Revive’s Blog

Revive Mission 2009 : Day 4

‘But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.’ (1 Timothy 6:11-12)

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Today, God has met with us, challenged us and answered our cries and prayers.  We’re not worthy, our prayers are feeble, but He chooses to lavish His blessings and love on us – thank You Father.

The day began with a time of worship, where we once again lifted high the name of Jesus, encouraging each other of the hope and victory that we have in Christ.  However, during this time, our exhaustion became quite evident – physically and spiritually.  The sense of excitement and anticipation from the night before seemed to have drained from the team’s spirits, and we were praying and worshipping with a stilled, content heart, lacking in urgency, utter devotion and passion.  Our team mate Paul challenged us about this and encouraged us to fight and strive for more of God – to not allow any complacency to hinder His work through us.  He also challenged us to be living with more attention upon our purity of mind and heart, so that we do not allow the devil to gain access into any area of our lives, but rather we’d be completely filled with His ‘righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness’ (1 Timothy).  We followed this time by praying in our prayer triplets, and opening up to each other with honesty and vulnerability about our individual struggles and weaknesses.  This time is so precious, as it allows us to be more deeply united, and fills us with encouragement and prayerful support from our brothers and sisters.

Today we ran an exciting show called ‘Cymmer’s Got Talent’ (with special appearances from Ant and Dec, 3 judges and even Susan Boyle!).  We ran the competition with both children and youth, and it was a real success!  We worked together as a team to make the room look impressive and attractive, and some team members even took part in the show, as the Spice Girls!

The kids behaved brilliantly today – there was an amazing atmosphere in the hall, of unity between the leaders and children, and none of them were asked to leave!  We are praying that the simple act of running this talent show will restore to these young people a glimpse of hope, and may bring about further clarity of God’s love and interest in their lives and gifts.  We did a talk on the mercy and grace that Jesus showed on the cross, and also discussed the parable of the prodigal son to display God’s incredible forgiveness and mercy that is waiting for them if they only run back to Him.  Once again, our faithful Father answered our anxious prayers of noise and disruption, and brought His beautiful peace into the room, right until the talk was finished.  Several exciting discussions followed, and many children were approaching God’s table of mercy with greater insight and, we trust, greater understanding.

The youth also really enjoyed ‘Cymmer’s Got Talent’, and many got involved with dances, songs and comedy acts!  After all the acts were performed, Hannah shared her testimony, and explained the way that God has shown her such an extent of His grace and mercy, and such an abundance of His love, despite pain and difficulties.  This Fatherly, unconditional love of God really penetrated the hearts of many young people, and resulted in a large number of long-lasting conversations… thank You Lord!

Please pray particularly for those young people who are using their reputations and peer group pressures to restrict or hinder their response – pray that God will transform the lives of fundamental, influential characters within the gyouth roup, to possibly break this stronghold of the devil.

Detached teams didn’t go out tonight, as we needed extra man power in the church.  A few team members, however, spent a large proportion of the evening on their knees, interceding for their brothers and sisters who were engaged in exciting conversations with the youth, and calling out to the Lord to have compassion on the lost.

This followed by a spontaneous time of team worship, (when the youth had left) in which we also laid hands on each other and prayerfully encouraged each other.  We declared God as King of kings once more, and He lifted our hopes and spirits and reminded us of His sovereignty and power to save even the hardest of hearts.

Please also pray that the Holy Spirit would really assist us in these last few days – pray that we would pray with perseverence, genuine passion and a greater measure of faith.

Thank you all so much.

God bless x

 

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