August 26, 2010
A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were excessively mischievous. The two were always getting into trouble and their parents could be assured that if any mischief occurred in their town, their two young sons were involved.
The parents were at their wits end not knowing what to do about their sons' behaviour. Then the mother heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children in the past, so she asked her husband if he thought they should send the boys to speak with the clergyman.
The husband said, "We might as well. We need to do something before I really lose my temper!"
The clergyman agreed to speak with the boys. He asked to see them individually.
The 8-year-old went to meet him first. The clergyman sat the boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is God?"
The boy made no response, so the clergyman repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God?" Again the boy made no attempt to answer, so the clergyman raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face, "WHERE IS GOD? With that, the boy bolted from the room and ran directly home, slamming his door and hiding himself in his closet.
His older brother followed him into the closet saying, "What happened?"
The younger brother replied, "We are in B I G trouble this time. God is missing and they think we did it!"
For many people, God seems to have gone missing. He seems to be busy with other things and other people but not about “me”.
But God has not gone missing but is working behind the scenes accomplishing all that He wants for you and give to you. He may seem silent to your needs at the present time but He will reveal all at the right time. He gives us enough encouragement for the next day.
The problem for all of us is that we think that life revolves around “me”. We get impatient when we do not get immediate answers, yesterday! We fail to realize the global impact that one decision has. We fail to recognize that the Lord God has to look at every decision with every implication that each decision has for His Kingdom Purposes.
At the same time, He gives each of us choices to make and the freedom to choose right from wrong; this way from that way. We are never perfect in “getting it right” but God still manages to sort it out in the end for our good.
Paul wrote in Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him”.
In this short yet powerful verse, there are three things to take note of.
1. We know - This knowledge is both head and heart based on and based on previous experience with God. We know describes a certainty that nothing or no one can shake us from. We know challenges the doubts that the enemy would try to plant into our heads. How much certainty is there for you in the fact that “we know”? For Paul it is 100% certainty and it must be the same for us as we worship Paul’s God.
2. In all things - Paul was certain that God was in everything that happened to him. He never had an easy life when he became a Christian. (You can read about his life in 2 Corinthians 11:16-33) He suffered greatly and spent much of his time coping with opposition and conflict, sometimes at personal risk of death. Yet in all the bad and good, Paul saw God in the midst of his life, looking after Paul until it was his time to die. Do you see God in everything that happens to you? Do you know that not one thing in your life that happens that God does not know about, help you with, protect you from, guide you out of harm’s way?
3. God works for the good - When bad things happen to us, we get very angry with God. We ask a lot of questions. While he does not cause the bad things, he brings good out of it. We say “How can God bring good out of bad?” when a baby dies; when a car crashes and people end up paralysed; when someone young is diagnosed with a life threatening disease; when a job is lost and a person’s life is destroyed by alcohol or drugs. We have this false picture that being Christian gives you an insurance policy against everything bad. Yet the truth is God can bring beauty out of ashes; good out of bad and He can turn things around better than anyone.
As Liz and I face a challenging future with Walking Free, we need to be certain that Romans 8:28 still remain true. We are here at Coolangatta because we believe that God has a plan for Walking Free, the Twin Towns Church, healing, the people who will be helped and the people who will join us to help God and us achieve His Kingdom purposes.
God has a plan and we are in the early stages of God’s lifetime project that started before we were born, around 35AD. Walking Free, John and Liz are a part of a continuum that God has put into place to bring healing and hope to people who struggle with some form of sickness. We are an example of the many healing ministries worldwide that God has raised up to bring healing and hope.
We are just one ministry, small in number, but vitally important to God’s plan of healing.
In the same way, you are just one ministry but an important cog in the world wide activity of God to bring about His Kingdom purposes. We lose the plot when we look inwards and become introspective, thinking that life is all about me.
We may never know the bigger picture that God has for us, but we do know that we are important to God and whatever happens to us: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him”.
Thank you for praying for more clients. In the last couple of weeks we have had new clients and old clients ringing up for help. Some of these clients need face to face in Toowoomba and so we will need to return to Toowoomba regularly to accommodate the need.
Thank you for those who have made suggestions re content and title of a book. I am still praying this through with Jesus.
The church is going well. Numbers have improved but we are now facing the months of September to November when our visitors diminish as they go back home. We have started a prayer chain and now will start small groups. We have two groups with 18 people attending. We are using DVD material “Experiencing God” by Henry Blackaby.
Liz is doing well. She is walking and talking each week with two new ladies who have started coming to church. She is doing her quilting projects as well as trying to plan and organize people for ministry.
Our eldest Naomi and our son David (with his wife Maddy) are considering their future as new opportunities begin to be offered to them. This is an unsettling time as they ponder their future with God, asking for His direction. Our daughter Jessica has come back from her “holidaying” around and now will settle in to work and its routine once more.
We look forward to going to Adelaide at the end of September to celebrate Naomi’s 30th and see our parents.
The lady we prayed for that had the incurable eye problem felt better and was helped by our prayers. As usual there was more to it than an eye problem and so she was greatly benefited by the prayers and may come back for more. The eye problem was not completely healed. We find that for many physical healings, there are associated emotional issues that need to be addressed as well to release physical healing.
Prayer Points
- Thank God that He has not “gone missing”.
- Thank God that He is with you and is working good for you out of every situation.
- Thank God for His divine ministry through you.
- Thank God that He provides for all our needs.
- Pray for increase certainty that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is working for you in every situation.
- Pray for new clients to come at the right time for our team members.
- Pray for new people to become prayer team members. Pray for a team to be established at Coolangatta. Pray for a healing centre to be established.
- Pray for Coolangatta church to continue to be open to the healing work of Jesus. Thank God for growing openness to His presence.
- Pray for wisdom and inspiration to know what to write in a book.
- Pray for our prayer teams: Hal and Debbie, Barbara, Robyn, Jenny, Liz and myself.
- Pray for our management team: John, Liz, Jamie, Robyn, Rod, Jen and Craig. Pray that we receive God’s leading for our ministry.
- Pray for the Toowoomba site of Walking Free. We will lose a key pray-er, Robyn, as she has now full time work.
- Thank God for the financial provision of this ministry. We are grateful to the many that are obedient and give to our ministry weekly, monthly and one off. We have been blessed with gifts of merchandise and money, computers and printing. We have been blessed with many talented and gifted people who give of their time, talent and treasure each week to help this ministry have a Kingdom impact.