Revive’s Blog

Revive Mission 2009 : Day 2

“I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death” (philippians 3 vs 10)

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Today was a special day. God’s manifest presence and call to pursue more of Him and more of His Kingdom seemed to permeate every time spent worshipping, praying, preaching and loving. Keep praying, God is being so incredibly faithful in answering beyond what we could ever ask or imagine. There have been things today that have just left us in awe, wondering at the might, power and tender grace of our incredible God. His Spirit has been moving with such beauty and authority in our midst.

The day started with a few guys and a few girls meeting up separately to share, pray and worship together. Its been such a blessing being part of a team of such passionate servants of Jesus and getting to know them all better. These times have been and will be so precious and we fellowship with each other, pray for each other and build one another up as we acknowledge the battle we all face in an intense mission environment. For us guys this morning, there was a strong emphasis on the call to suffering with Christ and loving Him so much that are willing to pay the cost of picking up  our cross and following Him daily. As we headed up to Cymmer it was so encouraging that God had put that same message of loving Christ even to the point of counting death as gain and being willing to suffer with and for Him, on Dave M’s heart as he shared with us today. He also talked about our obedience being rooted in the revelation of who Jesus is and the affections that follow that recognition. I always love it when Dave brings God’s word to us and in his honesty I think it really opened up people to respond to the call to enthrone Jesus more as the Lord of our lives, even counting our lives as loss for the sake of knowing Him. The time of worship that followed the talk was beautiful, as we sang songs of surrender and offering ourselves to Christ, our One True Love and then moved on to declaring that our hope is found in Jesus alone.

As we finished singing together, Lois felt burdened to split into our prayer triplets and pray for the neighbours, particularly for one lady who has been particularly opposing to REVIVE and has shown a really hard heart towards the gospel and the church. Jon shared later in the day that he has had a distinct feeling, even when praying for the mission before it started, that although our predominant ministry is to the children and youth of Cymmer, God was going to use us to bring His hope and love to the older members of the community as well. It was great to spend time praying God’s protection and mercy over the area, and it was incredible to see the fruit of those prayers later in the day.

After having spent some time playing Cymmer ball (the REVIVE mission team football-basketball hybrid game), setting up and praying, we kicked off the kids club. The Lord brought in so many children today! We had way beyond the limit of the amount of people we were allowed in the church building and so we had to take some of the guys up to the field to play football instead. It has been amazing to see and hear from parents how much REVIVE means to these kids and how much they value coming along. Though it was a bit hectic in the club, there were loads of kids who were glued to the talk by Katie and Miriam about the humility of Jesus shown in His washing the feet of His disciples. The kids have been responding so well in the times after the talk and it is such a privilege to be part of the Holy Spirit stirring their hearts and opening their eyes to the truth of the gospel. Jesus said that the Kingdom belonged to those with child-like faith and seeing their simple acceptance and trust in the truth of God’s love has been really challenging. The kids club ended with some fun parachute games which ended with the room being very hot and sweaty!

Having eaten some amazing food the teamed gathered once again to pray and lay hands on each other for the night ahead. None of us could have imagined what God was going to do tonight. He blew our expectations on so many levels all across Cymmer, as well as in the youth club. We have a God with whom truly “nothing is impossible” (luke 1 vs 37). Within the youth it was sumo wrestling night and they absolutely loved it! The highlight for me was seeing big steve getting beaten by one of the kids! When it got to the talk I was really apprehensive about them talking and being disruptive. But as we spoke to them about the humility of Jesus and His sacrificial love, a complete supernatural silence fell upon the room. The Holy Spirit just seemed to still every heart and tongue and they were so attentive to every word. We’re just praying that the preaching of God’s word will bear fruit in the lives of these young people and that they will be the future leaders of the coming generation of the church.

Detached teams once again hit the streets and were obedient to God’s voice in knocking on doors, chatting to people and loving the community. The boldness of the team in being willing to do anything to tell people about Jesus is so encouraging and we’ve had so many good conversations with people. One guy in particular invited some memebers of the team back to his house to discuss faith more and they got a chance to pray for the healing of his sight and a revelation of God’s unfailing love towards him. At the same time as the youth group and deatached teams there was an incredible conversation had by the team on the door with the neighbour that has been opposing REVIVE’s work for years. They talked to her about God as Creator, about His love for her and about the ministry of the church. Honestly, even having a peaceful conversation with this woman was a huge answer to prayer, let alone being able to freely share the glory of the gospel with her. It’s incredible. When we got back at the end of the evening to share testimonies there were many tears wept over God’s work in the life of this woman. God broke and convicted each one of us, showing that He is mighty beyond our wildest dreams. We ended the evening with one of the most powerful times of worship I have ever experience. It felt like the heavens were opened and joy and faith were released as we sang of God’s power to save. His Kingdom truly does reign and as we bowed low, raised our hands, cried out, applauded, shouted, rejoiced, wept and danced in His presence tonight, He was very much among us. He is so good and His presence is so beautiful. Let’s keep calling upon Him and relying upon Him in prayer for all He’s going to do in Cymmer, in the valleys and in the rest of Wales.

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