The faithfulness of God

This has been quite an extraordinary week in many respects. Earlier this week I accepted an invitation to co-lead the 11-13 age group at our Summer Mission this year. I had received an email asking me to take over from the current leaders who are stepping down but had not replied because I was reluctant to take on further responsibilities to my burgeoning ministries. But when a friend of mine asked me for my help and explained she felt called to take over the group I was inspired by her vision and passion; I immediately said yes because I felt together God would use us. I then responded to the original email explaining our plan to co-lead the group, which set a whole series of wheels in motion as I was officially welcomed to the leadership of the Mission. However, it wasn't until tonight as I was speaking to another friend at church about these new developments that God opened my eyes and really showed me His faithfulness and purposes for me.

Last year when I went to Japan I believed I got a Word from God. I believed that God had given me a parable and gave me its meaning. It was the parable of the Ten Minas; a parable about faithfulness and reward. I felt God had given me this specific parable as an answer to my searching and my prayers. I wanted guidance regarding my future and whether or not God was calling me to full time mission in Japan. Using the parable of the Ten Minas God told me "not yet". My time had not yet come for me to move to Japan and there was still a purpose and a plan for me back home in Essex. I accepted this Word of Knowledge in faith and came home from Japan with a peace. Sadly in our busy day to day lives we can forget God's higher plans for us.

Yet tonight God graciously brought my current circumstances back into focus. Tonight I again felt that same sense of peace and reassurance that God was in control and that He was faithful to His promises. Tonight God proved once again that He is faithful and I am in no doubt about the parable He gave me last year in Japan. I know and trust that all God's plans for me will come to pass in my future and I can rest in the knowledge that God is faithful as proverbs says:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

2012 is becoming a bigger and bigger year for me (or rather God's purposes for me) and I am so grateful that I have been given this awesome privilege to be used by God here in Essex. I am a servant of my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ and know that Jesus will be glorified through my ministries. My ministries are a result of God's faithfulness and for His glory. I am so excited about making a difference in these young peoples lives this summer at the Mission and being given an amazing opportunity to share the Gospel. God is good and this year is going to be so special. I now must be faithful to my calling; I must be patient and wait on the Lord to answer my prayers and fulfill his purposes while continually being faithful to the ministries God has given me.

August Winterman

So I have returned from another Kidderminster and have returned with a heavy heart. Maybe I'm not very good at taking compliments, maybe I'm a self-deprecating kind of person... I'm not sure? If God truly is using me then that is awesome; not for my own sense of satisfaction or to boost my ego but because God is reaching out to people and helping them. However, I felt a terrible sense of loneliness. This loneliness cannot be fulfilled by a quick and simple hug. This loneliness cannot be sated through a week spent with friends. This loneliness is the longing for companionship: spiritual, emotional and physical companionship. In short, I'm searching for my soul-mate.

I'm beginning to think that leadership is an incredibly lonely vocation. As a youth leader you spend alot of time with teenagers. Teenagers can frequently try your patience; they can also truly inspire you and even surprise you with what they are capable of. I have seen all these facets to youth this week but at the end of the day, while rewarding can leave you feeling isolated. They say to give is better than to receive and while that is true in so many respects a life spent serving others can be incredibly wearisome when lived alone.

God did not fail this year and I have been humbled by the undeniable answer to prayer. God moved powerfully and faithfully throughout the week, from beginning to end. We prayed earnestly for spiritual protection and God ensured that spiritual attacks held no sway over the Kingdom and Gospel work undertaken. Young people whose lives have been extraordinarily hard experienced God's love in very real ways; teenagers who felt jaded and doubtful about Christianity were given grace afresh and were strengthened through the Holy Spirit. On Thursday evening we had a time of open testimony where the teenagers could share what was on their hearts and their collective and personal experiences. There were many testimonies given as they poured out their souls and gave glory to God for the breakthroughs in their lives as well as given encouragement by the leaders. Whether the 'Kidderminster bubble' is illusory or not, God does move in that place; not because of the place itself but for the open and contrite hearts that meet there.

I am thankful to God for His faithfulness and have learnt much about praying in faith and expecting God to answer. God desires for us to engage in prayer for He is a God who glorifies Himself in service of His Church. God is not a god who insists on being served slavishly without any reward or answer to prayers. No, God is an Almighty and loving God who is jealous for His holy name. Yet, as my eyes are lifted gratefully to the sky and my mind searches the wonder of Heaven, my heart is troubled. I don't think I can live this life alone; I don't believe I can continue serving God for the rest of my life as a bachalor. Frustratingly my self-esteem has been damaged by my past heart-break as well as a deep hurt and anger that causes me to withdraw from people in self-sabotaging introversion. Prayer is my only hope in finding my soul-mate because I believe in and serve a God who answers prayer - the proof of which I have seen with my own eyes this week.

Take a Look in the Mirror

The world is as fragile as glass and we are a mirror of the world. When the world breaks, we shatter into a myriad of shards. The shards pierce our flesh and our hearts and we slowly have to piece ourselves together, piece by piece. But the cracks never heal and we remain an imperfect reflection of an imperfect world.

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the Spring of Living Water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:13

 A mirror cannot fix itself. Searching for a solution to the problem in this world when this world is the problem will ultimately leave us in a haze of disorder and confusion, like trying to reassemble the pieces of a jigsaw without the complete picture as a guide or as the Bible says trying to drink water from a broken cistern that cannot hold water. Our only hope for peace, our only hope for restoration is God.

“The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5

In a chaotic world God is logic. In a world of disorder God is order. In a broken and fractured world, God is whole. In an imperfect world, God is perfection. But how do we reach God – a perfect, sinless Spirit who by very nature must be outside of the universe and our experience?

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father (God) except through me (Jesus).” John 14:6

The blood of Christ reconciles us to God and connects us to the whole again. Jesus is a conductor to God, like a lightning rod that attracts lightning to the earth. The Holy Spirit is the glue that binds the shattered pieces of our lives together again, slowly but surely healing us to become a mirror not to a broken world but to a Holy God, reflecting his perfection and glory. The Bible, God’s inspired Word is the mirror to our souls that allows us to understand the world.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7