Jungle Vine is a major part of a Dao person’s Daily life. Every Dao man uses split jungle vine to string his bow. Every Dao person lives in a house held together by jungle vine. Every garden fence is held together by jungle vine. Even one of their traditional ways of starting fire for cooking food and warming themselves uses jungle vine creating friction on a certain type of wood to produce heat. Without jungle vine the Dao people’s entire culture and daily way of life would come to a complete stop.

This being the case, it was no surprise to see Uwomuku carrying a big bundle of fresh jungle vine down the trail between all the houses yesterday. As I was passing by, I casually asked, “Friend, what have you gathered all that vine for? Are you building a new garden fence?”

“Actually Degapiyaa, my fence is already completed. This vine is for tying together and straightening all the individual bunches of sugarcane that I have planted in my garden. I have to do this so that the sugarcane will grow up well and straight. Otherwise it will not grow well. It will end up crooked and useless” he replied. As he was finishing that last sentence, he stopped and thought for a moment.

After a few seconds, with a somewhat contemplative look on his face he continued, “But isn’t that exactly what Jesus does for us friend? He has taken us and planted us in His garden so that we will grow well and be well nourished. He doesn’t just leave us like that though. Even beyond that He pays special attention and cares for us every day. When He sees that we are growing in a direction that we shouldn’t he takes his truth and uses it as a jungle vine to pull us back in the right direction so that we will grow up well and straight and won’t just become useless. He never gives up on us but keeps on teaching and straightening us out as we grow. He is our jungle vine. He is the one that keeps us going in the right direction isn’t He?”

Uwomuku and I together laughed with delight there on the trail at this profound truth and unique illustration. We talked for a few more moments about this awesome truth, how Jesus is our jungle vine. He is the one that enables us to receive food for the soul as the bow string often provides food for the body. He is the one that even binds us together on a daily basis as the Dao houses are bound together with jungle vine. He is the one that watches over us, provides for us and protects us from things that would come in and destroy us, his garden, just as the jungle vine and wood used to make the garden fence. He provides us with spiritual light and wellbeing just as the jungle vine is used to create fires so that the Dao people can have light in thier houses and warm themselves on a cold night. What a wonderful illustration God gave Uwomuku and the Dao people through this simple everyday tool. Jesus truly is our Jungle Vine. Without Him, we would be helpless. Because of Him we have everything we need and more.

The following morning in the daily believers gathering we read from 1 Corinthians 1 and rejoiced together as a body of believers that God never gives up on us but through Jesus Christ always continues working with us to keep us growing straight and healthy . Verses 4-7 sum this truth up well: “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God that was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all uterance and knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. So that you lack in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will conform you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Please pray for the Dao people as we continue to study together through the book of 1 Corinthians for the first time ever in the history of the Dao people group. Pray that they will learn awesome new truths and continue to
grow in their faith as we study this awesome book.

Pray also for Jennie as she continues to translate through the New Testament and prepare new scripture portions in the midst of being nearly 6 months pregnant with our second child. Please remember the health of our family also in your prayers as the epidemic of whooping cough/pertussis/measles that spread through our vilage last month was passed on to our family as well. Moses is just now getting closed to being fully recovered from measles and Jennie and I are on the tail end of getting over whooping cough. Jennie coughed so hard during the sickness that she cracked a rib and is still recovering from that as well in the midst of her pregnancy. There are still many other Dao people in various villages who are also suffering from these diseases and I am sure they would apreciate your prayers also.

And finally, please pray for the continued outreaches that are presntly taking place and the teachers in those different various villages. Pray specifically for the area called Kupekuye as they hear about their Creator and Savior for the first time this month!

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Christian Job Opportunities

Are you looking for a Christian job? Find links to a large variety of Christian job opportunities here.  Youth pastor, church staff, U.S. Navy chaplain, business, house parenting, teaching and more.

Find Christian Links

I encourage you to take a few minutes to browse through FindChristianLinks.com. I think you’ll be surprised at the huge variety of links to Christian sites. Christian products, services, ministries. You’ll also find devotions for adults and kids, ideas for outreach ministry, ways to take a stand for what you believe. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts and suggestions.

We just arrived in Bugiri this afternoon, ready for the evangelistic campaigns  tomorrow. We really request for your prayers as we have been shocked that Muslims have also decided to stage a parallel meeting directly opposite our Crusades. I have never seen this and I do not understand on how authorities could license them when they had already licensed us earlier to hold meetings from this place. This can easily result into confrontations, which are never good.

Just pray for God’s will and direction. We are not here for competition and any kind of side shows but we are here to preach Christ and win souls for the Kingdom of God as well as pray for the healing of our land. Pray that God’s power will be present to save and heal and that people may see and turn to God in repentance.

This is hard and sometimes scaring, but pray for us that we will also know what to be done. Even though the needs seem to be many but pray for God to supply and lead to exactly what he want us to do. We would really love to feed some poor, provide bicycles for the pastors helping us here who will in turn use them on follow ups and that God will give us both Luganda and English Bibles to give to the people coming to the Lord. Just pray that whatever the Lord wants us to do he will provide for it. Pray for the team that is with us for strength, anointing boldness to speak the word.

May God bless you as you pray . . .

Karen

“He’s gone crazy. This is unheard of! Surely he is just playing with us isn’t he?” Kwemuku leaned over and asked the others as he listened to Daapoi saying over and over again that he would not take any money for the portions that he had dealt out. “I don’t understand Daapoi. Why would you do this? This piece of pig meat alone must be worth at least a juta ($100)! And that piece next to it there has got to be worth another half a juta. There is no way we can take this for free. It’s nearly taboo for us to take something like this without paying!”

“Let me explain to you why I am doing this, then maybe you will all understand” Daapoi said as he reached in his string bag and pulled out his copy of the Dao scriptures. “Maybe if you hear the story from the Creator’s leaf book that has inspired me you will finally see why I am refusing to take your money” he said as he flipped through the pages of his tattered copy of the book of Mark in the Dao language. He stopped at chapter fourteen and began to read, “One evening as Jesus was eating supper, a woman came in with a very beautiful container of expensive perfume. She broke open the container and poured the perfume over his head. When those eating with Jesus saw what she had done, some of them were indignant and said ‘Why was this expensive perfume wasted? She could have sold this perfume for a lot of money…..’ But Jesus said ‘Leave her alone. Why are you putting her down for doing such a good thing? She has done all that she could; she has anointed my body for burial’.”

Daapoi then quietly closed the book and looked up at the crowd gathered around for the dividing of the feast meat. “You see, this pig meat is my most prized possession. It is the most expensive thing that I own. And today is the biggest and most important celebration of the year to me – the celebration feast for the day that Jesus’ cord was cut. We have killed this pig in honor of Jesus’ big day and I want to give this to Jesus to show Him my appreciation for what He did on the cross on my behalf. And so I don’t want your money. I will not take it. If anything, I just want you all to think about Jesus and realize the worth of what he has done for us.”(Top right -  the pig that was shot in honor of the Christmas feast)

Never before had the Dao people seen anything like it. People had gathered from both reached and unreached villages up to three days hike away for this feast and never before had they seen someone refuse that huge of an amount of money in their tribe. They will probably be talking about it for months as they travel back to their own areas and villages and they will carry this story with them! The feast, the believers all night singing and praising of Jesus from sundown on Christmas Eve to sunrise the following morning, the multiple messages and time of spontaneous testimony about the difference that Jesus has made in the believers lives, it was all a time of incredible testimony to those visiting from unreached villages and also to those that are already believers as well. A testimony that our greatest possession is not anything that this world has to offer. Our greatest joy is not in wealth or feasting or health or family. Our greatest possession and our greatest joy is Jesus.

To top it all off, this last Sunday eight more new believers were baptized after the Sunday service in the river down below our village (top left picture shows Daapoi, one of our main Bible teachers, baptizing Kugiyai). Most of the new believers are from an area called Kupe Kuyee which is where a new outreach is beginning this month. Some of you may remember a prayer update we wrote towards the beginning of 2011 about a man named Yunus. He had told us how he and his village had been waiting for the message of Jesus for years and how they had seen the difference made in our village after the Creator’s leaf book had been taught. One of his friends named Ekapitaa had recently died without the gospel and he was afraid the same thing would happen to him. He chose a few young men from his village – some of them his own sons, And then sent them to live in our village and learn about the Creator and His Son Jesus. This was all in hopes that someday they would be able to come back to his village and teach his clan. Well, that time has come. Some of the key believers are going to team up with Yunus’ sons and begin teaching in his village in the next couple weeks. For the first time ever, the story of the Creator will be taught in Yunus’ village in this new area called Kupekuye.

Please pray for the teachers that are sent out to this new village and are beginning to teach in this new area. Pray that they will teach clearly and effectively and that God will open up the minds and hearts of the listeners and give them understanding. Also, pray for the family of the little girl named Uupiyaauwoo that we mentioned in the last update. She passed away shortly after we sent out that last update. Within a day or so of her death, there was also a whooping cough epidemic/pertussis epidemic that began to sweep through the Dao tribe. We have been treating 18 different people so far for the disease, mostly young children and mostly visitors from other villages, many of which were carried to us from unreached areas and seemed to be on death’s doorstep. No one yet has died from the sickness, which is nearly a miracle in itself and many of the Dao people are glorifying God for that, but there are many still sick in our’s and other villages. Please pray for their recovery. Enemy war parties and their tracks have also been spotted once again this last week but the believers are still standing strong and holding on to Romans 12, purposing not to “return evil for evil” and to not war with these enemies that are seeking to kill them. Please pray also for that situation as well.  Thanks so much for your prayers! We hope that all of you had a blessed Christmas celebration and Happy New Year!!! 

 Also, we are going out to the city for about ten days starting the end of this week for the printing of new school books and scripture portions and also to attend a local mission’s conference. We have written a new “Project of the month” pertaining to the printed material so we will paste it at the bottom of this email in case you would want to check it out and pray about getting involved with that project. Our website sjphillips.org has been updated as well for the new year with new pictures and a new opening article too. Check it out if you get some time and want to know what our family personally is hoping and praying for in this new year 2012!!!

Because He said “GO!” - Scott, Jennie &Moses Phillips - Luke 9:60/17:10

Our website: sjphillips.org has videos, pictures, special projects and info on the ministry God has allowed us a part in here in the Dao tribe. Feel free to check it out if you get some time. And now, you can also follow us on Twitter @sjphllips.org

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Pro-Life Alert
Mike Huckabee announces his new pro-life DVD: The Gift of Life. He says, “When we set out to make this movie, we didn’t want to do a pro-life movie that was sort of the normal horror stories of abortion. We wanted to talk about the affirmation and celebration of life. It was really a project that turned out better than I had hoped and that I thought was very powerful and different.” I encourage you to check it out and pray about how you might use it.

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“Let us rejoice and prefer to seek You, even if we fail to find an answer,
Rather than to seek an answer and never find You.”
– St. Augustine 

Sometimes God does things that we just don’t expect. Sometimes He passes over the people that we would have placed our bets on and uses someone that we may have thought was not “qualified” or “wise” enough to make a difference. Sometimes He just seems to take joy in “using the weak things of the world to shame the things that are mighty…so that no one is able to boast in His presence”. It’s times like these that we often find ourselves scratching our heads and not knowing what else to say except for just “Praise God!”

This is exactly what we and some of the key Dao teachers and translation helpers have been studying through in 1 Corinthian chapter one as we have been preparing to teach it to the rest of the tribe. And this is exactly what we found ourselves saying this last week as we sat around together and listened to stories about a young girl named Wepem (Girl on the left in the top center photo). Some of you may remember reading in a past prayer update this last August about her wedding day and the charges that were given to her and her new husband Pisangkaba by some of the believing men in our village. The believing men had stood one at a time and given charges to Pisangkaba such as the following words from her father Apiyaawoogi – “Wepem is no ordinary girl! She has become a child of the great Creator. She is His belonging and is merely entrusted to you and us by the Creator! And so Pisangkaba, we are telling you go ahead and take Wepem as your wife, take her to your village and live happily, but when she reads the words of the Creator’s leaf book sit down and listen to her read and learn about the Creator.”

Well this last week was the first time Wepem’s young husband Pisangkaba has returned to our village since he took Wepem to be his wife and took her the long hike back to his village a few months ago. Pisangkaba took some time this one afternoon this last week to share with us how things have changed in their village since he took Wepem to be his wife. “Every week we stop to praise and thank the Creator together and pray to Him. Not only Wepem and I, but our entire village stops to listen to Wepem as she reads for us the words of the Creator’s book and the stories of the life of the Creator’s son Yesusi. Even my mom, dad and sisters are hearing for the first time about this man Yesusi and the things He has done” he shared with us.

Wepem is the only single literate person in that specific village of the Dao tribe right now and she isn’t but a young teenage girl. But she is making a difference in that place. She has been reading to the people in that village from the book of Mark and she is sharing what she knows about Jesus in a village where there was previously no source of spiritual light whatsoever. Now because of her influence there- and God working through her for His own glory- there is another small group of unreached people beginning to hear about the Son of God and weekly sing praises to their Creator for the things He has done. She has become an example to the young believers of our whole area of the difference that one young teenage girl can make when she is willing to open her mouth and read about her Creator to those that may not have heard about Him otherwise. According to Pisangkaba, he and Wepem and much of his family also are going to join us for the Christmas celebration that will take place in our village next weekend to celebrate “The day that Jesus’ cord was cut”. He asked us if at that time we could give Wepem more scripture books so that she could continue reading new things to their village about the Creator and His Son Jesus every week. And God continues to “Use the ‘weak’ things of the world to put to shame the ‘mighty’ and the ‘foolish’ things of the world to confound the ‘wise’.” We are just standing in awe, watching God do His thing here and praising Him for it and for giving us even a small part in it J.

Also, there are quite a few people who have begun coming down to our village in the past couple weeks from some of the different outreach areas a few days hike away so that they can help prepare for the Christmas feast next week and celebrate together with us. Some of them have brought groups of people looking to escape the tribal warfare that has been going on up valley. In that way we are even beginning to see “What Satan meant for evil” used for good as some of these people are getting interaction with Dao believers and hearing a little bit of the Creator’s book for the very first time. There also have been some sick children brought to our village for treatment with these groups. One specific little girl named Uupiyaauwo is in a very bad state and seems to be in the final stages of malnutrition. (Top right picture the wife of one of our evangelists holding Uupiyaauwo as Jennie tries to treat her). Her body is wasting away and her head is swollen from what is thought to be a side effect of her kidneys shutting down before she passes away. Her mom died from sickness about a year ago while she was only four months old and only breastfeeding. She has had trouble eating ever since. We don’t know if little Uupiyaauwo is going to make it unless a change begins very, very soon. She desperately needs your prayers and we need them as well as we try to medically treat her the best that we know how.

Also, thank you so much for your prayers concerning the tribal warring that has been going on. No one else has been killed or even attacked in the past two weeks since we sent out that last prayer update and you all began praying! They haven’t sighted any more enemy tracks in our area either for nearly a week now. Even the local Dao people are completely surprised at this as they have all been bracing themselves for the worst. Also, the young teenage boy named Mokotaa- that was shot and then stabbed with arrows 6 times and then sliced another 25 times with bamboo knives- miraculously is said to still be alive. Please continue to pray for his recovery. Finally, pray for the great “Day that Jesus’ cord was cut” feast that will take place here this next weekend. Pray that it will be a tremendous time of testimony and spiritual encouragement to both the believers and unbelievers alike that attend the feast. The Sunday after the feast we are also holding a baptism gathering for the new believers that have become part of God’s family through some of the various new outreaches that have taken place in the past year. Pray that this time also will be an incredible time of testimony to all those present. Thanks for your prayers for our family and also for the Dao believers as we have worked together to wrap up translating and teaching through Romans for the second time through and are now moving into 1 Corinthians. It is so cool to know that there is a group of people like you standing behind us and the Dao people, sharing in our burdens and also rejoicing in the victories! We thank God for every one of you.

Because He said “GO!” – Scott, Jennie &Moses Phillips – Luke 9:60/17:10

Pastor Mudenyo with his wife Evelyn

Pastor Gideon Mudenyo. director of The Grace Point Outreach in Kenya, is gifted in planning and organizing missions. He is happily married to Evelyn and they have two daughters, Sheryl and Debbie. Evelyn, a gospel singer, is actively involved in ministry as well.

Pastor Gideon loves people and has a passion for evangelism. He recently wrote, “My heart has been to see God raise men and women who will deliver this continent from his judgment. The passion that has caused us to sacrifice our lives and go through a lot of dangers we believe is motivated by the call that is in us to see the restoration of God come upon our continent and that people will come to the saving knowledge of our God.This ministry is involved in evangelistic outreach, caring for orphans, and active discipleship. They help start community-based projects to provide people with jobs. Many do not know where their next meal is coming from, and this ministry trains them in skills and provides tools to help them begin to support themselves. People come together and work and discuss how they can improve their situation.My heart has been touched as I learn more about the sacrifices Pastor Gideon and Evelyn and others in the ministry make to bring the love and saving power of Christ to lost and hurting people in Kenya. Learn more about their ministry by visiting their website.

A recent report from Pastor Mudenyo describes some of what God allowed this ministry to accomplish in 2011:

• Planted 4 churches in Kakamega, Eldoret, and Kitale
• Trained 27 leaders and sent them into different parts of the country to evangelize and help the churches
• Held 21 evangelistic outreaches, 16 in Kenya, 3 in Uganda, and 2 in Tanzania. Many reports of salvation and healing of wounded hearts.
• Supplied Bibles and tracts to many around east Africa
• Clothed and fed many orphans in their outreaches

Current Ministry Events

In the two weeks leading up to Christmas these events are planned:

• Beyond the Boundaries Summit in Webuye. (This will bring together the leaders from different denominations.)
• Pull Them Out of Fire events in Siaya. (This will be an evangelistic crusade and training on winning souls.)
• Eagles Wings Youth event. (A youth meeting bringing together youth from different churches and institutions.)
• Twenty fifth and sixth children’s programs. (Feeding children and helping raise money for the orphans to go to school. This event will take place in Kitale.)

Prayer Requests from Pastor Mudenyo

“As you pray, remember the four events facing us before the year ends and pray that God will supply for the leadership summit in Webuye, evangelistic campaigns in Siaya, youth event in Soy, and the feeding and clothing of orphans over the Christmas occasion. Also as you pray, ask God to stop the floods that are being experienced in many parts of the country displacing many and killing some people.

“Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” Ephesians 6:18 NLT

Please pray for Pastor Mudenyo and his family and ministry team and these outreaches. They are truly devoted to Jesus and his Great Commission.

Please visit our Find Christian Links missions page.

Filed under: find Christian links, Missions ]]> http://findchristianlinks.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/ministry-in-kenya/feed/ 0 fromtheheartofdixie Evelyn and Gideon Mudenyo in Kenya http://findchristianlinks.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/missionaries-in-the-jungle-of-indonesia/ http://findchristianlinks.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/missionaries-in-the-jungle-of-indonesia/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:18:46 +0000 Christian Editing Services/Find Christian Links http://findchristianlinks.wordpress.com/?p=31 ]]> On the missionary page of Find Christian Links, you can read about Scott and Jennie Phillips and their son Moses. Scott and Jennie are missionaries to Dao people in the jungles of Indonesia. Every time I receive one of their newsletters, I am awe of what God is doing there. I asked them if I could post their newsletters for others to read. This was their response: “The more people that are praying about the spiritual battle going on here, the better so we would love it if you would get the word out and get more people praying through your website!”

I encourage you to read their letter and begin to pray. Read more about them and visit their site. I plan to post all their newsletters from this point forward, so follow this blog so you won’t miss any of them.

Hate Diffused by Love

“Come on out! We know you have traveled a long way to get here and so you must be tired!”  Yoni  (top left picture) yelled out toward the jungle. “Yeah, come out of the jungle and eat with us, we will cook you some good food! Drink with us we will give you good water too!”  Metokui (top right picture) added in as he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted out at the top of his lungs. They were quoting word for word some of the things they had learned in our  villages daily Bible class , from Romans twelve a few days before. “Yes, come and sit and talk with us because we have some good words we want to tell you! Let’s leave behind the spirit of anger and just sit and eat and talk together…you must be tired and hungry aren’t you?”  I yelled out in agreement with the others towards the edge of the tree line where  the enemies were said to be hiding.

This last Thursday was the third time in less than a week that we had spotted their tracks and caught them trying to sneak up on us. We had seen the bushes moving as they tried to creep through the jungle in hopes to get close enough to shoot with accuracy. Just two days before they had surprised us as I was in the middle of teaching the daily morning Bible class. There were a few of the enemies that had quietly come up along the side of the school house and gotten within only a few feet of those gathered for the teaching.  That day however, they had only come to let us know that they had succeeded in battle in another village farther up valley. They got close enough to where all of us in the school house could hear them and began banging their hands against the bamboo shafts of their arrows and wood bows, making a loud clanging noise. Then they suddenly darted back off into the jungle again. They were letting us know that they had been victorious. In the Dao tribe, this is a sign meant to instil fear into those that hear it.  At the moment that all those in the class heard the clanging of the bamboo shafts and wooden arrows, everyone in the room scrambled for the corners of the building farthest from the windows just in case the war party decided to open fire.

No one seemed to know what to do so I walked to the side of the building and began to call out to the enemies on behalf of my students and fellow believers “We are gathered to listen to the Creator’s book, not to fight! You also should stop your warring and join us in listening to God’s book which tells us not to kill each other but instead to love. Either stop your warring and join us or leave! Because we will not act against the words of the Creator and war with you!”  I walked back into the classroom and after a few moments of silence to see if there would be a reaction from the enemies, went on and finished the day’s lesson on Romans which included the words “Pay all your debts, except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying that! If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill all the requirements of God’s law. For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting – and any other commandment – are all summed up in this one commandment: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ For love does no wrong to anyone, so love satisfies all of God’s requirements.” - Romans 13:8-10

We were greeted by a message carrier from two days hike up valley later that same afternoon with the news that “…three more men have been killed in the fighting, two from our clans and one from the enemy’s”  This was what those enemy clans had been trying to tell us earlier in the day during the school class. This is why they had come close enough for us to hear the clanging of the bamboo shafts and bows but had not opened fire. As the believers heard the names of those that had been killed they stopped for a moment and grieved together that all three of the men were from areas that had not yet had their first chance to be taught of their Creator and His son Yesusi.

Thus far, none of the enemies have taken us up on our invite to “come out of the jungle and join us” for a meal of both physical and spiritual food, but also, no one in our village has yet been shot and no attacks have taken place in any of the believing villages. It seems that so far, the words of the Creator’s book and specifically the words written by Paul  in Romans have been sovereignly used by God not only to work for the preservation of the Dao people souls but also the preservation of their bodies against the physical attacks of the enemy clans. It seems that up until now hate has been diffused by love. I don’t think the words of Romans in relation to “Loving your enemies” and the Apostle Pauls command to “Don’t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good” have ever proved themselves truer to our little family and the Dao believers here than they are proving themselves right now.

Please continue to pray for the Dao believers as they continue to study through the end of the books of Romans this week. Pray that they and our family as will continually see God’s Word as a message to be not merely listened to but to be followed and obeyed. Pray that God will continue to give all of us here wisdom in the way we approach the warring presently going on in the Dao area. Thank God with us that thus far no attacks or murders have taken place in our village and that none of the believers have yet been killed .Please pray that He will preserve the unbelievers as well so that they can hear His message of salvation and be changed. Please pray also for Jennie as she continues to prepare and translate through 1 Corinthians so that it is ready to teach to the Dao believers when we finish re-teaching through Romans. Thanks to all of you that have been praying for our son Moses as well and his tumor. The tumor is still there but we are trusting that God will heal it completely in His good time. We appreciate you all very, very much and thank God for the way He uses you to bless us through your prayers and giving.

The One Whom Jesus Loves

“One of Jesus’ disciples, the one Jesus loved, was sitting next to Jesus at the table.”
John 13:23 NLT

Reading the gospel of John, I began to consider the way John always referred to himself–not as “I” or “John,” but as “the one Jesus loved” or “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

Now I don’t think for a minute that John thought he was the only person Jesus loved, or the person Jesus loved most, or even the disciple Jesus loved best. After all, John was the one who wrote, “For God so loved the world.”

No, I believe John had been able to move beyond the understanding that God loved the world and knew deep in his heart that Jesus loved HIM. Jesus loved HIM as an individual. Jesus died for HIM personally. John grasped this truth so completely that it became his self-identity, his self-image. John saw himself simply, and yet profoundly, as “the one Jesus loved.”

In recent years “self-image” has been written about, talked about, and bandied about in so many ways. The subject has been covered by psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, teachers, pastors, and people having “intellectual” discussions at parties. Myriads of books have been written on the subject. A book search at Amazon.com for “self-image” produced 87,958 results! Titles included Measuring Up: How Advertising Affects Self-Image, Self-Image Psycho Dynamics, Winners and Losers: The Art of Self-Image Modification, and Positive Self-Image and Confidence Subliminal Program.

People are searching everywhere to build, modify, restore, increase, or improve their self-image. And yet all this can be done by realizing the very truth of who we are lies in the fact that Jesus loves us. He loved us enough to give his life for us. This is the most important fact we can know about ourselves. It’s well expressed in the children’s song that has been so popular through the generations: “Jesus loves me, this I know.” What better self-image than to see ourselves as “the one whom Jesus loves.”

Jesus died for the world. But he also died for Karen Burkett. He also died for you. If you were the only person in the world, he would still have suffered and died for you. Why? You are the one he loves.

Who am I? I am the one Jesus loves.

Who are you? You are the one Jesus loves.

The idea for Find Christian Links  began a number of years ago with ChristianConnectionsUnlimited.com. My initial goal was to provide quality Christian links for site visitors. Links to products, services, and ministries. I added devotions, Bible study helps, and the good news of the Gospel.

As time went on, God opened my eyes to the possibilities of using the site also to help fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). And so I began featuring various outreach ministries, hoping that seeing what others are doing would motivate more people to reach out and give them ideas how to get started. The site grew in size—and in the number of visitors from around the world.

Find Christian Links Emerges. In 2009 I began exploring the possibility of expanding the site even further and at the same time updating the look. These musings led to the beginnings of Find Christian Links. After months of rebuilding, Christian Connections Unlimited was officially replaced by Find Christian Links in August 2009. And then in November 2011 another new look.

Along with a myriad of links to Christian products, services, resources, and ministries, Find Christian Links features information and links to resources about how you can take a stand for what you believe in and a multitude of ways you can reach out to touch others.

This is a place where seekers can learn about Jesus. Where believers can connect, share ideas about ministry and methods that have—or haven’t—worked for them.

My hope is that through these links, seekers will find Jesus through the Word, believers will be encouraged to reach out to others with His love, people involved in ministry will be helped and encouraged—and that together we can make an eternal difference.

Please take time to explore the site. Come back often—I will continually add new links. And I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions. Email me anytime. And please follow this blog so you’ll know first hand what’s new and exciting on the site.

God bless you,

Karen Burkett