| August 2006 Newsletter |
A Step Of Faith
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John 15:7, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."
Although the stories we hear from those who come to the Hand of Help office with their needs are many, it never gets any easier, feeling their pain and desperation, seeing the look of hopelessness on their faces, and weeping along with them.
Recently we were visited by Istrate Viorel, from the village of Pompeii Mici, and his story so impacted us that we felt we needed to share it, and pursue avenues in which we can help this family.
Viorel Istrate is the father of five children, and until recently the entire family was living with Viorel's mother in a one-room shack. Due to a powerful storm that swept through the area, one of the walls simply collapsed, and the family has no place to live. When we first heard this, we decided it would be best if we went and saw the condition of the home, as well as that of the family ourselves. Although most people who walk through our doors are honest people in desperate need, there are some who would try to take advantage and abuse the blessings of God. It is always best to err on the side of caution, and although we as human beings can make mistakes from time to time, when God is directing our steps, there is no mistaking His will.
Although it was a stiflingly hot July day, we fueled up the car, and along with Viorel drove the twenty miles to the village of Pompeii Mici. On the way there, those of us in the car, began to reminisce about impassable roads, long drives, and great hindrances along the way, and remembered fondly how Virginia would travel to the most remote villages in order to help one individual or family. Her heart lives on, and we strive to follow the example she set for us, namely to be the heart of Christ, and do our utmost to ease suffering wherever we may find it.
Once we arrived, we found the situation exactly as Viorel Described it, as well as a mother in the truest sense of the word, who knows what it is to sacrifice, and lives not for herself but for her children. The situation brought tears to our eyes, and we purposed in our hearts that we would do whatever we could to help the Istrate family build a new home.
"The Bible tells us to have faith," Viorel said, as we were leaving, "and as a step of faith my family and I have already started making the mud and straw bricks from which we will build our new home. We have done all we can, and can now only wait on God and His goodness to provide the land."
There is a piece of land for sale next to the home the Istrate family used to live in, and the man selling it is asking for $600. As so many others, this is an urgent need, since the home would have to be insulated and roofed before the winter months came. It is a worthwhile endeavor, and we ask that you join your prayers with ours, that God may answer the Istrate family's petition in a timely fashion.
All we can do is pray and trust that the Father in heaven will once more stretch forth His hand and provide for this need.
Hand of Help Staff
- That we may be able to embrace the needs brought before us as we prepare to equip the widows and needy with firewood for the winter.
- That God would help us aid the families who have lost their crops through the recent hailstorm, with enough food for the winter months.
- That the words that are shared in this fall's ministry tour would fall on ears that would hear and hearts that would pray.
- Protection for the body of Christ with the trouble that is on the horizon.
- For Hand of Help's Board Meeting that God would give us wisdom, direction, and vision for the future of this work.
A Word of Thanks
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Some fifteen years ago, when my grandfather first received the vision that we would build an orphanage in Romania, and shared it with the rest of the family, we had less than $200 in the ministry account. At the time it seemed like an impossible venture, a dream that would remain a dream, but time and time again, God proved Himself and the orphanage was eventually completed.
I was still young, and when I asked my grandfather how he could be so sure that we would be able to build something so gargantuan when we had no means of doing so, he simply smiled and said, "Because faith never fails."
As I grew older, and saw the hand of God on this work, as I witnessed His faithfulness abide, I came to realize the beauty of those simple words, and the truth that they held. Faith never fails, and as long as we cling to God, and run to Him with our needs, His faithfulness will be made manifest, and evident for all to see.
In the last issue of the newsletter, I presented an urgent need to you, namely the need to replace the heating system in the orphanage. Once more we found ourselves in the same situation as fifteen years ago, wherein the finances we had were infinitely less than what was required, yet God kept His promise towards this work once again.
Within the month the new heating system will be installed in the Hand of Help orphanage, and the staff, as well as the children can breather a sigh of relief, knowing they will have heat this coming winter. All I can do is thank you from the depths of my heart for meeting this need, and being obedient to the Father in heaven. Your love for this work, and for the children that God has placed into our care warms my heart, and I pray God's reward for all you do will be beyond your expectations. Again, thank you, and may the light of truth illuminate your path.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
And Yet We Slumber!
Although originally intended as a web article, each time I returned to this particular writing, I was overwhelmed with the thought that it should be included in the newsletter. With all that is taking place in today's world, the following are words worth reading and weighing, perceived with spiritual rather than physical eyes. I do not apologize for my words, harsh as they may seem to some, and pray that all who read them ay see the truth contained therein. May God give us ears to hear.
The times are upon us. Although there are events worthy of mention taking place in the world such as volcanoes, freak storms, rampaging fires, record breaking heat waves, and madmen with itchy fingers on nuclear triggers, all these seem to pale in comparison to the very real possibility that we are on the brink of the third world war.
It would be superfluous for me to go into any sort of detail, since simply turning on the evening news, or listening to the radio on one's drive to work, is enough to bring you up to speed on the state of affairs the world finds itself in today. What amazes me, is the stunning rapidity with which Bible prophecy is beginning to unfold, the speed with which world opinion can lash out at a small nation surrounded on all sides by powerful enemies. The events unfolding in the Middle East today, as well as events that will continue to unfold with the passing of time, are by no means an accident. Chance, and coincidence are not in God's vocabulary, and all that occurs is with purpose, in order to bring His plans to fruition.
The reason for this article is not to rehash that which has been spoken, or try to explain the events that are taking place, since they are self explanatory, but rather to discuss the Church's reaction to all that is taking place.
Although chaos is mounting, although uncertainty casts a pale shadow on the life of every inhabitant on earth the church, the body of Christ, those who aught to be standing in the gap, slumber on. Although there has never been a more opportune time for sober mindedness, and spiritual maturity, we are like a one trick pony, banging the same drum, spouting the same rhetoric, unwilling to face the reality that is upon us.
Rather than encourage their followers to a closer walk with God, or expound on the benefits and necessity of righteousness, the talking heads that are the spiritual elite of America, continue to pacify their financial contributors with the same tired lines of sowing seed and reaping harvests, and comfort their worried hearts with the notion that any day now, we will all be caught up, nevermore to be concerned with what is taking place on this ravaged spinning rock.
The alarm is sounding, but who will hear it? God is calling out to His own, but His own are too preoccupied with the material to be concerned with the spiritual. Visions of thousand fold returns on their donations, leave no room for reality, and for fear of being stirred from their slumber, they plug up their ears to the truth. Sound doctrine, and messages of warning are quickly brushed aside, for uplifting testimonies of financial breakthroughs, and the search for knowledge and wisdom has been done away with because it eats into too much of the time we've set aside for looking at beachfront properties and private jets.
The time for plausible deniability is passed, as is the time for pleading ignorance. The world, those not of the house of God, is seeing the truth that the Church is vehemently refusing to acknowledge, and we who aught to know have adopted a passive, almost indifferent attitude to all that is happening around us.
It would seem, and tragically so, that it is not only the world that stands at the crossroads, but also the Church, for if we are unwilling to change our direction, if we are unwilling to make truth the solid foundation on which we stand, if we are unwilling to lay aside preconceived notions, fables, and imaginings, we will not weather the storm that is upon us now.
We have maimed and mutilated the Word of God to fit neatly into our personal doctrine, and view of the world, but reality and our preconceived ideology are clashing violently, and only one of the two will survive this encounter. When faced with truth, illusion has no hope of survival, for truth is as substantive as illusion is void of substance.
Time is slipping away, like sand slipping through the fingers of a child, and the longer the Church goes without redeeming the time, as God commands, the further we will find ourselves not only from the will of God, but also from His sovereign protection, for the two are conjoined, and cannot be independent of each other.
I pray that wisdom guide our footsteps, that truth open our eyes to the urgency of God's message, and that His Holy Spirit would compel us to seek His face all the more in this tumultuous hour.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
And Yet We Slumber!
Psalm 50:15, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."
Tragically, news of hailstorms, floods, devastating winds, and landslides are nothing new for Romania. In recent months natural disasters have continued to ravage the landscape, and the surprise one should show at hearing that the same area has been flooded three or four times within a two month period, is either minimal, or altogether nonexistent. After a prolonged deluge of tragic news, some have simply become desensitized,
If one considers that full measure of the devastation wrought throughout the land, the feeling of being overwhelmed quickly settles in, and with so many needs to meet, and so many mouths to feed, one simply does not know where to begin.
After repeated telephone calls from one particular family, namely the Scripcaru family of Cracalia Dumeni, we felt an urging to go and see what the emergency entailed, and what we could do to help ease their desperation. Upon our arrival, sister Scripcaru, led us to her garden, in order for us to see firsthand what the hailstorm of the previous evening had done. Where once there were rows of tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots, there was now an empty field, with patches of color amidst the dirt, that was once a well cared for garden. The storm had been so devastating, that even the trees were absent of leaves, and the tin roof of the Scripcaru family's home was dented in various places.
"I know how busy you are," sister Scripcaru said, "I know the people asking for help are countless, and if I had any other choice I would not have been so bold in calling. I have nothing to feed my family, and the storm was so bad that we weren't able to salvage any of the vegetables. I can't even make a pot of soup, we prayed to God, and God said to call you, and if we believed, you would come."
We went to the local market and bought the food they so desperately needed, and promised to look in on them as often as we were in the area. The recent storms and natural disasters have affected many families who were just barely surviving, and now have no other hope than to cry to God, in the hope that He would hear them.
As we were leaving, sister Scripcaru took me aside, and whispered, "I can never repay you for saving my family's life, all I can do is pray for you and those that support you. Know, that I will be faithful in doing so, every day until the Lord takes me home."
Although she didn't ask, I believe a cow would be a great blessing for this family, one that would provide them with a dependable way of feeding themselves. Please pray, and if the Lord so leads you to help in this manner, we will gladly buy the cow.
Psalm 84:4, "Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; They will still be praising You. Selah"
In Christ,
Michael Boldea Sr.
Dear Brethren
A TIME TO PRAY
1 Timothy 2:8, "Therefore I desire that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;"
1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil."
If for all things there is a season, if there is an appointed time for everything, then surely, this is a time to pray. For the past week God has awakened me during the night, not with any particular message, vision or dream, but simply with an overwhelming urge to pray. If I would try to return to sleep, sleep would not come to me, until I would kneel beside my bed, and pour out my heart to God. In my prayers I continued to inquire as to the reason for this overwhelming unction to pray, but received no answer, night after night being awoken, and led to weep before God.
After a week of getting less than three hours of sleep per night, and spending most of my waking hours on my knees, my brother Daniel, who is visiting from Romania came to me and said that God had shown him a vision.
I know my brother has been used of God to give accurate words of prophecy over many fellow Christians, and I believed wholeheartedly that what God had shown him was an answer to my prayer, an answer to why I was being awakened every night to pray.
In his vision, Daniel said he saw a map of America, made of a very fine material, it seemed as though it was some fabric, perhaps silk. The map was being held aloft by a multitude of people standing beneath it, hands raised to heaven in prayer. As he continued to look upon this map, being held in the air by those praying, some began to grow weary, lower their hands, and stop praying. As the prayers would stop, the areas in which no prayer was heard would collapse, leaving a void where once there was a discernable city, or state.
Although no interpretation was given at the time, I understood what the vision meant as soon as Daniel finished relating it. The only thing keeping this nation, are the prayers of the saints. There has never been a time in the history of this nation, where it has needed prayer more than right now. As the hearts of those who should be aflame for Christ grow cold, as those being distracted by the things of this earth grows in number abandoning the truth of God's word, the strength of this nation will continue to decrease proportionate to the disobedience of God's own people.
The urgency of this message is such that it compelled us to publish a special issue of the newsletter, something we have not done in many years. A darkness is quickly approaching, and monumental events are ready to unfold.
The time to pray is now, the time to intercede is now, the time to petition God, and stand in the gap is now. With the world on the brink, and decisions of global repercussions needing to be made by the leaders of this nation, may we fall on our knees and beseech the Father in heaven for wisdom and mercy.
Luke 21:34-36, "But take heed to yourselves, lest you r hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Revelation 3:2-3, "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you."
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
If contributions exceed the amount needed to help a family, the extra contributions for that project will be used to help a family in a similar situation. It is our commitment to you before our Lord that we will be faithful in the disbursement of all contributions that we receive.
The Hand of Help Staff.