Just last week we found out that our squad is rolling out on January 2nd for India!
Here’s the 11 countries that we’ll be going to, God-willing, in 2011! (Pretty catchy, eh? “To 11 in 2011!”)
India, Nepal, Romania, Moldova, Swaziland, Mozambique, South Africa, Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, and Malaysia.
It’s been amazing for me these past few weeks to get glimpses of God’s heart for us, for the nations, and for all of creation. When the BIG picture is as BIG as it is, it’s hard not to get excited about getting to be a part of it.
Getting to see a little piece of the BIG PICTURE
I was reading Isaiah 11:6-9 a couple weeks ago as part of a Bible study lesson I was doing and was really struck by the passage. It describes the perfectly peaceful relationships that will exist between God’s creatures — the wolf and the lamb, the calf and the lion, the infant and the cobra — and then verse 9 comes along to explain the reason behind this unusually peaceful coexistence:
I was reading Isaiah 11:6-9 a couple weeks ago as part of a Bible study lesson I was doing and was really struck by the passage. It describes the perfectly peaceful relationships that will exist between God’s creatures — the wolf and the lamb, the calf and the lion, the infant and the cobra — and then verse 9 comes along to explain the reason behind this unusually peaceful coexistence:
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lordas the waters cover the sea.
All of a sudden, I was hit by this crazy realization! It is when the earth is filled with the knowledge of God, that ALL of creation will return to how God created it to be — no more harm or destruction being done to each other. How powerful our God must be, that all it takes is for the whole earth to really know who He is and everything snaps back to the way it’s supposed to be!
Here’s the other crazy part: God lets us know Him and allows us to play a role in this restoration by helping to FILL the earth with this knowledge. How cool is that? It just keeps getting better though! God also puts His Spirit — Himself — inside of us to help us with the bits that we don’t know or understand yet. He’s the one who teaches us, gives us the right words to say and prompts us to do the right things so that we can accomplish this.
As I was trying to get my mind wrapped around all this, God brought another verse to mind and challenged me with this… “What are you going to do with this knowledge of God’s great love for you and of the truth of who He is as the Almighty God?”
Pass through, pass through the gates!
Prepare the way for the people!Build up, build up the highway!Remove the stones,Raise a banner for the nations.(Isaiah 62:10)
One day all the nations will come streaming back to God (Isaiah 2:2-5)! But for now, with this opportunity to go to the nations, I’m faced with this question, “Will you help get the highway ready?”
I want to always step up like Isaiah and say, “Here am I. Send me!” 🙂
