David & Katya

Please pray for two guys I met Saturday while coming home.  Both are really nice guys, and both are named Andriy (Andrew is the English version of their name).

One’s a Jehovah’s Witness and he works out at the gym that’s across the street from our church.  I met him while we were both walking toward our bus stop.  He was just asking me if I knew where one of the buses go, and then we started talking.  Later in the conversation, he said that he’s actually a teacher in his church.  I’ve been praying since I met those other two JW’s on the street for some opportunity to share the Gospel with them.  Please be praying, ’cause this could very well be my chance.  Imagine – how many people in a very Catholic city like L’viv want to have ANYTHING to do with the JW’s?  I want to be one of the few that reach out to these guys.  Now, there’s a lot of different things that could go wrong with this relationship, but imagine if this guy got saved…

The other Andriy is just a nice guy on the bus that we met as I was struggling through having a conversation in Ukrainian.  He randomly translated a word for us, and I later asked him, “So, you speak English?” and we started talking from there.  He’s a programmer, and I’m hoping he might be able to help me with the website, but, more than that, I’m praying for an opportunity to share the Lord with him.  He did seem to flinch a little when I told him I worked for a church, but he kept on talking with me and gave me his card.  He might start coming to our Thursday night English film club.

Please be praying that the enemy won’t hinder the work that God wants to do with these three instances on Friday.

I’m so excited.  We’ve been working so hard on our new place for church.  I’ll try to get pictures up for you guys soon, but tomorrow!… tomorrow is our first Sunday in our new place!  Ye-ah!  There’s still some work to do, but it’s not much.

I’m still reading Tozer’s book, and it’s still rockin’ my socks off.  Here’s something I came up with while I was thinking about it.

If nearness to God was measured in simple distance, approaching God would both be irreverently easy for some and wholly unavailable for others.  It is distance of soul that separates us, distance of Spirit.  As two lovers coming together to form one soul, one heart, the distance between God’s spirit and your Spirit is to decrease more and more until you can say, “We are one.”

That’s the kind of stuff that Tozer talks about in his book.  Please be praying for me.  I really want to grow in my relationship with God in this way.  I want to be continually and constantly aware of His presence.

Here are a few pictures of the remodeling of the church that we are doing.  Please be praying that we are kept safe, that we will work skillfully and quickly, and that God would bless the two guys from Dnipropetrovs’k that came to help us.

Please pray for us also that we would have wisdom with how to set up the different things inside the building.  I’ll try to have more info and pictures up later.  Thanks a lot!

God is good, isn’t He?  He knows exactly what we need, exactly when we need it (Matthew 6:25-34).  This is something I’m still learning.  One of the things I’m working on is, when God says “no,” to stop pursuing whatever it is that He said “no” to.  It may not be a sin necessarily, but it’s just something that He knows is not good for me.

I was reminded of this in my devotions today.  I sometimes use my Bible as a shorthand journal, writing a quick date and a single sentence next to a verse.  Today, I stumbled upon a little note about a girl that I used to like years ago in the United states.  It basically said, “David, do not idolize her; she is not God.”  Wow…  I was being really blunt with myself.  That’s exactly what I needed to hear at the time though, ’cause I know I was idolizing her in my heart then.  She’s long gone, now.

I thank God that neither she nor another young woman now has that place in my heart that’s only supposed to be occupied by God.*  I can only imagine what would’ve happened if God allowed the two of us to be together permanently and that be the basis of our relationship.  I’m sure it would be devoid of real meaning.  When God says “No,” it’s for our good (Romans 8:28).

That place in my heart, reserved for the Lord, is another thing that Tozer talks about in his book.  I pray that God will help me continually sanctify that place only for Him.  What’s in your heart that you need to ask God to uproot so that He can have His rightful, exclusive place in your heart?  I’m glad when God says “No,” in my life to something that will attempt to take His place there.

So… all that to say, right now I’m thanking God for the times He simply says, “No.”

* I’m also glad to have her out of the way for the one God leads me to later, but that’s another story for another time.