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Thursday 16 April 2015

Cry the beloved country



Cry the beloved country

South Africa, South Africa
What are you doing?
Your brother's blood
is screaming out to Me!
Lord, help me!

Why do you keep on fighting?
You take out your revenge and thunder
on a statue of a person
hundred year six foot under
... and when the piece of cement is gone...
you carry on to kill and plunder
those from here and another country.
Can you not allow the sun to shine 
on one another?

The one thinks he's better
than someone else
of different race or culture
Yet before the Holy Lord
the Creator of us all
we are all condemned prideful sinners
that need blood
.... The saving Blood of Jesus Christ
who will set us free from our need to fight

When will you see
that you will never be free
unless the Son Jesus Christ
sets you free?

O Lord, open our eyes
and heal our hearts
heal our country
We need You here. 







Riana Odendaal
April 2015


Tuesday 7 April 2015

Garissa



One peaceful night
yet it awaits fate
some days before Easter
Students going their about
not knowing that
soon they would breath their last

Suddenly faced with a gun in their face
Terrorists shouting
"whom do you belong to?"
Are you with us or
with the man of Nazareth called Christ?

The terrorists may think they have won
They wiped out more Christ-followers
and the world is in tears and fears
thinking by shouting allah akhbar 
that they won, and we all now think 
that allah is great. 
Yet in the end Christ will show them
Who truely is greater than allah

Friends, family and loved ones
cried on hearing shots echoing down halls
Angels were singing when 
Christ-followers came Home
in this fateful way

and for the rests of us here on earth
longing to be Home
Yet asking Why
Why do they have to go that horrible way?
Why so rudely ripped away from their loved ones life's?
We can ask books full of questions 
and never have an answer

Simply Lord, we ask
Give your Comfort and Peace
Peace beyond all our understanding
to those who lost loved ones 
Ones that are now with You

May it be etched in our hearts
that they can take away 
all from us, even our earthly lifes, but....
they can never take away our Jesus our Saviour. 
We will be followers of the Nazarene
and follow You Home. 


Monday 6 April 2015

Prayer points for July 2015 Outreach





Thanks for being willing to pray with me and for me and for the dear folks in Mozambique, and our outreach in July.



I have over the years come to love these dear women in Moz and I am thankful that I am Lord willing able to go back again to them this year.





Rev 5:9-10 ESV  And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,  (10)  and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."


As Newsboys sing in He reigns
It's the song of the redeemed rising from the African plains ...... It's all God's children singing, Glory, glory, hallelujah, He reigns, He reigns. 

Yes some of these dear folk are not yet part of the great choir of the redeemed, and that's why we go there. And that's one thing you really need to pray for, for their eyes to open to see the need for the Saviour that we are telling them about. Then there are some that are part of the great choir of the redeemed, whom we go to encourage and equip, teach them and hug them. They also need that and they are so encouraged to see our familiar faces pop up again in their valley in the middle of nowhere. 



Here are some prayer requests, for the outreach but also for other outreaches taking place around this time in nearby villages. 

- There are plenty of people there who have heard of Jesus, and possibly even through Samaria Mission's trips there and the local believers there. But they want to add Jesus to their ancestor worship and whatever else they believe in. From 1 Tim 2:5-6 and John 14:6 (and many other verses) we know this will not work ever. Pray that they would understand it's Jesus only and will follow Him only. Pray that God would work in their hearts to follow Him and Him alone.  Pray that they would see that God is the only Way and follow Him, that He is the true Life and find their life in Him. 



- Pray for the believers there, that they would be strengthened and encouraged in their faith, that they will stand firm to the end and hold fast to the Truth of God's word. That they would be examples to those around them and share God's word with them. That they would grow in a deeper relationship with God and be rooted and grounded in His love for them. (Eph 3:16-21). 


- Pray for those we would meet, and share the Good News with, that God would prepare their hearts to receive His word, that they would receive it and their life's transformed. 


- For the health of the team members, unity among team members, pray that we would anew have a vision of reaching the lost to tell them about Christ. We are simply the messengers, God is the One doing the work, but we still need to go tell. Pray for us to follow God's nudgings and directions to where we should go and what we should share. For divine appointments. 


- For our preparations, for the trip in all ways: For the finances to go, from spiritual preparedness, preparing bible studies and for the preachers that would be preaching at the evening services, and going on hut-to hut and sharing testimonies and God's message with them. To be physically and mentally prepared too. 
For creative and true ways to use teaching aids (pictures etc) to make the message clearer. That we would spend quality and quantity time in our personal devotion time.


- Pray for the translators that they would not grow weary in their job of assisting us that don't know the language;  and that the rest of us would learn more and more of the language. That the message would be shared clearly through them. 


- and Pray for whatever the Holy Spirit lays on your heart to pray for. 





They have a beautiful song they sing, which one day will be true, and we will all sing together. 
Siku ri wandza Hosi Yesu U ta vuya (One day Our Lord Jesus will come back)
Hina cina cina Hita cina cina na Yesu (we will dance with Jesus)
Hina Hita yimbelela Hi Yimbelal na Yesu (we will sing with Jesus) 

What a great day that would be when we all, of all tribes, languages, nations and people groups would sing and dance together with our Saviour. What a day to look forward to.