Pray for Nepal!

Day 1

Psalm. 98:2 The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. 

Father God, I pray that the Nepali people would turn to You from their idols and serve the living and true God and wait for Jesus, Your Son from heaven, whom You raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. I pray that the LIGHT of the gospel breaks through the satanic veil that blinds their eyes. Reveal yourself to them. Bring them to salvation so that the Word of the Lord would sound forth from the people of Nepal into all the world and that their faith in God would go everywhere! 

Day 2

James 3:17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 

 Lord, You are the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega, and there is nothing hidden from Your sight. You are the wisest counselor of all. I thank You for your promise, that You give wisdom to those who ask. 

Father God, I pray that you would give my team the wisdom we need to minister to the Nepali people. Fill us with heavenly wisdom that is pure, peace-loving, and considerate. Reveal to us the divine strategies we need to navigate the cultural issues we will face with the people of Nepal. Inspire us with creative solutions to the challenges that hold back the Gospel among the Nepalis. Lord, release your wisdom and light the path before us to penetrate this people group with the truth of Your love.

Day 3

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 

Father, I thank You for the Holy Spirit that You have sent to lead us into all truth, I lift up the people of Nepal to You, and I pray for the children among them. Holy Spirit, I ask that today you would visit one of these children and spark in their heart the revelation of who You are. Over-shadow them with Your presence Lord, and touch them with the truth of Your love. Draw them near to You Lord, give them eyes to see beyond what they have been taught. Open their hearts to receive Your love and Your truth. Comfort them with Your peace and set them on a new course for the rest of their life.  

Day 4 

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 

You, Oh God are Lord forever and there is no one who can challenge Your authority and power. You rule for ever and ever, and there is no end to Your Kingdom.

Lord, anoint my team as we work with wisdom and insight to reach out to the poor and needy. Enable us to put Your truth in a form that can be easily understood. Anoint our words with power to penetrate hearts. Open the ears of those who hear, and make the Good news of Your son Jesus, real to them.  Lord, Your heart is near to the poor and oppressed, anoint us, to represent you as Lord and Savior.

Day 5 

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.-Ephesians 3:14-21 

Father God, may your Kingdom come to Nepal. Shine your LIGHT and your truth into the hearts of the people. Awaken them! Give them ears to hear, eyes to see and hearts to receive your Word, your Spirit. May we be grounded in love so that we can have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and the depth and to know the love of Christ so we may be filled with all the fullness of Christ Jesus. 

Day 6

Father God,  may we be holy and have compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as You have forgiven us, so we also must forgive. And above all these we put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And may Your peace rule in our hearts, to which indeed we were called in one body. And may we be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our hearts to God. And whatever we do, in word or deed, may we do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to you, God the Father... (Col. 3)

Day7

Father God, I pray you would be in the midst of the Nepali people, a mighty one who will save. I thank you that you will rejoice over them with gladness, and quiet them by your love and exult over them with loud singing (Zeph 3:17) I pray you would pour your Spirit on the Nepali people, that their sons and daughters would prophesy and their old men would dream dreams and that their young men would see visions. (Joel 2:28-29)

Mission to Nepal 2012

I am going to Nepal May 16th!!!

PRAY for NEPAL:

Lord, make Your salvation known to the Sherpa people of Nepal. Open their hearts to know Your love and Your truth. Comfort them with your peace and reveal to them the Jesus who died for their freedom. I ask that You would stir them to search for You and to carve a path for other Sherpa,s to follow.

Lord, reveal Your righteousness to the nations, let today be the day of salvation for a spiritual leader of the Sherpa.

Break down the deception that clouds their mind from Your truth, and release the revelation needed to embrace Christ as their Savior. Cause their lives be a powerful testimony of Your truth and redemption. Let them shout the news of Your son from all the high places, and open a gateway to the Sherpa, for the Good News! (www.joshuaproject.net)

More prayer points:
* Ask the Holy Spirit to grant my team wisdom and favor as we work among the Nepalis.
* Ask the Lord Jesus to reveal Himself to the Sherpa through dreams and visions.
* Pray that God will break down the spiritual and cultural barriers between us
* Ask God to raise up prayer teams who will begin breaking up the soil through worship and intercession.
* Ask the Lord to bring forth a triumphant Sherpa church for the glory of His name!

Thank you for your prayers and support!

May HIS Kingdom come to Nepal!

Compelled by LOVE

**Some names have been changed due to privacy**

Recently, Matt, a volunteer at LIGHThouse shared that a friend named Terrell had gone to be with the Lord at the ripe young age of 17. Matt had ministered to Terrell in a similar setting to LIGHThouse before coming to Lynchburg. When he met Terrell, he was 11 years old. As Matt invested in Terrell’s life and spent quality time with him, Terrell accepted Christ. We praise God that right now, Terrell is in heaven singing with Jesus. Matt had the privilege of sharing Jesus’ love with Terrell. Let us be encouraged to do the same with the kids God has placed before us at LIGHThouse.

It is still agonizing to think Terrell died at such a young age. I pray that the God of all hope will comfort his friends and family with indestructible joy in this time of sorrow. Ultimately, I pray God would be glorified through this death.

And indeed God is glorified through death as we triumphantly say, "Oh death...where is your sting?...Thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15). This is just the beginning for Terrell. I pray that his story will impact others around him...even as it has already impacted me. How short our time is here on earth! An old saying I often think about: Only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last. May we live each day to the fullest for the glory of God.

Jesus said that the greatest commandment is that we Love God and Love others.

I feel that God has been asking me this week how much I love these kids at LIGHThouse...would I be willing to lay my life down for them even unto death? Do I love these children like Jesus loves them? How I pray God would fill me up...fill ALL of us up with HIS love for these kids. Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:12-13
AND what is love...? We all know the Scripture, 1 Corinthians 13, perhaps very well, but how often do we think about each WORD? And truly live them out...Love is:

PATIENT
KIND
NOT ENVIOUS OR BOASTFUL
NOT ARROGANT OR RUDE
DOES NOT INSIST ON IT'S OWN WAY
IS NOT IRRITABLE OR RESENTFUL
REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH
LOVE: BEARS, BELIEVES HOPES AND ENDURES ALL THINGS

May we hide this Scripture in our hearts and live it out each day!

What is the one thing that will change these kids and make them have heart after God's own heart? What will spark a REVIVAL?
L
O
V
E
God's love being poured upon them through US will change the course of history!

Lord, how I pray you would fill us with your love. May we make each day count for these kids. Teach us how to love them as you love them and die for them each week. May we be compelled by your LOVE.

LIGHThouse

Part 1: Children…really God?

Lord Jesus, please show me this week what you want me to do with my life, I prayed as I stepped into the Mission Emphasis 2011 convocation at Liberty University. Boom…Boom…African drums resounded along with the shouts of joyful children worshiping God. The Children of the World Choir sang out:

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love

I was captivated. Their colorful national dress and big white teeth smiling through their dark faces entranced me.

Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee,
Op’ning to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day!

LIGHT, yes Lord, Shine your LIGHT today, I prayed as I sat at the top of the vine center that held nearly 10,000 college students.

The speaker that morning happened, by no coincidence, to be the president of Compassion International, Wes Stafford. I was fascinated by Wes’ testimony, growing up in a small African village and then how God lead him to work with Compassion, which now sponsors over a million children! He said, Children are the most numerous, weak, needy, disrupted, suffering, overlooked, and quite possibly the most receptive of the world’s population groups! He entreated Christians to “Consider the facts…People are much more likely to accept Christ as their Savior when they are young. Absorption of biblical information and principles typically peaks during the preteen years…Habits related to the practice of one’s faith develop when one is young and change surprisingly little over time.” He said, “Anyone who wishes to have significant influence on the development of a person’s moral and spiritual foundations had better exert that influence while the person is still open-minded and impressionable – in other words, while the person is still young.”

Children…really God? After I heard that message I knew God was calling me to work with children.

Part 2: Lighthouse

I started praying about where God wanted me to go. Within a few weeks I felt God put Uganda on my heart. My initial feeling, Uganda...I don’t know if I want to go back there, why not Ethiopia or Nepal? I had previously taught Bible at Heritage International School for a year. It was a difficult place for me to live BUT the more I prayed the more I was sure.

Ok, Lord, what do you want me to call the street children’s ministry? I waited…quietly, ever so quietly, Lighthouse, came to my mind. Ok, Lighthouse, it is. I started to write out a purpose statement and mission statement: I purpose to offer a lifeline of hope to the street children of Uganda from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and equip them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults by launching Rewnzori Lighthouse Children’s Ministry, August 2013.

I was so excited I stayed up all night and made a PowerPoint and wrote all about how I was going to start it.

Part 3: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth…

About a week later, I felt like God told me that I could not expect to go half way around the world to start a ministry if I wasn't doing that very thing right here in Lynchburg. This was my Jerusalem. I could not expect to go to Samaria or the ends of the earth if I was not doing the very thing right where I was. I prayed, Lord, help me to start an inner-city ministry for the children of Lynchburg.

“Julie, I had dream last night” I told my sister one spring morning. “I saw all these little black inner-city children at a park. I said to myself in my dream, this is so easy!”

“Hmmm, that sounds interesting” Julie said.

“I think I’m supposed to look for a park!” I told her.

That day I actually went to go look for a park and found one. I started reading the kids bible stories but I was too busy to be consistent.

Late August, about the second week of school, a student in one of my classes stood up and announced, “I’m part of a ministry called Lighthouse in downtown Lynchburg. We are looking for people to get involved. We are also looking for someone to start a ministry for the inner-city children.”

Oh my!! I am supposed to start that, I thought to myself. It's called Lighthouse, the same name God told me. AND it’s a ministry to the inner-city children of Lynchburg just like God put on my heart.

Lighthouse is a small NGO that has a food pantry, clothing closest and a Saturday night church service. They wanted to start something for the kids also. I talked with the guy in charge and told him I felt called to start a ministry for children. The next day, my sister, Julie and my roommate, Emily and I went door to door around downtown Lynchburg telling people about Lighthouse Kids Ministry. We started Lighthouse Kid's Night that very Sunday with about 20 little black kids! We've been doing it ever since and average nearly 50 kids every week AND our main pick-up point is the PARK!

I feel that God is calling me to be a LIGHT to the children of the nations...Lynchburg, Uganda, Nepal (Isaiah 49:6)

Nepal...culture...daily life...faith

The Nepalese have many racial, cultural, and linguistic similarities to the people of northern India. Their domestic and religious practices are patterned after the higher Hindu castes of India.

Most Nepalese live in small villages in hilly terrain and are accustomed to traveling long distances on foot. They are known for their cheerfulness, good humor, resourcefulness, and self-confidence. Their population consists primarily of three "castes," or social classes: the Brahmans (priests and scholars); the Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors); and the Achut (laborers and servants). The Achut perform the most polluted tasks, such as cleaning bathrooms. Many also beg and scavenge for a living. As "untouchables," they are excluded from and considered ritually unclean by the other classes of Hindus.

What are their lives like?
Most of the Nepalese are farmers. They live in small rural settlements that are situated near rivers or springs. The villages consist of loosely grouped homes surrounded by farmland. Only the poorest families do not own land. In middle and southern Nepal, the land has been terraced for generations. Wet rice is grown during the monsoon season; dry rice, maize, millet, and wheat are raised on drier land during the summer and winter months. The Nepalese also cultivate vegetable gardens to feed their families. Most of the farmers raise buffalo and goats for meat and cows for milk.

Houses are usually made of mud-brick with thatch or tin roofs. Most houses have two or more stories. The kitchen and living quarters are often located upstairs to keep them free of pollution by stray animals that might wander into the house. Most houses have porches and courtyards where people socialize and do crafts such as weaving.

What are their beliefs?
Nepal is a Hindu nation in which the king is worshipped as an incarnation of the Hindu god, Vishnu (protector and preserver of world). Although most Nepalese are Hindus, there are still a large number of Buddhists and Muslims. All of these groups have held onto their traditional animistic beliefs (a belief that non-human objects have spirits). They recognize local gods, goblins, and spirits. They also believe in ghosts and demons that haunt the crossroads and rivers. Offerings are made to these spirits in order to appease them.

With Hinduism embracing 330 million gods, Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, has more temples, houses, and idols than people.

What are their needs?
Several missions agencies are now working among this people group; however, their progress has been slow. Very few of the Nepalese in Nepal know Jesus. Christianity is looked at as the "foreigners" religion. New believers are considered "untouchables" - the caste you do not mix with. Baptism is considered the ultimate proof of conversion, and the person performing the baptism can face up to a six-year prison term.

Prayer is the key to reaching the Nepalese with the Gospel.

Prayer Points
* Pray that God will encourage and strengthen the Nepalese who have converted to Christianity.
* Ask God to bless worship and intercession by Christians from other countries who come to prayer-walk in Nepal.

If you would like to financially support my trip this May please click here:

http://www.luglobal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=151&Itemid=186


This info was taken from: http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=16589&rog3=NP

Knowledge of Good and Evil

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”- Genesis 2:16-17

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. -Genesis 3:4-7

Adam and Eve were cursed with death, not only because they disobeyed God but ultimately because their eyes were opened and they KNEW good and evil.

Your friend walks in eating a chocolate chip cookie. All of a sudden you’re hungry for one too. If you had never seen or smelled that cookie, you probably would not have desired it, but now your KNOWLEDGE of KNOWING there were cookies that could be eaten, and KNOWING how tasteful they are, made you want one.

In the same way, have you ever sinned because someone told you about something? Before you were ignorant and had no KNOWLEDGE, but then you were made aware of it and now it is part of your life.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" the evil Queen asked her magical mirror, to which it responded, "Queen, you are full fair, 'tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you." The queen became enraged with jealousy, and told the huntsman, "Take Snow White into the woods and kill her!" Disturbing? Yes!, however, this evil queen is more similar, than one might think, to countless girls today.

Hannah is struggling with finding her identity in Christ. She looks at herself in her bathroom mirror, if only I looked like...her mind wandered to those beautiful girls she saw on TV. She slowly became trapped with envying and idolizing beauty. Without even knowing it, pride crept in as she developed a low self-esteem. Pride consumed her with self, everyone thinks I'm fat and ugly, she constantly thought. Pride feasted on her. It was invisible...she never guessed pride had to do with low self-esteem...after all, she wasn't proud of her looks. Yet, PRIDE consumes one with self. It digs deep roots that open new doors to sin like bitterness, gossip, and sexual immorality.

Taking a moment to reflect, this slippery slope ultimately began when Hannah first became aware of her appearance as she glanced at herself in her mirror. She, then, started comparing herself to the beautiful girls around her, especially on TV. Her comparison lead to discontentment which lead to idolizing beauty and opened the door to pride. If Hannah had no KNOWLEDGE of her appearance from mirrors and of those beautiful girls on TV, she would not be struggling in this way.

Similarly, James is a teenage boy hanging out with his friend who shows him pornography.This KNOWLEDGE lead him to desire to see more. Now he is addicted. In the same way, Anna learns about bulimia from her friend. She tries to lose a few pounds by doing it, now she is controlled by it. Most likely, neither James nor Anna would have been tempted to do what they did had they no KNOWLEDGE of it. So, we see, KNOWLEDGE of evil gives a person desire and temptation to sin.

We are living in an age of KNOWLEDGE as we are constantly fed information from the internet and media. KNOWLEDGE is intimate. It transforms a person's thoughts and gives them new desires.

Paul says, "In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults." (1 Cor. 14:20) again he says, "I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil." (Romans 16:19)

The Greek word for innocent is ἀκέραιος akeraios which translates: unmixed, pure as in wines or metals, without a mixture of evil, free from guile, innocent, simple

Infants or children are innocent, pure and without a mixture of evil because they often lack KNOWLEDGE of evil. Jesus said, “Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” (Matt.18:2) Entering the Kingdom of God is more than just being "saved". One aspect is having an innocent or pure heart. In order to do this one must become like a little child. A believer must, in a sense, be reborn. To be reborn into a little child, first, one needs to turn their backs to whatever sin they have fallen into. To turn means to no longer engage in their previous action. Then they must ask God to open their eyes to see how this KNOWLEDGE of evil has lead them to make choices that lead to their enslavement. They need to replace the evil KNOWLEDGE with truthful KNOWLEDGE. Jesus says, "then you will know the TRUTH and the TRUTH will set you FREE!" (John 8:32).

For Hannah, struggling with finding her identity in Christ, she needs to repent of her deep rooted sin of pride and her superficial idolatry of beauty. She needs to take this KNOWLEDGE of evil captive by being careful what TV shows she watches and how often she looks at herself in the mirror. She needs the Spirit of TRUTH to transform her by helping her follow TRUTHFUL KNOWLEDGE so she KNOWS, understands, and perceives beauty like a little child.

Lord, please take away my KNOWLEDGE of evil. I repent of all the times I've given into sin because of my knowledge of it, and thus have been enslaved by it. I pray that I would be born again like an innocent little child. Today, I choose TRUTH. Today, I choose LIFE.

Prayer strikes the winning blow!

A culture of PRAYER will fuel supernatural mission advancement. Jesus established the church in an environment of prayer. He told his disciples to go to the upper room and pray. As a result, on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 people were saved in one day! If we want to be a present day church of Acts, we need to cultivate a culture of prayer. Jesus said, “My house will be called a House of Prayer”. In Acts 6:4 the apostles devoted themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. May we join together as the body of Christ to cultivate a culture of prayer so we might fuel supernatural mission advancement!

This week I asked God to show me what to do for the second hour of church. I didn't know whether to help out with the children’s ministry or go home and prepare for Lighthouse Kids. I felt God tell me not to do either, but rather to start a prayer group during the second service. My pastor supported this idea.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling so sick!

This is the same sickness I felt last Sunday, and I never get sick, especially two Sunday’s in a row. This was no coincidence. I asked my sister to pray over me and still felt no better. I thought I was under spiritual attack because God had put it on my heart to pray the second hour of church, AND the enemy hates prayer.

On our way to church we stopped to pick up an inner-city girl who comes with us every Sunday. Right after we pulled up to her house I opened the car door and threw-up. I can't go to church this sick!? I felt crazy for even thinking I should go...but God often asks us to do crazy things for His Kingdom. We drove the rest of the way to church and parked. I didn't think I could even get out of the car. After praying some more, I made it inside and reluctantly asked the elders to pray over me and anoint me with oil. I could not even stand while they were praying. When they were finished I felt no better. I went to the bathroom and threw-up again. “I don’t think I’m going to make it", I told my sister as I sat on the bathroom floor. She prayed for me and said, “I think you should stand up and start thanking God that you feel better.”

“What!? How can I? I am so sick I feel like I'm going pass out!” I told her.

I thought about it for a moment and knew she was right. I started thanking God that I felt better. Lord, thank you that I am better. Lord, thank you that I am better. I kept repeating those words over and over in my head. I stood up and walked into the church service. The whole time I felt nauseous, dizzy and unbelievably tired, I could hardly keep my eyes open. After the service I went to the bathroom and threw-up again! I felt humiliated and completely irresponsible going to church so sick. I told my sister, “I have to go home, there is no way I can or should stay.” She said, “You need to stay and pray because that's what God told you to do.” Ahhhh, I just wanted to cry.

Lord, give me strength. I sat down in the peach chair near the door of the church, pulled out my Bible, Lord, I pray for… and the moment I began praying during that second service, I felt better!

Even though people had been praying for me all morning, I did not feel better until I obeyed what God had put in my heart. So in conclusion, it matters if we PRAY and it matters if we OBEY. I prayed the rest of the service without feeling sick!

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. -Ephesians 6:10-12