Lueken's News: Part II - Our family's role with Operation Nehemiah…

We wanted to share with you our vision for working with Operation Nehemiah to raise support,  so that we can continue to volunteer to serve those over in South Sudan that could never pay us for these services; and so that you can be a part of what God leads us to do as we serve Jonathan, the Levi family and the people of Borongole (Bore-ong-go-lay), South Sudan and beyond.

Our family's role with Operation Nehemiah…

We got involved with Operation Nehemiah in 2012.  Our son Jonathan has been to South Sudan three times (8 months in the last year and a half) to help with the work of Operation Nehemiah in the field. He has helped in the implementation of various projects within the ministry of which were Nehemiah Conference Center,  Nehemiah  Brick Production,  Nehemiah Agriculture initiative and Biblical discipleship on the Radio.  Jon is currently serving as Assistant Coordinator for Sustainable Development for Operation Nehemiah in the USA & South Sudan. 

In 2013, we offered to take some of the load off William who has much to juggle as they work as a family to help the people of south Sudan. We became an extension of the Main Mission office in Lanesboro, MA, by William authorizing our opening an Operation Nehemiah bank account and a PO Box 2401 here in Plainville, MA, so that we too could help get the word out and receive donations on behalf of the ministry.  

1) PRAYER IS THE WORK as Roger often reminds us & is something that we feel we are just beginning to really learn, as we are becoming convinced that apart from Him we can do nothing. THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S!!  With so much out of our control, we see how very much we need Him for everything! 

2) COMMUNICATION & TRAVEL TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THE NEED & REPORT WHAT GOD IS DOING IN SOUTH SUDAN: 

a) Communicate regularly with the main headquarters & on the ground in South Sudan. Report the needs in South Sudan, whether online or person to person, creating updates, flyers & brochures to get the word out to more people. 

Mass HOPE Conference with Rob & Ruth Kirkman (Hannah Levi's parents) 

b) Travel to 3 or 4 conferences a year to share with others via an exhibitor booth.

We have some invitations to come speak and hope to combine travel to conferences and speaking in that area, as well as locally. 

3) RAISE UP MONETARY & MATERIAL DONATIONS:

1. Speaking at churches and in homes as a family, sharing the vision of Operation Nehemiah in South Sudan and inviting others to prayerfully and financially support Operation Nehemiah 

If your church or others you know may be interested in hearing about Operation Nehemiah, we are looking for opportunities to share in homes or churches & would come out your way if at all possible. We can send you an introductory packet to  give to your pastor, missions committee, or youth group leader.

b) Gather donations of clothing, first aid, school & sewing supplies for the people in South Sudan that we can take over there. 

We are in the process of setting up a way to gather ALL your second hand clothes, sorting ourselves what is appropriate to take over to South Sudan and turning the rest in for cash to raise money for Operation Nehemiah. (We can send you a flyer vial snail mail or email with more info)

4) TAKE ON MORE RESPONSIBILITY from the Levi’s at Missions Headquarters 

Learn the ropes of the ministry on this side of the pond in order to cover for the Levi’s for their annual  trip to South Sudan (each time their trip will get longer... this last trip was 9 weeks and next time possible 3 months) until they move over there permanently. So we would be doing what they are currently doing.

5) TRAVEL TO SOUTH SUDAN: 

a) Roger has a desire to go over & explore the possibility of starting a mechanic training course to equip men to repair and maintain vehicles that would otherwise rust away, and also as a way to support their families. This is something William already had in his vision for the village, so we are asking the Lord to order our steps and the timing of this trip and what it will entail. We do not feel called to live over there as Jon does, but we know that a trip over there to build relationships and for Roger to share his skills with the men over there is a part of what we are called to do.

b) Jon is eager to return before the end of this year to work on the farm more longterm and he wants to move there full-time one day.

Join us in praying for this new nation which God has kept for His purposes 

and the work He has called us to in His name and for His glory!

It has been suggested from few friends who gave us feedback that we should raise up 
30 to 50 supporters who donate anywhere from $10 to $100 or so a month.

Our needs are simple, we don't have much overhead, and no debt, because we only do that which God provides for us to do. So whatever the Lord puts on your heart to do, whether through PRAYER, 
FINANCIAL SUPPORT or 
having us COME TO YOUR HOME or CHURCH TO SHARE;  
we trust He will use that to supply all our need & to connect our hearts in this precious works as we trumpet His goodness & faithfulness.

DONATE at www.operationsnehemiah.org/Nehemiah_Light_House.html
[at the bottom of the page that has pictures of us and Jon and our support letter]

Operation Nehemiah PO BOX 2401 Plainville, MA 02762

Lueken's News: Part I - Trumpetting God's Faithfulness

We wanted to share with you our vision for working with Operation Nehemiah to raise support,  so that we can continue to volunteer to serve those over in South Sudan that could never pay us for these services; and so that you can be a part of what God leads us to do as we serve Jonathan, the Levi family and the people of Borongole (Bore-ong-go-lay), South Sudan and beyond. 

The greatest need is for prayer.  We have been earnestly waiting on the Lord and cried out to God, He has been humbling us and addressing stuff in our hearts that we did not see, as we wait on Him.  Our need is not just temporal, but spiritual... 

“We are usually more aware of our temporal needs than of our spiritual, and our Saviour by degrees raises our desires from the one to the other.  We are invited to pray for the supply of our temporal necessities, but these are trivial in regard to the necessities of our souls.” ~ Ezekiel Hopkins

A little history to trumpet God’s faithfulness in the past... 
We were with YOUTH WITH A MISSION (YWAM) as missionaries for more than 7 years between 1983 & 93 and most of those years we lived here in the states with monthly missionary support. When the  boys were little, we were with YWAM NY & lived in an apartment in NJ. Our monthly support was $900, which covered rent $700 and utilities and God supplied over and above that. He even supplied for us to go from there for further training to Scotland. Read how God provided last minute on our blog post ‘MANNA: It was February 28, 1993.  He has faithfully seen us through a variety of employment and ministry scenarios since.   (Pictured-Lueken family 1992)

More recently, while volunteering with Unashamed Ministries in Canada from 2010 thru 2012, we had no promised support, no savings and no credit card to fall back on, and God faithfully provided. Yet how many of you know the endless stories of His faithfulness since we were silent about our needs? As we have prayed and waited on the Lord, He has been encouraging us to again make our needs known to raise up prayer and monthly financial supporters. 

Roger has had some health issues that surfaced over the past year or more that considerably effected his stamina and stability. Meanwhile, as we felt called to be more involved with Operation Nehemiah, Roger was frustrated that his involvement was so minimal and frankly we needed his input. As he sought the Lord and saw doctors it has been a time of patience as we wait for issues to be uncovered...the doctors finally decided he needed to be on a CPAP machine for sleep apnea but that has jeopardized his bus drivers license that he has had for so long.  Right now he could not drive bus anyway, without a certain length of time on the CPAP machine.  There are other also other unexplained issues, so stepping away from employment while his health issues are being resolved was taken out of our hands and we hope and pray that in the months ahead things will continue to improve giving Roger more time and stamina to work on ministry. 

We have definitely been in Manna mode. There have been countless times where we had no idea how we were going to go somewhere or what we would eat the next day and we have not missed a meal and He has always provided the means that we would be where He wants us to be.  We celebrate how faithful God has been!! 

"FAITH IN A FAITHFUL GOD WILL STRETCH US TO THE LIMITS 

OF OUR PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, SOCIAL, INTELLECTUAL, & SPIRITUAL BEINGS, 

BUT THE STRETCHING WILL SERVE ONLY TO EXPAND OUR CAPACITY 

TO KNOW GOD, & IN THE KNOWING TO DISCOVER THE VAST POTENTIAL 
OF A LIFE LIVED BY FAITH."

We share all this to trumpet God's faithfulness as our Provider, but also as our Father.   We have not had any promised income over the past months and there have been many times, having spent the last of our funds for the needs of that day, God has over and over again proven He sees, He knows and He cares. For a prime example, see our blogpost  ~ “MANNA: God Knew” 

He also cares most about what's in our hearts. When there have been delays & things have been provided later than we would want, the Lord has worked in our hearts bringing up fears & doubts, & more to the surface. He has convicted us, humbled us, & forgiven us in His mercy. We have been blessed by His loving discipline more than we could have ever known. 

[to be continued PART II: OUR FAMILY'S ROLE WITH OPERATION NEHEMIAH ]

Faith’s work is to pray for what it needs and to give thanks

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 4:6-7

The life of faith is the only safe life.  Its fortifications are impregnable.  Trust in the Lord forever, for in him is everlasting strength.  Ages pass away but the Lord our Rock abides forever.  He that rained manna in the wilderness will give us bread; and he that brought water from the rock will be a never-failing fountain.  Faith’s work is to pray for what it needs and to give thanks for what it has.  Faith uses means, but trusts in God.  When there are no means to use we say, ‘Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines… yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation’ (Hab. 3:17-18).  Faith can live upon God when there is famine in all  creation.  The peace of God guards the heart from all surprises of fear and trouble.  As faith enjoys God in all things in the greatest abundance, so she can enjoy all things in God in the deepest need.  

Paul describes his trouble in Asia:  ‘We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself’ (2 Cor. 1:8).  ‘But’, he said, ‘that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.’  If God can raise the dead, he can conquer the greatest difficulty.  He can put life into dead men, life into dead hopes, and raise up our expectations fro the grave of despair.   He can put life into dead bones and life into dead faith.  

We are proud creatures and full of self-confidence, but God, by strange and unexpected providences, hedges up our way with thorns.  He brings us to despair even of life and brings us under the sentence of death that we might not trust in ourselves, but in him who raises the dead.  He overturns us by despair, shows us what babes and fools we are in ourselves, that we might know nothing but God.  Go in the strength of the Lord!

Read more at http://creationrevolution.com/daily-devotional-the-peace-of-god-which-surpasses-all-understanding/#8keM8gproPPGc2b3.99

Remembering God's faithfulness through the years

A little history... 

We were with YOUTH WITH A MISSION (YWAM) as missionaries for more than 7 years between 1983 & 93 and most of those years we lived here in the states with monthly missionary support. When the  boys were little, we were with YWAM NY & lived in an apartment in NJ. Our monthly support was $900, which covered rent $700 and utilities and God supplied over and above that. He even supplied for us to go from there for further training to Scotland. We have a blog post about this http://theluekens.blogspot.com/2014/06/manna-it-was-february-28-1993.html) And He has faithfully seen us through a variety of employment and ministry scenarios since.

While volunteering with Unashamed Ministries in Canada from 2010 through 2012, we had no promised support and no savings and no credit card to fall back on, and God faithfully provided. Yet how many of you know the endless stories of His faithfulness since we were silent about our needs? As we have prayed and waited on the Lord, He has been encouraging us to make our needs known as we did when we were in YWAM and to raise up prayer and monthly financial supporters. 

Being stretched...

As you may or may not already know, Roger has had some health issues that surfaced over the past year or more that considerably effected his stamina and stability.  Meanwhile,  we felt called to be more involved with Operation Nehemiah and Roger was very frustrated that his involvement was so minimal and frankly we needed his input. As he sought the Lord and saw doctors it has been a time of patience as we wait for issues to be uncovered...the doctors finally decided he needed to be on a CPAP machine for sleep apnea but that has jeopardized his bus drivers license that he has had for so long.  Right now he could not drive bus anyway, because they would not renew his license without a certain length of time on the CPAP machine.  So stepping away from employment while his health issues are being resolved was taken out of our hands and we hope and pray that in the months ahead things will continue to improve giving Roger more time and stamina. So we have definitely been in Manna mode. There have been countless times where we had no idea how we were going to go somewhere or what we would eat the next day and we have not missed a meal and He has always provided the means that we would be where He wants us to be.  We celebrate how faithful God has been!! 

"FAITH IN A FAITHFUL GOD WILL STRETCH US TO THE LIMITS 

OF OUR PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, SOCIAL, INTELLECTUAL, & SPIRITUAL BEINGS, 

BUT THE STRETCHING WILL SERVE ONLY TO EXPAND OUR CAPACITY 

TO KNOW GOD, & IN THE KNOWING TO DISCOVER 

THE VAST POTENTIAL OF A LIFE LIVED BY FAITH."

This has been our hardest year with so many layers and levels to the struggle that we could never explain here. But as we have cried out to God, He has been addressing one thing after another and especially humbling us and addressing stuff in our hearts that we did not see, as we wait on Him.

We share all this to trumpet God's faithfulness as our Provider, but also as our Father.   We have not had any promised income and there have been many times, having spent the last of our funds for the needs of that day, God has over and over again proven He sees, He knows and He cares. For an example, go to our blog post...  http://theluekens.blogspot.com/2014/05/manna-god-knew.html

He also cares most about what's in our hearts and when there have been delays and things have been provided later than we would want, the Lord has worked in our hearts bringing fears and doubts, and more to the surface. He has convicted us and humbled us, and forgiven us in His mercy and we have been blessed by His loving discipline more than we could have ever known. 

We are usually more aware of our temporal needs than of our spiritual...

This devotional rings so true… when our temporal needs are so great, it keeps us before God and as we cry out for what we can see that we know we need, He uses that time of waiting on Him to bring to the surface things that we were not even aware of that are lodged in our hearts… fears, unforgiveness, judgements of others, selfishness, pride, idols (the things we look to more than Him)… ALL of these things the Lord has in the past year shown us and now we can truly rejoice in our trials because we see our great need of His mercy and His wise ways in delaying to bring these things into His light, so that we can forgive as we have been forgiven..

Give us this day our daily bread, & forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.    Matthew 6:11

"After we have prayed for the glory of God, we also make mention of our temporal needs.  Spiritual things are our greatest need, but God also allows us temporal blessings.  We enjoy them as we might enjoy a visit to an inn.  We refresh ourselves with the comforts there, we are travelling.  We are thankful for the world’s provisions during our journey, and we enjoy the bread we pray for as a support in our passage home.  Our Saviour, in his providence, gives us heavenly blessings as a happy addition to the earthly blessings he daily bestows upon us.  We are usually more aware of our temporal needs than of our spiritual, and our Saviour by degrees raises our desires from the one to the other.  We are invited to pray for the supply of our temporal necessities, but these are trivial in regard to the necessities of our souls.  We ought to be much more earnest and importunate with God for our spiritual mercies.  Bread can only nourish my vile carcass for a few short years and then it moulders into dust, and becomes meat for worms.  How much more important it is to seek pardon for my sins and the spiritual mercies without which my soul must eternally perish!  Bread figuratively denotes all provisions necessary for this natural life.  They are both needful and God has promised to give them to us.  Whatever you enjoy is from bounty.  He spreads your table and fills your cup.  He is your health and strength, and he loads you daily with benefits.  Do you have riches, honour, friends, joy, and comfort?  It is God who fills you with these good things.  He is the great Lord and proprietor who brings forth abundantly from all his stores for the use and service of man."
~ Ezekiel Hopkins

from Voices of the Past: A Puritan Devotional

MANNA: It was February 28, 1993...

It was February 28, 1993 when Josh and Jon were 4 and 2 years old.  

We had been on staff with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) since 1987 and had now been iving & working with the NY YWAM Center in Elizabeth, NJ since the fall of 1991.  We lived a couple miles from the Center in an apartment that cost $700 a month and our monthly support was $900, which covered rent and utilities and God provided faithfully for food and other needs over the next year and a half. 

We had been doing children’s ministry in the inner city projects of Elizabeth and felt we needed some training, so we looked into the Principles of Children & Youth Ministries training that YWAM offered in Scotland and had been asking God since Jan. for the provision to do so. 

Since deciding to go, our support came in very intermittently and that month we had received only $320 from our supporters. Though we had paid rent for Jan. and Feb. we were two months behind on utilities and obviously did not have rent for the next day. This was a huge test of our faith... and we were struggling. After putting the boys to bed we committed to pray into the night and we started with, ‘Lord, we don’t need less, we need more!” Our training school started  in 5 weeks on April 7th and in addition to rent and utilities, we needed to rent a moving truck and a storage unit and secure flights to Scotland in the next few weeks. So we prayed and prayed and read through a wonderful book called DARING TO LIVE ON THE EDGE: The Adventure of Faith and Finances by Loren Cunningham, in order to see if we were off in our plans in anyway. As we prayed and examined our hearts, Roger said he felt that there was an intentional veil so that we could not see ahead of is how things would work out much like Abraham. As he shared this, I had my finger on a verse that I wanted to read which said:

"His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His people) Eph. 4:11a

After that late night prayer time, we felt we were to continue to believe that God could and would provide for us to go.

The next day at the YWAM Center, the accountant said he was looking for us and I asked, "Why, did someone give us a $1000?" and he said, "No, but close"

As it turned out, our home church had incorrectly filled out February's monthly support check of $200 and it had to be sent back, so by rights if they resent that with the March support, it would have been $400, but the check was for $750!!!  We were overwhelmed and overjoyed! When I told the missions committee Director from our church about how that had met our needs so beautifully and asked why that was the amount sent, she said she had no idea.  

I wish I could go back and read in my journal all the details of how the 4 of us boarded that plane for Scotland at the end of March. What I do remember is that fellow missionaries from Brasil needed a car when they came home on furlough and felt led to offer to buy ours from us, so that covered the taxes we owed and the our airfare!! There is so much more to this story as we spent 6 months in Paisley Scotland... even a story about "Miracle NON-provision" that we could tell you about one day.  

So, here we sit on Wed. June 18th, 2014, asking God in much the same way... Is it your will that Jonathan go to this FARMING GOD'S WAY training in North Carolina on Sunday? We are trusting that if it is, then He will provide the remaining $ needed for his airfare and tuition, as He has so many times in the past and, if it is not in His plan, then He has another plan. 

Jon's first garden that he initiated when we lived in Nashua!

"Oh God, you are My God, and I will ever praise You,

I will seek You in the morning and I will learn to walk in Your ways and

Step by step you lead me and I will follow you all of my days." ~ Rich Mullins 

Clinging to Him through Trials … a letter to a friend.

God has us in impossible circumstances that He will work in, because we are His children. I know it is a very real struggle to keep our eyes on the Lord and to cling to the hope that is ours in Him.  The wind and the waves are so distracting and all consuming and overwhelm us for sure!!! There,  we are being trained to keep our eyes fixed on the Commander and Chief and our Father, Who is over all.  He knows our frame and frailty and the habits of our flesh, which is why He is drawing us to Himself, teaching us to abide in Him our only hope. He is completing the work He has begun in our lives THROUGH THE TRIALS… He said it would be so… "In this world you will have trouble, but fear not, I have overcome the world!"

"The New Testament writers tell us that we should not be surprised when we face trouble, trial, and suffering... in this broken world and should never conclude from our trouble that God has forgotten us. They say that for God’s children, the opposite is true. Trials are the result of His covenant love. We experience difficulty, not because He doesn’t love us, but because He loves us. God will not neglect us so that we can experience the ease that we want. No, He rather will take us where we do not want to go in order to produce in us what we could not achieve on our own."  ~ Paul David Tripp

Trials force me to run to Him… with things completely out of my control… and I prefer being in control… I learn to abide in the vine and see that all I need is found in Him and how very much I have been relying on my own strength, and on what I can do. I am compelled to cling to Him for ALL THAT HE PROMISES HE WILL DO… oh the precious promises of our God!  That reminds me of a scripture…let's see if I can find the address…

1 Peter 1: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. THIS IS WHAT GOD IS DOING IN US AS WE CLING TO HIS PROMISES THROUGH TRIALS!!!

9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins... THERE ARE THOSE WHO HAVE FORGOTTEN OR NEVER REALLY SAW THE DEPTH OF THEIR OWN SIN, THEY HAVE THEIR EYES SO FIXED ON THE SINS OF OTHERS THEY HAVE BECOME BLIND TO THE HUGE LOG IN THEIR OWN EYE AND ARE CONSUMED WITH UNFORGIVENESS & BITTERNESS… ONLY THE LORD CAN OPEN BLIND EYES AND DELIVER THEM!!!

FOR ME… RECENTLY, GOD HAS BEEN OPENING MY EYES TO AREAS OF SIN THAT I HAVE BEEN BLIND TO AND WHEN I REALIZE HE HAS SEEN IT ALL ALONG, I AM HUMBLED. I STRUGGLE WITH FEAR, CONTROL, PRIDE, SEEKING THE APPROVAL OF MAN JUST LIKE OTHERS I HAVE JUDGED… IT IS SO EASY TO SEE THAT IN OTHERS WHILE WE ARE BLIND TO THE WAYS WE DO THE VERY SAME THING.

I AM HUMBLED BY HIS PATIENCE WITH ME ALL THESE YEARS AND SEE THAT THE TRIALS WERE NECESSARY TO TEST MY METAL… TESTING IS NOT A PASS/FAIL TEST… TESTING THROUGH TRIALS BRING TO THE SURFACE OF HIS CHILDREN THE VERY THINGS HE IS AFTER. HE IS WORKING TO PURIFY OUR HEARTS, REPLACE LIES WITH HIS TRUTH, EVEN AS OTHERS RAGE AGAINST US, AS THEY RAGED AGAINST HIM… HE SAID THAT IF THEY PERSECUTED ME, THEY WILL PERSECUTE YOU. IT IS SO HARD AND YET WE ARE NOT COMPLETELY INNOCENT, AND THERE IS MUCH HE IS DOING IN OUR HEARTS AS WE CLING TO HIM

10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; BUT WHEN WE DO STUMBLE, BECAUSE WE ARE HIS CHILD,  WE WILL NOT BE HURLED HEADLONG B/C HE IS THE ONE HOLDING ONTO OUR HAND… OH WHAT AN AMAZING FATHER WE HAVE!!! 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

12 Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present within you. 13 I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder…"

"These relationships and circumstances, these problems and trials, and these times of grief and suffering come from his hand. They are tokens of God’s wonderful grace, given to deliver us from the power of remaining sin! Behind the circumstances is a God of love who is relentlessly at work to make us holy. Praise that comes from hearts of worship is the only legitimate response to these circumstances. Rather than telling us that God has forgotten us, our circumstances shout to us that he has remembered us and will not leave us until his work is complete!" ~PDT

"For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength... 

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!  ISAIAH 30:15 & 18

He's calling us to ABIDE!

Keep clinging!