Images from Syria and thanks...

Oct 22, 2008

View video

Yes, thanks from the bottom of my heart! It is your kind and permanent support what has allowed me to visit Syria... It is the grace of God with us what has made of this trip a powerful experience. Praise God for His faithfulness!

There are two things that I want to share with you in this note: first is what I have brought with me from Syria... It is a new understanding that is present in my heart and will shape me and mold my character in the future. It can be captured in one word: “genuine.” As I walked, served, laughed, sobbed... and loved in Damascus, I was able to see genuine service, genuine love, genuine ministry... genuine beauty was revealed to me for first time, genuine purpose was affirmed as genuine significance of life was poured in me once again. How amazing is to discover this fact among suffering. As usual, the Word of God is certain when - in the first letter of the Apostle Peter - it refers to griefs and trials... These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise... Only through the light of these words we can find purpose in the brokenness of war and pain. Only there genuine faith and hope arise.

The second thing I want to share with you is a word of encouragement that was received and given to the Church of Syria, and now is given to you: And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Cor 9:8) In my native Spanish, the beginning translates ‘And God is powerful to...’ Yes, I want to remind you with love and respect that God is indeed powerful to fulfill this promise in your life and mine, and not this promise alone, but all promises of God that are ‘yes’ in Christ.

As you remember us please pray. Pray for the church and ministry in Syria, pray for protection, pray for provision, and specially pray for love; the love that heals as it serves, the love that softens hearts making of them good soil for good seeds.

Thanks again for your love and partnership.

In Christ,

marcos
marcosleonbaez@yahoo.com | 713-8225003
missionhouston.org
marcosleonbaez.blogspot.com
web.me.com/marcosleonbaez/marcos/Blog/Blog.html

The last meeting...

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Time has passed so fast. Praise God for His goodness and faithfulness during our steps in Damascus!

I’m writing from Paris airport in my way back home (… home is a strange word right now because it’s not related with a physical place but a spiritual one, and I don’t feel very far form it.)

As I write I realize I have many new things in my heart now; a renewed love for people and God’s purpose, a new love for the Middle East, a new perspective about peace and war, a new family in Christ, new matters of prayer, new faces in my heart, new challenges and decisions to make, new hope and expectation to see God’s hand moving and inviting us to join His work… I don’t know where to start… I guess I need to ponder these things in my heart waiting for God to show the way.

This last report it’s about the last service I participated yesterday. It was the youth service so many of my young new friends and ‘students’ were present. The Pastor gave me the honor to share the word in this occasion… an honor that usually has come to me last minute in Syria. God is faithful always, especially last minute : )

As Betsy opened and prepared the hearts with powerful praise and worship, I tried to keep faithful to the word given to me - reconciliation -, and Pastor R. nailed all down making a call to young men and women from Syria and Iraq to forgive and bless each other; God moved powerfully. I did not need much translation to understand the powerful prayers that started flooding the upper room where we were, where we experienced God’s presence. I saw tears and passion as young men crossed the room to embrace and pray for other young men like them… pain, fear and pride started falling down, generations of resentment between cultures, years of judgment between nations that today are tied together in the strangest of the relationships… the one that force natives to live with refugees. In most of cases none of them chose to be in this position – especially being the young generation, the kids of the war – but both of them live its brutal consequences.

Many pages could be written attempting to address the issues these kids and their families live and my guess is that most of those pages would be useful just to satisfy information needs; after all, who can enter reach the depths of the human heart but the Spirit of God Himself. As the prayers and tears continued, as the words of forgiveness and blessing reach the heavens; my heart could also say ‘It’s here Lord, it’s here and now where we can ask for peace… peace in the Middle East’ May the Prince of Peace grant His peace as He is welcomed in all those young hearts; as He transform them in a generation of light for the nations, a generation of ministers of reconciliation.

The recurring story of this trip has been the story of Jesus multiplying bread and fish for more than 5,000 people… out of almost nothing, not even enough for the small group of disciples and their Master. I vividly remember Pastor R. words challenging the team to exercise the faith of the Spirit, not the faith of Philip or the faith of Andrew (see John 6), but the faith of the Spirit, where we give away all the little we have, Jesus takes it, breaks it, gives thanks for it, and makes a miracle with it. The little was enough, not just to satisfy the needs of many, but also – as Pastor R. stated – to gather a full basket and take it home… my heart is that basket as I leave Syria... praise the Lord for His goodness!

Thanks for your prayers and the ways you have contributed to this trip. Please, keep praying for me and for the rest of the team. Pray that we may be found faithful in giving away again what we have been given in Syria, this time to the ones that are closer to us. We all desperately need of that multiplied bread, the Bread of Life.

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Cor 9:8)

The life God has put in you...

Consider the life God has put in you and me. What is that life about?

Monday, October 6, 2008

I remember the time before that life, I remember my old life was about me, my desires, my pride, my fear, my time, my way, and my benefit over everybody else. Even in dear and intimate things as marriage and fatherhood, my own old life was only about me. One day, in the time determined by God I met the cross, and the blood of Jesus exchanged my old life for a new one… that is the life God put in me, not just the natural, but also the supernatural, the spiritual, the eternal life.

That life is about repentance, faith and reconciliation. It is about forgiveness and righteousness, it is about peace and clarity, it is about hope and love… it is as simple and sincere as it is powerful. In the new life I can understand purity, holiness and joy; statements like “Praise the Lord for His goodness”, or “My heart rejoices in God, just in Him I find delight” make profound sense in my new life. All of this is good, but is not all.

In the new life there is also purpose and meaning for existence. There is a call, a mission to fulfill, a quest to be obedient to this mission. Fulfilling this mission in the new life is not just a duty; it is pleasure and satisfaction… consider if the birds fly the skies out of duty, of if the sun shines out of duty… does the flowers blossom out of duty alone… or is if life itself that is revealed?

Consider the life God has put in you, and be obedient to it, live it out, consecrate to it… separate yourself to this life alone. As Jesus says… God will take care of the rest “… seek first His Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”

The real deal...

Sunday, October 5, 2008

This morning, by the time I woke up, I had a clear idea in my heart; like if something in me was saying: “marcos, wherever you see obedient submission to God and sincere humbleness, you will also see the power of God.”

This is an amazingly simple and powerful spiritual principle. And it is a very real principle also.

These last couple days I had the privilege to enjoy lunch with Pastor S. and his family and to travel to another city about one hour away from Damascus to attend a prayer service on Sat night and the main service on Sun morning. Pastor S. has enough English to maintain a conversation, but has so far more wisdom to make it really interesting.

Sharing simple things as a meal or a cup of tea, led into sharing deeper about of God’s story in our lives, and I learn how much God has used – and is using – this obedient and humble man to shape the reflection of His Kingdom in this world and this nation.

It’s amazing to see authority when God has given it. This authority is not a matter of loud voice or charisma; it does not come from deep and complicated thoughts of human wisdom; it does not boast, fear rejection or serves human taste… it’s simple, sincere, powerful in God, who backs up; who shows up like saying… this is mine.

That is my perception not only of Pastor S. but also of the whole Church and school… this is the real deal.

As the day passed by, the Word of God spoke more clearly: ‘Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace’ Psalm 37:37

The son who carries honor and dignity...

Friday, October 3, 2008

Part of our task in this trip, probably the hardest and at the same time most effective, has been the visits we made to Iraqi refugee families. Every visit represented a story, a story of suffering and tribulation.

This is the story of a family that we were not even supposed to visit, but for some estrange reason we met. They were not even related to the Church in Damascus we are serving with, so it was a first time not just for us but also for our guides and translators.

A son, the last son of the family had been kidnapped one month ago. He is only 7 years old.

As I listened the words and the heart of a desperate father, silently asked in my own heart ‘what can we say? How can we minister to this family? … There are no words…’

Suddenly the man said:

-The male child is the one who carries all the honor and dignity of the family… and this one who is lost, is a very special one since we cared a lot for him.

After a moment of silence the words came out of my heart…

-We are going to pray to God asking your son back… but first, let me tell you a story about another Son who was lost, a Son who carried all the honor and dignity of His Father, a Son who was given and died, but came back to the Father bringing glory and reconciliation to the world.

A seed was planted, not only the seed of salvation, which is the most important; but also the seed of a Father who gave His only begotten Son, and is able to understand the pain of any father who fears and worries for his children.

Love was released when Jackie and Stephanie prayed. We left with tears in our eyes and in our hearts. All of us; foreigners, natives, believers and non-believers. We became familiar in the midst of pain. In hope we are still familiar in the midst of prayer... so the grace of God will shine for His glory.

A higher call...

Sunday, September 30, 2008

Called to an overmastering relationship. Called to a relationship that will manage all decisions in my life; that will lead my life through uncertain paths, but to a certain destiny. God has strange ways to speak to us, always timely, always when we need Him it the most.

Yesterday night I struggled with God asking Him for direction, for a word to my life. He is Faithful and His promise real… call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know. The place and moment could not be better, since I am on a mission trip, half of the world away in Damascus, one of the oldest cities in the world where pages of the Bible were written and where one of the most amazing stories of transformation took place. It was at the ‘road to Damascus’ where Saul of Tarsus had an encounter an a vision that transformed his life and made of him a powerful instrument that transform the world.

What I received was not just a random message, but the confirmation and affirmation of God’s voice, spoken to me during the last 2 years: “Now get up and stand of your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a minister and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them form darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so they may receive forgiveness of sins and place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

I don’t consider that I deserve this, I don’t think I’m worth of it, I know I’m not capable to do this… but this is not about me, it’s about the Master’s will, it’s about the Master’s plan, the Master’s desire. I know there is only one think I have to pursue every day or my life… one focus, one purpose, one goal: obedience to my Master. I was not called to a cause, a doctrine, or a church. I was called to a person, called to follow and obey Him. If He has placed a vision… I must follow. Help me Lord to be obedient to the vision.

Clarity in Prayer...

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

How do I have to pray for this land and its people? During the first 2 days I have been blank, distracted and unable to see the spiritual realm of this city and this nation. I have been praying what is basic, somehow lost, aiming blindly to every direction. We had a time of prayer over the mountain where we were able to see the entire city… but I still could not see the Spiritual. I know for sure that the Spirit guides our prayers but I was longing for a better conscious understanding of how to pray.

It did not happen on the mountaintop, it did not happen at the church gathering; it happen in the simplicity of a tiny hotel room at 5:30 am while my partner was still sleeping. I woke up ‘called’ to pray after the city prayers where over (we are here during Ramadan, a month of fasting where prayers start a around 2 or 3am around the city… and you hear them!)

Seated and kneeled by my bed I receive clarity to pray for this land as I was reminded of the story of Ishmael in the book of Genesis. Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Agar, young slave of Abraham’s wife, Sara. Ishmael was conceived in an attempt to help God fulfill His promise, but he was not the son of the promise and due to bitterness and resentment between his mother Agar and Sara, he was send away by his father Abraham in obedience to God. Blessed and cursed at the same time Ishmael would become the father of many nations, including the one I’m right now.

A son that was loved and also abandoned by his father is a very sad picture. Ishmael was the son that grew up strong but fatherless, in the middle of the resentment of a young mother whose life was also marked. Did he resent his father in a strange mix of love and hate? Did he perform trying to gain his father’s love? Did his heart become hard? Did this experience block his eyes of understanding for God?

As I see Ishmael children in this city and learn how much they are committed to deeds to gain favor with God, as I see their faithfulness in those deeds (faithfulness also reflected in his desire to honor and submit to their authorities)… I see the heart of a child longing for his father love. As I see in this land how big is the concept of “what is fair” and how small is the concept of forgiveness and grace, I see the heart of a child whose place was taken away without any explanation. Sins of our parents bring consequences to our lives… we live the blessings or the curse of our previous generations and somehow we repeat the very same sins we saw in our parents, sins we hate and try to avoid. All of this is the very nature and consequence of sin.

There is just one way out. This way is just found in the person of the One who came to reconcile the world with God, He did it by sacrifice, forgiveness and grace. As I call to the name of Christ who is eternal, loving and powerful to bring reconciliation in the heart of a child named Ishmael and his children… I see also how His very identity has been rejected as the Son of the promise of God and replaced with another son, another person, another prophet; human effort to reach what God promised and only God can deliver. It sounds a lot like the sin of Ishmael parents.

One flower for one soul...

By Stephanie Walker

Sunday, September 28, 2008

One flower for one soul, the perfect end to the perfect evening. Praise the Lord the war has already been won! We arrived on the mountaintop at the exact time that the evening call to prayer began to sound across the city. We were there proclaiming the word of the Lord high and above the voices that rang out below. The wind blew our praises to God all over the night sky into the city. It was such a powerful moment. We gathered in a circle at the very edge of the mountainside and began to randomly lift up our prayers to the heavens. We prayed for Satan to be bound, fear to be removed, for God to move in the hearts of the people below, for the government, for the loved ones of those killed or injured in the car bomb that had exploded earlier that morning, for the Syrian churches, for the Iraqi refugees, for Pastor S, for our loved ones, for those who were on the mountain with us. As we prayed the wind blew and Satan continued to try and distract us with the sound of firecrackers in the background, but as our leader, Mark, said, our battle has already been won, Satan’s attempts are in vain. We were there to fight and we fought hard. The group stood strong, holding hands huddled as tight as possible standing as one in spirit. We prayed for an hour, we felt the Spirit telling us to stop.

After some singing and a few pictures, we all bought cocoa from the very man setting off the firecrackers the whole time we were praying. As we were waiting for our drinks a young man selling carnations approached us, but we all tried to ignore or avoid him. Though we had just prayed that God would stir in the hearts of those on the mountaintop and that He would open doors for His name to be made known and that we would show up and be obedient none of us noticed the open door right in front of us. The man was persistent and would not leave even though we all told him, “la, shokran”, or no thank you; he just stood there waiting for one of us to help him out. Silva finally gave in and bought one carnation just as we were making our way back to the bus. She asked for a white one, and the young man asked, “why?” She told him it was because white symbolized purity. “How?” the man replied.

“The blood of Jesus has washed our sins away, making us as white as snow,” was Silva’s reply.

The conversation continued on back and forth in this manner in Arabic, while Marcos, Jackie, Mark, and I were standing behind Silva, praying for both of them; we didn’t need to understand Arabic to understand the conversation that was going on in front of us. He hesitated, saying, “but I am a Muslim” several times, and Silva told him that Jesus doesn’t want to change our religion; He wants to change our hearts. After a while he asked Silva how to become a Christian. Before we knew it, they prayed together and he accepted the Lord Jesus as his savior, right there on the mountainside. Later Silva gave me the flower because she said to me that it was my prayer that made it happened because she was just trying to get rid of him at first.
This day was the day that began with destruction and ended in salvation.

Who would have guessed that we could gain a soul for the price of a single white carnation?