I have been especially pondering the last two verses of Malachi this Advent, longing to see more and more reconciliation that prepared the way for Jesus.

“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6).

Elisha was always my favorite prophet of the Old Testament. His humility before his master Elijah was impressive and he ended up doing twice as many miracles: literally 14 to Elijah’s 7. So why was Elijah sent as a forerunner to the Messiah, and not Elisha?

My question was answered by Ron Kuykendall, an Episcopal priest friend from Florida who came and did some teaching at Tierra Nueva’s The People’s Seminary in September.

Ron taught that Elijah is the prototype spiritual father, and Elisha a prototype spiritual son. Elijah is the only Old Testament prophet who passed on a double anointing. Elijah embodies God’s heart: that our sons and daughters (spiritual or biological) would go far beyond us, standing on our shoulders. John the Baptist embodied this with his attitude towards Jesus: “He must increase. I must decrease.” He pointed to Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29),” and not to himself. “After me comes a man who has a higher rank than I,” he continued.

Jesus surely had a much greater anointing. And yet he too embodied towards us his disciples the father heart visible in Elijah: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:12-13). Surely Jesus sent us his Holy Spirit to empower us to continue in this same tradition, as we continue to prepare for Jesus’ final return: “the great and terrible day of the Lord.”

In the jail where I serve as chaplain most of the men and women are estranged from their fathers, and often their mothers too. Gangs are on the rise everywhere in part because of a crisis in father/child relationships. The church too is disempowered in part because of rivalries and ruptures that need to be laid down. I long to see the turning of hearts between actual biological fathers/mothers and daughters/sons and also between spiritual children and their parents. Reconciliation, healing and true empowerment begins with forgiveness, as the following story shows.

I first met Santos (“holy” in Spanish) twelve years ago when he was a 20-year-old Latino gangster doing six months in Skagit County Jail. Santos is unforgettable because of his warm, sensitive spirit. He also has a nervous wince that hits his left eye like a crashing wave every thirty seconds. Halfway through a Bible study about Jesus’ healing of a blind man by applying spit to his eyes two Thursday’s ago, Santos said: “I feel kind of vulnerable asking for this, but can you pray for me to be healed of this nervous tic in my left eye? It’s been bothering me my whole life, but more and more lately.”

With only five minutes before the guards came, I invited the other inmates to gather around Santos, and placed my hand on his left eye. Immediately I got the strong impression that his father had hit him in the head. I asked whether this was true, and Santos began to cry and say he was beaten a lot when growing up. Later he told me that as the oldest, he’d often taken the blame for things his younger brother and sister had done, to keep them from beatings.

I briefly told him that when someone sins against us, it brings great suffering, but if we hold resentment and unforgiveness, the sins of the other person infect and continue to hurt us. He said he was willing to forgive. I led him in a prayer of forgiveness, and he even began to bless his father. I prayed that the peace of Christ would come over his face and that the nervous flinching would be calmed in Jesus’ name. The presence of God came over all of us. It was very peaceful.

The next day, I called Santos to check on him. He said he was 100% healed and the twitching had stopped. I called him four days later and he says he’s still completely healed—the tic has not returned. He has had this problem for 32 years. “People who know me are all noticing it!” he said. He also told me that the night he forgave his father, his dad called his girlfriend’s house looking for him—something his father rarely if ever does.

I am profoundly grateful for this new beginning as hearts are turned and Jesus comes again, and I long to see more. May you experience this Christmas season reconciliation, healing and peace born out of forgiveness as you anticipate and welcome Jesus’ coming.

On Saturday, November 17 after a rich five days with Scripture Union in Alsace I flew to Paris to spend the weekend ministering in the Église Reformée de Belleville followed by a three-day retreat for French reformed pastors.

The church is Belleville is one of the largest churches in the Église Reformée de France. Like many churches in Paris, its membership is diverse: many French people together with first and second generation immigrants from Africa and other countries. I even met a woman from Mexico and people from Columbia. The Belleville church is at the heart of the section of Paris with the largest Jewish community, many North African immigrants and a burgeoning arts scene. Unlike most churches in the Église Reformée de France which are highly intellectual and traditional, Belleville is more evangelical and has been deeply influenced by charismatic renewal.

Serge Jacquemus is the pastor– a good friend who did graduate studies with me in Montpellier in 1991 who I later met up with in 2004 at a pastor’s conference at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. Randy Greer is an American missionary friend of mine also ministering at Belleville. He leads an inspiring after-school program serving North African immigrant youth. Serge has invited me to minister in Paris for the past few years, hoping to see his church reach out more effectively to the neighborhood, empowered by the Holy Spirit. I arrived in the middle of a national transportation strike, but the Saturday afternoon training drew many people. We acted out Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery and the woman bent over by an evil spirit. These stories served as a basis for inviting people to drop their stones of accusation and to step into Jesus’ ministry of announcing forgiveness and deliverance from evil spirits. Nearly everyone came up at the end to receive prayer for freedom from invisible powers that oppress them (shame, guilt, fear, unworthiness).

Sunday morning I preached two services to the 500 member church. I spoke on the Spirit upon Jesus and the anointing for ministry to the poor, prisoners, the blind and oppressed based on Luke 4:18ff, ending with fire tunnels where everyone could lay hands on everyone. People enthusiastically engaged in this style of prayer after I presented it as a near perfect enactment of the values of the French revolution: liberté, égalité, fraternité (freedom, equality, brotherhood). The priesthood of all believers happened as people excitedly formed two long lines facing each other to make a prayer tunnel. Nearly everyone in each service passed through at least once, receiving prayer from the many who laid hands on them calling for God’s Spirit to come to heal, fill and empower.

A three-day pastor’s conference began the next day at noon. Since all the trains and subways were still nearly shut down by the national strike, only 20 or so pastors were able to make it to the retreat. This was ideal since the focus of the retreat was on ministering personally to each pastor. Pastoring in France is particularly challenging. French society is increasingly fast-paced and impressively secular. Pastors of the historic Église Reformée often minister in traditional parishes to small, aging congregations made up of members often spread out in a wide geographic area. Ministry opportunities to non-Christians are very challenging. The majority immigrant population is North African and Muslim. Pastors are highly trained professionals who know Scripture and theology well, but have had little training in ministering physical and inner healing, deliverance and prophetic ministry. Though they place a high value on the priesthood of all believers, they often feel stuck when it comes to really seeing parishioners get empowered to step into their callings.

My focus was to help them become more secure in a Biblical theology of empowerment based on Ephesians 1:3ff and 2:7ff and many other texts and in ministry with the gifts of the Spirit (Eph 4:7-10; 1 Cor 12-14). Many pastors bear the weight of an entire congregation’s calling and suffer under their own and other’s expectations that they have to be gifted to meet every need. My hope was that they would become more comfortable receiving more from the Holy Spirit and facilitating people’s empowerment to move in the gifts of the Spirit. I presented on the five-fold vision of ministry in Ephesians 4:11-16 and we discussed and practiced how to identify and recruit people into callings such as apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher with the objective of equipping all the people (Eph 4:11-12).

We used a “prophetic presbytery” style of prayer we practice every week as a staff at Tierra Nueva. This involves laying hands on each other, blessing, praying and sharing impressions, pictures, scriptures—perhaps in some way similar to ways early Christians ministered to each other (Acts 13:2-3; 19:6; 1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6). After beautiful worship and some teaching, over the course of three days each pastor had a turn to sit in the middle of a circle to receive prayer and prophetic words of encouragement and direction from the leaders of the pastoral, each other and me. We laid hands on each one and invited the Holy Spirit to come to fill, bless and reveal. It was amazing to see how God spoke consistently and personally words of clear encouragement, comfort, clarification of gifting and direction. After praying for some 25 people each one of us had significantly more experience by the end of this retreat to take this model back to our ministries and parishes. There is still so much to learn about discernment of spiritual gifts and empowerment for life and ministry, but I came home deeply encouraged by the power of people humbly gathering around each other to bless and build up.

Please keep these French pastors and the Belleville church in your prayers: that the Spirit would keep filling them more and more. That the light of Christ would shine brightly on them and through them for their families, communities and for France.

I am seeing increasing signs of the coming together of currents in the body of Christ that are often divided. Those committed to meeting God through thoughtful study of Scripture are cross-pollinating with contemplatives and Holy Spirit-focused charismatic Christians in a powerful confluence that is gradually reversing Jesus’ reproach to the Saddusees: “You do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matt 22:29). This reversal is desperately needed today, as people need the message and preaching of Jesus Christ to be “demonstrated by the Spirit and power of God” (1 Cor 2:4).

On Thanksgiving Day I flew home from Paris after a rich 10 days of teaching and ministry in France. The first five days were in Alsace at Scripture Union’s French retreat center Rimlishof. There, Tierra Nueva intern Troy Terpstra and I met with some 50 Scripture Union workers from 22 European countries for five days of presentations and conversations. Most of the people had read my book, Reading the Bible with the Damned in preparation for discussions on how to effectively engage people in liberating reading of the Bible.

People from different European countries presented their research on many topics related to Bible engagement. Andrey Cherniak of Scripture Union Russia spoke on Lectio Divina and then led an optional contemplative reading of a Bible passage that many attended. David Pritchard from Madrid sat us all down like children to show us how to engage little kids in an approach called “godly play.” He told us the story of Abram and Sarai’s journey of faith and then had us respond with colored paper, pens, crayons or however we felt led. Others spoke on how to effectively engage grade school children, teen agers, traditional church goers or secularized European adults in transformational Bible study. Others presented their expertise on websites, interactive electronic gaming systems and contextually sensitive publications of various sorts. I was inspired and amazed by people diverse approaches and giftings.

Every morning I led a Bible study to demonstrate ways of reading the Bible that I’ve found effective both in the jail and among mainstream Christians. People responded enthusiastically to these Bible studies and bibliodramas. I shared about my growing desire to be continually filled with and led by the Holy Spirit and the anointing in my reading of the Bible and in my ministry—rather than depending upon my education, experience and natural abilities. Jesus himself emphasized this when he said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.” If Jesus himself needs the Spirit upon him and the anointing “today” and every day, we too need God’s continual Presence upon, in and before us in everything we do. People seemed inspired to seek more of this anointing that John talks about, the chrisma that abides in us and teaches us about all things (1 John 2:20, 27).

People were interested in talking further about this vast theme of Word and Spirit. I witnessed people’s spiritual hunger firsthand when some 25 came to an optional soaking prayer time one evening. God’s Spirit came very beautifully, bringing comfort, encouragement and healing.

I was excited to learn that these leaders together will be training some 10,000 Bible study facilitators in the months before summer to work with children, youth and adults throughout Europe. Let’s keep these many Scripture Union workers in our prayers: that the Spirit would guide them in their announcing of good news to hungry people throughout post-Christendom Europe (see www.su-international.org). I will write again in a few days about my time in Paris.

New Earth Refuge’s construction project is moving forward daily. Gracie and I are thankful to God and our supporters for the nearly $50,000 that has been given since August. We have now completed all the framing, the roofing and are just now installing the doors and windows. We are confident that gifts will continue to come in so we can complete the electrical, plumbing, insulation and interior finish.

We are especially encouraged that our ministry here at New Earth Refuge at our existing guest house has been growing. Groups, individuals and couples are coming here more and more to receive prayer from Gracie, me and others at Tierra Nueva. People are experiencing healing and renewal, as you can read in the testimonial from Laurie below.

“In June I returned from riding a friend’s horse. It was a vigorous ride to say the least and the next morning I woke with terrible low back pain. As the days passed instead of getting better the pain grew worse. It spread from my lower back up to my neck and shoulders leaving me unable to drive or do daily household chores.

Despite seeing doctors and physical therapists over the following weeks the pain did not go away. The summer passed as I sat in the chair feeling hopeless. With two children, one autistic, and a marriage that was all but over I could not imagine why God would allow this to happen.

Finally, in August I thought that maybe God was trying to tell me something. I began to pray. Quickly God began to bring to mind all the things I had done to contribute to the poor state of my marriage. I called my husband and apologized for all the things I had done and was so quick to blame him for. Needless to say he was shocked but accepted my apology.

A few short minutes later a friend arrived at the house. I told her of the events of the morning and she mentioned that she knew of someone who would pray for my back pain. I wrote his name down but I wasn’t sure how I felt about “healing prayer”. My skeptical side just does not want to believe it, for several reasons I suppose. I certainly do not want to look like a sucker and what am I supposed to do with my faith if for some reason they pray for me and my back does not feel better.

Later, another friend dropped by and I was shocked to hear her tell me that she also knew of someone I should see who would pray for my back pain, Bob Ekblad, the very name I had just written down. Despite my skepticism and discomfort this seemed more than a coincidence to me.

I tried to schedule a time to see Bob but somehow no time seemed to work so he offered to pray for me over the phone. During this prayer time Bob mentioned that I may have some people in my life I need to forgive and encouraged me to ask God to bring those people to mind. Over the next several days names and events came to mind like waves on the beach and I spent a lot of time dealing with forgiveness. My back pain, however was still there and discouragement was setting in. What I wasn’t thinking about was healing was taking place in my life just not in my back yet.

Finally my husband and I were able to schedule some time with Bob at his home. We arrived and were introduced to a woman by the name of Amy who was also there to pray with us. After brief introductions Bob and Amy placed their hands on me and began to pray. At first I was afraid this would not change anything. Then my back and neck began to feel hot and cold at the same time….like BenGay. Amy mentioned some impressions that she was receiving that were so accurate I was overwhelmed. How could she know that? Bob mentioned to me then that he had a strong impression I had been given a gift of evangelism. The association I had with that word made me very uncomfortable at first until Bob explained to me what evangelism really meant– sharing naturally the stories of God’s work in my own life first. The pain in my neck and shoulders was gone.

Bob turned to my husband and asked whether he had pain in his left shoulder. This really surprised him as my husband had been suffering from pain in his left shoulder for years, as well as his right knee, but had said nothing about this to Bob. Before praying for him Bob expressed to my husband that he felt very strongly that my husband had a prophetic gifting, that he was sensitive to hearing God’s voice. Like me, my husband was resistant to this until Bob explained to him that it was more like your own thoughts then a “booming God voice”. Then Bob began to pray. Again Amy mentioned the impressions she had and again she was so accurate. Bob asked my husband how he felt and the pain was no longer there.

We left that evening knowing that God was not only doing a physical healing in our lives but healing our marriage and our lives as a whole. God did so much more for us than we ever thought. Since that day we have been asking God to teach us more about the gifts He has given and we are excited for the future.”

Laurie Hinkley
Anacortes, Washington

For more testimonials check out my blog at www.bobekblad.com

Last Thursday and Friday a number of remarkable things happened that have encouraged my heart, and hopefully will encourage yours. I keep seeing God heal people and provide for needs in humble yet very real ways.

On Thursday night I went into the jail to do my four bilingual Bible studies. There were only two Mexican men in the second Bible study– Francisco and Guadalupe. I knew them pretty well as they’d been incarcerated six months. As soon as we sat down I felt two sharp pains in my left wrist, the one closest to Guadalupe’s right hand as I faced him. Since I had no known problem with my wrist I asked Guadalupe if he had pain in his wrist. “Si,” he said, showing me a red, swollen wrist bone he’d damaged when he fell playing handball in the jail recreation room.

“What’s really bothering me though is the pain in my chest,” he said. “I’m trying to get into the doctor here as it’s really hurting and I’m worried.”

I offered to pray and he agreed. I placed one of my hands on his wrist and the other on his chest. As I prayed I felt a warm cushion of air over my hand—like there was an invisible hand laid on top of my hand. “Do you feel that warmth?” I asked, and he nodded. After praying, Francisco read that day’s reading, the story of the healing of Naaman in 2 Kings 5. While Francisco read the passage Guadalupe kept leaning back in his chair, stretching out his arms. Finally I asked him if he was having a hard time focusing on the reading. “Are you still in pain?” I asked.

“I can’t focus on the reading. I’m too surprised because the pain is completely gone, in my wrist and in my chest,” he said. “Only God could have known about this pain,” he said, and tears streamed down his face. We gave thanks to Jesus and offered him our lives, something these two men have been doing week after week since they came in. I prayed blessing and protection over them. They will both head off to prison on Tuesday to complete the 20 months remaining of their sentences for dealing cocaine.

Later that evening I met one-on-one with Epifania—a 51-year-old Mexican woman. Epifania is a migrant farm worker and beloved member of our faith community. She has just been ordered deported but was transferred up from a Federal Detention Center in Tacoma to Skagit County Jail to face some new charges of possession of cocaine. She praised God that I had come and told many stories of praying for people’s healing while in the immigration detention prison (see our upcoming Tierra Nueva appeal letter at www.tierra-nueva.org). I told her about what had just happened with Guadalupe and his wrist. She told me that she too had a lot of pain in her wrist, and I remembered that indeed I had felt two sharp pains. I’m still not accustomed to watching for and catching the clues the Spirit gives to show me what God is wanting to do. Apparently God wasn’t through healing wrists that evening. We prayed and sure enough her pain went away. I am continually impressed by God’s kindness and goodness. God cares enough about our little, very personal problems—which was brought home powerfully for me personally the next day.

The next morning I drove up to attend the last morning of one of Toronto Airport Christian Felllowship’s five-day International Leaders School of Ministry in Aldergrove, BC. Towards the end of 45 minutes of worship I ended up praying with Murray Dueck, a new friend who leads a prophetic school in Langley called Samuel’s Mantle. He began prophesying “I see you like Mario in the video game, collecting gold coin after gold coin, more and more of them as you go from level to level in the Spirit.” He said he thought this represented both my spiritual inheritance and God’s financial provision. I was encouraged as two days before the bank had notified us that our personal checking account was overdrawn more than $2,000. I had no way to cover this, but just the day before a friend had sent us an unexpected personal gift for $1,000. I sat down feeling encouraged and moments later another friend at the conference, completely unaware of Murray’s words, handed me a folded check written out to me for another $1,000.

God was aware of my financial need and ministered to me through his servants just like he’d brought healing to Guadalupe and Epifania there in the jail. May God richly bless you and pour blessing through you as you seek first the Kingdom of God.

I am delighted to learn today that my new book will be published by Westminister John Knox Press in early February 2008.

This book seeks to articulate the new work that God is doing in our lives and ministry over the past 4 years. God is clearly reconciling divergent streams in the body of Christ so the Kingdom of God can advance on behalf of the least. The social and charismatic prophetic streams are being drawn together into a dynamic unity with contemplative, evangelical and mainline currents. Advocacy, justice, peacemaking and dialogical Bible study belong together with ministries emphasizing God’s Presence to heal, deliver and empower. Word and Spirit are flowing together to empower people from the bottom upwards so that God’s Kingdom can advance more fully in the darkest places.

This project began on the beaches of Mozambique in June 2006 as I received prayer from Rolland Baker, Supresa Sithole, Jose, Francie and other leaders of Iris Ministries.

As the group prayed over me before my son Luke and I departed, Supresa suddenly began prophesying that I would write a book, that many would read. “Urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent!” he said with his thick African-Portuguese accent and he circled me repeatedly, thrusting out his right hand towards me with each declaration. That day we flew to South Africa to visit Gerald West and Jonathan Draper. That night in Gerald West’s vacation house on the coast south of Durban I awoke in the middle of the night with chapter and themes rushing through my head. This continued the following night at Jonathan and Marian Draper’s home in Pietermaritzburg. I am looking forward to sharing this with you all soon.

A few weeks ago I ran into a big, tough looking Caucasian guy named Philip during one of our Sunday afternoon Bible studies. “I’m the one you made cry back in April when I was in here. You healed my back,” he said.

I immediately remember him and feel embarrassed that he doesn’t say Jesus healed his back. I feel awkward at times about healings that happen, and am especially perplexed that so many people are finding relief from pain in their backs, necks, shoulders, knees, etc. I find myself continually pondering the purpose and value of healing.

I often think of the final verses of Mark’s gospel, where the narrator writes: “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word with the signs that followed” (Mk 16:20).”

For years and years now I have been reading the Bible with people on the margins, many of whom are violent men who have heard lots of preaching from parents, judges and evangelists without seeing the reality of God’s saving, healing presence. Hearing the words without experiencing the power of God can anesthetize us to Good News that should turn our hearts towards God’s heart of love. Paul himself consciously avoided putting confidence in his ability to articulate the gospel. He writes to the Corinthians:

When I came to you, bretheren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God (1 Cor 2:1-5).

I remember well that Sunday in April when Philip was healed. I had invited a group of 15 or so men to put out their hands like I often do so we can invite God to put the anointing of the Holy Spirit for healing onto them so they can pray for themselves or others. “You guys are all made in God’s image,” I said and often keep saying.

“Your fingers weren’t made for gun triggers. Guns were made for your hands. Your hands weren’t made to slap around your girlfriend, to cling to a crack pipe or fight your enemies. Your hands were made so you can bless people. God made you to carry the Holy Presence. Maybe you don’t have enough trust to give your hearts, minds and the rest of your bodies to God. But I challenge you to present your hands to God right now as a kind of experiment or small step of faith,” I say.

Nearly all the participants that Sunday had put out their hands and I prayed. I then invited them to put their hands where they had pain and we prayed for God’s healing Presence to flow through their hands into their backs, necks, heads, hearts—wherever it is needed. That Sunday ten or so men claimed to experience immediate relief. Some were laughing, others crying or looking seriously perplexed. Philip had dropped his hands from his shoulder and lower back almost immediately, looking dejected. I asked him how he was feeling from across the circle of guys.

“The same,” he said, his head hung in shame. “Can I pray for you some more? I asked. “I guess, he said, trying to be polite.

I learned that his shoulders had been wrenched when the police had wrestled his arms behind his back and hand-cuffed him. His lower back had been damaged by the cuffs digging in behind his back.

“Do you need to forgive those officers for excessive use of force?” I asked, knowing that forgiveness and healing are intimately connected.

“No,” he said. “They were just doing their job. I’m a big dude.”

I prayed something like this. “Jesus, thank you that your love for Philip is constant. You’re call on his life is still there. Nothing has disqualified him. I ask that you would reverse the damages done by the police so he can fully know your love.” I then walked back to my place across from him in the circle and asked him how he was doing.

“I feel okay I guess, but as soon as I move my hands behind my back I’m sure I’ll feel that shoulder pain,” he said, and began to move his hands behind his back to the hand-cuffed position. He did this a few times, with increasing awe coming over his face until he said: “I’ll grant it to you. I’ll grant it to you. There’s no more pain.” He dropped down onto his plastic chair and began to sob.

So there he was over five months later, reminding me that I’d made him cry. There was no time to talk then as the Sunday group was big and we only had 20 minutes. After we finished looking at that Sunday’s scripture I suddenly got an impression that there was somebody there who needed healing from serious back pain. I immediately doubted this, a voice in my head mocking me that I’m always imagining these things. I went for it though, asking, and a Mexican man raised his hand, just as the door clicked open and the guard announced that the study was over. I quickly went over to the man, placed a hand on his back and commanded the pain to leave in Jesus’ name—accompanying him to the door, praying as we walked.

This past Thursday Philip showed up again to our Bible study. I ask him if he can share the story of healing back in April and he readily agrees. He tells a group of eight or nine guys about how he had grown up in the Catholic Church and had religion forced on him. “I didn’t believe at all until last April when I came to the jail. He told about how Jesus healed his shoulders and lower back. He then told about how he’d had a Mexican cellmate who didn’t believe in God at all and had never been to church, but had really serious back pain. “I told him about how God had healed me and convinced him to come. He received prayer, and before we were even back to our cell the guys back was completely healed,” he said in delight.

He then told how he’d been jumped by some gang guys and beaten up there in the jail pod just after this and they’d transferred him to another pod. He told how he had three big bumps on his head, and how he’d motioned to Chris and I through the glass and we’d indicated back to him with hand signs that we would pray for him.

“I woke up the next morning and the bumps on my head were all gone and I was completely better. Now I can say that I believe for the first time,” he said. “So what convinced you?” I ask. “Why do you now believe?” “This may sound kind of cheesy,” he said. “But it’s all these healings.” That night another Mexican man was there who said that his back was wrenched from the police throwing him to the ground and cuffing him. We pray for him and his pain goes away on the spot. Jesus keeps confirming the words of Scripture and the testimonies of new believers. The message is passed on as God’s power becomes visible here and now as the Kingdom of God comes close.

I appreciate your prayers. That God’s healings Presence would continue to touch people there in the jail, at our weekly English and Spanish services and wherever we go, confirming the words with the signs that follow.

Lately, I have been especially watchful for God’s presence with us as we await provision in times of scarcity at Tierra Nueva and New Earth Refuge. Someone recently asked if I ever wonder whether our financial hardships are signs that God is not blessing our ministries, or that we are somehow out of favor. When payroll is due and there is nothing in the bank, we do find ourselves examining everything, open to changing course if needed. During times of famine, it is tempting to imagine leaving for greener pastures or launching another tiring fund-raising campaign. But humble God is mentoring me. It seems Jesus longs to see us take the best theology he’s taught us further and deeper, learning to see him and receive from him in the “least of these” whom we can easily disregard.

In a recent Sunday dialogical Bible study at Tierra Nueva, I was struck as we looked at the journey of Ruth. In the story, Elimeleck, whose name means “my God is king,” together with his wife Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon (sickness) and Chilion (fragility) leave their hometown of Bethlehem (house of bread). They travel as immigrants, due to a famine (lack of bread). Did they feel somehow pushed to migrate to meet the pressing needs of their sons “sickness” and “fragility”? We are invited along on Naomi’s journey to discover how God is king in ways far different than Elimeleck, Naomi (or we) might normally think.

Elimeleck and Naomi migrate to Moab where their two sons marry Moabite women. There, Naomi’s husband and two sons die . . . and her image of God is about to die, too. The strategy of leaving for greener pastures apparently didn’t work. In fact, God did come through in the end, as the famine lifts in Bethlehem “when God visited his people in giving them food” and Naomi decides to return home . . . alone. She urges her two daughters-in-law (who are foreigners) to go back home and even return to their gods. Ruth refuses, clinging instead to Naomi and telling her: Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried (Ruth 1:16-17).

In the next scene, Naomi returns with Ruth to Bethlehem, where Naomi insists that the townspeople do not call her by her name, which means “My Gracious” but Mara, “Bitter”: For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me? (Ruth 1:20-21).

Naomi is angry at God, whom she envisions as harsh and punishing. Yet she appears blind to God’s presence with her through humble Ruth, her widowed daughter-in-law from Moab, whose name means “friend” or more precisely “comforter”—evoking the paraklete Holy Spirit, our defender, helper, comforter, guide. Ruth has just pledged total allegiance to Naomi, clinging to her. It is through Ruth that Naomi experiences redemption, as Boaz, a wealthy relative, embraces this nobody foreign widow, opening the storehouses to them both and fathering a child, Obed (Servant), who is a direct forefather of Jesus, Israel’s Messiah and our Savior (Matt 1:5).

Ruth’s clinging reminds me of the description of Genesis 2:24—a man clinging to his wife and the two becoming one flesh. Paul reads this as metaphorical of Jesus, the bridegroom’s union with the church (Eph 5:29-32). Is Jesus with us like Ruth was with Naomi—a clinging, close presence that we could easily disregard? Who has been clinging close to me whom I haven’t recognized? Who has been clinging to you?

This June, enough donations came in to Tierra Nueva to cover all expenses except my paycheck and Gracie’s. It was July 19 and our mortgage payment was due to be electronically transferred. Our account was nearly empty, short $1,000 to cover the mortgage payment. I came out of the jail at 9:30 pm, tired after four bilingual Bible studies. In the jail parking lot, a Mexican man to whom I have ministered for a number of years was waiting for me in his car. I assumed he wanted to talk with me about an upcoming day in court. Instead, he directed me to get in the back seat, and then sat beside me, pulling out his checkbook. “I want to give you this, Roberto,” he said, handing me a check for $1,000.00. I was shocked, and have since been meditating on God’s Ruth-like, clinging presence with me through unexpected mediators.

Since I first met him in a jail Bible study over five years ago, this man has at times clung to me for advocacy and friendship, as he has gone through many struggles. I have watched him take on “my God”, like Ruth took on Naomi’s, leaving behind his avowed atheist mindset. He has become an increasingly fervent believer, as God has rescued him time and time again from losing his legal permanent residency status and being deported far away from his young daughter. My faith has become much stronger as I have watched God rescue him over and over. He has ministered to me in many beautiful ways, even as he has needed my support. Yet I have often failed to recognize Jesus’ close presence mediated through him and others.

Now he has brought our family through the hardest financial month to date. Should I be surprised? No! This is God’s way of being Emmanuel (God with us), choosing to encounter us through the hungry and thirsty ones, the stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned one (Matt 25:35-36). God has chosen foolish things to shame the wise and the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27ff). And the strong ones like Naomi and Boaz certainly have their place too. In fact God has been blessing us more and more through stronger ones too.

• Over $35,000 has recently come in gifts from a number of supporters for New Earth Refuge, which us being completed at a rapid rate.
• Tierra Nueva made it’s August payroll on time.
• Cascade Lumber gave us a generous reduction on lumber costs.

Please keep us in your prayers: for God’s Presence to increase, bringing healing, liberation and provision.

I challenge you to ask God to open your eyes to God’s humble yet saving Presence that is with you now, and to read through the book of Ruth.

Abundant blessings in Christ,

Bob Ekblad