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

God at school

Today I was invited to teach at the Buenavista Special Education Integrated School - an elementary school for gifted children. The children enjoyed the lessons very much and we had a lot of fun together. I was asked to teach on the theme, "The purpose of life" and so I taught the kids how God created man to be like Him (godliness), to know Him (fellowship) and to do His will (co-labour). I then showed how the Fall caused man to become ungodly, separated from God and spiritually unproductive and how Jesus came to model God's purpose for man as well as restore God's purpose for man through faith in Him. The children were very attentive and they really understood the message.

After each lesson, I offered to pray for the sick and we saw God do some amazing things. In one class I prayed for a girl's hearing and God healed her immediately. She got so excited that she raced to her friends and asked them to whisper something in her ear and when she was able to hear properly she was overjoyed! After praying for her, 2 other girls came forward with a similar issue and were also healed on the spot! Hallelujah! I had to teach 4 classes today, each an hour long and after each class I ministered to the sick and we witnessed some wonderful results. In the other classes, the pupils I prayed for testified to feeling better and to feeling God's power in their areas of need. I prayed for kids with asthma, eye infections, appendix problems, sore throats, goitre and back issues. The most exciting thing was the environment in which God was healing these children. As I prayed for the children the others just chatted away and messed around and watched God do His work. I loved it! God is simply not religious and He simply does not need a man-made atmosphere to do His work! What's more is that the children belong to different denominations (primarily Catholic) and some of the kids are Moslems! Now they know why Jesus came and that Jesus saves and heals today! Hallelujah!

Between lessons we were invited for lunch at a local home and I was asked to share a devotional with the family. I shared on the account of Mary and Martha and how Jesus commended Mary for spending time at Jesus' feet and treasuring her Master's presence.

This evening I was invited to a house church and we had a sweet time of fellowship together. I shared from 1 Thessalonians and showed how the church stood out as an example of a people of faith, hope and love because of the way they received the Word of God and allowed the Holy Spirit to convict them of the truth. I was pleased to see Jireh-Mae and her dad again who reported that JM has been able to be back at school but still needs prayer for complete recovery. Please keep her in your prayers.

It really has been another amazing day with God! I praise Him for His love and for His faithfulness and I am thrilled with what He did today. Thank you Lord!

"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing." John 14:11,12

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