Who is The One We Are Asking?

I flew out to Stockholm on Friday filled with expectation for what God had in store for us all at the Stockholm prayer weekend, but also still feeling somewhat shell-shocked over what had happened in the last seven days and the tasks that lay ahead.

Last Thursday Lydia and I were in Helsinki for a long weekend. We had booked flights for these dates in faith, not knowing if in fact there would be any reason for us going at that particular time, but hoping that these steps would bear fruit. As the dates came closer Lydia secured three job interviews – two on the Friday and one on the Saturday. Suddenly our trip had a clear focus and purpose.

It has been around three years since God shared with us some of his heart for Helsinki and drew us in, compelling us to co-labour with him in the plans he has for this city, Finland as a nation and the Nordic and Baltic regions. Since then it has been a journey of preparation, patience and prayer as we took gradual steps toward pushing on this door and God making his plans a reality.

Lydia on the train to her first job interview    

We were thrilled to discover before leaving Helsinki last Monday that Lydia had been offered two of the three jobs. One of these was the job she really wanted, in an area we were feeling increasingly drawn to and nearby to some of the friends we have been getting to know. God has been so faithful to us and has broken through at the right time. In Helsinki it is often difficult to even be invited to interview, which makes the two job offers even more impressive.

Suddenly the wait is over. Lydia has a start date of the 29^th July and has organised flights for her, her mum and the children to travel to Helsinki on the 18^th July. We have a short period of time where some friends have said we can housesit, but we really need to find a permanent address in time for us to move in, before this period of housesitting comes to an end. Barry [Lydia’s father] and I will most likely be driving a truckload of our furniture to Helsinki at the same time that Lydia and the children travel.

There are obstacles in the way. The main one is that as non-residents we do not yet have a social security number. We’re discovering that without this it is difficult to do a lot of important things such as: open a bank account, rent a home, register children at a state run kindergarten, sign up with a doctor, the list goes on! It’s nail-biting stuff, but we trust that this is God’s initiative and not ours. We trust that he will provide and bring things to completion. We trust that his attention is on this and he won’t forget us or let us fall.

Phil, Emma, Noah & Anna Whittall visiting us in Helsinki last summer. Great memories!

The Stockholm prayer weekend was excellent. A great time of being with dear friends from Relational Mission and other leaders from the Baltic/Scandinavia region, some of whom are at a similar stage to us, if not further ahead. I enjoyed spending time with the Whittalls, seeing their home and neighborhood and being able to finally picture them in Sweden. They are devoted to God & devoted to Stockholm. God is blessing the nations through this courageous family. It was thrilling to feel God’s heart for Sweden and the Scandinavian nations as we enjoyed his vital presence together. We went out in groups around the city to pray. The groups were each given a theme for their prayer walk and a particular route. The surroundings, the people, shop signs, the architecture provided constant stimulation and inspiration for our prayers and gave shape to prophetic words for the Stockholm plant, there was time back at the meeting venue to feed these back to the others and celebrate what God had been saying. I cannot emphasise enough what an excellent time this was. This model  could be used in all cities, towns and locations and not only reserved for very special weekends like this.

Mike Betts had taught from the parable of the persistent widow, emphasizing that there is nothing about this story that is like coming to God. The unjust judge gives in to the widow because he is irritated, but if is possible to lobby someone like that and eventually receive a favourable outcome, how much more will God stand with you and me for what we are asking. My favourite quote from that session was ‘Prayer is laying hold of God’s willingness, not overcoming his reluctance’. This has been resonating in my heart ever since. Our prayers make a huge difference and our weak attempts are not discarded by him, but are welcomed by him. We were challenged that ‘have I got faith?’ is an unhelpful question, and that the true question should be ‘who is the one we are asking?’

As we edge closer to our moving date, realising the increasing, unanticipated challenges we face just to rent an apartment, formalise logistical plans to get us out to Helsinki and begin to settle there we would do well to focus on who it is we are coming to. Not an impatient judge but a loving father and saviour who is immeasurably for us and has opened the door to us to Finland and can be trusted to complete what he has started.

Please pray for us for:

• Favour with the necessary companies and organisations, and that they will deal with us despite us not yet having the social security number. 
• A good, affordable family home, which works well for us, but also works as a place to host guests, meet & launch a church from. 
• God’s wisdom, despite all of the unknowns we currently face as we make decisions about how and when is best to move our stuff to Helsinki
• Us as a family as we invest much of our time and energy into doing what we can to resolve these issues, that we know God’s peace and security throughout this pressured season [please pray this especially for the children]
• The Stockholm and Riga church plants also, that they quickly see signs of fruit and breakthrough as a result of battles won in prayer over this weekend.

Follow on twitter @Kevin_J_Jones

Email kjones@ucreative.ac.uk