Hearing the Father Sing

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What does the Father’s voice sound like? I recently asked this question while preaching at the Gospel Outreach Church in Masiphumelele Township. I’d been pondering Zephaniah 3:17 and the surrounding verses for a few weeks. It reads:

“The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Those last words are truly amazing words-our God sings over us with “rejoicing.” In Hebrew it can be translated as dancing with praise.  I answered the question that Sunday by stating that I believe the Father’s voice sounds like the the last several hours of praise and worship.

My brothers and sisters at the Gospel Outreach Church hold nothing back with their praise to God. They use not only their voice but entire being to let their Mighty Savior know how much they love Him. The passion is evidenced by the perspiration pouring down many faces causing an angelic glow to light up the room. Those of you who have been there know exactly what I’m describing.

This African worship experience helps me comprehend how the Father exuberantly sings and dances with a love song over us, His beloved children. In my mind I attempt to recreate such a picture- trying to imagine that when the Father sees me He lets loose; He celebrates with the angels in heaven my homecoming and apart of His family.

The Father loves to rejoice over His children and especially when we realize our brokenness and sin and turn to Him. I encourage you to take some time and read Luke 15: the stories of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Sons. When the lost are found and brought home there is singing, rejoicing, and yes even dancing in the Father’s house. Jesus shares these parables to show us the behind the scenes look into the Father’s deep affection for us.

It is vital today that we encounter the singing of our Father to drown out all the noise of our culture shouting out shame, rage, and false lies from the Ancient Serpent. When you hear the Father sing your soul will find peace and quiet rest, for you are held securely by His everlasting arms of love. This is what we have been created for! This is what deep down in our soul we all long for! Our hearts will not find lasting peace until we hear Abba’s love song over us.

Over the few weeks I intend to share ways to tune our spiritual ears to hear the Father sing His transforming love song over us. I truly believe this truth will transform your heart. I would also suggest a book “The Singing God,” by Sam Storms which I believe will bless and assist you as you listen for His song.

Building Community

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Written by Mike Verkaik 

Have you ever had someone leave your church community that you knew well? Someone you could converse with easily because of the familiarity you had with them? This is the season we find ourselves in at the motel ministry.  We have been rejoicing and celebrating with many of our friends over the past months as they have found new homes in trailer parks and apartments.  This has broadened our community, since many of the former residents desire to continue relationships, and also opened a door to build a new community at the motel.

There has always been a percentage of the residents at the motel that have been more transient and distant to our attempts to come along side of them with love and service. Lately that sect has grown.  This morning God reminded me again of Jesus’ simple outreach through His encounter with Zacchaeus. In the text Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10) As I read through the passage again, I was reminded there were two ways Jesus sought a relationship with Zacchaeus through His daily walk of life. Jesus noticed him and then invited him to have a relationship, regardless of how he was perceived by others.

As we continue to build community at the motel our prayers are for the Holy Spirit to give us these divine appointments to see and invite new residents. What a joy it continues to be to walk and dwell with our eyes open to notice the people God puts in our path. It is such a privilege to let them know they are seen by not only us, but their Abba Father, and also invited to have a relationship, friendship with us as we represent Him and live out Jesus’ message we heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (I John 3 : 11 – NIV)

During the past summer months God has once again overwhelmed us with His timely gifts and resources to invite residents into a relationship with us.  Below are a few of those expressions of His goodness and blessings that have allowed us to build community as we continue to make the heart of our Father known. Each event seems so simple, but isn’t that exactly what Jesus demonstrated when he said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” (Luke 19 : 5)

Baseball game with our kids group: The West Michigan Whitecaps are a local minor league team for the Detroit Tigers. Oceans Ministries was blessed with tickets, parking, and voucher cards to spend on food and a small souvenir. This invitation opened the door to conversations and opportunities to listen and learn about the motel children’s lives, and for them to hear and see the love, joy and oneness of the body of Christ in us.

As we walked up to the stadium I made the children aware of how cool it was that our Abba Father gave us a VIP parking spot, so we paused to offer a thanksgiving prayer for the being a God of the details.  As we entered in we learned five of the nine children in attendance had never been to a ball park before.  As we were leaving one child said, “ it was the best day I ever had.” Another child described it as “amazing” and while he had been quiet and reserved up to this point, he talked the whole way home as he began to open up to us. There were also beautiful conversations in the car ride with one child even singing,  “Jesus lift me higher” to the other children in the car.

Girls Group to the zoo and ice cream: Over the years the families staying at the motel seem to usually have a majority of daughters.  This inspired one volunteer to create a time for female mentorship, and now we have a girls group that meets every other Friday.  The volunteer has invited the girls into deep discussions about the Father’s love and the hope Abba has for their response to His love. Invitations to special activities have created a deeper bond and an openness to reach out in difficult times.

This past week the girls were invited out for ice cream and to the zoo.  A few days later the volunteer received a message from a girl’s mom saying, “ I have a big favor, can you keep my mom in your prayers? She has stage four lung cancer.  We need God to guide us in what we should do.  I’m overwhelmed and tired.” As we pray for the troubled mom, we also praise God for the willingness and openness to reach out and seek prayers for her and her mom.

 

  Cookouts and Games: Cookouts are the favorite meal for us to serve and for residents to enjoy.  This summer we have again set up a big tent and brought in some yard games as an invitation to an event bigger than a meal. Each time we set up the tables in the parking lot I am reminded again that there are no tables in any of the rooms at the motel.  This evening meal is the only opportunity residents have to come, sit and dwell as a family or with others.

The other week I was talking with two men in their room.  Construction work has brought them to the motel. Currently, this is their life as they move from city to city, staying in the most affordable place they can. During our conversation they jokingly asked if I was going to give a sermon in the back, which opened the door for a mini-one in their room.  After the meal I came by again and one of them said, “Mike, traveling from place to place is what I do for a living.  I’ve been staying in motels for twenty years and I have never experienced something like this. Thank you for being here.”

So, here is what God has been teaching me through this time of transition. In building community, baseball, ice cream and calling someone down from a tree aren’t that special on their own. But when you use them to reach out to people who feel lost, amazing things can happen. The Holy Spirit can work through you to change someone’s life, heal their hurt, or bring people together. The key? That simple, daily question: “Abba, as I walk my ordinary path today, whose eyes do you need me to meet, whose story do you need me to hear?”

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. (I Peter 2:21)

I Surrender All

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We weren’t sure we would make it to church a few Sundays ago after 4 days of flooding on Oceans Ministries campus. How thankful we were for a break in the rain which allowed us to encounter the Father’s voice during the worship time in Masiphumelele. The song right before the message was the old hymn, “I Surrender All.” As Sunny, the worship leader, repeated the refrain several times these powerful words from Scripture (see Lk. 9:23-25) rocked my heart:

I surrender all, I surrender all: All to Thee, my blessed Savior. I surrender all.

A few night earlier I was having a conversation with the Father about the flooding on campus. It always seems to happen in the middle of the night when all seems the darkest. There was no one else to help as the school was on break and Delgun who oversees our facilities was on a much needed family vacation.

As the sewage water was seeping into one of the buildings, the rains intensified, and I couldn’t find an adapter for the pumps. Without a doubt I was having one of those “why me” moments.  A few hours later I was upset about my pity party and strong emotions.  I knew others living in shacks were having their homes washed away.  I also knew other things were churning in life and the flood was a tipping point. And then the word “control” popped into my head. Deep down I was upset because I couldn’t stop the rain, the flooding, poverty and so many other things in life. Once again I was reminded that: I was not in control and I am not God.

In the wee hours of the morning I felt the Spirit say “Surrender,  you are not Sovereign, but I am!”  The first verse of the song says it best:

All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give:  I will ever love and trust Him,

In His presence daily live.

At the heart of surrender is “love and trust” in a Father who is in control of my life-even when it doesn’t make sense and even when things don’t seem right. The way I show my love is to trust Him even in the midst of life’s storms. He will use it and in some way work it out for good. This battle for control began along time ago in Garden of Eden in the hearts of Adam, Eve and their children, and now us. When we try to take matters into our own hands things seem to get worse. However, when we learn to daily surrender and live in the Father’s loving presence there is freedom.

As the song was revetting through the church it was a powerful reminder of my need to daily surrender this truth and apply to my life. Yes Lord, today “I surrender all” to my loving Sovereign Savior.  What happened next was quite out of the ordinary, as right after the song, the person who was to preach that Sunday stood up and said, “I feel Pastor Tim has a message for us today.”  As I slowly walked up to the podium, I knew I was in need of help. I sensed the Spirit in my heart say, “Don’t worry just surrender!”  I thanked Him for this answered prayer, and sighed deeply as His peace overcame me and spoke through me. It was truly His words not mine that were shared that morning.

Let these verses be a prayer which you cling to whenever challenges, storms, and uncertainties arise in your life :

All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow;

Worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender, Make me Savior, wholly Thine;

Let me feel the Holy Spirit, Truly now that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee;

Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessings fall on me.

All to Jesus I surrender, Now I feel the sacred flame;

Oh the joy of full salvation! Glory, Glory to His Name!

 

 

Tillie’s Travail – Victor not Victim

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It was a cold and windy Monday night and the prayer meeting was smaller than usual, perhaps the rains and lack of heat in the church building deterred people. But not long into the prayer time things warmed up considerably as Tillie began to call on the name of the LORD. On our way home, Patty and I agreed we could have listened all night to Tillie dialoguing directly with her Heavenly Father. Her powerful praise and intercession brought the fire of heaven into the cold building.

One of her declarations of praise was thanking her Father that we are Victors in Christ and not victims! Knowing Tillie’s background this was a powerful truth-one she had learned through seasons of great pain in her life. Tillie is a “colored woman,” which in South Africa is not viewed as a derogatory term. During the years of Apartheid (1948-1994) Tillie was identified as mixed race and she and her family were forced to live in an area designated for only colored people.

Years ago she was not permitted to reside in Fish Hoek. During this season of racial injustice she learned to travail in prayer-bringing the pain and injustice she experienced to a Just Father. Rather than turning this injustice to feelings of bitterness and anger she found solace in the victory of Christ and the power of the Cross. In Christ she had been forgiven of all her sins and therefore could forgive those who had wronged her. She could not do this in her own strength, but daily needed the power of the Holy Spirit to empower her to live in the victory of the cross. Crying out in travailing prayer became the source of her supernatural strength to live like Christ during one of the darkest periods in South Africa history.

It was during one of those prayer times where she felt in her spirit that one day she would own a home in Fish Hoek as a testimony to a Father who listens to the cries of His children. Today she not only owns a home in Fish Hoek, but her family also owns investment property.

We often see Tillie walking by Oceans Ministries property with an angelic glow on her face. We know exactly what she is doing as she covers the city in prayer during her many prayer walks. If I can catch up to her I ask her to cover Oceans in prayer as well, which she happily does.

Tillie’s life and testimony continually remind me to live under the victory of the cross. The enemy wants us to play the victim-to get bitter, stay angry, to get even until justice is served. This will not only destroy our souls, but it will bring chaos and destruction wherever we go.

Tillie knew victory was found by daily living before the throne of her Savior and crying out for His love to overflow her soul- so that she could love and pray for her enemies just like Jesus did on the cross.  She had learned that travailing prayer brings the heat of heaven’s love to earth which transforms everything.

Perhaps you are going through a season of darkness and even injustice. Keep travailing in prayer, asking the Spirit to reveal the victory that is yours in Christ Jesus, so that you too can testify to others you are a Victor not a victim!

“I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit out of the mud and mire, He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see the fear and put their trust in the LORD.“ Psalm 40:1-3

 

 

 

 

 

Ministries Collide. – The Fruit of Mutual Pursuit

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Written by Mike Verkaik

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.       Matthew 7:7-8

During our ride to Oceans Ministries kids activities at the Wooden Shoe last week, I asked Albert, “When was it that you first recognized your need for Jesus to be your Lord and Savior? He replied.  “Remember that night at the motel when my family was in crisis? It was that night in the middle of a difficult situation.  I did not know where else to turn and there was a deep desire to let go and surrender all of it over to Him. In that moment I sensed peace. Now, I don’t know how people get through hard stuff without Jesus.”

Indeed, during that night of desperation,  and the unveiling of deep family wounds revealed the beautiful paradox of our Father’s love. God used one of Albert’s most vulnerable moments in His pursuit of a deep relationship with His son, while Albert’s response was a new and renewed faith that caused him to seek more of his Father’s presence in his life.

Through this mutual pursuit of a deeper relationship Albert began to discover HIs Father’s love and grace to transform the pain into a deeper intimacy with Him. As Albert kept knocking on the door of understanding and knowing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God opened His doors wide for Albert to taste and see firsthand the goodness of his Lord in South Africa.

First and foremost, the door of salvation:

On June 14 in False Bay Albert publicly professed his love for and faith in Jesus Christ and was baptized in front of the entire team. As he emerged from the water, the chorus of “Son of the King!” echoed in unison and celebrated his new identity and the transformative power of salvation.

 

The door of gratitude:

One of Albert’s favorite songs from the trip is Gratitude by Brandon Lake. His take aways each night showed a heart that was shifting focus away from what he didn’t have to being grateful for the things he had.  As Albert said, “ Seeing the people of Jim Se Bos, how difficult their lives are, but how joyful they live and worship made me realize how much I have to be thankful for.  They understand how merciful, loving and forgiving Jesus is to them, and that is enough.

The door of testimonies:

Albert resinated with many of the testimonies we listened to throughout the week. “Hearing how people came to know the Lord in tough spots, I related to that. But now I look at their lives and they are singularly focused on praising and serving Him. How their lives changed as they gave their lives to God. They have contagious joy and excitement for praising the Lord and the commitment to serve the communities.  It is inspiring to see how God has used them to care for the children, and to spread the gospel of Jesus.”

The door of revelation – the amazing love of His Abba Father:

During a conversation after South Africa, I asked Albert, “What did you learn about God on this trip.”  His response revealed a profound understanding of God’s unwavering love and forgiveness, “God really does care for me, even when I let him down, He is still loving and forgiving. He calls me to be available, but he is the one that changes people’s lives.”

The door of service and calling:

While dwelling and praying on the mountain Albert felt the Spirit’s nudge of compassion, asking him to pray over his teacher at Ocean View. The day before she had shared some of her story and testimony with him, now he felt the Spirit saying, “bless her with the new found covering you have found”.

God continued to inspire and reveal His plan for Albert’s new faith, trust and voice as he sought Him in the vineyard. “When I get back”, He said, ”I feel God saying I need to let my boss know I need to adjust my schedule to have Tuesday’s off. I feel I need to be available as a mentor to the other kids at the Wooden Shoe during Ocean’s kids activities. I would also need to share my testimony at the next Bible Club. (Which is happening the day this blog comes out)”

I hope you have been blessed by our Father’s story woven through the life of this young man.  My prayer is that it may revitalize or enhance your pursuit of God’s initiating love for yourself and those placed in your circle of influence. May the Holy Spirit lead and encourage you to keep loving, keep knocking, keep asking, and keep seeking.

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19