Victory

1 Corinthians 15:57 says "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

The key to this verse is that our victory is in Christ--not just in what He has done, but what He continues to do. So many people walk in defeat. They either depend only on what has been done or only wait on what is to come. While it is quite true that Christ ALREADY did what needs to be done, the purpose of what He did was so that we might have victory. Not a get into Heaven free card, but true victory in life. Freedom to overcome--not through our own ability, but through our dependence on Him.

I am reminded of the old hymn "Victory in Jesus" (E.M. Bartlett 1939)

I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins
And won the victory.

O victory in Jesus,My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.
I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing pow'r revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,"
And somehow Jesus came and bro't
To me the victory.

O victory in Jesus,My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

I hope today that you are enjoying the victory He has for your life. As for Somalia, I know God has the victory there and am trusting in His plan.

At the potter's house

Jeremiah 18:1-6 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD. "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me. "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

In this passage, we have a true and mysterious blending of the divine sovereignty and human responsibility. The Lord used the potter to illustrate how He deals with humanity. Here, the Bible tells us how God revealed to Jeremiah His truths through an ordinary occurrence in a common workshop. As the prophet understood God's revelation, through inspiration, he put it in words that the people could understand and apply to their situation. We too can understand and apply it to our lives as well. As the potter molds the clay, so God molds believers in His image. He wants to make us the very best we can be. Our responsibility is to obey His truths written in the bible and to be willing servants.

Lets look carefully at this passage again. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message. So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. God told Jeremiah to go to the potters house to learn some valuable lessons. As Jeremiah approached the workshop, the potter began to work on the wheels, literally "two stones". The potter rotated the lower wheel with his feet while shaping the clay on the upper wheel with his hands. An experienced potter has amazing control over this (though ones like myself seem to create disaster when touching it :) The potter exercising control over the clay is a great example of divine sovereignty. Nothing in the clay would make a beautiful vessel of itself. The wheels could do nothing except as the feet of the potter worked. They were under complete control of the potter. A poor potter, like myself, can do little with the clay to make much of it. But an experienced potter creates majestically. God is the supreme power of the universe, the ultimate potter.

He is sovereign over all the physical world. He "hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. (Nahum 1:3) Do you ever think about the earth in orbit or the sea rising and falling? During Christ's reign, He exercised control over the physical world by stilling the life-threatening storm on the sea of Galilee. God also declared His sovereignty over Judah. Because Judah disobeyed God, worshipped idols, and desecrated the temple, God said that He would bring desolation upon the land. "I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons: and I will make the cities of Judah desolate without inhabitant." (Jeremiah 9:11) Thirdly, God is sovereign over everyone. We act as if we are in control of our destiny and make plans for 10, 15, or even 30 years. However, each time we read the obituary column, death reminds us that we have little control over our future. "There is no man that hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit, neither hath he power in the day of death" (Ecclesiastes 8:8)

But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. As Jeremiah watched, the potter's expert hands began to mold the clay into a useful vessel, perhaps a cup for drinking. For some reason the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, and the finished product would never meet his high standards. How was the vessel marred? A minute amount of sand in the clay or a hard clump would make it impossible to make a useful vessel.

The clay in this discussion is human clay, capable of ruining the divine plan. Although God is sovereign, He works with free men. Man is free to choose the response he will make to God. Very often we make wrong choices, violate God's laws and become unfit vessels. Sin separates us from God. "Your inequities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that he will not hear" (Isaiah 59:2) Those who practice sin become unfit vessels in God's kingdom. Jeremiah repeatedly pointed out Judah's stubbornness. When Judah refused to hear God's word and practiced the inequities of her forefathers, God warned them of judgement. Judah became an unfit vessel because she willfully and stubbornly refused to obey God's instructions. Our deliberate disobedience can have the same effect upon our lives. Selfishness also can mar our service and witness for the Lord. It can cause us to become calloused and hard hearted to the point of total disregard for others and no compassion for sinners God seeks to reach. Jeremiah's experience at the potters house taught him about God's patience and love. Whenever the developing vessel was marred and failing his high standards, he removed the unfit portion and worked it into something good. The divine potter can make something good of the sorriest clay. Upon a persons repentance, God can rework him or her into a vessel of honor.

Though this parable is meant principally for Judah, God deals similarly with all nations, and all people. Each is given the opportunity to repent and conform to God's purpose. God has called man to turn from their evil ways and to obey His laws. "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3) This is a beautiful passage of scripture. Although Judah was facing exile, God's love never wavered. Nor does His love for us ever waver. He promised to rebuild the nation and make them good vessels again. We must apply God's love in our lives as well. Christ not only died to carry the penlaty for our sins, He also rose from the dead to intercede for us at the throne of God. He desires to be the potter in our lives.. as we are the clay. He desires to mold us into the image of Christ. He desires to make new vessels out of the nation of Somalia and out of each and every life.

Some verses on prayer

Colossians 4:3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

II Thessalonians 1:11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.

II Thessalonians 3:1-2 Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.

I Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone.

Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.

Colossians 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

some encouragement

But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him. Psalm 37:39-40

May God be your strength today. He is your help and your deliverer. Trust in Him for He will not fail you.

Follow

Its interesting that in all of the things the Lord commands us, the common factor is to follow Him. When Jesus called His disciples, He merely told them to come, follow Him. Today, that is His plea for each and every one of us. I think somehow we fail to realize exactly what that means. It is often viewed as bondage rather than the freedom it really is.

Consider it this way: All we have to do is follow where He leads. That's ALL. We dont have to worry about what is to come.. about why events take place or how we will work out this or that.. we just have to abide and trust. Peter walked on water when his eyes were on Jesus. But when he looked at the storm, he began to sink. Fortunately for him (and for us), ALL he had to do was call out to the Lord and Jesus reached out for him. Then together they got on the boat.

I have been thinking about Psalm 40..verses 1-3 NIV says mud and mire, but KJV says clay.. I like that.. clay...I think David chose just the right word.. mud is dirty.. but clay.. you know how clay is.. you cant get it off anything. It is sticky, it is filthy.. it is uncleanable.

David speaks of being in a pit.. in a hole.. with no way out.. not only that.. but in clay... filthy, sticky, uncleanable clay. Quite a predicament.. but the result of nothing but ones own actions, ones own selfish desires, ones own plans and hopes and denial of the Lord's will. So here he is (figuratively of course) in this pit, in this clay.. calling out to the Lord.. not just calling out.. but having to wait patiently.. for the Lord is not to be ordered around.

He waits patiently and the Lord hears his cry, and sets his feet apon a rock.. a rock.. the most solid place. Firm ground. No longer sinking. Life is grand now compared to that miry hole. But thats not all. I'm not sure why NIV leaves this out, but KJV says He "established my goings' He doesn't just take us out of that pit and rescue us from sinking sand. He doesnt just set our feet on firm ground. He goes even farther. He gives us a path to walk.. direction.. so that we will not fall back into that hole. How dumb it would be for us to just stand in that place and never move.. how silly for us to try to find our own way.. he must help us.. He must show us.. He must give us that path.

And I love this.. verse 3.. He put a new song in my mouth.. and many will see and will fear and will trust the Lord.

Have you ever seen someone rescued? People want to know whats going on, they watch, they wait, they hope. It doesnt matter if they know the person or not. People are curious. And any rescue is going to bring at least some cheer for the hero. how wonderful to know that the story of our rescue brings light to our Hero. Many will see and will fear and will trust the Lord.

It is my prayer for you that the story of your rescue would reflect apon your Hero.. and that every individual who crosses your path will be touched by who Christ is in you.

To every Somali who has been rescued by Christ: Keep following Him. Your rescue will be a testimony even to your persecuters.

God will make a way

Time and time again in scripture we see God work out the impossible. The same Lord of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob is the One who calmed the storm, the One who hung on a cross yet rose again on the third day. The same One who made man out of dust, delivered one man from a lions den and three from a fiery furnace and spit another out of the mouth of a giant fish. That same God is our God. The one who walked on water, restored stength to the lame, and made the blind see. He is the One who desires to work wonders in our lives.

No matter what the impossible, He has a plan. Somalia looks hopeless. All of the reports list the country as the "worst" time and time again. Yet amazingly, most of the world knows nothing about what is going on there. But our Father sees possiblity there. He knows the extent of the problems and He has a plan. His heart leaps for the day that the fruit will be ripe on the vine. He is getting ready to move His hand and cause a great harvest. But the workers are few, because so many look at the field and see nothing. Can we possibly doubt our God's power and ability?

Continue to Pray

Father, we know that You are a mighty God and that no obstacle can hinder Your work. It is our desire to be tools in Your hand, to be used as You desire to testify of Your love and grace to unbelievers, to encourage and equip believers, and to function as a body to do Your kingdom's work in all nations. Thank You for the believers that You have raised up in Somalia and for the many who are willing to pray in faith, awaiting the mighty movement that You have promised there. Prepare every individual for what is to come. Lord, even when it seems Your promises are impossible, remind Your children that all things are possible through Christ and You are not a liar. Strengthen the Somali church and the missionaries You are raising up. Provide for the needs--physical and spiritual of each family and place a hedge of protection around them that they might openly testify of who You are in order that the nation will be transformed for Your honor and Your glory. In the precious and holy name of Christ, amen.

Borders can be brought down

The bride of Christ--the church--should not divided by borders between countries. As the apostle Paul wrote to the various local churches, he considered them to be one with him, other believers, and other local groups of believers. Yet today, we seem to forget that believers even exist in other countries. There may be some general prayer for believers elsewhere, but we as a body neglect the specific remembrance, intercession, and unity that is commanded among all believers.

Perhaps the beginning of this negligence is within our own communities. Prayer, one of the most powerful tools we have within the body is often placed on the back burner as church events fill up the calander. This should not be so. It is through prayer that we get to know our Savior more deeply. It is through prayer that we are united in Him. It is through prayer that we can reach across the boundaries. It is through prayer that His hand is moved to transform the world, to make the impossible possible, and to change lives.

Please join us in prayer--first that God would move within you and prepare you. Second that He would move within the local body and teach you. Third that He would move on a worldwide level and use you.

We are to be His hands, His feet, His body...........................................

AAbbahayaga jannada ku jirow

AAbbahayaga jannada ku jirow
Haddaba sitadan u tukada, AAbbahayaga jannada ku jirow, magacaagu qoduus ha ahaado. Boqortooyadaadu ha timaado, doonistaada dhulka ha lagu yeelo sida jannada loogu yeelo. Kibis maalin nagu filan, maanta na sii. Oo naga cafi qaamahayaga sidaannu u cafinnay kuwa noo qaamaysan. Oo jirrabaadda ha noo kaxayn, laakiin sharka naga du. Waayo, boqortooyada iyo xoogga iyo ammaanta adigaa leh weligaa. Aamiin. Matayos, 6:9-13