2 Samuel 24:24 (MSG): “David answered, ‘No, I must buy it from you for a good price; I’m not going to offer God, my God, Sacrifices that are no sacrifice.”
Hebrews 13:15-16: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
I am currently sitting in a coffee shop in Myanmar, three days after I was meant to leave for India. We are here to plant a church- a church in a park. And let me tell you, the Lord is working in CRAZY ways, blessing this movement and establishing his kingdom in this park.
A park that has signs posted around the entrances that prohibit sex and drug use. God is in the process of redeeming this park, because what it is today is not congruent with it’s history. Today kids run around everywhere, people come to exercise, and people come to go to church.
Our last day of debrief, my teammate Josie got to the park earlier than everyone else to have some time in the secret place with the Lord. Little did she know that she was about to be attacked by ants, and meet a (wo)man of peace named Zoe (I changed her name for her protection). After they were done picking ants off of Josie, they began conversating and talking about the bible. Turns out that she was a passionate Christian.
She came to the debrief meeting with our squad, and as we got to know her, we realised that the Spirit was moving. God prompted us to drop our original plans for the day and have an outreach that afternoon, where our white faces would bring people in, then Zoe would preach. During this time, several people came to the Lord, we met another man of peace named Rick (his name is changed too), and many people expressed interest in meeting again the next day. The problem? Well we were meant to leave at 3AM. We did not want to start something and not see it through, or leave spiritual orphans behind. So, the leadership team presented an option to the squad: What if a group stayed behind? What if we stayed to disciple, evangelize and encourage?
For a couple days leading up to this point, I had been feeling a great sense of urgency to reach India. I felt that the Lord was giving me a prophetic sense that our squad was going to be used to do awesome and unthinkable things there. And he totally is. Day one my squad saw miracles. (check out this video a squadmate posted:https://www.facebook.com/jeremijoel/videos/10153609604027525/). India was the country I was most anticipating going into the race. So when squad leadership approached me and invited me to stay, I knew I had to consider it, but I only had 10 minutes to decide. There were many good reasons to go, and many good reasons to stay. I heard the Lord tell me that he would bless either choice, but I also heard him challenge me to submit to Leadership. So I stayed- but it was a sacrifice.
I am losing two weeks and India, two weeks with my full team, two weeks of naan and tandoori chicken. But I am also gaining something. I get two extra weeks in Myanmar, two weeks with this small team of awesome people, two weeks making friends with friendly locals (that was redundant), and two weeks watching God start something amazing.
In the last week, we have seen God start a church. It does not look anything like what we expected it to, but it is awesome.
You see, staying did cost me something, but I have also been incredibly blessed by it. Furthermore, I am not interested in giving God a sacrifice that doesn’t cost me nothing- because then it isn’t really a sacrifice at all. Sacrifice that costs forces us into abandoment and drives us closer to God.
I am reminded of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham waited for years for God to provide the promised son- and God did in Isaac. God told him that through Isaac, God would build a nation. But then God asked Abraham to sacrifice that son. I Imagine being faithful in this situation was not easy for Abraham, but he was willing to do what the Lord asked, even if it was counter intuitive and everything in his flesh rebelled against the idea.
I feel like Abraham- and India was my Isaac. Everything in me wanted to go to India- I felt as though the Lord had given me a prophetic promise that my squad would see miracles there on a ridiculous scale. And in the same way that God fulfilled the promise to Abraham, God has delivered on this promise to me- I just wasn’t a part of it (and I’m learning that that is ok). But because of Abraham’s willingness to be obedient and Sacrifice Isaac, God blessed him. And In a similar way, God has blessed me in ways I don’t know if he would have if I didn’t stay- He has drawn me into deeper intimacy with him, and stronger trust. God has invited me to surrender is happening here to him, because I can’t do it on my own strength.
Going forward, please continue to pray for us and this start-up church we are helping foster. Pray for health, supernatural energy, discernment and deeper relationship with God. We are working on making a video that tells the story of this church so stay tuned for that!
Shalom.
