Works of the Lord E-Book

Lois Kropf

• Herausgeber: Zion Christian Publishers
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The works of Almighty God are all around us – continuing and continuous – yet we often fail to recognize them.  In the course of our everyday life, in the small things, as we do our daily routines, God wants to open our eyes to see Him at work.  He wants us to turn our hearts and thoughts to Him in the common, ordinary things, that we might see Him move.His works are not restricted to big miracles, although this book records a number of them.   His miracles take place in the kitchen, in the bedroom, in the car, at play, at work, and at church – wherever His people are.  He is first of all working in us and then through us by His Holy Spirit.  As you read this book of one family’s journey in faith , your faith will be stirred and a desire kindled to recognize and respond to His wonderful working in your life, in your family and in the Church as a whole.

Leseprobe

THE WORKS OF THE LORD

Lois Kropf

The Works of the Lord

© 2009 Lois Kropf

Front Cover photo: © 2008 Steve Cole

Images used by permission through

license agreement with istockphoto, Inc.

Front cover design:

© 2009 Zion Fellowship, Inc.

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations in this book are taken from the

King James Version Bible unless otherwise stated.

Published as an e-book on September 2017

in the United States of America

E-book ISBN 1-59665-694-8

For more information, please contact:

Zion Christian Publishers

A Zion Fellowship ® Ministry

P.O. Box 70

Waverly, New York 14892

Phone: [phone]

Acknowledgments

I wish to address my thanks to the following:

Anita Kropf, Justin Kropf, Sarah Kropf, Barb Fuller and Suzanne Ying. Without them, this would not have been possible.

FOREWORD

Eldon and Lois Kropf are currently missionaries in Malawi, Africa, one of the five poorest countries in the world. They have lived and ministered in New York, several areas of Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

In January of 1987, they became full-time missionaries under Zion Fellowship International, when they moved to Botswana, Africa, where they continued until May, 1990. After a furlough, they relocated in January, 1991 to South Africa, where Eldon was principal of a large correspondence Bible school. In February, 1999, God changed the focus of their ministry and they moved to Malawi, Africa.

Their 5 children, who are mentioned frequently in this book, were all born in the Detroit area in Michigan. For the reference sake of the readers, from oldest to youngest their names are: David, Daniel, Jeremy, Audrey, and Justin.

God has been so very gracious to work in and through this family. As you read this book, may you be encouraged to see the gracious work of God in your life – in the little things and the big, recognizing Him at work, realizing that everything is brought into all of our lives for a purpose – that we might see Him and come to know Him in a special way, entering into a deeper relationship with Him.

INTRODUCTION

Psalm 111:2 says: “The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.”

God is so great. Our finite minds are unable to grasp His greatness and His mighty power – the wonderful Person that He is. He gives us glimpses in the spirit to know and appreciate Him. His mighty and wonderful works are an extension of His Person.

Beauty out of Chaos!

There are many things I love about my husband. One of these is the ability to walk into a place and see beauty and order, when I only see dirt and chaos. This was brought to my attention about eight months after we were married. We moved from upstate New York to the Newcastle, Pennsylvania area where my husband was asked to be the assistant pastor in a church there. We stayed for a few weeks with a single man in the church while we were looking for a house of our own. Someone heard of a summer cottage close by that the owner wanted to rent out. My husband and I went to see it.

It had not been taken care of. The floor of the L-shaped living and dining room area was covered with dirt and debris inches thick. There was a coal furnace and the walls were dirty with soot. The kitchen linoleum was broken and dirty. It was a very depressing looking place – and it smelled. The lady who owned it was a Christian and she was there with us telling us how comfortable we could make it.

The rent was very reasonable and we really wanted to get out on our own quickly. My husband said, “We can sand the floor and refinish it; that is really nice wood underneath. This will be really beautiful when we finish painting it and working on it.” I couldn’t envision it, but I accepted his assessment of the house, and he was right. It became a lovely home – our cottage of content.

The works of God are much the same way. He can see order and beauty in our lives and in situations that we think are so bad nothing can fix them. and we will never be happy again. He sees with the eye of faith and a vision of what He can and will do in our lives. As we agree with Him, and join our faith with His, He can and does work the impossible and rebuilds and restores lives for His honour and glory – making us contented vessels for His glory.

Many-Faceted

I love my husband’s work. When he hung gutters, we would drive past a house that he had worked on and he would proudly show it to me. I would rejoice with him. I knew he was an excellent gutter hanger – particular and precise. That is a part of the person he is; he does things with care, working out every detail in his mind. It amazes me when we go to the houses in Malawi, which are made of mud bricks, with mud floors, thatched roofs or leaky, rusty tin roofs. Although he had never worked with these kinds of houses before, he has an eye to see what needs to be done. He looks at a bowing wall and says that we have to tear the whole thing down; another one he says will be all right, just plaster it and it will stand. One house he says will be strong enough for iron sheets, another has to have just more thatched grass. I walk through the villages and I can pick out the houses we have either rebuilt or repaired. Although we have used seven or eight different local builders to work on houses having either thatched or tin roofs, they all have a distinguishing mark about them, a sense of rightness. It amazes me.

So, the works of God amaze me. They are multitudinous. They cover so many facets of our lives and being. I see His wonderful, distinctive hand in our lives and in the lives of those around us – in His Church, in His people, in His universe. As we behold His works, we get a picture of Who He really is.

His Work in the Ordinary Days of Life

Often we only think of the work of the Lord that is done in Church or in religious meetings, but much of His redemptive work is done in the privacy of our homes, in the mundane part of our lives. As a young person, every time an altar call was given for dedication or almost anything, I was up front, responding to the Lord. However, the most vivid consecration of my life happened one day while I was doing laundry. I was going through a difficult time, and after many years of serving the Lord, I had to cry out, “But, Lord, I want You more than anything. I want Your will.” That brought a fresh release of His redemptive work in my life. While I was doing dishes one day, the Lord gave me a prophetic word for our local church, a key to understanding something the pastors and elders were experiencing at that time.

While I was out walking on a particularly filthy, odious path, the Lord gave me a vivid revelation of His humility and what it cost Him to come down to earth and become a man. While I was at my computer typing, I had an increased revelation of His goodness. While doing dishes, the Lord revealed to me bitterness and unforgiveness that had been harboured in my heart toward a person in the church.

Many of the miracles and healings contained in this book did not take place in church services, but as people were going about their daily lives, looking to Him in their time of need. God is faithful to do His works in response to our prayer of faith and attitude of dependency upon Him. Let us not limit His works by time or place – the heaven is His throne, and it covers the whole earth!

Importance of Meditating on the Work of the Lord

The psalmist meditated on the works of the Lord often. Psalm 143:5 says: “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.” One of the keys to victorious Christian living is to call to mind the things that the Lord has done for us. As we walk through valleys, if we begin to meditate on His works of old – in the Bible, in our lives, in the lives of others – it brings encouragement, hope, and faith that God will indeed do it again, because He is the God of wonders.

This book is written to encourage those who need to see miracles in their lives and in their churches – to believe God for His mighty works. I have been asked through the years to write about our experiences on the mission field, and in our family. This book is a result of those requests – the works of God we have seen and known, that it might be a blessing to those who read it.

In John 14:12, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” We need to see the “greater works” – in our own lives and ministry, and in the Last Day Church as a whole. God will do the greater works; let us be those channels through whom those works can flow.

CHAPTER 1

The Work of God As Our Creator

We marvel at how particular God is in every detail of our creation in the womb of our mother. Before we are born, He knows what our calling, personality, and destination is. Jeremiah 1:5 brings out this thought very clearly: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Born a Twin

Births of twins are one out of 100; I was blessed to be the one percent that had a twin. One of the first marvellous works of God in my life was to give me a twin (her husband calls her the “improved model.”) He knew I needed a twin. She was my ballast through the growing-up years – and my best friend. The Lord knew that I needed her and that she needed me.

Meditation: Psalm 139:14 says: “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” The whole of Psalm 139 reveals the meticulous thought that goes into the formation of every child in the mother’s womb. We are all the works of His hands, and we should accept and rejoice in how God has made each one of us – and seek to bring glory to His name.

Birth Defect for His Glory

Years ago, we had a friend who was pioneering a church. A young couple got saved at his church. After a few months they had a baby born with encephalitis (a swelling of the brain due to water). In distress they called to their pastor to come and pray for them and the baby. Before he left his home, he knelt before God and prayed something like this, “I don’t know how to pray; would you just do Your work.” He then left and went to their house. When he got there, he laid his hands on the baby’s head and began to pray. As he prayed, the baby’s head began to shrink. The baby was completely healed! God had created that baby abnormal, so that He could do one of His great works, just as he did with the blind man in John, chapter 9. He also did it so that the parents would faithfully serve Him. Unfortunately, the mother backslid within a year, but the father is still serving the Lord today.

Meditation: Psalm 78:7: says, “That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.” God often creates needs and does miracles to hold those who would be tempted to go astray. They are to teach us to put our trust in God and not forget His works in our lives.

His Workmanship

Isaiah 64:8 says:“But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” He spoke the world into being, but He lovingly and carefully formed man with His own hands. He does the same for each of us. Our height, hair colour, emotional make-up, everything about us is a work of a loving Father God. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” We are the work of His hands; let us rejoice in how He has made us and seek to please Him in everything. He has also created each one of us to do specific good works; we have been ordained to do them. We need to ask God what works He has ordained for us to do.

A Lesson in Compassion

My oldest sister was born with Down’s syndrome. Through our growing-up years, I was her special “baby.” I used to pray for her healing, but it never came. However, I realised that God used her life to work a special empathy in my heart for children who are diseased and disabled. About a two minute walk from me here in Malawi, there is a little Down’s syndrome girl. She comes to my children’s church. She has the same sweetness of spirit that my sister had; she comes running to me for special hugs and attention whenever she sees me. There are many disabled children here. We keep praying for miracles; but until then, God lets us minister to them in love and compassion. My sister’s life was not without purpose – she was a very loving person and taught many about love and compassion.