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- Written by: Don Goulding
And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2 NET_FL)
I ran from place to place and wired explosives. Others interrupted, but I couldn’t let on what I was really doing. I gave platitudes to keep them content. Breaking from the crowd, I sprinted to the detonation site. Then I woke from my dream, shaken and breathing hard.
“Lord, what does it mean?” I asked.
In the quiet of my prayer closet, the Holy Spirit gave his interpretation.
“Don, you are conspiring to bring explosive change to the people you shepherd. You run around wiring for a new start for your church instead of truly loving the souls that will be blown up in the process.
“Slow down and care for people, not your programs or your bigger, brighter future. Because if you build the greatest ministry in the world, lead thousands to Christ, and witness your land swept into repentance, but you don’t engage people with my love, then you are nothing.”
“Lord,” came my reply, “will I ever get out of spiritual kindergarten? Yes, with your help I will love others and leave results up to you. I’ll spend quality time with whoever will let me. I’ll learn to know them, enjoy good things with them, and find out where they hurt. I will offer your peace for their lives.
“Like you, Jesus, I will see the individual and not the crowd.”
Prayer: Patient Savior, help me to love.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
When it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s winter in Fiji. The weather is lovely, mostly—great temperatures, less rain, a few cyclones. Villages are still digging out from Cyclone Winston.
Don’s team at Operation Foundation normally works in the prisons, however they diverted from their usual ministry to help cyclone victims. It was a privilege for him to come along side villages in Tailevu, Rakiraki, and Koro Island and help them process grief.
The activities of the Trauma Workshop included:
- Drawing pictures of the worst moment - Children showed their families floating inside the house, with the roof blown off.
- Writing a lament to God - Teens, grandfathers, and women all expressed what was repressed inside.
- Burning their pain - Burdens of pain and terror were sent up to God in smoke and replaced with peace.
Comments from the villagers:
“Other counselors came but what they said didn’t help us. Your workshop was different. We are glad you came.”
“Normally we stay quiet. Since you came, we talk about what happened and it’s helping us.”
Don’s team has been teaching and counseling in the prison and seeing God move in hearts. One brother, Joni, was caught stealing and held at the local police station for arraignment. Three days later his parents went to file a missing persons report, and the officer said, “We have a boy in the cell by that same name.”
The parents stepped into the cell block, saw their son with handcuffs and wept.
“They hugged me and Mom said she still loved me. Dad couldn’t get any words out. I could’t stop the tears running on my cheeks,” Joni said.
“Step Out Step Free (the classes we offer at Operation Foundation) helped me see the way I was living and understand what life really means. I was the most precious thing God created in this world. It showed me that the key is to let God be the Master and Leader for all things I do.”
Another brother, Wasaki, confessed that he has been selling drugs inside prison. He wants to stop wearing masks. After counseling he asked to meet with the Office in Charge to confess. That meeting is scheduled for later this week. The only explanation for his change of heart is the Holy Spirit is at work in him. Please pray for Wasaki.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/donjgoulding/
Lots of Love,
Dani & Don Goulding
____________________________
Operation Foundation
Donations go to our forwarding agent:
Goulding C/O Jeanne Hartman
PO Box 2433
Grass Valley, CA 95945
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10123 William Carey Dr.
Orlando, FL 32832
Please Memo:
Account no: 132113
Operation Fd –OARF (Goulding/Schultz)
On-line Donations go to:
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Account no: 132113
Don Goulding
- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law ofmy mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. (Romans 7:22-23 NET_FL)
Spiritual growth only comes to me with bloody violence. My old Mr. Sin Nature is a wily beast. One of his tricks is showy enthusiasm for biblical head knowledge. He encourages me to memorize scripture, but his slimy goal is preoccupation from living out the truth.
Another Mr. Sin Nature tactic is to read the Bible too quickly. He won’t hold still under the stinging poultice of a few chosen words, and instead, prefers entertainment by the storyline. These and other ploys force me to sit on the urchin.
I begin in a place where I can be alone with Jesus. I ask what heart-work needs the most attention, then read no more than a chapter of Scripture. How I choose where to read matters little as God maneuvers any method to get me where he wants. I find he consistently points me to what I need. Next, I let the Spirit highlight the handful of words on which I’m to focus. Then I wrestle with my squirming old nature, and pin him under those words until he squeals, “I give.” Repentant prayer and brief journaling knock the final wind out of the monster.
I have to repeat this process each morning, because, after years of letting the sin nature run wild, he thinks he can poke his nose into every good thought. Only when I’m methodical and strong-handed is he containable. For now, I have to cohabit with the rascal, but I have another guest who forces him to sit in the corner. I need Jesus in my house at every hour. Not only does he pardon my keeping the sin-brat, he also helps me baby-sit the little wretch.
Prayer: Lion of Judah, this is war. Help me overcome myself.