Something Greater

We are currently on the brink of war. The Middle East is churning with all sorts of turmoil. But, this shouldn't be a surprise. ISIS has been recruiting members for years. In this past year I have been reading more and more stories of young men and women joining ISIS (the Islamic extremist group). In one article a young man states, "We need the engineers, we need doctors, we need professionals. Every person can contribute something to the Islamic State" (emphasis mine). In another article, another young Australian man told a Mosque worker, "he wanted to make something of his life." This is just a snapshot of two individuals, but collectively the general consensus is the same, people are searching for purpose and meaning. 

I believe what the world is desperately hungry to see is real genuine faith in action. People like these two men are looking for something greater than themselves to believe in and to give themselves to wholeheartedly. As Christians, we hold something greater. When is the last time you reflecting on this truth? I mean think about it, Christian have the Holy Spirit living within them. Wow! This is an almost too good to be true truth. But, it's true! Not only this, but Jesus has inviting us to join Him on the ultimate mission of loving and serving all peoples of the world by sharing the greatest news ever! The Good News of salvation. How awesome is that?

But the sad reality is that most Christians haven't either fully embraced these amazing truths or don't actually see them as amazing truths. Rarely are they actively engaging in relationship with the Holy Spirit and so many do not see the mission Jesus sets before us as truly fantastic and marvelous. Rather, the Holy Spirit has become this impersonal force not to be engaged and the mission of Jesus has become optional. 

This is my prayer: that the Almighty God of the universe and of love would grip your heart with the amazing truth that HE has something greater for you. 

thankful: The Book of Eli

In resurrecting my blog after a long hiatus, I've decided to begin posting each day on something I am thankful for. Today, I am thankful for the film, "The Book of Eli." It has been a while since I last watched this film, but in viewing it today, I was again impacted by the resolute determination of Eli to fulfill the mission God had given him. I think this is why I appreciate this film so much. I long to have this same kind of resolve as I also live to fulfill God's mission and purpose for my life. 

There are lots of good moments in the film. I especially like the part where Eli tells Solara that "All the years I've been carrying [the Bible] and reading it every day...I got so caught up with keeping it safe I forgot to live by what I learned from it." Such a good reminder that just knowing what the Bible says isn't good enough, we need to be living what the Bible says by applying it to our lives. 

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope" (NLT). God has a plan and purpose for each and every person. But, in order to truly fulfill this purpose we need to fully commit ourselves to the plan and mission God has for each of us. Have you ever wondered about the reason you were put on this earth? Maybe today is a good day to start asking God to show you the plans and purposes He has for you while you live out the rest of your days here on Earth. 

Today, I am thankful for "The Book of Eli" and I leave you with his prayer: "Dear lord thank you for giving me the strength and the conviction to complete the task you entrusted to me. Thank you for guiding me straight and true through the many obstacles in my path, and keeping me resolute when all around seemed lost, thank you for your protection and your many signs along the way, thank you for any good I may have done and I'm so sorry about the bad. Thank you for the friend I've made, please watch over her as you have watched over me. Thank you for finally allowing me to rest I am so very tired. But I go now to my rest, at peace knowing that my time on this earth, I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith."  

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 27

Today, I had a very interesting conversation with a man named Mishael, who considers himself a Hebraic Christian. At first I thought he meant he was a Messianic Jew, who is a Hebrew who has found their Messiah in Jesus, the One who Moses and those after him prophesied would come. But, in further talking with him he explained that he was not Jewish but desired to live a Christian lifestyle with a strong Judaic foundation. Ok, I can appreciate that, wanting to truly follow after the 1st century disciples of Jesus' day. 

Part of Mishael's story is that God called him out from a lucrative business which gave him both money and fame. He felt God telling him to give it all up and begin living a simple lifestyle. As he put it, "Jesus shoved this big fat camel through the eye of a needle and into His Kingdom" (Matthew 19:24) and for the last 15 years he has lived as a sojourner, owning nothing and living by faith. He said most of the time he travels by bicycle and by way of God giving him or someone he knows a dream. Honestly, he reminded me of a mixture between an Amish, a Quaker and a Mennonite all rolled up in one. And from what I gathered he had very conservative views, all the way down to what he thought women should wear (everything covered). 

Now, I'm not out here to judge anyone about their views whether I agree with them or not. Mishael had a wonderful heart for Jesus and I was blessed to have spent well over an hour talking with him. We even spent some time praying together. I prayed out loud and Mishael prayed silently to himself which was a but different, but hey to each his own. I even got to prophesy over his life a little while we prayed which he seemed to received. We talked about lots of things. He shared how he was part of a fellowship of believers who were trying to live a communal lifestyle like those described in the book of Acts: "And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need" (Acts 2:44-45 NLT). Now what Mishael and his friends are doing is not terribly new, over the last 20 years or so there has been a growing house/organic church movement which also embraces these verses and are filled with people trying to do life together more so than just on Sundays. Regardless, I commend what Mishael and his friends are doing. My only hope is that they are actively moving missionally in reaching out to the lost children of God and are not overly isolating themselves in the hopes of keeping themselves pure and untainted by the world. 

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 12

My time with family down in San Antonio was amazing. God showed up and ministered to my brother and his wife. God opened up a way for me to pray with both of them and to even give a prophetic word about God's hand in what is happening in their family now. My sister-in-law shared with me that she literally felt a hand squeeze her shoulder. It was like God was letting her know that He hears her, sees her and that He is with her. So cool! 

Nevertheless, it felt great to be back out on the street after a week away and today was eventful. It started out with a great conversation with Himanchu who was walking around today sharing about Krishna Consciousness. I learned about his beliefs while getting a chance to answer some of his questions about Jesus. I hope to see Himanchu again so that we can continue our conversation. 

Next, a homeless man came up to me asking for money. He was obviously high on something. Normally, I would have told him no and allowed him to move on. But, lately I've been reading a great book called, "When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert which talks about seeing poverty alleviation in relational terms because the only way to understanding the best way to help someone in poverty is by getting to know them. So, without answering his question I extended my hand, introduced myself and asked him his name. Honestly, it was very difficult to understand Louis because he was slurring his speech. I did tell him that I didn't have any money for him but asked if I could pray with him which he agreed. If you're a Christian who is interested in helping the poor than you need to read this book. It will definitely broaden your perspective on how to truly help those in poverty. 

I also got to see my friend Suzanne who I met on the first day of the Mobile Prayer Station and was a listening ear for her. Life is burdensome and we all need to be pastorally cared for and shepherded. So, it was truly a blessing today to be able to pray and shepherd Suzanne. Next, Jim came riding up on his bike and stopped right in front of the sign and asked me what this was all about. I told him I was a Christian out here offering to pray with people. He asked if I could pray a blessing over him, so I spend a the next few minutes praying for blessing, favor and healing for Jim. Afterwards, he said he felt incredibly good and then rode off. He got about 30 feet away and turned back to me and waved. He did this twice. God had obviously touched him. 

Lastly, I got to spend a longer time talking with Marc, a Messianic Jew who found his Messiah Jesus 38 years ago. Some of the first words he spoke to me was to ask me if I was prophesying over people out here which I answered sometimes. We ended up talked about church, mission and the family of God. I did pray with him and he prayed with me and we both had some prophetic insights for each other. I know I probably say this about everyone I meet, but I'm glad I met Marc and hope to see him again. He even came with me to my church's Wednesday night prayer meeting at 7pm where naturally more prayer happened (of course). 

Now, I do want to spend some time thanking you for your prayer support in all of this. Jesus loves being with people and is actively answering your prayers. Please continue to pray that God would continue to encounter and touch people, that He would instill Divine curiosity in people and give them grace and courage to seek out the answers to the questions bubbling in their hearts and minds. Pray that I would make much of Jesus and that I wouldn't get in the way of our Father's heart towards His lost children.  I truly believe that God has amazing plans for each and everyone one of us, but we need to be actively praying His purposes into our lives. So, this is my prayer for you: I pray that Jesus would release in you the grace, passion and courage to step out of the boat to join Him as He walks on water in the storms of people's lives. In His Name I pray, Amen. 

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 5

Hmmm, where to begin? Well, the day started with me being asked to leave the Chicago Park District area. Apparently, my City of Chicago street performer permit is not valid on Park District grounds. So, the "Man" :o) told me to move outside of the fencing which I did. I actually ended up moving to where I first setup on Day 1. No big deal. Honestly, I moved a little into the park area because I was feeling a bit shy and didn't want to be on the corner where everybody could see me. But, oh well. So there I stayed, on the corner for all to see. 

I spent the day reading through Isaiah while occasionally saying hi to people. I am still trying to get a feel for my role in all of this. Right now, I feel like all I'm suppose to do is offer prayer services to the community. This means I'm not preaching at people or pushing prayer on them, but I'm just making myself available to them if they are in need of prayer. Now, this may change as the days and weeks go by and I'm ok with that, but right now I feel like I am just to be an available presence of prayer.

So, today I got to speak in length about church and mission with Scott Venable the pastor of Mosaic Church which just so happens to be a newer church plant that will begin meeting in the field house of Wicker Park. Before we parted ways, I got to pray for vision, blessing and the release of the five fold ministry (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher) for him and his church. Shortly after he left, I got to pray for the FedEx guy who pulled up to make a delivery. On the way to his delivery he gave me a thumbs up and after he made his delivery I asked him if I could pray for him which was definitely a first for me. Praying for the FedEx guy that is. Pretty cool. 

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I've noticed that breaking up my time between smiling and greeting people with reading the Bible is helpful. I feel like people are more receptive of my presence when they see me reading the Bible. It's like I'm less intimidating to them. Oftentimes, while I'm reading the bible I'll hear people reading the sign aloud and when I look up and they'll actually say hi to me. But, when I'm just standing there, people seem to be a bit more guarded and leery of me. I'm definitely learning something new everyday about God, myself, people and the mission. Yup, I am on an adventure that is filled with the good, the bad and the ugly. 

I did want to spend some time describing the Divine appointment I had at the end of the day. It was with this woman Renise. She came beelining for me and begin engaging me in conversation. She asked what church I went to and then proclaimed "God's got you on the front lines." She then proceeded to tell me these amazing stories of when God used her for a street prayer ministry where gang bangers would literally laid down their guns on the street and come for prayer. Very cool stuff. We must've talked for over an hour. Long story short, she prayed for me and then I prayed for her. She prayed about things that reconfirmed what God had already spoken to me in the past and I felt like God gave me some prophetic insights for her. It was definitely a God moment. I told her I was going to try and be in this area for the summer and she said she'd try and join me when she could (one of her kids goes to the A.N. Priztker school right down the street). What was so endearing to me about all of this was the fact that God knew that I was having a a rough couple days and thought enough of it to actually send someone to come pray, encourage and build up my faith. So, thank you for your prayers. God is answering!

HILLSONG: one desire

This is my heart's cry. Not only do I want to be with Jesus in Heaven after I leave this earth, but I also want to be with Him as I live and breath in this world. I want to be where He is healing, saving, redeeming and restoring all the lost children of God. You see, Jesus did all of these things with me, He has healed and continues to heal me physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. He has also delivered me from a life of addictions and is even now redeeming the lost years of my past as He restores my broken life. If you ask me why I do the things that I do, I would tell you that it is the love of Jesus that compels me to live the life that I do. I have been so touched by the love of God and His love has forever changed me. I was once lost in a lust-filled angry selfish world, but now I am found in the love, joy and peace of Heaven. 

So this is my prayer: I pray that the God of the universe would touch your life with His love, joy and peace, that He would release the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into your life, that His Kingdom of light would break through the darkness that clouds your life and that He would bring healing to your heart. In Jesus Name, Amen. 

Mobile Prayer Station: DAY 1

Today marks Day 1 of the Mobile Prayer Station. I ended up setup the prayer sign at the corner of Damen & Wicker Park Avenue right at one of the entrances into Wicker Park. I arrived around 3:30pm and stood nervously wondering what would become of the next few hours. So, I said a quick prayer for the courage to unpack the sign. Immediately, I felt God's peace and slowly setup the sign when two skateboarders came rolling up.  One of them looked at the sign, then at me and said, "I'm encouraged already." I couldn't have asked for a better launch. But, it gets better. 

Right after the kids left, an ice cream vender came by and we started chatting. It wasn't long before he shared that he was just beginning his ice cream business. While we were talking two girls came and bought some ice cream from him. Lao was very friendly and welcoming. After the sale, Lao asked me what the sign was all about and I told him that I was here to pray for people. He asked me how it worked (I could tell he was interested). So, I told him that I could ask God to bless his new business and family which I ended up doing. I could tell he was nervous, but God's presence and grace helped to ease the awkwardness. Afterward, Lao went on his merry way.

Over the next hour, I smiled and said hi to people. I really don't think people knew how to react. They'd read the sign, looked at me and then back to the sign. I got all kinds of reactions from smiles to confused looks to stonefaced stares. Mark was this 10 year old boy who was riding his Razor scooter round and round the park. He must have pasted me a half dozen times. Each time saying hi. Finally, he stopped and all he said was "hope?" I told I could pray for hope for him and he said "ok" so I did. He bowed his head with me and everything and then he was off again. 

Next, a homeless woman named Denise came and we sat on the near by bench for awhile and talked about her family. She shared her heart with me and I prayed for her. If you're reading this please remember the Weeks family in your prayers. They truly need God to come and rescue them from addiction. I have a feeling that I will be seeing lots of Denise over the next few weeks. Later on, one of her friends Maurice came rolling over in his wheelchair and stopped right in front of my sign and asked me to pray a blessing for Osama Bin Laden. I told him sure, but  that I'd rather pray a blessing over him. He then proceeded to press me on why I didn't want to pray for Osama which I replied I'll pray for both of you. So, I prayed a blessing over Osama Bin Laden's family and asked God to bring healing and redemption to them and then prayed a blessing over Maurice. He thanked me and rolled off. 

The last woman I had the privilege to pray for was Suzanne. She came beelining for me from across the street. She stood right in front of me and said, "I could so use some encouragement right now" so we talked for a little. I asked her how I could pray and she shared her day with me. I prayed for her and then we talked some more. And I prayed for her again. She cried and then she smiled. God showed up. We ended up talking for at least 20 minutes until she had to leave to got pick up her two kids from daycare.

I ended up leaving around 6:40pm. I was planning on staying until 7:00pm, but the wind kicked up something fierce and it got extremely chilly. I am looking forward to returning to the same spot tomorrow. I think people just need to get used to me being there. I was blessed by God today to be able to pray with 5 people, but really was given the opportunity to pray for dozens upon dozens of people as they walked by. What the Holy Spirit impressed upon me most was to pray for the Father's love to be released into people's lives and for the healing of their  wounded, broken and beat-up hearts. "Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sin" (1 Peter 4:8 NLT).

simple Fruit

Over the last several years, the Lord has been simplifying my life. This has been an inward transformative work by the Holy Spirit that is now bearing outward fruit. This simple, yet lasting fruit is allowing me to be content in the midst of a town called Morogoro, Tanzania. I have been here for the last few days waiting on a translator while my friend David is in Dar es Salaam procuring a car among other goods for our journey. Morogoro is a rural town with not much in terms of modern world amenities. It is a simple life here, where the power can go out at any moment (just the other day, January 17, 2011, it was out for nearly 10 hours). Small street side shops line dusty roads while others sell their wares on sidewalks. The larger shops have generators which are a God send when the power fails.

Now what the Holy Spirit has been highlighting to me is that it is by the grace of God I can be content here (or anywhere for that matter). You maybe saying well of course, but the way this grace has been apportioned to me is two-fold. First, providentially there is the inward transformative work He’s done in freeing me from the stranglehold of materialism which has helped me to gain a greater eternal perspective on life in general. It’s sad how much influence materialism has and consumerism for that matter (because you can’t have materialism without consumerism) in clouding a person’s judgment and perspective. Add to this the many years the Lord has impressed upon me the need to live a fasted lifestyle also helps to keep the world at bay. The fruit of much of this good work has manifested itself in the contentment of living a simple lifestyle.

This is not to say that I don’t need or want things because I do, but these desires no longer control me. Pressing into the Lord is becoming more and more of my first impulse rather than a second, third, even last resort. Case and point, I’ve spent a day fasting and praying alone in my room while here in Morogoro because seeing the Father’s Kingdom agenda happen has become more important than sightseeing or eating out. Again, I give all praise to God for this because it is by His providential grace of transformation through the Holy Spirit that this is now my passion and reality. Secondly, I would add that God is continually lavishing His grace upon all people, but it is His children who have learned to more readily receive and depend on His grace. Compound this with the prayers of my supporters and I truly am blessed. His grace truly is new each and every morning and I feel His grace through their prayers. If this is you, THANK YOU! Together we can by God's grace!

African Time

Integrating into the Tanzanian culture has meant accepting the reality of African time. Simply put, African time is the understanding that life happens, so delay happens. So far, I see two contributing factors to “African time.” Firstly, because the majority (89%) of Tanzanians are living on less than $1.25 a day, this means their access and means to things is limited. Hence, walking everywhere is commonplace which creates delay. Secondly, in my last post, I described the importance of knowing another’s life news. I believe this also feeds into African time. Greeting people is so very important to Tanzanians and spending a few minutes greeting someone is commonplace. Now put these two scenarios together and you have African time. On the one hand, you have people walking everywhere and as they are walking along they are spending a significant amount of time greeting their friends and neighbors.

Currently, I am reading this book called “Soul Guide” by Bruce Demarest. In this book on spiritual direction he makes a fair observation of the current Western culture that people are seen more as obstacle then opportunities. Let me explain, Westerners like to fill their days with appointment after appointment (yes, I am guilty of this) and when we encounter people throughout our day, they become more like obstacles to get over or around, so that we don’t miss our next appointment. Now, the challenge the author puts to us is this: rather than seeing the person before us as a hindrance to our next appointment, see this person as our next “divine” appointment. Maybe a good lesson we can learn from African time is that we need to slow down and take the time to greet one another. Who knows the next person that “gets in your way” maybe the very person in whom you can impact for all eternity with the good news of the Gospel?

Habari Yako?

Over this past week, I had the opportunity to visit some friends who were called by God two years ago to share Jesus with the Zanzibari people. My initial experience of the Zanzibari people was that they see “wazungu” (white people) or “watlii” (tourists) as $$. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been harassed to look at this or to buy that or beckoned to come over here or there. Now I fully understand that from their perspective that’s why the “wazungu” come to Zanzibar, for tourism. I found it interesting to watch the Zanzibaris interact with my friends who are fluent in Swahili. They would walk up to them just as they did me and say a greeting in Swahili, but whenever my friends greeted them back or asked them questions in return in Swahili, they would simply walk away. Hence, I couldn’t help but feel like most of the time, they were simply sizing people up. The saying on the island is that there is the “wazungu” price and then the “Zanzibari” or “real” price. Now, if that’s all the interaction I had with Zanzibaris, my conclusion would be that they are no different than the locals in any other touristy city I’ve ever been too.

But, because my friends have been living on Zanzibar for two years, they have made some “rafiki” (friends) in which they are in genuine fellowship with. It is through seeing their interaction that I’ve come to see the heart and beauty of the Zanzibari people. Relationships are so very important to Zanzibaris and knowing the “news” (habari) of one another’s life is crucial. Whenever I was walking with my friend around their home, it was imperative that she greet everyone and ask of the news of their life. At any given encounter these and many more questions would be asked: “Habari yako? (what’s your news?) Habari nyumbani? (what’s the news of your household?) Habari mama? (what’s the news of your mother?) Habari baba? (what’s the news of your father?) Habari Dar? (what’s the news in Dar?)” and so on and so forth. Granted though the answer to these questions was almost exclusively “nzuri” (good), what stuck me was the importance in asking about the “news” of one another’s lives. So let me ask you: Habari yako?

Sara Groves: when the saints

This song is a good reminder that when we read through the book of Acts in the bible, we should be asking ourselves: "Where in the world can I be doing what the disciples were doing?" Now, on the surface, the world today may look very different from what it looked like 2000 years ago. But, the sad reality of sin and our fallenness is that no matter what era that we live in there will always be people using and abusing other people. Though we have advanced greatly through technology, greed, lust and hatred still remains which means that there will always be a need for followers of Jesus to be engaging redemptively with the world from an eternal perspective with the Gospel.

"I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad. I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul. I see the young missionary and the angry spear. I see his family returning with no trace of fear. I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights. I see the sister standing by the dying man's side. I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor. I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door. I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road. I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load..."

WFJ: Wrestling for Jesus

What do you think? Personally, I think it's awesome that there are evangelist wrestlers that travel from town to town wrestling and preaching the Gospel. I mean Jesus tells us that, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field" (Luke 10:2). Well, this video is proof that the Lord of the harvest is actively sending out workers into His harvest field. In this case the wrestling lovers harvest field.

When's the last time you ask the Lord of the harvest to raise up laborers? I'd like to invite you into a movement going round called the "Luke 10:2b" virus where people are setting their cell phone alarms to go off at 10:02 am everyday, in order to ask the Lord of the harvest to raise up laborers. Let's join together in one voice and Spirit to begin begging the Lord for more workers! Set your cell phone alarm today.

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