Pray for Mark

Our middle son Mark is a captain in the Army and has just been deployed to Iraq for the third time. He is just north of Baghdad now going through some training, but will be stationed in northern Iraq and will be involved in training the Iraqi army.

The picture is Mark saying goodbye to his son Nathan (our first grandson). Please keep Mark, Nadine and Nate in your prayers during the 15 months that he is gone.

Thoughts on Prayer

Still not a whole lot to report on other than we have been spending the past couple of days in prayer. I would like to share some thoughts I had from my prayer time this morning.

I was reading II Chron. 7:14 which is a very familiar passage to most of us, I'm sure ("If my people who are called by My name will hunble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."). As I was reading I realized how we often take this verse as a promise from God without considering the context. This verse really is a response from God to the dedication of the temple and to Solomon's prayer in chapters 5-6. When the nation of Israel came together in united worship and built a dwelling place for God, He responded by promising His presence and to hear their prayers (7:12-16).

We often take this verse by itself and say that if we will just pray and seek God, He will respond and bring revival to our community. However, I believe that the key to seeing 7:14 come to pass is by doing what Israel did in chapters 5-7:11. 1) It is essential that the people of God in a community come together in united praise (5:11-14). 2) That they are willing to pay the price of sacrificing their own lives, agendas, purposes, etc. for the Kingdom of God (7:4-5; compare Rom. 12:1; Matt. 6:33): to put the needs and concerns of other individuals and churches ahead of their own. This is costly, but a necessary part in humbling ourselves before God. And 3) the people of God must together build a dwelling place for God within the community. (7:12; compare Eph. 2:19-22). This is not a physical structure, but rather an atmosphere of unity, humility, and love which exemplifies and glorifies the character of God (See Acts 1-2).

So, we have no right to attempt to claim the promise God made in 7:14 if we have not created a place for God to dwell in our midst (7:12). Only when the people of God within a community do what Israel did in chapters 5-7:11 will we see the results of 7:12-16.

I pray that the Spirit of God will reveal to each of His children how to build a dwelling place for God in their community.

Blessings,
Mike

Moving

We have arrived in Des Moines to begin our summer of preparation and training. We've located a nice apartment just a couple of blocks from the INSTE office and moved in last Tuesday. We are pretty much settled in now with most everything out of boxes.

It was quite a task to try to "downsize" after 31 years of collecting things as a couple with a family. We had a HUGE rummage sale and was able to get rid of most of our stuff, yet we still ended up giving a lot of it away to friends and the Salvation Army.

The first of June we officially join the mission's staff for Open Bible Churches and begin working in the INSTE office to become familiar with the administrative duties and procedures. Until then we are taking it easy, getting a little vacation time in, and spending time in prayer.

Pray for us as we begin to prepare for Hungary!