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Preaching the gospel to myself.


Today, Lord, as I awoke I felt far from you. Thank you for this opportunity to walk by faith, to be reminded that all depends on your unchanging character, not my senses. Although all around me seems barren and brown, the Son of your love is shining into my life.
 
Praise you, Lord, for your great and gracious presence, whether I sense it or not, whether I feel close to you or not, for in your faithfulness you have promised to never leave or forsake me.
Your plan, your power, your purpose, your persistence are the basis of our salvation, not our feelings or will, actions or obedience. I praise you that you have provided all we need for life and godliness and our part is simply to respond in belief.
To you belongs the glory of having prepared all through the sacrifice of Christ;
 
to us belongs the privilege of faith and repentance.
 
To you belongs all honor, glory and worship, for you are the pure, perfect, positive and powerful One who has done all necessary to redeem us;
 
to us belongs the privilege of being invited into your work.
 
Praise for your love of partnership, calling us to join you as you move history to a conclusion; help us to join you consistently in your plans great and small, seeing as many as possible enter your Kingdom.

Picture of partnership: God created the seed, we planted it, He brought the flowers!

May be an image of flower and nature

More from the Add-on Eskimo

 
“One thing they prayed for was that God would send another missionary like Mr. Campbell to help them. Finally, in 1934 the answer to their prayer arrived on their shore. A US Coast Guard cutter came by for a visit and had on board a nurse, named Ann Bannan. She was actually headed to a different village, but when she came ashore with the sailors, and met some of the Christians who told her of their prayer for another missionary, she took this as God’s calling and decided to stay.
 
“She was known as the praying nurse and stayed eight years, leaving only because the US government told her had to leave in 1942 because of the danger of a Japanese invasion of the island.
 
“She entered into the social fabric of the village, caring for medical needs, comforting and encouraging people. She especially supported the little prayer band of men who had prayed her to the Island. One non-Christian researcher said she was, ‘remarkably effective.’
 
“Around 1940 the Yukon Presbytery sent a pastor to baptize the believers in Sivukuk and Savoonga, and to form an official church in each village.
 
“This was followed by several spectacular conversions. In one case, a hunter was out alone when a severe storm descended on him. He was disoriented and cried out to Jesus for help. Shortly thereafter he stumbled upon an old trapping cabin and spent two days there waiting out the storm.
 
“When the storm was over, men from his village came out to search for him, expecting to find him dead, but he was very much alive. Crediting Jesus for his survival, he surrendered himself to God, accepting Jesus as his Savior.”
 
“So, he was saved twice! Once in the storm and once for eternity!” said the teacher.
 
Ayit smiled and continued his story, “In another case an older man died. They had to wait three days for his brother to arrive before they could bury him. And a good thing, for on the third day he came back to life!”
 
“What?!” said the teacher. “Is that possible?”
 
“It must be possible because it happened,” replied Ayit. “After coming to life again, this man told all that he had experienced after dying. At first, he was unconscious, but then he woke up outside the house. It was night and all was very calm with no wind, only a few stars for light.
 
“He said he walked along and came to a river. Someone ferried him across, and when he got to the other side the grass was very tall, not at all like the stunted grass of the tundra. There in front of him were two paths, one wide and hard-packed, one narrow. He chose the narrow one, and as he was walking along, he met his deceased aunt.
 
“‘Come,’ she said, ‘you are not going to reach the light now. You are going back where you came from.’ She turned him around and took him back to the river, which had shrunken to a small creek.
 
“When they got to his house, there was his body lying there, but it was very dirty, in fact filthy.
 
“‘You need to raise your hands to heaven and pray to Jesus so he will save you and you will no longer be filthy!’ said his aunt, then added, ‘You will come back to life, then after five years you will die for good.’
 
“And, so it came to pass. The man surrendered himself to Christ and walked with him the next five years until his second death.”
“That’s a true miracle, just like what Jesus did,” the teacher commented.
 
“That’s because Jesus did it,” said Ayit. “Another man named Wongitil was at summer camp in 1940 when his son became very sick with whooping cough. The boy kept telling his father that Jesus would heal him. And he was healed! That impressed his father greatly.
 
“On the same day Wongitil lost his dogs and searched for them, but in vain. Then he had a dream in which he went to the top of a small mountain, and there he saw a verse, 1 Peter 3:9, ‘Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.’
 
“The next night he had another dream in which he had gathered his family around him in a circle. He had his Bible in his hand and planned to read to his family and have them all pray together.
“Suddenly he heard a voice behind him, ‘You are now a Christian. Your fellow Christians will come and help you!’ The next day he left to go to Sivukuk and on the way met three other dog teams which were coming to help him. What the voice had said came true! Wongitil concluded his story by saying, ‘From that time on I always trust the Lord!’”
 
“Those are really impressive stories,” the teacher said, “Tell me, for you Eskimos, how was the New Way of Jesus different from the old way?”
 
Ayit smiled, “Let me answer that with what happened some years later when an anthropologist came to Sivukuk and sat with a group of us older men.”
To be continued….
 
Picture: Eskimo hunter like the one caught in a great storm
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Psalm 36:2

Psalm 36:12 “See how the evildoers lie fallen—thrown down, not able to rise!”
[Righteousness will rule, evil will be vanquished: eternity will have only holiness, goodness and purity.
 
As David wrote in Psalm 18 “The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me. Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.”
 
The lion will lie down with the lamb, for all wickedness will be locked up in hell, unable to come out and influence the rest of the universe, as it has for so long.
You, Lord Jesus, are the conqueror, the King, the Ruler, the Lord of all. To you be glory and honor forever.
 
May we live a life worthy of you today, obeying what we know to be true, Amen.
 
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Psalm 36:10-11

Psalm 36:10 “Continue your love to those who know you,”
[I praise you, Lord God, that you are love and therefore can never not love. I am so glad to be your son, chosen in love before the foundation of the world, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, rescued from the kingdom of darkness, accepted in the Kingdom of Light, adopted into your family, and brought out into a wide place. You delighted in me—not because of any quality of my own, but because you are Love itself.
And your love will continue throughout eternity, without end, without interruption, without diminishing. I praise you for your beautiful, majestic, magnificent character, founded on love, marvelous in balance and harmony, eternally perfect.]
“continue…your righteousness to the upright in heart.”
[You are the only Righteous One, O Lord. I praise you that your righteousness is unending, unrelenting and uninterruptable. Praise you that your always act in righteousness, in integrity, in purity, and that you have imputed your righteousness to your children.]
Psalm 36:11 “May the foot of the proud not come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.”
[Yes, Lord, as we remain in the shadow of the Almighty, we are protected from the evil one and evil people. We may suffer persecution and difficulty, but you allow these as a way of growth, a way of witness and a way to honor you as we triumph over the world in faith. Praise you for the powerful and good working of your hands.]
Help me to live daily in the light of these truths, in the shelter of your character.
May be an image of flower, nature and grass

Psalm 36:8-9

Psalm 36:8 “…the high and low among men…feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.’
[Even in the midst of difficulty, we can eat and drink of your marvelous provisions—but we must choose to do so. You offer us so much on the spiritual side (love, joy, peace, grace, goodness, hope, purpose, wisdom and power), on the relational side (family, church family, friends) and the physical side (bodies that work pretty well, home, food, bed, warmth, water). You call on us to open wide and receive your gifts, to note and give thanks for them. You are our Source of all, you are the Provider of all. Praise you that you are the abundant, loving, giving God, the reason for all our delight.]
Psalm 36:9 “For with you is the fountain of life;”
[Without you there is only death, destruction, damage and decay. As we come to you and surrender, we are made alive, brought into a river of vibrant life that flows from the fountain of your grace and the well of your Word.
This life continually grows ever more rich, deep, wonderful and abundant as we see more and more of your great and gracious character. This leads us to love you more and more in response to knowing your love that surpasses knowledge as we note God sightings, offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and dwell in your Word.
“in your light we see light.”
[To know you is to begin to really see, and the more we walk into the light of your presence and power through worship and obedience, the more we can know and understand. “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining on ever more brightly til the full light of day” (Prov. 4:18).
You are the Revealer, the Teacher, the Guide and Protector. From you flows all revelation and insight. With you we are continually seeing more and more treasures in your Word, in your work, in your way. Praise you for the clarity, the vision, the insight and understanding you bring.]
I praise you, Lord God, my Heavenly Father, that you are so loving to us, taking us now (2010) through this team conflict, a difficult, hard, trying, painful, unpleasant, distressing time. On the human side, it is because of the stubbornness of those involved; on the spiritual side, it is because you are bringing pressure to bear on all of us to grow and deepen, to trust and offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
I praise you now for how you are going to work this out, for you are the Fountain of life, the Light of wisdom and the God of abundant grace. Therefore, we choose to trust you, praise you and submit to you with all our hearts. Guide us today in living disciplined and wise lives so that more and more honor may flow from us to you. Amen.
 
May be an image of African daisy and nature

More from my autobio

Chapter 41  Return Home
 
At the end of the summer the last members of the team piled into the VW bus and we headed back to Belgium. Our bus was much the worse for wear and its starter had given out, so we had to push it to get it going.
 
We drove through the night because trip was a slow one for, by OM’s safety rules, we were not allowed to go over 80 kilometers an hour (50 miles an hour), even on the Autobahn, where there is no speed limit. We reached Cologne early in the morning and went to the train station to drop off several of our team members. At this point I was the only male in the group, besides Josh, and was the only driver left.
 
When we got ready to leave the train station, all the girls were out pushing the bus to start it while I sat in the driver’s seat. I assure you that the looks I got from the Germans were not approving ones!
 
As we approached our base in Belgium, the van’s motor began running more and more roughly, and just as we pulled into the yard it quit! We were so thankful the Lord brought us back safely.  Another God sighting!
 
After the rest of the teams had gathered from all over Europe, we Americans were taken to the airport and put on our charter flight back to JFK. Here God had two important conversations awaiting us during the trip.
 
I was pleased to find that the person assigned the seat next to me was one of my roommates from the training session, one who had gone to the country on our hearts for the summer. It was no accident that out of over three hundred passengers, this fellow was given the seat next to me. God was at work.
 
My seatmate told me tales of midnight distribution of tracts on doorsteps, of their van rolling over, of a poor farmer who was so eager to get a New Testament, of the spiritual poverty and the strong opposition.
 
 I was deeply impressed by all that he was sharing, especially with it coming on the heels of my encounter with the Middle Eastern woman who had refused a book, along with having received the indication that we would be on the field in three years.
 
Another passenger on the plane was a former classmate of Barbara’s from her Bible school. This woman was returning from Iran with her new American husband to join a group and return to Iran. She told Barbara all about this group, IMI, that worked in the ME,. and gave her the address.
 
 When we arrived in Canterbury, we were exhausted from all of the pressures and difficulties of the summer, the lack of sleep and the long trip back. One nice welcome home gift was that as soon as we put little Josh into his own bed, he slept through the night. It was good to be home!
 
We took our next steps right away, contacting IMI and made a trip down to their office in New Jersey.  We learned that they didn’t have a team in the country on our hearts, (which we will call”Narnia”), but that it would be possible to join the a team in a neighboring country and work with Narnians living in Western part. So we made that our goal. Over the next months we completed our application for IMI and began reading more about Narnia and the neighboring country.

Picture: Josh helping me sell books in Austria

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Psalm 37:6c

 
“…he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.” Psalm 36:7c
 
[Lord, help me to stay spiritually nimble, to be able to move ahead, to climb these intimidating heights, to be obedient to the Truth that you have given us. May you be our Ruler in the difficult situation before me. Answer my pleas according to your righteousness, according to your wisdom, according to your graciousness and your Love.
For the sake of your Name, for the sake of your church, for the sake of your glory, please intervene. Bring us all to our knees, to see our sin, to be humble before you, to be broken, to stop trusting in ourselves and to start listening to you.
 
Bring the breakthroughs needed, Lord. And I thank you now for what you will do. Help me to leave this with you, to rest in you, to be content in you, Lord.
Praise be to you, Lord, for your consistent guidance and direction. I praise you, Heavenly Father, that you are my Rock and Refuge, that you, Lord Jesus, are my Shepherd and Salvation, that you, Holy Spirit, are my Tutor and Teacher. I praise you that, according to your plan, you will lead me through this disquieting, distressing time.
Praise you, Lord Jesus that you are the Way, the Truth and the Life, that you are the Light of my life, that you are unswervingly, unendingly, unchangingly at work drawing us on to do what is right and good and positive.
 
Please move us all forward through this time of trouble. I praise you, Lord, for what you are doing and what you will do, you who are my Fortress, my Salvation, and my Stronghold.
May be an image of nature, ocean and sky

Psalm 36:7b

 
Psalm 36:7b “Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
[Lord, I come to you to find refuge in the midst of the difficult interpersonal conflict going on among my fellow workers (written in 2010). I come to find hope and help in the shadow of your mighty, protecting Wings.
 
In every situation I choose with Habakkuk to, “rejoice in the LORD, to be joyful in God my Savior” (3:18). There is no other source of help, there is no other refuge, there is no other way.
“The Sovereign LORD is my strength;”
[You, Lord, are awesomely powerful, while I am appallingly weak–powerless and frustrated in many situations. I cannot get people to budge from their destructive, self-defensive delusions. Only you can do this Lord; you are my strength, making up for my lack. And I chose to join your strength through prayer.]
“…he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.”
[Lord, help me to stay spiritually nimble, to be able to move ahead, to climb these intimidating heights, to be obedient to the Truth that you have given us.
 
May you be my over Ruler in the difficult situation before me. Answer my pleas according to your righteousness, according to your wisdom, according to your graciousness and your Love. As only you can do. I praise you now for how you will help me in all this.
 
May be an image of lake, tree, twilight, sky and nature

Little things

There is great power in small things repeated often, for good or bad. For instance, flossing your teeth every day can result in having your teeth the whole of your life. Or, eating extra desserts every day can bring on a multitude of problems.
 
Tonight we had a thunderstorm with some strong winds. Several smaller trees were blown down into our road, although none of them took any lines down.
 
I commented to Barbara that pressures reveal weaknesses in trees and in people. Failure to strengthen ourselves in the small things of life can result in being “blown over” when the winds of difficulty come.
 
On one of our prayer walks (which we do 6 days a week), we saw a tree that had been blown down in a recent storm. The trunk looked healthy, but as we walked along and got to the place where it broke, we could look right into it because the inside was completely rotted, with only a thin shell of bark holding it together (see picture). It didn’t take much to knock it down even though it was a big tree.
 
This illustrates the lives of many believers who faithfully go to church and are involved in activities, but fail to feed themselves spiritually. I know this is so because I ask often, “How’s your quiet time?” And many admit it is sporadic at best. Not spending time with God daily is repeating something that brings harm.
 
In reading through Proverbs I came to Chapter 8 which is about wisdom. In verses 33-36 it says, “Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it. Blessed are those who LISTEN to me, watching DAILY at my doors, waiting at my doorway.” Note that is watching daily, listening to wisdom’s instruction every day.
 
The result? “For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD.”
 
And the opposite is true for those who do not spend time in God’s word, nurturing their first love for Jesus, “But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death.” If we love wisdom we will immerse ourselves in it every day.
 
Guilt is not enough to lead us to a regular quiet time; love of God, finding joy in Him, valuing what he values–these will lead us to daily repetition of delving into His Word, listening to Him, learning to think His thoughts.
 
So, let’s make a commitment to not be like this tree, and instead to nurture our first love for Jesus, to have ongoing revival and to make consistent worldview shifts to line up with His Word.
May be an image of nature and tree

(Untitled)

More from the Add-on Eskimo.
 
Ayit continued in his telling of the spiritual history of the island. All of what he said actually happened and is documented.
 
“After making his decision, Nungwok said to himself, ‘I must find others to join me in being a Christian.’ So, he went first to his friend Tonkuk and told how he had become a Christian, encouraging him to accept Christ, too.
 
“When Tonkuk also declared he would follow Jesus, the two of them went to a third man, who had at one time declared for Jesus, but then returned to the old ways. He, too, at their urging, surrendered again to Christ.
 
“The three began to meet regularly to pray for others in the village to come to Christ. After a time, they began going from house to house encouraging people to follow Jesus, and many did become Christians.
 
“However, one man, Sigrut, who said he was a Christian, began to teach that he was the one who could forgive sins. He said the people had to make an offering of a snow bunting bird and a baby walrus to him and then he would forgive their sins.
 
“Nungwook rejected this man’s teaching. “‘No,’ he said, ‘I have already become a Christian. I have seen the power of Jesus as he healed my son’s blindness. I know that Jesus is my Savior, he died and rose again so that anyone who believes in him would have eternal life! I do not need someone else to forgive me!’
 
“When Sigrut heard this, he was convicted of his own sinfulness. He began to follow Nungwook around and eventually understood the forgiveness Christ offered and became a genuine Christian.
 
“During this time, another powerful shaman named Tinkit heard about Jesus and His good news but resisted it. He had much power from the spirits and did not want to give this up. Then one night he had a dream in which he was in labor and delivered a baby. But the baby was very dirty, and this bothered him.”
 
“That would certainly bother me!” commented the teacher. Ayit nodded.
 
“So Tinkit went to one of Christian leaders in Sivukuk and told him about the dream.
 
“‘This black baby is your spirit, Tinkit,’ the man told him. ‘It is dirty, unclean, evil. You have had much power from the devil. Now you need to turn to Jesus so he can cleanse you of your evil spirits and sin.’ And Tinkit did just that, giving up his demonic powers for the greater power of Jesus.”
 
“That is simply amazing,” said the teacher, “I’ve never heard of anything like that!”
 
Ayit smiled and went on, “Another shaman, Ayaktan, was strongly opposed to Christianity, but Nungwook and the others of the prayer band shared with him, even when he refused to listen. His son, however, became a believer, and when a missionary from the mainland came to baptize the believers, he asked his father to also be baptized.
 
“Aykatan agreed, not understanding what this meant and was baptized. But, for the next two nights, he was restless, unable to sleep, thinking about his baptism.
 
“The third day Nungwook went to visit him and found him with a Bible open on his lap and the pages were glowing.
 
“‘Please read this to me,’ he asked, ‘I don’t know how to read.’ Nungwook read him some passages for which Ayaktan was thankful.
“A few days later he came to visit Nungwook and told him of a dream in which he also had had a baby and the baby was very dirty. “‘What does this mean, Nunwook?’
 
“‘This baby is your spirit, Ayaktan, it is dirty. God can never accept it. You must throw away this baby and accept Jesus in its place. He will cleanse you and forgive you.’ Ayaktan was very thoughtful after hearing this. He did not submit to Jesus right away, but later went to Nungwook to tell him that he had become a Christian.
 
“So, these people carried on the faith and God moved supernaturally to empower their efforts. They added to their faith knowledge, as some of the Bible was now translated into their language. They added self-control, meeting regularly, praying for the village, sharing about Jesus.
 
“They also added endurance, as some strongly rejected their witness. They just kept on praying and sharing. They also added godliness, thinking in biblical terms in their difficulties. They added brotherly kindness, serving as examples of generosity and helpfulness. And they added God’s love in continuing to reach out to neighbors like Ayaktan. They were following in Okfagit’s eample of being “Add-on Eskimos.”

Picture: Ayit’s wife, Tianna in 1968; Ayit is in the background

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