Nahum's Village

May the Holy Spirit speak a better word to you as you read this and allow you to see a glimpse of the beauty of Nahum's Village.   

Nahum’s Village…a place where the people lack many physical comforts and pleasures yet I would be willing to wager a life time supply of your favorite Starbucks coffee that their true inner peace surpasses most of the i-pad-carrying, fancy-car-driving, elaborate-party-goers around the world. 

While there, I would wake up in Pastor Nahum’s home under an unattached tin roof.  Curtains are used as doors.  Lizards crawl in and out along the walls at their own free will.  You can hear the clanging sound of dishes as the orphans help wash under the nearby tent which they call their kitchen. Various Haitian children and adults break out in acapella with stunning sounds of Creole praise songs.  Children are always playing.  Roosters are always crowing.  Dogs are always barking.    

There is really never a completely quiet moment yet the sounds and sights at Nahum's Village somehow produce a tranquil sensation.   

It’s better than quiet.  

It’s peaceful.  

It’s simple.   

This simple, uncomplicated, slow paced, Spirit-led lifestyle that the people in Nahum’s Village daily live by creates the perfect environment to respond to Him with praise.  The simplicity in their lives positions them for a greater Jesus awareness…a deeper thankfulness in their hearts, more passionate praises on their lips, and extra determination to fix their eyes on Jesus.  When they pray, “give us our bread our daily bread,” they don’t just mindlessly repeat words in a religious fashion.  They are literally praying for their daily bread. 

Now, straight up I’ll tell you…I can’t braid their hair right.  I can’t cook their food right.  I can’t speak their language right.  Clearly I’m not Haitian.  I have enormous-super-sized weaknesses when it comes to effectively functioning in their culture.  So, how is it that I feel like I fit in so well?  It’s because these people not only tolerate me, but sincerely and joyfully accept me with all of my pitiful Haitian skills.  It’s their gift to me.  It’s their love for me.  I’ll always know in my heart that I could never bless them the way they bless me. 

I want to share an experience I had during my recent visit that has impacted my life forever.  I was blessed to share in several worship services with the people at Nahum's Village over the two weeks I was there.  

The people always show their humbled hearts of worship to God by going to their knees in prayer together on the newly cemented church floor (praise God for no more muddy floors…God recently provided the funds for Pastor Nahum to turn his dirt floor of his church into a concrete floor which allows the people to freely worship on their knees in prayer even when it rains.).  I don’t’ know if you have heard me describe the passion in the prayers of the Haitian people before, but it will never grow old to me.  As far as experiencing the presence of God, this trumps any other worship time I have ever participated in.  Nothing compares to it.  As the prayers of thanksgiving, praise, adoration, and cries for help are elevated to the Father, it's like an amplified echo...a magnificent sacrifice rising to be laid at the feet of Jesus. 

The people begin their prayers with such a passion I always think they have maxed out their desires from the start but the hunger continues to build.  Their prayers and cries grow stronger.  They pray and they don’t stop.  It's in this moment when the presence of the Holy Spirit comes rushing down like a covering to engage in intimacy with each heart calling on the Name of Jesus.   It's in this moment when I, myself, was immersed with this covering of His presence to the point of forgetting any preconceived agenda I might have had...I even lost memory of the prayer request I had on the tip of my tongue.  As I listened to the sounds of my Haitian brothers and sisters call on God, the Spirit placed a new prayer in my heart…a new overwhelming desire was birthed.  I couldn’t make out what anyone was praying in Creole but in the midst of extreme poverty and oppression, the pain in their voices was evident and gave me supernatural understanding. The Spirit brought me to tears and I found myself desperate on behalf of the Haitian people surrounding me…on my knees, desperately raising a voice of prayer in English among all of the Creole prayers.   

“Please Jesus.  Hear the cries of my sisters and brothers.  Answer their prayers.  Come quickly to their rescue.  Work out righteousness and justice for the oppressed as only You can.  May they know Your great and unfailing love for them.  Display Your power among these people.” 

I find it inconceivable to walk away from the least of these back to all of my riches with closed fists..tightly clinging to all of the comforts and pleasures God has blessed me with...my soul feels sick...it becomes disturbing to praise God for all He has lavished on me if I am not going to faithfully give back to the poor and needy.  After hearing the cries of the orphans with my own ears and seeing the extreme struggles of the least of these with my own eyes, I have to respond. Our wealth is one way God wants to answer the cries of the least of these.   

My heart says to the Lord, take all of my riches for Your glory.  I want to lower myself to feel their hardships…to take them on as my own.  I’m asking to share in their burdens not because I desire pain, but because in some divine way Jesus tells me this is what it means to seek first the kingdom of God.  Each time I get a taste of their difficulties, Jesus removes more blinders from the eyes of my heart and a door opens for the written and spoken Gospel to become an active and living Gospel in my life.  Jesus gives me more compassion and love for them.  Somehow as I lower myself to take on their burdens, I receive more glimpses of the face of God…the very face my entire heart, mind, and soul longs to see every single day. 

Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.  Our prayers and donations are impacting these orphans....food, a water well, shelter, and transportation are needs we continue to lay at the feet of Jesus on behalf of these precious children.  Thank you for your love to them!!   

Our  Lord is worthy of all praise.  He is moving in mighty ways at Nahum's Village.  May we all be found serving Him when He returns.  If you want to invest in something of kingdom value...something redemptive...something that allows you to live out the Gospel...then Nahum's Village is the place to give. 

 

Thank you for responding!  Thank you for your love to them!!  May God bless you all!!