Revive’s Blog

Revive Mission 2009 : Day 3

Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.” (Mark 4 vs 30 – 32)

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We started today by sharing communion with each other. It was so good in the middle of the first week when many of us were feeling tired and weary, but so thankful and graced, to take the Lord’s supper together. The team this year has been so unified and willing to do whatever God has called them to and it was just amazing to remember what Jesus did both on calvary and what He has done in our own lives, together as a team. As people were taking the bread and wine we quietly began to worship, singing the hymn that was the anthem of the last major welsh revival, “Here is love vast as the ocean”. It felt almost like a prophetic declaration as we sang these revival words, “who His love cannot remember, who can cease to sing His praise” over a nation that has by enlarge tried to forget the love of Jesus and refused to worship Him, forsaking Him for the love of money, drink, drugs, sex and other worldly pleasures. It was a reminder as we worshipped today of what God was calling us as a REVIVE team to do – to be part of God reminding the nation that He so loves of His worth and calling them back to worship Him.

As the time of worship came to a close, Paul came to share with us about the nature of the Kingdom of God and about the way Jesus moved to defeat the powers of darkness when He was on earth. It was great to be reminded of the truth of the battle that we all face when advancing God’s Kingdom of Light but also gave us great courage in the amazing confidence we can have that Jesus is with us in the boat as we face the storms thrown by the enemy. We experienced His presence with us today in a very real way as we were reminded of what a battle we’re facing when preaching the gospel to hostile and hardened hearts.

The kids club today was very hard work! We had a bouncy castle for them all to enjoy, but that seemed to over-excite alot of them to the point of being very disruptive. Although alot of them were really well behaved, the minority that were being a bit rowdy got very hard to control and during the talk Rob did really well to speak of the justice of a righteous God on those who sin against Him amidst shouting and resistance to leaders’ instructions. It felt like the kids were just being very hostile towards the message and the authority of the leaders today and so we made the decision that for the sake of the safety of others we would have to close the club early. This was a bit discouraging for us leaders at first but provided an opportunity for us to go out in teams prayer walking, talking to the kids about Jesus outside and pray inside for the parents of the children who may have been a bit annoyed. One thing I noticed was that after the club had been closed, about 20 kids gathered outside and didn’t want to leave. We tried reading the bible to them and at that point they got so aggravated and quite aggressive. It just reminded me that the enemy kicks and screams and trembles when the Word of God, His sword (ephesians 6) pierces the hearts of children who don’t belong to Jesus.

Please do pray for these children’s parents, Jon had a chance to talk to a few who were pretty angry about the whole situation at first but by God’s grace were very understanding by the end. Despite all that went on, during the team feedback time at the end I heard more testimonies of amazing conversations had with kids than any of the other days of kids club. The Holy Spirit was whispering to the hearts of the kids above the noise of the shouting and disruption that was going on all around them.

After the kids club there was a fresh urgency and desperation in our prayers for God to move. I think for many of us, the amazing things that have happened that have blown our minds over the last few days may have made us a bit apathetic, not calling out on God’s power and relying totally on His mercy. So the kids club just re-awakened that amongst the team members as we prayed for the youth evening ahead. And it was such an encouraging evening! There was such a sense of the peace of the Lord in the building and once again they were totally silent, attentive and interactive during Paul’s talk on justice. Hannah and I had an amazing conversation with about 6 girls and one guy in one of the back rooms for about an hour. It got to the point where they were really shouting at us and not listening as we tried to explain God’s love and power. Then all of a sudden one of the girls asked “are your parents christian?” to Hannah. I think this is a massive barrier that alot of the kids have to accepting God’s truth – they assume its a family thing. When she responded “no”, utter silence fell on the room. From that point on as she told her testimony of growing up in the valleys like them, they were absolutely glued. God’s presence totally fell on that room and the atmosphere changed from resistance to a real openess. By the end we got to pray with them all, and each of them asked God to reveal Himself to them so they could know and follow Him. Pray especially for one of the girls who was absolutely terrified by the fact she might be going to hell. Pray that our Father would cause her to run to Him because of that fear, the Only One who can save her from that reality. Conversations like that were had by numerous people during youth and the whole team felt massively encouraged by the end. God is faithful and works even in the midst of storms. We have seen Him do that today.

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