Thank you so much for your prayers as Salvatore and I have been ministering the Gospel across the region of Calabria. A close supporter, Charlene Abrams shared an encouraging portion of Scripture from Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Ezekiel 2 & 3 that has encouraged me a great deal – I highly recommend that you read these verses.
Briefly reading through these verses, we can see that as a young boy the Prophet Jeremiah could have not fathomed that he would be a spokesman for God and his Kingdom. He viewed himself as “too young” and “incapable of speaking”. But, as the Word of the Lord came to him, the Lord reveals to Jeremiah, (which means God shall arise), his spiritual destiny in his creator. It is important to understand that every individual is a three dimensional being by which you and I possess a Spirit, a Soul, and a Body. God wants you and I to focus on our spiritual destiny today and every day.
Jeremiah could have not imagined that he would be destined to be a prophet, for speaking was not his strength. But God has taught us that “in your weaknesses he is made strong”. Jeremiah was the perfect candidate that God choose because it did not depend on Jeremiah’s strength, but in God’s omnipotent spirit.
Jeremiah considered his youthfulness to be an obstacle but in God’s eyes it was perfect. For God desires that we all would have the heart of a child, for as the Word says Matthew 18:3 “unless you become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom of God”. There is power in purity, holiness and innocence. This young Prophet did not realize that everything God needed to move was centered in Jeremiah’s purity and dependency on God. For a true prophet is one who speaks the truth even when it is not popular to the masses. Truth sets people free, and truth is rooted in impenetrable purity of God’s Word.
Perhaps today you could think of yourself according to God’s Word. Do not limit yourself, but with sincere optimism allow God to work through you and reveal His perfect plan. Over to you!
Our day was taken up largely with travelling from Vibo Vilentia to Crotone, where we were able to meet up with a church leader for a future mission. After lunch we made our way back to Rossano to minister to two local Christians group that met together in the same venue for the evening meeting.
We have had a very powerful evening in Rossano where the Spirit of God was powerfully at work. As it was largely a Christian audience, I felt led to challenge them to evangelize their local area and I gave them supporting teaching.
There was a lady at the meeting that I believe was demon possessed, and I had to engage in a spiritual warfare with this demon. It seems that the demon was pressing down on her throat and preventing her from praying, and she said that she felt a demonic presence visit her family on a regular basis, which was quite concerning. She was also seriously overcome with exhaustion, which gave us all cause for concern. We prayed for quite a while and I needed to rebuke the demon to leave her. Please continue to pray for her to be freed from the tyranny of this evil.
We were greatly blessed, the two times that we have ministered in Rossano, by an elderly Christian couple called Vincenzo and Rosina. They insisted on hosting us after the meetings for Pizza before sending us on our journey home to Crotone. Praising god for such faithful believers!
Our mission takes us on a 4 hour drive to Montescaglioso, which is a town in the Province of Matera, Basilicata, southern Italy. Historically, it was the centre of a county in the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. It has a population of a little over 10,000 people. It will be a thrill to preach the Gospel there.