Parish pulls off two Saturday moves for neighbors; teens make up 1/2 of our team!

The Moving Assistance Program founded by parishioners of Good Shepherd, Sioux Falls, continues to help people better their living conditions with free local moves and free loading for folks who are moving out of town.

• The parish provided two moving teams on June 28th. I was blessed to be on a team with half the labor supplied by parish teens. (A second team also included folks from our Youth groups.) Our team helped load up for a senior lady who is moving in with her daughter out-of-state.


• We had a great experience of "the body of Christ" as each person on the team seemed to have a unique gift that made the whole thing work. There was a heavy lifter, a tall guy to pack the pods to the top, a person with an eye for how to pack, a people-organizer, a knot tying pro, etc. And when we prayed with the people at the end of the work, the teens got a first hand exeperience of how the most meaningful "work" was to ask God's blessing on the people we served.

All glory to God for the inspiration to offer this ministry, and for the will and the means to carry it out. If you want to find out more, there is a link to MAP just down the right side of this blog.

UPDATED -Prayer and Fasting for the Rosebud - Day 5

Update: We have established phone and email contacts on the Rosebud and should be able to post some prayer guidance from there in the next few days. We will also look into visiting there and will post info here on the blog as it becomes available.

Ephesians 6:15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.

Jesus gives us "peace that the world cannot give." The battle against the unseen enemy will be frightening beyond our endurance unless we are walking in the assurances that come from Christ himself.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, we are "marching as to war." Help us to find daily refreshment and inner peace by your promises, that are "greater than we can ask or imagine." Help us to be messengers of your peace to the people on the Rosebud. The enemy has convinced many that a false "peace" can be had by suicide. Save them, Jesus, and help us to do our part in your work. We pray in your Name. Amen.

Prayer and Fasting for the Rosebud - Day 4

Continuing the "war on suicide" for the Rosebud Reservation's people, we hear and pray "the whole armor of God" (Ephesians 6).

14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth...

Warriors wear belts to secure various pieces of armor, to carry weapons and other equipment, and even to hold their internal organs secure when wounded. There is one Truth, THE Truth, and that is Jesus Christ.

• In Christ, all things hold together (Colossians 1:17)
• Christ gives his church all the equipment it needs (Ephesians 4:7-16)
• Christ heals us of the spiritual wounds that should destroy us (I Peter 2:24)

Prayer:
Jesus, you are The Way, The Truth and the Life. I bind myself up with all that you are.
"I bind this today to me forever By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation; His baptism in Jordan river, His death on Cross for my salvation; His bursting from the spicèd tomb, His riding up the heavenly way, His coming at the day of doom I bind unto myself today." Jesus, let me never enter battle with our spiritual enemies unless I have bound myself up in you. And bound up in you, let me fight in prayer for those oppressed by suicide on the Rosebud. In your Name I pray.

...and the body armor of God’s righteousness.

Ever worn body armor? Maybe a chest protector in baseball, or football pads, or protective gear in a martial arts or self-defense class? Maybe even police or military kevlar?

If you have, you know that it does not protect you from pain. It hurts to take a blow, even with the stuff on. You can be badly bruised and marked, even though you wear it.

But it keeps you alive. It protects your vital organs so you can recover to fight again.

God's righteousness is our armor - our breastplate. And God's righteousness is not in our own works, but in the perfect submission of Christ to the Father's will, offered sacrificially on the cross for us.

Prayer:
In the cross of Christ I glory
Towering o'er the wrecks of time,
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

Jesus, we plead only your righteousness in our defense. The spiritual enemy is so skilled at shaming and blaming, and will come at us with humiliating accusations. Help us bear them, even if they are true and painful, by placing your perfect righteousness between our souls and our deserved judgment. So protected, help us to wage battle for the souls of people on the Rosebud, who are being degraded to the point of suicide. We ask this help in your Name.

Prayer:
Jesus, give yourself to the Sicangu Lakota Oyate (pr. Si-CHAN-goo Lah-KOH-tah Oh-YAH-tay) - the people of the Rosebud Reservation. Be known to them by overthrowing the oppression of suicide among them. We pray in your Name.

Itancan, onsiundamiye (pr. ee-THAN-chan, ohn-shi-OON-dah-mee-yay)
Crist, onsiundamiye (pr. Kreest, etc.)
Itancan, onsiundamiye

(Lakota Kyrie - "Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.)

Prayer and Fasting for the Rosebud - Day 3

The Tribal Chairman asked for a "war on suicide" on the Rosebud Reservation. It is important that we look at and pray with some of the warrior language of the Bible.

For the next several days, I will be posting prayer guidance from Ephesians 6:10-20, "the whole armor of God."

10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

The Christian teaching in Ephesians has gone on for over five full chapters, including wisdom about Christ, salvation, the church, spiritual gifts, human transformation and Christian family life. How striking that so much teaching is bounded by "a final word" - an encouragement to establish all of our Christian efforts in the Lord and his power. This is expressed as a warrior putting on every bit of armor, to foil the manifold ways that the enemy will seek to inflict harm. This teaching is vitally important, and as we see next it is indispensable during our prayer campaign:

12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Verse 12 speaks for itself. Those coming against the people on the Rosebud, and who will turn to attack us as we pray, are "mighty...evil" and most dangerously, "unseen." Because their tactics unfold in ways we can't spot humanly, we need to use the equipment that God provides.

13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.

The enemy will find and exploit any weak spot, so we must put on "every piece of God's armor." With our prayers we march into a time of evil - only with God's armor will we emerge "standing firm."

Prayer:
Father God, Ancient of Days, the Lakota/Dakota people were known as fearless warriors. But even the best human weapons are weak against the unseen, mighty and evil forces that are taking the people down by suicide. We pray that Christians on the Reservation, and those praying in their support, will put on the whole armor of God, resist the enemy, and stand firm. May Christ's victory be apparent and bring many under the protection of his cross. We pray this in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Update: We are establishing contact with pastors and missionaries on the Rosebud, and hope to bring more immediate local insight to the campaign shortly.

Prayer and Fasting for the Rosebud - Day 2

Guidance:
I am already running into some spiritual attacks and resistance as we enter this campaign. Do not be surprised if some negative things - from annoyances to real crises - come your way. Remember, the folks on the Rosebud have called for a war on suicide. Satan and his spiritual forces will fight back, and "prayer warriors" are targets.

• Remember to practice penitential prayer, because the devil is a tempter and will use your sins to discredit your witness to Jesus. Examine yourself daily, confess what is ungodly in your life and rely upon the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
• Remember to stay humble. The spiritual forces oppressing the Rosebud are powerful. They have been there for a long, long time. They will not be easy to displace. William Hobart Hare, the missionary bishop to the Dakotas, noted that Indians will not give up the spirit religion of their ancestors until they see that something new actually works for their good. The spirits that are driving the suicide epidemic do not want the Name of Jesus to be seen as effective.
• Remember to be a servant. Put the interests of the Rosebud's people first during this campaign. Effective prayer and fasting will stress our time and energy and possibly other resources should some of us be called to travel to the Reservation.

From the Holy Bible (Mark 3, New Living Translation)

9 Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him. 10 He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him. 11 And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” 12 But Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was.

Jesus, the spirits know you and must obey you. Help us to be your servants, doing the tasks that you give us in support of the work that only you can do. Deliver us from thinking ourselves smarter or stronger than the spirits. Give us your Holy Spirit so that we do only what you teach and represent you alone. We pray this in your Name.

13 Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. 14 Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles.They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, 15 giving them authority to cast out demons.

Father, give us the Holy Spirit to guide us, so that we will not go beyond the specific work Jesus gives to each of us. Let us accept Jesus' call and keep us close to him. Let us use only the authority he delegates to us, according to his timing. We ask in Jesus' Name.

20 One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. 21 When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.
22 But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.”

Lord Jesus, we know that "Satan" means "accuser." Strengthen us against accusing, discouraging voices. We might be called "racist" for praying against old Reservation spirits. We might be called "fundamentalists" or "weird" by clergy or friends for engaging in spiritual warfare. Let us obey only you and rejoice only in doing the Father's will. We pray in your Name.

23 Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked. 24 “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. 25 Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 26 And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive. 27 Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man like Satan and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house.

Jesus, only you can tie up Satan and take souls from his house. But you tell us that your church can break hell's gates in your service. Help us to stay humble but steady in the work of prayer. Help us to destroy demonic fortifications in this war against suicide, so that you can come in and bring new life on the Rosebud. We ask this in your Name.

Amen.