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A Covid Update from Stuart Burns

10/5/2021

Greetings Dear Saints of our Lord Jesus,In May we made some of you aware of the urgent need of our suffering servants in South America. We had of course been made aware of this need by our “boots on the ground” Missionaries throughout the region. You responded with amazing generosity as we raised more than $10,000 and we passed it on to those in need. Praise God for your faithful and sacrificial giving.

Here we are now some 4 months later. We understand from many of our churches and supporters that the Covid fallout continues. We’ve heard from Pastor after Pastor of their own personal struggles as they try and keep God’s people focused on the eternal rather than the temporary. It is a national and global struggle for our churches. We are sure that some of you too are seeing these same struggles in your own churches.

We also hear from so many of our missionary friends of their burdens as well. Satan has no doubt unleashed one of his greatest assaults not only on the world but also on the people of God. He certainly is no respecter of persons.

We, however, are not disheartened. We are not discouraged. We are not deterred! Our God has not moved, He has not lost His way. His work and way will not be thwarted, as you have seen in our most recent newsletter of August 2021. We press on dear friends, WE PRESS ON!!! Hallelujah!

Our letter for you this quarter is to make you aware of our current needs as we seek to continue the work of our Lord throughout the world. Our IMM finances have also suffered as a result of the assault of our enemy! We have been praying, we are reaching out to our precious friends & supporters and asking you to join us in prayer and to give above and beyond in these troublesome times as we seek to keep the Lord’s work going uninterrupted and unencumbered. Precious souls hang in the balance.

Will you stand with us…in prayer and in financial support?

"I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1–2

Please feel free to contact Stuart Burns at 828-230-5700 with any questions you may have.

Please send all gifts to:
ZMission
203 E Main St. #1439
Jamestown, NC 27282-9829

You can also donate electronically here.

Sincerely;

Pastor Bruce Readling (IMM USA Board Member)

Stuart Burns (IMM USA General Secretary)

Your help is changing lives

8/11/2020

From Martha, international advocate for the Dufatanye Organization in Rwanda

Dear Friends,

I am so grateful to you who have been able to give to the Dufatanye Organization operating budget and to our Hunger Relief fund. We have been able to pay wages to our DO staff, in addition to raising $90,000 to feed thousands of people who might have starved in Rwanda during the quarantine. I am especially thankful for the ZMission Founder and Director, Mr. Clarke Kennedy, who has labored tirelessly to raise a large portion of the money. With God's help, we have fed over 10,000 people over the last months with over one hundred tons of maize flour and beans, in addition to providing a 12-inch bar of soap to every family that has come for aid. This is definitely like watching Jesus multiply the fishes and loaves. It's been miraculous! How I thank God and you too!

This past Friday was the end of the fourteenth week in our Hunger Relief Mission. It was the first week that we have had no money in our accounts to send. Our funds are completely depleted.

Godfrey Karema, the Founder and Director of the Dufatanye Organization, wrote a moving email. I’d like to share some parts with you here:

“We would like to thank you abundantly for your prayers and sacrifice in terms of time, resources and love for the huge work you have done to save lives here. You have been like good Samaritans, standing with us during this difficult time.

To be honest, life is not yet back to normal. COVID-19 cases are increasing and some places are back to total lockdown. One lady shared with me, 'I sell clothes at a shop in town. At the end of two days, I have not had a single person even ask the price of one of my clothes. I sit there all day and nothing. My customers were people attending weddings and going to church. Now I am finished.'

Before COVID-19 started, heavy rains had destroyed many farms and gardens throughout the country, including at the DO, where we lost over $6000 worth of fruits and vegetables. In some areas, mud slides and flooding also destroyed homes. Many have lost jobs due to the virus. Others have lost all means of shelter and support due to the flooding and mud slides on top of the virus.

We were feeding 700 families every week, but thankfully, approximately 400 of those families are able to survive mostly on their own now. But, due to the problems mentioned above, at least 300 families are still in a terribly vulnerable place with no food. I am writing this letter to kindly request another $5000 support each week for four more weeks to feed 300 families and sometimes more depending on the situation. I do not want our people to become dependent on your generosity. For now, this is a not an issue of dependency. It is an issue of survival”

Before concluding, I (Martha) want to acknowledge that many people in the US, including yourself, may have donor fatigue from all the needs bombarding you. I totally get this. Even as I ask for more financial resources to feed the people in Rwanda, there are organizations in the US that need food to distribute to hungry Americans. I merely ask you to pray and ask God to show you how to help, whether in the US or on behalf of hungry and desperate people in Rwanda.

704 Families fed over the last 8 days

7/31/2020

We are grateful for the support that some have sent for the relief of the families and individuals in Rwanda who are struggling finding enough food to eat, given that they have lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 crisis and associated lockdowns in Rwanda.

Over the last 8 days, we have been able to serve 704 families with food relief, with much thanks to the Lord, and to those who have been willing to help us purchase food to feed them.

Let us continue to pray for grace, mercy and favor for those whom we are helping to feed their families, as well as for the those who are generously giving of their resources and time to help solve the problems of need for daily food among the people in Nyanza, Rwanda.

216 Needy Families Fed Today in Rwanda

5/26/2020

Today is the first week that we have reduced our feeding program to half of what we have been doing through April and May. We are still giving the same amount of food for each family (22 pounds corn flour, 11 pounds of dry beans, and one 12 inch long bar of soap) to last for one week.

We are thankful that the country is slowly having the restrictions lifted, but it looks like through June 1st lockdown remains in place for non-essential workers.

In addition to this, about fifty people/families have approached us who have lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 crisis, and some of those are due to businesses having closed with no immediate expectation that they will be able to re-open.

Our current plans are to provide food assistance next week similar to this week (which is for about half as many families as the first eight weeks of the crisis), and then after the week ending June 8, see how many families still need assistance due to job losses.

We definitely do not want to create dependency, and this is something we think about in all of the relief work we do. We are always seeking to help people be self-sufficient, through providing skills and opportunities for work and dignity. At the same time, we do not want to abandon people that we can help who are truly facing destitution, and do not have anywhere to turn for help.

We thank the Lord for this privilege of helping those in need, and we are grateful for the many who have helped us to respond, and continue to respond as this crisis begins to lessen, and as more people can get back to work. We are grateful for the prayers and help of everyone who has joined us in this service to Christ and those He loves. As Jesus said, "Whatever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me."

UN World Food Program Warns of COVID19 Hunger Pandemic: "130 million on the edge of starvation"

5/18/2020

21 April 2020
https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1062272
Humanitarian Aid The world is not only facing “a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe”, the UN food relief agency chief told the Security Council on Tuesday via video link.

World Food Programme ✔@WFPWFP Chief warns of hunger pandemic as #COVID19 spreads.

Noting that the global spread of COVID-19 this year has sparked “the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two”, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley pointed to deepening crises, more frequent natural disasters and changing weather patterns, saying “we’re already facing a perfect storm”.
As millions of civilians in conflict-scarred nations teeter on the brink of starvation, he said, “famine is a very real and dangerous possibility”.
Mr. Beasley painted a grim picture of 135 million people facing crisis levels of hunger or worse, coupled with an additional 130 million on the edge of starvation prompted by Coronavirus, noting that WFP currently offers a lifeline to nearly 100 million people – up from about 80 million just a few years ago.
“If we can’t reach these people with the life-saving assistance they need, our analysis shows that 300,000 people could starve to death every single day over a three-month period”, he upheld. “This does not include the increase of starvation due to COVID-19”.
Requesting assistanceNoting that WFP is the “logistics backbone” for humanitarians and “even more so now for the global effort to beat the COVID-19 pandemic”, the WFP chief urged the Council to “lead the way”.
“First and foremost, we need peace”, he said.
He asked that all involved in the fighting provide “swift and unimpeded” humanitarian access to vulnerable communities and for coordinated action to support life-saving assistance, along with $350 million in new funding, to set up a network of logistics hubs to keep worldwide humanitarian supply chains moving.
Mr. Beasley also raised the need for early warning systems: “If we don’t prepare and act now – to secure access, avoid funding shortfalls and disruptions to trade – we could be facing multiple famines of biblical proportions within a short few months.”
In closing, he underlined that “we do not have time on our side, so let’s act wisely – and let’s act fast”.

Generous gift provides food for 2 weeks for 3,000 people

5/18/2020

As we continue to feed those struggling to survive under the ongoing lockdown and latent effects it has created, we are rejoicing in a large gift of stock we have received that will help us to feed 3,000 people in Rwanda for two weeks. The gift is also allowing us to provide clean water through the addition of a 5,000 gallon holding tank for a well that is used to provide clean drinking water to the community. We are grateful for the gifts we have received, of all sizes, that have allowed us to provide food for approximately 3,000 people per week since the week of March 21 when the lockdown went into effect.

COVID-19 Pushes Rwandans to Brink of Starvation

5/14/2020

By Ralph Kurtenbach, gatewatcher1980@gmail.com, +1 (605) 728-3079 (WhatsApp), May 14, 2020, Nyanza, Rwanda
It took a month for “starvation” to make a U.S. newspaper headline in the context of COVID-19. Elsewhere in the world, the threat was real within days of the government’s nationwide lockdown. Under normal circumstances, people in Nyanza District would work their garden plots and subsist on what was produced. However, the coronavirus that has rewritten life’s daily rhythms in other nations has also disrupted the hardscrabble existence of rural Rwanda in East Africa.

On March 21—with several people testing COVID-19 positive—the government told Rwandans to shelter in place to limit the spread of the highly-transmissible virus. That nationwide initiative may head off a healthcare crisis (287 positive cases and no deaths) but it comes at a high cost.

“Rwandans typically work today to be fed tonight,” said Clarke Kennedy of the U.S.-based The Zinzendorf Mission (ZMission), “So this has created a serious problem, and people are going without food for days.” Kennedy and his Rwanda consultants (Martha Vetter in South Carolina, Lori Bryan and Godfrey Karema in Rwanda) quickly mobilized a food distribution program for the extremely hungry in the Southern Province.

Their local agency, The Dufatanye Organization (which means “Let’s Join Together”) began their distributions with members of the agency’s cooperative, the historically marginalized and a community nearby called the Village of Hope. These ministries sprang from Karema’s recognition in 2003 of the needs of the 1994 genocide survivors, especially widows with HIV and AIDS. The Rwandan government deeded land to the NGO and the village in the terraced slopes nearby. Dufatanye reached out to these people, now named The Village of Hope, and has helped community members with banana and avocado trees, chickens and subsistence kitchen gardens. Zmission joined this effort in 2008.

Since mid-March (through May 14) the ministries have distributed just over 70 tons of food to 24,752 individuals—a statistic that would include giving to people on more than one occasion. It represents serving a little more than one percent of the district population. The consultants believe that no other NGO’s are working in their area of Rwanda.

“The district authorities are giving us a list of people needing our support,” Karema said. People were issued maize and beans, as well as soap—critical for hygiene to limit the virus’ spread. The giving must be judicious, the consultants agreed. Too much to some could engender the envy of others and even theft.
“Overall, people are very good about sharing what they have,” said Vetter. The area had just come through a harvest, but few had large reserves of the edible beans they’d grown.

“We are only able to do this work,” Karema said, “because the local government and police gave us special permission to move and work (following COVID-19 guidelines), so that we save people from starving.” In an email message afterwards, Bryan related an account of a mother and father coping with the lockdown by trying to find food into the night, unwilling to stay home and hear their children’s hungry pleas. An older beneficiary of a distribution told Bryan that he had gone to bed without eating, but “Today I will not go to bed hungry.”

People who would like to help fight the hunger in Rwanda and help keep families from starving can find a thorough description of the project at zmission.org/helprwanda. A donation of $18 allows Dufatanye to provide a family of six with a week’s supply of food (22 pounds corn flour, 11 pounds beans, a 12” bar of soap). Ten families can be fed for $180 and $4,500 can provide food to 250 families for one week.

Lockdown restrictions still in place for many in Rwanda

5/11/2020

Just yesterday we learned that many in Rwanda are still unable to return to work, because their jobs are not considered essential. So they are still facing the stringencies of the lockdown and the inability to work and feed their families. Godfrey Karema, director of the Dufatanye Organization, said that we need to have enough food to feed the full number of 600 families for another two weeks, and then a reduction to approximately 300 families for another two weeks after that, for a total of four weeks of food support from today. In light of this, we have raised our goal from the needs for six weeks, to ten weeks of food assistance, going from $57,600 to $76,000. We are grateful to those who have prayed and given for the feeding of those in need in Rwanda.

President Kagame of Rwanda eases Covid-19 Restrictions

5/1/2020

On Thursday, April 30th, President Kagame of Rwanda met with members of his cabinet and decided to slowly ease restrictions in the national Covid-19 lockdown, beginning Monday, May 4th. It is said that these newly eased restrictions, which can be found detailed in the Rwanda's primary newspaper, The New Times, will be in effect for 15 days from Monday, May 4th, which means restrictions are still in place until at least May 19.

It is unclear how this partial easing of restrictions will affect the people we have been feeding every week, due to lack of work. There are still social distancing restrictions even for businesses, and only those classified as "essential" workers are allowed to go to their business, while all others must remain at home. Most of the people we serve most likely would not be considered "essential" workers, and thus we suspect their plight and their inability to provide for their families through working will continue to be an issue for several weeks.

So we are expecting that this partial easing of restrictions may not have a significant benefit to those we have been feeding, and are expecting to need to continue our food relief efforts for several more weeks.

Please pray that the Lord will provide relief for the people of Rwanda, especially those who are suffering from the restrictions, and that all those helping the relief effort through prayers and giving will continue to engage and help in every way possible.

Thank you!

Photos from Rwanda COVID-19 Food Distribution

4/28/2020

Harvard Business Professor expresses the importance of Faith in God

4/27/2020

Report on Covid-19 Food distributions in Rwanda

4/20/2020

For three weeks now, The Dufatanye Organization (DO) has been distributing food in Rwanda to victims of the Covid-19 Crisis in Rwanda, with help from the The Zinzendorf Mission and all those who have made contributions to relieve the hunger of thousands of people.

The Zinzendorf Mission has been working closely with the Dufatanye Organization since 2008, and raises funds to pay the staff salaries and many of the poverty relief efforts of the DO.

Here is a report on what has been done so far.

COVID 19 FOOD DISTRIBUTIONS NYANZA, RWANDA - Report from Rhoda on the ground
April 20, 2020
On March 21st, 2020 Rwanda instituted a lockdown on everyone in the country that has been extended now until April 30th, 2020. Only essential businesses could be open and everyone was ordered to stay at home unless otherwise moving for emergency reasons. To date Rwanda has 147 cases.

Subsistence farming comprises 88.5% of the Nyanza District, with a 17.6% extreme poverty rate among the 323,719 individuals. The poverty rate in the farming villages is more accurately calculated at 98% in Nyanza (Southern Province). The farmers are highly dependent on good soil, proper rain and sunshine to grow the food they need for daily consumption.

Within 2 weeks of the lockdown many families were in need of food. The historically marginalized are not agriculturists and therefore do not have vegetables growing around their home. They are the ones to make clay pots or carry sand on the construction site. The government mandated that all of the non-essential jobs be discontinued for the time in hopes of curbing the COVID19 outbreak. This placed a hardship on too many of the population, so Dufatanye and ZMission partnered in a fundraiser in order to supply food to starving families of Rwanda.
Dufatanye received permissions from the local government and police for trucks to go to Kigali and bring the food supplies needed (maize flour and beans). The large quantity needed cannot be acquired in Nyanza. There are many police checks along the way that slows the process, although for safety sake.
Dufatanye began their distributions with the Village of Hope, historically marginalized and Coop members at the center in Nyamagana. The beneficiaries would come to the center and receive their distribution of maize flour, beans and soap. Every distribution requires 10 staff to manage the line, measure and weigh out the supplies. The first day of distributions we handed out food to 1,206 individual. Soon the need grew exponentially and the distribution numbers needed to increase as well. People were starving. The local cell leaders and government created lists of the most needy in the villages, so that Dufatanye could help. Friday we served food and soap for 524 individuals. Saturday we served 1,085 individuals and 1,044 on Monday for a total of 3,859 individuals who have food for a week. That is 1% of the population, but the act kindness and community truly matters to them.

Many of them on the way out the door would thank us one more time for the help. One older beneficiary said “Thank you for the help, the day before I slept on an empty stomach. Today I will not go to bed hungry.”

One lady beneficiary “My husband abandoned me and my 7 children after spending 2 days in the house with no food. He’s not a bad person, he felt bad that he cannot support his family and so he went away.”
We helped one young guy who’s wife had just delivered a baby and he couldn’t bear to go because he had no food to give her. We were able to help him out, so he could go see his baby girl.

One historically marginalized lady with 5 children was dancing after receiving her food package and commented “I use to make clay pots and carry sand and I’ve not been able to feed my family, now I am going to eat and the children will be happy.”

To understand the hardship of desperation, “My husband and I resorted to going out to collect food every day, all day and come back late at night when the children were asleep because we cannot handle the children asking for food and we have nothing to feed them.” From a family of 8.

“We send the children to visit the neighbors when it’s time to eat, so that the neighbors will have mercy and feed them.” Family of 7

“I wake up in the morning finding people at my house demanding food support and yet as a community member there is no way for me to support all of them and my family”. Godfrey quote

“We are only able to do this work because the local government and police gave us special permission to move and work (following COVID19 guidelines), so that we save people from starving.” Quote from Godfrey.
The chairperson of porters in Nyanza town. “We use to get food after offloading trucks and helping customers carry their items home, now with the quarantine, we cannot get anything to eat. No customers, no trucks, no money, our life is in misery.”

Total Distributed so far, as of April 20, 2020
39,885 kgs Maize (Corn) Flour (39.8 metric tons) ,
9,800 kgs (9.8 metric tons) Beans,
779 bars soap

Baby safely delivered! Thanks for your prayers!

4/17/2020

An update on our latest Prayer Alert for World Shapers Club Rwanda:

1. There has been a successful delivery for Mother and baby boy!
2. Mother and baby remain in hospital.
3. Dad will be able to see them both tomorrow.
4. Dad has been at the clinic with young daughter who has been diagnosed and treated for some infections but NOT coronavirus. They are now home.

We are grateful to God and to you, dear ones, for your prayers.

Esther and Mary
Esther Children's Network
Esthernet.net

Children's prayer ministry director taken to hospital

4/17/2020

Please pray for the family of a World Shapers Club minister in Rwanda:

1. Mother-expecting fourth child any day was taken to hospital not feeling well…delivery is expected within hours. Pray there are no complications or underlying issues. Pray for safe delivery for child and Mother.

2. Young daughter of same family was also taken to the hospital today feeling suddenly very ill. No cause yet determined.

The World Shapers Club teaches children how to pray, and engages them actively in praying, and helps them see how God answers their prayers. It is a ministry of Esthernet.net

Reducing the amount to each family to serve more people and reduce the chances of crime borne of desperation

4/15/2020

Our initial goal was to serve 320 families. When the local government saw the effectiveness of our distribution, and recognized that we are the only Non-Government Organization working anywhere in the area (as far as we know), and since the government does not have the resources to provide for all the people's needs, they have asked us to dramatically increase the number of people we serve. The additional people they have assigned to us and asked us to feed include approximately: 50 widows (heads of households with children), 100 prostitutes (heads of households with children), market porters (people whose job is to carry goods in the markets), and others.

We have also discovered that we can reduce the amount we give to families, as some people were receiving no food at all, and were begging for only 1 kg (2.2 pounds of flour) so that they could feed their children. At the last distribution, approximately 200 people were asking for help that were not on our list, and we had to tell them we didn't have enough to help them. Now we have decided to reduce the distribution amount by half, which reduces the amount each family receives, but allows us to give something to the many who have no help at all, such as the additional people the local government has asked us to help.

According our the staff on the ground, they also think this is good because it decreases the chance that the families who were receiving 20 kg are less likely to be robbed by those who were receiving nothing.

For $18, the Dufatanye Organization can provide one weeks' survival food supply to a family of six people as follows:

10 kilograms (22 lbs) of Corn Flour
3 kilograms (7 lbs) of Beans
One (1) 12" bar of soap for hygiene

$18 will provide food for 1 week for 1 family
$180 will provide food for 1 week for 10 families
$4,500 will provide food for 1 week for 250 families

Note received: Thanks for loving me. Hunger all around.

4/15/2020

This note was received on Saturday April 11, 2020 from a young man we know and are working with in Rwanda:

“Keep me in your prayers. i know you have supported so very many people to get food.That is to why i am not telling you to add more money. There are very many people who don't have what i have now. I really thank God for what i have now. but as you asked me that question as my mom the answer is that i am not left with enough money to support my self. today when i went to buy some food i met another man who was deeply hungry mom my heart pushed me to give small money to buy food for the family and children for the night i don't know where he will get food for tomorrow. but God has very many ways I believe. The lesson is that you can not help all people in need. A prayer is that may God provide the way for the people in need that is the best we can do now. Mom you really have God in you. May God bless you more. Thank you so much for loving me. I love you mom. May God continue to Protect you and keep you safe. Jeremiah 29:11”

Father gives thanks for helping his family in Rwanda

4/12/2020

"My name is Akizamana, I am 36 years old and I have been a porter. I am hungry because of Corona. I have no work to do. I'm going to eat this food with my family. I want to thank you for distributing this food. May God give you more others to give out. Thank you very much.

Singing and dancing to celebrate food arrival in Rwanda

4/12/2020

Precious video we received just yesterday of the celebration of those who have received food relief in the Covid-19 crisis in Rwanda. We want to thank the Lord and each of you who are sending funds to help!

On the first day of relief distribution, we were able to help 201 families. There were hundreds of additional people who showed up that we were unable to help, as they were not part of the families invited to come and we didn't have enough to help them, too.

To help:

Letter from Rwanda - families going for days without food

4/12/2020

Received April 10, 2020
“Thanks for the money you sent. I can't even eat even once a day with these problems. I was used to this when I was young and before you sent me money. There is no problem, don't worry I will be fine mom. If people provide, I know it will be my chance. I am finding families that have spent 2 days with no food. There is a family I found with children crying - I had no any other choice: I chose to give them my remaining money.“

To help:

Feeding Rwandan Families in Covid-19 Crisis

4/10/2020

People receive instructions for food distribution while maintaining social distancing

On March 16, 2020, the country of Rwanda in central Africa installed a national lock down due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus forbidding people from leaving their homes. Non-essential work is not permitted, and the government does not have the resources to meet all the needs of the people. In contrast to the standards in western countries, Rwandans typically “work today to be fed tonight”, so this has created a serious food crisis, and people are in the process of starving. The Zinzendorf Mission, in conjunction with the Rwanda based Dufatanye Organization, is raising money to feed 320 families (approximately 1,920 people at an average of 6 members per family) in the Nyanza District of Rwanda, until the quarantine is lifted and people can get back to work. This is expected to take six weeks or more.

The Dufatanye Organization is distributing basic food staples (maize flour, beans) to each family in addition to soap to help with sanitation necessary for Coronavirus. This should be enough to support these families through this difficult time, and will help them abide by the quarantine instead of resorting to stealing out of desperation which can also lead to violence, injury and possible death.

For $30, the Dufatanye Organization can provide one weeks' food supply to a family of six people as follows:

20 kilograms (44 lbs) of Corn Flour
5 kilograms (11 lbs) of Beans
One (1) 12" bar of soap for hygiene

$30 will provide food for 1 week for 1 family
$300 will provide food for 1 week for 10 families
$9,600 will provide food for 1 week for all 320 families

We need your help to feed these families. To donate, just click on this link to the Covid-19 Rwanda page. Thank you!

Whoever does the will of God abides forever.

12/30/2019

1 John 2:17 (ESV) And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Abide in Jesus to Bear much Fruit.

11/22/2019

John 15:1-27 (ESV) “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another. 18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Psalm 141 - Prayer for Help and Protection

11/22/2019

Psalms 141:1-10 (ESV) A Psalm of David. O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! 2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! 3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! 4 Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies! 5 Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds. 6 When their judges are thrown over the cliff, then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant. 7 As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol. 8 But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless! 9 Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers! 10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.”

11/22/2019

John 14:21 (ESV) Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another

11/22/2019

1 Peter 4:10-11 (ESV) As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.