The Bended Knee

“The Bended Knee”

Having recently come back from the New Wine Christian conference in SW England, armed with Pete Greig’s latest book “Dirty Glory”, I have amazed myself by actually managing to sit down and read it! Wow – what a challenging and anointed book! I actually felt quite emotional reading it, especially where Pete describes story after story of how consistent prayer has miraculously changed sometimes heart-breaking situations.

We had the amazing privilege of also hearing Pete (founder of the 24/7 global prayer movement) speak at the New Wine conference and his most memorable phrase for me was this “The hinge of human history is the bended knee”. Wow again! He reported how every major move of God across the world has started with a prayer movement first– whether it be the faithful prayer of 2 old sisters in the Outer Hebrides in 1949 or the East African revival of the 1930s. Prayer changes things and God longs for us to partner with him to change His broken world. He could do it alone, but He usually chooses to work through us, His people, His Church, however flawed we are.

Pete called this latest book “Dirty Glory” as it is also about how we need to roll up our sleeves and get stuck into the mess of life in order to bring God’s glory to the world around us. He describes powerful ministries e.g. in Ibiza where a young couple have built trust within the drug and nightclub culture through their sacrificial service with things like the nightly “Vomit van” (rescuing revellers who have had too much to drink etc); or a young single lady who set up a risky ministry of kindness among pimps and prostitutes in a dangerous, so called “God forsaken” town near the Mexican border, proving that it is not actually forsaken by God at all, but dearly beloved by the Father of lights.

What has all this to do with us at Kids Alive International International? Well, prayer and getting our hands dirty for God are two of our key callings here at HFKI. We realise the vital importance of not only interceding to God on behalf of the desperate children we serve but also hearing from Him and receiving his wisdom and guidance for our priorities and projects. We are also committed to “getting stuck in” and supporting the hands-on work in the countries we serve e.g. setting up a special home in Guatemala for young girls who have been abused and become pregnant as a result, and also working to bring the abusers to justice (rarely seen in that country until recently); helping to not only feed our orphaned boys in Wau, South Sudan through a very violent period, with fighting all around the site, but for them even be able to share some of the food with their starving community too.

We could always do more. There is always more need, more mess, more “dirt” that needs God’s glory to shine through. God did not create the world then sit back and put his feet up. In Jesus, He came down into our mess, made his home here and, as Pete Greig says, God still has “dirt in his finger nails” and so, my friends, should we.

                                                                                         Becky Keen 19.9.17