Prayer Teams and Groups

Prayer is so much more than just a list of needs or a litany of issues for God to resolve in our lives.

It is a time of fellowship and relationship.  First with God, then growing to include others.

We are called to pray for one another, intentionally, lifting up our sisters and brothers in Christ.

When I was first called to ministry, I was challenged by my mentor to start by creating a prayer team, even before starting to raise support.  It is still a strong group or prayer warriors that I depend on weekly.  Yet, I needed more.

The greatest lesson I’ve learned along the way in inner city missions is the importance of prayer in relationship with others.

I’m not talking about public prayers that are more for show and do not share or show our true selves.

I’m talking about the real interaction of lifting up Christ, inviting the Holy Spirit in and finding the place where God intercedes and helps us be truly honest and real with each other.

It creates a depth of communication and relationship where we start to see God moving in each other, in our own families and in the world.

Please take the time to join in a prayer team or group & reap the blessings.

The Cost of Mercy And The Price

I have a harder time finding books that address mercy than I do grace.

I feel privileged for a book written by my pastor, that I just finished, titled “The Mercy Prayer: The One Prayer Jesus Always Answers.”

Mercy is simple but tougher & harder to find than grace when you minister to the hardest of neighborhoods where there is no money to hide sin behind.

I find grace easily everyday.  It comes from God and his disciples serving here.  It’s free and costs us nothing to share.  Yet mercy asks the giver for a price and comes with a cost, I believe.

Mercy is forgiving the pain, suffering, and “just deserts” of someone that has created and earned the consequences.

It is ministering and loving the mother that abuses her child in lots of little ways. I do childcare for her son in the same room where she is studying for her GED so I can display the loving way to correct a 2 year old. I deepen my relationship with her to help her learn the right responses.

The cost is the realization that I have no moral high ground. I don’t abuse kids, yet I sin, even cause unintended pain to others, everyday, yet seek God’s mercy.

Then there are those where the sin debt is so vast. Like the alcoholic that stopped for a drink on the way home with his little girl. Locking her in the car safely on a cold day, intending to return shortly. But he found old friends and lots to drink, and he lost track of time. He returned to find the doors frozen shut. His little girl lost several fingers and toes to frostbite that day and will be deaf for the rest of her life.

For me it puts Matthew 18: 23– 35 in a whole new light.  With only God able to give real mercy, the alcoholic became a liar to himself and others, claiming to be a social drinker in rehab, forgetting the event in a haze of past drunkenness.

Yet, our God and rehab worked, and truth came to light.  He will always be an alcoholic, though in recovery, accepting his weakness and God’s mercy which is new each day.  Are any of our amends big enough?

The mercy he received and felt from Christ carved an easier path for mercy and grace to flow from his life to those he went on to serve.

The Lord’s Prayer reads, “forgive my trespasses, as I forgive those that have trespassed against me.”  The price to receive mercy is for us to show mercy as Christ would.  For me, it is not only for those who are broken and sinful around me, but also for those that, in sin, intentionally seek to do me wrong.

Covenant Love

You and I live in a world that understands contracts, not covenants.

Contracts are when two  parties, who both have something to offer, make a contract to obtain a benefit to both parties.

In our sinful selves, we filter everything through this filter, our relationships, even love.

Like marriages that fall apart due to inequality of roles, tit-for-tat with chores, romantic gestures, the hurts go deep.  

Our small groups at church are starting a study on God’s covenants throughout the Scripture.  For it is God who introduces us to covenants.

I’m learning covenants are promises made even without an equal benefit to both parties, when one has everything to offer and the other has nothing. They are made regardless of our failure to abide by our end.

I am quickly finding that, when God made a covenant with us, He never broke it.  We always (rather quickly) did.

Yet God never stopped desiring to have a deep relationship with you and me, or crave for us to abide with Him always.

So He took it on Himself, through the life and death of Christ, to create an eternal and unbreakable covenant with Himself as God, and Himself as Christ,. Therefore it is final and never will be broken.

There is nothing we can do or not do that will separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus.  -Romans 8:38-39

Though we are still sinful and broken, God will love us and seek us, whether we like it or not. And there is nothing we can do about it.  Our free will can push Him away or draw us closer, yet we cannot stop His love, hope or faith in us.

So, this month as we celebrate Valentine’s Day, whether single or married, alone or surrounded by friends, we are standing smack in the middle of God’s deep desire and crazy love for us!  God delights in us!

As His forgiven children, He finds no fault in you or me.  He only sees the opportunity for us to know Him more.

Living Worship Nepali Church

Pastor Habil Rasaily is a man on the move with a heart for God and passion for church building and planting.

I (& others at ROP )had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Habil at a special symposium for refugee pastors at the 2014 Unity Conference.

Not only does he pastor his church and minister to his congregation’s needs in the evenings, he works a full time job to pay the bills.

Yet, the call of Christ he has for church planting has led him to deepen his relationship with ROP.

His vision is to connect Nepali pastors and refugee churches to each other to help them stabilize in the U.S. and grow their congregations with new believers.

We are walking with him through the bureaucracy of starting a 501c3 ministry to reach this goal.  Please pray for us and God’s will.

Ch-ch-Ch-Changes

It’s the beginning of a new year and a great time to hear from you about what’s working and what needs work.

Some prefer paper, some email. Some of you requested only an “end of the year” receipt rather than monthly ones.

I have usually included this letter in receipts or attached to an email.  Yet, now I have a direct to email option, with functionality and a link for donations.

In the past I have done shorter bulletin type newsletters that have been needs based.  Yet, predominately I share the stories and lessons learned from my mission field. 

Feedback and ideas from you are what help me freshen things up.  So, I hope you will take part in a survey I will be sending out soon, to let me know how best to communicate.

Of course you are also welcome to email me back, call, meet over coffee, or whatever!  =)

Just know that my heart is to share with my partners (that’s you) how God is using us (our prayers, our donated goods, our support funds) to really build relationships, share Christ & restore lives along East Colfax!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day

As a nation we will observe Monday, January 19th, 2015 as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  First written into law by Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1983, it was first observed three years later.  At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.

Denver hosts the State of Colorado’s celebration.  Aurora is currently the only city to observe the day with a full week of activities and events commemorating the national holiday.  This is the 29th annual commemoration titled the Dream Endures, with events from the 11th through the 19th.

One of the events is a breakfast hosted by ACOF: Aurora Community of Faith.  A City of Aurora recognized group of leaders in faith with a voice and strong ties to city leaders.  This is one of the events where we, as Christians, take the opportunity to remind our city leaders, partners, and community of the faith of this pastor of God that led him to non-violent protests against inequality.

Now imagine being new to America, a refugee from a war-torn part of the world where voting and freedom of religion are distant & dangerous goals.

I had the opportunity to visit a local resource, the Asian Pacific Center, while a citizenship class was being taught.  As a few of us settled in the back of the room, the teacher continued with her lesson on the Bill of Rights.

She asked, “How many of you could speak about your faith in public?”  Three Hispanics raised their hand.  No one else did in a class of 17 students.

“How many of your countries did not allow you to speak out against your government?”  Hands flew up around the room.  The students looked around at classmates, not of their own country, nodding about the same struggle.

“How many of you were denied work because of your race, religion or even gender?” Again, more hands were raised than not.

Now imagine learning about Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr. for the first time.  Sitting at the back of this class, I was reminded of what makes America great, yet I was uncomfortable and sad at how much we still struggle for equality and non-violence.

I don’t want to preach or be negative. I just ask that we continue to pray & act.

New Year Revelations

So, my first ministry partner party was this last January 2nd.  It was small, with just a few family members that are supporters for me.

We had some good food and played a few games while we talked about what God has been doing personally in our lives, and other stuff, too.  =)

My next party will be April 3rd, when I will host a full Seder Christian dinner.  I love the image of waiting for our coming Redeemer that each Seder depicts and the added celebration of knowing He has come.

Please join me to share in this beginning of the Easter weekend and the deep reflection of all God has done.

Families and friends are all welcome to celebrate together with me.  Invites will be going out soon, so feel free to contact me with any questions or specifics.