FAIR SUNSHINE

How many of us bow at the slightest discomfort and trouble? How our faith is revealed in the smallest of all affliction? When in fact, if we take time to reflect on it, our lives are not enough to give back for what has been graciously given us. I am afraid that even in our so-called present zeal, we have yet hidden one of both hands from the Lord, though he gave us his all, and that it would take the blood of  present-days martyrs for revival to yet come to our land. May God have mercy on us.  ~D With hands tied together, James Guthrie walked slowly up the High Street to the city cross. Broad-shouldered William Govan kept pace beside him. The one was nearly fifty, the other not yet out of his thirties. Greatheart and Valiant for Truth were to be seen once again upon the human scene. Soon they were upon the scaffold above the serried rows of glittering steel, and Sickerfoot, who had been offered a bishopric and had refused it, stepped forward with loving zeal to give his...

I barely had three hours sleep the previous night trying to meet my submission deadline. I got to leave work by 430 AM and was blessed to arrive home safely by 6 AM with just enough time to prepare and leave again for our 8 AM meeting with the church at Batia, Bulacan. The church had been looking forward to this day for three weeks, as this was to be the very first official public ministry of this young gathering. God has so graciously worked his spirit in the believers that they saw the call for more laborers in the Lord's vineyard, and the Lord has since endeavored to form in them the zeal to pursue the need. This was doubly a special day for me as well, as this is also the very first time that my beloved wife unselfishly offered herself, despite her apprehensions and fears, to read God's word in public. I have long imagined this day. How glorious to have seen it come to pass. She read for as long as she can till she lost her voice. It was such joy to hear her voice l...

I only got to bring a hundred tracts this week. But tonight's line was four times that number. I can only print on a limited budget sufficient for 400 prints per payday. Including the ink. When I finally step down from secular work I am confident the Lord will take over the ministry needs. I decided to deactivate my social media account, and was pleasantly surprised to know many noticed and sent inquiries, which meant my posts reach more people than I would like to believe. I received not so few encouragements as well, the Lord being kind as to send messages from true brethren for me  to press on. But I badly need more time alone with the Lord, to be serious with my 4AM devotions, and my personal 12-3-6 program. Near the boarding area I picked these up. Four discarded tracts crumpled and stepped on. Heartbroken I said to the Lord, "Forgive them, Lord, for rejecting you." The answer came back immediately, "They did not reject me. I rejected them." ...

Somebody bought the whole stock of bibles from my source this month, leaving me with nothing to bring today. Since I ditched driving to work I am more free to minister to where the Lord leads me whether going to work or going home. My route takes me almost 40 kilometers one way and I get to interact and ride with different people. Every opportunity to minister has stories I get to take back with me and learn from. This past month lay really heavy on me. I finally lost all passion and zeal for my work. Gone. Depleted. Sucked to the core. Although I have submitted my resignation letter middle of last year, things are becoming more clearer that I have to move on without looking back. Should I leave now, I would still be looking for work to support my family and three of my children who are still in school, but any simple work will do. I don't mind stepping down the social ladder. I did not pursue working to achieve social status anyway. Worries tend to creep under me trying to...

Please keep this church in your prayers. This coming end of March, they will, as one church, officially step into evangelism around the immediate area of Batia, Bulacan. I bless the Lord for putting His burden into pastor Jordan's heart to publicly preach the Gospel beyond the borders of the church. I have been honored to encourage and exhort the brethren to take part in the great commission, admonishing them to make it a permanent work of the church. The topmost work will be the weekly prayer meeting. The second will be the growth of the saints. The third will be to deliver the message of salvation out to the neighborhood. The mixed emotions of excitement and fear will both serve to further strip the brethren down to nothing, and to lean only upon the Lord for his Spirit to work through their most humble offering. There will be a group who will publicly proclaim the Gospel in the nearby market. I will be there to assist them. Pastor Jordan and another brother will preach at a nea...

Title: Fasting and Prayer Content: Henry Martyn laments that "want of private devotional reading and shortness of prayer through incessant sermon-making had produced much strangeness between God and his soul." He judged that he had dedicated too much time to public ministrations and too little to private communion with God. He was much impressed to set apart times for fasting and to devote times for solemn prayer. Resulting from this he records: "Was assisted this morning to pray for two hours." Said William Wilberforce, the peer of kings: "I must secure more time for private devotions. I have been living far too public for me. The shortening of private devotions starves the soul; it grows lean and faint. I have been keeping too late hours." Of a failure in Parliament he says: "Let me record my grief and shame, and all, probably, from private devotions having been contracted, and so God let me stumble." More solitude and earlier hours was h...