Our second group to Philly, Centreville Presbyterian Church arrived yesterday and I’m already impressed with the
work ethic of this group. It will be exciting to see what we accomplish this week!
Last night we had some worship and prayer
time. Because we don’t have a worship leader yet, members of CPC
stepped up to lead. The last song in the set was “Give Me Your Eyes” by
Brandon Heath. If you don’t know it, check it out below.
One
of the leaders, Rachel, talked about the sermon at their church
yesterday morning before we sang this song. The sermon was about having
“people” eyes, or being able to see beyond a person’s physical and see
their lives in the same light that the Lord sees them. It was a perfect
preface to “Give Me Your Eyes”.
The chorus goes a little like
this:
“Give me your eyes for just one second/ give me your
eyes so I can see/ everything that I keep missing/ give me your love for
humanity/ give me your arms for the brokenhearted/ the ones that are
far beyond my reach/ give me your heart for the once forgotten/ give me
your eyes so I can see”
I feel like this song is really the
theme of our new group. God sees everything we need, we can’t hide
anything from him. The prayer of this group is that they will see the
people they are ministering to transparently, being able to meet
whatever needs they have.
Marcus was also able to share with the
group last night and he focused on the importance of prayer and intimacy
with the Lord, which is a running theme throughout the summer here. He
read from a little from John 15, focusing on how Christ is the grapevine
and we are the branches. This is specially applicable when doing
ministry. If we are not going to the Lord in pray everyday, ministry
just becomes a “good” thing we are doing. We aren’t truly allowing Christ to
work in and through us, we aren’t consulting God and we just begin
going through the motions of ministry. Marcus challenged the God to be
praying intently throughout the week, making sure they find to be quiet
in the presence of the Lord. If we abide in the Lord, He will abide in
us, and we will then produce good fruit.
Team Philly’s prayer for
CPC is that they have open hearts, allowing the Lord to grow in them and
show them a closer, more cherished relationship with him.
We
love doing ministry but we want Christ to come in and wreck these groups
this summer. We want our glorious Husband to come in and stake an
unmistakable claim on them. We want them to feel the presence and love
of the Lord in a new and undeniable way which then in turn overflows
into the community here in Philly.
Pray that we don’t just get
caught up in the motions of ministry but we are going to the Father on
our knees everyday, listening for his guiding voice and being reminded
everyday of his unfailing love.
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