Tuesday Thoughts June 17, 2014

I missed my family dearly over the Father’s Day weekend, but I was so honored to be with Jerry Noblitt for the past week of ministry in Myanmar Southeast Asia.

We had been praying about this invitation for over two years when earlier in 2014 the Holy Spirit began to draw my heart there. Myanmar is 87% Buddhist and boasts of the largest Buddhist Temple in the world. But as the Word states, where sin abounds, Grace does much more abound!

We found ourselves ministering to a small group of Pastors & Leaders from the Reformed Presbyterian, Baptist, and several other non-Pentecostal churches. One brother thought we were working magic because Jerry and I spoke by the Holy Spirit to their hearts about things they had been discussing without our knowledge. In preparation for the trip I had been sensing the Holy Spirit leading me to just trust Him and let Him lead us. And He didn’t disappoint!

When you see people who have never been dramatically touched by the Holy Spirit overwhelmed with the Father’s Love, it lets you know that any and every obstacle you encounter to do this work is absolutely worth it. Seeing people attempt an encounter with a dead god is sad. We saw that first hand when we visited the Shwedagon Buddhist Temple and saw hundreds of people…with the shallowest look on their faces offer sacrifices to dead idols. Then, seeing people encounter The Living God is priceless!

At least three people were filled with the Holy Spirit, several people were on the ground being touched by God and others were telling us of a new burning that was in their hearts for God.

On Saturday we held a dinner for eleven pastors to have a time of fellowship with each other and us in getting to know our ministry and what we do. They are asking us to return next year for a longer stay to deal with many other topics the believers there are facing.

The Burmese people are very relational. Outreaches and evangelism are not conducted there like we do in Africa or the US. Whereas revival meetings and open-air crusades work in Africa, only the Buddhists can hold open-air meetings here. Persecution is high; but so is a hunger and thirst for more of God. Jesus told the truth when He said “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled”. These dinners and fellowships are a wonderful form of both evangelism and relationship building among pastors and leaders.

God built a family before He ever established the church. It’s all about relationships. Thank you for helping us build those this week.

Because of the generous hearts of the Revival Now Partners and Churches, we were able to purchase foam mattresses for one of the Children’s Homes there. The kids don’t know it yet, but I am sure they will be very happy seeing they were sleeping on a hard plywood bed. Thank you again to everyone who planted a special seed for this outreach.

Please mark your calendars for Friday – Sunday July 11-13 as we hold our 5th Annual Revival Now Summer Camp Meeting at Heart of Worship Assembly in Lagrange Georgia. We will have special guests from Kenya with us, a full report on our Myanmar outreach, a report from the Naisero Children’s Home in Kisii Kenya as well as some great preaching, teaching and fellowship. Worship will be led by Rick and Nancy McCormick and the Heart of Worship Team, with the Revival Now Ministry Network meeting on Saturday morning and Pastor Brad Morgan from Pattison Texas ministering on Saturday night.

In August we will lead a large team to Kenya August 12-31. Revival Now will sponsor a Pastors Conference & Crusade in Lodwar town; two women’s conferences in two different cities; and of course the August Session of the Revival Now School of Ministry.

Because Revival Now is an interdenominational ministry there is no one group that funds what we do. God has called us to “be a bridge in the nations, for the denominations, to the generations”. This was never more evident than last week in Yangon Myanmar. Because of our focus you cannot receive World Missions credit from your Fellowship Group’s office, but you can know every penny you sow is used to train, equip, and encourage leaders on the front lines of developing countries that are crying out for this ministry to come alongside them and help them in their part of the Great Commission.

Thank you for giving to the Lord through Revival Now Ministries.