Today was one of the most moving times of worship I’ve experienced and one of the most encouraging times of ministry in my life. Tears kept streaming down my face as these believers sang so passionately of Yahweh who is great. I felt a foretaste of heaven’s worship with every tribe and tongue and the roof was raised toward heaven along with my spirit as they lifted up the name of Jesus (the repeated refrain of the other song in French). This building that is probably 20 feet x 50 feet sounded like it was filled with hundreds of worshippers singing. Knowing and hearing testimonies of these saints makes their worship and fellowship only sweeter and deeper, despite the language barrier.
One girl was taking IV treatment for malaria in the morning and was in evident pain in the afternoon, but was there and stayed for the 2-hour choir practice after a long day of teaching. Most in the room had been in this building for 20-30 hours this last week and their attentiveness and affection for the Lord is both an encouragement and exhortation to my soul that has needed stirring. I told them I came to minister to them but didn’t anticipate how much they would minister to me.
This week’s teaching theme is The Christian Life and the Family. Today for the first session I taught on scripture and prayer, living by scripture in Psalm 1 and Psalm 119 and praying scripture (ex: v. 18, 27, 25, 36-37, etc). Don Whitney’s seminar he did at GCBC years ago on praying scripture was the pattern I used, including stopping for 10 minutes of application (praying a psalms). and then sharing testimonies of the experience. Probably a dozen people wanted to share what they learned and how this teaching and practice is changing them. One young man stood up to confess sin and how the words of Psalm 1 convicted him about his friends and the path of life he was following. Another confessed he was busy with the things of church but was spiritually dry like 119:25 and was encouraged that God is giving him life as he prayed that. One woman from another church stood up to say she sees how important it is that everything is connected to scripture but she doesn’t see that in her church (pray for her). Pray also for a man in the front row who is a part of a cult but has now come 3 days and wants to bring his wife Wednesday.
The teaching is translated into French and Swahili
Below is the teaching schedule for Week 2 for your prayers. The 2nd week won’t go into the afternoon. The format will be 9:30-12:00 teaching, brief break, then Q&A from 12:00-1:00, then done for the day. Lunch will be provided for all attendees but Didier insists he take me out to lunch to get me “American food my stomach is used to” :)
The attendees are expected to be most of the same from last week but it’s open to any in the church and guests from last week. The theme is The Christian Life and the Family. Some of the topics changed from the original list at his request. It’s good for me to be flexible and adapting to the Spirit’s leading and people’s needs. Here is the new schedule day by day for your prayers:
Monday - Scripture and Prayer (and how to pray scripture like Don Whitney taught us)
Tuesday - Healing, Deliverance Ministries, and Repentance
Wednesday - God’s Plan for Women
Thursday - God’s Plan for Men
Friday - God’s Plan for the Family
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