Precious Saints !!!!
Yes I know it's been awhile, the world at work has been doing a Romans 12:2 on me trying to squeeze me into it's mold but God is constantly and lovingly at work.
So this weekend past I'm up for soup kitchen duty, you know, compassion ministry and all that stuff. Well I had a rather frustrating time leading up to the evening at soup kitchen and by the time I got there I felt about as compassionate as a dry twig. I was handing out some booklets to the people in the queue for soup when something inside me asked the question, "Why are you not shaking their hands tonight and asking them how they are doing?" Just then to make matters worse(for me that is) I bumped (literally) into one of the 'hard' men of the soup kitchen causing him to spill some soup.
Oh Lord and this too....this is all I need. I was expecting him to have a thousand nasty words to say. Bite your tongue Raymond, you must forgive, forgive, forgive(70x7). He just stood and looked at me and then started crying and started asking me why does he continue to do the wrong things when God has paid such a high price for him, the blood of Christ has been shed for him. He started to tell me about the father heart of God (all in Afrikaans) and words just failed me as I humbly listened with my hand on his shoulder and felt his desperate pain. I didn't say much just asked his name(Gerhard) said a short prayer for him and encouraged him to eat his soup. Walked away just kinda stunned, was I there for him or was he there for me.......?
Then come Sunday night, Allie and myself and a handful of us go with Ronnie and Hazel to a healing evening at the Atlantis Methodist Church. We formed part of the ministry team and I'm so humbled by the people there who live in a community torn apart by poverty, crime, drugs and physical abuse. It seemed like the whole church got up when the call came for healing and all protocol and false pride fell by the way and we just ministered not in our own strength but in His. Again just feeling kinda stunned afterwards.
I'm amazed that God uses me and you(just be available,obedient, merciful and loving) to show His unfailing love. Often I think how could he want to use me to be His hands, feet, lips, ears, heart....... Does He really, really know me and all the things I hide deep down within me? The astonishing answer is yes He knows me better than I know myself and He wants to bless me(and you) by using me(and you). So I kinda got this song in my body, soul and spirit at the moment which I'll share with you.
1Corinthians 13:8 Love never fails!
Psalm 136:26 Praise God in heaven! God's love never fails
Artist: Chris Tomlin Song: Unfailing love
Album: Arriving
You have my heart
And I am Yours forever
You are my strength
God of grace and power
And everything
You hold in Your hand
Still You make time for me
I can’t understand
Praise You God of Earth and sky
How beautiful is Your unfailing love
Unfailing love
And You never change
God You remain
The Holy One and my unfailing love
Unfailing love
You are my rock
The One I hold on to
You are my song
And I sing for You
And everything You hold in Your hand
Still You make time for me I can’t understand
Praise You God of Earth and sky
How beautiful is Your unfailing love
Unfailing love
And You never change
God You remain The Holy One and my Unfailing love
Unfailing love
And everything You hold in Your hand
Still you make time for me I can’t understand
Praise You God of Earth and sky
How beautiful is Your unfailing love
Unfailing love
And You never change God You remain
The Holy One and my Unfailing love
Unfailing love
I will praise You
Praise you God of earth and sky
How beautiful is your unfailing love
Unfailing love
And You never change
God You remain The Holy One and my Unfailing love
Unfailing love
Unfailing love
Unfailing love
Unfailing love
Unfailing love
LoCTY !!!!!!!
Showing posts with label Soup Kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soup Kitchen. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
Better is one day......
To The Precious Saints!!!!
These last coupla days the combination of the song and the verses of Psalm 84 have been so deeply ingrained within me. That I would wake up in the mornings with the words already in my mind and on my lips.
This past Saturday Lisa and Matthew went down to the community hall in Edgemead to sell Lisa’s pillows and Matt’s beaded jewellery (which he made himself). This was the Edgemead Arts and Crafts Fair. Allie and myself went with them in the morning to help set up and stayed a little while. We returned a bit later and stayed till it finished which was at 2pm.
I was just looking at all the people and with this song and the words of the Psalm mulling around in my brain I suddenly felt like a doorkeeper. The doorkeeper to eternal healing, eternal joy, eternal love and eternal life. How do I get people to approach the door? How do I get them to knock? How do I help them open the door? Of course the only problem with those questions is the “I” part. It’s not really about me at all, it’s all about God. It’s all about our saviour Jesus Christ and the Helper, His Holy Spirit, ‘cause without them we can do nothing (John 15:5).
So I did not jump up on a table and start preaching hell and damnation (it is tempting sometimes but it’s not really my style!) but just watched and waited. I saw a couple pushing a handicapped boy in a special pram who looked to be about Mattie’s age. Suddenly the penny dropped. It was Ruan, the boy who fell into the swimming pool about two/three years ago and the Holy Spirit led us to pray for him in hospital and also to pray for his parents Herman and Sheila at their home (do you remember Donny and Ashley?) I lost sight of them but found them again when I took a walk to the library. I chatted to Herman and Sheila (mostly to Herman) and I realised then that I had absolutely no idea of what they had been through and what they are still going through. Phew they must be really digging deep. I remember His Holy Spirit letting me feel some of their pain that convicted me to go and pray for them a few years ago. I wept for them then, at the time it was so close and personal, I just had to do it, ‘cause Jesus wanted me to.
We came home and Mattie was quite chuffed ‘cause he had sold some of his stuff (more money for toyz). I was in the garage when I heard someone calling me. “Dominee, dominee!” it was Sara. She is an alcoholic, (part of the street people of Bothasig) who I had not seen for about a year. She told me a sad story of the guy (John) whom she had been looking after for years. They went up to Johns family ‘bout a year ago and the family eventually kicked her out. So there she was in my (God’s!) driveway railing against God and just asking WHY? So I’d like to say God infused me with His Holy wisdom and all the ‘right’ answers came out. I did not have a clue wot to say. So I just reached out and hugged her as she wept and sobbed her heart out. Just then her friend came past and I gently passed her on to her friend and asked her to look after Sara.
Saturday night was soup kitchen and there all the brokenness is so apparent. Grant met two guys there who he’d known for years. He and Clint prayed and ministered to them. It is so difficult to comprehend how hard and far some people have fallen in their lives.
As we walk in this world we come across people that are fragile like glass and many of them have been shattered so that they have all these sharp pieces which cut you and make you bleed when you minister to them. But somehow or the other the love of God heals, it definitely heals me and gives me the strength to continue to do His will and I see that the more people open themselves to the true love of God the more He heals. Everyday I see and hear all the suffering in this world, I so long for His dwelling place which is so aptly put in Psalm 84, and His word promises that every tear will be wiped away (Rev 7:17 & 21:4). But for now I am here to try my best to let His Spirit work in me and through me and show His love, grace and mercy. I can only encourage you to keep on trying as well.
To borrow the phrase from Ronnie van Eck (Sunday nights service) get out of the boat and if you keep your eyes on Jesus you can walk on water.
Psalm 84
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself
where she may have her young- a place near your altar,
O Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion.
Hear my prayer O Lord God Almighty; listen to me,
O God of Jacob.
Look upon our shield, O God; look with favour on your anointed one.
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God then dwell in the tents of the wicked.
For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favour and honour;
No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
O Lord Almighty blessed is the man who trusts in you.
How lovely is your dwelling place
Oh, Lord Almighty
For my soul longs and even faints for You
For here my heart is satisfied
Within Your presence
I sing beneath the shadow of Your wings
Chorus
Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere
One thing I ask and I would seek
To see Your beauty
To find You in the place Your glory dwells
Chorus
Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere
My heart and flesh cry out
For You, the living God
Your Spirit’s water to my soul
I’ve tasted and I’ve seen
Come once again to me
I will draw near to You
I will draw near to You
Chorus
LoCTY !!!!
These last coupla days the combination of the song and the verses of Psalm 84 have been so deeply ingrained within me. That I would wake up in the mornings with the words already in my mind and on my lips.
This past Saturday Lisa and Matthew went down to the community hall in Edgemead to sell Lisa’s pillows and Matt’s beaded jewellery (which he made himself). This was the Edgemead Arts and Crafts Fair. Allie and myself went with them in the morning to help set up and stayed a little while. We returned a bit later and stayed till it finished which was at 2pm.
I was just looking at all the people and with this song and the words of the Psalm mulling around in my brain I suddenly felt like a doorkeeper. The doorkeeper to eternal healing, eternal joy, eternal love and eternal life. How do I get people to approach the door? How do I get them to knock? How do I help them open the door? Of course the only problem with those questions is the “I” part. It’s not really about me at all, it’s all about God. It’s all about our saviour Jesus Christ and the Helper, His Holy Spirit, ‘cause without them we can do nothing (John 15:5).
So I did not jump up on a table and start preaching hell and damnation (it is tempting sometimes but it’s not really my style!) but just watched and waited. I saw a couple pushing a handicapped boy in a special pram who looked to be about Mattie’s age. Suddenly the penny dropped. It was Ruan, the boy who fell into the swimming pool about two/three years ago and the Holy Spirit led us to pray for him in hospital and also to pray for his parents Herman and Sheila at their home (do you remember Donny and Ashley?) I lost sight of them but found them again when I took a walk to the library. I chatted to Herman and Sheila (mostly to Herman) and I realised then that I had absolutely no idea of what they had been through and what they are still going through. Phew they must be really digging deep. I remember His Holy Spirit letting me feel some of their pain that convicted me to go and pray for them a few years ago. I wept for them then, at the time it was so close and personal, I just had to do it, ‘cause Jesus wanted me to.
We came home and Mattie was quite chuffed ‘cause he had sold some of his stuff (more money for toyz). I was in the garage when I heard someone calling me. “Dominee, dominee!” it was Sara. She is an alcoholic, (part of the street people of Bothasig) who I had not seen for about a year. She told me a sad story of the guy (John) whom she had been looking after for years. They went up to Johns family ‘bout a year ago and the family eventually kicked her out. So there she was in my (God’s!) driveway railing against God and just asking WHY? So I’d like to say God infused me with His Holy wisdom and all the ‘right’ answers came out. I did not have a clue wot to say. So I just reached out and hugged her as she wept and sobbed her heart out. Just then her friend came past and I gently passed her on to her friend and asked her to look after Sara.
Saturday night was soup kitchen and there all the brokenness is so apparent. Grant met two guys there who he’d known for years. He and Clint prayed and ministered to them. It is so difficult to comprehend how hard and far some people have fallen in their lives.
As we walk in this world we come across people that are fragile like glass and many of them have been shattered so that they have all these sharp pieces which cut you and make you bleed when you minister to them. But somehow or the other the love of God heals, it definitely heals me and gives me the strength to continue to do His will and I see that the more people open themselves to the true love of God the more He heals. Everyday I see and hear all the suffering in this world, I so long for His dwelling place which is so aptly put in Psalm 84, and His word promises that every tear will be wiped away (Rev 7:17 & 21:4). But for now I am here to try my best to let His Spirit work in me and through me and show His love, grace and mercy. I can only encourage you to keep on trying as well.
To borrow the phrase from Ronnie van Eck (Sunday nights service) get out of the boat and if you keep your eyes on Jesus you can walk on water.
Psalm 84
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself
where she may have her young- a place near your altar,
O Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion.
Hear my prayer O Lord God Almighty; listen to me,
O God of Jacob.
Look upon our shield, O God; look with favour on your anointed one.
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God then dwell in the tents of the wicked.
For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favour and honour;
No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
O Lord Almighty blessed is the man who trusts in you.
How lovely is your dwelling place
Oh, Lord Almighty
For my soul longs and even faints for You
For here my heart is satisfied
Within Your presence
I sing beneath the shadow of Your wings
Chorus
Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere
One thing I ask and I would seek
To see Your beauty
To find You in the place Your glory dwells
Chorus
Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere
My heart and flesh cry out
For You, the living God
Your Spirit’s water to my soul
I’ve tasted and I’ve seen
Come once again to me
I will draw near to You
I will draw near to You
Chorus
LoCTY !!!!
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