From:-
TORCH TRUST FOR THE BLIND, Torch House, Torch Way, Northampton Road, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 9HL, U.K.
Telephone: (01858) 438260, Fax: (01858) 438275, email: info@torchtrust.org
Charity Number 1095904.
Having just returned from Malawi, I am pleased to share with you some of my experiences, as the visit was a blessing. I was overjoyed to see and hear what God is doing in the lives of individual blind people and challenged by their trust and dependency on the Lord.
Flooding earlier in the year left many with no harvest and some without houses. One man having lost his house was in the corner of the foundation afraid to move, crying, "Lord help me, Lord help me!" The Lord spoke to someone to go and see him - God heard his cry!
And there are others ... The lady who gave half her bag of maize flour to her sighted crippled neighbour, who has, since she has seen her, come to trust Jesus ... The young lady who has memorised many passages of the Bible as she can't take her braille Bible with her but wants to share Jesus with others ... The partially sighted elderly widow who gave all she had and although a very small amount it was exactly the balance a Christian needed to travel back from Mozambique.
These are just a few examples of the many faithful Christians I witnessed trusting and obeying the Lord Jesus in very difficult circumstances. I pray they will encourage you to trust Jesus whatever your circumstances and encourage you to reach out to others around you with the love of Jesus.
Janet Stafford
In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. (1:1).
The little book of Haggai records the message of an otherwise unknown man whose name means "Festive". He prophesied at the same time as Zechariah (see Ezra 5:1) about 2500 years ago. In our previous studies we saw that Habakkuk lived before the Jews were taken captive to Babylon. Haggai lived in the period immediately after the return of 50,000 Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel. This man was given the task of rebuilding God's Temple which had been destroyed by the Babylonians 70 years before.
A good start was made on the foundation, but then the people were discouraged from building by threats from their enemies in the surrounding countryside. The work stopped for sixteen years until Haggai and Zechariah stirred up the Jews to begin building again.
A key phrase in the book is "give careful thought". It occurs four times and is an exhortation for the people to give up their indifferent careless attitude and reassess the situation.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: "These people say, 'The time has not yet come for the Lord's house to be built'". Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" (1:2-4)
The people knew what they had to do, but put it off till another day, which would probably never come. They were more concerned about their own comfort and status than about the Lord's glory. They wanted their houses to be of a similar standard to those they had seen in Babylon, in order to impress their neighbours. What are our priorities as Christians? Do we put our own desires first and use our resources solely for our own comfort, or do we put God's work first? Jesus said, "Lay up treasure in Heaven", and "You cannot serve God and money". Both of these statements make our priorities clear. And it's not only our use of money, but also of time and energy, which needs to be prioritised.
Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it". (1:5-6).
Have you ever tried to climb up a steep hill which is covered with loose gravel? For every step you take, you slide backwards two steps! A Dutch farmer with limited English said "the hurrier I go the behinder I get!". The Jews in Jerusalem had been chasing a high standard of living instead of getting on with the Lord's work, and had only experienced frustration.
This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured," says the Lord. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the Lord Almighty. "Because of my house which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labour of your hands." (1:7-11).
Now the people must put first things first and get on with the job of building God's house. If only they had put God first in the previous years, they would have prospered. Jesus said: "Seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things (food, clothing etc) will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: "I am with you," declares the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. (1:12-15).
There was a new sense of awe, worship and reverence. Obedience came because of recognition of God's servant, and of fear of God Himself. But note that this was not a matter of being terrified of God. It was a respect and reverence for Him. This is what is meant by the word "fear" in a phrase which appears in some Psalms and in Proverbs: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom".
God's faithful servants, like Haggai, have an authority given them by God's Spirit. The Apostle Paul, though a prisoner on the ship bound for Rome, gave orders to the sailors when the ship was in trouble, and was immediately obeyed, because they recognised him as God's servant (Acts 27:31).
God now promised to be with them, and He stirred up the spirit of both leaders and people to get on with the work. Revival is something that comes not from men but from God's Spirit, and it results in a great move forward in worship and service, after an acknowledgement of past failure and sin.
Marilyn Baker Ministries is a dynamic itinerant ministry of music, teaching and prayer. It began in the early 1980's with singer/songwriter Marilyn Baker releasing albums which drew people into God's healing presence.
Churches started inviting her to do evangelistic and encouragement concerts and Marilyn, who has been blind almost from birth, soon realised the tremendous potential to touch people's lives in a deep way.
At God's leading she gave up her job as a music teacher and started ministering fulltime. Soon Marilyn was travelling extensively in Britain and many parts of the world. She became Britain's top female gospel singer. Some of her songs have become so well known that they appear in Christian song books. One such is:
Jesus, you are changing me,
By your Spirit you're making me like you.
Jesus, you're transforming me,
That your loveliness may be seen in all I do.
You are the potter and I am the clay,
Help me to be willing to let you have your way.
Jesus, you are changing me,
As I let you reign supreme within my heart.
In 1986 Marilyn was joined by Tracy Williamson, whose gifts in speaking and prophecy enriched the music with a new dimension. Marilyn's CDs and Tracy's books enable them to reach an even wider audience.
The work of Marilyn Baker Ministries has grown. As well as concerts, Marilyn and Tracy undertake church encouragement weekends, workshops and conferences. They minister to large or small groups or in elderly people's homes and prisons. By whatever means, the focus of the ministry remains the same: to bring people and churches into the healing and empowering presence of God through music, teaching and prayer.
As a Christian and a braille reader, Marilyn has, for many years, drawn on the Torch library for braille books. In addition she is keen to assess and recommend new books to be transcribed.
She also introduced Carol Nokes, who lived in her house as a Bible college student, to Torch. Carol is secretary to Torch Fellowship groups in the UK. Then there was Paul Wood, Marilyn's sound engineer, whom she also introduced. Paul is now team leader for transcription and has many other responsibilities at Torch.
Marilyn has supported us through prayer and practical help for a long time, so it's not surprising that in 2000 she accepted the invitation to become a Trustee of the Torch Trust. Her latest joint venture with us is presenting a 15-minute programme focussing on Christians and disability, soon to be launched on the Premier Christian radio station, broadcast to London, and wider afield through the Sky satellite.
When she visits with guide dog, Pennie, we look forward to the fun, fellowship and loving support she brings.
Marilyn believes music is a wonderful way of sharing one's Christian faith because people who will not listen to a preacher will often listen to a song. Please get in touch with us at Torch if you would like to know more about her ministry, or email: info@marilynbakerministries.org; web: www.marilynbakerministries.org.
Certain places can mean a lot to us. My home was near the sea, so when I went away to study I missed the sea very much. At the end of every holiday, I would borrow my father's car and head for the coast. I would drink in the view of rugged rocks, shimmering sea and glistening sand, and try to carry it in my mind to the land-locked English Midlands where I was studying.
Places can be precious to us for a variety of reasons - the house where we were born, the street we played in as a child, a place that holds special memories. Sometimes we have the opportunity to go back and relive the old memories.
In the book of Genesis we read how Abram built an altar in a certain place and there called on the name of the Lord. Sometime later he travelled that way again and came to the place "where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram (again) called on the name of the Lord" (Genesis 13:4).
A while ago a local village chapel was renovated and, in the process, a piece of curved walling was discovered, known as an apse. This was part of the original building and it would have been where the communion table was placed. I paused there one summer's evening, with the fading sunlight streaming through the window, and realised that this was the place where the saints of old gathered again and again around the table of the Lord.
For every Christian there is one place that is more precious than any other:
Wonderful place called Calvary;
Love, redeeming love I see,
At the place called Calvary. (Hymn by E E Hewitt).
We need to come back to this place again and again, because the place where Jesus died for you and me is a place of forgiveness, healing, security, love and hope. John's Gospel tells us that "at the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden" (19:41). In the place called "Golgotha" - the place of the skull - a place of death and seeming destruction, disaster and despair - in that place there was a garden, a place of new life and fresh hope.
Do you know that place?
Near the Cross: O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day,
With its shadow o'er me. (Hymn by Frances Jane van Alstyne).
Some of you may remember my name from working at Torch in Hallaton. For you and the many new readers since then, I will share the way in which God has led me back into the work of Torch.
I left Torch in 1994 and since then have seen many changes in my life. God enabled me to buy my own bungalow in Market Harborough, near to my church and work place. I benefited enormously from being able to join in with church activities and visit friends and family easily. I have seen God changing me spiritually and deepening my relationship with Him in ways that I only ever dreamed about. All the blessings over the past 12 years could not have happened if I had remained at Torch in Hallaton.
Then at the beginning of 2006 I felt again the desire to use my life in a more fulfilling way, similar to when God called me to Torch in 1980. Several factors all came together within a few months.
I had worked for one company since leaving Torch, but the unfair policies and treatment of people, together with my position in being asked to go against my Christian principles, made it increasingly difficult to continue.
I had also reached a milestone with my age, and felt a desire to use wisely the time still remaining to me. I didn't want to work just to earn money, but rather, to produce lasting treasure in heaven. I was realising increasingly that people and relationships are very important. I was already a volunteer with the "shopmobility" scheme, helping disabled people to get in and out of the shops and to buy what they need, and longed for more volunteering in the community, and to be more involved at church.
I started to pray, asking God to impress upon me His will for my life. Several Scriptures about being active in sharing my faith, both within the church and the community, spoke to me. I also felt God speaking to me from a picture I saw in my garden as I watched a blackbird on a fence guarding the nest I'd seen being prepared for its young: "I have prepared a place for you and I am jealously guarding it".
I made a list of practical considerations and realised that Torch met the criteria. Was it God's will for me to go back to a very differently operated Torch - with a very different Bridget as well?
I decided to try the door, and after six months, circumstances at work and at Torch coincided exactly with what I was reading in the Bible and what God was doing in my life at that time, making me sure it was God's will for me.
I now feel very happy and fulfilled in my job as a Text Transcription Assistant.
Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise. (Proverbs 6:6)
Before getting in a huff for being called a sluggard, do follow the writer's advice and "consider her ways".
How does an ant get things done? By tiny but untiring and regular efforts.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
At Torch House we take turns to start our morning prayer-time with a thought based on our Scripture Text Calendar. If you have Internet access, you can find the day's Scripture on the homepage of the Torch website each day.
One day back in December when it was my turn, the verse given came from John's Gospel: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). What a gift of a verse, I thought. Words of Jesus that speak to all blind people, including those that can see!
This verse comes from the encounter between Jesus and Thomas - the disciple famous for doubting. Twice the risen Jesus visited the disciples in the room of a house. On the first occasion Thomas was not among them. When they excitedly told him, "We have seen the Lord", he was sceptical: "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." (John 20:25).
Jesus had shown the other disciples his hands and side. They had seen the wounds; they knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was the very same person who had been crucified, the same Jesus they had come to know so well. But Thomas hadn't seen with his own eyes and could not believe the account of the other disciples.
Isn't this a problem we all have. We struggle to accept what we cannot check out with our senses. Yet there are things we can only "see" with the "eyes" of faith. This is just as true for those who are fully sighted as it is for those who are blind or losing their sight. Isaiah prayed: "Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf." (Isaiah 43:8)
When someone has perfect eyesight it's often referred to as 20:20 vision. A number greater than 20 would indicate the degree of sight impairment. A preacher at a service in a church in the North of England once pointed out to me the Bible's 20:20 vision from John 20:20: "The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord". It is tragic for any of us, whether blind or sighted, if we live our lives without ever recognising Jesus and realising his true identity as God's son.
When Jesus returns a week later to the room in the house, he confronts doubting Thomas: "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
Thomas is invited to do just what a blind person would want to do - to touch - to "see" with his finger and his hand. I suspect Thomas didn't need to. His doubting has been swept away in this face-to-face encounter with the risen Jesus. He blurts out: "My Lord and my God!"
Of course, we have no reason to believe Thomas's eyesight was impaired - it was his spiritual or faith "eyesight" that was obscured. But it's interesting to compare this with the encounter between the risen Jesus and Mary.
It was in the garden where the tomb was located. At first Mary mistook him for a gardener. I can identify with that. Have you ever seen somebody or heard their voice in a place or context where you wouldn't normally expect to see them? Though you recognise the face or the voice you cannot work out who it is. Mary simply wasn't expecting to see Jesus walking around. When Jesus said her name, she immediately recognised him. But this time Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father".
Thomas, who doubted the truth of Jesus' resurrection, was given the opportunity to touch, whereas Mary who had quickly recognised him was asked not to touch. It seems more than a little interesting that these two stories - both conveyed to us in John 20 and both about recognising Jesus - emphasise senses other than sight. For Mary it was hearing his voice, for Thomas the opportunity to touch.
This chapter is the penultimate of the Gospel that has such an emphasis on light and sight. In his prologue, John introduces Jesus as the "light that shines in the darkness". Later he records Jesus' own words: "I am the light of the world". But the light of Jesus is a light that can be appreciated by blind and sighted alike. Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." (John 9:39).
How can we see this light? How can we recognise Jesus? Two people walked all the way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a journey of 7 miles, with the risen Jesus and completely failed to recognise him. But during that walk they had listened to Jesus talking and his words touched them deeply: "'Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?'" (Luke 24:32). One way we can get to "see" Jesus is to read the Bible and ask him by the Holy Spirit to enable the words to speak to our hearts.
For these two, and for many Christians since, it has been the breaking of bread that brought recognition. Whatever your church calls it - Communion, Eucharist, the Lord's Supper - the breaking of bread brings to each of us the opportunity that was so crucial to Thomas, the opportunity to reach out and touch. I thank God that the way Jesus gave us to remember him can be so multi-sensory - involving taste and smell and hearing and touch as well as sight. Sensory loss is no barrier to participation.
And in John's vision recorded in Revelation we find a clue as to how we will recognise Jesus when we get to heaven: "Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the centre of the throne" (Revelation 5:6).
As did the disciples and Thomas, we recognise him by the wounds - looking like he has been killed - but standing up and very much alive!
Jesus' response to Thomas is interesting: "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed". The blessing of this verse comes to all of us, blind and sighted alike: that Jesus was thinking of us - who have not the opportunity to touch, to see, to hear Him in the way those who lived alongside Him had done.
We congratulate the following people who have successfully completed Bible study correspondence courses:
Michael Sey (Ghana), Gauti Rambiki (Malawi), Kudakwashe Mubhonderi (Zimbabwe).
Douglas Aganawine Atubire (Ghana), Martin M. Bwabi, (Kenya).
Gabriel Godwin (Nigeria), Stephen J. Godwin (Tanzania).
Charity Oyiogu (Nigeria).
Jonathan Azinmagba (Nigeria).
Peter Pandian (Malaysia), Micah Shabi (Nigeria).
Peter Pandian (Malaysia), Micah Shabi (Nigeria).
Pastor M.M. Mandala (Kenya), Matthew O. Omerigwe (Nigeria).
Pastor M.M. Mandala (Kenya).
Here is someone who would like to correspond with others. You may like to braille a letter to this person. Introduce yourself by giving your name, your correct postal address, your age, and some information about yourself, your family and your country.
Anybody reading this who would like us to include their name and information in our next bulletin, send in your full name, postal address, age, and tell us about the things you enjoy doing. The aim of having a penfriend is to develop a friendship and exchange information and ideas.
LEMMY CHISI, Nkolokoti Church of Nazarene, PO Box 51073, Limbe, Malawi. Aged 31 and married to Beatrice, Lemmy enjoys preaching the Word of God, being a reverend, singing gospel music, receiving calls from friends, playing different games. He would be happy to communicate in English, Tumbuka, Bemba, or Chewa, and would like braille or tape.