7th Trip To Bogota, January 2011 Day 3

After breakfast this morning, before the devotion, we opened the floor for sharing about what God was doing in the hearts of the team. Several spoke up and their were tears and some wonderful stories of “Sacred Moments of Grace” as we have spent two days now in the fields of the fatherless.

The P from the ministry of Jesus that we looked at this morning was Power. Sometimes we think that we cannot imitate the ministry of Jesus because He was God in human flesh and to a degree of course this is true. He was the messiah. We are not. However we err if we think that we have to do ministry without the power that Jesus had because His power was from the Holy Spirit and He promised to give us the same Holy Spirit and the same power.

Remember when Jesus came back to His home town of Nazareth and they asked Him to read the scripture in the synagogue? The passage that He opened to was Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;” Jesus power on earth came from an anointing of the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:38 says, “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

But was that power only for Jesus? Or can we, in asking Jesus to come and live His life through us, expect to have His power as well. Jesus told us in Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” and again in Luke 24:49 “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Indeed, we need not only Jesus presence and passion but we need His power also. As we minister today in the orphanages and we see the seemingly endless needs and feel the weight of actually making a lasting diffference in the lives of these children let us cry out to God in our spirits to give us that anointing afresh. To work through us and to anoint our lips and also the ears of the hearers. Shine through our smiles, our hugs, our kisses, our words with supernatural power. Bring life where there is death. Bring light where there is darkness. 1Cor. 2:4 “and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” 1Cor. 4:19 “But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.” 1Th. 1:5 “for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.”

Then I assured the team that though we are tired, we don’t speak the language very well if at all, some of us are sick, and we all generally feel a helplessness and weakness to really do anything lasting here, that weakness is exactly what qualifies us to have His power. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Opposite of how the world thinks, God’s power is perfected in weakness. 2Cor. 12:9 “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” 2Cor. 4:7 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;”

We prayed and headed out to Amparo De Ninos in Madrid for a day of love and ministry to 100 boys ages 7 to 20.

A personal blessing to me today was sitting on the bus with my dear brother Shoby John and hearing stories about his family in India. Many brought tears to my eyes and put a longing in my heart to do more for the Lord. Great preparation for a day with God’s little lambs.

Amparo De Ninos is housed in a beautiful old monastery out in the country. The bridge was out so we had to park the bus and walk to the orphanage. As the little boys started pouring out of the gates to meet us I had a moment of Dejavu. The first little boy to come out and greet me today was Diego. He is the first little boy who greeted my daughter Beverly and me at this same institution on the first day of our first visit to Colombia almost two years ago. He was so glad to see us. They led us into the cafeteria and we gathered in a big circle around the room and each team member and then each boy introduced themselves and then it was time for lunch. After lunch we went out to the beautiful green fields surrounding the orphanage and played soccer, American football, frisbee, and many other games. Our team gathered and brought all of the sports equipment and games and we left them with the boys. My girls and I really enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and making many new ones. It was a delight to see the director of the orphanage, Magnolia, again. We met in her office for an hour or so and she told me that everyone of the 100 boys there are ready for Padrinos (Godparents) and/or adoptable. She pleaded with me to keep coming back and to tell everyone about Amparo and try to bring as many people as we can to adopt her boys. Then she grabbed my arm and said, “Matt, when is Orphan Hope going to have a vacation program for MY boys?” I promised her that we would look into it and try to help her and the boys as much as we could. It broke my heart to see how desperate she was for us to help them.

As the afternoon waned we gathered the boys together. Half of them (14-20 years of age) gathered in the chapel with Nep and us men and the little boys met upstairs with Dona and the ladies. The ladies shared the gospel with the little boys and gave each of them a Bible. Nep had a serious man to man talk with the older boys. It was awesome. He challenged them to follow Christ and to be good men. To find their identity as a good man who respects other men, women, authority, stays away from drugs and violence, and is kind to the younger boys in the institution. He dealt with all of the temptations and struggles that young men face without pulling any punches and God was stirring many hearts. As I listened from the back and watched the boys I began to feel a stirring in my soul that I should share my testimony and specifically the verse of scripture that God used to convict my heart and bring me to Himself, Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death.” I resisted for awhile feeling that I shouldn’t inject myself into the message but the feeling got stronger and stronger. Finally there was a long pause like Nep was waiting for the Lord to give him the next thing to say. I knew this was for me and I spoke up and asked Nep if I could share and would he translate and he eagerly said yes. I told the boys how 28 years ago I was a 16 year old young man sitting in a chapel very similar to this one and listening to a message very similar to this one and I was not at all interested until I heard that verse and that verse went straight to my heart like an arrow. I realized in that moment that I could be wrong and that the man giving the message could be right. My way could be the way of death and God’s way could be the way of life. I shared with them how I decided that night to follow God’s way and that 28 years later I am still walking with Him and His way truly is the way of LIFE! Nep then invited the young men to bow their heads and close their eyes and he asked me to lead those who were serious and wanted to choose God’s way in a prayer and he would translate. We prayed then and asked God to come and convict, cleanse, change, and walk with these young men for the rest of their lives. One of the men who came forward and prayed was a university professor who was there helping the boys with their education. After the prayer we gave each of them a Bible and a Spanish/English dictionary. They were elated. Later as I was snapping photos of the crownd, one of the older boys jumped in front of my camera with a big smile and placed his new Bible over his heart waiting for me to take his picture. It moved me to tears. We quickly hugged our many friends goodbye and headed to the bus. Some of the little boys followed us all the way to the bridge before turning back with a last wave. Another miraculous day in the fields of the fatherless.