Overcomers

Today (10th of July) I spent the morning in prayer and was touched by God’s word to the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. The word “overcome” was used for each church and Jesus references Himself to the last church, Laodicea : “…overcome …just as I overcame.” The rewards of Christ are promised to each church with each overcoming their struggle. Though they are the church, washed in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus says,”…if you overcome, I will give...” I am again reminded of God’s words to Cain in Genesis 4:7 “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, your sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Sin, like a hungry animal crouching at my door, lusts after me to consume me, but I must master it, says God. Cain failed his trial. He did not overcome and do what is right to gain acceptance, but was consumed by the lust of his sin. For encouragement in this I am led to Zechariah 4:6 “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.

I pray for the Church today. I am ashamed. We sing praises with catchy tunes, tapping our foot to: “…Naked and poor, wretched and blind I come. Clothe me in white so I won’t be ashamed. Lord, light the fire again.” This is not a song to tap one’s foot to. This is a song of being on one’s face before a Holy God, in agreement with our state; pleading for the blessing of situations that will grant us the opportunity to be overcomers. I am saddened today as I see the church overcome by sin, by fear, by busyness, by justifications for lack of faith, lack of love, lack of hope, lack of belief in God, lack of belief in His word. Yes, it is by God’s Spirit that this work is done in a willing heart… willing to obey in faith.

Please God, help your Church to ask to be overcomers. May we grow in the fear of God and the comfort of the Holy Spirit under the blood of the Lamb. Help us to obey. Trade our stony hearts for hearts sensitive to you. Renew us Lord.

Overcome. Please pray that we overcome.

Another brother in the Lord, Ismael, visited today. Unprompted by me, he shares the same sorrow for the Church. We talk, we pray, we praise God. We brag about our Father. He is so good to us. We also pray for the Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, to be gifted with dreams and visions tonight, that he be granted the wisdom of God, rather than the failings of man’s ambitions. …Then we try to fix the ceased ceiling fan in the kitchen. It’s a goner.

It was raining hard in the northern portions of Khartoum for about an hour today. It came down so hard that in some areas people were flooded out of their homes. Mud buildings fell. In response, the government made tent camps for the people. Perhaps God will have us to go to visit these people tomorrow. Please pray for mercy upon the people and our effectiveness in obedience.

This evening I was able to pray with the exiting AU commander, Major General Aprezi. May God give him and his family peace, protection, and continue to use Him as a servant of the Most High. There have been several recent attempts upon his life. Praise God for His protection upon him. May this grace of life and opportunity for treasure in heaven continue until God’s work is completed in Mr. Aprezi. Please pray for him.

As an aside, we are watching the Sudani news right now, and they are saying that Americans and Britain are responsible for the trouble in Darfur, and are aligning with the rebels ( SLA ). Just in case you were wondering whose fault it was…

Truth...

“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” said Jesus, “and no one comes to the Father, but through me.”

To backtrack a bit and report further on the trip in to Darfur : on the 6th of July we were able to go out to lunch with Joel. Friday is a worship day, so generally everything is closed…but the locals know where to go. We went to the Al Genina Market. This was an experience. We park, walk around the largely mudded dirt alley, and into a small (24’ x 12’) brick structure. It has two doorways (no doors) facing the alley and two doorways facing a courtyard on the opposite wall. Upon entering, the scent of incense is strong. A small brass pot of coals is smoldering on the dirt floor. There are two 8’ x 8’ mats on the floor with a group of men lounging on a mat around a plate of food. We walk right through into the courtyard. It is an amazing site. The area is open-air and large; probably 40 yards square. It is surrounded by brick buildings similar to what we passed through. On the courtyard side of each of these buildings are two or more women sitting at a low table full of miscellaneous, glass jars of spices and foods. Others nearby are peeling baskets filled with garlic. But it is the center of the expanse that catches the attention. There are twenty or more clay-brick constructed barbecues with some form of metal grating over the top. A man is working the meat on each. Next to each barbecue is a wooden table overlaid with thin, greasy, dark-colored steel. Above each table hang raw legs of meat and ribs on metal hooks suspended from the ceiling above. When the meat is cooked, it is placed on the tables and cut into bite-sized pieces. As you might imagine, flies are everywhere. Joel asks if we want sheep or goat. Goat (I’ve never had it). He picks a good sized leg with attached side of ribs for us and tells us to sit down back where we walked through while he arranges for the rest of the meal. Now I am starting to get it. Each building is the restaurant. The ladies nearby are the side-dish and sauce cooks as well as waitresses, and you get to pick your own cut of meat to share together on a platter. We sit over the dirt on low stools (one foot off the ground), and a metal pitcher of (questionable) water is brought to us with one metal cup. It is to share a drink of water between us as we wait for our food. We pass on this. The incense smells sweet and mixes well with the aroma of cooking food and spices in the marketplace behind us. The smoke from the burning coals helps to keep the flies down. We are greeted by one of the men lounging on the mat. He offers us some food ,but we let him know ours is coming. One of the ladies brings them a dish of diced mango and tomato with chunks of ice on top to cool it. The men are given spoons and share out of the same bowl. When they are done we chat for a bit and they leave. As soon as it is determined that they are done, a swarm of 5 or six young boys (5-10 years old) run in to the room, grab everything left on the platter and run back out into the alley to gnaw the remaining meat off of the bones. It is not long until a wrestling match breaks out. Joel gets up and scolds them. They stop or at least slow the battle. A man on a passing donkey cart stops and scolds the boys too. Joel says that the culture to break up a fight around here is for an old man to come along with a stick and send the boys running. Our server comes and lays a woven reed screen over the two alley way openings and lets the boys know that they are not to come in. The food arrives on a 30” aluminum platter (like a pizza dish) with a spicy peanut sauce, coarse salt mixed with crushed red pepper, bread, and chunks of sliced raw white onions. We pray over the meal. Asking the Lord to bless the food is serious business in Sudan (may it be taken seriously back home too). The Lord tells me not to eat the fat, and I dig in. The flavors are wonderful. There are no utensils, so the bread works well as a tasty napkin. The other hand is busy shooing flies. It is quieting down in the marketplace behind us. It is nearly prayer time, so people are leaving, or seeking water to wash themselves before prayer. After eating, we grab a nearby cake of soap laying on the dirt (with dirt-encrusted exfoliating properties…grin…) in the corner of the building, and rinse off over the dirt. We buy another leg of lamb for the AU cook and head back to the compound.

On the way back there are boys swimming in the muddy river under the road. Further down there are Landcruisers parked in the river with young men diligently washing them. It is like a lazy Sunday back home.

In the afternoon we meet with a local pastor and an AU chaplain. It is a sweet time of fellowship. The Lord had me (very directly He spoke, though I was resistant…in fear of embarrassment) wash the feet of these men while teaching on what this means to us as Christians and what God gave me to teach on it. They had never heard of this prior, and were very excited by the lesson. Our fellowship blossomed after this. I was ministered to by God through one of the pastors, and his stories that glorified our God. He mentioned that at his church, many local Muslims come and stand outside the doors to hear the message, as they are not allowed to go in, and ask for bibles in Arabic so that they might learn more of this teaching. He has none to give them. (Note: though some in Islam will denounce the Bible, the teaching of the Qur’an (which is higher than the opinion of a teacher in their faith) exalts the Old and New Testament as sacred and preeminent to the Qur’an. Jesus is written of as a sinless and highly revered prophet. Within the Qur’an, see Surah 2:87, 2:136, 2:285 3:3-4, 4:136, 5:44, 5:46, 5:48, 6:154, 10:94, 21:105, 40:70-72, 41:43, 42:13 for starters...thanks Pastor Samy for the references). Praise God that these are wanting to ask for the Bible. May they be blessed to receive it, study it, and learn of Jesus by the drawing of the Father to the Son. The AU had similar requests for Bibles, but in English to give to the soldiers when they request them. We did not have these, but would love to see them provided. There are many in Islam who do not agree with their own teaching, and would want to stand in the way of Muslims obtaining and/or reading the Bible, which, again, their Qur'an says is sacred. However, while, reading is one thing, and may be permissable, conversion is another matter here. As Ishmael and I were talking (back to the 10th now), he recounted stories of how people here may be taken to jail, beaten, taken before court, and asked to sign a certificate renouncing the faith other than Islam. The society, built on connectedness and family may excommunicate a convert. This is very hard here where extended family is so important, especially when fellowship is not strong.

In the evening, we packed and got ready to fly to the North of Darfur, near the Chad border.
Praise God for the blessing of fellowship and His word.

Todd