Prayer on the Mountain

Our “End of the Year Celebration” this year took place on top of the Wonderboom Nature Reserve & Fort. This mountain sits in the middle of Pretoria where you can see everything from a birds-eye view.

Bryan, one of our staff members, has had it on his heart for a couple of years now to pray over the city on top of this mountain. It’s been in and out of his thoughts and finally this year, God really impressed it on Bryan’s heart to see this through. We decided to incorporate this with our year-end celebration, inviting friends from our respective ministries.

In total, we had at least 40 people on top of the mountain on Sunday, Nov. 4th praying over the city. We began our time with worship–singing toward the downtown area. That was followed with taking up places on the wall and entering a time of reconciliation, submission & confession of our own hearts…desiring to enter this time of prayer with clean and ready hearts. The bulk of our time was spent looking out over the city and praying for things like reconciliation, restoration, hope, and life as well as praying specifically for the churches, schools, neighborhoods, businesses, etc.

As luck would have it, there was a 30% chance of rain yesterday. Bryan announced at the beginning of our time that he had asked all of his supporters back in the states to pray for cooperative weather and wouldn’t you know it…the storm clouds parted and as we watched the thunder clouds roll past either side of the mountain, a rainbow appeared for a brief time. Of course, within an hour or two of returning home, the rain ensued, along with the lightning & thunder.

In general, it was an amazing day as there was not only a diverse group of people who had come together to pray over this city, but there was a physical covering of God’s promises over the city as well. God is moving here and it will be exciting to watch over the coming years how He reshapes this city.

As this is the last post for the NCSA 2007 year, I want to thank all of you who have prayed endlessly for each of us, encouraged us, and supported us. We could not have made it through this year without you all!

Thank you!

It’s Quite Simple, Really

  There’s a certain abandon about children, especially under a certain age.  There’s a span in a child’s life that shows off all the more their wild imaginations, their concept of fairness, their acceptance of others, their creativity and how incredibly simple their perspectives on life are.  This is not a new concept to me, but it’s been a while since I’ve let these realities sink in.

Last week, at Home of Joy, as I sat with the younger children in one of the bedrooms with 5 pairs of hands mangling my hair into some fabulous creation  and later, while I was outside kicking the ball around with the older kids, a wave washed over me.  It was a wave of realizing that, to them, it didn’t matter what I’d done that day, whether I laughed or cried, hurt or was hurt, seen a success or failure.  Even if they’d known what I’d walked through that day, in their eyes, none of it mattered.  In all of this, I found myself becoming a kid again, which, as most of you know is not too difficult for me.   I saw my cares washed away by their acceptance and genuine, unconditional love for me.

Over this last posture of CONTENDING, and throughout other parts of the year, we’ve talked quite a bit about “The Kingdom,” what it encompasses, how we see it, and how God desires us to jump into that ever-swinging jumprope (to make the image a little more complex, it’s Double Dutch  that is God’s Kingdom.  So often, we choose to take the stance of standing on the sidelines, living in our own world.  Sometimes we see ourselves wanting to jump into those swinging ropes with the others, but are sometimes too afraid of what it will look like to others, what if I mess up, what it will mean, how it will change me and the ever popular question, can I even do it?  So many conditions and too much reasoning.  Now having explained a little what some of our perspectives might be in this scenario, try looking at it through the eyes of an active, no inhibitions, curious and wondering 6 year-old.  Does it change how you might approach or accept God’s invitation to be apart of His ever-swinging Kingdom?:)  I would hope that it would. 

                                                                                          

Two boys that I have come to love very dearly at the Home of Joy are a 6 & 7 year-old incredibly wild and rarely sedate band of brothers who, to me, exemplify what it means to approach the Kingdom of God through the eyes of a child.  These two brothers, abandoned in a house fire until a neighbor came to their rescue, blow me away by their vivacious appetite to just want to be apart of everything around them and their spark for life astonishes me.  I am compelled to ask myself why?  Yes, they are young and have not had much of an encounter with the outside world that sometimes prematurely imprints a harsh, “dog-eat-dog world” frame of mind, but then, it hit me.   

                                                                                                          

Matthew 18:3
And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 19:14
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Matthew 21:16
“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, ” ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’ ?”

I believe that sometimes, we get so caught up in the world and life of what it means to be an adult.  With certain images or reputations that we sometimes feel we have to uphold, people to impress, and a general perspective that sometimes says I’ve got a schedule to maintain and there’s no time for make believe.  It’s all about me and my time.  How often have we found ourselves in this place?  I know that I have, more often than I would like.  Stopping at this realization, I have to ask myself, what am I missing out on by allowing myself to be in this position of business, schedule and a general path that suggests I’ve got some rather large blinders on?        

These verses we’ve read and heard so many times, but as a simple reminder, read them again and let them soak in.  Without even realizing, these two boys and many of the other children I work with see life around them as readily available opportunities and rarely are questions asked or conditions made.  Their eyes and heart are the eyes and the heart of Christ.  The world they see from their eyes, is the Kingdom and they don’t hesitate to be apart of it.

From time to time, try to view the Kingdom from the perspective of a child and don’t hesitate to jump into the full swing of the ropes that appear to be flying every which way.  Yes, you may trip and fall and scrape your knee, and others may laugh at you, but that’s alright.  The Father that created the entire Universe is there to patch up the scratch on your knee.  HE DOES THIS FOR YOU, HIS BELOVED, HIS CHILD WHOM HE LOVES…   AND SENDS YOU BACK OUT TO PLAY.   :)

What I Miss…What I’ve Gained

Mom, dad, heidi, diana, charlie, gus, nell, wacko, ashes, my home, chocolate chips, real marshmallows, graham crackers, s’mores, my dad’s bbq, my dad’s omelette extravaganza on random saturday mornings, my mom’s french press coffee (please keep reading….this does have a point, I promise), campfires in the backyard around which we stay up until the wee hours laughing and telling stories, watching old family videos & slideshows of years passed, pismo beach, morro bay, bayside cafe, camping at the beach, camping just about anywhere, the wildflower cafe, the foothills during the spring just after it’s rained, movie marathons with roommates & friends…

I could go on and on and on, but I think my point has been made.  I’ve left behind a great deal of good memories and traditions.  I love my home, everything about it and what it means to me and the life I’ve lived up until this year.

In coming to South Africa this year, one of my fears was feeling as though giving all of these things up, my time with my family, my friends and my favorite things, would be too hard to do.  While a part of me longed for adventure and seeking to be a part of a world that I’ve always been curious about, the “homebody” in me began to creep up.

In the bible, God talks about when we leave the things that we love to step out in faith to follow and to serve Him, that He fills those holes, relationally, emotionally and physically.  I believe with all my heart that the Lord honors and blesses us when we step out into the un-ordinary ways of life, to seek Him out, to honor and to serve Him.  Maybe we don’t see it at first, or it takes a while to realize, but eventually, we see where God has filled those gaps.

Nothing ever could or will replace what I love about home, but for this season in my life, God has filled the missing holes from home with blessings and events that I have come to love, and are unique to this place and this time in my life.

Don’t ever miss out on what God could be leading you toward because you’re not sure if you could leave who or what you love most.  Whatever those things or people are, God already knows how to fill those needs or desires and I believe that He already has those things waiting for you.  Go on, let Him bless you, wherever you step out.

Faith Over Fear

Fear and faith are one in the same. They are the belief that something invisible is coming to pass. This saying is posted on the wall of the livingroom in the house that I’ve spent the last two years living in. I’ve read it many times, but am not sure I’ve ever really understood its depth until now.

So often, I’ve chosen fear, whether it was out of ignorance or sheer hopelessness. I laugh at how many times God has given me so many reasons and opportunities to put my faith in Him, blatant ones at that and I’ve chosen to walk in fear instead. For some reason, at that very moment I choose, fear seems like the easier route, the lazy route; I don’t want to have to make a decision that will require any work on my part.

Where it begins to get difficult is when I realize at those moments of choosing that when I choose to walk in fear, I begin to understand what I am missing by not choosing to have faith in my Creator. In a sense, its almost as though a challenge has been put before me. God says, “See what happens when you put your faith in me. What do you have to lose?” In my own extremely limited thoughts and perspective, I find myself believing that I could lose a lot. I could lose the respect of others who don’t believe in what I’m doing, I could lose my diginity in making a fool of myself, etc. But when I stop and look at the bigger picture, when I understand how limited my perspective is in comparison to God’s, I see how none of that really matters.

About a month ago, I was presented with an opportunity to pray healing over a complete stranger laying in a hospital bed across the room from Carissa. It wasn’t one of those moments where God lays something so heavily upon your heart that you know you have to do it, but rather, it was a simple invitation where I could have said “yes,” or “no.” It wasn’t until the wee hours of the morning that I finally got the courage to accept this invitation. I walked over to her, asked her permission to pray for her, laid my hand on her and prayed for God’s healing. When I was finished praying, I held her hand for a bit and wondered to myself what had just happened and what God would do. She wasn’t instantly healed then and there and I will admit to a slight dip in my heart as I thought I had failed in some way.

Through some helpful insight from close friends at home (melina, jenn & sonnet , I was reminded that what I walked through was not a failure, but rather a step toward the strengthening of my faith. It is always Christ’s invitation to pray for and to intercede for those who don’t have the strength or the will to do it themselves. I said “yes” to faith instead of fear, and while the enemy did sneak in there and whisper into my ear, “Psst! You FAILED! It didn’t mean anything. The girl wasn’t healed,” I would rather have stepped out in faith and FAILED miserably and made a fool of myself than to ignore the invitation and forever wonder what God would have done had I stepped out.

Universally, failing is considered apart of the learning process, whether in our walk with the Lord, or in physical, everyday activities. We learn from falling down and getting back up again. I am not saying that my prayer over that 16 year old Afrikaaner girl was a failure, but rather a cornerstone foundation for building my faith and maybe even posing an opportunity to show Christ’s light and love to this girl.

I know that God has called me to be a prayer warrior, an intercessor for those who I meet on my journey through life. As I was reminded by a very dear friend of mine, “You should not despise small beginnings,” so I am beginning to understand that where I am, is in a place of preparation. God is building within me the foundations I need to continue on the path that He has designated for me.

Choosing fear disables my growth in Christ, while choosing faith builds the foundation for growth. When you come across fear, if it pushes confusion and tension, it is not of our Creator. I speak from experience as I have been learning to discern where healthy and unhealthy fears come from…I am still learning.

Choosing faith over fear may require an effort on our part, but in the long run, shouldn’t it be worth the risk? Keep in mind too, that as I write all of this, I am preaching to myself as I still struggle from time to time, but I am confident in our Father’s character…He is always, only, ever good.

What will you choose to believe?