Mayors to Minors

Glory to God!

We had an earlier start today but I still managed to get my fresh mango before setting off to meet the Mayor of Buena Vista. The purpose of our visit was to bless him and pray for him. As we spoke I had a word of knowledge for him concerning his second son which he confirmed was right. He was visibly encouraged and open to our praying for him. It is a great privilege to honour the leaders of the land!

We then went to visit another leader in the community and had an opportunity to witness to him and share the Gospel with him. Again the Lord gave me words of knowledge concerning his calling and he was greatly encouraged. Frances and I also prayed over one of his staff members, a single mum (18 yrs old) who was touched by the Father's heart and compassion for her.

After a coke and a slice of pizza we visited the vice mayor. Together with all her workers I was asked to share the Word of God with them. I spoke to them about seeking intimacy with Jesus first before anything just as Mary sat at the feet of Jesus whilst Martha was too busy to enjoy Christ's presence. Frances was then asked to pray over the vice mayor and to bless the staff members. We then had lunch with her and some of her staff.

After lunch we made our way to the local prison where we were invited to speak to the prisoners. Roszel, Rose and Aaron brought little gift bags with toiletries to distribute to the prisoners. I shared a message on the goodness of God and the meaning of good, looking at the account of the rich man and Jesus. In response to the message over half the group surrendered their lives to the Lord, as they depended on the goodness of Christ to be right with the Father! Hallelujah! The Gospel truly is the power of God unto salvation for all! There is nothing quite like seeing the power of God's Word transform the lives of murderers and rapists and seeing men and women receive God's forgiveness and love! What an awesome God we serve!

We then went to the hotel to have a short break and a mango shake (mango liquidized with crushed ice) before making our way to the Butuan Police Headquarters. We were invited to share God's Word at their afternoon devotional. The head of the police is a born again believer and it was great to see him lead by the Spirit. I was then asked to speak and the Lord gave me a message on how He is the God of order and how He desires to bring His order by His Spirit rather than by the law - the first being from the inside out; the second from the outside in. The Lord also showed us that peace is the fruit of walking by the order of the Spirit. I praise God for the suddenlies of the Spirit and His faithfulness in giving me spontaneous messages. I received revelation as I spoke! Hallelujah!

After a most interesting time with the police we picked up pastor Julius and made our way to the landfill again where we promised we would return with school supplies. When we arrived the school teacher was not present but as we waited more and more children gathered around us. I then began doing a kind of simon-says game with them and had a huge amount of fun. As we laughed and messed around, even more kids came to see what was going on. Soon we had around 40 kids joining in the fun and another 10 or so watching curiously. Once the teacher of the school arrived we distributed the paper, pencils and crayons to each of the kids. It was another precious time.

After our time with the kids we returned to the hotel to freshen up. In the evening we had some time with pastor Julius' worship team members, teaching them on worship as we enjoyed our dinner together.

It has been another day of contrasts from the Mayors to the Minors! I praise God for His presence and power today. Lives have been radically changed and blessed today. God spoke and brought order out of chaos in the lives of many people today. Thank you Holy Spirit that you hover over the lives of those who are without order - formless and empty - until your creative word is spoken into them to bring order, life and peace!

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said...." Genesis 1:1-3

From the highest to the lowest

Today has been a day of contrasts! This morning Pastor Berwyn and I had an appointment with the mayor of Cabadbaran. It was on our hearts to meet him and not only make Berwyn's work known to him but also to encourage him as a leader in this nation. We were warmly received and I was encouraged to discover that he is a Christian. He told us that they have a weekly prayer meeting and that when the new City Hall was built he had the words, "To God be all the glory" put over the entrance! We assured him of our prayers and told him that we wanted to encourage him as a leader to pursue God's will. I told him that God had spoken to me prior to my visit that the Lord has it on His heart to restore the value and dignity of the women in this nation. Pastor Berwyn shared what he is doing with Mabini Christian Fellowship and the poor "mountain people" and the mayor was pleased, encouraging Berwyn to continue this much needed work. When I was in Hong Kong, I had bought a book on leadership that I gave the Mayor as a gift. He was very pleased as he enjoys reading and he asked me to write something in it. We then prayed together and we blessed him and his work. It was amazing! Praise God!

After visiting the mayor we again looked at some plots and premises to get an idea of the cost and availability in this area. After a quick lunch we made our way toward the mountain area near Butuan City where the "mountain people" were waiting for us to lead the church service. Because the place where the church is situated is quite remote we had to travel by motorbike! A first for me and a little scary.

The church was full of children and a few adults and I knew I was going to have to rely again on the Holy Spirit to communicate whatever He had planned for us. After a few songs I was asked to preach. I praise the Lord for His Anointing as I taught the children and adults how God can turn the little we have into a miracle as I graphically described the feeding of the 5000 from the little boy's perspective who shared his lunch with Jesus. I also told them how important it is that we taste God for ourselves using a mango to explain the goodness of God! It's all God's grace and I praise Him for His faithfulness! I then asked those who wanted to taste God for themselves and who wanted to give their lives to God to respond and over 10 people gave their lives to Jesus! Hallelujah!

Once again I had a lot of fun with the children and the adults and after our supper together the children began surrounding me and talking to me. They then sang me their songs quite spontaneously and they even continued whilst I filmed them. I was absolutely overwhelmed with their joy and love for God. These children have nothing and yet they have everything! Berwyn was telling me how they once asked for spaghetti as they had never tasted it before and wanted to have some! He also told me that he and some other pastors are fighting for the rights of the "mountain people" who are discriminated against as many don't even have birth certificates or marriage certificates. The kids were also telling me how they sometimes have 6 to 8 brothers and sisters! They were such a joy to be with today and it it was such a blessing for me to lay hands on each one of them and declare the Father's love over them.

"Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God." Mt. 5:8

The day began with the richest but now ended with the poorest. What a day of contrasts!

Preparing the Ground

Today I spent the day with Pastor Berwyn and his family. We went to the local beach for lunch and in the afternoon Berwyn and I scouted the area to get an idea of what God has in store for the ministry here. Berwyn has it on his heart to provide a proper facility for the children in this area in order to educate them and provide for their physical needs. There is a real need here to look after these poor children (of which there are many) and provide them with some form of stability to give them hope in life. The goal is also to reach the parents with whom relationships will be formed as the children are connected to the ministry. This already happens when Berwyn has enough resources to be able to feed a group of children and share God's love and Truth with them (sometimes only twice a year). The children love Mabini Christian Fellowship and know that they are loved and accepted and can even get some food there sometimes. As we travel along the roads here there are literally hundreds of little children around, playing on the streets. Apparently this nation is over productive and the government has had to address the issue of using birth control in order to try and reduce the growing birth rate. Many religious groups however do not allow birth control and therefore the issue still remains! The short clip reveals the amount of kids at the beach and this is not the weekend! When the children saw me filming, they started to get really excited...

Tomorrow we have an appointment with the Mayor of Cabadbaran. The purpose of our meeting will be to create a relationship between the Mayor and Pastor Berwyn and to simply make him aware of the work that Mabini Christian Fellowship is doing and desires to expand. We also want him to know that we are praying for him and that he has our support as a leader in this nation. God is at work here! Hallelujah!