It was my privilege to one again be part of the Prayer team at Roots this year. We had a great time and I am delighted to say that in the Prayer Room alone we saw God deliver people, restore people and get saved. I know that there were other conversions, people responding to the call for officership and freedom found in Christ in other settings at this event.
This did not happen without a quite intense spiritual battle taking place, which we believe was won through prayer. Whilst I was praying for the event, I believe that the Lord gave me a word about Salvationists finding their voices. This was given me in part before, expanded this week-end and this afternoon confirmed in my mind and heart.
Here it is.
Salvation Army. Sing to the Lord! Sing, sing, sing.
Release praise from your hearts. You must find your voices. Where are your songs?
You say that the Army is full of singing but I am not talking about the borrowed words from others, but the songs of love that are hidden in your hearts but never find their way to your lips. You know I am not talking just about music here, but expressions of love, the release of joyful hallelujahs and the testimony of agreement through a vocalised Amen!
You have lost a freedom you were known for. You were a people whom other Christians looked to for an example of a people who have the ability to voice prayers from the heart, rather than read from a book.
If you are embarrassed by my love, when among God's people, how will you stand for me when the world is hostile? If you stifle joy in worship, who will release it in the wider community? If you are worried about affirming that you believe the word of God by the shout of your amen before each other, how will you find the courage to declare my word with confidence when your belief is questioned in the workplace or the leisure centre?
My word says "There is a time to be silent and a time to speak." You often mistake the time. Of course I want you to listen but I am grieved by the times that I have to wait so long for my presence and my name to be acknowledged when you meet together.
It has been said that we are called to live as holy examples of love and compassion and "if necessary use words" It is often necessary to use words. I gave human beings the unique gift among my creation of being able to communicate through words. I want you to use them to speak to me, I want you to use them to speak for me on behalf of the voiceless millions living in poverty and under injustice. I want you to use them to speak about me and my promises. There are many speaking words in our generation but saying nothing very much. It is my word that brings hope and salvation.
Is this too hard for you? Hear again what I said to Moses
"What I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend to heaven to get itand proclaim it to us so that we may obey it? Not is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it?" No the word is very near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart so that you may obey it." (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)
Yet I know your hearts. I know that there are many among you who long to speak out their praise, their testimony and to speak for those who are silenced through oppression. You want to speak but you are tongue tied. You want to speak but you feel you cannot. It is not lack of ability to articulate that prevents you but the bondage of fear. Will you recognise that we have an enemy whose business it is to silence worship, testimony and the word of God? Satan has gagged worship, testimony and protest for too long.
There was a man that Jesus met who couldn't speak because a demon silenced him and he was mute. But here this good news, "And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute, spoke." (Matthew 9:33)
Hear this Salvation Army. We need to go to Jesus and he will deliver us too. Then it will be said of us, "THE ARMY THAT HAD BEEN MUTE SPOKE!"
And then it will be rumoured among the people of God, "Nothing like this has ever been seen."
(Matthew 9:33b)
God bless you
Carol
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
The event of the year
Forget Royal Weddings, the event of the year as far as I am concerned has already happened and lots of people I know were celebrating it, out on the streets in their communities across the world.
It was Easter of course, which is not an anniversary, commemorating a past event but a celebration of the power of the cross and the living presence of a resurrected Jesus!
We arrived at our daughter's house on Sunday evening bursting with news of all that had gone on in Pill for Easter, only to find that Katie, her husband and in-laws were equally excited about the wonderful things the Lord had done at Regent Hall, where they all soldier. We found ourselves in friendly, but joyful competition to tell the best story.
We shared how our hall had been open all week, with people from our community coming in to experience out Easter Labyrinth, they shared how wonderful it had been to share Good Friday with a new convert, who had very recently come to faith, whilst living at the nearby Lifehouse. (SA Social Service Centre)
We told how Alan had placed a cross in the centre of our village and read the events of Good Friday from the gospels whilst one of our bandsmen sensitively played Man of Sorrows. They spoke of the march down Oxford Street, the huge crowds gathered at Picadilly Circus as the Easter story was told through drama and the amazing conversations about Jesus with members of the public.
We explained how the name of every person who gathered for our Good Friday meeting was read out, declared guilty and then offered pardon through the cross. They were full of the way the Holy Spirit had touched them as they joined in with and witnessed the response to the Bible message at the corps.
We were excited about the chaos in our hall on Saturday morning as we kept running out of Easter eggs as more and more families came for our Coffee morning Easter egg hunt and how thrilled we were that some of them went in and followed the Easter Labyrinth set up in the hall.
We laughed about the fact that our Sunrise service started way after the sun rose but that nevertheless it was a special time. Our daughter Katie, who is Singing Company leader rejoiced at how enthusiastically her children sang and "knocked the socks" off the congregation!
We praised God for our band playing Easter hymns around the cross and for the people who paused to listen. They couldn't wait to tell us how the songsters had sungthe Hallelujah Chorus at the open air in Oxford Street, passed out copies of music to the general public and invited them to join in. And huge numbers did and if I did gamble I would bet that was an Easter experience that they will never forget.
Pill Corps is in a village, Regent Hall in the heart of the capital, yet the joy of Easter touch both communities and I believe, changed lives.
You can see photos of Easter week at Pill on our Corps blog
http://pillcorps.blogspot.com/
Hallelujah! He is Risen!
God bless
It was Easter of course, which is not an anniversary, commemorating a past event but a celebration of the power of the cross and the living presence of a resurrected Jesus!
We arrived at our daughter's house on Sunday evening bursting with news of all that had gone on in Pill for Easter, only to find that Katie, her husband and in-laws were equally excited about the wonderful things the Lord had done at Regent Hall, where they all soldier. We found ourselves in friendly, but joyful competition to tell the best story.
We shared how our hall had been open all week, with people from our community coming in to experience out Easter Labyrinth, they shared how wonderful it had been to share Good Friday with a new convert, who had very recently come to faith, whilst living at the nearby Lifehouse. (SA Social Service Centre)
We told how Alan had placed a cross in the centre of our village and read the events of Good Friday from the gospels whilst one of our bandsmen sensitively played Man of Sorrows. They spoke of the march down Oxford Street, the huge crowds gathered at Picadilly Circus as the Easter story was told through drama and the amazing conversations about Jesus with members of the public.
We explained how the name of every person who gathered for our Good Friday meeting was read out, declared guilty and then offered pardon through the cross. They were full of the way the Holy Spirit had touched them as they joined in with and witnessed the response to the Bible message at the corps.
We were excited about the chaos in our hall on Saturday morning as we kept running out of Easter eggs as more and more families came for our Coffee morning Easter egg hunt and how thrilled we were that some of them went in and followed the Easter Labyrinth set up in the hall.
We laughed about the fact that our Sunrise service started way after the sun rose but that nevertheless it was a special time. Our daughter Katie, who is Singing Company leader rejoiced at how enthusiastically her children sang and "knocked the socks" off the congregation!
We praised God for our band playing Easter hymns around the cross and for the people who paused to listen. They couldn't wait to tell us how the songsters had sungthe Hallelujah Chorus at the open air in Oxford Street, passed out copies of music to the general public and invited them to join in. And huge numbers did and if I did gamble I would bet that was an Easter experience that they will never forget.
Pill Corps is in a village, Regent Hall in the heart of the capital, yet the joy of Easter touch both communities and I believe, changed lives.
You can see photos of Easter week at Pill on our Corps blog
http://pillcorps.blogspot.com/
Hallelujah! He is Risen!
God bless
Friday, 15 April 2011
Against the wind
One of the books Alan and I have dipped into this week has been "Against the wind" by K.P Yohannan.
A couple of paragraghs and sentences stood out for me.
"A Christian man from Tripura, who had planted seven churches in three months was asked the secret of his success. He replied, "I pray as much as I work, I work as much as I pray."
"Most anyone can discipline themselves to perform all the right actions. What matters is where these actions flow from."
"In a job you give something to get something; in a ministry you return something that has already been given to you."
God bless
Carol
A couple of paragraghs and sentences stood out for me.
"A Christian man from Tripura, who had planted seven churches in three months was asked the secret of his success. He replied, "I pray as much as I work, I work as much as I pray."
"Most anyone can discipline themselves to perform all the right actions. What matters is where these actions flow from."
"In a job you give something to get something; in a ministry you return something that has already been given to you."
God bless
Carol
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
All over the place
I feel at the moment that my mind is just buzzing with so many things. This is good if somewhat chaotic and I don't know how to translate all that is in my head into a blog so what follows in the next few days will probably be somewhat all over the place.
Ivory Coast
I was relieved to hear this morning on the news that Gbagbo has been arrested and there has been a call from the president for people to lay down their arms. Sadly this has come too late for my friend Solomon and his wife whose church has been scattered by the violence and its valuable work for the poor and for those involved in prostition ended for the moment at least. Knowing in part what it is like to see a work you have planted and poured your life into come to an unwanted end my heart aches for them. However I believe God has greater things in store.
Sunday
We had a good day of worship on Sunday. In the morning it was good to listen to people's heart as they shared their concerns for a needy world and to sense the passion among us as we sang, "For the world, for the world Jesus died, Jesus died All the world to save to battle we will go And we ever will our colours boldy show With a trumpet voice we'll let the millions know There's salvation for the world." This was followed in the afternoon with Messy Church, which although we don't get large numbers attracted another new family. In the midst of all the craft and mess there was opportunity to simply tell the gospel story.
Happiness
This morning, on the radio there was an item about Action for Happiness, a new membership organisation dedicated to spreading happiness. It says it prioritises healthy relationships and meaningful activities as a means to happier lives. It is based on the "new science of happiness and the belief that our mood can be altered." Much of their message is based around the idea that we are happier if we try to make others happier.
As a movement the Salvation Army knows that when people stop living just for themselves and do something for someone else it makes them feel better. Years of using volunteers to help with Christmas Day meals has proved that for me. How many of them have said they had had the best Christmas ever simply because they had served someone else rather than indulged their own appetites. So I am all for promoting the idea that priotising meaningful activity will enhance people's lives. We could all benefit from a society that was less self absorbed, less cynical and more helpful. However there is a big part of me that knows that human effort alone will never be enough to make people truly happy. True happiness is related to to inner security. If we don't feel safe we will never be truly happy. Whilst it is possible to cultivate an enviroment where we all feel safer because we are being nicer to one another the human race has a problem with selfishness which will always derail our best efforts. Happiness is totally related to trust and human beings will let us down. Of course some people will also say that they are happy and God doesn't come into the picture at all so why do Christians have to spoil everything by being so pessimistic about the human race. It is because optimism does not deal with the ego and the problem we have with the breakdown of our relation with God. Our fundamental need is to find our way back home to a trusting relationship with our heavenly Father so that we know that our life has eternal purpose and security. Severed from a connection with God there will always be a sense of grief in our hearts that cannot be filled by anything other than him.
Ignorance is not bliss. As the old adage goes a child playing with their toys in the sunshine in the middle of a traintrack may be perfectly happy and comfortable but they are also in great danger. The child may cry when you remove him from his "happy place" but you have saved him from death. Christians cannot therefore just promote happiness as a goal in itself. A person maybe happy but heading in a direction that leads to eternal separation from God which will result not in happiness but hell.
God bless
Carol
Ivory Coast
I was relieved to hear this morning on the news that Gbagbo has been arrested and there has been a call from the president for people to lay down their arms. Sadly this has come too late for my friend Solomon and his wife whose church has been scattered by the violence and its valuable work for the poor and for those involved in prostition ended for the moment at least. Knowing in part what it is like to see a work you have planted and poured your life into come to an unwanted end my heart aches for them. However I believe God has greater things in store.
Sunday
We had a good day of worship on Sunday. In the morning it was good to listen to people's heart as they shared their concerns for a needy world and to sense the passion among us as we sang, "For the world, for the world Jesus died, Jesus died All the world to save to battle we will go And we ever will our colours boldy show With a trumpet voice we'll let the millions know There's salvation for the world." This was followed in the afternoon with Messy Church, which although we don't get large numbers attracted another new family. In the midst of all the craft and mess there was opportunity to simply tell the gospel story.
Happiness
This morning, on the radio there was an item about Action for Happiness, a new membership organisation dedicated to spreading happiness. It says it prioritises healthy relationships and meaningful activities as a means to happier lives. It is based on the "new science of happiness and the belief that our mood can be altered." Much of their message is based around the idea that we are happier if we try to make others happier.
As a movement the Salvation Army knows that when people stop living just for themselves and do something for someone else it makes them feel better. Years of using volunteers to help with Christmas Day meals has proved that for me. How many of them have said they had had the best Christmas ever simply because they had served someone else rather than indulged their own appetites. So I am all for promoting the idea that priotising meaningful activity will enhance people's lives. We could all benefit from a society that was less self absorbed, less cynical and more helpful. However there is a big part of me that knows that human effort alone will never be enough to make people truly happy. True happiness is related to to inner security. If we don't feel safe we will never be truly happy. Whilst it is possible to cultivate an enviroment where we all feel safer because we are being nicer to one another the human race has a problem with selfishness which will always derail our best efforts. Happiness is totally related to trust and human beings will let us down. Of course some people will also say that they are happy and God doesn't come into the picture at all so why do Christians have to spoil everything by being so pessimistic about the human race. It is because optimism does not deal with the ego and the problem we have with the breakdown of our relation with God. Our fundamental need is to find our way back home to a trusting relationship with our heavenly Father so that we know that our life has eternal purpose and security. Severed from a connection with God there will always be a sense of grief in our hearts that cannot be filled by anything other than him.
Ignorance is not bliss. As the old adage goes a child playing with their toys in the sunshine in the middle of a traintrack may be perfectly happy and comfortable but they are also in great danger. The child may cry when you remove him from his "happy place" but you have saved him from death. Christians cannot therefore just promote happiness as a goal in itself. A person maybe happy but heading in a direction that leads to eternal separation from God which will result not in happiness but hell.
God bless
Carol
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Ivory Coast
Please continue to pray for the Ivory Coast. It has a special place in my affections since my visit there in 2008. 
My friend Pastor Solomon continues to lead the All Nations Church in a poor area of Abidjan. The church is engaged in reaching out to very vulnerable people and provides training and employment opportunities to encourage many women out of prostitution. Many have been saved and are living transformed lives as a result. Please pray for their protection and the means to continue their mission.
God bless
Carol
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
The vision of corporate prayer
We recently inherited a pile of old Leadership journals which were produced in the USA some years ago. The one I am browsing at the moment from 2001 is mainly about prayer and this paragraph caught my eye.
" Our individualistic culture robs us of a vision for corporate prayer. Private devotion is upheld as the ideal. But Scripture teaches that the church prayed together. And Jesus taught us to pray in a collective sense. The language of Matthew 6 is essentially , "When you pray, pray Our Father and "give us our daily bread" His ideal is that we pray in community. People who have considered this teaching have asked me "Which is more important, private or corporate prayer?" I respond, "Which leg do you need to walk on more, your right or your left?"
(by Daniel Henderson)
God bless
Carol
" Our individualistic culture robs us of a vision for corporate prayer. Private devotion is upheld as the ideal. But Scripture teaches that the church prayed together. And Jesus taught us to pray in a collective sense. The language of Matthew 6 is essentially , "When you pray, pray Our Father and "give us our daily bread" His ideal is that we pray in community. People who have considered this teaching have asked me "Which is more important, private or corporate prayer?" I respond, "Which leg do you need to walk on more, your right or your left?"
(by Daniel Henderson)
God bless
Carol
Friday, 11 March 2011
A Salvation Army Story
On Monday it was our privilege to travel back to a previous appointment to attend the funeral of an amazing lady called Margaret. I have blogged about her and her great friend Myra before. Theirs is a great Salvation Army story. Margaret had been going through a tough time and was desperately unhappy. Her Salvationist neighbour Myra invited her to the Army where Margaret got saved and became a soldier.
Her life was transformed and because it was a practical option Margaret and Myra decided to flat share. They had a spare bedroom and this gave Margaret an idea. Soon each week that bedroom became the Sunday room and was full of children from the council estate enjoying Sunday school. To raise money for outings and equipment but also to meet a social need, "M and M" as we all called them, began clothing sales on the wall outside the Post Office. They stored the clothing in the flat so people from the estate could come at anytime if they were in need.
Soon all kinds of people were going to M and M's door for all kinds of things, not just clothes. A teenager who had been beaten by his Dad, a mother who had seen her husband taken into custody for child abuse and her children taken into care, an elderly lady who was in distress because her dog had died, another who had spent all her pension on the lottery. Having seen what M and M did for the children some of the women on the estate complained that there was nothing for them. A ladies fellowship begain in the lounge. It was soon packed to the rafters, so much so that when the DC visited he had to sit on the floor! In addition to all this they both worked tirelessly for the main corps and managed to look after our children and on a regular basis. The picture above is of Margaret, taken in a hospital in Romania that looked after babies with Aids.
And if ever people say they they do not have enough faith, enough energy, enough resources to do what God is telling them to do I say, "Let me tell you about two ladies........
God bless
Carol
Her life was transformed and because it was a practical option Margaret and Myra decided to flat share. They had a spare bedroom and this gave Margaret an idea. Soon each week that bedroom became the Sunday room and was full of children from the council estate enjoying Sunday school. To raise money for outings and equipment but also to meet a social need, "M and M" as we all called them, began clothing sales on the wall outside the Post Office. They stored the clothing in the flat so people from the estate could come at anytime if they were in need.
Soon all kinds of people were going to M and M's door for all kinds of things, not just clothes. A teenager who had been beaten by his Dad, a mother who had seen her husband taken into custody for child abuse and her children taken into care, an elderly lady who was in distress because her dog had died, another who had spent all her pension on the lottery. Having seen what M and M did for the children some of the women on the estate complained that there was nothing for them. A ladies fellowship begain in the lounge. It was soon packed to the rafters, so much so that when the DC visited he had to sit on the floor! In addition to all this they both worked tirelessly for the main corps and managed to look after our children and on a regular basis. The picture above is of Margaret, taken in a hospital in Romania that looked after babies with Aids.
And if ever people say they they do not have enough faith, enough energy, enough resources to do what God is telling them to do I say, "Let me tell you about two ladies........
God bless
Carol
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
