"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you"
(1 Peter 5:6) Humility, in this day and age, is frowned upon, a trifle state of being in which you prove yourself to be weak and spineless. And yet, as so often the case, humility is highly favored in the Scriptures. It is an attribute which the Lord Himself exemplified and exercised in His 33 years of ministry on earth. It is an attribute, as you read throughout the Old Testament, that is seen through the abundant mercy and grace that God pours out upon His people. As we find ourselves at the end of the summer months, as our year is already half removed, let us reflect on all that the Lord has done thus far. Let us make a plea, in one accord, to our Great and Terrible God (Nehemiah 9:32), begging Him for the very attribute that marked His life on earth and His very existence in Heaven. Humility, lowliness of mind and absence of self, an inward lowliness that results in an outward ability to serve others far beyond our own capacities. Father, we beseech Thee by your mercy and grace, to strip us of ourselves. To remove from us the very burden of self and to build us up to be lowly and forgetful of our own flesh. We pray thee O Lord, help us to see ourselves as nothing and You as everything. Help us Lord to think of others above ourselves and to take on the very mind of Christ (Philippians 2). We acknowledge Lord, that we will one day stand before you and give an account of that which we lived out on this earth in light of your Scripture. I beg Thee O Lord, that I would stand before Thee weak and lowly, humble and of a contrite Spirit. So let it be written Lord, so let it be done. In Jesus name, Amen. “Look among the nations and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” Habakkuk 1:5 Hello My Fellow Believers, Thank you for all of your prayers and additional support for the work in the Philippines. The trip was amazing and mind blowing. Habakkuk 1:5 so describes all that the Lord did last month. As mentioned in my last letter; I stepped from one mission field to another. The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Before we hopped on our 15 hour flight, another sister and I led 2 people to the Lord Jesus at LAX. What a way to start the trip…..AMAZING! I was so excited to go to another country and do a work for God but I was extremely tired. When we landed and stepped on the ground, off we went with no down time. I thought that I was prepared for the heat, but I was so wrong. I felt like I was running on empty and that was where God showed up and did a work in my fatigue and weakness. He filled and empowered me to do His will. Jesus said my grace is sufficient, for power is perfected in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). We did four nights of crusades. During the day we would walk around and pass out flyers and at night have a crusade. The gospel message was preached and we saw many saved before our very eyes. One night I was the preacher and it was raining really hard. The night before we had to cancel so I thought for sure we were going to have to cancel again, but the Lord had another plan. The band continued to play while it was raining cats and dogs. They looked at me and said “Go!” I stood on the stage and as God led, I spoke to a very dark village even thought there was no one in attendance because of the rain. When the altar call was given, little did I know that a man had driven his motorcycle to hear the Gospel message in the rain. He came driving up and received the Lord. God was on the move that night as an entire household received the Lord as well. On another occasion the team leader and I led two 17 year old homosexual boys to the Lord. I was able to share a friend’s testimony with them of how she encountered the Lord and turned from the lifestyle. Homosexuality is huge among the male population. We were blessed to be able to enter into four county jails to minister to those that are incarcerated and preach the message of the cross. What an amazing experience to minister to the inmates in the Philippines. We brought an encouraging word from an inmate here at CRDF that we were able to share with the inmates in the Philippines. It read “let the HOLY SPIRIT do the work and trust in Him” I cant remember it word for word but the inmates were touched and encouraged. The inmate from CRDF that wrote the note was crying when I showed her pictures of the trip and she stated “I want to go some day!” Sadly she is looking at a lot of time; I responded to her you did go with us your note was shared. She cried with tears of joy. The team of women that I went with was such a blessing and friendships were built in His Name. We were stretched and challenged to move forward to do the work set before us. On another night we had eighty women attend a celebration called “One Night with the King”. I got the idea from my church, Calvary Chapel Downey. It was unbelievable! Out of the eighty women who attended, thirty received Jesus. I can go on and on as this mission trip was truly remarkable. I returned on a Thursday night and had a ministry event planned for all day Saturday at the jail, the Duke of Earl, Part 2. We showed a movie and gave the gospel and had some special music. It was an amazing way to celebrate my life for Him as it was also my birthday. The following week I flew to Philadelphia for three days to speak at the Gideon’s International Convention. God is stretching me in so many ways . To say that I was nervous speaking in front of 1,300 women, Uh..Yes! I was asked to speak because Debbie, who is our contact, was the organizer of the auxiliary part. They are such a blessing as they supply CRDF with hundreds of Bibles. I learned so much about their ministry that I did not know. Another exciting element of the trip was being able to share about encountering the Gideon’s in the Philippines as we were doing our jail ministries. They were there passing out the same little Bibles…different color, different languageJ Came home late Sat, the 26th and was at the jail first thing Sunday morning. Again I thank all those that stepped in to help at CRDF during my absences. After so much speaking God said silence then I lost my voice, pray it returns soon. How beautiful upon the mountains. Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Hello Dear Fellow Believers, I want lovely feet. The scriptures state that we have them when we preach the Gospel. So let us speak and share to all those who have ears to hear. By the time you get this letter the date of my anniversary at CRDF will have passed. Today, June 5th, marks 8 years that I have been Senior Chaplain. It feels like it was only yesterday. I want to cry when I think of how much I have grown and seen God work in so many ways. Thank you to those that read my letters and pray faithfully and that have financially supported me month after month. You are part of a GREAT WORK. I could not have lasted this long without you. Let us continue for another 8 and many more until He comes. Last month was unbelievable and I must confess that I am tired. On top of the full schedule of regular ministry we did three special outreaches. We had a special Friday night service at which time 11 services were going on with 440 inmates in attendance. It was an awesome time as women came to Jesus and were encouraged. On Memorial Day we brought in and cooked about 700 hot dogs, chips, drinks and cookies. It was an outreach to the staff to thank them for their service. We prayed with some and passed out tracts and Bibles. After shift change we had a tremendous amount of food left and the Lord gave me an idea to go across the street to the Imperial Projects. So we packed up and went over there. It was an amazing experience as we began to pass out food. One of my friends, Carla, stood in the back of the truck shouting the Gospel. We started to street witness. Some began to pray with families and I was able to lead a young man named Roy to the Lord. It was incredible. To end the month we did a movie day and showed “Duke of Earl” by Victory Outreach. The Lord was on the move in the 4 housing areas that we were able to show it. The women were touched in ways that I will never know. We were ending one of the services and singing one last song “I am Set Free”, when a woman stood up and raised her hand with assurance and beat her chest. She was so genuine, it made me cry. I wouldn’t trade what God has called me to do for a million dollars. This work is priceless and eternal. I had the privilege of meeting up with Cheryl at Bel Air outreach Sunday. Cheryl has been in and out of jail for 15 years but was sharing with me how thankful she was for the chaplains and volunteers that helped her know who God is and how to have a relationship with Him. Cheryl we pray that you continue to grow in your relationship with The Lord and that you serve Him with everything you have. May day, May day, time is flyin. Day by day, month by month there is work to be done for the kingdom of God. We pray that the seeds that were planted throughout the jail on Easter with the message of the resurrection take root to a full harvest. Thank you once again for your faithful prayers and support. It is a partnership and I couldn’t do the work without you. I continue to see the hand of God move mightily in hearts and lives here at CRDF. As the women allow the Lord to captivate their hearts they can live in freedom…”for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” 2 Cor 3:17. As I counsel, many of the women are clueless as to the things of God. As we pray and open the truth of God’s Word, the Lord begins to open their eyes so that they can behold wondrous things from His Word. Psalm 119:30. I see their countenance begin to change as God begins to speak in different areas of their hearts. The harvest is truly ripe in this place. There are 2400 women and we have 130 volunteers... Truly the laborers are few but the Lord is faithful. It reminds me of Gideon’s valiant 300 men in Judges 7. As we step out day after day, it is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit.
On Wednesday we minister on the “medicated mental“ floors. There is so much going on so we just set up camp for Jesus and conduct Bible Study and follow up with 1 on 1 counseling. In their state of mental illness, I see God definitely at work. There was an inmate that had learned the memory verses that she needed for a Study Bible. As she quoted them it was so beautiful. I asked her what John 1:1-5 meant. She said, with face glowing, that it is about JESUS. I asked her what else and she said that “He is God”. The eyes of her heart were truly opened and I was able to testify. I have had inmates call our office to express thanks and to let us know that they are remaining in the faith. That is always a blessing to my heart. Pray that they continue to grow. Chaplain Evans "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." |
Verse"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32) Archives
December 2019
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