The devil is always prowling.
He is always waiting for a chance to pounce. Waiting for a chance to make you stray from the narrow path and into the broad.
Kole reminded our team of this while we were all feeling discouraged and trapped in a slump – in desperation for change.
I personally didn’t feel like I was doing anything intentional for the kingdom. The whole time I was thinking about my past life and relationships. The devil was clouding my mind with regret and disappointment. That day was a very slow day for ministry too. We set out to Puerto Viejo for some evangelism and we were getting nothing from the people or the Holy Spirit. He didn’t even feel present. It seems like people come here to forget God and their problems by drinking, smoking, and partying their life away. The atmosphere is dark and depressing. The entire community is oppressed by the enemy. You would think the opposite due to the fact that we are in such a paradise. People have seemed to lose sight of reality. So why would they want to hear about God from some white Americans?
God seems boring and uninteresting compared to the popular lifestyle here. This is was the mood of the entirety of the time that we spent in town. People would brush us off and not want anything to do with us.
For me personally, God was very distant in this time. I wasn’t hearing and receiving His words like other people in my group. My thoughts were wandering back to home and past problems I’ve experienced. I was missing my family and friends and just didn’t feel like I was growing in faith. It’s different because I had expectations to be doing miraculous ministry everyday. Something life changing and new all the time. But I came to realize that ministry can be in many ways. Even if that is just cleaning up the compound that we are on. No matter what the task is, do it out of joy and glory for the Lord!
We came back to the jungle hut for lunch realizing that we had finished the day’s work, but instead we decided to have real and intimate feedback with one another. This had such a huge impact on us as a team. We began to see the slumps we were falling into and how the devil had begun to lead us astray. Prayer is such a powerful way to connect with God, and when encompassing the Holy Spirit in our prayer we began to truly feel that connection. We then as a team began to read the book of Acts for a little bit. We found that we needed to BE BEFORE WE DO, this saying how we need to be full of the Holy Spirit and one with God before we can pour out in influence to others. We need to let the Holy Spirit overflow on to people’s lives through us. So by recharging in His word and as a community, we began this process of allowing change in us BEFORE we tried to bring the kingdom of God near.
Please pray for the team and me that we all can become courageous kingdom men!
