10 Days or "How Deep the Father's Love for Us"

Pray:

1. That I would have a greater knowledge and faith of God's overwhelming love for me.
2. For goodbyes and transitions.
3. For my family, especially my Mom, as I depart for Kenya.
   

With 10 days left before I depart for Kenya, I've been reflecting on one major thing. God's love for us, God's love for me. I was in a wedding last Saturday, and during the service they had a time of worship. A hymn they sung stayed with me for a couple days. "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" below are the words to this wonderful hymn.

You see, what I've been thinking about is how central to our Christian lives it is to know and believe God's love for us. If I could grasp this love, its height, depth, breadth, and length, if I could know this love which surpasses knowledge, then I would be 'filled up to all the fullness of God' (Eph 3:17-19). This was Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. It was a request for the impossible - to know that which is beyond knowledge, to comprehend something that has no boundaries, measurements, or limits. Its height takes us to the very throne of God (Heb 4:16), its depth pierces through us even to the division of soul and spirit (Heb 4:12), its breadth is as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12), and the length of the steadfast love of God is everlasting, enduring forever (Ps 136).

If I would truly know and believe in God's overwhelming love for me, I would long to love him in return and please him in all that I do. My greatest struggles with sin would be countered by this love because I would choose God over any lesser thing. My joy would be found in Him, my acceptance would be found in Him. I would not fear man nor what man can do to me because I am accepted in the Beloved of God. I would not do my work to please man and gain praise, but to give all glory to the Father whom I love.

This is not something that just happens immediately, but I must daily meditate and believe that this is true asking God to increase my faith and knowledge of His love and to increase my love for Him. But as this increases, so will my joy, my holiness, my compassion for others, my desire to shout and sing and teach of His glorious majesty and steadfast love.

Pray for me. Pray for others. Pray for yourself, "that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith; and that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God."

"How Deep the Father's Love for Us"
How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Departure Date

My departure for Kenya is set:

09/05/09

Pray for my final preparations this next month. I'm very excited to start moving forward in these final steps to the field.

It's weird how all this preparation and work has been put in the front end...and now it is time to

BEGIN.

Dearborn?

Here's a little bit about the city I'm in right now. I just returned this evening from the mosque that they show in the video.

A dream of Jesus

"You know I've seen Jesus. He's beautiful. I was sleeping and in my dream he came to me in a beautiful white robe. He had leather sandals, a long beard, and a white hat. He looked just like the imam from the mosque."

"What did he say?"

"He told me to, 'Walk with me.' He took me to a beautiful, green hillside and we just stood there and looked at it."

He told us this after an hour and a half of Muslim / Christian apologetics and debate. Then they had to go. We have his number and hope to meet with him this week. God willing, we will have a chance to share some verses with this man, for example,

‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. - Rev 3:4-5.

Please pray that we might have the opportunity to share such things from the Scriptures with him. Many Muslims have dreams and visions of Jesus Christ, but they do not come to Christ until after a second experience with a Christian or the Bible. Pray that he will put his faith in Christ and that the Lord Jesus would lead him to "lie down in green pastures...beside quiet waters..." and restore his soul in the path of righteousness (Ps 23).

• Pray for dreams and visions
• Pray for the tired and weak who long to be freed from the burden of Law (Mt. 11:28-30)
• Pray for the individuals we have talked to (they all need Jesus)
  

Dearborn

In two days I will be heading out to Dearborn, Michigan where I will be participating in a 3 week evangelism training course.

If you are interested in what type of evangelism, and why Dearborn, contact me and I'll let you know.

Please pray for my time there. I will be in classes from 8am-3pm and then in the evenings we will put to practice what we've learned by going out to the community and sharing the message of the Father and the redemption offered through His Son.

The program is from July 5 - 26, and I have heard it is very intense. As a good friend of mine who has done this program said, "Pray that you won't get in the way. Your most effective witness is to let the light of Christ shine through you." So I ask you to pray for this, the ministries up there and for the hearts of the people we will be speaking to.

I will try to be better at keeping you all informed during my time up there. Pray for safe travels. I'm driving alone to Memphis on July 1 and to Chicago on July 2 where I'll stay with a friend of mine for a few days before heading to Dearborn on the 5th.

Recap:

• Pray that I won't get in the way. My most effective witness is to let the light of Christ shine through me.
• Pray for the hearts of the people I will be interacting with.
• Pray for the ministries in Dearborn reaching out to these people.
• Pray for my travels.
• Pray that in many ways this training will prepare me to be a good witness to the people in the South Coast of Kenya; pray also that it will help me to train the believers in Kenya to engage these people who are spiritually perishing right next to them.