Written on August 24th, 2010
The last two days of ministry have been wonderful. The Lord has done so much and we see His hand on us and His presence going with us. We have been able to meet some amazing people, heroes of the faith that may never get their story told beyond what you read in this blog. Nonetheless, the Lord knows their name and is well pleased with them.
Yesterday, I had the distinct honor to minister with my team to local pastors and church leaders throughout the region. The pastors would come through one by one or two by two and would go through essentially four stations of ministry. First they would have communion administered by Pastor Claude. Then they would enter the main room and have their feet washed. Following that would be a time of laying on of hands and soaking in impartation. The final spot was for the delivery of prophetic words and Bible verses. It was a wonderful time and the presence of the Holy Spirit was thick.
I will talk about this time and the burden that I felt for the people at a different time, but I want to tell you about Pastor Claude and the honor I had to minister to him. He is an incredible man. There is a circuit of village churches throughout the area and it has been through him that over 100 churches have been planted. Over 100! That’s incredible. In a land where so much darkness has been allowed by the futility of the people’s minds, the true Heavenly reign is advancing and the Lord has given an apostolic anointing to this man to be used in incredible ways.
I don’t say this to exalt him, but to honor him and give an example to all of us. Like all of us, Pastor Claude has had opportunities to not do what the Lord was calling him to do. At any time, he could have stopped, he could have settled for something less, something easier or something more culturally acceptable. He chose to do the Lord’s work and be faithful, again and again and again. He chose to get almost every morning for twenty some odd years and prayer walk in his city. He chose to preach. He chose to raise up other leaders. His work is not done either. His youngest of four is sixteen years old and he is getting older and has done more in his lifetime for the Kingdom than most Christians ever will. Nonetheless, he is about to undergo a five year commitment away from Darjeeling and is moving to an un-reached people group at the foot of the Himalayas in Nepal to start a Bible school.
I am not trying to belittle what the Lord is doing in my own life, but if this didn’t challenge me, I actually think there would be something wrong with my faith. The more I look not only at my life, but the lives of those around me, the more I realize that every person’s destiny is supposed to be something radical. I’m not saying that everyone is supposed to plant 100 churches or move to a foreign country, but it is supposed to be something radical. Some people are called to a radical amount of time in prayer and move things in the Spirit so others can start all those churches. Or maybe someone is called to a radical amount of generosity so that other person can move to the foreign country to advance the Kingdom. We are certainly called to more boldness and if there is one thing that I see more amongst my Nepali brothers and sisters as opposed to most Christians I come in contact with, it might be that level of boldness.
It is biblical for us to honor one another. This is not a means to feed egos, but rather recognize the mighty work the Lord has done in the life and through the life of that person. God has done so much in Pastor Claude’s life, yet he remains so humble and his eyes remain on his Lord.
So yesterday, I had the distinct honor to pray for Pastor Claude. After Ryan washed his feet, Ryan, Noah and I laid hands to build up this man of God. As I was praying and asking for the Lord’s word for this father in the faith, I got a word I’m confident in, its easy to see it. While I was able to give words and scriptures to others for direction and preparation, for Pastor Claude the Lord told me to let him know how much He is pleased with his servant. I went around to the front of him and just looked into pastor’s eyes and told him how pleased his Father is with him. I told him how much He loved him and how out of the love that they have for one another, He was still going to do more. We were both crying with our eyes locked and I can’t remember a more humbling experience for myself. I then was able to anoint him with oil as both a love anointing on behalf of the Father and an anointing for the ministry to come (this was before I knew about his upcoming move).
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:1 exhorting the people of Corinth to “imitate [Paul] just as [he] also imitates Christ.” This is a biblical principle that is still applicable today. What I see in Pastor Claude is something that I would want to imitate. An enduring spirit, a faithful heart, a thirst after truth and an undying love for God and the nation in which he’s called to are attributes that I see in this man and those are worth imitating. Those are attributes that Jesus had to a tee.
The Lord designed His family and His body to be full of different people, walking in different callings and destinies. In all of this the Lord gets glory and His people are blessed. It is in His design to have faithful fathers and mothers in the faith that us young folk can look up to and aspire to fulfill our own destiny in the Lord, for this we give praise.
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The Rundown: The last couple days have been great. What hasn’t been great has been that basically the whole city of Darjeeling is closed. There is a lot of political tension here and the most prominent political power in the area (called Ghorkaland) has gone on strike. That is why I haven’t been able to get on the internet to update or email, because the internet cafés have been closed. Nonetheless, its been a blessed time. We know the Lord wanted us here, because we were aware that a strike was possible before we got here. It didn’t happen and we came in, then literally hours after we got in, the strike started, so we just barely got into the city. We praise God for this. We were able to prayer walk through Darjeeling and the Hindu temple yesterday (Monday) and that was nuts. The temple is crazy and there are demonized monkeys that go all over the place terrorizing people and jacking the vain offerings the people bring to the statues posed as gods. There’s a spirit of death there and its sickening. After that was the ministry time I wrote about which was my favorite time yet and we know the Holy Spirit was ministering. After that we were able to relax then walk around the city. We’ve been able to spend time in worship and prayer as a team together and that has been great and is a way for us to be filled up to then pour out on the people. Today (Tuesday) we started the women’s conference and it was an anointed time. I ministered doing worship which was great. Noah played guitar and I did percussion. Ryan led in a time of inner healing and deliverance while Noah and I played. It was powerful. After that the Tanzanian girls shared testimonies and a song, then Lauren brought the word. It was a really great time. After that, we were able to sit down with Pastor Amar, his wife and Ama (Pastor Claude’s wife). That was also wonderful. The Nepali people are very friendly and easy to talk with. Other than that, we’ve been able to hang out together and be a team. Yeah, all good things. Thanks for the prayers, keep them coming.
The last two days of ministry have been wonderful. The Lord has done so much and we see His hand on us and His presence going with us. We have been able to meet some amazing people, heroes of the faith that may never get their story told beyond what you read in this blog. Nonetheless, the Lord knows their name and is well pleased with them.
Yesterday, I had the distinct honor to minister with my team to local pastors and church leaders throughout the region. The pastors would come through one by one or two by two and would go through essentially four stations of ministry. First they would have communion administered by Pastor Claude. Then they would enter the main room and have their feet washed. Following that would be a time of laying on of hands and soaking in impartation. The final spot was for the delivery of prophetic words and Bible verses. It was a wonderful time and the presence of the Holy Spirit was thick.
I will talk about this time and the burden that I felt for the people at a different time, but I want to tell you about Pastor Claude and the honor I had to minister to him. He is an incredible man. There is a circuit of village churches throughout the area and it has been through him that over 100 churches have been planted. Over 100! That’s incredible. In a land where so much darkness has been allowed by the futility of the people’s minds, the true Heavenly reign is advancing and the Lord has given an apostolic anointing to this man to be used in incredible ways.
I don’t say this to exalt him, but to honor him and give an example to all of us. Like all of us, Pastor Claude has had opportunities to not do what the Lord was calling him to do. At any time, he could have stopped, he could have settled for something less, something easier or something more culturally acceptable. He chose to do the Lord’s work and be faithful, again and again and again. He chose to get almost every morning for twenty some odd years and prayer walk in his city. He chose to preach. He chose to raise up other leaders. His work is not done either. His youngest of four is sixteen years old and he is getting older and has done more in his lifetime for the Kingdom than most Christians ever will. Nonetheless, he is about to undergo a five year commitment away from Darjeeling and is moving to an un-reached people group at the foot of the Himalayas in Nepal to start a Bible school.
I am not trying to belittle what the Lord is doing in my own life, but if this didn’t challenge me, I actually think there would be something wrong with my faith. The more I look not only at my life, but the lives of those around me, the more I realize that every person’s destiny is supposed to be something radical. I’m not saying that everyone is supposed to plant 100 churches or move to a foreign country, but it is supposed to be something radical. Some people are called to a radical amount of time in prayer and move things in the Spirit so others can start all those churches. Or maybe someone is called to a radical amount of generosity so that other person can move to the foreign country to advance the Kingdom. We are certainly called to more boldness and if there is one thing that I see more amongst my Nepali brothers and sisters as opposed to most Christians I come in contact with, it might be that level of boldness.
It is biblical for us to honor one another. This is not a means to feed egos, but rather recognize the mighty work the Lord has done in the life and through the life of that person. God has done so much in Pastor Claude’s life, yet he remains so humble and his eyes remain on his Lord.
So yesterday, I had the distinct honor to pray for Pastor Claude. After Ryan washed his feet, Ryan, Noah and I laid hands to build up this man of God. As I was praying and asking for the Lord’s word for this father in the faith, I got a word I’m confident in, its easy to see it. While I was able to give words and scriptures to others for direction and preparation, for Pastor Claude the Lord told me to let him know how much He is pleased with his servant. I went around to the front of him and just looked into pastor’s eyes and told him how pleased his Father is with him. I told him how much He loved him and how out of the love that they have for one another, He was still going to do more. We were both crying with our eyes locked and I can’t remember a more humbling experience for myself. I then was able to anoint him with oil as both a love anointing on behalf of the Father and an anointing for the ministry to come (this was before I knew about his upcoming move).
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:1 exhorting the people of Corinth to “imitate [Paul] just as [he] also imitates Christ.” This is a biblical principle that is still applicable today. What I see in Pastor Claude is something that I would want to imitate. An enduring spirit, a faithful heart, a thirst after truth and an undying love for God and the nation in which he’s called to are attributes that I see in this man and those are worth imitating. Those are attributes that Jesus had to a tee.
The Lord designed His family and His body to be full of different people, walking in different callings and destinies. In all of this the Lord gets glory and His people are blessed. It is in His design to have faithful fathers and mothers in the faith that us young folk can look up to and aspire to fulfill our own destiny in the Lord, for this we give praise.
------------------------
The Rundown: The last couple days have been great. What hasn’t been great has been that basically the whole city of Darjeeling is closed. There is a lot of political tension here and the most prominent political power in the area (called Ghorkaland) has gone on strike. That is why I haven’t been able to get on the internet to update or email, because the internet cafés have been closed. Nonetheless, its been a blessed time. We know the Lord wanted us here, because we were aware that a strike was possible before we got here. It didn’t happen and we came in, then literally hours after we got in, the strike started, so we just barely got into the city. We praise God for this. We were able to prayer walk through Darjeeling and the Hindu temple yesterday (Monday) and that was nuts. The temple is crazy and there are demonized monkeys that go all over the place terrorizing people and jacking the vain offerings the people bring to the statues posed as gods. There’s a spirit of death there and its sickening. After that was the ministry time I wrote about which was my favorite time yet and we know the Holy Spirit was ministering. After that we were able to relax then walk around the city. We’ve been able to spend time in worship and prayer as a team together and that has been great and is a way for us to be filled up to then pour out on the people. Today (Tuesday) we started the women’s conference and it was an anointed time. I ministered doing worship which was great. Noah played guitar and I did percussion. Ryan led in a time of inner healing and deliverance while Noah and I played. It was powerful. After that the Tanzanian girls shared testimonies and a song, then Lauren brought the word. It was a really great time. After that, we were able to sit down with Pastor Amar, his wife and Ama (Pastor Claude’s wife). That was also wonderful. The Nepali people are very friendly and easy to talk with. Other than that, we’ve been able to hang out together and be a team. Yeah, all good things. Thanks for the prayers, keep them coming.
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