Jesusmanifestation: Announce May 2nd as Sweden’s national day of Christian celebration!

The 2009 Jesusmanifestation (here, here, here, here and here) is now bigger than the 1maj demonstration of the Socialistic Party! “Jesus is alive in the media again!” exclaimed Göran Skytte the former atheistic and communistic journalist who has come to a living faith in Jesus Christ. It’s true, but as Skytte emphasized its not necessarily positive coverage about Jesus.

As has been shown throughout history; you can’t keep a good man down! They couldn’t keep Him in the grave and they can’t silence Him even 2000 years after his death!

Personally I am inclined to start talking about a new national holiday of Christian celebration on May 2nd. Why? Because we need at least one day a year where we, free from the normal “religious” traditions, can focus, unite and celebrate the fact that Jesus still cares for our nation and our people.

I am already dreaming about what might take place next year! Jesus was walking the streets of Stockholm and it was a joy to just watch people’s faces as young and old walked through the streets towards Kungsträdgården… – The Garden of the King (of kings).

Sergels Torg filled with Son Worshippers!

I enjoyed just walking there being part of the crowd… just a few minutes earlier we had finished off a three hour intensive meeting at Sergels Torg where Vineyard, Petruskyrkan, Korskyrkan, Tomaskyrkan, V.E.M. and New Life Church united in presenting Jesus Christ to everyone who was wiling to listen. Personally I have been the MC of the meeting, trying to keep a red thread in this three hour time of worship, testimonies, music, preaching and prayer. It was a joy to be on Plattan… the very place where our church was born years ago.

Sergels Torg praying together for peope in our nation

On our way to Kungsträdgården

I just want to wish you God’s blessings… and hope you will join us next year! See you then!

John van Dinther

By the way: Saturday’s congress of the Sverige Demokraterna with 150 participants in Frösundavik outside of Stockholm was in depth evaluated in the national news today while the Jesusmanifestation had it’s 8 seconds of national coverage… quite a development of attention in comparison to none coverage in last year’s reporting by national media!

Obama’s private prayer leaked to the press.

Prayer is a rather private thing… there are of course times of public prayer, other times you pray along with some friends and share some of your deepest thoughts and struggles in your prayer. In our church we have a prayer room, people come and go, some decide to get together to pray for some minutes, sometimes for hours with their friends.  There are times that I hear when someone cries out to the Lord as they seek Him and share private burdens… at those times, I determine to not want to hear and remove myself and others from the closeness of the prayer room to secure the privacy of those praying (some pray really too loud! – you can hardly escape hearing them:).

Anyway, prayer from the heart can be sensitive and we need to respect the sancitity of prayer… Obama during his visit in Israel and Jerusalem prayed at the prayer wall, and like so  many others left his prayers written on a small piece of paper in a crevice between the giant white stones, hewn over 2,000 years ago. Usually those prayers (over one million per year) are collected twice a year and burried at the Mount of Olives. This time an Orthodox Jewish student had other thoughts as he kept watch where Obama had left his prayer note. Right after Obama’s departure, he took the note and went to the Maariv newspaper who publised the note fully.

What he prayed? No use hiding it from you since half of the population of the world can find it on the Net… Obama wrote… The prayer sounds a little like Salomon’s prayer… I hope Obama will receive the same blessing as he!

That’s it for now folks… and remember be wise in what to pray and where to pray those prayers!

God bless you,

John

Old prayers smell. Old accomplishments fade. Old love grows cold.

I don’t know if you feel like me at times; I need to learn to pray again…

• No matter how long you have been a Christian,
• no matter how committed you might have been,
• no matter how many answers to prayers you might have received before.

Prayer is like manna, the bread-like food which God gave to His people after they had left Egypt as they were wandering in the desert. Moses told them to gather fresh manna day after day as much as they needed. Some were lazy, others decided to have it their own way (Exodus 16) but those who tried to do it their own way found that the manna was full of maggots and began to smell.

Old prayers smell. Old accomplishments fade. Old love grows cold. The point I am making is that we need a fresh new touch, a new meeting, a new prayer each day.

This morning as I was reading the letter to Hebrews in the New Testament I read the following:

Hebrews 5: 7-10 “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek”.

Much can be said about these few verses, what touch me was the following:

Jesus, in spite of being the Son of God, and God Himself prayed, petitioned with loud cries and tears… he was heard because of his reverent submission! Wow, he cried out, he stretched out to be heard by his own father… His submission made his appeals to be heard…

Although he was a son, he learned obedience…!

“Father, let me learn from your son Jesus Christ. Create, by your Holy Spirit, a heart of prayer, of obedience and of love. Let me be more like Jesus!”

Please God,

John