sábado, 6 de junio de 2009
Marzo 28, 2009
Marzo 25, 2009
As we're needing SERIOUS prayer, I wanted to email you with recent prayer requests:
Praise God...
...That two of the girls came to church last night; for one of them this was her second time visiting with her son as three weeks ago four of the girls visited our church for the first time. The gospel was clearly presented last night and one of the girls especially responded so honestly, saying she is one of those "weary and heavy laden" whom Jesus tells to come to Him!
...We continue to see the Lord blessing our visits to them on their turf; we've been going on Friday nights for a month now. Every time we've gone God has been pleased to show us bits of His glory. Sometimes stopping the rain, other times leading our steps so that we meet a girl that he wants us to talk to; other times we are extremely discouraged because of their initial response, and God's Word gives us the power and the joy to go back and continue doing the Work He has for us.
...For the support and excitement our pastors, deacons and church in general have shown toward this outreach. Our pastors are super excited and thinking of ways the church can be more involved; when the girls have visited our church people have come up and shown SO much grace to them and their children.
...For the many providential things that have happened that clearly, clearly show GOD IS BUSY AT WORK.. and we're just instruments. It is SO obvious to us that He is so full of grace and has a plan to show His love to these girls. We have seen it in so many ways. For example, last Friday night just a few minutes before we visited them, another group from another church had visited them also, and prayed with them and gave them a Bible. What is that but that God seems to be trying to use a LOUDSPEAKER to have these girls hear the amazing Gospel of Jesus Christ! So many other things have happened! It would be difficult to put it all over email.
...For the opportunities God has given these girls' "husbands" or partners as well as their children the to hear the Word. At least for two of these girls, their husbands have heard the gospel: one of them came to church and the other one was at their "work" site when we visited them this past Friday. He asked us even to pray for his 14 year old daughter who recently "married" and he is just torn to see her condition. We prayed for her then, and will continue to pray. So you see, this outreach is extending beyond what we originally thought of... Isn't God's grace just simply astonishing?
...For the guys that are acting as our "bodyguards." Every time we go visit the girls we have some of our friends parked nearby watching to make sure we're OK. As you can imagine, there's some risk in being with the girls. The police sometimes comes to arrest them, or people are downright mean to them and throw them things from their cars. An angry client too is also a risk, if they want service and the girls choose to hang out with us. We are usually not there for long because we want to be sensitive to the fact that they are in fact working. The girls, though, are usually pretty receptive and whenever we tell them we want to go so that we don't take up too much of their time they ask us to stay a bit longer. To know the guys are these close by is a comfort, especially because they are there busy praying for what we're doing.
...For the prayer support we have! It is an incredible encouragement to have so many praying for us; when we go out there we really feel we're going in the power and authority of Jesus Christ.
Please, PLEASE pray. There are pretty strong strongholds that we are invading, we very much need to wrestle in prayer! We long to see Jesus' name powerfully delivering these girls from their prostitution and slavery to the devil. But we will ONLY see this was we pray. Please read on to see some of the circumstances these girls are in:
...Two of the girls are expecting a baby. They are about 3 months into their pregnancy. Please pray the Lord would protect their babies, and that God would provide women from our church to maybe mentor or "adopt" these girls and guide them in all things related to pregnancy and childbirth, etc, etc.
...One of the girls is deeply involved in witchcraft. Please pray for deliverance.
...Several of them are drug addicts, very much enslaved to this. Pray especially for one of them who's a crack addict; she's shown much interest, and yet has also experienced much opposition from the devil every time she's been about to be exposed to the gospel.
...We are hoping to start teaching at least two of the girls how to read and write. We are super excited to see that the Lord was already moving our church in that direction, as there are plans to soon start reaching out to the community in that way. But please pray the Lord would truly continue to open the doors and that very, very soon we may start this with the girls.
...Please pray the Lord would give us much wisdom to discern God's will and the leading of His Spirit. We want to start meeting with a few of the girls in another setting beside their work. We don't want to stop visiting them and loving them where they are, but the truth is that their being at work doesn't seem to be the best place to share some of God's Word with them; they can be easily distracted while there. So we need wisdom to know when to have that time with them, and who to invite, since we can't have them all at the same time (there's about 15 of them).
...Pray also that we would know how to speak to them God's Word in a way that is relevant and easy to understand. Our language needs to be simple.
...Pray for these girls' children.
...Please pray for us girls because we are aware we too will experience opposition; we already have. Please pray we would be continually seeking all our joy in Jesus, fostering our love relationship with Him so we can truly speak and live before these girls in ways that show that Jesus is our Lover, the sweetest and most precious Lover we can ever dream of. We need to persevere in prayer, truly wrestling for these girls' souls.... Oh that we would not rest in our own strength!
Junio 5, 2009
Mending the Soul, 2nd chapter
Chapter 2—Abuse as a perversion of the image of God
“The unpleasant truth is that abuse has profound, wildly irrational consequences. It tears the soul. The only way we can truly understand the effects of abuse is to clarify what it means to be a human being made in the image of God. To understand the devastating impact of abuse, we need to understand the manner in which abuse perverts the image of God in humans.”
To understand what it means to be humans in His image, we need to understand it refers to all that we are as humans. In this way, we're addressing several important aspects: relational, visible and functional.
Relational: We have the capacity and the longing for intimate relationships because God is in an intimate relationship within his own divine being. Our capacity for intimacy creates great vulnerability in a sinful, abusive world.
Visible: “Humans are to visibly manifest who God is, that is, they are to make visible the invisible God” (Col. 1: 15). We can greatly damage others when others look at us (especially children) and instead of getting a glimpse of who God is, they get a glimpse of who Satan is. What this does is that people (esp. children) come to fear what they need to sustain their lives.
Functional: Humans function as God's representatives on earth. We are to care for his creation (Gen. 1: 26) both by control ( Gen. 1:26; Psalm 8: 5-6) and cultivation (Gen. 2: 15). When we use our function to dominate rather than nurture, much damage is done.
Because of the Fall, all three aspects of God's image are distorted. Instead of continuing to love each other and God, man and woman are ashamed and hide from God. Instead of showing God's character they live in ungodliness and unholinness. And, instead of being His representatives, creation was harmed and cursed due to their sin (Gen. 3: 14-16). Thankfully, though, “sin corrupted the image of God,” but it didn't eliminate it.
Abuse as a perversion of the image of God
Abuse is about the abuse of power over another individual-an abuse that perverts the divinely ordained image of God.
Five kinds of abuse
Sexual abuse-- perversion of “one flesh”
S.A—exploitation of a minor for the sexual gratification of another person through sexual contact or sexual interaction. The reason why sexual abuse is so damaging is that sex is the “most powerful bonding activity in which we can engage.” Sexual relations are a beautiful divine gift that should be a source of emotional and physical life. With sexual abuse, sex no longer gives life but destroys life. It does not express selfless love but destructive selfishness. Sexual abuse is not only that which damages people through sexual intercourse. Abusive sexual interaction includes deliberate exposure of of a minor to pornography, or sexual activity and exhibitionism. “All sexual abuse is extremely damaging. Diana Russell, one of America's foremost authorities on sexual abuse, found that in the cases of the “least severe” forms of sexual abuse (sexual kissing, sexual touching of buttocks or thighs) almost 20 percent of the abuse victims experienced extreme trauma, and in the next to least severe forms of sexual abuse, 35 % of victims experienced extreme trauma.
Physical abuse-A perversion of “Let Them Rule”
P.A is defined as any nonaccidental injury to a minor by an adult or caregiver. Domestic abuse can be broadly described “as the use or threat of physical violence to control an adult family member, particularly a spouse.
As God's representatives we are to cultivate and exercise responsible dominion. Through physical abuse we injure, demolish what we should nurture, sustain and enhance.
Neglect-A pervesion of “Cultivate the Ground”
Neglect is the opposite of physical abuse: it is a failure to act.
Spiritual Abuse—A Perversion of Image
S.A. Is the inappropriate use of spiritual authority to force a person to do that which is unhealthy.
Verbal abuse—A Perversion of “Be Fruitful”
“It is a form of emotional maltreatment in which words are systematically used to belittle, undermine, scapegoat or maliciously manipulate another person” (p. 34).
God's words have the power to create life. We, as h¡s image, are also called to create life. While can obviously do this through sexual relations, we also give life through our words. Prov. 18: 21; 16: 24; 12: 25 all testify to the truth that words have the power to encourage and give life. So Satan promptly uses our words not to give life, but to take life.
Thoughts:
Imagine how disturbing it has to be, for a child especially, to grow up and consistently getting glimpses of the devil and not of God!!!
This author uses some language that makes me wonder about how influenced he is by psychology (“humans have the need for intimacy,” “children need and deserve to glean a sense of the character of God from watching their caregivers.”
I am starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. I am so thankful, though, for this book! It exalts our God as Holy and Good and Kind. He alone is the giver of life.
Lord, while Satan is called the evil one, the destroyer, Apollyon, you are HOLY HOLY HOLY, God ALMIGHTY. Worthy of all the glory and honor and power. It is because of your will that all things exist and were created. Salvation belongs to YOU and to the LAMB who was slain. While Satan is finding every way to corrupt us and to destroy us forever, Jesus Christ became one of us, died on the Cross, suffered death to deliver us from the power of the devil. Only because He rendered Satan incapable of destroying your elect forever can we go forth with hope and without fear!
O Father God, Yeimy, Annie, Laurie are probably not only victims of abuse but are also abusing their own children.
Mending the Soul, 1st chapter
First chapter –A wake up call regarding the extent and power of abuse.
Abuse is Predictable
Two factors:
1) Due to our fallen nature we are all prone to abuse. “Universal human depravity is displayed in widespread abusive behavior” (p. 16).
2) Another factor that makes abuse predictable is the role of Satan and his demonic legions. When the Scriptures call Satan “the evil one” it is using a phrase in greek which defines Satan as “the one intrinsically wicked who is not content to be corrupt in himself but must seek to corrupt others” (p. 19).
Repeatedly, the Bible describes Satan's work and influence in the world as one of abusive evil. Cain drew his inspiration from Satan, the “evil one” who was a butcher (physically abusing murderer) from the very beginning (John 8:44; 1 Jn. 3: 12). The most significant satanic title is found in Revelation 9:11, where Satan is called Apollyon (that is the Destroyer), the king of the demons. In this passage, Satan the destroyer sends out demons with scorpionlike tails to abuse and physically torment humans all over the earth. The Bible's teaching about the person and work of Satan makes abuse sadly predictable.
Abuse is Redeemable (yes!)
God is deeply moved by human suffering (Hosea 11:8; Mat. 9:36; John 11: 35) and is committed to heal and redeem the broken at the greatest possible cost (Ex. 2: 23-25; 12:1-42; Rom. 5: 8).
The incredible irony of the gospel for abuse victims is that Jesus suffered the most extreme form of physical abuse so that the broken could be healed (Is. 53: 5). When we understand the nature of the cross, it is amazing that we image our faith with a cross. The cross is the most powerful symbol imaginable of God's ability to heal and redeem abuse.
Paul experienced much abuse: slander, beatings, whippings, stonings, imprisonments. After enduring such horrible suffering he delared that through it all Christ was sweeter and stronger in his life (2 Co. 4: 8; 12: 10).
The Lord uses our brokenness in part to give us an opportunity for more fruitful ministry to others who are also broken (Rom. 8: 17; 2 Co. 1: 4-6).
Only the Crucified Christ can bring healing redemption to those who suffer the evil of abuse.
Thoughts:
The passages talking about Satan's power and influence are eloquent. Satan is the destroyer. He is ruthless and relentless. These thoughts are sobering. Yet we're on the winner's side! Father, give us courage!!
“The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.”—Luther
“The devil . . the proud spirit . . cannot endure to be mocked.”—Thomas More
Give me your grace, o Lord, to scorn and mock your adversary!
(By the way—as far as this author goes it is very evident to me that he is writing from the perspective before the fall, after the fall and redemption. He deals with important worldview questions: what does it mean to be human?, what is wrong with the world?)
jueves, 4 de junio de 2009
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