“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
John 16:20-22
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
Romans 8:18-25
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20
Ways you can pray:
1) We can thank God that He has not left us as orphans but has given us His Spirit. Praise God! Pray that we may wait for “the glory that is to be revealed to us” with patience and hope.
2) If the Lord wills, I will be able to tell my church about 20schemes this Sunday. Please pray that God would get me out of the way as I talk so that my church would glorify God for His work in the schemes and would be moved to pray heartily for the Gospel to bear much fruit in Scotland.
3) Every Tuesday a 20schemes church (see more about Gracemount Community Church below!) puts on a Gospel club for the kids in Gracemount (a scheme in Edinburgh). I was able to go to one of their “meetings” and was so encouraged to see how the Gospel is now being so boldy shared with a new generation. Please pray for these kids! Pray that God would give them soft hearts to understand and receive the Gospel, and that they would take this Good News home to their families.
Picture for this week:
This is the Prime family. Andy Prime is the church planter of Gracemount Community Church. Andy’s wife, Sarah, was actually born in Gracemount and has been involved in ministry there for a long time.
When I visited Gracemount this past fall, the Primes opened their home to me and had me over for tea (Americans call it dinner 😊). I was struck by their love for the people in Gracemount and how that love spilled out into their desire to see their church mature in the Lord and see the scheme reached with the Good News of Jesus. They made John 13:35 come alive to me in a new way: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Please pray that God would answer their prayers for more laborers to come to Gracemount, for encouragement from the Holy Spirit, and for fruit to come from their labors of evangelism and discipleship.
For more about Gracemount, click here.
To see a Q&A with Andy Prime and John Piper, click here.
Resurrection is the Maker’s name,
Claire
Claire in Scotland 