July 8th, 2008
God Is Alive In England! We are blessed and encouraged to walk these days out with you!! It has been such a sweet encouragement to hear your responses and to feel your intercession at work. The prayers, petitions and praises that we have heard about continue to strengthen us as we go around the world. We know that those who pray for us and with us, are also the ones that the LORD is using to fill us with the power of the Holy Spirit as we walk forward while looking up.
"Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel."
(Ephesians 6:10-20)
Isn't it interesting that wherever the LORD is moving, so is Satan? We don't mean to give our foe too much clout, but isn't it remarkable to walk and "feel" the battle that rages on. Even our thoughts seem cloudy and dark. Our hands seem worn and tired. Our bodies seem to be breaking down with sickness. And most importantly our hearts seem hard hit with explosive attacks from all directions. Yet, our LORD is faithfully strong in the midst of even the most troublesome times.
“The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.”
(Psalm 34:17,18)
Joseph declared to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people."
For our LORD is:
The Messiah, Creator, Baby born to be our Savior
Father, Redeemer, Hope of Glory, Friend of Sinners
All knowing, All powerful, Forgiving, Oh so Faithful
The Helper, My Maker, Living Stone, Our Mediator
Sinless High Priest, Messenger, Prince of Peace
Bread of Life, Holy One, Counselor, Beloved Son
King of Ages, King of Kings, Ruler over Everything
Immanuel, Cornerstone, Morning Star and Lord of Lords
Lamb of God, He is risen, Unto us a Son is given
Mighty One of Righteousness, Beautiful in Holiness
Chief Shepherd, One True Vine, You're the living Sacrifice
First and Last, Eternal Friend, Comforter, The Great I Am
We know that our LORD is King and yet we still plead with you to continue to pray for the Spiritual battle that rages on here in North Devon as we continue to faithfully follow. Here are a few ways that you can continue to pray for us as we walk these days of trial and tribulation out with JOY and excitement!
Please join with us as we pray for: [1] protection (our hearts, souls, and minds) [2] our relationship with Jesus [3] practice for the concerts and outreaches ahead [4] unity and oneness as we serve [5] Eden and Elijah as they continue to be awesome encouragements [6] our health [7] for continued effectiveness and spiritual fruit.
There are MANY, MANY praise reports to share from this week J
Over the past week we have seen the church act like the church is supposed to. Brothers and sisters have consistently blessed us with food, housing and even amazing transportation. In fact…our bellies are full, all of us now have beds to sleep on and we have two 16 passenger mini-buses to move the 19 of us and all our music equipment. Praise the LORD!
On Thursday, Universal Royalty (UR) invited a few members of tnG to come and do school work with them. Schoolwork consists of, teaching Religious Education courses, spending time with teenage students, and performing outreach concerts. This is a HUGE deal, since Muslims, atheists or even pagans teach these religion classes. RE courses usually include Satanism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and “Christianity" which is really just taught as a Roman Catholicism lumped with Judaism.
During the classes students were able to ask various questions about, America, our faith and/or any other extremely random area of our lives. Questions began very general as you will read below, but our LORD always directed people right to Himself. Here are a few examples of the questions that we were asked:
"Do you eat at McDonalds?” “Do you know anyone who has been shot?” “Do you like traveling the world?” “Is it worth it?” “How does your faith influence your music?"
Our response to this opportunity is to cry out to God, “LORD what a blessing to see Your hand at work in the schools of North Devon. Thank You for Your favor and blessing as we walk these days out.”
We wish you could see the faces of these young kids as they heard about JESUS for the first time. Many asked if the stories were even real as their rational and cynical brains tried to reason the stories of faith. Students were awe struck as God made Himself known and spoke into their lives in practical and miraculous ways.
"I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father."
(John 14:12)
After lunch, tnG was given an opportunity to play an acoustic concert, where over 300 students voluntarily showed up and Jesus Christ was taught! The maximum occupancy in the facility was 300 people, so people were literally filling the hallways and the surrounding areas just to hear the music and the message. Please continue to pray for favor in Biddeford as Creation Fest continues to come near. Pray for thousands of students to show up and be saved. Pray for the teachers and leaders of Biddeford College/University as they continue to let the WORD stew in their hearts.
On Friday the LORD opened up the opportunity for us to teach a home fellowship of about 70 people. It was an awesome time of fellowship, teaching and worship. One powerful note is: God is moving in and through the students of Woolacombe. Three of the young students are, Chris, Josh and Robby. Please pray that God would continue to mold and shape them for the days ahead as they serve here in Woolacombe.
On Saturday the LORD allowed us to reach out to Bratton Fleming through a Creation Fest Road Show. It rained and rained and rained, but God taught us so much about being faithful in the midst of even preaching and singing to the houses. We know that the WORD of God doesn't return void even in the most intense situations. Please pray for Bratton Fleming as we do a follow up time of worship and outreach on Thursday at the St. James Anglican Church.
On Sunday the LORD moved in our team. We spent a day going to church together and seeing the LORD open up even more opportunities in Ilfracombe. As the day moved on we spent a serious amount of time being real and praying for each other as the spiritual warfare continues to rage in and amongst our team. It was extremely encouraging to see the LORD open up our team about bitterness, stubbornness and pride.
You know there is much more to say, but time and space will never be enough to tell of the glory of our LORD as He moves and glorifies Himself through us…His mere tools.
"Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God."
(1st Corinthians 1:26-29)
Joyfully serving Jesus,
The Take No Glory Team
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