Filed under: Uncategorized
“When the poor and needy search for water and there is none,
and their tongues are parched from thirst,
then I, the Lord, will answer them.
I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.
I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus.
I will give them fountains of water in the valleys.
I will fill the desert with pools of water.
Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground.
I will plant trees in the barren desert—
cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.
I am doing this so all who see this miracle
will understand what it means—
that it is the Lord who has done this,
the Holy One of Israel who created it.” (isaiah 41 vs 17-20)
We have to say another massive apology for the delayed blogs this week. We really do appreciate all your prayers so much and will do all we can over the next few days to keep you all regularly updated. This week the team has been really struggling with tiredness and keeping energized to serve God with our everything, so please pray that we would finish this week spending ourselves on building God’s Kingdom in the community of Cymmer and pouring ourselves out in prayer and worship to the King who has called us to this mission.
This week our focus has been on discipleship more than outreach. After previous missions we felt it was so important to seek to bring more depth and seriousness to the commitments that many of the children and youth have made, rather than simply continuing to scatter seeds and then leaving them without any mentoring for the whole summer. On friday in our team worship time Paul challenged us to cry out to God, the only One who can bring growth to the ground that we’ve been preparing and the seeds we’ve been sowing. This week has been about calling upon the Holy Spirit to work deep in the hearts of the kids, bringing them into a lifestyle of daily following and loving Jesus rather than simply praying a prayer and forgetting about the beauty of the gospel.
Our team prayer and worship times started this week with a time of pruning, purifying and repentance. There were many tears as we prayed for God to humble us and prepare us to serve Him. 1 Peter 5 vs 5 has been burning on my heart the last two weeks, the truth that God gives grace to the humble. As we lower ourselves and admit our weakness and dependence on Him we welcome His presence and prepare the way for the filling of His Spirit. We’ve been singing a new song this week, “We prepare the way” and that’s been the cry of our hearts this week, that our love would welcome His Spirit to move powerfully in our midst, bringing salvation, healing and discipleship. It was a great way to start the week, though I think the intensity of the time caught up with us physically later in the day.
The format of kids club was significantly different to the week before both Monday and Tuesday and we didn’t know how the children would react to the new format. But thanks to God we’ve had so many kids desperate to learn more of God’s love. We stripped the club of all games, have been more strict on misbehaving and have been using a mentoring system, where two leaders spend their time doing a bible study with 1, 2 or 3 kids. It has been amazing. Jesus called the little children to come to Him and this week we have seen Him do just that. It has been beyond a blessing to see some of these precious children who have only ever know brokeness, depravity and darkness give their lives to Jesus and commit to following Him. We’ve been blown away by how much they have understood the theme of the weeks discipleship, “Grace” and have begun to take steps towards living in response to the grace shown by God’s undeserved kindness in their everyday lives. As we’ve worshipped with them, they’ve sung and clapped their hearts out and are really hungry to know more of God. They’ve asked profoundly deep questions, have loved getting into the bible and have listened supernaturally well as we’ve explained God’s grace to them in the light of sin, the cross, life and eternity. I just pray that one day the church will have a permenant place where these young worshippers can come and seek God with their childlike faith and enjoy getting to know Jesus. The amount of amazing feedback from the team about conversations that have been really fruitful has been incredible. Its such a privilege to serve in this way, fulfilling Jesus’ final commission to make disciples of every nation (Matthew 28). We’re believing that some of these young boys and girls are going to be the future leaders in the church in Wales.
One of the tough things over these 2 days was finding out that one of the youth was involved in a car accident on Monday. By Monday night we had found out the accident was very serious, with him being placed in a coma with a bleed in the brain. Once again many tears were shed as the team cried out for our Father to stretch out His healing hand and restore this young boy. He is so faithful and more than able. The amount of times He’s answered our weak cries these last few weeks have shown the immensity of His compassion and goodness. By tuesday we found out that this boy was out of the coma and off life support, praise Jesus! And now he has woken up. Its amazing. Considering the severity of the accident we were told it was a miracle he’d even survived. God has so used it all for His glory. I think it was one of the most significant events of this years mission as the Lord used it to show us and the youth how much the community relies on the church and the ministry of REVIVE as a place of refuge when life falls apart. We were able to pray with many youth at the scene and later in the youth club and do a bible study with some of the boys closest friends on God’s comfort, healing and protection. It was such an encouragement to know that our Father used us to breathe comfort and reassurance to some young people in very dark times (2 corinthians 1). The courage and faith that the best friend has shown in God through this trial has also led many of his friends closer to knowing Jesus for themselves. His love for God and trust in Him hearing prayers has been a model of what it means to follow God and is bearing fruit amongst his friends already. God is so good.
Tuesday night finished with the team feeling at the end of themselves after an emotionally draining few days. Jon gathered us to discuss how many of us were feeling spiritually exhausted and depressed and to suggest that we fasted, re-evaluated our commitment to the mission and re-devoted ourselves to giving all over the last 3 days. We spent the evening encouraging each other and praying for each other in an environment of prayer and worship that went on into the early hours. We were refreshed and revived as we spent time in the Lord’s presence being built up. Pray that the last few days will see God move with freedom in this community as we continue to faithfully proclaim His good news.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
