Stopping the enemy in his tracks

This morning I was reading in 2nd Chronicles 32, an account of how an ancient king responded to enemy threats and took practical steps to protect himself and his people. When King Hezekiah realized that Sennacherib of Assyria was mounting an attack in an attempt to bring Jerusalem down, he took some pre-emptive steps (see verses 2 - 5) to "lessen" the enemy's power in advance: he blocked off the springs of water and the stream that flowed outside the city, so that the enemy would not find a fresh supply of water to sustain him during the attack. Then Hezekiah also repaired any broken parts in the wall around the city. 

We can do the same things to protect ourselves, our teams or our churches from the attack of our enemy, the devil: we can block off every trickle of gossip, and we can repair every cracked or broken relationship that would threaten our unity and give the enemy a foothold.

The source of Hezekiah's confidence, as he took those practical steps, is clear from the words of encouragement he spoke in verses 7 - 8. Do not be afraid or discouraged... for there is a greater power with us than with our enemy. The Lord our God is with us to help us and to fight our battles. God promises that He will fight with us and for us, so we never need to be fearful, even in seasons where we sense that the enemy is engaging us in a spiritual battle.

Romans 8 verse 37 reminds us that we are more than conquerors; overwhelming victory can be ours when we keep our focus and our trust in God.

(The photo shows Hekekiah's tunnel in Jerusalem; friends of mine explored it recently, while in Israel with a KKI outreach team.)

Heart attitudes…. and money matters

When King Hezekiah initiated reforms that helped the people return to the Lord (see this previous post), there was much celebration and enthusiasm. Not everyone did things the right way (see 2 Chronicles 30 vs  18 - 20) but God was merciful and didn't judge them for their mistakes. He saw that they had "set their hearts on seeking God" and so He was quick to forgive them for their wrong way of doing things. God looks to our heart motivation and doesn't make it difficult for us to come to Him. He accepts us "just as we are."

As we continue reading in 2 Chronicles chapter 31, it's interesting to note that serving God and giving to God go hand in hand for these worshippers. For four whole months they gave so faithfully and generously that there was surplus in the temple - even though the people's tithes were being used to provide for the priests and Levites who served God "full time." A priest called Azariah explained this great wealth by saying that, once the people began tithing faithfully, the Lord began blessing them - which meant that there was even more for them to tithe… and the end result was that there was, "enough to eat and plenty to spare." What a wonderful picture of how God's faithfulness and ours go hand in hand.

Store rooms needed to be prepared to store the surplus provisions (animals, grain, oil…) that were being brought to the temple, and we see in vs 12 that the provisions were made up of three different kinds of giving:

• contributions
• tithes, and
• dedicated gifts.

Contributions, I guess, are small amounts that we put in the offering - like notes or coins that we put in the "collection" at church on Sunday morning.  (Later, in verse 14, these are called "freewill offerings.") Tithes are something different: they are a specific percentage (a minimum of 10%) of our income that we "owe" to God as an expression of our dependence on Him and our thankfulness for the ways He has blessed us. (The prophet Malachi told the people that failing to tithe is the same as stealing from God. See Malachi chapter 3.) And dedicated or designated gifts are perhaps larger amounts that we choose to give for a particular purpose - like a building project, a missions trip or some other specific need in the Kingdom of God. (Later, in verse 14, these are also called "consecrated gifts.")

The people's giving was so faithful that it provided adequately for all the worship in the temple, as well as providing for the priests and their families. What Hezekiah and the people did is described in vs 20 as "good and right and faithful before the Lord."

In fact, the summary of King Hezekiah's life - in vs 21 - is that, in all of his service to God and obedience to God's commands, " he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered." And so we're back to heart attitude again. Right there, in two short sentences, are guidelines for pleasing God and being successful in life:

1. seek God and keep Him at the centre of everything
2. work wholeheartedly in all that you do

It's not a complicated "recipe." But these two things are evidently important keys to living a life that prospers and is blessed by God.

Encouraging B2b

We've just finished a really encouraging week of leadership training called B2b (be the leader God wants you to be.) It was attended by young leaders aged 17 - 32, mostly from Scandinavia and other parts of Europe. When we debriefed the week yesterday, it was incredibly encouraging to hear their feedback and testimonies of all they had learned and how they had grown. Investing in young leaders is one of my favorite things to do and I thoroughly enjoyed the week. It was a privilege to be able to teach, lead, have deep conversations and spend time in prayer with these enthusiastic young missionaries.

Over the next few days, I'll be giving more time to coaching again, and I also have a friend arriving from Switzerland at the weekend who will be with me for a full week of coaching and personal processing.

I've also picked up my animal-training "hobby" again, and I'm working with Teddi who is learning to play the guitar in preparation for releasing a music video later this autumn.

Repairing the temple doors

I was reading this morning in chapter 29 of 2nd Chronicles - the account of how King Hezekiah purifies the temple and reinstates worship of God. (His father, King Ahaz, had led the nation into idol worship.) I was struck in particular by verse 3,  where it says, He opened the doors of the temple and repaired them, because it’s such a good picture of the process that needs to happen when an individual or a group of people returns to the Lord. If someone has let their relationship with God grow dry, if it’s been a while since they opened the Bible or spent time with God in prayer, the first and very necessary step is to open up the door and get back into God’s presence again.

But the next step is to “repair” those doors and address the issues that caused them to fall into disuse in the first place. Was it busyness or laziness that caused your time with God to be neglected? Did something or someone else become more important? Did a difficult situation or an apparently unanswered prayer cause you to withdraw from the Lord? Those things need to be “repaired” so that coming into God’s presence becomes a joyful and regular occurrence again.

Is there a "door" that needs to be opened up or repaired in your life this week?

The God who sends the rain...

When I left Senegal on Wednesday, we had sent our medical team up to the north of the country to hold clinics in the villages of Widou and Mbar Toubab…. but the government officials of the Great Green Wall had told us that there had been no rain up north yet, and that they wouldn't be able to transport us to the planting zone until there had been some days of rain to soften the ground and make tree planting possible. This meant that we had to seek the Lord and make contingency plans for our tree planting teams - both in terms of accommodation and ministry opportunities. Over the past two days, they've been serving practically in the town of Thiès, as well as partnering with local Christians for a time of prayer walking and interceding in different places for specific needs that God put on their hearts. 

In particular, they felt prompted to pray for the Talibé children - little kids who are begging in the streets to bring back money to their marabout. (Click here to check out an interesting article about Senegal's supplicating street kids.)

On Wednesday night after dinner, the teams got together to pray for rain, and asked God that it would be raining when they woke up the next morning. Sure enough, they woke up on Thursday morning to discover that the rain was pouring down in Thiès. But when they phoned the medical team up north, they were told that there was still no rain in the planting zone. Back they went to prayer, realising that they had to pray even more specifically this time. After breakfast, they stood outside and reached their hands towards the north, praying that the rains would fall up there in the planting area. Later in the day, they got a phone call from the medical team to say that the rains had begun to pour down on the northern villages. The young people were so excited to see that their God has the power to answer such very specific prayer requests and to send the rain in exactly the place they asked Him to.

The latest plan is that the government transport to the Great Green Wall will probably be available tomorrow, 16th, and so the teams will be able to travel north tomorrow and begin planting on Sunday. Please continue to pray with us that the rains will keep falling and that this will be a testimony to the power of the God of the Universe.

United nations….

Not counting the African medical staff (from Senegal and Zambia), these are the nations that were represented in our Planting Together teams this summer. What a joy to experience unity in such an international group. Please keep praying for rain, so that the planting teams can actually plant trees, and pray also for God's favour for all the teams.

I'm back in Europe!!!

My taxi ride from Thiès to Dakar was not at all adventurous. In fact, it went so smoothly and quickly that I arrived at the airport a full six hours before my flight was due to leave. (See photo.)

My overnight flight was also uneventful and I'm now safely back in Madrid airport, Spain. I have another three hours to wait now for my flight down to Màlaga, and I should be home again before 10 am.

Meanwhile, our teams back in Senegal have a day of prayer walking and local ministry in Thiès today, and we are all continuing to pray that the rains will come so that they can head north tomorrow and begin planting trees this weekend. Thanks for all your prayers while I was in Africa.

I'll be back in Europe soon

You see them everywhere: those 7-places (pronounced set-plass) vehicles that serve as public transport between one town and the next. An equally common sight, especially in the city, is the ubiquitous black and yellow Dakar taxi.

My original plan for homeward travel was to take a 7-places tomorrow from Thiès to Dakar, spend the night in Dakar, and then catch a taxi to take me and my luggage to the airport on Wednesday night.

However, the lack of rain and the need to change plans for our team (read here) meant a change of plans for me too. I'll be spending one more day in Thiès, and on Wednesday I'll travel directly from here to the airport. Not wanting to entrust myself to the unpredictability of the 7-places system (the taxi ranks are chaotic and the vehicles can be old and prone to break down) I'm going to be travelling by black and yellow taxi instead - contracting with a driver who has helped us with previous airport pickups. It'll be the first time in my life that I take a two hour taxi ride!!

I'll be back in Spain on Thursday morning. Thanks for praying for safe travel, with protection on my luggage and my health. (Last year I caught pneumonia from the really cold air conditioning on the plane!)

Last day of the camp in Africa...

It's been so good over these last five days to watch our diverse team of people make the transition from being strangers to being friends and team mates. From more than fifteen different nations and at least three generations (the youngest team member is age 5; the oldest is 60) we truly are a multi-cultural, multi-generational expression of the family of God.

The young people have responded well to the different teaching times, which have been on a variety of topics such as: experiencing the character of God, learning to hear God's voice, spiritual warfare, and "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

Once you know how to hear God's voice, this prepares the way for exciting times of intercession. One of the most encouraging prayer times during the camp was when we took time to listen to God and pray the things that were on His heart for Africa. The young people worked in smaller groups to prepare Africa "maps," using materials like flowers, leaves and stones. Then each group led us in an amazing time of praying out the things that God wants to see changed, transformed or removed from the African continent. 

We've also had some good times of prayer and preparation for outreach: for the tree planting phase, for medical ministry, and for the other kinds of relationship building and friendship evangelism that we'll be involved in over the rest of this month. With today being the last day of camp, we're all looking forward to the adventures that God has for us in the days ahead.

(Some of those adventures of faith are due to unexpected circumstances. Click here to read my Africa blog for more news about that.)

Camp begins tomorrow...

Yes, I'm still in Africa, and here we are eating thieboudienne for lunch today. Click on the photo to go to my Africa blog and read more news about these weeks in Senegal.