ABOVE ARE FOURTEEN OF OUR 18 AND OVER GIRLS. All now happily ensconced in the Jean Potts Hostel under the care of Rosemary, their House Mum, ( pictured almost centre in white and blue print dress). Some of these girls are in College, but a number have now finished their Course, and are job seeking! SO, finally, Testimony Faith Homes seems to have reached its full potential with THREE Children's Homes and TWO Senior Hotels, able to residentialy care for up to 150 children and young people; 360 having already come and gone. PLUS Testimony School catering for a further 700 kids from around (additional to our own in the Homes) from Nursery to Form 1V.
Left and right are views of the now completed sitting and dining facility in the Hostel which the Girls will be sharing. It is small but not cramped, and seems just right for a small group, Tailor made in fact.
BEWARE THE PRAISE OF MEN AND WOMEN. It can be SO EASY to accept it, AND to believe in it, if not to just get used to it. This week I had a visit from some brothers in the Lord who were visiting the area. They were brought to see me in fact by someone who lives in the area. They were SO delighted to meet me, and I them. We got on really well, but then as we talked they began to comment on the way we have lived here, and how the work has grown over the years. Óh,brother Green, it is so wonderful to meet a man of faith; another George Muller...........' and suddenly I felt in danger of somehow letting another person's view of me, obscure the focus on the one and only Person needing - yea even demanding - Praise.
How did a very ordinary, and rather dull person, get to get on a plane, leave his Land, and travel to a strange country? How did this guy find himself entangled in the lives of unwanted kids, and given vision and ideas to lift them up and out of their misery? How is that today I can walk around and touch the buildings that have arisen from empty fields, without personally financing any of what I see and feel? Well I, myself, know very well that I had nothing to do with it, and that without the living fact that GOD is alive and well, and has been able to be the DOER of all I ever dreamed, NOTHING would have happened in my life, and nothing would be here to see or touch.
THIS MAN came out of nowhere with nothing in his hand but a sixpenny piece, and 48 years later he can still afford to say unequivocally that he himself has no more than he came with materially. I came with 'nothing' and will certainly leave with nothing - and if I can leave anything BEHIND to prove the providence and faithfulness of GOD, then the Thanks and the Praise must always revert to the God I have trusted and imperfectly served. I do not seek to rebuke my guests, or in any way to blot out their appreciation for what they felt they saw here this week, any more than I would want to resist glorifying in what happens here every day. But it is not MY miracle, it is God's, He is the Source, from which all has come. It is to HIM, and Him alone that ALL Praise, Honour, and GLORY. must go. It has been my privilege to be permitted to labour here, as a duty and service to Him who created me - and often also imperfectly. He made us with a purpose in view - ours is to DO. I reckon that whatever I do for God as a Man, it is my reasonable service. It is expected of me. It is what I am here for. If I am honest I deserve no thanks for doing it by anyone except GOD my Master and Lord. Praise, perhaps, for a job well done. Oh my! How I yearn to hear that! But do I deserve it....? But Men and Women all like to be noticed and appreciated. WE all want to be told 'Well done' - children especially. And at heart we are ALL just children even when 70+. Look at what I have done, and TELL me you like it, applaud it........It is surely not a sin to do well.
BUT God says, in His Word I am not to forget where the POWER and INSPIRATION comes from!
I am not to keep quiet about it, but to draw attention to it.
As Moses writes in Deuteronomy 8v11 'Beware that you forget not the Lord you God' - when you are full, and have received good houses, herds and flocks, and you have multiplied and grown. Beware 'that you heart is not lifted up and you forget the Lord your God' who has done all this FOR you. 'and that you say in your heart 'My power and the might of my hand has brought me this wealth (prosperity, success,good achievement.
'I love sharing about my Faith.
God has given me this amazing talent -
so I am going to go out and Glorify
His Name'
She just loves to point herself, her life, her talent and ability ALL back to God who made and makes her. Isn't that just beautiful?
Yes I believe it IS, because it IS the Truth; the truth about every apparent advance in her life. About every eventual victory over failure, and every honour given to her.
It is to be humbly remembered that on one occasion when Jesus was addressed by another as 'Good Master' (Matthew 19v1617) and He immediately repudiated the honourable salutation by pointing out that no man has natural goodness in him - that what ever good may be seen, conveyed, in him is and must be only from GOD ALMIGHTY. Am I, or you, good, to be worshipped, praised or glorified ? NO! There is no good in any of us, that has not been planted by God. To HIM be the GLORY, as the hymn writer rightly points our in his hymn
THINE be the Glory, risen, conquering Son.
1923
1923
This is all for this week. God Bless you all, and keep you humble in His Hand, giving Thanks to God for all things in Jesus Name.
Lovingly to you all
John, Esther and Daryl Green
No comments:
Post a Comment