Indy Christian .com -- Daily Internet Starting-line

FHL International Journal: Kindness, Unity, Prayer, and Justice

Thursday, Sep. 25, 2008

by Merlin Gonzales

After a 5-hour pick-up and delivery of the groceries, I proceeded to do some admin work. Later, I was surprised when I came out of my office and saw my F150 with a cargo trailer hitched to it. I met Tony for the first time, who handed me the Title of the trailer. He is donating the trailer to FHL. He said that he heard from one of the FHL volunteers that FHL needs a trailer. Just a few days ago, he was praying to God that he would have an opportunity to bless a charitable organization when all of a sudden, he saw an FHL volunteer nearby. They talked about FHL Mobile Food Pantry and found out the immediate need of FHL.

So, earlier that day, he saw trailer for sale at a garage sale and bought it. I still do not know Tony’s full name but he is one of God’s Miracle for the city.

Saturday, Sep. 27, 2008

My day started early to prepare for a Coalition meeting to unify the Body of Christ in Indy. The meeting at Unleavened Bread Café started with unity prayer and was attended by 20+ ministry leaders in Indy. The verses that were shared were Ephesians 4:1-16, Luke 18:7, Isaiah 58:10, Amos 5:21 and Zechariah 4:6. The topic is Unity, Prayer and Justice. It’s like a marriage between prayer & justice. Jesus modeled this for us. He prayed, then, He went out there to be with the poor, He prayed, He went out…Servant leader, unconditional love.

The vision is to form and empower Prayer Groups around the city. We have identified several groups and will be coordinating with each prayer group to be able to invite people to join them in corporate prayer in their immediate area. If we can be united in prayer, we can do more than we can ever imagine. God will honor our humility, our unity and our passion to expand the Kingdom of God together. At the meeting, we stayed away from doctrinal and philosophical discussions as long as we all agree that God sent Jesus Christ who died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins; and if we repent from our sins and put our faith in him we will inherit eternal life. We are here in the world to do the works of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes, we feel that we are alone in our area doing all the works. The prophet Elijah felt the same way right after he defeated the false prophets at Mt Carmel, 1 Kings 18:22,

Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.” But on 1 Kings 19:13b-18, Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 14 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." 15 The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."

After the meeting, the City’s ‘Communication Team’ had their weekly training at the Café.

While the communications training was going on, I had the opportunity to visit the outreaches that FHL coordinated with the Youth groups from Southport Presbyterian Church for:

• David Woodrupp for exterior building painting 636 E 36 St. owned by an elderly person

• Jerome Jorman for interior house painting at 250 W. 42nd St., a Group Home for ex-offenders

So it was a prophetic day: Unity, Prayer and Justice.

Initially, we were targeting 5 area prayer groups, North, South, West, East & Central. But please let me know if you already have a prayer group and would like for us to publicize it and encourage others to join your group. Also, please let me know if would like to form a prayer group in your area. I will need the schedule of your prayer meeting, the location and other details with regards to your prayer meetings. We have already identified a few existing prayers groups. Once I receive your response and confirmation, we will have prayer group facilitators’ meeting so we’ll be in the page and will be able to empower each other. Prayer is a great start towards unity and justice. In the next few weeks, we will start form the Justice Groups through ‘Kindness Weekends’.

Labels: FHL Faith Hope Love Merlin Gonzales Kindness Weekend Unity Prayer Justice

posted by Melanie Reed @ 1:19 AM