Summer 2014
Nassau Street
Quarterly
Prayer. If we’re honest that word can evoke feelings of guilt, pleasure, urgency, and apathy — sometimes all
in the same day. We don’t aim to be inconsistent, but sometimes setting our eyes on the unseen is hard.
Fortunately, the One to whom our prayers are directed knows the dynamics of a human heart intimately. As
the God-man Jesus can sympathize with our weakness, and as God the Father He listens with the ears of an
adoring daddy.
Whether broken on our knees, captivated by His presence, or in simple conversation; whatever our state or
subject matter, we know that God hears every word. He’s the perfect father, delighted when His children speak
His name with honest hearts.
Jasmine Dyck
Nassau Street Quarterly
Praying Paupers
it comes to prayer, what
W hen
is the picture we have of
God? And we are not confining
ourselves here to children, because
we all have a mental image of
God, and in many lives this image
has not radically changed.
When my parents were on the
Field in Congo, I was brought up
in Scotland from the age of two by
an elderly Swiss grandfather and
grand-aunt, whose view of God
was very lofty, but overall rather
intimidating. So when, around the
age of 5 or 6, I first came to write
on little pages from a small notebook, I wrote what came to me
most naturally. “Do you believe in
the Lord God Olymoytay?” I believe some of these pictures linger,
in most of our imaginations,
though trimmed a little by the
process of growing up.
So even when 80 years are
added to the earliest shape of God,
something unquestionably lingers,
and the concept of a harsh taskmaster is still, in my experience,
hard to dispel,
especially when
adult doubts supervene to cloud
what is essentially fear. And a
smidgin of fear
is very necessary
N a s s a u S t re e t
Q u a r t e r ly
CONTENTS
Praying Paupers
Page 2
Intercede
Page 4
Freedom from Fear
Page 5
God Answers Prayer
Page 6
Faithful
Page 8
Q&A
Page 8
Prayer and Trust
Page 10
Why Pray?
Page 11
Editor: Jasmine Dyck
Cover Artwork: Annika Wiebe
Graphics used with permission: sxu.com
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if we are to address a holy and
overwhelming God.
A great Christian hymn by
F.W. Faber “My God how wonderful Thou art..” explores great
depths of the Diving nature when
it expresses this element: “O, how
I fear Thee, living God/ With
deepest, tenderest fears,/ And worship Thee with trembling hope/
And penitential tears.” Fears
“tender”?
Hope “penitential”?
So when it comes to prayer,
how do you and I handle it? First,
we must allow the Holy Spirit to
speak to us, and He does this
through the Scriptures. As J.I.
Packer puts it, “We should first
soak ourselves in the Bible, so that
our minds are awash with it – or,
as C.H. Spurgeon put it, till our
Bless the Lord
Nassau Street Quarterly
blood is “bibline.”
Paul E. Miller, in his book A
Praying Life; Connecting with
God in a Distracting World has
several illuminating things to say
about our interaction with God.
The difficulty of coming “just as
we are”, he says,
… is that we are messy. And
prayer makes it worse. When
we slow down to pray, we are
immediately confronted with
how unspiritual we are, with
how difficult it is to concentrate on God. We don't know
how bad we are until we try
to be good.... God also cheers
when we come to Him with
our wobbling, unsteady
prayers. Jesus does not say
‘Come to Me, all you who
have learned how to concentrate on prayer, whose minds
no longer wander, and I will
give you rest.’ No, Jesus
opens His arms to His needy
children, and says ‘Come to
Me all you who are weary
and heavy-laden, and I will
give you rest...Come overwhelmed with life. Come
with your wandering mind.
Come messy.’
A problem many of us are
aware of is that we tend to be preoccupied with the prayer itself
rather than with Jesus. “In prayer
the Father receives us as we are
because of Jesus and gives us His
gift of help.”
But what sort of prayer do we
offer? Most of us know the value
of “arrow” prayers, shot skyward
during the day. This is part of
praying “at all times.” But we also
need concentrated prayer, and this
can be done in any posture. But
there is something particular about
praying on our knees. Paul said
“For this I bow my knees to the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. If it feels strange at first,
perhaps that is a sign of some resistance by the enemy. Satan fears
bended knees.
Not that wandering in prayer is
immediately cured by this. The
great 18th century evangelist,
George Whitfield, was found fast
asleep on his knees by John
Wesley, who was sharing a room
with him. Sometimes all we find
ourselves capable of saying is
“Father” (“Abba” in Aramaic).
But prayer also invites praise
for who God is and for His gifts,
material and spiritual. On a less
pleasant note, He also desires honesty, and honesty invites penitence. And we recognize the need,
of course, for intercession. All,
biblically, in the name of Jesus.
You may at some time have
read the book The Prince and the
Pauper. Does that title itself not
suggest a relationship which is
uniquely ours as we paupers come
to such a Prince?
Len MacBeath
O my soul
Worship His holy name
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Nassau Street Quarterly
Intercede
few years of my life I
I nhavethe past
been learning a lot more
4
about prayer and what it means to
call upon the Lord on behalf of others. I find that in my prayer life, I
easily slip into the habit of just asking for things, seeking help in hard
times but not really listening afterwards to hear a response from God.
Meanwhile the Lord is sitting there,
patiently listening to each word we
say, and wanting to encourage us and
speak to us, even though we often
walk away from that silent moment
of prayer without truly listening. Living a life of prayer means not only to
seek God but to allow room for God
to respond.
This brought me to the Sermon on
the Mount when Jesus talks about
prayer and how prayer should look.
The first thing in the Lord’s Prayer is
addressing the Father as who He is. It
allows us to acknowledge His greatness and stand in awe of Him. It
brings us back to the fundamental
truths that God is good. In acknowledging this, we are able to seek His
kingdom and His will over our own.
But wait! The amazing thing is
that when we seek first His kingdom,
our wants, our desires, and our will
should reflect and be in line with His
will for us. When they are in line
with each other, we don’t have to be
afraid to approach God with our desires, needs, or requests. This is
where intercession can take place.
Intercession is the act of praying
on behalf of someone else. Lifting
them towards God and crying out for
them and seeking God’s will to be
upon their lives during their time of
need. This has been a blessing in my
life to know that I can cry out on behalf of those who might not know
God or believe in these truths. We
can be a voice to those who do not
know they are lacking one.
What a privilege that is! It is important to rely on God each day for
our daily needs and not live in fear of
what tomorrow might bring. This
will ultimately allow us to feel freedom in what God is offering us for
today. But often I get discouraged
because I don’t feel adequate or
qualified due to my daily mistakes,
sins, and failures.
This past while God has shown
me to take that discouragement and
turn it in to humility and to a realization that I am weak, which furthers
my need for a gracious God. It is
when I realize my need for God on a
daily basis that I can constantly seek
forgiveness for all my wrong doing
within my prayer life.
There is such power in acknowledging our wrong doing and releasing it to God. It not only humbles us
but it breaks the power that Satan has
over areas of our lives. Just as Jesus
said to the adulterous woman “you
are forgiven. Go and sin no more,”
He says the same for us. Yes, we are
bound to keep making mistakes but
with His help we can overcome
temptations, we can see new beginnings, and fight a battle knowing that
Jesus conquered all.
Seek His help to rescue you from
your sin and forgive those who sin
against you because we are all fighting a war. Prayer is powerful. I encourage you to live lives of prayer
with constant conversation and reliance on our Lord and Father.
Karleen Tarry
Nassau Street Quarterly
Freedom from Fear
time I travel to India the
Each
worship of idols strikes me. A
combination of not seeing anything
of the like in my years growing up
in rural Manitoba and reading
about its futility in Scripture make
observing these rituals something
of note.
Hinduism, like all the other
world religions, boils down to what
one does for their god. Naturally,
I’ve concluded that this outlook
manifests itself in a rather superstitious state of being. One wonders
if their bad fortune is because they
have offended the gods. Another
fears riding in a vehicle on a particular day because they noticed a
goat standing on top of a car when
they woke up in the morning. Still
another believes that the promotion
received at the company is a result
of their faithful offering to the
household idol.
What I observe in India is similar to the superstition that I witnessed among Muslims in West
Africa when I lived there 10 years
ago. Undesirable events are seen as
a result from wrongdoing committed and good fortune comes to you
because Allah has noticed your
good deeds.
Ultimately, these perspectives
result in a life mired by fear. Much
of the world is in bondage worrying about what will or will not
come to them because they have
somehow pleased or angered the
gods.
We tend to notice these beliefs
in those who are different from
ourselves. And yet I wonder
whether beliefs in our culture are
much different. Let me bring it a
bit closer to home. Take for example the little phrase 'knock on
wood'. I generally hear this idiom
several times per week here in
Winnipeg. What really do people
mean when they insert this little
comment into their daily speech? It
is as if by proclaiming something
positive they fear that they have
somehow jinxed their good fortune
and now things will be against
them; that is, unless they insert this
apotropaic saying.
Where does this thinking come
from? And do we sometimes find
ourselves being tempted to meander into superstition?
In John chapter 9 Jesus avoids
following the explanatory track the
disciples were inquiring about with
regard to the blind man. Just like
Job’s friends, the disciples thought
they understood why this hardship
had come upon this man and
wanted to be confirmed in their
assumptions. Jesus declares to the
disciples, rather, that the man was
born blind “so that the works of
God might be displayed in him”. I
think Jesus had at least two intentions for the disciples in this comment.
One, if you continue down this
trail, fear will overtake your hearts
and you will be consumed by what
may come of your actions. Two,
see each situation as an opportunity that God has ordained to manifest Himself and His glory.
Jesus has freed us to enjoy Him
and to be certain of each one of the
promises of God (2 Cor 1:20). As
we confidently and joyfully come
to Him in prayer, we are freed
from the bondage of fear and superstition. Rather than walking in
fear for what may come of our
every move, we can trust God to
make our every move count for His
glory.
Keith Peters
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Nassau Street Quarterly
God Answers Prayer
z
Lucy
at around
the snow
on the ground.
Lucylooked
looked
their
She
was
glad
that
Jesus
was
new home. It was won- now always
with
herhow
because,
for some
derful
God had
an- reason, her
mom
had
been
acting
a
swered their prayer forlittle
a strangely
recently
and God
Lucywas
was so
worried.
nice house.
good. Her mom was enjoying her new job too.
She glanced down to see
Buster rubbing against
her leg. Having a puppy
was another unexpected
good thing. Lucy
couldn’t help smiling!
z
As they were chatting, Brenda’s dad came up the walkway. “Hello ladies,” he greeted them. “Brenda, have you
seen your little brother, Jimmy? I’ve been looking for
him but I can’t seem to find him,” He sighed.
z
z
Brenda worried. “Sorry, Dad, I
haven’t seen him in a while. He
was playing in the
front yard with
a soccer ball
when I
walked here
from
Lucy’s.”
6
Later that evening, Brenda and Lucy were
sitting on the front porch talking about
summer plans. Brenda’s family was planning to go to the mountains. Her mom
was doing much better now so they
thought they would take a nice long trip
somewhere special. Lucy didn’t think
they would be going anywhere because
her mom was new at her job still but they
had planned some special weekend trips
to visit the Children’s Museum and a few
specialty ice-cream shops. It was going to
be a good summer!
“Sorry to bother you. I
was hoping you’d seen
him.” He began to walk
down the street calling
Jimmy’s name. Where
could Jimmy be?
Nassau Street Quarterly
“We should help your Dad look,”
Lucy suggested. “I think he’s getting worried. Jimmy is only 4
years old so he could have gotten
lost and it’s getting darker outside.
Let’s go.”
The girls walked the streets several times over but there was no
sign of Jimmy anywhere. None of the neighbours had seen him
either. Brenda’s family was very worried. That’s when they all
gathered together as a group of searchers, knelt down in the front
yard, and began to pray for Jimmy’s safe return. Then they split
up into 3 groups: 2 searching while the third group stayed to pray.
This went on for 3 hours- by then it was dark outside!
z
All of a sudden, Lucy remembered that
Jimmy liked the new treehouse at the park. It
was dark out, but it would be worth checking out. Brenda’s Dad walked the girls to the
park. All was quiet. Would Jimmy be in the
treehouse? It didn’t look like it, but Brenda
decided to climbed up to look around. There,
curled up in a ball sound asleep, was Jimmy.
She gently woke him up and helped him
down out of the tree. He had not been able to
climb down by himself, so he was stuck up
in the tree all afternoon.
“Brenda, how did you find me?” Jimmy wanted to
know as he hung onto her.
“Lucy and I have been praying all day. Lucy remembered that you liked the treehouse and wondered
if you had gone by yourself to see it. She was right
because that’s where we found you! Aren’t you glad
that God answers our
prayers?” Brenda laughed
as she hugged Jimmy. “But
next time, why don’t you
ask someone to come with
you before you leave the
yard, okay?”
z
Everyone agreed. Jimmy was lost but now he was
home safe and sound. God had answered their prayers
perfectly. What would they do without prayer?! Now,
it was definitely time to celebrate with ice-cream …
and so they did.
Written by Mrs. Darlene Wall
Illustrated by Jasmine Dyck
z
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge God and He will direct your path!” God knows what we need,
when we need it. Sometimes, He is just waiting for us to trust Him and ask!
When is the last time you asked? God answers prayer – believe it!
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Nassau Street Quarterly
Faithful
“Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer
and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your
requests be made known to
God; and the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus.”
Phil. 4:6-7
to repeat that verse
I t’sbut easy
to really put it into practise
is quite another thing. Even just
thinking about writing an article
on prayer makes me anxious so
right off the bat I have to practise
by committing it to the Lord and
be thankful that I have the privilege to share how God has been
faithful and given His peace whenever I or we needed Him the most.
Ed & I were married in May of
1958 and have sought to live a
practical Christian life. Those of
you that know us, know that we do
things together most of the time.
So what effects Ed, effects me. I
think that’s what it should be like
in a marriage. Over the years we
have seen the leading of the Lord
in many ways if only we were
willing to give in to His ways.
A promise we made to God
early in our marriage was to tithe.
In Malachi 3:10 we read “Bring all
the tithes into the storehouse, that
there may be food in My house,
8
and try Me now in this, if I will more of the dry cleaning outlets
not open for you the windows of appearing in the shopping centres
heaven and pour out for you such it would be just a matter of time
blessing that there will not be that his services at the job would
room enough to receive it.” The be no longer needed. The clerk
Lord has blessed us in so many handed Ed an application form to
ways as we tried to be faithful to fill out to see if they would except
Him.
him.
I would like to share just a part
We waited and prayed for a
of our journey. After being a couple of months with no reply. It
driver salesman for Crown Clean- was early summer by this time
ers for 17 years Ed realized that with no word. Finally Ed prayed –
his job would be obsolete in a few Lord, if it’s your will that I quit
years. By that time we had four this job may I have an answer in
children and I was a stay-at-home the mail by the end of this month.
Mom. That meant an income from
In two weeks time we received
one pay cheque which wasn’t very a letter in the mail that Ed had
big.
been accepted by Manpower for
It was time for a career change their upgrading program. Praise be
so after much praying and deliber- to God! We accepted that as an
ating Ed decided to move into the answer to prayer, and he gave noelectrical field of employment. tice for his job to be terminated
Needing to upgrade before being and stepped out in faith that everyable to enter this field he applied thing would fall into place.
to
Manpower who
And whatever you do, whether in word or
offered an
deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
upgrading
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
program for
Colossians 3:17
the unemployed. SeeIt was a real struggle of faith!
ing he was still working He was
Our income dropped to the amount
told this government sponsored
of unemployment and with six
program was only available for the
mouths to feed that just didn’t cut
unemployed.
it. So I got a part-time job for a
Not giving up he told the clerk
while. After completing the upthat the bread deliveries had algrading program it took another
ready stopped and the milk delivmonth before Ed was hired as an
eries were slowing down, and with
electrical apprentice, a four year
Nassau Street Quarterly
program. A year after receiving his
journeyman certificate Ed was
asked to start looking for a different job because of declining construction. A short time later he was
hired by the U of M to work as an
electrician at the Medical and Dental College. He worked there for
about 21½ years.
Why am I giving all this information? It is to show how great
our God is! Because of that job,
and the incentive package that was
available if retiring before 60 years
of age, we have been able to do a
number of years of volunteering. It
was always in the back of our
mind to be missionaries and now
after the family was all grown up
and gone from home we could
venture out and leave our footprints in places never thought possible.
We have been blessed and
stretched as we served with Vacation with a Purpose with MCC,
Aylmer Bible School, Inner City
Youth Alive, Camp Cedarwood,
Fisher Bay Bible Camp etc. using
the gifts God has given us –
namely “the gifts of help”. Ed has
used his electrical expertise and I
my gifts of cooking, cleaning and
whatever a mother does. All this
was made possible by lots of
prayers and saying “yes, Lord”
when He called.
Thanks be to God for His many
answered prayers.
Kathie Kroeker
Q&A
We at NSC are blessed to have three pastors who care deeply for the spiritual wellbeing of each of us.
When asked about their prayers for the body of Christ at NSC this is how they answered:
I am a control freak. However,
with control comes anxiety.
Thankfully, Scripture says to
come before God with our
prayers so that we need not be
anxious about anything. If I am
not giving everything to Jesus,
in prayer, I am trying to retain
control. Through prayer, I trust
His Will may be accomplished
and I am freed from anxiety.
To know the Lord Jesus, and
the power of his resurrection––
that is the prayer that puts me
on my knees on behalf of this
church. That each of us would
live and thrive in a person to
person relationship with the
king, and move through our
days standing in for him as his
true representatives, flesh and
blood, Amen.
Pastor Brynden Devenny
Pastor Daren Redekopp
Mission, and the noncompartmentalization of our
faith are the two things that
drive me to prayer for the body
at NSC. Our mission to seek
and save the lost - introducing
them to our Father - is the sole
reason our Lord came. To do
this - to do all things to the
glory of God - living in wonder of God in everything,
displays the greatness of God.
Pastor Al Letkeman
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Prayer and Trust
What do you pray about most
often?
Everything! My family: siblings,
nieces, nephews, greats, greatgreats…When my mom died I realized, “Who’s going to pray for
everyone in the family now?” And
I felt “You’re the one.” I pray a lot
for missionaries, former coworkers—many are still out in the field.
For health issues, mine and others’. Special needs. Wisdom. Protection. For the government at all
levels—I want to do that more.
I don’t see myself as the model
prayer. I’m aware of my limitations and often my lack of faith.
How has your prayer life
changed over the years?
It has fluctuated in different
ways. When I worked in the Wycliffe office in Calgary I often
brought home work in the evening
and didn’t get enough sleep. I didn’t pray as much at bedtime/
morning then. But I often prayed
for wisdom throughout the day as I
worked with the files of Canadians
who were applying to serve with
Wycliffe.
After retirement I have had
much more time to pray. I get
many letters from missionaries
(mostly now by e-mail), and to
remember their requests, I print
the letters for on-going prayer.
Sometimes, when the stack of letters gets too big, I put my hand on
it and pray, “God, you know all
these needs perfectly. Please take
care of them!” Increasingly, when
a letter comes, I pray as I read it.
10
After that, I try to be quiet and let
God bring to mind the things I
should pray for.
Was there ever a time when you
doubted God was listening?
Yes. Every so often I ask, “Does
prayer really make a difference?”
God knows the need, why should I
pray? But Scripture commands us
to pray, so we do! Sometimes I
remind myself, “Listen! You’re
talking to God! He’s listening and
He’ll answer as He sees best.”
Then I feel encouraged.
How do you handle it when
God’s answer doesn’t make
sense?
I try to take the attitude that God
is all-knowing and knows best, but
how do I handle it? When my
brother-in-law died suddenly
many years ago, it just didn’t seem
fair. Then I have to open my
hands, acknowledge the hurt, and
accept the fact that God knows
why He allowed this to happen.
Scripture says, “Call on me and I
will show you great and mighty
things which you know
not,” (Jeremiah 33:3). If God asks
us to pray, He will answer. In
John, Jesus asks us to pray according to His will. My response must
be, “Your will be done, whether I
want it or not.” Those Scriptures
are a real encouragement to me.
Who is God to you?
Father. My Father! He’s gracious—He has unlimited grace.
Maybe that stands out because
long after I became a Christian I
still didn’t fully understand grace.
Probably not fully even now.
When I was younger there used
to be a lot of emphasis on finding
God’s perfect specific will for
your life. “If you don’t find it,
you’ll be like a broken teacup—
you can be glued together and look
pretty on a shelf, but you’ll never
be useful to God.” This caused me
much worry, because I felt called
to be a missionary, but I didn’t
know in which country, or with
which mission, or what specifically I would be doing. I prayed a
lot, and kept preparing, and even
had assurance about specific steps
in my preparation, but what was
His will for my life? Eventually,
when step by step the way opened
up for the way ahead, I wondered,
“Why didn’t I know sooner that I
should apply to serve with Wycliffe? Was I just not ready? Was I
disobedient? It was then that I
started to realize God’s grace more
fully. I am not a broken cup, useless. I am God’s child; He loves
me and graciously leads and grows
me step by step, daily.
Why do you pray?
I guess because I want answers! I
want to fellowship with God; to
thank and praise Him. There are so
many things that happen day by
day when I pray and God answers,
that I don’t know if I could not
pray! I want to pray to glorify God
because that’s what it’s all about,
isn’t it? God’s glory.
Lena Dueck
Nassau Street Quarterly
Why Pray?
“Harry: Christopher can
scoff, Jack, but I know how
hard you’ve been praying;
and now God is answering
your prayers.
C.S. Lewis: That’s not why I
pray, Harry. I pray because I
can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of
me all the time, waking and
sleeping. It doesn’t change
God, it changes me.”
Shadowlands (1993)
desire so strongly to think
I about
prayer the way C.S.
Lewis does in this quote. I want
the reason I pray to be exactly
what he states; because I can’t
help myself, because I’m helpless,
because the needs flows out of me
all the time.
Sadly, most of the time this is
not the case. I often find myself
thinking that God hasn’t answered
my prayers. Sometimes I think that
other people must have a closer
connection with God; that somehow they have a better “in” with
Him, as their prayers seem to get
answered all the time. I need to
constantly remind myself that God
always answers prayers; it’s just
not always in the way that I want
or that gives me what I think I
need. Sometimes the answer is
“no”, or “not right now”.
For the past year my husband
and I have been praying for a
teaching job for him. He just recently graduated from the educa-
tion system and has begun the task
of substituting and networking –
not always fun, but necessary. I
feel like I’ve prayed so much for
this – over a year – and still God’s
answer is “no” or at least, “not
right now”.
Do I stop praying? Of course
not. Because this is the process,
the process in which God transforms me – changes me into who I
am in Christ. It doesn’t matter how
long it might take for God to say
“yes – here’s a job – a permanent
one and one that you might actually like” - what matters is that I
continue to pray. I must continue
to communicate and be vulnerable
with our sovereign God. God reveals His plans in His time, not
ours.
My youngest brother, Tom, has
suffered from epilepsy since he
was eleven years old. Our family
and church communities have
been diligently praying for him
ever since his first seizure. Every
time my brother’s body would
start convulsing through a fullbody seizure, I would watch my
mom, diligent and patient, pray
through Psalm 23 (KJV) until he
came back to us.
More recently, I have watched
Tom’s wife pray and support him
through multiple seizures and trips
to the emergency room. There are
years and years worth of prayer
that have gone into my brother’s
healing. God could have chosen
any point in the last thirteen years
to heal Tom – but He didn’t.
He chose August 30th, 2013. It
was then that Tom went to Calgary
and had his second brain surgery.
The surgeons removed a much larger portion of the brain than any of
us thought possible, and the recovery was horrible and terrifying and
there was a real possibility that the
Tom that came out of surgery
would never be the Tom that had
gone in.
But it is now June and Tom has
still not had a seizure! PRAISE
GOD!! What an awesome answer
to prayer! I want to believe that
this is it; that this is exactly how
God is choosing to heal my
brother. But even if it isn’t, even if
the seizures come back, perhaps
especially if they come back, I will
still pray.
Rejoice in the Lord always;
again I will say, rejoice. Let
your reasonableness be
known to everyone. The Lord
is at hand; do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known
to God. And the peace of
God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7
Angela Janzen
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