Just like my last post, this is the second sermon I wrote. It talks a bit about my desire for Croatia & trying to get back there, and what the LORD is teaching me through this desire that He has put on my heart. However, because of an unforeseen time limit and the leading of the Spirit, I was not able to preach this sermon. I did want to share it with you because I have some exciting news in relation to the parts of the following sermon relate to Croatia.
During the end of our time in Africa, I was talking to some of The Navigators staff members about going to Croatia for the month of July. Long story, short (will expand in another post) I have the opportunity to go back. All I have to do is raise the funds to get there, live there for the month, and to return to America. I’d love if you read the sermon & my next post, comment your thoughts & questions, and prayerfully consider supporting me financially as I pursue this opportunity to minister to people that have helped truly changed my life for the better.
Angie
During my second year of university, I had the opportunity to study in Eastern Europe for one term. I loved it. I got to travel, taste really amazing food, and learn about a people that eventually won my heart. A year after that, I went on my first mission trip through a Christian organisation I met at my university. We went to Eastern Europe for about three weeks. I fell in love with Europe again. The people, the culture, the food, all so familiar and reminded me of a distant home. The trip was challenging and formative. The trip also reignited my love for Eastern Europe. I returned home to America and had to tell everyone about the trip. I told everyone that would listen, even though it took at least one hour for me to tell this story. The story of why eight days on a mountain with strangers that I was incapable of talking to by myself changed my life. I became obsessed with the people that I met, the places that I saw, and the experiences that I had. I spent every spare moment that I had trying to get back to Eastern Europe as soon as possible. I thought about leaving university before I finished my final year, I thought about making enough money to cover the airfare, I researched to see the best ways to become a citizen there or to find a job.
I thought about Eastern Europe, the people I met, and the work that God is doing in Eastern Europe so much. I told the LORD that I wanted to be a part of what He was doing there. I remember praying fervently that I wanted good things to happen there: systems of oppression to crumble, people to experience and profess the life-changing love of the LORD and to combine my passions of teaching, music, and serving others just so I could go back. I worked myself up to the point that I was in a state of distress whenever I thought about them. I loved and cared for them so much, that I had allowed a spirit of anxiety to take residence in my heart and in my mind. A spirit that was not of the LORD. Once I recognised this, I surrendered it to the LORD. Unfortunately, I really like to be in control of things, especially my life. So surrendering these wants and desires that I truly believe are from the LORD was very difficult for me, because He was not providing the opportunity for me to do good work for His Kingdom and for His glory.
(Philippians 4:6-7, 9) The LORD is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. In this passage, the Apostle Paul is telling the church in Philippa not to be anxious, not to worry meaninglessly about people, things, or situations. But, instead of worrying, the Church should take the things that they are worried about, the things they are anxious over, to the LORD in prayer. Not in causal prayer, but in prayer that is earnest and humble. Prayer that resembles someone begging for something. How many of you had children that beg you for something that must have? There is an urgency to their requests, but they also want it so much that their normal behaviour changes to show you how much they truly believe that they need or deserve it. Paul also says that this prayer should be filled with thanksgiving. Not the causal thank-yous when someone does something that you expect, but an honest expression of their deep gratitude, as an act of your faith that the LORD will indeed provide what you are praying for. If you really want something, Paul says, then you should come before the LORD in prayer that is honest & earnest, humble & truthful, and full of gratitude. As a result of telling God your prayers and acknowledging your dependence on Him & His provision, Paul says, that the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds. Not the casual peace that allows you to wait for your relatives to visit, but a peace that is greater than anything we can understand. A peace that will calm our hearts and minds in the greatest of storms. A peace that will protect our hearts and minds from all anxiety, fear, and doubt. The same peace that allowed Jesus to sleep while there was a terrible storm battering the boat He and His disciples were in while they were crossing the Sea of Galilee, in the Gospel of Matthew. The Apostle Paul is calling them, and us, to pray in this way because he wants the Church to put in to practice the things he taught them so that the God of peace will be with {them}.
Even after I had submitted my prayers to the LORD with supplication and thanksgiving, just like the Apostle Paul said to do, I did not have this peace that is promised. I prayed for months and years for something to happen, an opportunity to go back for another three weeks or even the rest of my life. I constantly told the LORD that I was willing and ready to give up everything I had. I was ready to give up all of my friends & family, to pursue these people I knew very little about in comparison. The only problem is that I did not let the peace of God, as promised, guard my heart and mind. I was too preoccupied with making things happen, looking at flights, saving money, finishing my course work. The famous theologian and pastor, AW Tozer wrote, “We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the LORD out of fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends Bet we need have no such fears. Our LORD came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.” When I realised this, I repented and confessed. I told the LORD that I realised what I had been doing and told Him that I would be obedient to the call He has on my life. And after, three days, five days, and even two weeks later, I found myself in the same place again. It was only in true surrender that the peace of God had the opportunity to guard my heart and mind.
(I Peter 5:6-7) Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. In this passage, the Apostle Peter is telling the church to humble themselves before the LORD so that in God’s own and perfect timing that He will exalt them. He will raise them up, allow them to succeed, promote them because it is in accordance to His will and His plan, in His perfect timing. God will honour you because of your faithfulness to Him. Faithfulness in coming to church, faithfulness in learning about Him and His Word, faithfulness in raising your children in the way of the LORD, faithfulness in sharing the Gospel with others, and faithfulness to do everything that the LORD is calling you to do. God will also honour you because you trust in His perfect timing, which is also an act of faithfulness. Peter is also telling the church to cast their anxieties on Him. Not because the Bible says that we should, even though it does, but because He cares for us. The LORD, the Creator of the world spent so much time intentionally orchestrating how everything in the course of time would play out, but He is present in this very moment that He wants you to come before Him and tell Him what you are thinking about, even if it’s how delicious your lunch was today or how mad you are at Him because the people that you love are getting sick, dying, and don’t know Him. He cares about every single aspect of your life, and all He wants you to do is tell Him. He loves you so much, that He is prepared and more than willing to listen to your long prayers and also your wordless prayers. He wants to have a greater and deeper relationship with you. But, please know, that when you cast your anxieties on Him, you have to leave them with Him. You are casting your anxieties onto Him as an act of surrender. You are taking your prayers to the foot of the cross, leaving them with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, asking for His will to be done, and then walking away. You can’t cast your anxieties on God and then take them with you when you are done praying. When you cast something to another, you are losing possession of it, you are giving it to someone else, the thing that you are casting is no longer yours.
Once I truly understood this, then and only then was I able to surrender my love for Eastern Europe, the people I ministered, and the culture I grew to love. Then and only then was the peace of God able to guard my heart and mind. Then and only then did I truly understand how much God cares for me. He cares for me so much that He didn’t want me holding onto this good desire that was weighing me down until it became a burden. He cares for me so much that He wanted me to give it to Him so that He could carry that weight for me. I am here to tell you that the LORD cares for you so much more than you and I can imagine or I could possibly begin to tell you. I want to encourage you to take all of your anxieties, submit them to the LORD with supplication and thanksgiving, cast these anxieties on Him, and leave them with Him, so that you can understand more that He cares for you and so that you can receive His peace. It may not be easy to do, it may take many attempts like it did me, it may be a really good thing, it may be a desire that the LORD Himself has put on your heart, but His peace is worth it. What is something that is giving you anxiety that You need to cast onto the LORD so that you can receive His peace in exchange for it?
