What Do We Have To Give

"To beg God to heal someone is to assume that you have more compassion than He does" - Randy Clark

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.
(Acts 3:1-7 ESV)

The above quote and verse from Acts have been challenging me lately, and changing the way I think. The vast majority of Christians believe in praying for the sick in some capacity, yet for reasons that escape me it is often reduced to an uncertain plea to God. Often in our near certainty that no healing will take place, we throw in the anti-prayer contingency "If its not your will to heal them, then give them strength, peace, perseverance etc". I've prayed like that in the past, but I don't really know why, perhaps it's learned behavior? As Randy Clark points out above, to pray like that is to totally disregard the nature of the Father. Furthermore I'm unaware of a instance in the NT of someone praying for someone in this manner.

So if praying for the sick is not a petition to God what is it? Whats been getting to me the most is where Peter and John say to the lame man "I have not silver or gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!". What is it they had? What do we have to give in a situation like that?  We're called to be filled with the Holy Spirit and His power, and that is a significant factor for sure but as I've mulled over it I've realized there is more.

I've occasionally fallen into the error of praying for a miracle just because it works, with no tangible love for the person I'm praying for. Sometimes because the Father love the person more than I do He heals them. But as Bill Johnson aptly says, "If our prayers don't move us they aren't going to move Him".  I've realized that power or anointing alone isn't how the kingdom works. I need to walk in greater love for the people I minister to, I need Jesus to give me supernatural love for them.

I also feel that as temples of the Holy Spirit we carry the presence of God with us wherever we go. The more time we spend in His presence, when our cup is overflowing, the more of Him spills out around us without us even trying to do anything. We can walk into the darkest places we can find and actually bring the presence of God with us. Sometimes His presence in us is all thats necessary to change the atmosphere around us. I believe that's what happened when people were healed when peter walked by them. It wasn't His shadow, he was so filled with the Glory of the Lord that it gave life to all around him.

While this is all partial revelation I do know that is changing the way I approach the "impossible".

-kyle

Nepal & Iris Ministries

We indicated this in the last post, but I thought I'd throw it out there a little more officially.

We've signed on to work with Iris Ministries in Nepal for the next two years. Iris is a beautiful and amazing ministry and we feel blessed and honored to be a part of the family. Their heart is to feed the hungry in body and spirit, and let the love of Jesus spill out all over the place. Furthermore having leaders like Heidi and Rolland Baker is incredibly inspiring, they are true forerunners in the Kingdom. Iris Canada is also registered Canadian charity and will be handling all of our donations from now on. If you wish to support us you can make tax deductible contributions on this page, or by clicking the links on the right of our blog page.

While we were at the school in Mozambique we did a long term interview with the leaders who oversee Asia, though we had not yet been to the Iris base in Nepal we knew Jesus was calling us there. Our short time in Nepal confirmed it, the country and the people worked their way into our hearts. The Lord has left the next step in our life in Kathmandu. We cannot not go there.

We leave Canada around April 8th, which leaves us just enough time to prepare to move to Asia. When we arrive we'll be meeting up with some good friends from Harvest School (in Mozambique) and ministering with them. After that we need to find a place to live and then take on the challenge of learning the Nepali language, which is very similar to Hindi. The exact nature of our ministry there is yet to be revealed, but our heart is to release the Fathers love and the Kingdom wherever we are. We are also looking forward to building relationships with the kids at the Iris Nepal children's home.

-kyle

A Long Overdue Update

The last time we posted was halfway through the school just after our first bush outreach. So much has happend since then, school finished, we traveled from Mozambique to Nepal, and are now back in Canada.

Summary of the School (by Kyle)
Iris Harvest school was a totally incredible, transforming, life changing experience. I whole heartedly recommend it to anyone who's hungry for more of God and has a heart for missions. It's pretty much impossible to go to the school and not be changed. Everyone including the students, staff, and speakers are so hungry for more of God and His Kingdom. Its a wonderful atmosphere for faith to grow.

Some highlights from the school:

• The culture of honor, faith, and risk. Honor those around you, and honor the hero's who have gone before you. Stepping out in faith requires risk. But if you make a risk in faith and it doesn't work out it's not a failure or even a blow to your faith. Learning to take risks is learning to walk in faith.

• Learning what it means to be a son of the Father, realizing that we are called to co-labour with Christ, salvation isn't the end its the beginning.

• "There is no reason in faith, why today isn't the best day of your life" - Roland Baker. The more I lay hold of that truth the more powerful it becomes.
• Spending hours a day in worship and listening to incredible men and women of God share their stories and teachings.
• The students. I received as much from them as everything else in the school. Their stories, faith and zeal are incredible.
• Our first bush outreach, read about it here.
• Going on a second bush outreach changed my definition of destitute when I met a crippled man who has been bed ridden for five years.
• Graduation was one of the most crazy and glorious experiences of my life. The sheer power of the presence of God made the outreach I last posted on pale by comparison (not that we should compare such things). The Lord brought a banquet of His presence and we all feasted like royalty. Love, prayer, and prophecy poured out on everyone like water. Profoundly beautiful.

You cross a line at the school, something changes in you and there is no going back to the way you used to live. Now that I've tasted and seen that there is more to the Gospel, I can't go back to the old way of thinking. It actually makes life a lot more exciting. Jesus can show up with His love and power at any place and any time. It has wonderful implications, when we cultivate a greater awareness of His voice, His presence, and the Kingdom, the mundane can become the miraculous.

 Nepal
The day after graduation we led a small team of six (including us) to Kathmandu Nepal for an extended international outreach. There we partnered with the family that runs Iris Nepal and ministered for two and a half weeks. The outreach had some some amazing moments but had its fair share of challenges. Most of the team was sick for the duration of the outreach, which limited our plans to go visit unreached villages in remote areas. The outreach had no set schedule, rather we spent lots of time worshiping and seeking the Lord for direction. This led us to different parts of Kathmandu to minister on the street and pray over those areas.

We visited a number of Buddhist monasteries to reclaim the territory in the spirit. At the first one we visited some of the team prayed for the head monk who had noticeably bad asthma. You could hear a raspy hissing in his voice when he spoke. After a few minutes all the hissing was gone and he could breath normally again. At another monastery we prayed for an old Buddhist man with bad knees, causing him to shuffle when he walked. He too was totally healed and was able to walk normally with no pain. Another time we were near a small Hindu temple when the Lord led us to pray for the woman who was cleaning the idol of the days offerings (mostly flowers and coloured powder). The Holy Spirit gave us a word of knowledge that she had pain in her right hip. While we were praying she felt heat on the affected area and then all the pain left.

The thing that stuck me about these healings was that they all took place inside places of pagan worship. While intellectually I've always known that the presence of God is everywhere, I used to feel that temples and such were such dark places that I needed to leave as soon as possible lest I be affected by the demons that inhabit them. The reality is that the love of the Father is so much bigger, and He is waiting to pour it out. He loves the people who don't love Him, so much so that He'll send people into these places to bless and pray for them. By the Holy Spirit we transform the atmosphere around us not the other way around. Greater is He who is within us than he who is in the world.

The base leader Joel is incredibly inspiring. He stops for the destitute, the ones the culture ignores, and shows them real love. Ministering with him forces you to slow down.  It was an honour to partner with his family and minister together with them.

Canada and Update about Nepal (By Annie)
We've been back in Canada since January 7th and it's been amazing!  God's been doing a lot here and it's been really good to put what we learned at the school into your everyday life.  One of the things that they talked about at the school was how you have to dig your own well.  At the school you're taking in so much teaching and you're meeting so many amazing people that it's easy just to feed off of their "well", their anointing, their walk with God...you get the idea.  But, when you're on your own again it's like, "right so now it's just you and me God, lets go!"  You have to build your own faith and take what you learned and put it into practice.  Faith is a gift, but we also have to work out our faith with "fear and trembling."  What a dichotomy that one is!  Rolland Baker loves the concept of dichotomy and how it's all through the scriptures, he said, "salvation is free, but it will cost you everything."  I love that, it's so true.  Following Jesus is the best thing you could ever do, but it's the hardest thing you'll ever do. 

Right so back to us being in Canada.  I lot of people were perhaps surprised that we returned as we bought one way tickets and didn't have a plan after Nepal.  We were willing to stay there or go anywhere after the outreach.  We both felt that we were supposed to come back at the beginning of January for a short season and that it would be a time of preparation, seeing family and ministering to whoever we come in contact with.  It's been awesome.  But, that being said we can't wait to go back to Nepal.  For those of you who don't know we're heading back to Nepal to work with Iris Nepal for at least 2 years.  I've wanted to be a "missionary" for years and my dream is coming true!  It's so surreal, yet totally normal that we're Iris Missionaries now.  So the plan, well we don't really have one, is to go back in the spring or early summer, we'll keep you posted.

Nepal got into my heart when we went there in 2008 after we got married and it's never left.  When we left this last trip I cried for about 20 minutes after the plane took off, it was so hard to leave.  I've never cried when I've left a place before, it really confirmed to me that Nepal is where we're supposed to be next.  While we also have a heart for other places south of there (not saying the name intentionally), we feel that the next step is Nepal.  We also have a heart for Canada and feel that someday we will return to our homeland and serve here as well.

Your prayers would be greatly appreciated as we feel that this year is going to be a huge change in our lives.

Much love to you all,
Kyle and Annie

Then All Heaven Broke Loose

Two weeks ago we went on a three day bush outreach that was incredible on so many levels. Basically a group of fifteen mission school students and ten Iris Mozambican bible school pastors pile into a flat bed truck and drive out to remote villages to minister. We set up a screen, projector and sound system, and play some music to get every one together to dance (Mozambicans love to dance). Once everyone is gathered we play the Jesus film in the local dialect, then we preach the gospel, maybe do a short drama, then pray for the sick.

The villages our team went to were very small with only about two hundred people each. The first night we arrived to near perfect African sunset, then the whole team setup their tents before it got dark. We did the outreach service but not much out of the ordinary happened. At about ten pm we ate dinner and went to sleep in our tents.

In the middle of the night Annie woke me up because a child had been screaming near by for over half an hour. I had a moment of compassion deprivation wondering if it would even be culturally appropriate to go see what was transpiring in the middle of the night. But my good wife wouldn't be swayed so we climbed out of our tent and found another woman from our team awake for the same reason. Not far from out tents we found the child with her mother under a large tree. Using hand gestures we found out that the little girl had pain in here ear. The three of us began praying for the child and after only one minute the child stopped crying, and a minute longer seemed pretty much normal. We asked the mother to ask the girl if the pain was gone. It was!

Goshtandino

The next morning the team split into groups with the Mozambican pastors and walked around the village looking for anyone who was sick or needed prayer. We soon came to three Muslim men sitting in the shade of a veranda.

We started by asking them if they knew of any sick, blind, or deaf people in the village. They didn't since they were only passing through the village but one of them had a bad toothache. We explained that we were followers of Jesus, and who Jesus is in the Koran, then asked if we could pray for the mans tooth. Much to his surprise the man was quickly healed. We then spent about half an hour sharing the gospel with him and by the end he said he believed Jesus because He healed him.

As we were finishing with the Muslim men, a man named Goshtandino approached us beckoning for us to follow him. He led us to his house a short distance away, and once he had us all sitting down on a day bed and a grass mat he asked us for prayer. He was near sighted but didn't have glasses and was suffering from back pain caused by a hernia. We prayed for his eyes twice, each time with small improvement. Then one of the girls on our team felt we should anoint his eyes with mud. After explaining to him that this was something Jesus did she spat in a bit of dirt an placed it on his eye lids. We prayed for another couple of minutes then wiped off the mud. His eyes were now totally healed. He pointed to the house were the Muslim men were sitting and said "when I came and got you I couldn't see that, but now I can".

Filled with faith from the healing we immediately started praying for his back pain. Within a few minutes he was bending over and twisting from side to side without any pain. It was amazing to see how happy he was and he joined us in thanking Jesus for the healing.

Shortly after the man asked us to pray for a women from his house who has been having nightmares of drowning and being in a grave yard. When we first started talking with her she seemed totally numb. There was no expression on her face and she would stare off into the distance and would only speak in whispers. We found out that she had been bathing in a potion from the witch doctor because she thought someone had brought a curse against her. We got the sense that she was ashamed about going to the witch doctor so we encouraged her that we were here to help her not judge, and that there is no condemnation in Jesus. We brought her out from the shade of the house into the sun as a prophetic gesture of her leaving the darkness behind and stepping into the light. After praying for her and just loving her there was a huge change in her countenance. You could see she was tasting freedom and peace for the first time.

Nearby a group of women were sitting outside a house and they called us over.  After watching everything that happened to their neighbours one of them wanted to accept Jesus. As we were talking to them four more decided they wanted Jesus as well. We also prayed for a girl that was missing an eye but didn't see any change. Our hope was that she'd wake up the next morning with two eyes.

By this time we had to head back to camp, eat a lunch of rice, beans and gazelle, then pack up to go to the next village. Right as we were about to leave the church presented us with an offering of two huge bunches of bananas, a large basket of peanuts, some papaya and other fruit. This was coming from a church made from mud, bamboo and grass, that had an alter made of cinder blocks and ragged grass mats to cover the dirt floor. It was incredibly humbling to see people with so little give so much.

We arrived in the second village late in the afternoon. It was situated on a hilltop overlooking a large plane of Mozambican bush and backed by low mountains behind which the sun set. We were given the luxury of setting up camp in a fenced court yard adjacent to the mud church which granted us some extra security. Considering the small size of the village the homes were incredibly spread out. From the church I was only able to see three other buildings, and one of them was the pastors house. There was a serene feeling to the village, very little activity and a strange absence of children inspecting what the Akuna's (white people) were doing. Yet while there was a sleepy lull in the natural a storm was approaching in the spiritual.

The team gathered to pray in the court yard. Outside the music and dancing video gathered an unreceptive crowd who chose to sit in the dirt rather than dance. As we prayed with hope and anticipation the word breakthrough stirred in our hearts. There was a felt barrier in that place that needed deconstruction. By the end of the prayer time the presence of God was rolling in like a cloud charged with expectancy.

Half way through the Jesus Film the Lord spoke to a girl on the team telling her we should pray that the whole village would accept Jesus including the chief. As this word was passed among the members of the team that could be found in the dark we began to pray and prophesy over each other. It felt as if we were being filled up for what we were about to pour out and we prayed at length for the pastor that was going to preach within the hour. After the film finished pastor Carlos began to preach and concluded by asking anyone to raise their hand if they wanted to accept Jesus. In the midst of the many hands raised I saw a man in a white Muslim cap sitting down. Holy Spirit told me it was the chief and I needed to pray for his heart to be softened. The incredible thing is that Holy Spirit independently revealed the same thing to other members of the team around the same time.

After every member of the team introduced themselves to the crowd Pastor Carlos gave a call for anyone who needed healing to come forward for prayer. The first person to come forward was the man with the white cap I saw sitting earlier. He was the chief of the village and had been suffering back pain. The significance of this action and its outcome crashed in on me, but the amazing thing is that when the stakes are higher Jesus has a reputation of showing up more powerfully. When we step into situations that are completely beyond our human ability then the Lord can glorify Himself even more because we are unable to take any credit.

2nd Village Chief

A few of us gathered around him and began to pray and after about two minutes we asked if anything had changed. His countenance remained almost stoic yet he insisted the pain was gone. The pastors had him bend over and twist his back to ensure all was well then asked him to testify with the microphone what had happened. Then all heaven broke loose, healings were happening faster than we could keep track of.  The crowed quickly transformed into a huge dance party in celebration of what God was doing and soon enough the chief joined in with a huge smile.  At one point I told a guy on the team to make sure that any people healed get the mic and testify. His response was that they had just healed four people who had since dispersed into the crowed. The bulk of the ailments were headache, body pain and stomach issues, and Jesus was healing them all almost instantly. Over all we estimate 30-50 people were healed of their various ailments.

The next morning the chief was present at the church asking for prayer because the Muslim leaders from the surrounding villages will want to kill him because he has now converted to Christianity. Its a very real threat and the Muslim leaders will certainly try to curse him through the witch doctors if not try to stone him.

As we sat squished in the truck on the way home I felt in my spirit that the chief is the keystone to the village. An arch is unable to support itself with out the key stone in place. If the chief of a village is against Christianity then the village as a whole will be much more resistant to the gospel.

Through out all of this and the stories from other outreaches the thing I've been learning is how much I had complicated praying for healing. I had bordered on formula, sometimes thinking I had to include certain things in a prayer in order for it to "work". The reality is that praying for the sick is a commandment not a theological exercise. Its our job to do what Holy Spirit tells us to and just be an empty vessel for Him to work through not try and contort our faith so its strong enough. Its our job to love the person more than we desire to see a miracle. The healing itself is entirely up to Jesus.

-kyle

Where to Begin....

Where to Begin....so much has happened since I last wrote you all. I spent most of the day at the Pemba Beach Hotel with some of the other lady staff. It's right across the street and it's a place for us to get away from everything and have a break (students aren't allowed to go there). We had coffee on the veranda, some lunch and went swimming as well. It was so lovely and refreshing.

Right, so what have I/we been doing??? Well we have class from 8am to 1:30ish every day except Friday, which is a practical missions day. The students sign up for an area here at Iris that's run by a Mozambican or a long term missionary and they get to help out and see what it's all about. They can help with the kids, gardening, the kitchen, finances (only one student gets to help with that), village outreach, babysitting for the base director, etc, etc, etc. Kyle and I are going to the hospital every Friday afternoon to hang out with patients and their families and to pray for people if they want us to. It's the same as in India in that the families have to provide for all the patients needs like washing clothes and bringing them food. We went yesterday, but the paper work that gives us permission to go into the wards hadn't gone through yet and so some of us walked around the property and prayed for people outside, while a few others walked around inside the property. The conditions in the hospital were a lot better then I had expected, but no where near what it's like back home. People only go to the hospital if they're really sick because there's not a lot of beds available. I am excited to see what will happen when we get to go inside the wards. During the last school some people went and prayed for the patients in a ward and then went back the next day to find that the ward was empty. They had all gotten better and went home! Thank you Jesus!

We start off every morning with worship and then have two or three different sessions in the mornings. Heidi speaks for a session on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Rolland speaks on Mondays and Wednesdays. Last Sunday Heidi's mother passed away and so she's been away this week. After she's with her family she's speaking at some conferences and will be back early November. Rolland left on Wednesday or Thursday for Korea and will be gone for a couple of weeks as well. There are some pretty amazing guest speakers as well.

As staff I have to be present for most of the classes and pray for the students during ministry time. My duties to help run the school are organizing all the worship sessions, graduation requirements (which includes making sure students do the required book readings, organize attendance for class and making a schedule for group presentations, etc), and I also have to organize the book reviews for students that can't read the books because English is their second language. It's a pretty full on schedule, but I'm learning to rest more as well. On Saturdays I have to take the full day off and I'm not allowed to do any work!! I really like how Iris is all about our strength being in resting in His love and Christ being strong in our weakness. I couldn't do this in my own strength and it's such a relief that I don't have to!

Well I must be off to bed, I'm going to try to get up early to do some laundry...yeah for hand washing!

Much love to you all,
Ann Marie

Analogies for that which is bigger than analogy

Oct 3, 2010

 I feel as though God is slowly revealing to me a much wider perspective of the kingdom. Often during work or rest Jesus seems to point out an area of my 'understanding', of my doubt, and even my faith and simply says "There is more, My Kingdom is bigger". Every day He pushes is just a little bit wider.  There is this constant whisper that the Kingdom of God utterly defies any limitation I'm able to place on it. Its like inhaling air that's pregnant with breaths of promise. Breathing that air is crating a hunger in me to really see the kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.  To have a deeper revelation of Jesus, all He did, is doing, and is going to do.  The last time we traveled God challenged me to realize that nothing is outside of His redemption. This time He's taking it a step further by showing me that there is absolutely no area His love, grace and power can't transform. We Christians so easily forget that the battle is already won, and the end has been unchangeably decided, we're just to play a role in the chapters leading up to that end.

-Kyle

School Prep

It's been a week since we arrived in Pemba. We've been busy getting all the housing ready for the students - cleaning, organizing and making sure the right amount of beds are in all the little houses. There are 13 houses for couples and single women and a separate area for all the since men. Each house has a small kitchen, 2 bathrooms and 3 rooms. Kyle and I are lucky enough to have our own en suite bathroom! There will be 6 other women in our house and we will be the house parents. There has only been about 9 of us here getting ready for the school so it will be a big change when all the students get here, all 140 of them! It will be good though, like a little community, it will be like a small town here :)

I am excited for the school to start on Friday. I can't wait to have worship everyday with everyone and to be able to have awesome times together praying and learning more about missions and Gods kingdom. It's going to be a great time, we will let you all know what our days look like once everything is kicking and we have a better idea of what's going on.

bless you all,

annie

If anyone wants more information about Iris go to:

irisministries.com