It's so amazing! The stories I've begun to hear from Iran are so deep and powerful - so quickly!
One thing we did different this year was to focus on shame instead of guilt. As Carolyn and I flew over there, I read a book entitled "Honor & Shame." It's about how different cultures are defined by different basic needs. All of this is based on the 3 major emotions felt by man during the fall in the garden.
:7 - guilt
:8 - shame
:10 - fear
Cultures that are haunted by fear see spiritual beings in every occasion and circumstance. They seek power to ward off evil spirits. Our culture is more guilt and innocence based. We look for right and wrong in situations. Even our movies are basically hero defeating villian. Right triumphs over wrong. But the Middle Eastern cultures are more honor and shame based. It is about preserving honor and avoiding shame.
The author of the book challenged the church and missionaries to learn and use paradigms that related more to honor and shame rather than our typical guilt and forgiveness theology and stories. And the Bible is full of these models and stories. For example, the son who runs away from the family, taking his inheritance with him. This would be an intense experience of shame for his family. And yet his father welcomes back this son of shame immediately. And the first gift he gives this prodigal son? A robe! To cover his shame! It's all there in Scripture, page after page.
So this time our prayers and teaching focused more on shame and recovering honor. I thought the Lord moved fast and deeply before. That was just the beginning compared to this trip. Hear some of the stories of what God continues to do in Iran. Again, thanks for your support!
______________________
(When I asked a leader how his timothies were doing, here is his brief answer)
"They are doing great, especailly Na. She is so different. She had a lot of issues. We are so amazed in how she has changed. She has real joy. Your ministry is awesome - very powerful. You did awesome – and your team. Thank you for doing this!!!!"
______________________
Here is another one from a leader whose Timothy is already putting into practice what we taught)
Na love you so much and she was blessed so much. She went to new level - I see it!! It’s amazing!! During this 2 days (since being back) God use Na to help healing 2 people, baba. And also she start to training 2 people for healing prayerrrrrrrrr. Na sees pictures also when she pray for people and Na is wonderful!!
I believe Na and T are so great in this inner kids ministry and other people start. But Na and T are more powerful because started before other!! I am so happy.
N
________________________
(And here's another one from one of my best students in Iran)
Tuesday I went to Ar's home and met her, A and A. I taught them a little about what I learned and then we started to pray. I started to pray for them and use the anointing oil that you gave us. For one of them I sanctify her eyes and hands (she felt guilty because she saw bad pictures and did some bad things with her hands) after praying she felt so good. THANKS FOR OIL. (we gave all of them gifts of anointing oil)
Again, thank you! This is the church working at its best! Blessings!!!
Baba Mike
Friday, May 9, 2008
Here Are Some Testimonies
Well, I promised you some testimonies. I asked my Iranian friends to send me a few and received several so far. I have only edited them to make them understandable, but left the language and grammar the same. It's awesome what is happening! Already the training we did is starting to bless others and spread! One leader is even training 2 people herself - only 3 days after returning home! Keep praying for them, please!
_______________________________
Hiiiiiiiiii baba
Khobi (are you well)? I had a wonderful week. I'll write my testimony and u send them :)
Before i come to conference, i could hardly laugh because of my past in church that i had so many problems specially with believers.
It was so hard to keep my peace. I was crying most of the nights, and i was thinking that this is my life i have to deal with it. But God always work in such a ways that no man can predict.
God changed so many things in me, and now i don't know what exactly happened to me. But i laugh freely, i have hope. I think the secret was in that every one must know how to pray. Every work has its own way and this kind of prayer (healing prayer) is something that is new for iranians and we need to learn more and more.
This conference was a blessing for me. The teachings about the things that we've never heard before, and learning how to use them in prayer was great. It can help so many people and bring freedom to people's life.
Special thanks to baba mike and to everyone that helped us to be in this conference. You helped so many people in Iran. God bless u all.
Blessings,
M
____________________________
Hi dear Pastor Mike,
Here's my testimony of the teachings that you gave us:
That was the most incredible experience that I have ever had. I have never tried using healing prayer this way and right now I'm using those experiences in iran. And it has a great effect on people. People here in church gets healed more quickly and more effectively, thanks to those teachings. And praise the Lord for the opportunity that he gave me to be part of this because it really help. The first week back I used the teaching on 2 people and the get freed from different parts (meaning deep wounds inside). I think that Iran's church need these teachings.
Praise the lord.
Dar mohabateh masih (In Christ's love),
In Him, F
_______________________________
I will send more later. Thanks again for all your help! You have made - are still making - a difference!
In His Grip, Baba Mike
_______________________________
Hiiiiiiiiii baba
Khobi (are you well)? I had a wonderful week. I'll write my testimony and u send them :)
Before i come to conference, i could hardly laugh because of my past in church that i had so many problems specially with believers.
It was so hard to keep my peace. I was crying most of the nights, and i was thinking that this is my life i have to deal with it. But God always work in such a ways that no man can predict.
God changed so many things in me, and now i don't know what exactly happened to me. But i laugh freely, i have hope. I think the secret was in that every one must know how to pray. Every work has its own way and this kind of prayer (healing prayer) is something that is new for iranians and we need to learn more and more.
This conference was a blessing for me. The teachings about the things that we've never heard before, and learning how to use them in prayer was great. It can help so many people and bring freedom to people's life.
Special thanks to baba mike and to everyone that helped us to be in this conference. You helped so many people in Iran. God bless u all.
Blessings,
M
____________________________
Hi dear Pastor Mike,
Here's my testimony of the teachings that you gave us:
That was the most incredible experience that I have ever had. I have never tried using healing prayer this way and right now I'm using those experiences in iran. And it has a great effect on people. People here in church gets healed more quickly and more effectively, thanks to those teachings. And praise the Lord for the opportunity that he gave me to be part of this because it really help. The first week back I used the teaching on 2 people and the get freed from different parts (meaning deep wounds inside). I think that Iran's church need these teachings.
Praise the lord.
Dar mohabateh masih (In Christ's love),
In Him, F
_______________________________
I will send more later. Thanks again for all your help! You have made - are still making - a difference!
In His Grip, Baba Mike
An Overview of Our Trip
We have returned home after an amazing, God-filled week. You were probably wondering what happened to us. Well, we are here and everyone is ok.
First of all, thank you sooo much for all your support and prayers. I wish you could see the faces of these leaders as i shared with them of all those in America who gave wonderful gifts and were praying for all of them. They were so thankful and full of love. This trip more than any of the others I have been on has the promise to radically begin changing the church of Iran. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of that!
Second, why didn't you get any emails from us this week? Good question - happy I asked it. I tried several times in the early part of the week to log on to Google Groups, but never could get through to the website. I just figured it was down for awhile. Eventually, through some tricky computer maneuvering, I did get to the site - and found a big, nasty message from the Turkish government - "This site has been officially banned by Turkish Superior Court, law...". Amazing! Google banned by Turkey! Made me once again thank God for our freedoms here! So I'll try to make it up for you this week with some summary type emails.
Let's see...where to begin. Well, an overview would probably help. With your help, we raised enough money to bring 6 Timothies (house church leaders) out of Iran for an entire week. In addition, 7 Pauls (leaders of leaders) were able to stay over an extra 5 days (they were there the first week for a previous conference). Our team of 5 (Marcia, Robert, Carolyn, Kamran and me) joined them each day from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. for training in Healing Prayer. These 13 were the ones we identified as the most promising and gifted in this ministry. Meanwhile, another conference with about 20 Timothies was occuring in the next meeting room. We would all join together for worship and meals.
Our time was intense - and so blessed. They are sooo hungry for learning how to help the people of their nation find healing and freedom. All my lesson plans went out the window the first day as we began engaging in dialogue about this ministry and their specific needs. It was a mixture of teaching, discussion, wrestling with how to apply this in Iran, praying for one another, praying for the Timothies in the other group, and more.
The first day (Monday - a special 2-hour welcome/intro) we all felt awful - headaches, confusion, body aches, etc. I could barely concentrate. Tuesday morning when we began again the same feelings hit us. I had just talked about God's heart for unity in the church and that this ministry MUST contribute to that and never detract from it. So, in unity we encircled the room and began praying for God's protection. Robert led this time. Then we paired off and began praying for one another. We waited for the Spirit to tell us what to pray. There were many amazing stories from this time alone! When we finished we all marvelled at how prayers offered in unity had a powerful effect. And that was just the first morning! It just kept getting better.
I am going to ask them to write me testimonies of what God did this week in their lives. I'll include them as they arrive. For now, know that this is only the beginning of many more great things to occur with this ministry. God is moving in this country. And we all are privileged to be a part of it. Thank you again!!!!
In His Grip, Mike
First of all, thank you sooo much for all your support and prayers. I wish you could see the faces of these leaders as i shared with them of all those in America who gave wonderful gifts and were praying for all of them. They were so thankful and full of love. This trip more than any of the others I have been on has the promise to radically begin changing the church of Iran. Thank you for being such a wonderful part of that!
Second, why didn't you get any emails from us this week? Good question - happy I asked it. I tried several times in the early part of the week to log on to Google Groups, but never could get through to the website. I just figured it was down for awhile. Eventually, through some tricky computer maneuvering, I did get to the site - and found a big, nasty message from the Turkish government - "This site has been officially banned by Turkish Superior Court, law...". Amazing! Google banned by Turkey! Made me once again thank God for our freedoms here! So I'll try to make it up for you this week with some summary type emails.
Let's see...where to begin. Well, an overview would probably help. With your help, we raised enough money to bring 6 Timothies (house church leaders) out of Iran for an entire week. In addition, 7 Pauls (leaders of leaders) were able to stay over an extra 5 days (they were there the first week for a previous conference). Our team of 5 (Marcia, Robert, Carolyn, Kamran and me) joined them each day from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. for training in Healing Prayer. These 13 were the ones we identified as the most promising and gifted in this ministry. Meanwhile, another conference with about 20 Timothies was occuring in the next meeting room. We would all join together for worship and meals.
Our time was intense - and so blessed. They are sooo hungry for learning how to help the people of their nation find healing and freedom. All my lesson plans went out the window the first day as we began engaging in dialogue about this ministry and their specific needs. It was a mixture of teaching, discussion, wrestling with how to apply this in Iran, praying for one another, praying for the Timothies in the other group, and more.
The first day (Monday - a special 2-hour welcome/intro) we all felt awful - headaches, confusion, body aches, etc. I could barely concentrate. Tuesday morning when we began again the same feelings hit us. I had just talked about God's heart for unity in the church and that this ministry MUST contribute to that and never detract from it. So, in unity we encircled the room and began praying for God's protection. Robert led this time. Then we paired off and began praying for one another. We waited for the Spirit to tell us what to pray. There were many amazing stories from this time alone! When we finished we all marvelled at how prayers offered in unity had a powerful effect. And that was just the first morning! It just kept getting better.
I am going to ask them to write me testimonies of what God did this week in their lives. I'll include them as they arrive. For now, know that this is only the beginning of many more great things to occur with this ministry. God is moving in this country. And we all are privileged to be a part of it. Thank you again!!!!
In His Grip, Mike
Oh, Wow, It's Been a Longgggg Time!
I can't believe it's been this long since my last post. For all of you still with me, I will post some of the great news from our recent trip to the Middle East. Blessings on all who have stuck with me and my lack of posts!
Here was my first message to our supporters for this specific trip - posted one week before leaving.
So your first message will come a week before we begin. Thanks for all your support and your prayers! They have all been much needed. It is amazing how God is working through all of you. We originally hoped to be there as a team to pray with anyone needing it. It has now evolved into something rather remarkable.
For 1+ years, I have been working with many in Iran - counseling, healing prayer, deliverance. Some have begun taking what they've been learning and receiving personally and using this iwth others. I get almost weekly reports about how churches and leaders are receving this prayer and being set free. But this trip is the fulfillment of one of the dreams God put on my heart.
With your help, we have raised enough money to bring 14 total people to our special training on healing prayer! When this began a few months ago, I was praying for 5 or 6. This is an awesome example of "God can do abundantly more than we can ask or imagine." Three whole days of intense training with these wonderful people!
Please pray for:
* Their own personal healing and freedom
* Identification of gifts that will help them to know how to apply this teaching in their country
* No rivalry - e.g., what happens if one of the newest leaders is the best at this prayer method? Pray that the leaders of leaders will be open to receiving help from their own followers.
* A room where we can meet without interruption - that it be spiritually cleansed and free from all interference
* My training - there are so many people and I have so much more time than I expected - how do I adapt to that? What needs to be done now vs. online later?
* For our team - they are varied in their own understanding and experience in healing prayer. Pray that God brings to their minds and hearts everything they need for the person or group they are meeting with.
Ok, enough for now. Blessings to you all! I look forward to reporting the exciting miracles I know we will see!!! Thanks again!!!
"Baba" (Daddy) Mike
Here was my first message to our supporters for this specific trip - posted one week before leaving.
So your first message will come a week before we begin. Thanks for all your support and your prayers! They have all been much needed. It is amazing how God is working through all of you. We originally hoped to be there as a team to pray with anyone needing it. It has now evolved into something rather remarkable.
For 1+ years, I have been working with many in Iran - counseling, healing prayer, deliverance. Some have begun taking what they've been learning and receiving personally and using this iwth others. I get almost weekly reports about how churches and leaders are receving this prayer and being set free. But this trip is the fulfillment of one of the dreams God put on my heart.
With your help, we have raised enough money to bring 14 total people to our special training on healing prayer! When this began a few months ago, I was praying for 5 or 6. This is an awesome example of "God can do abundantly more than we can ask or imagine." Three whole days of intense training with these wonderful people!
Please pray for:
* Their own personal healing and freedom
* Identification of gifts that will help them to know how to apply this teaching in their country
* No rivalry - e.g., what happens if one of the newest leaders is the best at this prayer method? Pray that the leaders of leaders will be open to receiving help from their own followers.
* A room where we can meet without interruption - that it be spiritually cleansed and free from all interference
* My training - there are so many people and I have so much more time than I expected - how do I adapt to that? What needs to be done now vs. online later?
* For our team - they are varied in their own understanding and experience in healing prayer. Pray that God brings to their minds and hearts everything they need for the person or group they are meeting with.
Ok, enough for now. Blessings to you all! I look forward to reporting the exciting miracles I know we will see!!! Thanks again!!!
"Baba" (Daddy) Mike
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
