Urgent Prayer Needed - Kristen Welsh

I don't know how many of you have been following Kristen Welsh's blog, We Are That Family.  She went with Shaun Groves to Africa in March, 2010 as a Compassion blogger.  It changed her life profoundly and she started, along with her husband and a young friend, Maureen, from Africa, a ministry called The Mercy House.  Maureen is now executive director of this non-profit, Kenya-based ministry, which takes care of pregnant girls in abject poverty and teaches them income-generating skills.  They are just now welcoming their first few girls into the ministry, after several setbacks.

Recently Maureen lost her only sister and her nephew to a preventable disease.

And now, another setback.

Kristen and her family were to leave today for Kenya to help with the start up.  But instead of getting on their plane, they are stuck.  Kristen is in the hospital with kidney failure!

Please pray for this dear family, and for young Maureen? They are so faithful to the Lord's call.  These setbacks are heartbreaking.

At the end of each of the Compassion trips, the leaders, including Shaun, give the bloggers a debriefing.  Shaun asks every time, "Now that you know, what will you do?"

I can't think of Kristen Welsh these days without tearing up. She has sacrificed and prayed and given it all, including the $1000 a month she makes through her popular, award-winning blog.  It all goes to The Mercy House now.  It hasn't been easy on her, or on her husband and three kids.

She has answered the call.  She has done something about abject poverty.  She didn't just go, grieve, get back to normal, and go on with the status quo.  She said in essence "God, change me.  Let me be your hands and feet".

Maybe you and I can't go to Africa, but we can remember this family now in their hour of great need.  Please pray fervently?

Because so few people have time to click on links, I am reposting Kristen's last two posts, which detail the prayer needs:

Today's Post:

We won’t be going to Africa today.

I was admitted to the hospital last night thru the ER with the beginning of kidney failure. Which. of course, was a total shock and something we were completely unprepared for.

Long story short, doctors believe the antibiotic I was on for a bladdar/kidney infection for the last week, coupled with dehydration caused my kidneys to stop functioning right (a rare side effect of some antibiotics).

Please pray that my creatine (kidney function) levels start going down with the iv therapy and that my kidneys start working properly again. About 10% of people’s kidneys don’t recover from this. Believing I’m in the 90%

I’m so mad at satan (and really  heartbroken).

But he will not win.

Thankfully, we had travel insurance and were able to postpone our trip.

Thanks so much for your prayers and love. I feel them.

Yesterday's post:

I stood in the kitchen a few night ago, the reality of what we are about to do, settling in. It wasn’t a heaviness really, more like an O MY WORD slapping me upside the head.

I asked my hubby: “Why don’t you think God asked someone else to do this? Ya know, like someone with a lot of money, someone who wouldn’t have to believe for every dollar.”

“Or someone who had global experience, older kids, an extrovert with a love for adventure (everything I’m not).”

My hubby hugged me. The O GOOD GRAVY feeling eased.

He didn’t say a word. Because bottom line: God asked and we said yes.

And I do feel a lot of peace, especially when I remind myself He used a donkey once…..

I’m not bold. If you know me in real life, it’s probably because you approached me. But from the very beginning when we shared this vision with you-still new and unfolding each day–we knew we could never do this alone. We knew we needed you.

Will you pray for us?

I don’t like to over-spiritualize stuff, but in the last week, I’ve had a kidney infection, my mother-in-law had emergency gall-bladdar surgery, and today, my mom slipped on water and had to have 5 staples in her head (which I will be removing in Africa)-plus, my hubby’s been out of town with his job (but on the way home now). Seriously?  I don’t think it’s a coincidence Maureen brought in our first girl today with two more needy, pregnant girls pending.

Please consider printing out this calendar/itinerary and ask God to use our simple family to encourage and equip the staff, to love on Maureen and the residents, to be Jesus’ hands and feet….

You can download and print the prayer calendar here:  Prayer Calendar

Thank you.

the blessing of a checkered past; gratitude thoughts

Gratitude Thoughts

Our mechanic finished work on the second car this morning. The dear man put in an alternator, fixed the driver's side door handle, and adjusted the headlights, all for $150.00.  We need to make that man some cookies!  What a blessing!

After dropping husband off to get his car, I took the kids to the library.  The boys were out of books, and the girls, on Thursdays and Fridays, can take advantage of the literacy center the library graciously offers.  All the photos included below are from the library's literacy room.  

Not having to rush through the trip--needing to get back quickly so husband could use the van for work--was. such. a. blessing.  My peace increased many fold.  The kids too, were more relaxed without the rush.

Every time we go to the literacy room we take clean up seriously--leaving it in perfect order.  The children sometimes ask why we're cleaning up things we didn't use.  I tell them if we don't, then the librarians have to straighten it before they can go home to their families (both librarians have young children). Many different activities are put out, containing small parts, so it takes time to find the right containers and decide which items go together.  Today, Peter said, "It isn't very nice that the other families left all the mess, is it Mommy?"

These statements bother me.  It sounds as though I'm raising judgmental kids.  I know kids go through developmental stages, including some in which they see things in black and white.  I suggested that maybe the two families had to hurry home for naptime, or someone had a messy diaper, or they knew a meltdown was coming. In short, I taught that we never know what people have on their plates.  Things aren't always as they seem.  

Raising Christian kids is challenging.  There will always be the comparison between what we want them to do, and what everyone else does.  They reason, if this is the right thing, than everyone else must be wrong.  Wrong = Bad   Right = Good

My work is cut out for me, in teaching them to look at it this way, instead:  

Wrong = Blindfolded; without truth  

Right = Seeing; Holy Spirit-filled

Of course, my children still have to choose to be holy.  Being raised a Christian doesn't guarantee they'll do that.  (Link is to a blog post by Sally Clarkson).

I was without faith until the age of 31.  I believed in God, and believed that Jesus was the Son of God, but I looked at the blessing of the Cross as something I had to earn.  I was really relying on myself for salvation, which was terribly frustrating. I didn't have the benefit of the Holy Spirit, so I lived for myself, believing that most people would go to heaven as long as they didn't do anything terrible, or hurt people purposely.  

God decided to put truth in me.  He gifted me with faith.  I didn't will myself to believe.  I didn't have a choice, since I was spiritually dead.  I'm a Calvinist, which means I believe God chooses us--gifts us with saving faith out of his Sovereign will--rather than that we choose him.  If you believe the opposite, you might be Arminian--basically, the theory that God chose those he foreknew would believe, of their own free will.  Arminians believe we have the ability to choose God, and only those who do, get saved. For a complete comparison of the two views, click here.

It's a mystery.  It will always be a mystery.

I can't even count all the times I've caught myself, over the last fourteen years, wishing I'd grown up as a Christian.  Less baggage, I tell myself.  Children raised in Christian homes from infancy...without divorce, alcohol, drugs, abuse, adultery, the love of money, etc., come out more whole--more balanced, especially in homes with spirit-filled, growing Christians, as opposed to stagnant Christians who possibly have one foot in the world.  

Don't misunderstand me; everyone is broken--an inescapable part of being human in a fallen world--but less generational sin usually means less brokenness.

But.  There's this.

Children from Christian homes struggle with humility. A Christian from childhood, they know not from which they've been saved.  

One of my recent nightly prayers is that all of us, including our children, will be clothed in humility.

Though not raised a Christian, I still struggle with humility. But the thing is, I can quickly get to a humble place when I think of my "blindfolded" years.  I know what I've been saved from.  Realizing this, I find myself coveting a Christian past less often than before.  My husband has been a Christian since the age of seven, and my own boys were even younger when they believed. In this house, I'm the only one with a "checkered" past. (Although, don't picture drugs, alcohol, and rock n' roll--I was a teacher, after all :)

That singled-out part can still make me sad sometimes--as though I don't quite belong--but I see the blessing in it now.  I have something to give my children that my husband never could.

Perspective.

A Day in the Life of a New Prayer Warrior, Week 3

The other installments of this Day in the Life series are here, here, here, and here, with the final link being the most recent.

A Day in the Life of a New Prayer Warrior, Week 3

Thoughts and Observations this week:

Something Happened
One night as I prayed, the Spirit intervened.  Ha!  That sounds weird, right?  Just give me a minute here.

Prayer was going along the usual lines, until I got to supplication.  I began praying for our country.  The Spirit stopped me cold, making me pray for a friend in Washington state, instead.  I pray for her every night, but I do the country before individual people. I thought....okay, God...I'll pray for her right away. Did she have a bad day?  Was she depressed?  I wondered.  I prayed for her differently than I had the previous nights--this time including more about her day to day peace and joy, and less about her macular degeneration.  Somehow, the Spirit intervened on her behalf--possibly at the hour of her greatest need!  Since she is three hours behind me in time, I prayed for her around her dinner hour, which can be lonely for a widow.

This happens to all of us, I know.  A name, a face, will pop into our head while we do the dishes, and we'll know to pray right away.  This is common, but it has never happened to me during a structured prayer time.  The Spirit has never changed the order of my prayer plan.

After I finished prayer that night, I was very excited. Overjoyed, in fact!  The Spirit is praying, through me, for a beloved friend!  It made me realize....He really does guide us in prayer!  He really is there!

Friends, I have gone into prayer since then with a greater joy. With more anticipation.  Somehow, it's as though I'm not sitting here alone anymore....with the kids all in bed...with husband away at work until late.  The Spirit is my companion....through prayer.  


This makes it sound as though I've never had a prayer life, I know.  But the truth is, I've never had a consistent one.....as in twenty days and counting of structured evening prayer, along with snippets of prayer during the day.

Prayer is more than I thought it was.  There really is more for us, in terms of relationship with the Father.  I thought there was more.  I was told there was more.

And now I can tell you...there is more!

Do this!  Pray day after day.  Don't allow space between you and the Father.....see what happens.

I Learned to Ease In 
One night I was particularly stressed.  Nevertheless, I sat down to pray right away, not wanting anyone to wake up and thwart my efforts.

It didn't flow well.  It felt like a chore.  It seemed mechanical.

I analyzed it afterward, thinking immediately about foreplay and women, and how we need to ease into relationship by relaxing first.  Don't send me hate mail, please, for using that word foreplay.  I can't think of a better analogy right now, to describe what is needed when our spirits are tormented by really bad days.

My usual pattern is to read the Bible in the mornings, pray in the evenings, and sometimes read a devotional or spiritual book at night as well.

But my plan now, for really stressful times, is to read a few Psalms at night before prayer, or listen to a worship song, to get in touch with the Spirit of God.  I need Him to soothe me some nights first, before I can make prayer a worshipful activity.  This isn't always necessary, but I need to intentionally take the step when I know my spirit needs it.

Being Intentional Blesses the Body of Christ
The other thing I learned this week was that being intentional about my prayer plan blesses the Body of Christ.  When I took the time to list prayer needs in an organized way, I found my prayer having greater reach.  More people were impacted--both saved and unsaved.

For example, my sister, years ago, cared for two young foster sisters, and another time, for a foster baby boy--both times for short periods. They would all be much older now, and over the years I've prayed for them only intermittently--maybe several times a year.  Now I pray for them five times a week!


Maybe one of them, or all of them, will come to know the Lord.  I don't know....but I love praying for them.

Someone prayed for me as I grew up, at least intermittently, for salvation.  It was my Aunt Erma, who now lives five minutes away, but rarely saw me growing up.  She was just praying for a name.

Currently, she is busy with her own grandkids and family, so I don't see her much, but I know she prays much for us, especially since the 2009 job loss and the subsequent underemployment. No, husband hasn't secured a full-time job yet, but neither are we a family in crisis, which might easily happen in our situation.  We are holding steady....so I would say her prayers are being answered.

Do you know what Aunt Erma is?

A Prayer Warrior!  A strong and steady one.

Hallelujah!

Friends, be a prayer warrior!  Bless the Body of Christ.  Pray for salvation for a greater number of people. Be intentional about your prayer plan.

Into a Life of Prayer; A Journey, Part 3

To read part 1 of the prayer series, click here.
To read part 2 of the series, click here

Into a Life of Prayer; A Journey, Part 3

The Lord's Prayer, Our Model, Vol. 1

We can't very well take a journey into a life of prayer without looking at how Jesus taught us to pray. The Lord's Prayer was given to the disciples in response to their request for direction in prayer.  Jesus' response, a model of prayer, was never meant to be repeated verbatim as a prayer offering. We learn about the words of the prayer--the vein of the prayer--so we can apply them to our own prayer lives. 

^{Matthew 6: 5-9}

 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.“This, then, is how you should pray:


THE LORD'S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus' words here are so rich in meaning, that one post can't do them justice. Today we'll explore just the first two words....Our Father.

In the New Testament the word Father is used 245 times.  It points to a relationship of intimacy and trust--in contrast to the Old Testament, in which we read a more intimidating, "I am the Lord your God".

Several Old Testament verses, though, do tell us that God is our Father (Deut. 32:6, Psalm 89:26, Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 63:16, Isaiah 64:8, Jeremiah 3:4, Jeremiah 3:19).

In beginning with the word Father, Jesus is setting the tone for our relationship with God.  A Father takes care of us. He listens with patience.  He protects and comforts.  He provides for us. He looks at the best in us.  

Both the words Father and Our point to a familial relationship. When we become a Christian we are grafted into the Body of Christ (the Body of Believers).  We are brethren to one another, and God is our Father.  It's important to regard our membership in the Body seriously, for it carries a responsibility. We must always be looking and working toward the good of the Body, our brethren.

Philippians 2:4
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.


Mark 12:31
The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

For example, when we sin, it not only harms us, but it harms the whole body as well.  We are not to be individual operators, but rather, operate as a cooperative body--spending time in fellowship with one another, praying for and with one another, helping one another in need, building each other up, admonishing in love when necessary.

James 2:15-17
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

In short, we are part of a family, and when we pray, we must have that family mindset....Our Father.

The theology of our open relationship with God--this very intimate, perfect, Fatherly one--is complicated, but should be understood so that Believers can answer the questions of any adult seeking to know more about the faith, and so that our relationship with the Father in prayer is rich in gratitude, in reverence, in intimacy, and in the joy befitting it.

Permit me now to go into some theological detail, even if you have to finish reading this tomorrow?

Because we are dead spiritually before we become Christians, because we are dirty and unrighteous, we are not fit for the presence of God.  We cannot gain admittance.

To be approved before God--to have the privilege of relationship with Him--our sins have to be atoned for through a blood offering.  In the Old Testament this was done with animal sacrifices.

A sacrificial goat was slain for the sins of all Israel once a year during Passover Week, on the Day of Atonement (Yum Kippur).  The sacrifice was done according to ceremonial law given to Moses (Lev. 16), described in ordinary English here, excerpted below:

The high priest, after becoming ritually pure, first offered a bull for his sins and the sins of his household. Then two goats were set aside. Lots were cast, and one goat was chosen to be the scapegoat or "Azazel." The high priest slaughtered the other goat to atone for the sins of Israel and brought the blood into the Holy of Holies. The scapegoat was sent away to be lost in the desert after the high priest laid both hands on its head and confessed the sins of Israel. In this way, the sins of the nation were symbolically carried off into the desert.

Any individual Israelite who sinned during the year had to take an animal to the priest to be sacrificed (Leviticus 5:1-10). The poor brought doves and the rich brought lambs or goats, so that the priest could perform a ceremony similar to that done on Yum Kippur (one animal for a burnt offering, one animal to be set free).  A really poor person could bring a grain offering, part of which was burnt, and part of which was given to the priest.  This grain offering from the very poor is the only example of atonement being made without blood.

In the New Testament animal sacrifices continued to be performed for atonement as described, until the blood of Jesus was shed.


Jesus is the blood offering--the sacrificial lamb--for every sin we've ever committed, or will commit.


When Jesus gave up His spirit on the cross and uttered, "It is finished", quakes shook the earth and the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was divinely torn (not by human hands).  This tearing signifies that, forevermore, nothing separates us from a relationship with God....from gaining admittance to Him whenever we desire.  Prior to Christ's shed blood, only the high priest was admitted into the Holy of Holies, a condition of the Old Covenant (the Ten Commandments and all the other parts of the Law).  The tearing of the curtain, and Christs' death on the cross, both mark the beginning of the New Covenant, wherein the Law is written on the tablet of our hearts, via the Holy Spirit.

The Lamb was slain, for the final time.

And now we call him Father....and only He fulfills the deepest needs in our souls.

Hallelujah!

Jews who didn't believe in Jesus as Messiah continued to sacrifice at the temple as usual, until the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.  Since that time, Jews have done nothing to atone for their sins.

You've probably heard that when the Jews start rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, that signifies the beginning of the Great Tribulation...and the Second Coming of Christ?  Let's hope construction starts soon....before gas prices reach $5/gallon!

In the Old Testament faith in God was credited as righteousness, as in the case of Abraham.

James 2:23
And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend.

It is the same in the New Testament; our faith in Christ is credited to us as righteousness.  When we come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and accept the grace offering of the cross, Christ's righteousness is imputed to us (applied to us).

Here is an excerpt from a John Piper sermon, on imputation:

"Imputation" is different from "impartation." God does "impart" to us gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, so that we have them and they are in us growing and they are ours. But all of that gracious impartation through the Spirit is built on an even more firm foundation, namely, imputation - the work of God outside of us: God's own righteousness, not imparted to us, but imputed to us. Credited to us, as Romans 4:6 and 11 say. Put to our account. Reckoned to be ours.

2 Corinthians 5:21, "He [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Here we have a double imputation. God imputed our sins to Christ who knew no sin. And God imputed his righteousness to us who had no righteousness of our own. The key phrases for us are "the righteousness of God" and "in Him." It's not our righteousness that we get here. It is God's righteousness. And we get it not because our faith is righteous, but because we are "in Christ." Faith unites us to Christ. And in Christ we have an alien righteousness. It is God's righteousness in Christ. Or you can say it is Christ's righteousness. He takes our sin. We take his righteousness.

We become spiritually alive in Christ Jesus--approved children of God, admitted at His feet forevermore.

Hallelujah!


We pray to the Father, in the name of the Son. Thus, our prayers begin with Our Father, and end with, "In Jesus' name we pray, Amen".

He is right beside me

Walking through my house, picking up clutter, I tried to think a grateful thought.  I cut apples for my children, thinking of the shameful news I learned about my father.

A two-day hormonal headache, paired with hormonal depression, had me in a fog I couldn't lift.

ADHD angst felt by both my husband and my son, and the rest of us by default, dragged me further down.  It will never go away, I knew.  My son's wife and children would suffer as well, with no answers but comfort from the Father.

Brokenness.

I couldn't see past it today.  It's always there for every family, in one form or another, but usually, I can break through the pain with grateful utterances.  With a smile, with a prayer, I can find reason to dance a jig.

But not today.

The Spirit reminded me.  Turn on the radio.

Then I heard this (You Tube link), and I knew God was there, right beside me.  He always is.

I cried, but they were tears of gratitude...not of pain.

My favorite lines are these:  Just to know that You are near is enough; Just to know You and be loved is enough

Song of Hope (Robbie Seay Band)

All things bright and beautiful You are
All things wise and wonderful You are
In my darkest night, You brighten up the skies
A song will rise

I will sing a song of hope
Sing along
God of heaven come down
Heaven come down
Just to know that You are near is enough
God of heaven come down, heaven come down

All things new
I can start again
Creator, God
Calling me Your friend
Sing praise, my soul
To the Maker of the skies
A song will rise

I will sing a song of hope
Sing along
God of heaven come down
Heaven come down
Just to know You and be loved is enough
God of heaven come down, heaven come down

Hallelujah, sing
Hallelujah, sing
Hallelujah, sing