PRAYER

Prayer that works, is prayer that is worked at…Prayer inspires more prayer…

Our team of leaders are constantly increasing in prayer. All nights of prayer, whole days of prayer, it’s like there is a growing need to pray, a desire for prayer that that is somehow feeding itself. To have a geniune deisre to pray is incredible, but when that desire begins to increasingly bring you into the presence of God, it’s nearly as if it can change into a “God dependant NEED to be in His presence”, nothing else satifies anymore, nothing else is good enough, I must have this, I must be here, must be simiar to a drug addiction in many ways.

Pastor Marivic sent me a txt last night, asking if she could cancel our normal schedule today because some of the leaders wanted to spend all day praying, worshipping and seeking God, a request to which you can only answer “YES”. I was up nice and early as usual, I spent a few hours with the Lord and then wandered over to see how the day of prayer was actually going.

They all met at Belinda’s house at 9am, went upstairs and began. I arrived about 11am and there were 7 of then all sitting inside a mozzie net, small cd player going, bibles open, all praying in tongues and worshipping. So good to see and hear. No one leading it, no one at the centre, no one preaching or sharing the latest prophetic word…just people calling out to God. I was able to sort of sneak up there without being noticed, which was good, because sometimes my presence changes things. Not that I am all that special, but they are very respectful people and I am the pastor, they might of asked me to share or lead in prayer, pray for them…but I wanted to see what they were doing, how the Lord was leading them. Great stuff. They would just float from worship to prayer, speaking in tongues, spontaineous crying or laughing, then some one would begin calling down fire in Jesus name…we have not taught these things, this is not learned christian behaviour, they have never seen videos on crying or laughing when the Spirit moves…this is the real deal, God moving on hungry hearts.

We have some friends of ours coming to Baseco in a month or so, James is a crazy worship guy (one of those ecentric people who lives on another planet with Jesus), Cathy is much the same…I am waiting to see what happens when they get here, because they will be able to slot into this so well, unstructured, unforced, no song lists, no worship leader, no time limits…just people who want God…it’s going to be a great combination of gift, hunger, desire and then the type of lifestyle that just allows you to stop for the whole day and seek God.

It has not really spilled over into church services yet, but it must eventually, there is no way that it can stay where it is…God is the one driving it along.

Bless you – Mark

Jerome – Malnourished

This is Jerome, he is 6 and 3^rd degree malnourished. His lips are dry and cracked, his body is very weak, his appetite is all but gone and he will be full of worms. There are 5 other children, who are ok. The father is a scavenger, the income is not enough. This family will be starting in our family sponsorship program this week.

The message of Jesus Christ is good news for this family, because with the message comes the hands and feet of His ministers. First thing we do with Jerome, is de-worming, as it is almost a guarantee that he is full of worms, usually both round worms and thread worms. The worming stuff we use is in the form of chocolate squares, and Jerome is like every other child, he loves chocolate, so it is never hard to get the kids to take the worming medicine. Literally the next day he will be worm free. Next we weight him. Then he begins on specialised milk formula, again chocolate. We gave him some while we were there and he loved it, and the good thing for him is he will be able to drink as much as he wants, the more the better. The milk is 380p (AUD 12) per 400gram tin, he will prob’ need a tin every 2 days, 3 tins per week, an absolute impossibility for his parents. He will also start on liquid vitamins daily. We can save his life.

We had a chat to mum, she seems to be a good mum in a difficult spot (not all parents are good people), we explain he needs to eat fruit and veg’, or what ever they are eating as well as the milk. He has a week or so to show some signs of improvement or else he will need to go to a specialised malnourishment hospital for treatment. The best news is Jeromes mum got saved today. She was one of 5 ladies who accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.

Hands and Feet of Jesus – walking to where people are and then holding them up until they pull through whatever their need might be.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the things that I have done you will do, and even greater things you will do…”

• “Most assuredly” – this verse is like the rest of the bible, it’s a certain promise, sealed by Jesus Himself, backed by all of heaven, it can never fail, this will work…

• who said this – Jesus, therefore it’s true…

• who did He say it to – Me and You…

• what are the qualifications needed – “he who believes” – nothing else added, just to make it easy for everyone to do…

• This faith of yours will lead to fruit, real, tangible, lasting fruit, seen by all…“you will DO”

Every born again, bible believing, Spirit filled christian is “so able, so full of ability, so incredibly qualified”…let today be a day where you “arise and shine” in Jesus name. Let the message of Jesus Christ be good new through you today, change some ones life.

God Bless – Mark

Slum Missionaries – “He said GO…”

History in the making…we are sending a “SELF FUNDED” team to Cebu for four days to work with another Aussie Missionary, Lucy Longdon.

They will fly there and back using their own money. Now, for some of you reading this you will think “big deal, so what”…BUT remember where these people come from, how much they earn, how huge this step is for them. They believe God is sending them, they are going as Missionaries themselves, they are going to give, to serve, they are not going to receive, they are not being paid…their own “Faith” is making this possible, not their financial situation.

Sometimes we have all the money in the world and we still find it hard to do what Jesus wants us to do. The Lord God Almighty in His infinite wisdom, spoke to people who live in a third world slum and told them “to GO into all the world and preach the gospel”, and as amazing as it might seem, they are “going”, just because He said. How incredible is that, sounds so biblical, sounds so easy.

And another amazing thing is they actually believe that they have something to contibute, I am not sure how they saw themselves before, but now they see themselves as preachers, ministers, and missionaries. They see themselves as “able to have an impact”.

It might seem like a small thing, but it’s very exciting.

Can we learn any lesson from this simple display of FAITH…?

Bless you Mark

“Pigsa” – Boils

We found this little boy a few days ago. He had had a large “pigsa” (boil) right in the middle of his back for the last two weeks. For some reason it had not burst (which is bad) and the parents had tried to keep it clean, but had not sought medical attention. They are very poor, often the poor won’t go to hospital because they can’t afford the medicine anyway, so what’s the point.

The problem in this case is the location of the pigsa and the swelling it is causing is making it hard for this little fellow to walk. But a little bit of care and kindness, a little bit of antiseptic powder and betadine, a clean bange daily and for some reason this thing burst after 2 days (I say God did it). This was a deep pigsa, look at the hole it left in his back. The hole looks bad, but it’s great, no puss, no infection and the wound will heal now. So we literally pack the hole with antiseptic powder and betadine, a clean bandage and in a few days this thing will be all fixed. Not that hard to do, but makes a huge difference to this little boy.

Looks a bit messy, but we are all that concerned with neat and tidy, we want him fixed.

Most of our leaders can now confidently treat minor stuff like this, but it is so often these little things that get infected and become serious problems, so if we take care of the minor stuff, it does not become major.

Same in our walk with Jesus amen, it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine, deal with the small stuff as soon as it happens and it never becomes a serious problem.

God Bless – Mark

Great Picture

Pictures really do speak a thousand words sometimes…WELCOME TO MY LIFE, Jhon Rey 2 years old.

 

Ongoing Medical Work

Marivic is our local Pastor, but she also doubles as nurse or doctor from time to time. In these pics she is treating two seperate burns victims. The burn to the foot, is just such a bad place to get a burn, so hard to keep it clean and infection free…both ladies come daily to get their dressings changed, the wound cleaned and the burns cream put on. They were both hot water burns.

The last picture is only a small portion of the burn, as it is in a very inappropriate area, the ladies abdomen, both thighs and under the breast were all burnt. The inside of the other thigh is far worse than the side you can see in the picture.

But Marivic does a good job, she she is very thorough and very gentle, these should both heal up fine in time.

Mark

Baseco’s NEW High School

As part of the overall developement plan for Baseco, we now have a High School, which is great and will save all our high school kids transport money.

The big challenge will be how many students per room. Currently in the Elemetary school there is an average of 80 students to one teacher. There are so many students that each child only attend school for 4 hours per day and school is held in 3 seperate sessions during the day. Half of the children have seats to use, half sit on the floor, the late comers crowd around the door…not an easy environment to learn in.

Mark

POVERTY PICS…

With the start of the rainy season, obviously we get a lot of rain, wind and high tides. For us Aussies it cools down the weather and makes it a lot more pleasant…but for the locals it becomes cold, children get flu’s, need extra food and clothes to stay warm. Children are walking in water all day, cuts and wounds get easily infected, a hard life becomes harder. The sea also rises, which causes flooding and stirs up all of the rubbish that has gathered on the sea bed during summer…a horrible sight to the western eye, but to the scavenger it presents another opportunity to comb through old rubbish for the valuable metals, hard plastics and bottles that the sea has hidden from sight all summer. What was that saying “ones mans rubbish is another mans treasure”, how true it is.

What a world, great place to shine a little light a little brighter…be Jesus to those in need.

God Bless – Mark

DEBBIE MATHERS

Debbie Mathers if you read this please contact me, as I lost your email address and want to send you your Student Photo.

Bless you – Mark

What is God up to…?

We are seeing a “Move of God”, I sort of see what is happening, though I hear more than I see, I hear it in the prayers people are praying, the passion, the tears in worship…but “how, why, what and where” it will take us, I have absolutely no idea.

Somehow in the realm of the Spirit a hunger has been released by God into our youth and the leaders hearts. Something of God is moving on them and in them, and I suppose eventually will move through them to others. They are spending so many nights in all night worship, prayer and bible study – all night…I have read that in books, heard it in the testimonies of others, seen it in the history of revivals…but now it is happening here, unforced, unorganised, unstructured – the people want to do these things. But it is a little different, as they don’t seem to be “seeking God”, they just want to be with Him, spend time with Him, they love Him. It probably sounds so simplistic, but it is such a great thing to see.

I have taken a whole week off, no schedules, no activities, no preaching or teaching, no helping the sick, no hospitals…nothing…no work…just hours and hours of worship combined with prayer.

What could God do when worship and prayer becomes the main work of His people?

I am as intrigued and fascinated by what might happen next as anyone else…it just could be, God is about to move…inspite of our weakness, our failures, frailties, and often frustrations, God, has always had a plan.

“Let your will be done and your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven” – Amen

Bless you – Mark