A Jim Beam Skillet, $10 and the Wonderful Goodness of God

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Jet leg hit hard coming back to Africa. For two nights I had a lot of time to think, pray, and contemplate our quick trip to the States as sleep was scarce. We had so many divine appointments and overwhelming gifts from God’s children-which left us humbled and overflowing with tears of praise and great joy.

One of the encounters I was giving praise to the Father for in the early hours of the morning was for a couple named Happy and Josie, pictured above.  Mike Verkaik wanted to show me the room Oceans rented for ministry at the Wooden Shoe located in Holland, Michigan. Together we spent some time praying in the “former motel room” praising God for how the Holy Spirit has been using this space to touch children with the Gospel as well as be a light and a safe place for the residences.

As we left the room it felt like a river of shalom had  flooded our souls and it was hard to leave. Mike noticed the door was opened next to it and said, “Tim you’ve got to meet this couple who are getting ready to move out into an apartment.” As we walked the shalom continued to flow as we were greeted with loving smiles and Josie exclaimed, “I know you, you are the guy who wrote the book I read!” She went on to ask about the work in Africa and what was God up to.

As we were talking she got an angelic look on her face and started to chuckle. Mike responded, “Josie, what is God telling you?”  I thought I might have missed something, but Mike had seen this before and knew God was speaking to her.  She reached into a bag and pulled something out and said “God is telling me to give you this for your ministry in Africa.”  She handed me $10 and a new Jim Beam skillet. Josie saw the expression on my face, which must have looked confused, and said, “don’t rob me of the joy of giving.”

Yes, humbled again and doing all I could to hold back the tears as this amazing couple were powerful tools of Abba’s love.  I can’t explain all the thoughts and emotions that were bouncing about in my brain as we ended our time holding hands in prayer.  Only God can do crazy stuff in the most unusual ways and places to show His absolute goodness.

Remembering this amazing encounter with Josie and Happy, along with so many other touches from God during our time in the states, helped pass the sleepless hours, later in the morning I turned to my daily Psalm reading and this was a portion of what I read:

“I will exalt you, my God and King, and praise Your name forever and ever.  I will praise You every day; yes, I will praise You forever. Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise!…I will meditate on Your majestic, glorious splendor and Your wonderful miracles. Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue…Everyone will share the story of Your wonderful goodness…” Psalm 145

As I finished praising God with this Psalm for His “wonderful goodness” we experienced in the US God said “I’m not done showing my goodness even right here in Africa.” There was a lady outside the retreat center wanting to speak with me. I opened the door to a familiar face I knew from Zimbabwe, “Pastor Tim, the LORD has blessed us and we felt Him telling us we need to bless Oceans Retreat Center with a gift.”  She handed me an envelope with hard earned money from two refuges trying to survive in a foreign land.

Yes again humbled, and tears, at the “wonderful goodness of our Father God!”

I pray Abba Father will give you a story to tell today of His Wonderful Goodness!  How our world desperately needs to hear about our Good Father!

 

 

 

Our Great Need for Spiritual Fathers

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By way of a miracle Patty and I were able to get back to the US for a few weeks. It has been a whirlwind of a time trying to pack in a wedding, family visits, some ministry appointments and a little biking.

One of the gifts was to spend time with our fathers.  As we repack our suitcases to head back to Africa I reflected on the importance of father’s in our lives. We go back to a South Africa where roughly 15 % of all children are orphans and 62% of children under 18 live without their father. The effects of fatherlessness has been devastating on every aspect of the society.

On Father’s Day I spent some time thanking and praising God for my grandfathers, fathers, and spiritual fathers who have deeply influenced my life.  Without the presence of fathers and spiritual fathers in our lives we are rudderless ships tossed every which way by life’s storms.

Ever since the beginning of creation there has been an all out assault against the Father child relationship. Adam and Eve’s Father was God. Daily they communed with Him walking in His pure love and security. But as we recall they chose to listen to the father of lies, Satan, who deceived them into believing they did not need God as a Father  and that they could manage just fine on their own. Look at the devastating results of trying to live with out The Father.

The Father overcame the fall and its damning effects by giving us His only Son to restore us back to the Father child relationship. He has also filled His followers with the Holy Spirit so that we rest in the great assurance that we have been adopted back into His family and can know our Father intimately (Romans 8:14-15).

Certainly our world is in desperate need for men who are filled with the Spirit of the Father to be spiritual fathers to orphan sons and daughters. That orphan spirit that started at the fall in the garden with our first parents has crushed countless souls with the spirit of abandonment and rejection. Just visit a prison, a gang infested city, a drug rehab center and listen to the stories.

I praise God for grandfathers, my dads, coaches, teachers, and pastors who were agents of the Heavenly Father speaking truth into my soul that shouted louder than the lies of the enemy. I wonder if the majority of the chaos our world is experiencing is due to the absence of spiritual fathers who can point us to Jesus the very image of God the Father (Hebrews 1:3).

7 years ago on a Father’s Day in Lesotho Africa as Oceans Ministries was just starting I was asked to preach in a local church. I shared with them the vision of Oceans: to make the love of the Father known to spiritual and physical orphans around the world. After living the past year in Africa, as well as seeing how Covid exposed deeper heart issues all over our world, I’m even more convinced of the vision.

Our world needs the Father and our world needs fathers and spiritual fathers who will reflect His love to lonely and abandoned children, teens and adults. Each of us needs that voice in our life. If you don’t have one ask God to bring you into relationship with someone who can be the Father’s love and voice to you.  Or maybe He is calling you to be a spiritual father to a son or daughter He is bringing to you. Join us as we pray into the prophecy of Malachi 4:5:

“Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the LORD arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.  Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

 

 

 

 

The Quiet Peace of the Holy Spirit

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The blog below is by Dawn Verkaik and her experience at a Spiritual Retreat called the Quest. Oceans Retreat Center is hoping to host a Quest South Africa retreat for men in February 2022.

As I headed out the doors of a ranch with 14 other women in silence, I was fully equipped to spend the day out side but I had no idea where I was going to go or how I was going to fill 9 hours in the woods of Texas! It was my second full day on a Woman’s Spiritual quest where women from all walks of life came together to encounter the Lord in their struggles and deepest hurts; to find freedom from all that holds one back from living the life God intended.

Many deep, bitter hurts were shared & tears were shed the night before, and we were given the opportunity to go into the presence of God, bring Him all those struggles, hurts & frustrations, and trust Him to lead & guide us the entire day! What a gift! Yet I was anxious, nervous and feeling quite frustrated. I had never really done anything like this before, and I was unfamiliar with the “woods” of Texas and whatever critters there may be! Also, we had to fast the entire day!

Well, let me share how I was led throughout my entire day! In my devotions the night before I was greatly encouraged by His words in Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He leads me besides quiet waters; he guides me along the right path. Even though I headed out with these promises ringing in my head, it quickly & easily turned into frustration & doubt. I was marching out with other ladies, determined not to go where anyone else went, yet still not knowing where to go.

It had rained hard overnight, and my hiking boots & socks were soaked in no time as I walked through knee-high wet grass. I remember saying in frustration, “how am I suppose to find Quiet Waters anyway Lord?!” Then I felt His Spirit tell me, “Be Still.” So I stopped, took a minute to look around and to listen. Did I truly hear some water? Did I see some trees spaced just right for my hammock? I ventured down an embankment to a low lying area of trees, then I heard a “plunk”! Walking towards the noice, there it was! A quiet, barely flowing little stream! (not sure what had fallen in it?!?). My Quiet Waters! OK Lord! I can do this! Now to hang my hammock – which I’ve never done! The trees were just the right space apart, but then fear crept in as I was told snakes liked to lay their eggs near the base of certain trees!?! Well in no time I had my hammock hung quite well, and I settled in to it with my Bible, journal, workbook/ manual, water & umbrella!

As my day progressed, I remember feeling more and more at peace as I wrestled with my struggles and the things that hold me back from truly experiencing Gods goodness in my life! I listened to the birds chirping around me and thought of how much God cares for each one of them; how much MORE He will care for me! Also, listening to the wind as I felt it come from all directions around me. I sensed the Holy Spirit was surrounding me & filling me with how much the Father loves me! Later, following the instructions to take a “Hike with God”, I came upon water flowing into the quiet stream. This gave me a picture of desiring the Holy Spirit to flow into me; to fill me so that I could be rid of all my fears, worries and the things that hold me back in order to be used by God. I was overwhelmed with the closeness of our ever- present God and truly did not want my fast to end.

As I finish writing this I am celebrating Pentecost. How amazingly orchestrated. That on this day I am reminded once again that the Holy Spirit, our amazing advocate, desires to be sought after and to fill each person who loves God. You don’t need an entire day, you just need to be willing, open and take the time to be quiet & listen.

John 14:16-17 – I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.

To feel the Holy Spirit leading and guiding me throughout a day which began with anxiety and frustration, gave me a longing to have more & more of this peace and shalom that the Holy Spirit loves to give!

7 Years of the Father’s Faithfulness!

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In the Bible the # 7 points to God’s perfection & completeness.  The best picture of this is Jesus Himself. The perfect Savior, He is  King of Kings. Yes, Jesus is the gift of the Father that shouts out for the world to see His faithfulness.

We give thanks to our Good Father and His children for 7 years of His faithfulness.

Love the Oceans Team:

Please Don’t Forget Thursday!

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Why is Thursday so important you ask? No, it is not a public holiday, and I don’t know of anyone famous who has a birthday on the 13th. And for most people it will be just another ordinary Thursday at work, school or home.  So what’s the big deal?

Here is the reason why; on the 13th of May we should remember, celebrate, be in awe of one of the greatest events in the history of the world. On this day we remember Jesus ascending into heaven as King (see Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:9-11). Back when I was a kid I remember churches would still speak about this day and even have worship services celebrating it.

But I imagine if you ask most church goers today or even pastors what is the 13th of May you will get a blank stare or “I have no idea!” Most followers still celebrate Christmas, Easter, and a few even Pentecost, but Ascension Day has almost vanished in most Christian circles.

Maybe it is a barometer of deeper issues plaguing the church today. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an over the top liturgical celebration guy and If I wasn’t a pastor I might have missed Ascension day as well. But it is what the day represents that we need to desperately need to rediscover in our day and be reminded of every day, Jesus is now KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!

I understand why our world is being controlled and paralyzed by fear which satan loves to propagate by any means he can. But because Jesus left this earth 40 days after His resurrection and went to take His throne at the right hand of the Father His followers should overflow with a victorious faith.  The disciple John got a glimpse of what our Warrior King looks like right now in Revelation 19:11-16:

“Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. And the One sitting on the horse was named Faithful and True. For He judges fairly and then goes to war. His eyes were bright like flames of fire, and on His head were many crowns…He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in pure white linen, followed Him on white horses. From His mouth came a sharp sword, and with it He struck down the nations. He ruled them with an iron rod, and He trod the winepress of the fierce wrath of Almighty God. And on His robe and thigh was written this title: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Ascension day reminds us that Jesus is this Revelation 19 King right now and His reign will take over every nation, tribe, and people group on this plant. Everyone born will bend the knee to His glorious rule and reign when He comes again in the same way He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:11).

Ascension Day also confronts me with the question is He my warrior King and will I give up everything to ride with Him? You see Ascension Day preaches there is only ONE King, the perfect God/Man Jesus and this Glorious King demands all my heart. Maybe that is why Ascension Day has been conveniently hidden away in our culture where self is preached as king.

In these unsettling days the church needs to once again wake up to the powerful truths and blessings of seeing Jesus at this very moment as the KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS!

So mark Ascension Day on your calendar and perhaps together we can both daily celebrate Christ the Ascended King. Alleluia! Amen!