"For of Such is the Kingdom..."

I am excited to see what God is doing in the mountain villages and towns of Chiapas, Mexico! In the US we seem to do so little with so much...here I see them do so much, with so very little!

Soon after I got to San Cristobal, we had what Harvest Evangelistic calls VBS of a Lifetime. Volunteers from outlying towns come to help us put together materials that HEA and Rebecca Archer of Arrow International Ministry have been working on, praying over, collecting, buying, cutting and preparing for over a year. Over 250 pastors and their childrens' leaders gathered together under the HEA roof and they learned how to use the materials at the Vacation Bible Schools they would be holding all through the summer.

We handed out material for 25,000 children, and the results are in: Over 10,180 children and moms and dads were saved!

I have had the privilege of being at several of these VBS’ and now that the testimonies have come in, I couldn’t wait to share some of them with you!

There is the teacher that shared with us about Osvaldo...they call him "El Pelos". "He comes every year," they told us, "but he fights with all the children and he always steals the offerings. This year none of the teachers wanted to invite him, so we decided to pray for him right after your seminar. We prayed in agreement and then we invited him to come. The first day of VBS he gave His heart to Jesus and it was a joy to see him be a model student this year! We watched as he would go forward to pray at the altar every day with reverence."

When little Cristina learned in "Promesas, Promesas!" that God keeps His promises, she was excited! She had lived with her grandmother all her life, and she wanted to meet her mother. She asked the teachers if they would pray with her, and they all gathered and prayed for Cristina to met her mom. A few days later, Cristina's Mother came to the village to meet her daughter! All the family was amazed, but not Cristina, she knows He keeps His promises, and He promised to answer prayer. Now she is praying for her entire family to accept Jesus as she has done.



“Memito is a tiny 5 – year old and he got up at 4 every morning to milk the cows so he could be at VBS. He never missed a day.”

“The parents came to closing day, 79 accepted the Lord as their savior and now we have started a new church in this tiny village.”

“Gabriel’s neighbors were not allowed to go to VBS so he made a puppet with his own materials and money, and every day he taught his 7 neighbors the lessons and shared his crafts with them. All 7 children accepted the Lord as their savior! Gabriel is 7 years old.”

“There were gypsies camped nearby and they all came to VBS. All the men accepted Jesus and they all made sure their children came every day. After VBS they have continued to come faithfully to our church.”

From a church deep in the mountains: “Carmita is 4 years old and her father is an alcoholic. She accepted the Lord as her savior together with her sister Josefina, who is 6. After Carmita and Josefina accepted the Lord as their savior, they begged their parents to come with them to VBS. They got up very early in the morning, and the girls gathered firewood for the day so that the parents would agree to go come with them. They walked a long way, but when their parents heard the Bible stories, they also accepted the Lord as their savior. Now the whole family comes together to the church services, and they are a great testimony to the community and to their relatives.”

What a joy to be here to pack the bags, sort the crayons, weigh the glitter and wrap the candy for 25,000 children to hear about Jesus! Even as I write this Rebecca of Arrow International Ministry is writing the lessons for next year and plans are being made to continue to preach His precious message of salvation in places where no one has heard that salvation is free and available to all who believe!

Our current project is Kingdom Kids Christmas- we will hand out 20,000 backpacks with toys and school supplies to children who have so little- sharing not only the kindness Jesus preached, but the message of salvation. Please pray for this huge project, and if you can share this video with everyone you know, you'll also be helping to further the gospel in the villages of the jungles and mountains of Chiapas, Mexico!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SgXCjGLpMY

For more info regarding Kingdom Kids please go to:
www.harvestevangelistic.org



Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God. Mark 10:14

Your Kingdom Come

When I first arrived in Chiapas last June, Margarita was praying for Agusto’s wife, Elizabeth, who was feeling a little under the weather. I joined in, we all did. Agusto is one of the film Evangelism workers. We got on the bus and traveled about 2 ½ hours to pray for her. As I laid hands on her the thought came to me “She will be called an oak of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of my splendor. “ “Oh, God is going to heal her!” I thought. I shared this with her, and we prayed with joy.

I began to find out about her. She was 26, married since the age of 14, not at all unusual among the Tzeltals. She and Agusto have 5 beautiful children. She loves the Lord with a passion and she told Him she wants her life to bring Him glory. She and the children were planning on going with Agusto to the jungle to preach to the Chol Indians during the month of August. She couldn’t wait to get better to do all this.

As the weeks went on, we kept hearing news that didn’t sound good. She felt worse. She and her husband has gone to Dr. after Dr. and she was growing weaker. We went to pray for her a couple more times, again I heard in my Spirit “She will be called an oak of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of my splendor. “ Oh, she will be healed! I was excited, and I kept sharing that with her. I held her hand, looked into her eyes, and we smiled knowing healing was coming. She told me how she met her husband, then how she met her Lord. What an amazing spirit this woman has!

She went to a hospital in the town of Villahermosa and we drove 3-4 hours each way to pray for her and to encourage her. She was in pain, wasting away, but excited and waiting for healing. “When He heals me,” She said, “ I will never stop praising His name and talking about Him!” And then the diagnosis came. Cancer. Not long to live. No chemo, too late. Too advanced. The Dr. recommended she go home to die.

But… did I not hear? Did we not pray? Can you not heal her, Father? Does your word not say ‘What is impossible for man is possible for God’, ‘Heal me oh lord, and I will be healed’ ‘Come boldly into the throne of grace..” Oh, we have prayed! With her, and away from her. We have people praying in the Philippines and Africa, Mexico, Paraguay, Argentina and the US- people of faith. Doubtless, you have received emails from me asking for prayer!

Yesterday was her 27th birthday. She is now on medication so she doesn’t have the searing pain, and she can walk all by herself. We took her a cake and had “mole” and sang Happy Birthday to her. She looks radiant, now that she feels better. But how she feels is not how she is. The cancer is invading her entire body, the tumors are growing, and even protruding. She is peaceful, she is ready to go home.

She says she will never stop praising her wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If He heals her, she will praise Him on earth. If He doesn’t, she will praise Him in heaven. I thought as she spoke, “She is beautiful! She is truly radiant! She is, already, displaying His splendor!” She has a treasured cloth bag hanging by her bed. It is full of the things she has collected to have buried with her. Pictures of her babies. Her husband. Her mama. A worn, tattered Bible.

We laid hands on her, and we prayed. I personally prayed, again, “Father, heal her.” And as I prayed that prayer, the thought came to me “Pray the way I taught you to pray.” As we drove home yesterday day I kept pondering… “Pray the way I taught you…” What did He mean? What is He referring to?

Oh no, not that! Not that particular prayer! How did He teach us to pray? He said, when you pray, pray like this: “Your will be done, here on this little planet, exactly the same as it in done heaven….” Just like He taught.

I believe He can heal. I believe He will withhold no good thing from those whose walk is upright, I believe that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and He delivers them….

…..but what do I do with a God that doesn’t heal? What do I do when I can’t explain what Jesus is doing? Will I remain true when He doesn’t stop a tragedy?

A good friend reminded me of John the Baptist. There he was, believing. Waiting. He announced the Messiah, then was arrested and waited in prison for Him to come save him. He sent out word to Jesus “Where are you? Are you who I thought you were?" and Jesus answered, “I’m busy healing the sick , raising the dead" (my paraphrase) “See what I’m doing.” And then He adds, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” I thought of this, stunned.

Will I continue to cling to Him when His answer to my fervent prayer is “No!”?Can I still love and believe Him when He seems cold, aloof and uncaring?

Will I choose to love and obey Him when I don’t understand Him?

Oh, my spirit has been heavy as I have wrestled with this. “Yes, I do believe you, but why don’t you….?”

And finally, tonight: I will. I will always believe in you, Father, even when I don’t understand. I know you are kind and fair and just, merciful and full of grace, even when I don’t think I see it.

Through human tears, I am now able to wholeheartedly pray as You have taught us:
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”