach, the weather forecast was depressing and dismal.
Every time I looked online-- and I looked almost hourly--it was predicting rain. Even the day before I told my neighbors "I'm praying it doesn't rain tomorrow..." and they said "You're wasting your time...it's going to rain...!" It was already raining and it didn't look good.
But that night I wasn't going to give in. We had a five hour Burn worship and prayer time at St. Michael le Belfrey that Friday night before our outreach.
I stood up in front of the congregation that night and said "Listen, the bible says that Elijah prayed it wouldn't rain...and he had a nature like ours...and it didn't rain for years--not that I want a drought over here--but I would love for us to pull together our faith and believe God can stop the rain for our outreach!"
So we prayed.
And sure enough...when the day rolled around, it was looking a little ominous but it cleared up...and it was looking really beautiful during our outreach! God did it.
Not only did we worship on the streets and evangelize, but we offered prayer to people who were passing by. Several people came forward for prayer. Some on our team even got the names of people and what they needed prayer for.
I received a beautiful e mail from someone we prayed for on the streets.
My husband and I were walking around York and came across your prayer
ministry table outside the church. We are both committed Christians. I
have been in somewhat of a wilderness for the last year and went for
prayer for my neck and shoulder. Your three ladies all had words that
someone would come for these complaints. More important to me than
healing was what has happened to me since. Something broke in me and my
fire is coming back. Although the neck and shoulder still very painful
what was important to me was to know that the Lord cared and loves me
enough to mention me to three different people!
It makes it all worth it to know that God is touching lives.
There was a tourist who stumbled across our worship time from Kansas City. He was remarking about the strong presence of God in the city--and he is also someone who regularly goes to the IHOP prayer room in Kansas. So many people said it was encouraging to have worship on the streets.
Another man who is a believer struggling to make his acting relevant to his Christianity said he also came into contact with someone who was preaching him the gospel from our group and he was really encouraged to see us using our music and worship on the streets.
For me this kind of ministry is the fulfillment of something I've had on my heart for years. I've always wanted to mix worship and evangelism. I'm so grateful that my church has given me the green light to do this here in York and that we have so many wonderful people who are willing to step out into this ministry.
We will be doing more outreach this summer: May 31st, June 28th, July 19th-- 1-3 pm on the forecourt of St. Mike's.
You are welcome to worship our great God with us!
Friday, May 2, 2014
Thursday, May 1, 2014
The one who calls you is faithful
A couple of years ago I took a group of people around the nation on what YWAM calls a Trumpet Tour.
In such tours we visit churches and encourage them into ministry and missions, and it's almost as though we're sounding a trumpet in the spiritual realm, calling people to serve God in the great commission.
One of the 15 or so churches we visited was the Round Church in Cambridge.
I felt our night in Cambridge was one of our weakest moments as a team. Most of our set up arrived late and we were scrambling to pull things together last minute. However, I do remember the worship was really good-- that people didn't seem to care about our lack of set up or good sound--they worshiped from their hearts. I was encouraged by that, even though it felt like we were teetering on the edge of a precipice.
So I was chatting to a friend of mine from that Trumpet Tour team who is now based in Cambridge. He told me that when he was asking about the spiritual climate of Cambridge before he moved there, the YWAM'ers were telling him that everything seemed to shift spiritually and open up in the city after a trumpet tour came through town a couple of years ago.
"Really?" he said, "I was there that night!"
When he told me this story I was both astounded and greatly encouraged. We really have no idea of the fruit we're leaving behind in our little acts of obedience. Sometimes we get to hear about it later, and some of us won't ever get to hear about it until heaven...like so many in Hebrews 11 who believed and trusted God without seeing the fulfillment of all they believed:
All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13 NASB)
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:24 NIV)
God doesn't tell us when or how--only that He will make a way. He walks with us through it all and sometimes the only answer we get is His reassuring presence. There is often a lot of pain involved as we struggle to believe and to persevere in the promises we have. And though we know He is true to His word--it doesn't always work out the way we are thinking or in the time we are thinking, does it?
A dear friend prayed for me today as I have been working through some of my own challenges. My confession of faith is that I won't stop believing...though the fulfillment tarries. I trust God.
This led us to talk about how we get spiritual authority.
Spiritual authority is something that often comes in persevering by faith. When we believe in hope against hope... and when we keep believing in the midst of suffering. There is no short cut in getting that spiritual authority.
I'm grateful to hear about some of the fruit of our trumpet tour. It's fantastic to hear how people can see that we made a difference. But there are so many areas where we keep persevering even though we have seen no change. We keep praying, we keep believing... and yet we have yet to see the fullness of what we have asked for. We have no idea if we are making a difference.
Sometimes we're persevering through illness, believing for healing...sometimes we're asking for peace in a relationship... reconciliation where none seems possible... praying for a loved one who has walked away from God... and we don't see any change...yet still we pray...yet still we believe. yet still we trust in God.
I was listening to a sermon about suffering and having 'indomitable' joy in the midst of sorrow. Unconquerable, unquenchable. I think to have this means that our ultimate joy comes in knowing we are loved by the most precious person in the world-- that no matter how we lose our footing or our place on this earth, we have a seat beside the maker of all things in heavenly places. It means that no matter what is taken from us and how we suffer-- we know that our greatest desire remains with us always because He remains with us always.
It means that through the tears, we have hope.
He, Himself, is our hope. Thank you, Jesus.
In such tours we visit churches and encourage them into ministry and missions, and it's almost as though we're sounding a trumpet in the spiritual realm, calling people to serve God in the great commission.
One of the 15 or so churches we visited was the Round Church in Cambridge.
I felt our night in Cambridge was one of our weakest moments as a team. Most of our set up arrived late and we were scrambling to pull things together last minute. However, I do remember the worship was really good-- that people didn't seem to care about our lack of set up or good sound--they worshiped from their hearts. I was encouraged by that, even though it felt like we were teetering on the edge of a precipice.
So I was chatting to a friend of mine from that Trumpet Tour team who is now based in Cambridge. He told me that when he was asking about the spiritual climate of Cambridge before he moved there, the YWAM'ers were telling him that everything seemed to shift spiritually and open up in the city after a trumpet tour came through town a couple of years ago.
"Really?" he said, "I was there that night!"
When he told me this story I was both astounded and greatly encouraged. We really have no idea of the fruit we're leaving behind in our little acts of obedience. Sometimes we get to hear about it later, and some of us won't ever get to hear about it until heaven...like so many in Hebrews 11 who believed and trusted God without seeing the fulfillment of all they believed:
All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13 NASB)
The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:24 NIV)
God doesn't tell us when or how--only that He will make a way. He walks with us through it all and sometimes the only answer we get is His reassuring presence. There is often a lot of pain involved as we struggle to believe and to persevere in the promises we have. And though we know He is true to His word--it doesn't always work out the way we are thinking or in the time we are thinking, does it?
A dear friend prayed for me today as I have been working through some of my own challenges. My confession of faith is that I won't stop believing...though the fulfillment tarries. I trust God.
This led us to talk about how we get spiritual authority.
Spiritual authority is something that often comes in persevering by faith. When we believe in hope against hope... and when we keep believing in the midst of suffering. There is no short cut in getting that spiritual authority.
I'm grateful to hear about some of the fruit of our trumpet tour. It's fantastic to hear how people can see that we made a difference. But there are so many areas where we keep persevering even though we have seen no change. We keep praying, we keep believing... and yet we have yet to see the fullness of what we have asked for. We have no idea if we are making a difference.
Sometimes we're persevering through illness, believing for healing...sometimes we're asking for peace in a relationship... reconciliation where none seems possible... praying for a loved one who has walked away from God... and we don't see any change...yet still we pray...yet still we believe. yet still we trust in God.
I was listening to a sermon about suffering and having 'indomitable' joy in the midst of sorrow. Unconquerable, unquenchable. I think to have this means that our ultimate joy comes in knowing we are loved by the most precious person in the world-- that no matter how we lose our footing or our place on this earth, we have a seat beside the maker of all things in heavenly places. It means that no matter what is taken from us and how we suffer-- we know that our greatest desire remains with us always because He remains with us always.
It means that through the tears, we have hope.
He, Himself, is our hope. Thank you, Jesus.
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