TEAM INDONESIA UPDATE! ;)

Hello prayer supporters of team Indonesia! ;) 

The team is in high spirits and experiencing God in supernatural and awesome ways. 

We are currently in the tail end of our outreach here in Jakarta and will be leaving for debrief to Bali on Saturday the 29th January and scheduled to come back into Australia on the 1st of February. 

Our purpose and objective was and still very much that of Matthew 22:37. To love Jesus with all of our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbours as ourselves. We have been pressing into the presence of God and through that, ministering and loving the people we encounter here. 

The first week of outreach we hit the ground running. We arrived in Jakarta and twenty four hours later travelled 12 hours on a minibus to minister in central Java (Salatiga). We spent our time at a seminary college in the villages. We preached, danced, testifed and loved. God is answering and showing us his faithfulness of raising up a new breed of revivalists in this nation. We also got to love on the muslim village kids and give them gifts and pray for them. It was humbling to physically see the state of living condition they are in but to still have so much joy really humbled and impressed the team. We have been praying for people with paralytic diseases, demon possessed people and casting them out in the name of Jesus. We also had an opportunity to minister to a phsyc ward with patients who suffer from depression and other forms of addictions. We were blessed to witness one of them give their life to Jesus.

The last day in central Java, we were invited to a church to lead and share in their Saturday night service. We did a small presentation on who we are, what we do and why we are here. We testifed of God's goodness, danced and lead a time of prayer. And then the Holy Spirit moved. Our contact/translater (Amos) was with us as we lead the time of prayer and made an alter call and two thirds of the congregation (60ppl) came to experience Gods love move in the house. God gave us a word that he wanted to heal his children from nightmares and bad dreams some of the believers were experiencing. Those people raised their hands and we prayed over them and we believe they were set free in Jesus name. God also called his prodigal sons and daughters back to him that night and it was a joyous night of praise and worship and giving glory to our God.

Our second half of outreach can only be best described by John 14:12 - "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." The team has been seeing God heal and move in supernatural ways. We were invited to a Monday night prayer meeting with the church we are partnering with here. They meet every Monday and have no agenda but to pray and seek God. And that is what we did. We started worshiping, praising and loving God. Words of truth was spoken, we encouraged them with scripture and God also healed. As we were praying we felt like God wanted to heal someone that night. He gave us an impression of a headache and a vision of someones legs being prayed for. We asked if any of them had a headache. At first they were reluctant but as we waited, one of the girls said she has been constantly struggling with headaches. We got her to come to the middle to pray for her. We measured her leg and the right leg was noticeably shorter than the left leg. We placed her back against the wall to pray over legs and God started to move. We asked for God to heal and we commanded the leg to grow in Jesus name to match the left leg. After our first attempt we measured her legs with a bible (of all things) and the leg had grown a few cms. We felt like God wanted to finish what he started so we kept pressing in. We commanded it to grow in Jesus name and after a few moments we measured it again and she was completely healed. both her legs were the same length. Praise God. ;) We celebrated Gods love for her and us that night and gave glory to God and loved on one another sharing and praying. 

The last couple of days we have been doing mall ministery (going to the mall and doing friendship evangelism) and sports ministry (playing basketball and soccer) on Tuesday and Thursday nights. 

We would like to thank NLCC and everyone for their ongoing prayer support. Please continue to stay in prayer for us as we have heard that our debrief location (bali) is heavily influenced in idol/pagan worship. Please pray that we will stay on guard and stay spiritually attentive. Please also continue to stay in prayer for the team. Fatigue has been playing a significant factor on the team. Please pray that we will be Christlike in all things. 

Thank you and God Bless. God is truly moving. 

Andy

Team Indonesia

2011

I need to start using this more.

Screwtape

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

 ¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ¹¹ To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen."  1 Peter 5:8-11

So i'm currently reading C.S. Lewis' acclaimed "the screwtape letters" and have found it to be a very light and fictional yet interesting and profound piece of writing. I recently watched "The dawn treader - The chronicles of Narnia." and remembered I had purchased one of his books during a 40% sale at Koorong. 

It's interesting how we don't really view our lives as a constant spiritual battle. If we do then more often than not we are labelled as a religious nut and/or a over spiritual lunatic. I mean having the good balance is key to this sort of thing -  you can't really go around discerning that everything is of the devil. But I would rather have someone who is spiritually on guard all the time rather than someone who is oblivious to the enemy's schemes (which is exactly what the enemy whats us to think). 

"The screwtape letters" is a fictional book written in the first person of an experienced demon (screwtape) who is writing to his young demon nephew giving instructions how to lull his 'patient' or human soul to hell. It's a bit confusing at first because when he mentions "the enemy" he is actually referring to God. In one of his letters he writes about how one of his tactics is to make complacency and convenience the patients friend, he states "murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." (Page 61).  He also goes on to say "let him do nothing but act. No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm us if we can keep it out of his will...the more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and in the long run the less he will be able to feel." (Page 67). 

I thought this was worthy to note because its so true. The enemy is so tactical and serpent-like that they so cleverly try and make us complacent and convenient in our own lives. Time is a precious commodity. It's the only thing that does not stop. It keeps on ticking and ticking. The past is forever frozen. I think the enemy has also done a very good job in tricking us to believe that tomorrow is guaranteed for all of us. It isn't. There is no guarantee that tomorrow is coming or if you and I will be around for it. This is completely up to God. Rarely do I wake in the morning, thanking God for another day or how I can live this day to its fullest. Live today like it was your last. Tell someone you love them like it was the last time you would see them. Surely people would look at us and comment that there is something different about us. Enter the love of Jesus Christ. 

Insecurity

An Insecurity is a reflection of how secure you are in yourself. Hence the term insecurity. But God has called us to live a life of freedom from bondage through the redemptive work of his son Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us seek God's identity and the truth that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Let us be Godsecure and not Insecure.

Random

Read Romans 1:1 - 1 Corinthians 16:24

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

Yea I had to step up the reading a lil bit - im way behind. >.<

So much Jesus glory has been happening its so intense. Wow. Praise God.

On another random note;

It was a hot day so I decided to get ppad-bingsu with Sonia at stra but when we arrived it was 11:40pm so it was apprently too late to order it. I was quite displeased. So I went ahead and ordered the Iced coffee. When I placed my order the Korean waiter looked at me with a gentle smile and said "sun mul" which sounds like "present" in english. So I looked at him dumbfounded as to why this gentlemen was asking me if I wanted a present when I was asking for an iced coffee. My brain quickly digressed and reached a conclusion that maybe its because we're near the festive season of Christmas. But by the expression on my face he clearly knew I did not understand his remark so he uttered "p-p-p-pay now". Apparently it means prepay. So I laughed at his face, embarrased at my ignorance and paid for my drink.

I gave him a $20 note and he came back with my change. But the astonishing thing was that he gave me my change on a tea plate! I looked at the plate with some notes and coins and was like what the heck am I supposed to do with this tea plate? Any other given day I would of disregarded this unusual sequence of events. But it dawned on me that day that this guy giving me my change on a tea plate was rather strange.

Run the Race

Read Acts 10:1 - 28:31

"However I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." (Acts 20:24)

Apostle Paul was a missionary machine. So much respect for this guy. Wow. He goes all over the place preaching, healing, being imprisoned and saving many.

This is one person who knew what his race was. He knew exactly what he had to do, which is why he was so gungho. He stood before councils, kings and rioting crowds but never once flinched. Truly a lover and follower of Jesus.

What is your calling? What is the race you need to run? I guess the important thing is to participate and "run the race" God has called you to run. Is it the 100m, 200m or 400m? maybe it doesn't work like that? But God has granted us gifts, passions and talents to administer to glorify His name. Is it in the arts? media? government? family? economy? religion? education?

Whichever it is, lets run our races well and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given us, the task of testifying the gospel of God's grace.

The best reward in Heaven is to hear our awesome God declare "Well done my good and faithful servant."

Act out your Faith

Read Acts 5:1 - 9:43

As I read through this passage it was evident to me the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit as they ministered. People fall dead at the feet of Peter (Acts 5:5), angels breaking out the apostles from prison (Acts 5:19), paralytics and cripples being healed (Acts 8:7), physical transportation (Acts 8:39-40), recovery to the sight (Acts 9:18). It's just potent with signs, wonders and miracles. I mean what's to say these kind of things can't happen now? It's a matter of faith.

"...I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20) 

We also see Sauls complete conversion in this passage. A man hell bent on persecuting christians has one God encounter on the road to Damascus that the weight of the glory of God causes him to go blind and not eat and drink for three days (Acts 9). This is what happens when you have a God sized encounter. Recently when I was in China I met a guy called Ricardo who was also on the Chinese tv show showcasing his instrument. He was a fairly tall white man with dark brown curly hair with a german accent. I met him on the shuttle bus from the hotel to the tv show and we sparked up a conversation. He seemed to a be a knowledgeable man and had a good sense of humour to him. We fell upon the subject of God and Christianity to which he confessed he gave up his faith not long ago. He explained something on the lines of not being able to "understand" or comprehend the meaning of God and why bad things happens etc.

We (JS and I) asked him if he wanted prayer before his performance because he was feeling anxious as he didnt have time to rehearse. He appeared to be agitated by our offer to prayer as it would be a selfish act to ask for such a small prayer while millions of people are going without food everyday. He sounded more like a humanitarian than a musician. I presume he was stressed because of his upcoming performance. We ended up praying for him after he left the room anyway. His act went well and the audience was well pleased with his ability to sing in chinese. Afterward in the lobby of our hotel he seemed more relaxed with the show over and apologised if he came across rude when we asked if we could pray for him. He said he should of just accepted the offer to which we gladly responded we would be praying for him.

God, I pray for Ricardo who we met in China. I pray for a God sized encounter. Just like you encountered the most unlikely on the road to Damascus I pray for that kind of transformation upon this life we met in China. I pray that the lips of Ricardo would sing your praises and his musical gifts would be used to glorify you Lord Jesus. May your will be done. In Jesus name. Amen.