Many thanks to Nigel Williams for sharing these on Facebook. It's the Answers In Genesis seminar tonight in Wangford, Suffolk!

Mark 9:24; Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"

Tiffany Rozek was talking to me the other day about “anchor verses”, verses you return to in times of difficulty, doubt and spiritual warfare (which you often find rolled into one!). I thought about what mine were and I returned to this verse in Mark chapter 9, which has been a comfort to me since I began walking with the Lord.

In this scene Jesus returns down from the mountain after glowing with Moses and Elijah, to find his disciples at odds with the scribes (again) and it turns out they were unable to cast out a mute spirit. The father of the unfortunate boy asks Jesus to help them, and Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." [Mark 9:23]. The challenge is simple; do you believe? I personally am a doubting Thomas, I have very little faith and often question myself, my calling, and even my salvation. I know that all I need is the faith of a mustard seed, but what if I have even messed that up? This cry from the boys father is something that I feel like I need to cry almost every day; "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" Lord I doubt, Lord I am faithless, Lord I can't see past my circumstances.

What was the answer in this case? The father asked Jesus to heal his son, Jesus said “if you can believe”, the father said “well I do and I don't, please help me with this”, what was Jesus' response? He healed his son! He did as the father asked Him to! He met the father where he was in his faith, and hearkened unto his desperate prayer. He did not forsake him for his weak faith. Neither does the Lord forsake us for our weakness, even in this. He understands our humanity, for He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust. [Psalms 103:14].

I have been contacted by a gentleman in York who in the process of looking for a house and who has heard that I am looking for a place to stay in York. After I sent him my blog to read he realised that he saw me at Calvary Chapel Norwich when he was visiting last August! The house is in Tang Hall, one of the rougher areas of York. The purchase is not yet complete so could still fall through, though there is no reason to think that it would. It is also is currently unliveable, not being connected with any utilities and having all the furniture in the middle of the lounge. It is a repossession and has been idle for a year. Click on the photo or the floorplan to see slightly bigger pictures. I am praying that this gentleman's purchase is successful and soon, and that it gets done up soon too, and about whether or not this might be where the Lord would have me stay for my time in York at the moment, a room has been offered to me at a reasonable price.

I am going to Calvary Chapel Cambridge this Sunday! I am praying that I would hear from the Lord what to say and do there, I want to be open in case the Lord wants me to do something completely different and specific, maybe He wants to use me to minister to some other specific need there or something. I have never really addressed a church in this way before, even for only 10 minutes. I might be leading worship too, and while I would like the Lord to knit the worship and the Word I don't want to manipulate anyone's emotions. I just pray that the Lord will speak His intentions for this day and that I would have the wisdom to understand and submit to His will.

Hi again!

Just to say, my last Sunday at Calvary Chapel Norwich will officially be Sunday 22nd March, and I will go to York on Monday 23rd. Rob Dingman has offered me some time at Calvary Chapel Twickenham on Sunday 15th March to share what the Lord is beckoning of me, please pray that the Lord gives me something to say! Upon arrival in York I will be a guest at the Kirik home but I am hoping that the Lord puts me somewhere before they get bored of my jokes. The finance isn't quite there but I feel a peace about going with what I have.

Please keep praying for me, I don't like going alone into spiritual battles! It's funny, I had a few e-mails from Suzy Kuj in Tonj, in South Sudan, who encouraged me that she too would be praying for me. I have been reading her prayer requests and updates, telling of the Kuj family's ministry in Tonj and have always been greatly impressed by the great responsibility they carry of running a medical centre and training native pastors there. And yet they have promised to pray for me! I feel that I am beginning to better understand the reality that we are indeed “in this together”, doing the same work, serving the same master, fighting the same battle, for there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one father, and one family. And though "the work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall” (Neh 4:19) whenever one of us blows the trumpet we can all rally together in prayer and “our God will fight for us."

Hello again!

I have given notice, and my last day at work will be Friday 27th February. I still don't have a date for moving up to York and am still waiting on mammon and accommodation.

It looks like there's no chance of getting a redundancy package :-( it's far too early with the deadline being all the way in 2010... and there not being any money! Oh well, a disappointment, but not a hindrance!

Concerning the York office, Tim and Judy have had their second baby! A boy, Daniel, 7lb 13oz. This means that Judy is out of commission for a while, so there are only five people in the office. And for this next week Tim will be at home too... so there will only be FOUR people in the office! If only they had an extra pair of hands :-s

Joey Rozek has blessed me with ten minutes to speak at Calvary Chapel Cambridge on Sunday 1st March. I have the privilege of presenting Gospel For Asia to this young congregation for the first time, and I pray that the Lord will give me the right words, I have never spoken in front of a church like this before! Please pray for me, and for more opportunities like this!

Last Saturday we went leaflet dropping for the upcoming Answers In Genesis event in Suffolk on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th hosted by some people from our church who live there. We're praying for a good turn-out for the truth to be heard about Creation, in light of Darwin's 200th birthday celebration.



Today we have Brian Anderson from Kanaan Haz (Canaan House) in Hungary speaking about the horrors of human trafficking. I had the pleasure of doing some volunteer work with Brian at Kanaan Haz a few years ago, it'll be strange to see him in Norwich!

JP

The end is nigh!

Hi all!

Work has asked for an exact date for my departure! I asked my manager for a night to pray before giving this as I still don't have my 60 prayer soldiers, or anywhere near the £1,200 a month I am aiming for, and I am still a bit sketchy about where I'll be staying! The Lord knows :-)

I want to leave plenty of time after I have left work for leaving preparations, hand-overs, and getting rid of unneeded junk. I aim to take the train and be fairly mobile once in York, so I want to travel as light as possible.

All I have on my mind is clothes, toothbrush, bible, laptop. I'll be leaving the car 'cos it costs to run, I doubt I'll need the guitar straight away, the printer is fragile and bulky, I never listen to those CDs anyway, and I haven't touched those books for ages. I'll be praying about what to give to who, and what to throw away! Mum will have the printer and speakers back. What am I going to do with all that stuff in the loft??

Had the second part of the root canal yesterday. There wasn't supposed to be a third but my dentist doesn't want to fill it up yet in case it's still a little infected. The third part will be Mon 23rd Feb so I guess I won't be leaving before then! In this x-ray you can see the thin test strip of filling material, when it was up my tooth and protruding out it felt like I had a paper clip stuck in my tooth!

Just want to share what I saw in my quiet time a few days ago:-

Ezekiel 33:11 "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"

I read that and thought, who are the wicked?

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God..."

John 3:18 "...but he that believeth not
is condemned already..."

It's easy for me to meet a really nice person who is really moral, kind to others, works hard and is really humble..., and think, now this person can't possibly deserve to go to hell, can they? Or to imagine those living in the Third World who have led hard lives, living in poverty, in slums, going without food, water, clothing, shelter, education, medicine..., and think, now they can't possibly deserve to go to hell, can they? What could they have done? The Bible says that all have sinned, all have been brought forth in iniquity and conceived in sin, our default position is condemned, we start off as wicked enemies of God. However (such a wonderful word!) God has no pleasure in the death, even of the wicked! He desires that they turn to Him, and this is how He achieves that:-

Ezekiel 33:7-8 "So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand."

A watchman. Someone who knows the about the judgement to come, surrounded by and responsible for people who are not aware of it and who will perish unless the watchman warns them to repent. That's me. If you are born again that's you too. It's also the 16,500 missionaries that Gospel For Asia has sent out into the harvest fields, but time is running short, the labourers are few, much of the harvest is going to waste. Pray the Lord of the harvest that He would send labourers into the harvest, and pray that He would send you too! Pray for the lost, pray for your families, pray for your friends, pray for your enemies, pray for your work mates who you see everyday. And pray like their lives depended on it!

Just one last and rather random thing. I was reading this chapter round about the time I was recording video of myself singing praise songs and uploading them onto YouTube, with the intention of directing Christians to read my blog.

It was taking more time than I had at first thought, yet yielded little result, and I questioned whether I was doing it for God and His purposes or just my own vanity and entertainment. It was then that I got to this verse in my reading:-

Ezekiel 33:32 "And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not."

I was so surprised! It seemed like God had inspired that verse all those millennia ago with me this very day in my bedroom in mind. Which I guess, when I think about it, is exactly the case!

Thanks again for reading!

JP