My life was transformed a little over four years ago when my heart reacted to the truth of the gospel in repentance and confessed Jesus as my Lord and Savior. In this exchange where I gave my sinful life over to Him and received from Him his Holy Spirit that enabled me to live a life of righteousness above reproach in Jesus, many things changed. I no longer wanted to dedicate my life to achieving professional goals, social status, acquiring material comfort and delighting myself in selfish pleasures but my heart was turned into a heart of service and care for those who were out in the world that had no one to care for them and did not know they were worthy of being served.
The Lord promises us that if we are faithful in the little things He will trust us with bigger things. For the whole of my walk with the Lord, He has walked faithfully right beside me and shown me the beauty of the small things. There is beauty in listening to the hurt and dreams in people’s hearts. There is beauty in understanding different perspectives and laboring to find the points of agreement to create unity in which love may flourish. There is beauty in giving your time, energy and emotions to satisfy the physical, emotional and psychological needs of those who lack. Every little good work in the path of the Lord is beautiful because it was Him who created it and perfectly placed it there for us to reveal Himself to us and draw us nearer to His heart.
This last week He trusted me with something bigger. This last week I was invited to preach His word at a children’s chapel. Even though it may seem like a normal thing to do for any christian on an 11 month mission trip, for me it wasn’t normal. It was something new, big and important.
Up on the pulpit, my heart was pumping so hard that less than ten minutes into my first sermon I was sweating as if it was a twelve round boxing match. And in a sense it was! I was talking to a group of about 50 young kids about the good news of the Kingdom of God, how real it was and how can we engage in it through faith in Jesus. There was certainly a lot of resistance in the spiritual realm that very naively I didn’t really expect to encounter. Kids have a special place in the Kingdom for in their minds they haven’t yet created a set of parameters and boundaries that limit God’s power and will. They can more easily connect with the deeper truths of the Gospel without being hindered by reason or previous bad worldly experiences. It was a fight which I’m happy to announce that God won even though it cost me most of my day’s energies.
Going through this experience I can see how God is opening for me a whole new battle field in which I can practice my faith and get to be a witness of His perfect will. I’m excited because the bigger the challenge the bigger my need to depend on God. From the little I know Him, I cannot even start to imagine where He is planning to take me but there is no doubt in my heart that it is going to be good. Since this first experience I’ve preached once more and tomorrow I get to preach one final time. This last time it will be in front of a 1000+ college students. I know He goes before me. I’m just a priviledged follower who has decided to leave everything the world has to offer in exchange of receiving His wonderful grace.
When Jesus revealed Himself to the woman at the well in John 4, at the end of the account He explains to His disciples how there is spiritual food which is far more important than earthly food. How the Spirit is fed and strengthened by doing the will of God. I now can relate much more closely to this passage for I have experienced it. Doing the will of God by preaching His Word has definitely brought so much blessings and strength to my spirit and my relationship with Him. It is now my task to steward them correctly that I may not turn prideful in that strength and blessing and depart from His path. That will prove itself a challenge for this next season but I trust in Holy Spirit to keep me humble before my Lord and Saviour.
To finish this post I just want to share all the greatfulness that is in my heart towards God and everyone involved in the World Race, as well as my family and friends back home who have supported and encouraged me in this adventure. In turn I want to encourage everyone who reads this to contiinue seeking the calling of God on their lifes and not to settle for anything less. Nor age nor time nor resources nor anything is big or strong enough to keep God’s appointed will and blessings over our life if we chose to acknowledge Him and follow His voice truthfully and wholeheartedly.
