Pastor Francisco and his wife Celani
Just had a wonderful time of ministry and fellowship with some beautiful brothers and sisters in Costa Rica. I connected with Pastor Francisco and his son Andrés about 4 years ago at a conference and have stayed in touch. We have been talking about organizing a visit for over a year and finally worked things out. It was a pleasure teaching and preaching at their church: Trinity Methodist Church (La Trinidad Iglesia Metodista) in Quesada, which is in the county of San Carlos, north of San Jose.
With my friend and translator Andrés
Friday evening, I spoke to their men’s ministry group about knowing God as your Father—something many men struggle with. In fact, we are experiencing a tremendous void in the world today because fathers are absent or unable to provide the formational love and guidance children need from a father. As men, we need to experience the goodness of our heavenly Father first in order to become the men we are created to be and learn how to be good fathers to our children. When we learn how to father well, we can even extend that blessing to others who never had a true father. Many men came forward afterward to receive prayer for a Father’s blessing
Saturday morning, I presented our Knowing God’s Voice training to a group of leaders from the church, who were eager to learn and open to new ways of relating to and recognizing God’s voice. As always, the activations were very fun and encouraging, as people took steps of faith to hear God for themselves and others.
At their weekly Saturday evening and Sunday morning services, I shared a word from Isaiah 55 about the incredible generosity of God—a fundamental part of God’s nature that has been relentlessly attacked and grossly underestimated since the Fall. It was very well received and resulted in many people receiving one of God’s greatest and most generous gifts of all: the Holy Spirit. Many people were filled and blessed by the Holy Spirit at the conclusion of the service.
Saturday evening, a young man was simply walking down the street, passing by the service, and felt compelled to stop and come in. He had not been in church for a long time. At the service, while I was praying for people, Andrés called me over to pray for this young man, Gosue. He was sitting in a chair with his head down. I began to pray with the little Spanish I knew and confidence that the Holy Spirit was going to touch his heart. He began weeping as I prayed. I stayed praying for a while and then Andrés sat down to continue ministering to him. Long story short, he was very moved by what he heard and experienced in the service, and Andrés led him to give his life to Christ. That’s just one of many stories of God lifting people’s heads and filling their hearts. What a privilege to be a part of Jesus’ work on this earth!
