Learning from the Work in Africa
This is a letter from Noah Taylor, founder of Rose Creek Village, who is in Africa helping to build up the church in
Nakuru, Kenya.
It is always a shock for any American, no matter how much he or she loves the Lord, to see a 3rd-world country; especially a slum like the one in which we work in Nakuru.
There is always so much for us to learn. We share this with you so that you might get a glimpse of the Lord’s dealings with us and hopefully as an exhortation to you as well.
Dearest Fellow Soldiers and Workers in the Village,
I am writing this letter because I know you are experiencing some difficult and hard times. We have felt the battle here and at home growing more intense everyday.
I want you to know how much I love and respect all of you. We have seen and experienced things here that most people in America would never dream could happen to other human beings: men burned in the street for stealing a bike; women left to slowly starve to death with their children because their husband either died of AIDS or left them.
When we mentioned the man who was burned to two of the teenage boys here in the church, (very sweet boys) they just
laughed and said it happens all the time. We have seen children so traumatized that they couldn’t even smile when they wanted to.
I have held children in my lap whose father just died and were living in a 8 × 8 concrete room with their grandmother. The room had nothing to sleep on, just a sheet to divide a small piece of the concrete floor for a bed, and even that was to be shared with two other siblings. There was no food in the house.
We have met so many people who never even knew that God loves them or has a family for them to be in, and they have been “Christian” all their lives. At least 6 of the single mothers here in the church are HIV positive.
Amma, Mala and I have been working everyday just to let the people here know that we love them and desire to be with them. Still after teaching every night, and sometimes twice a day, they still cannot believe it when we come to their house.
When I was growing up my dad use to use the “hungry kids in Africa” line to make me finish the food on my plate. It didn’t really affect me much … till now. I had never seen a starving child … till now.
Now those “hungry kids in Africa” have faces and names: names like Irene, Quinta (Tinker Bell) and Esther. We cannot alleviate all the suffering here in Nakuru or at home, but there are some things we can do.
Do you think that A______ or M_______ would be alive if there had not been “single-eyed” people praying? Does anyone wonder if we could have broken through the unbelievable darkness here in the slums of Nakuru or will continue to progress without people of faith crying out to God?
Last night I told the people here what the cost would be for baptism. I told them that the devil would move as soon as people said they wished to be baptized.
The response was wonderful as almost everyone wanted to be baptized.
Just a few minutes ago I heard that two of the main ladies’ husbands here told them they didn’t like them going to church so much. Now those ladies are questioning whether they should be baptized. One had relatives call from other parts of Kenya and ask if they would move back to their ancestral home.
We have just got our toe in here. Are we willing to go the distance? This will be a cross country run not a fifty yard dash. Please know we are not the only ones in this battle. Carol Vezey sent an update that reads:
Gulu [where Carol Vezey’s ministry, Favour of God, is located] means “heaven” in the Ugandan language, and surely we feel Gulu is heaven’s gateway for God’s glory to come and reign, blanketing northern Uganda.
We feel positioned as a gateway for His Word and His power to flow northward into nations populated with unreached people groups. As the Body of Christ in the north, we have come through a season of intense spiritual warfare, shaking, and tremendous testing, and yet our confidence in His faithfulness and calling stands unshakable!
There has been incredible need on every side: in the ministry and in the community; an onslaught of sickness and spiritual attacks; the invasion of “men on assignment from Satan” (as they have testified) into Gulu; violent threats of confusion and division in the Body of Christ throughout the north; children being abducted for human sacrifices; and a strong sense of heaviness and discouragement over the northern area for the last 4 or 5 months.
As a staff we have identified with Paul’s words. Being “hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor. 4:6-10). But all of these things have made us even more desperate to see His glory, even more urgent to “work for the night is coming,” even more violent to take His Kingdom by force, and even more united to see the enemy regret any attack he has made in any area!
As a result of this season, the whole Favor of God team went back into another intense week of prayer and fasting, knowing that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood” and that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but MIGHTY in God for pulling down strongholds.”
It was an incredible week of ministering to the Lord, going deep into worship, washing His feet, being refreshed with His presence, weeping for souls, praying violently in warfare, listening to His voice in quiet waiting, remaining united in spirit, being confirmed of His promises, and crying out for His purposes and His Kingdom to be completely established on this continent and in the nations as it is in heaven.
What a dynamic time. All the staff said it was the richest and deepest week of prayer and intercession we have ever had together. The Lord was truly there. In such a powerful way He reminded us again, that HE IS BUILDING HIS CHURCH! AND AS HE BUILDS IT, THE GATES OF HELL WILL NEVER PREVAIL AGAINST IT! Prayer gives heaven the tools with which to build! For prayer does not prepare us for the greater work, it IS the greatest work (as is proclaimed on our Mission House wall).
Counting their lives not dear, the staff work tirelessly, day and night, to take the light of the glory of His gospel to all the corners of northern Uganda. They are looking for no earthly reward but only marching to heaven’s drumbeat, hearing the cries of the lost, knowing the heartbeat of the Father for souls yet to be called His own, and feeling the urgency of the Holy Spirit because the time is short.
THE CRIES OF THE LOST HAVE BEEN REACHING THE LORD OF THE HARVEST!!! AND THESE CRIES ARE THOSE OF THE BRIDE
DESPERATE TO SEE HIS POWER AND GLORY COVER THE EARTH AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA!
This is not a time to feel sorry for ourselves but a time to rise up and give ourselves to God. Rise up look about you; steady the hands that are shaking and strengthen the knees that are weak. Encourage the fainthearted and exhort the unruly.
Let God cleanse the temple (the Village) of all unbelief and half-heartedness. Let all who choose the pleasures of this life depart and separate from those who choose His life.
He has promised my dear family that if our Hearts are completely His He will strongly support us. We need that support!
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bringest the poor that are cast out to thine house? When thou seest the naked, that thou coverest him; and that thou hidest not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, “Here I am.” (Isaiah 58:6-9)
He has promised us to live with Him in Heavenly places. Look up, my brothers and sisters, the Martins have come to show us how to fly.
They do their work without complaining and wait for the storms. The strong winds are the signal to quit the “normal stuff” and mount up. If we seek Him and wait for Him, we too can use the strong winds ( strong circumstances) to soar in the heavenlies with Him. We will learn to run and not grow weary.
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
Posted on Apr 22, 03:35 PM | Categorized under Articles—
