Archive for December, 2006

Answer to Prayer

Friday, December 15th, 2006

One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labour ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator).
We also had no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on  the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.
Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). “And it is our last hot water bottle!” she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.
“All right, put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.”

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with many of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.
During prayer time, one ten-year old girl, Ruth, prayed with  the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. “Please, God” she prayed,
“send us a water bottle. It’ll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.”  While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she  added, “And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she’ll know You really love her?”
As often with children’s prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, “Amen”. I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything, the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren’t there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator! Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses’ training school, a message was sent that
there was a car at my front door.!
By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two pound package. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot.  We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting.Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.  From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.
Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the…..could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out - yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.
Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, “If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly too!”   Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the  small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted!  Looking up at me, she asked: “Can I go over with you and give  this dolly to that little girl, so she’ll know that Jesus really loves her?”
That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed  up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God’s prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child – five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it “that afternoon.”

“Before they call, I will answer” (Isaiah 65:24) This awesome prayer takes less than a minute, just say the prayer, for the mysterious ways in which He sometimes works.  Prayer is one of the greatest free gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards.  Let’s continue praying for one another. 

Father, I ask you to bless those who cross my mind and my path. I am asking You to minister to their spirit at this very moment.
Where there is pain, give them Your peace and mercy.
Where there is self doubting, release a renewed confidence to work through them.
Where there is tiredness or exhaustion, I ask You to give them understanding, guidance, and strength as they learn submission to Your leading.
Where there is spiritual stagnation, I ask You to renew them by revealing Your nearness, and by drawing them into greater intimacy with You.
Where there is fear, reveal Your love, and release to them Your courage.
Where there is a sin blocking them, reveal it, and break its hold over their life. Bless their finances, give them greater vision, and raise up  leaders and friends to support and encourage them.
Give each of them discernment to recognize the evil forces around them, and reveal to them the power they have in You to defeat it. I ask you to do these things in Jesus’ name.
Amen

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December Update

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006

Michael Waskosky

Sarajevo, BiH

December 2006

Hi everyone,

Well, hello again. I hope and pray that you are growing closer to God, as I am. If you have any prayer requests please let me know; I would love to be able to pray for you, because I am finding out that God loves prayer and He answers prayer in His own way. It might not be the answer we want, but He does answer.

I had to leave the country because of my visa, so Cory and I went to Dubrovnik (on the coast of Croatia). It was nice, but I would suggest visiting there during the summer. There was not much going on when we were there; a lot of things were shut down for the winter. We couldn’t do much except look and wander around the walled city, which was very beautiful.

I also went to Banja Luka, which is about five and a half hours away from Sarajevo by bus. I visited Nick and Nada and their son Srdjan. My supporters Steve and Diane Wilson know Ogy, another son who lives in the US right now and is studying there. I left home at around 2:30 in the afternoon and got to see a little bit of the road by day. I always like that better than not being able to see God’s beauty. I got to their home Friday night at around eight o’clock, so that was nice. The next day I spent some time touring the city. Nick also showed me what he does for his work; it was fun to see. First he took me to where his construction company is building the second tallest building in BiH; it will be a government office. Then he took me to where they are building a highway to Croatia so that Banja Luka will be connected to Europe; that will be good for them. Also he showed me the tunnels where they are putting the highway through hills so as not to make the highway go around the hills. Last but not least, Nick took me to see the swimming pool that his company is building. As a couple they were very open and asked lots of questions. I shared with them about Christ and what He has done for me in my life. I hope to visit them again before I leave Eastern Europe at the end of April.

Please keep praying that we move forward effectively with starting a church in Dobrina and starting another church in our own homes. This last Sunday we were sent out by the local Pentecostal Church. They prayed for us and blessed us. That is exiting. Now we are not expected to go to church there on Sundays, so we can begin to have our own church and just get together and give the glory to God. Please keep praying against the evil one who is trying to bring us down. Pray in the power of Jesus and in the name of Jesus, who has already won the battle. Satan is trying to get at all of us here, so please lift us up in prayer often.

Lindy travels to Ecuador this month! Please pray for safe flights on Dec 26th. My parents say David talks about her almost every day; he must be very excited. While David is having Christmas vacation, Lindy will spend 2-3 days with my family at the beach and then 1-2 days with them in Quito, where I stayed in the dorm while I went to high school. She’ll be there for one of my favorite Ecuadorian holidays – Año Viejo (New Year’s Eve). People make life-sized dolls out of old clothes stuffed with straw or crumpled paper to represent the old year. At midnight they burn the viejos. Some people dress up as women and ask for money, because they are a “widow.” Their husband is going to be burned (their husband being the viejo). They get a little money from the passersby; it is all fun and games. Burning the old year is a good illustration of forgetting what lies behind us and going into the future with new vision.

I want to say one last thing about politics and voting. I do not think one side is right and the other side wrong. I do believe we are supposed to vote. Both political parties have their problems; the Democrat, Republican, and Independent Party’s are going to do some things that are wrong on some issues and are against what we believe. I want to encourage you to seek after God and to look to Him, because he will show you who to vote for. I just wish there was a politician who I could vote for who is firmly founded on Christ and His word. But since there is not, I must live with love, grace, and forgiveness now in this imperfect world and wait until Christ comes back to claim His perfect kingdom. As it says in Matthew 6:9-13, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’� So we should be preaching Him, and we should be shining as His lights, so that He will come back and be the Government which we are supposed to have, a Great and Loving dictator.

Thank you for keeping Cory and me in your prayers.

· You can still pray that I would seek God more and love God first in my life, and love my neighbor as myself, because that is one of the ways that we show God to people is by our actions and what we say in situations.

· You can also pray for us as we get more involved in Dobrina, that the Lord would guide the OM Team and that He would show us who to talk to and who to share the Light of God with. May He give us the exact words to say and may the listeners receive the words as truth.

In Him,

Michael

PS. Please visit my website:

www.michaelwaskosky.com

I should be getting pictures of my two trips up soon, so you can go see those at:

www.michaelwaskosky.com/fotos

Skype User Name: michaelwaskoskymkmk

MSN Messenger: michaelwaskoskymkmk(at)hotmail(dot)com

Yahoo Messenger: waskoskymichael(at)yahoo(dot)com

Aol Messenger: mikewaskosky(at)aol(dot)com

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Who are you Voting for?

Wednesday, December 6th, 2006

I got this in en email, the site is acctually: http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/cwnetwork/article.php?ArticleID=13

I hope you prayerfully consider what you are doing with your vote, and what you are voting for.

2008: Hillary’s in the White House, Babies are Dead and Evangelicals are in Hell

So, you are an evangelical? Are you sure? Are you sure you want to be?

Twenty years ago, evangelicals had a born again experience, held the Bible in high esteem and attempted to evangelize. By 1995, a Gallup poll revealed only 19% claimed to meet all three criteria.

Today the broad tent of evangelicalism embraces everyone from John MacArthur to Brian MacLaren. The evangelical tent is growing wider every day with disastrous results in three arenas.

Politics

President Bush won the ’04 election with 78% of the white evangelical vote. Democrats realized they had to get a piece of that demographic or they would only see the White House when the president summoned them. What is the strategy to capture more evangelical votes? Redefinition.

After the election, John Kerry proclaimed he is reading the Bible again and he’s eager to take up the debate about voter values. “I am sick and tired of them saying they somehow have a better understanding of Christianity, of the Judeo Christian ethic, of values … Show me where in the New Testament Jesus ever talked about the value of having taxes and taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich in this country.”

Tony Campolo, who believes that “evangelical Christianity has been hijacked,� recently said, “Evangelicals need to take a good look at what their issues are. Are they really being faithful to Jesus? Are they being faithful to the Bible?�

What once defined an evangelical is being re-written before our very eyes. With its roots deeply planted in liberation theology, the new evangelical has the following priorities:

>social programs for the poor

>health care for everyone

>no war

>love at all costs

>protect the environment

>do not judge other’s morals

Consider this:

> God’s Politics is Jim Wallis’ effort to help liberal Christians redefine what voter values are. “How did the faith of Jesus come to be known as pro-rich, pro-war, and only pro-American?” It has been on the NY Times best seller list for months.

>Hillary Clinton recently proclaimed to Holy Flame Pentecostal Church in Little Rock, “As you know, I consider myself an evangelical Christian, really a Christian conservative.� Really? a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage conservative evangelical? Did you know there was such a thing? There is now.

>Howard Dean, Jimmy Carter and John Kerry have all fired the salvo, “We must make OUR values the nation’s Christian values.� Yikes.

Perhaps you are thinking, “No, that can’t be. The foundation of evangelicalism is Christ and Him crucified. Salvation is the source of our compassion.� Not for long. The new evangelical is being redefined and love without salvation is the foundation.

While the bumper sticker that reads, “Jesus was a Liberal� are not many, they will be multiplying once the media jumps on board.

USA Today just reported that 33% of conservatives are prepared to vote for Hillary, the pro-choice, pro-gay marriage evangelical. If we do not define and defend evangelicalism as being “born again�, then say hello to Hillary in ’08 as she siphons off un-saved and undiscerning evangelicals.

Morality

When love for loves sake replaces Christ and Him crucified as the foundation of the faith, evangelicals are going to come up with a different set of moral priorities. While “life� may be on their list, it won’t be number one, nor will it mean life at conception.

The new evangelical will love the person in a wheelchair more than the life in a petri-dish. The new evangelical will consider saving the invalid’s savings account for the grandchildren instead of saving the grandma. The new evangelical will not condemn the practicing homosexual as that would not be loving. Love when not rightly grounded will result in a love gone astray.

Eternity

Finally, evangelicalism stands at the door of work righteousness and knocks. If the new evangelical cornerstone is love and not Christ and Him crucified, we are just a stone’s throw from attempting to inherit the Kingdom by our own efforts.

The new-evangelical believes in the gospel of love, not of repentance and trust. While love is certainly a Biblical attribute, loving one’s neighbors will not save on the day of judgment. Many will cry out, “Lord, we did many wonderful things in your name.�

Losing an election to Hillary is painful to ponder. The thought of losing souls to the new evangelical gospel is unbearable.

www.ttwministries.com todd@kkms.com

Distributed by www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com

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