KINGFISHER INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NEWS
FEBRUARY 2021
ISSUE 15
Abundant Living Each year, we seek the Lord for a sense of His guidance through the coming year. What does He want to focus our attention on? What are His priorities? In what ways does He want to grow His Kingdom in this world this coming year? As I have spent time waiting on Him, and especially during this time of Pandemic, of global shut down and of great uncertainty regarding the future, it came as quite a surprise to hear what is on the Lord’s heart for us in the International Family this coming year. The Lord led me to Ephesians 3:20 - 21, and to the subject of abundant Living.
“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13, NIV) He had an abundant perspective. He knew that God is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. He chose to live UP to his identity, not live DOWN to his circumstances. And that is the secret of abundant living. Knowing that I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Having an abundant perspective on life.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (NLT)
He is also calling us to be abundantly nourished. His promise is that He will “lead me beside still waters; He makes me lie down in green pastures. He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:2-3).
More than all we ask or imagine. Literally ‘hyper abundance’. That is the level of His blessing in our lives and that is the level of expectation He desires us to live our lives at.
I believe that this is the year that He particularly wants to restore our souls - to provide us with abundant nourishment. The ‘hyper abundant’ God wants to nourish us in hyper abundant ways. We have been robbed of so much over the past year and we are still in many ways in the grip of this pandemic. Now, He invites us to be abundantly nourished, to have our souls restored for all that lies ahead.
But one of the outcomes of the Pandemic is that many people now tend to live their lives at the level of fear. We fear catching the virus, we fear the long-term effects of the virus, we fear loneliness and isolation… fear creeps into every aspect of our lives, and Christian believers are no exception to this. We have become used to being told what we cannot do, what could go wrong in our lives, how to stay safe, what the restrictions are. We of course are called to be good citizens, to ‘submit to those in authority’ (Romans 13:1) - this is not a call to civil disobedience! However, I believe that this is a call from God to regain an abundant perspective. An abundant perspective is not a denial of reality. An abundant perspective simply means that we view life like Paul did - we view life from a heavenly perspective.
His third calling upon our lives this year is to be abundant blessers; to seek ways of blessing each other in abundant ways. One of the signs of the end is that “The love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). In this time of fear, of sickness, of isolation, our challenge from Him is to be abundant blessers; to seek ways to bless each other and our communities around us. There are resources available on our website (kingfisherfamily.org) to encourage and enable us in each of these three areas; a free PDF of the book “My Confession” to enable us to get an abundant perspective, a free resource to download called “Spiritual Pathways Growth Plan” to help us to be nourished abundantly. This is His call to us in 2021 - to Live Abundantly!
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:2-3, NIV)
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21, NLT)
God’s provision throughout the family
Dumagat Education Program update
The power of prayer
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Abundance is not about how many things we have, or how much status we have, or how comfortable our lives are. Abundance is about setting our minds on things above, knowing that we are new creations. And what all that means is that we are no longer limited by our circumstances. Paul himself said,
KINGFISHER INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NEWS
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective… The question that is almost guaranteed to be asked when anything bad happens is “Why?” God, why have you allowed this? Why have you not acted to save us and help us? But a far more productive question to ask is “What?” What are we to do, given that the situation is as it is?
They are facing a lot of challenges in their situation but are responding in the very best way possible through unleashing the power of prayer. Please pray for them as they minister in that city, and as they seek larger premises to meet in. Their children are not currently attending school as they cannot afford the school fees - and yet they are still faithfully trusting in the Lord!
In Panama City, Navjeen House of Prayer is answering this “what?” question in a radical manner by embarking on 21 days of fasting and prayer. Pastor Shibu Appukuttan and his wife, Amarilys (Lily) Vega have spent the whole of January leading their church - and an increasing number of other churches in Panama - to earnestly seek the Lord. He writes: ‘Please let us know how we can pray for you. This Week I am on fasting and prayer, a time separated to pray for the ministry, families, and friends. We would like to join you in prayer. Please continually pray for us: The Covid situation is getting worse in Panama, some part of the countries, they have announced lockdown after certain hours. Please pray for our family and the fellowship that God would protect us. Please continually pray for the families that we are meeting with.’
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KINGFISHER INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NEWS
Update from the Dumagat Education Program New T-shirts for the DEP students were delivered with the November supplies! At the request of the pupils, December’s DEP support money was used to buy bread, butter, noodles and vegetables and these packs were given to each DEP family so they would have food to eat on Christmas day. Due to the awful road conditions going up to the mountain, Aileen had to stop halfway and the families had to walk down to pick up their supplies.
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Generally families get together on Christmas Eve (Noche Buena) and stay awake until after midnight to welcome in Christmas. People tend to open their gifts (if they have any) at midnight on Christmas Eve. There’s lots of food involved on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and the amount of food on the table will represent how fortunate you were the whole year. More blessings equals more food on the table. It is a sign of thankfulness to the Lord. Normally the grandchildren and extended family members go to their ancestral homes to give respect (mano) to the elderly. The well off seniors will usually give money to each member of the family, but in some instances it will be the well off young ones who give to everyone. Christmas is seen, not just as a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but as a time to celebrate and give thanks for all that blessings that God has given throughout the year.
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Christmas in the Philippines
KINGFISHER INTERNATIONAL FAMILY NEWS
God continues to provide… The Leadership training Centre in Malawi continues to develop. It now has a library of books and that includes Bibles both in English and in Chichewa (the local language).
It is so great to hear that the Training College is already accepting students and training them for the Harvest field. Let’s pray for effectiveness, for God’s abundant blessing and for much fruit to come from this great work of God.
Charles reports: ‘Classes are going on well and we are expecting to release more new leaders in April 2021.’ He goes on to ask for prayer... ‘We are praying for you and the Kingfisher International Network Churches. Pray for Malawi as this time the Covid 19 situations is so bad and very dangerous and more people are dying and affected.’
A message from Pastor Andrew in Malawi “In year 2020, God has been so faithful faithful to Kingfisher church here in Malawi, and we appreciate much for your prayers, and support in year 2020. Your prayers took us all to a next level of our faith, and grace. God blessed His church, and we are so happy to share a testimonies.
As we have entered a new year 2021, we are asking for more prayers, as we too Kingfisher Church here in Malawi we are praying for Kingfisher churches around the world, and for those too who are pressing on for God, and His Kingdom building! Below are some of the pictures, for those who received a Christmas gift of Bibles.
Last month with your prayers, we at Kingfisher center we were blessed with bibles, 32 Chichewa bibles (local language) and 36 English bibles. During this period of Covid-19, we thought much better to share the word of God in a Hospital setting , where we were able to share this free gift of a Bible to those working in hospital, patients and guardians. We are so happy that 60 bibles were distributed to 60 precious souls to share the word of God in their families.
Your brother in Christ Jesus, Pastor Andrew!!”
We thank God, that as a Kingfisher church with your prayers, we are able to see God opening doors of grace for us. Kingfisher Church is taking the word of God to everywhere God wants us to preach and teach, so that many are becoming disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ!! We are much happy indeed for that. Please, here is one of the testimonies from those who received a Christmas gift of a Bible. "We thanks God alot, we had no bibles but today it is great to receive a Bible free of charge, this is great and wonderful as the word of God is a greatest gift anyone could ever receive" We as Kingfisher Church, we are much encouraged with such testimonies.
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