So way back in Cambodia, I asked God to open my eyes to see things about him that I had been missing or hadn’t learned yet. I was reading in Colossians at the time and noticed a theme of words like “mystery” “hidden” “secret” and “treasures” and I got to thinking “what is with all this secret treasure mystery stuff?”
Colossians 2:3 “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”
Colossians 3:3 “For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 1:27 “To the saints, God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
So I did word studies, I looked for more passages elsewhere in the Bible, I talked to God and asked him what I was missing. I felt like these treasures had to do with who God was; things about his character, things that I hadn’t learned about or experienced of him yet.
But I didn’t get any answers.
I spent a good week or so trying to figure out what all this hidden treasure business was about. I will admit, I was getting a bit frustrated. I wasn’t having any revelations or nudges from the Lord. I was genuinely wanting to know and learn more about God, but I felt like he wasn’t giving anything up. These treasures were hidden well. Too well if you ask me. Weeks go by and I left the subject alone. I knew God would reveal things when he was good and ready. Or maybe when I was good and ready. I would just have to wait for my treasure.
Well, little did I know that God would give me a treasure map in a rundown, humble church in the mountains of a tiny village called Samosir, Indonesia. Our team drove 8 hours to the area of Lake Toba to attend a revival given by two missionaries from South Africa that were staying with our host for the month.
May I present to you Pastor Dave and Frances van den Berg! If you look closely in the above picture, you can see P. Dave waving!
God gave our team the sweet gift of getting to know these two humans as their time in Indonesia lined up perfectly with our team’s time in Indonesia. Over the past 3 weeks, we have gotten to sit in on dozens of teachings that P. Dave and Frances have given. And man are they wise. And anointed. They are from South Africa but have spent the last 20 years of their lives as missionaries in Russia and Indonesia, primarily in Russia
Back to the tiny church revival. This revival was from 9-5 over the course of two days. This was the first time I heard P. Dave preach. The topics ranged from faith, praying in God’s courtroom, Holy Spirit anointing, and various other things. Walking into that church, I didn’t really have any expectations. Walking out of that church, I felt like my life could be on the cusp of revolutionary breakthrough.
You see the things P. Dave and Frances preached on were things that I had never heard anyone talk about before. They laid it out so clearly and directly and backed everything up with scripture. It was almost as if they took elementary Christian concepts such as faith and the Holy Spirit and unpacked them like Russian dolls. And I was eating it up. Some of their teachings were so complex and unheard of and even radical that I found doubt and unbelief creeping into my mind. The Lord convicted me of that real quick. Despite their complexity, everything just seemed to make sense. The way they weaved scriptures together was like putting a puzzle together and finally seeing the whole picture.
Sitting there listening and taking furious notes, I couldn’t help but feel unsettled with myself. I guess the word you could use is convicted. The Holy Spirit convicted me in that church. And boy did I need it.
- I thought I was a faithful person. God really pulled the rug out from under me on that one. I knew that I believed God could do ANYTHING. But faith is more than just believing. True faith requires action. Putting your money where your mouth is. I can say I believe all I want, but that doesn’t mean much until I prove it with action.
- I thought I knew a lot about God. HA. I realized even more just how infinite he is and if I spent a lifetime acquiring knowledge about him, it’s still just a crumb compared to all that he is. There are so many things hidden within his Word that he is waiting for us to discover. At least I scratched a little more of the surface thanks to the van den Bergs.
- I thought the time I was spending with God and the things I was doing for God were enough to reap a harvest. I thought the spiritual habits that I had created were enough to experience him. Don’t get me wrong here, I believe that I’m enough for God solely because of what Jesus did on the cross. But if I was going to become a powerhouse for the Lord, and experience his power more fully, it was gonna take a lot more work on my part. God doesn’t do all the work for us, he doesn’t want to carry us all the time. He wants us to walk on our own two feet. And he needs us to be actionable if he’s going to bless us with more.
So how is all this a treasure map? The things that I learned have convicted me to create new spiritual habits. Good habits lead to good rewards. See where I’m going with this? If I apply to my life the things that I’ve learned, I’m not going to stay where I am. The Lord is going to take me places and allow me to experience and see things that my old habits just couldn’t reap. God will lead me to experience more of his treasures if I’m faithful with the treasure map that he’s given me. So did God lead me to the “X that marks the spot?” Not necessarily, but he gave me a map, and that map in itself is a pot of gold.
HERE’S THE BEST PART: P. Dave preaches out of small booklets that he and Frances have written. And you can view and/or download them FOR FREE! There are five of them and they are all less than 50 pages. PLEASE READ THEM. I’ve read the first three already and they are AMAZING. They’re seriously changing my faith!
If you’re not tired of reading, I’ll give you a further update on general things we’ve been doing in Indonesia since I haven’t given an update in over a month!
Our team is staying in Medan, Indonesia. It is a relatively large city. We are staying at a church, Gereja Elim Kristen Indonesia. Our ministry includes things like hosting English clubs, youth events/revivals, preaching/teaching, home visits/prayer. It’s been really awesome! Our accommodations include squatty potties and bucket showers out of a vat of water that you also use to force flush the squatties. Naturally, our whole team paid $50 for a one month gym membership to shower at the gym. Haha! Here in Indonesia, we are celebrities. There are almost no white people here (I think I’ve seen 3-4), so we get stared at everywhere we go, we get asked to take pictures ALL the time, and are basically treated like B-list celebrities.
The month started off a little rocky for me, but it has turned into a place I will be very sad to leave. I’ll miss our time here and all the things we’ve learned and experiences we’ve had. We will be flying to the Philippines this Friday, the 27th. Our last month!
Thanks for staying tuned! God bless!
