One of the things that I noticed throughout my time in Ecuador was the overwhelming amount of people I met that claimed to know Jesus and have a relationship with the Lord, but denied him by their lifestyle or it was obvious they had never heard the voice of God. This made me very sad because that is how I lived the majority of my life. I believed I knew God and I believed that I knew Jesus but in reality I knew God just about as well as a teenage fangirl knows Justin Bieber (minus the passion). I knew all the facts of his Bio, where he was born, what he was like, His divine attributes, and not to mention the
majority of the stories in the bible. I did all the church stuff, didn’t curse, didn’t do drugs, and lived what many would call a “good life”. I knew it
was never those things that justified me and put me in right standing with God, yet it never progressed beyond menial chores for me. It was a chore for
me to read bible, attend small group and do all the things that made me “Christian”. Walking around doing home visits in Ecuador as well as talking with
many Uber and Taxi drivers, I believe I have spoken to more people like this than not. The word of God says, “My sheep hear my voice”. It also says that
many will come in my name saying did we not cast demons out in your name or prophecy and he will say in return Depart from me, I never knew you. Growing up those words always terrified me and left me unsettled, but I never thought they could be referring to me. That was until one day when I was 18 years old
on my way to my first missionary trip and I had an unsettling vivid dream. Long story short, I dreamed I found myself before the Throne Room of God after
seeing my whole family in Heaven on a Beach and having him look for my name in the Book of Life and not finding it. I was subsequently throne out and dragged by angels after being told the words Depart From me I Never Knew You!! Needless to say, this got my attention.
All this to say, I began a journey that day and the subsequent week on my mission trip to the Dominican Republic where I encountered God in a more real way than I ever encountered him before. I knew it was real because I had done nothing to manufacture it. That is the element I had been missing with God. A point in my life where He genuinely touches my life and all my desires and passions begin to change as a result. It became a relationship when before it was a spirit of religion and obligation. This is why walking through Ecuador broke my heart. So many people claimed a relationship with Jesus and yet were far from him. They believed that because they were raised Catholic and knew who Jesus is that they had a relationship with him. Many will say to him Lord, Lord and He will respond by saying Depart from me, I never knew you. We found many people with religious spirits who believed they knew God and came to know him through our testimony and the words God gave us to say. One of such people was an Uber driver I had the honor of explaining the gospel to. He was raised Catholic his whole life. He believed he had a relationship with God. However, after I dug deeper with questions I discovered he did not truly have a relationship with Jesus. He had never heard God’s voice and later on I found out he believed he could get to heaven through his good works. After explaining the gospel to him, he understood for the first time that he could not earn God’s love. He said he always knew God was a God of Love, but he always believed he had to partially earn his favor by doing good works. I explained to him that salvation is through faith alone with scripture and he was utterly surprised. He told me he had never heard or known this truth for his whole life. I asked him if he wanted to put his faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross for not only his salvation but true relationship with God and he said yes. I would love to say I led him through a prayer and confirmed that he came to know the Lord with
100% certainty but I did not lead him through such a prayer. It was a prayer like that that I had put my faith in for most of my life. I prayed that Jesus
would enter my heart and believed that my salvation was contingent on the sincerity of that prayer. It was not dependent on the sincerity of a decision I
made long ago, instead it was based on work that God began in me when he replaced my heart of stone with one of flesh. My mind changes left and right, but the work of God and his will never changes. “He who began a good work in you will carry it out into completion” and it does not matter what you do, once God begins his handiwork in you he will carry it out into completion. I know God began a work in him and recognized I did not need to manufacture a response
at this moment.
Later, on our last week of ministry, my team and I had the honor of ministering to this woman who was far from God. She grew up in the church, but her Father recently got on fire for the Lord. She did not go to church because she did not want to confess and repent from sin, especially with full knowledge and
intention that she will most likely fall back into it. She had already rededicated her life to the Lord before and fell back into sin. I got to share my story
with her and tell her ultimately the work of Salvation and repentance is a supernatural work of God in our heart. We didn’t begin it with a “decision to follow Christ” and we aren’t expected to continue it based on the one decision. God transforms the heart and the heart then desires to do God’s will. I told her
every Christian or follower of Christ fails and stumbles and goes back into old sin patterns. What defines a real Christian is what they do afterwards.
A Christian is someone who knows their identity in Christ and knows they are a child of God. Does a father get angry at his baby daughter for falling while
trying to walk?… No!! If anything he helps her get back up and is proud of her for trying. I explained to her the depths of grace God has for her and my team
shared as well. That illustration just about sums it up though. The God of the universe, maker of the heavens and the earth, who created you wants to be that intimate with you. To know you like a good father, knows his daughter or son. To get to the point where you as a son don’t walk away from the Lord in shame when you fall, but instead, you look up to him with your arms wide open ready to get picked right back up. Do you have that type of intimacy with the Lord? For those of you who don’t, Do you desire that type of Intimacy? Jesus says Ask and you shall receive… For what Father when his son asks for bread will give him a rock?… How much more will our Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask?
