“I am the way and the TRUTH and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
How do we live in a world of change? It is only by holding on to the unchanging TRUTH of the unchanging God.
Please join with us this Monday, September 7 for YFCI’s monthly Day of Prayer and Fasting. Thomas shares about Jesus’ perspective about change through His unity prayer in John 17. We welcome your thoughts about “CHANGE” via the HATS e-mail and Facebook throughout the month of September.
-The HATS Team (www.yfcwomen.org)
YFCI Day of Prayer & Fasting – September, 2015
“Truly I tell you, unless you CHANGE and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3
From Theodora Ayree, Ghana
Dear Friends,
Thanks so much for your mail. It’s so amazing that you are also talking about “Change” this month of September!
It confirms to me that indeed God is speaking, not only to Ghana but to the nations of the world!
A small group of women who meet every Tuesday morning in our leader’s home here in Accra have been burdened for some time with the state of affairs in the church and the nation, and, are humbly calling on as many Christians as possible to join us in a prayer of REPENTANCE for our individual selves and our nation.
Our group is “of the firm conviction that unless there is a genuine call of repentance on behalf of the Church and the nation, there would be disastrous consequences arising from the blatant disregard of God’s word, and the acceptance of greed, selfishness, deceit, lies and corruption in high & low places both in the church and in the nation.”
In light of this our group is calling on the church and the nation as a whole to a time of urgent repentance and prayer.
We have planned to have an inaugural ceremony to launch this program on the 15th of September this year.
So, for a change to occur, there must be genuine repentance. We must be willing to turn from our wayward ways and turn to God, confessing our sins and NOT TURNING BACK TO THEM AGAIN.
Thanks a lot and let’s keep the fire burning.
Theodora Ayree in Ghana
(via email)
From Grace Ojiambo, Kenya
Thank you for this wonderful message on change. Very challenging. I have been going through some changes myself some of which l would like to share.
Change is not always pleasant. In fact it can be very painful. In the last 4 years since I retired from leading YFC in Kenya, I have lost 3 sisters, a brother, a step mother who brought me up since I lost my mother @ six and a very close friend. All this very close to me. I also lost three grand children to miscarriage.
Apart from the emotional trauma experienced, a lot of changes have taken place.
Suddenly I have become a mother to more than our four children. Looking out for the welfare of some of our nieces and nephews, praying for them and being a mentor, encourager, a counsellor, a spiritual support and an evangelist, even as l needed support myself. I didn’t see this coming. BUT, GOD DID, and prepared me for it. It was not a welcome change. It was not a pleasant change. Yet, God’s grace is sufficient.
Another change was to shift my focus to my married home. As long as my mother was alive that was home. But with her gone and the house locked, the Lord has led me to new ministry areas, ministering to youth, women and church leaders in my village. To do this, I have to work with others most
of whom I had not worked with before. Another change that was not necessarily pleasant. But God is bearing fruit as young people turn to him and others encouraged.
I used to believe that if you prayed earnestly and did the right thing, God will answer yes. Especially in the things that matter to you most. So I prayed for my sisters and brother and mother and friend and my babies and the Lord said ‘No’. My faith has been shaken to the core. I am learning to let God be sovreign God, and to have a testimony even when he says no to my prayers over and over again. I am learning to say ‘praise God for the grace to go through pain’. Another change. I am not quite there but I know he will take me there.
So as I pray this morning and ask the Lord to change what needs changing in my life, I do it with fear and trembling but trusting and knowing that He wants the best for me and for his church and that His Grace is sufficient.
May His name be praised.
Blessings,
Grace Ojiambo
(via email)