Agape is love, love is of God
My thought, my conduct and my attitude
Your love says, “I will shape them all”
Oh Agape, love and lover of my soul
YOU are the initiator,
YOU are the seeker
YOU sought me with YOUR blessings
All I wanted is to be YOUR instrument
The forgotten life I lived, I recall
I did not see Agape around
I wasted time looking for Agape
At last, YOU are the Agape
YOU have eyes to look at my needy life
YOU looked at my life with a loving eyes
With love YOU stretched out Your arms to me
And into the hug of YOUR love I entered
Let us pray with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine that God will have mercy on their nation. Pray for peace between Russia and Ukraine and for the protection of those caught up in the fighting.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked. For you have made the LORD, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent.
For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.
“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. “With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.”
Psalm 91
Do not forget our brothers and sisters in Myanmar, whose suffering at the hands of the military government goes largely unreported.
As many of you may know or may not know, since the military coup that has been backed by China, the situation in Myanmar has become very grave. Many people have been killed, imprisoned and many are starving and we have even heard today with the present Covid-19 pandemic there are no medicines, no oxygen available to those who oppose this illegal regime. International NGOs have been muted. If they speak out against the military junta, if they are nationals they are arrested. If they are expatriates they are exiled. The clampdown is absolutely draconian and in some parts of Myanmar bordering on genocide. The US, Great Britain and Europe look on as the slaughter continues.
It is time, my brothers and sisters, that we sought the Lord of peace, Jesus Christ, and we got down on our knees and prayed. If there are others out there who feel as passionately as we do for our brothers and sisters and the people of Myanmar, please contact us. We are setting up an emergency appeal. We can guarantee with integrity that whatever money is raised we have a means of getting this to the people on the ground. Remember these are the body of Christ operating within the country. Do not be like the Levite or the Pharisee who walked the man on the road but be good Samaritans and show the love of Christ as John says in 1 John 3:17:
But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
As the apostle James said, faith without works is dead.
So I am sending out this appeal for relief aid for Myanmar. If there are other organisations that wish to speak to us please contact us as we stand together with our suffering brothers and sisters in Myanmar.
Rev Ross Rennie
You can donate by sending funds to this bank account:
Bank: TSB Bank plc
Sort code: 30-96-33
Account number: 00004322
Account name: Reverend R Rennie
Reference: Myanmar Relief
Grace Missions director Rev Ross Rennie visited Myanmar in June 2009 to speak at a pastors’ conference organised by Advance Inland Mission Today (now known as Active In Missions Today) and held in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. Ross was accompanied by his friend Greg Dixon, director of International Friends of Compassion (Europe).
God’s hand was on the preparations for the trip. For example Ross and Greg obtained their visas to enter Myanmar without any challenge from the authorities, in spite of being completely up front about the purpose of their visit. They continued under God’s protection while undergoing surveillance and police checks after their arrival in Myanmar.
Although Ross had experienced high temperatures and humidity before on trips to Cambodia, it was nevertheless a shock to his system to have to teach at the conference (with no air conditioning) for hours at a stretch with only short breaks. He consumed up to 15 bottles of water a day! The personal cost to Ross of the trip was not confined to heat exhaustion. Towards the end of the trip he contracted food poisoning and had to make frequent visits to the bathroom!
The pastors were attentive to the message of grace that Ross taught and he was excited to hear from them how they were already living out some of the principles he was explaining. Ross and Greg were touched by the sacrificial dedication of the church-planters they met who make long and arduous journeys off the beaten track to make disciples in the remoter regions of Myanmar.
Ross felt privileged to follow in the footsteps of Adoniram Judson, one of the first missionaries to Burma, and was delighted to meet up with a descendant of George Müller in Yangon. An even greater joy was to spend time in fellowship with his hosts Philip and Dante and to see first-hand how God is working powerfully through the Myanmar national church.
God provided for all the expenses of the trip before Ross and Greg left for Myanmar. However, before returning home they felt led to leave a gift of US$1,000 (about £700) with Advance Inland Mission Today to pay for their next mission trip into the interior of Myanmar. If you would like to help meet the cost of this gift, please contact us.
