God at Work in Haiti

Below is the content of an email I received. (Copied "as is" with only highlighting added.)

Yes, God is at work in Haiti!

One thing that should be noted is this statement: "What has been happening and is continuing to happen in Haiti did not happen because of the earthquake. It has been happening because the Haitian people know how to pray." God has been setting the stage for a massive move of His Spirit in Haiti.

The earthquake was not "an act of God" but rather the result of nature in a fallen world.

Yet God is always seeking to bring beauty from ashes & good from destruction and devastation. God is a Restorer ... starting with wanting to restore relationship with each individual.

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

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For centuries, Haiti has been one of the darkest nations in the world - full of voodoo and witchcraft - even at the highest levels of government. But now - look at this!!

ARTICLE and YOUTUBE VIDEO BELOW-

AMAZING MIRACLE in HAITI

Jerry Miel is a good friend and radio engineer who served as a missionary in Haiti with World Team mission when we lived there. He worked with the Christian station, Radio Lumiere (Radio Light). He has gone back to Haiti to help in the aftermath of the earthquake and makes these important observations. -- Boxley

IN INCREDIBLE DAY in the HISTORY OF HAITI -by Jerry Miel (Feb 17).

I think that I will remember this day as one of the most significant in my life, not because of what I did, but for it's meaning...

Today was the one month anniversary of the great Haitian earthquake.

About 3 days ago the Haitian President announced that there would be 3 days of holiday from work for the purpose of fasting and prayer. This is absolutely historic. If you have ever been in Haiti as a visitor or missionary, could you ever have imagined such a pronouncement? Could you image such an announcement from the U.S. President? This morning I saw a young Haitian- American woman, the leader of a work team, crying because the Americans could not understand the incredible importance of this day and wanted to go about business as usual. Remember, it was only about 6 years ago that a former Haitian president called the nation to come together to rededicate the nation to Satan.

This was not "a minute of silence for the deceased" or something as equally insignificant. Whatever the President might have originally intended, this became a real commitment for the Haitian people. As I sit here this evening, I can hear the preaching coming from a nearby church. Services have been going on all day...

Let me tell you what I saw and felt today.

Peniel and I had planned an inspection trip up to the Artibonite Valley today. Right or wrong, I don't really know, but since it was the only opportunity, we went ahead with the trip. As we left the guest house about 7:30 am, we were met by throngs of well dressed people headed to various churches. The sounds of Christian music and worship filled the air everywhere. The next observation was that there was NO traffic. Port-au-Prince streets are always clogged and overflowing with bumper to bumper traffic.

This morning there were only a few vehicles on the roads, a few small buses (tap taps), some UN and military vehicles, and a few private cars. We had clear sailing through town. The same was true of foot traffic. Usually the streets are clogged also with people walking. Today there were only a few and many of them dressed for church. The only place that there were traffic blocks was in front of several churches where the congregations had overflowed the buildings and the yards and had moved out into the streets as well.

The next observation was that EVERYTHING was closed! We could not find even one business or gas station open. There were no intercity buses running. Whereas the sidewalks are usually overflowing with millions of street venders, we only saw a few here and there. The huge outdoor market near the wharf where thousands work each day and is spread out to cover most of the street, was EMPTY.

Where were all the people? They were in churches and makeshift meeting sites. Every church (except a JW church) had services going on, almost always overflowing into the streets. Beside broken down churches, services were taking place outside. In homeless camps, there were services. Everywhere the nation was gathered to worship and pray. No, I did not see any voodoo, Islamic, or Buddhist services. This scene was repeated in every town and hamlet that we passed during the day.

Tonight, Pastor Ignace, who is sharing the room with me, asked this question: "Can people still say that Haiti is a voodoo country?" What has been happening and is continuing to happen in Haiti did not happen because of the earthquake. It has been happening because the Haitian people know how to pray. This is a tremendous outpouring of God's power as the result of prayer. Twenty years ago I started praying for the Gospel to change the Haitian culture. I think that I am seeing God do that work.

The only sadness that I feel today is for our nation. While a nation that has long been under Satan's domination is turning to God with total commitment, our nation, founded on Godly values has rejected God and is rapidly trying to forget that his name even exists. Let us pray for revival.


4-MIN VIDEO of HAITI DAYS of PRAYER-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30rWm84z-zg

God bless you all!

--
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Andrew Strom

Make Sure Your Service is True Worship

The events recorded in 2 Kings 23 recently caught my attention. It is the story of what King Josiah did during his reign.

2 Kings 22:1-2 tells us:

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; ... He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left.

From this we know that Josiah not only loved God, but he "did right" in God's sight. May we all have that same report recorded about our lives!

Let me summarize the story of his reign...

1. Josiah ordered that the house of the Lord be repaired and restored. During that process, "the book of the law" (Deuteronomy 28) was found. The high priest sent it with one of the scribes to be read to Josiah.

2. Josiah listened to the word of the Lord concerning His covenant with the people of Israel - what they were and were not supposed to do. He realized they were doing the things that were forbidden and not doing the things they were supposed to do.

3. Josiah responds to the situation immediately with both repentance and action to correct the situation. He calls the people together, reads the book of the law to them, and publicly recommits to the conditions of the covenant; the people join him in that commitment.

4. Then Josiah sets out immediately "righting the wrongs." He removes all the places set up for worship to false gods and destroys things that have been made for or dedicated to them, including the horses and chariots dedicated to the sun god. He also got rid of at least some of the priests for these gods as well as the mediums and spiritists.

5. Then, he reinstituted the Passover celebration.

2 Kings 23:25 says this about King Josiah:

Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.

Josiah kept his commitment to live by the laws of the covenant that God had made with their forefathers at Gerizim.

But here's what caught my attention ...

In the long list of all that Josiah had destroyed (2 Kings 23:4-21), we find one rather interesting item. He torn down "the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made."To understand this, we have to look back at 1 Kings 12.

When Jeroboam came to power it was at the cost of splitting the nation of Israel into two nations - Judah, over which Rehoboam reigned as king, and Israel, over which Jeroboam reigned. [It might be noted that the door was opened for this split because of the excessively high taxes that Rehoboam was levying against the people. Unfair tax burdens placed on the people will always cause them to look for a change in leadership!] Since Jerusalem was in Judah, Jeroboam was concerned that if the people had to go to Jerusalem to keep the feasts, they may not remain loyal to him. So, he had two gold calves built and put one in Bethel and one in Dan. He instructed the people to come to those locations and offer their sacrifices on these false altars instead of going to the temple in Jerusalem and allowing the true priests to offer their sacrifices on the true altar of God. Hence, he "made Israel sin" by providing them false altars at these locations and instituting substitute days of celebration to worship and offer sacrifices in these locations rather than at the place required by God - all under the guise of "making it better for the people."

In the midst of tearing down the Asherahs and other places of sacrifice and worship to false gods and destroying anything dedicated to them, Josiah makes sure to also tear down the false altar erected by King Jeroboam for the people to make substitute sacrifice offerings to the true God.

Here's the point ...

We must not only deal with the altars and worship of false gods, we must also deal with the false altars and false worship of the true God.

What am I saying?

Those of us who are truly born-again Christians, believers in and followers of Jesus Christ, would not go and offer a sacrifice or worship at the altar of a false god. We would not offer incense to Baal; burn our babies in the arms of an image of Molech; or even worship the sun, moon, or stars.

Yet, I began to ponder how many false altars we have set up where we are offering substitute sacrifices of worship, believing that to be service to the true God that we claim to worship and serve.

What do I mean? I'm talking about any "act of worship" that we are doing out of ritual or out or pressure instead of truly out of our heart. You know, things like ...

· those Sunday mornings when we "sing the songs" but our spirit really never enters into a communion and worship of our Lord.

· those responsibilities we take on "at the church" or "for the pastor" or some other spiritual leader or authority in our lives "because someone needs to do them" and, after all, we have to "prove" our servanthood.

· the meetings we attend (be they regular, weekly meetings or special events) not because we have the heart (or maybe even the time!) to go, but because we know "how it will look" if we don't.

· molding ourselves into a form that is just not us - not our gifting, not our call, not what God has asked us to be or do - in order to meet the expectations of leadership or to try to "fit in" and "find our place."

Let me quickly bring the balance point. I am not against Sunday morning services or the worship time within our services. I am not against taking on responsibilities within a local congregation or other ministry. I am not against meeting together. Nor am I against becoming "all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some." (1 Corinthians 9:22) All of these have their rightful place. I am for all of them – in that rightful place.

What I am trying to point out is not the action as much as the attitude or motivation behind it. In Matthew 5:27-28, Jesus "ups the ante." Sin is no longer just about our action, but now it is a matter of our heart.

"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY'; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

Under the new covenant with Jesus as our sacrificial Lamb and grace and mercy abounding towards us, we no longer have to offer animal sacrifices for our sin. However, sin is also no longer judged simply by what we act out (our actions); it is now judged by our thoughts and attitudes.

When we go to a worship service out of some sense of duty or the fear of man (what they will say if we don't go) or we serve in a certain capacity or assignment for the same reason, we need to do a heart check. Are you doing this activity in true worship of our Lord - or to please (or appease) someone else.

I know there are times that all of us do things that are not the things that would be our first choice. There are times we teach a class or lead a group that is not our ultimate call or the thing at which we are most gifted, but it is part of training and service to the Lord as we grow. That is appropriate. But, the key is: “service to the Lord.”

Nor am I talking about refusing to help clean the ministry building. I've vacuumed, mopped and waxed the floors, cleaned the toilets (cleaned up from over-flowing toilets, even repaired the toilets), and more. I'm not talking about an excuse to be too holy to do anything practical.

What I am talking about is either bowing to fear of man and doing things because of "how it will look" if you say "no" or allowing ourselves to be manipulated into doing something that is not coming freely from our heart. Neither of those if proper motivation for doing anything - even if it is an act of service in some way.

We don't want to find ourselves like those Jesus rebuked in Matthew 15:7-9:

"You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"

Let's be careful that we do what we do out of a pure heart of worship - and that we know why we do it. Some leaders have done as Jeroboam did and provided a "place" for our "service to God" that is not the place God ordained for us. There were those in Jeroboam's day who recognized the substitute and would not succumb to the "convenience." They paid the price to do what was required by God. May we be as astute and as committed to serving God whole heartedly.

May we not be like Amaziah who “did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart” (2 Chronicles 25:2). Instead, may we heed David’s admonition to his son and soon successor, Solomon, in 1 Chronicles 28:9 (emphasis added):

As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

May we seek and find Him. And may always remember Paul’s admonition to us in Colossians 3:23-24.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Regardless of what you do, make sure you are doing it for Him!