Jericho Prayer Meetings

Battling the True Enemies

As the Israelites had finally crossed into the land that God had promised, they found out the land was inhabited and that God would have them wage war on the inhabitants to claim their land as the land God had in mind for them from the beginning of time. One of the most interesting things to me in their battles was how they overthrew Jericho, a heavily fortified city filled with inhabitants. Their weapon of warfare were trumpets made from ram’s horns called Shofars. On the seventh day, they walked around the walls of Jericho seven times with the ark in the middle and the people of God leading and following the Ark’s procession. When it was time, the Shofars were blown and a loud shout war cry was given. The walls of the enemy fell down with their demise coming soon after (Joshua 6:1-20) .

We know that we are not trying to slay the people of Hillcrest, as that wouldn’t be God’s heart for them, but rather we want to see the destruction of the principalities around them that keep them from the Truth (Ephesians 6). Our weapon, are our fiery hearts fully in love with Jesus cultivated in the flames of encountering the Living God through worship. So, we gather and we worship the one who has brought us into a living hope. And, we pray and ask for the same mercy and grace to be shown to the LGBT people so that they too may have a Living Hope.

The symbolism between the battle over Jericho and ours is amazing. The Lord was impressing upon Esther the idea of a Shofar and we had almost no idea its importance until Esther followed God’s promptings to understand what this instrument meant.

The Shofar

We have realized that Shofars were used in warfare Joshua , Numbers 10:9. We learned it was used to mark a new year, a new beginning.to declare the year of Jubilee. On Jubilee, property was returned to those who had to sell it. Slaves were freed. Moreover, the shofars were used to start celebrations such as the day of atonement.

For us, came the reality that God wanted us to declare the year of the Lord’s favor (Isaiah 61) and declare His mighty act of becoming sin so that we might become the righteousness of God if we believe upon Him. We realized that God wants to free them of their sins and errors and doesn’t want their death but that they should relent and repent (Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11). We realized that worship would be our weapon against the principalities that do indeed plague this people in Hillcrest. We believe God wants to declare war on the spiritual realm that has created and directed captive’s lives here, to bind up their broken hearts, to declare the hope of freedom for the captive, to set the prisoners free, and to create a new set of righteous oaks from this community  (Isaiah 61: 1).

So, we gather, we worship, we pray, and we even hit the streets.

"The Gift of Welcome" by Esther

We had the amazing opportunity again to host our Hillcrest monthly dinners recently and this time around, one of our regulars brought a new friend. We were so blessed to hear that she’d be bringing a friend. I did my normal preparation of planning the menu, cleaning the house and of course praying over the dinner/night.

I feel that a big part of having a “successful” dinner is offering the gift of welcome. Yes, I did just use that word, welcome as a noun! You see, I had secretly prayed for so long that our home would get this part right. That our home would be used to offer genuine love and a sense of welcome. I had asked God for help many times. I still do.

I desperately long for people in this LGBT community to get the sense of welcome from me and my husband. I pray constantly that they would feel loved by us small people but most of all, loved by Jesus. We have not had a perfect road down this way but this particular night, we felt a big measure of peace and love. I sensed that our friend, Sarah (names have been changed), felt at home that night because she told me several times that she missed us so much, that she missed coming to our dinners, and that she always had a good time. She told me that she needs to come more often. The fact that she even brought her friend along told me that she meant it. I was so elated when she said these words to me as I was carefully trying not to freak out and drop the plate of food!

I became even more elated when she went to the drawer to get another knife out. Wow, she actually knew where my knives were now! Yay! There was not a trace of invasion at all but a sense of pure thankfulness. I thought to myself: wow, Sarah knows my kitchen like I know my kitchen now b/c she’s been here.

Formalities drop when you are family. When you’re family, you no longer have to ask for a piece of bread before dinner starts, you just go to the fridge and get it (true incident that happened). When you’re family, you open up drawers, cupboards, etc without having to politely ask. You just do it b/c you know that the people accept/love you.

The dinner that night reflected the friendship and I think it also reflected how important the gift of welcome is. When someone feels welcomed, he/she feels accepted and valued no matter what history, background, or differences he/she may have. When someone feels welcomed, I believe he/she is brought closer to the Kingdom. And we know that regardless of background, sexual orientation, flaws, and mistakes everyone is completely welcomed into the Kingdom of God. Our God, is the most welcoming friend.

Esther

To God be the Gory, another LGBT-background Man Healed

Only recently did I learn that this man was healed by God. Harrison was no longer working at Being Alive, he had put in his notice and this man was taking over a part of his job. I walked in the door and he called me the healer man or something like that. I was confused and put back because I didn’t really realize what God had done for him.

My mind went back to when I had first met him as I was trying to figure out what God did for him. It was several months prior where I met this man. He had lost his good friend/partner and now he had lost his cat (you should know that animals are definitely people’s family here in Hillcrest). In the midst of all this, his ankle was in a lot of pain because of a severe strain that he had incurred while he was volunteering at Being Alive’s rummage sale. It was a definite low in his life. So, I felt the nudge and took a risk. As I waited on the Lord, I felt like God gave me the words: “I know his name.” I told him that God knew his name and I prayed in the name of Jesus for him and his ankle. He wept but nothing seemed to happen. He was thankful and I thanked him for letting me pray for him and went on my way.

Moving forward to the moment where I encountered him as a man with a functioning ankle who was acknowledging to me that he had help from someone outside of himself. I started to ask questions, half doubting and half excited for God’s touch (i.e. a little faith, a little doubt—seemingly my normal routine). I started to see God really did touch him and even he didn’t doubt that it was something, someone other than his medicine or physical therapist. Something great had to have happened because his foot had slipped into a sprinkler hole, got stuck and ripped one of his tendons (or something) in the process. He was telling me how amazed he was as he was pacing back and forth preparing for the food pantry that Being Alive would host the following week. As he thanked me, I proclaimed to him God’s love for him and that Jesus healed him, but he didn’t seem to be too mindful of that or interested in studying the Bible with me after I tried to invite him to that day. It was no doubt that he was touched by God, in his mind and my mind, the problem for him was that he couldn’t point to any one God because he wasn’t and isn’t very interested in organized religion but bits and pieces of things he likes from all religions.

So, I walked away thinking of the ten healed leper story, where 9/10 of them didn’t come back to thank Jesus but then I went back to meet him another day. I realized there was a potential that God healing him might’ve opened his heart to more spiritual conversations. So the next day, I went back and learned about his lack of a desire to be involved in “organized religion” and that whenever he heard of judgment or condemnation, he would walk away from that teaching. Taking the risk and the opportunity of an open heart, I began to tell him that even God’s judgment is good news and I even tried to tell him why. Surprisingly, he was receptive and didn’t shun me from talking about Jesus more with him and the story of humanity walking away from God, though no clear decision to follow Him was made. I can’t help to think that God planted some sort of seed through me into his heart and the open door was through God’s finger touching his deep need.

Jesus already went to the extreme to demonstrate the love of God to broken and wandering humanity (Romans 5:8), and it is more and more clear to me that God WANTS to show up in miraculous ways in the lives of LGBT people. In fact, He is!

The end is near, “the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is near. [we are to] repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15). How much more is this true around 2000 years after Jesus first stated this? This blog post, in a way, is a call to realize that God wants LGBT people to know Him, to see the nearness of His coming Kingdom as good news. It is true, that there are many LGBT (and straight or greedy or proud people), here in Hillcrest, who should have some fear of the coming Kingdom because sin will be judged by Holy Jesus, the Savior King. At the same time and even more beautiful than judgment of humanity, is the fact that in Jesus, judgment is overcome by mercy and there is an opportunity for a new and beautiful identity. This is the good news that I have found hope in. God is leading our group to declare to LGBT people that there is opportunity for mercy triumphing over judgment and to be given a new identity. Furthermore, stories like this man’s story remind me that He will CONFIRM the good news of the nearness of His Kingdom. He is hungry for this declaration to be made and He gives power in its declaration (Luke 10: 9).

A New child of God: David's Story

                I met David walking the streets of Hillcrest and praying for the neighborhood. We started a small conversation and eventually it led to me praying for his friend who he was visiting in the hospital. He let me and I explained that I had moved to Hillcrest because the Church has done a bad job reaching the LGBT with the message and hope we have. We ended up arranging some time to hang out and share our stories. Thus began my relationship with this guy.

Over the next 6 months we began to hang out more and delve into many aspects of our lives, including spirituality. David started studying the Bible with me, even though he had never read it since his confirmation in his teens and now 48. He came to some of our dinner parties. We played games, ate good food, and laughed. Though, we started a new friendship it often seemed like he was veering away from me. I thought it was because we were pretty upfront about our faith, maybe too upfront at times. Yet, at the same time, it seemed that God was tugging on his heart and I’d like to share one example of this.

In one of those times where David was veering in our friendship, God gave him a dream and showed me He was tying David to me. I hadn’t spoken with him for several weeks at this point when I learned of the dream. It was Saturday and I was on a mission to get a plunger of all things.  Unexpectedly, I ran in to him at the place I volunteer at in Hillcrest. He then told me that he was considering what it would be like to follow Jesus and that he had had some sort of dream that when he woke up from it, he would say, “Patrick!” and throw his hands in the air. I didn’t really know what was going on but I was excited because God was doing things I could never do. Later on I found out that in his dream, I was there. I handed him a book with a picture of a person blind folded and chained. He handed it back to me and I asked him if he had had enough yet. I already knew that this man suffered for many years (30 years with HIV, several rounds of cancer, 12 near deaths according to him, living on the streets) and it has become more clear how much he suffered and how God wanted to give him sight and freedom. We started meeting up again after that and the day came recently where he finally decided to follow Jesus.

One morning, I received a call from David and I found out that he needed a ride to the emergency room to get treated for severe anemia. On the way to the hospital and even before, I had been realizing that David may be near the end of his life and he didn’t know Jesus. Many people had been praying for this guy and for me to be bold in sharing the good news of King Jesus. So, I started talking with him again about what was stopping him from following Jesus. As we rolled up to the loading zone at the hospital, it seemed he gave in and told me “I want what you have.” He wanted Jesus and in tears he started to yield what had been holding him back in his life, his ability to control his own life. I led him through a brief prayer and asked God to seal him as His child. When I asked him earlier he had said that he was afraid about going to the hospital. After we prayed, he said he felt no fear but peace.

Needless to say, many people were rejoicing with the angels that day. David is just starting his journey following Jesus and really neither of us know all that that means. All i know is that we are both headed for Him.

The Kingdom of God is Near

I went to the house of a high potential LGBT background Christian to do the 3^rd study of part 1 of the “Who is Jesus? Study”. He had a really sore back. We prayed, in the name of Jesus and invited the Kingdom of God to come, and it did. It was only after some time of reflection that I realized how significant this moment was, not only the healing but the timing and surrounding circumstances.

It was a few weeks earlier where I was sharing about the vision God gave me to spread His word all over Hillcrest and see what grows and this same guy grabbed on to that vision in a big way. I shared how we wanted to see the “Who is Jesus?” study pop up all over the place just like Jesus described in the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-20). The next week or so after sharing about that parable, he came to our monthly Hillcrest prayer meeting. Esther prayed for him and said she saw a multiplication sign over him. After she prayed, he then told us that earlier that morning he had been praying and asking God to make him the soil that would bear crop a hundred times what was sown. Esther and I were stoked for this man who had such a long journey of surrender to God, and was now in a place of hunger and desire to see his own life used in a huge way.

This potential leader in our effort to reach the lost LGBT was hungry not in word only but in action. Since the time we started to hang with him, he started tithing fully to his church, he started waking up early to pray and be with God, he started attending all we were doing, and he even was confessing his desire for Jesus above all other lovers. As you can see, he was and is going after God and this is the posture wherein God met him in an other worldly, Kingdom way.

So, then came the night of his healing, the night he and I both experienced the reality of the nearness of the Kingdom of God. This particular night, the night of our Bible Study his back was extremely sore from moving people’s stuff and also from awkwardly twisting it at work. He was so sore that he didn’t even want to join me to study at the coffee table for the fear of pain and not being able to get back up from the ground. With very weak faith, I suggested we should pray and he agreed. So we prayed and he believed God, even testing it and moving to the floor where he was once worried he wouldn’t have been able to get up. Throughout the short prayer, the words that kept coming up to me were: the kingdom of God is near. I kept repeating that to him. He not only sat on the floor, but got up with less pain and the next day he told me his back was feeling great.

This first message of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels (Mark 1:15) became more real to us than it had perhaps ever been. In this place I realized what God might be doing. I saw that God was preparing these guys to see the evidence of what they may one day be sharing in Hillcrest: the Kingdom is near. I was and am super encouraged by the faithfulness of God. He is meeting us here in Hillcrest and though we haven’t seen huge and rumbling revival on a broad scale, we are starting to see the first fruits; namely, a small group of people with encouraged and hungry hearts. Hearts, that are realizing the Kingdom of God is near, Jesus is near and His reign and rule is accessible to us today, just as it was for the 72 when Jesus told them then to “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you.’” (Luke 10:9)

Yet, the Kingdom only becomes good news for the select few who realize the character of the One enthroned, what He stands for, what He has done, and what is their destiny. If you think of us, remember the name of the blog and pray that His name would be lifted high in Hillcrest and His Kingdom would come. Your prayers are a huge part in why we are seeing the Kingdom a new.

Building Authentic Relationships: Volunteering

It is so true that people see right through agendas we have and they feel the pain when our agendas are selfish. I have known for a while that reaching the LGBT people with the Good News of Jesus and His coming Kingdom would be done through building authentic relationships. The way to do this, is to not have an unrighteous agenda (self-centered, twisted, violent, other stuff) in reaching people. At the same time, let’s face that we all have some sort of reason to be in relationship. My reason is that some might be saved through my life, but I am realizing more and more that we need to build authentically loving relationships with people who don’t know Jesus in order to bless them.

HIV/AIDS, a Cause Worthy of our Attention

So, how are we building authentic relationships with LGBT background people in Hillcrest? I’m glad you care. We are doing several things but one of them is volunteering in places where both the LGBT community and God care deeply about. Yep, there are causes in the LGBT community that they care deeply about and God is zealous in seeing it accomplished. I found one. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS has turned into a global pandemic. At one point, it was thought that it was only limited to the LGBT community and was therefore called GRIDS (gay related immune deficiency syndrome) as opposed to AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). We have learned that HIV/AIDS is not limited to the gay population, though there are many affected. It can be transmitted in many ways and occurs in heterosexual people as well (in fact, sex is a means of transmission but it really comes down to an infected person exchanging select body fluids with another, even iv drug users fit this). As can be imagined, there was in the past (and I am finding still today) a bunch of fear and shame and violence directed towards the LGBT, which further stigmatized an already socially out casted group.

                How does God feel about the disease, killing people since it started to spread across the globe? It seems to me the Old Testament Prophet Ezekiel, has the insight we need to remember: “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Declares the Sovereign Lord, Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live” (Ezekiel 18:23 NIV). Another passage shows the same aspect of God’s heart in a different way: “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32). God is merciful and doesn’t like death, even death of the wicked/unrighteous/evil/rebellious (like I've been). He doesn’t want anyone to die but that all people have eternal life with Him.

So now you know how we plan to build authentic relationships by supporting a cause God and LGBT people care about. We are helping with a local non-profit that is only a 5 min walk from our home in Hillcrest. This non-profit is called Being Alive. I love the title, don’t you?

Confirmation, Being Alive is the Spot

I’d like to share how I came to originally start helping out at Being Alive and how I know we are supposed to invest time and energy serving Jesus here.

Originally, I knew that I didn’t want to just volunteer in any way because I was cautious on what causes I wanted to give my time to (I am getting shifted a bit on this too by the way). One day I was researching places to volunteer and I found Being Alive and noticed it was right by my house. Later during a prayer walk, I met a guy from the Community who I later started to build a friendship with and he mentioned to me that he actually spent some of his time volunteering at Being Alive!  So, I was interested and eventually went to check out the place.

When I first visited the Organization, there were all kinds of interesting folks filling the office. I knew I was in a whole different world than I had been in before when I started interacting with the people there. One person in the office directed me to see a supervisor there who was in charge of the food pantry and moving HIV+ San Diegans. When I met him, one of the first questions he asked me was if I had a pick up. I said, yeeaah. In my mind, I was like, ok Lord, this is a good sign I am supposed to be here. I’m listening. I don’t remember quite, but I believe the next time that I went to the building I saw yet another sign. It was a painting of Jesus wearing the crown of thorns and He was looking up at the crown on His head with tears in His eyes. Today, I still shudder as I think of that painting and remember the merciful heart of God for all people, even LGBT people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Some Last Thoughts Describing How God has Been Connecting Me to People through Volunteering

It is here, for the past 5 or 6 months, that I have been building relationships by serving people in their felt needs. I’ve been moving people, picking up recyclables (as you read in my last post), and ultimately meeting people right where they are at. I’ve prayed for more people than I can remember right now, and to my surprise many have cried, been thankful and seemed to know Jesus or of Him. I’ve been introduced to people throughout a network of LGBT non-profits and businesses. I’ve met people who in the short time I’ve known them have died. I have met people twisting the word of God to justify themselves. I have seen people struggling with concepts from the Bible and their sexuality. I have seen the brokenness of many lives.  

I’ve began the long work of building relationships, building trust, and asking God to break my heart and to remind me of the crazy amount of mercy He has given me. All this so that I can be a part of Jesus showing LGBT people His heart.

Time is Short

It was a Tuesday morning and I was making my recycling rounds for Being Alive San Diego, a non-profit that serves people who are HIV+. I was on my normal route in the North Park area and didn’t really think the day would be all that different, but I was wrong.

I stopped at one location where I had gotten to know a few of the people there including the Treasurer of this non-profit in North Park. This place seeks to help HIV+ people and the homeless as well. They have a thrift store and even offer laundry facilities. It was right after Christmas and I hadn’t been for a couple weeks when I went that day. I ran in to one of the leads and asked him how he was doing. I found that he was mourning for the Treasurer. The Treasurer of the non-profit had passed away over the holiday seasons. I hadn’t seen the Treasurer in 2 weeks. He was a guy I had several seemingly trivial conversations with but now he was gone. I would never talk with him again. My heart sank as the weight of the reality of his death set in on me.

That non-profit would often be identified to me as somewhat of a burden, a task I unfortunately had to bear with little seeming evidence that this is where the Lord wanted me to be especially since I was looking to reach LGBT in Hillcrest. Some of the marked memories of this place are that of a trash can full of rotting orange juice in Recyclables that would sometimes make me want to vomit. But I knew it helped me be a blessing to Being Alive, even though it probably only made about $6.50 for the org. every other week. Another set of memories were etched in to my mind after having washed out this trashcan for them. In order to wash out the trash can, I would go into their bathroom and immediately notice the enormous quantity of naked pictures of men plastered on the bathroom walls. This place was one I had mixed senses that the Lord was doing something and quite often I busily rushed out of there. But when I realized this person I had been talking with only some short time ago passed away, my heart sunk and I felt guilty. I felt guilty I had only shared seemingly trivial small talk with him and never got to share the love of God, exemplified in the Jesus.

There was a mix of emotions swirling around me that day but I found a renewed urge to not waste time. I met another customer of the stinky trash canned, pornographically ladened bathroom, North Park non-profit and had a deeper talk with him. Honestly, I was surprised how he talked about God and his trust in him. At this point of realization that time is short, I realized that one of the people I knew in the Community needed a wake up call; it was the very person who sends me to get recyclables. This person has always seemed to me to be a person of peace and a big reason I was meant to work with Being Alive specifically. I had already known he is a Christian but I had realized he seemed like a Lot (Genesis anybody) because although I could tell he was a good influence in that place, he seemed compromised. I went back to the Being Alive headquarters and began to tell him about time being short and how I realized this more that day. We had a long and deep discussion. Although he knew he was in compromise and he cared, I struggled to know where to lead him and felt the message, given to me that day, was lost. I was hoping he would finally say yes to learning more about Jesus with me and bringing the Good News to more around him, to all those people he was helping every day. He knew Jesus, but he didn’t seem to want to know Him more or to give Him away. Regardless of whether he heard the message, I have.

Jesus said, “The Kingdom is near, repent and believe the good news.” Do we believe Him? To what level are we willing to align our lives with this truth? Time is short and are we prepared to enter that Kingdom? Have we done all we can to reach every lost people group with the message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus? Time is short. Our bridegroom is coming.