Time moves so persistently. We have already been here for two and a half weeks. Our longing to see all of you again makes us grateful that time has not wavered or stopped; yet for the sake of the work happening here we wish to hold on to the moments longer. Oh, Lord, You were wise to make time an unchanging current. We shall travel with it knowing that Your will shall be done in the time You have a allotted; joyfully we march: “onward Christian soldier.”
Today is our third Tuesday here. The day seems cooler. Very refreshing! Thank you for giving such a day, Lord. …actually, I think instead, the Lord has blessed me by just adjusting my body to the heat ;) . I looked at the thermometer: 31.4 Celsius (88.5 Fahrenheit), and it is still “winter.” After a summer here (during springtime at home), the winter of 2011-12 at home is going to be quite a shocker to my system!
Today is a day of rest for Chelsea and me. We had a very busy day yesterday and were out until late at night. I’m using this resting time to catch you all up a bit on what has been taking place here. We’ve had so many interesting, amazing, and sometimes confusing experiences here that we found our blog posts were getting quite long and we’re getting behind. So, I think I’ll tell you about Thursday and through the weekend. I will leave the privilege to Chelsea of telling you all about the wonders of yesterday (Monday). (You’d better appreciate that, little Lady!)
Thursday morning we headed just south of Nellore city to a little church building where about 30 local evangelists had gathered to receive spiritual encouragement and training. Some of the evangelists we recognized from Monday’s trip to the village of Adurupalli; others we met were also a part of Pastor David’s evangelist team; while the rest of the pastors and evangelists were friends and partners in the ministry. Completely unsure of what to expect, Chelsea and I had spent much time in prayer during the days leading up, searching the Lord’s heart for the instruction and words of encouragement which He wanted to impart to them. We knew that we were not meant to be the main speakers, but how much to say and on what subject was left completely ambiguous. In my time of preparation (meaning prayer, with my Bible before me and writing material somewhere on the side) the Lord drove my mind to a place of humility and awe before Him. As I was praising His glories and character, I found Him at work, opening my mind to greater understanding and appreciation of those very things for which I was lifting Him up. And I found my heart open and eager for Him to create in me such a likeness.
Ah-ha! I realized. This is the most valuable of all “learning.” To learn to praise His character and His ways is more valuable than all head knowledge. We usually honor humans who are able speakers or brilliant in an aspect of performance or looks; yet what is the greatest human compared to our God? To know Him and His ways is more valuable than any professor’s instruction. And by talking with God about His own character and acts, He will explain them more fully till we know all about Him. Then we who are weak and small in head knowledge can be used greatly by our God because He has molded our way of thinking.
From this position of thinking and praying, the Lord began pointing me to verses:
• on glorifying God vs. man – 1 Samuel 16:6-7; Job 33:6-7; Job 40:6-14
• on entering the Lord’s presence with praise – Psalm 100
• on learning to praise and glorify God and His attributes – Psalm 89:5-18; Revelation 15:3-4; 19:1-8; Psalm 32
When we arrived on Thursday morning, I was called upon to speak whatever the Lord had laid on my heart. At this point, Chelsea still did not have any leading from the Lord on what to share. She had prayed and wrestled with many different messages which He had given her, but none seemed right for this time. So, that morning she had instead, simply prayed and read some scripture, and left it to the Lord for if there was anything He would give her to share that day.
I surprised everyone (included Pastor David) and received applause for introducing myself in Telugu (it was only a short sentence, so don’t be too impressed!). And then prayed and shared based on what I’ve written out above. P.David was translating and both of us felt the spirit of the Lord moving swiftly and clearly through us. Those listening were fully engaged and responding—praise the Lord!—it was wonderful to watch them taking in what the Lord was giving them. While I was talking I was also praying for when the Lord would have me end and if there was anything else that needed to be said. Right then I felt Chelsea toe my foot. The Lord had dropped into her heart the important, closing emphasis for these words! I passed the microphone to her and she spoke out of John 15 using the image of the vine and branches to explain our connection with the Lord. She showed how we often will stifle the growth which comes from being deeply connected in the Lord and His ways by trying to bind around ourselves these expectations of our own growth direction. But this binding will cut off the nutrients and we lose connection with God. We must take off our own expectations of our growth and focus on being connected to the Lord; then we will see Him flourish through us.
We spoke much longer than was probably intended, but the main speaker—an Indian gentleman named David Livingston—said he was extremely glad for the message which we shared. He then spoke on faithfulness encouraging the pastors and evangelists to remain committed to the Lord in many aspects of their lives: families, finances, ministry, relationships, etc. Upon closing, we were able to pray for the two women who attended and then join everyone for lunch (yummy!).
I love the fellowship of believers; I love the Spirit of God moving in and through all of us, knowing that He is communicating His truths in one and then another, building unity; I love that we can pray and speak life to one another even across culture and language differences. Oh, what wonderful pieces of heaven these are!
Sunday we had similar opportunities to fellowship and encourage the believers. In the early morning we traveled across town to a small church which held an English service. We sang and played several songs for them. Then we spoke according to the Lord’s leading (without translation! It was kinda weird :). From Proverb 3:7-8 we exhorted them to stop holding education and degrees as a measure of worthiness in their leaders and peers. Instead, they should fear the Lord and hate evil. Honor the Lord and listen to those people who show great evidence of hating evil and sin and of holding the Lord in great esteem.
The message was so encouraging and powerful to P.David that he asked us to share the same message at HBA’s church service later in the morning; which we faithfully and prayerfully did. Chelsea then taught the youth out of John 13:34-35 showing them the level of love which the Lord requires us to carry as disciples who are walking in the way of Christ.
I share all of these messages with you in such detail in order that you, likewise, may be encouraged and challenged by these things. For we have discovered that believers all across the world struggle with similar evils. We are growing so much in the Lord. I have determined that one of the best ways to grow in the Lord is to prepare and speak messages about the Lord. This study and time in prayer—when one knows that it will be tested against their own character and actions—causes the learning and depth to be so much deeper. I think that in the future I will require all of my prospective students and children to be constantly teaching the scriptures so that they must be studying them in this way.
This is a faithful picture of all the ministry opportunities that took place over the weekend. (Excepting Friday night at the Women’s Fellowship where we had prayer and worship and then Chelsea spoke on 1 John 4:18.) Most of Friday and Saturday were spent in preparing for Sunday and Monday and in hanging out with the family here. I may have to write a follow-up report to tell about some of the adventures of those days. You would laugh at the antics that took place…
May the peace and grace of the Lord be with you all. Until our next update!
Today is our third Tuesday here. The day seems cooler. Very refreshing! Thank you for giving such a day, Lord. …actually, I think instead, the Lord has blessed me by just adjusting my body to the heat ;) . I looked at the thermometer: 31.4 Celsius (88.5 Fahrenheit), and it is still “winter.” After a summer here (during springtime at home), the winter of 2011-12 at home is going to be quite a shocker to my system!
Today is a day of rest for Chelsea and me. We had a very busy day yesterday and were out until late at night. I’m using this resting time to catch you all up a bit on what has been taking place here. We’ve had so many interesting, amazing, and sometimes confusing experiences here that we found our blog posts were getting quite long and we’re getting behind. So, I think I’ll tell you about Thursday and through the weekend. I will leave the privilege to Chelsea of telling you all about the wonders of yesterday (Monday). (You’d better appreciate that, little Lady!)
Thursday morning we headed just south of Nellore city to a little church building where about 30 local evangelists had gathered to receive spiritual encouragement and training. Some of the evangelists we recognized from Monday’s trip to the village of Adurupalli; others we met were also a part of Pastor David’s evangelist team; while the rest of the pastors and evangelists were friends and partners in the ministry. Completely unsure of what to expect, Chelsea and I had spent much time in prayer during the days leading up, searching the Lord’s heart for the instruction and words of encouragement which He wanted to impart to them. We knew that we were not meant to be the main speakers, but how much to say and on what subject was left completely ambiguous. In my time of preparation (meaning prayer, with my Bible before me and writing material somewhere on the side) the Lord drove my mind to a place of humility and awe before Him. As I was praising His glories and character, I found Him at work, opening my mind to greater understanding and appreciation of those very things for which I was lifting Him up. And I found my heart open and eager for Him to create in me such a likeness.
(Singing "Ne Yesuni Velugulo" for the evangelists.
Priyanka helped us where we got stuck...
...give us a break! There's eight verses!)
Ah-ha! I realized. This is the most valuable of all “learning.” To learn to praise His character and His ways is more valuable than all head knowledge. We usually honor humans who are able speakers or brilliant in an aspect of performance or looks; yet what is the greatest human compared to our God? To know Him and His ways is more valuable than any professor’s instruction. And by talking with God about His own character and acts, He will explain them more fully till we know all about Him. Then we who are weak and small in head knowledge can be used greatly by our God because He has molded our way of thinking.
From this position of thinking and praying, the Lord began pointing me to verses:
• on glorifying God vs. man – 1 Samuel 16:6-7; Job 33:6-7; Job 40:6-14
• on entering the Lord’s presence with praise – Psalm 100
• on learning to praise and glorify God and His attributes – Psalm 89:5-18; Revelation 15:3-4; 19:1-8; Psalm 32
When we arrived on Thursday morning, I was called upon to speak whatever the Lord had laid on my heart. At this point, Chelsea still did not have any leading from the Lord on what to share. She had prayed and wrestled with many different messages which He had given her, but none seemed right for this time. So, that morning she had instead, simply prayed and read some scripture, and left it to the Lord for if there was anything He would give her to share that day.
(Bethany encouraging the believers)
I surprised everyone (included Pastor David) and received applause for introducing myself in Telugu (it was only a short sentence, so don’t be too impressed!). And then prayed and shared based on what I’ve written out above. P.David was translating and both of us felt the spirit of the Lord moving swiftly and clearly through us. Those listening were fully engaged and responding—praise the Lord!—it was wonderful to watch them taking in what the Lord was giving them. While I was talking I was also praying for when the Lord would have me end and if there was anything else that needed to be said. Right then I felt Chelsea toe my foot. The Lord had dropped into her heart the important, closing emphasis for these words! I passed the microphone to her and she spoke out of John 15 using the image of the vine and branches to explain our connection with the Lord. She showed how we often will stifle the growth which comes from being deeply connected in the Lord and His ways by trying to bind around ourselves these expectations of our own growth direction. But this binding will cut off the nutrients and we lose connection with God. We must take off our own expectations of our growth and focus on being connected to the Lord; then we will see Him flourish through us.
(Taking a break from teaching...everyone was singing together)
We spoke much longer than was probably intended, but the main speaker—an Indian gentleman named David Livingston—said he was extremely glad for the message which we shared. He then spoke on faithfulness encouraging the pastors and evangelists to remain committed to the Lord in many aspects of their lives: families, finances, ministry, relationships, etc. Upon closing, we were able to pray for the two women who attended and then join everyone for lunch (yummy!).
I love the fellowship of believers; I love the Spirit of God moving in and through all of us, knowing that He is communicating His truths in one and then another, building unity; I love that we can pray and speak life to one another even across culture and language differences. Oh, what wonderful pieces of heaven these are!
Sunday we had similar opportunities to fellowship and encourage the believers. In the early morning we traveled across town to a small church which held an English service. We sang and played several songs for them. Then we spoke according to the Lord’s leading (without translation! It was kinda weird :). From Proverb 3:7-8 we exhorted them to stop holding education and degrees as a measure of worthiness in their leaders and peers. Instead, they should fear the Lord and hate evil. Honor the Lord and listen to those people who show great evidence of hating evil and sin and of holding the Lord in great esteem.
(Chelsea's artsy picture of the passage we taught out of Proverbs)
The message was so encouraging and powerful to P.David that he asked us to share the same message at HBA’s church service later in the morning; which we faithfully and prayerfully did. Chelsea then taught the youth out of John 13:34-35 showing them the level of love which the Lord requires us to carry as disciples who are walking in the way of Christ.
I share all of these messages with you in such detail in order that you, likewise, may be encouraged and challenged by these things. For we have discovered that believers all across the world struggle with similar evils. We are growing so much in the Lord. I have determined that one of the best ways to grow in the Lord is to prepare and speak messages about the Lord. This study and time in prayer—when one knows that it will be tested against their own character and actions—causes the learning and depth to be so much deeper. I think that in the future I will require all of my prospective students and children to be constantly teaching the scriptures so that they must be studying them in this way.
This is a faithful picture of all the ministry opportunities that took place over the weekend. (Excepting Friday night at the Women’s Fellowship where we had prayer and worship and then Chelsea spoke on 1 John 4:18.) Most of Friday and Saturday were spent in preparing for Sunday and Monday and in hanging out with the family here. I may have to write a follow-up report to tell about some of the adventures of those days. You would laugh at the antics that took place…
May the peace and grace of the Lord be with you all. Until our next update!
Andariki Vandenalu
(Thank you all so much!)
Good word, Bethany! May the Spirit continue to bring you the Father and Son's messages for the our Indian brothers and sisters (and for us as we read)...and May you continue drinking deep of the wellspring of communion directly from God! He is so delicious, if only we would savor Him - His character, attributes and nature.
ReplyDeleteWe are all so glad you and Chelsea get so many opportunities to share from the Lord and His Word - and I was definitely encouraged by reading the little nuggets you laid forth.
But, like Mike Bickle says, when we listen to sermons we are really only reading the menu, and haven't begun to nourish ourselves by "eating the meal" or by practicing the words we just heard.
Andariki Vandenalu for sharing!