Written September 5
Yesterday was a rest day for us.
Really? A rest day? I didn’t feel like I needed a rest day because I didn’t feel like I had been doing that much in the previous days.
Whether this was true or not, I decided to take a rest day.
I was reminded how little time we have here (in North Africa and in life) and felt convicted to be more intentional during the days.
I spent the day relaxing in the apartment and reading until it was time for us to go to our friend’s house for lunch (4:00 pm) and henna. We ate Tagine which is a traditional food here. I even got to try my own hand at henna.
When asking God to show me what scripture to read on this rest day, I felt like I should read James.
So I read the book of James.
Here are some things that were highlighted to me.
…the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have it’s full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. v. 1:3-4
But be doers of the word and not hearers only. v. 1:22
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. v. 2:26
Consider how a small fire sets ablaze a large forest. v. 3:5
You desire and do not have… You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives. v. 4:2-3
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. v. 4:7-8
Be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near. v. 5:7-8
So last night Emily and I decided to go out today and be intentional.
This morning we talked about James and prayed before heading out into the city.
Off we go into the twisted streets lined with little shops.
We came across two women and a young boy sitting on the ground. They were asking for something, but I’m not sure what. We sat with them a while, sang to them, and prayed for them. They didn’t speak any English, but somehow Emily had a special connection to them. People walking by kept looking at us. I guess it was unsual for some American girls to sit on the ground with these local ladies.
We draw attention in a lot of the places we go. I’m excited to see how God uses that.
We start walking again. We see a guy with his foot wrapped up, walking with two walking canes. Emily decides we should pray for him. At first it was his foot. Then he said it was his leg. Then it was his knee. So we prayed three times for healing, and then walked with him some way.
We start walking again, looking at all the fruit stands. The fruit looks good here.
Is that supposed to be a pun Jesus?
We find a place to sit and eat lunch and notice yet another guy whose leg and foot is deformed. It almost looks like he was born that way. So we go to talk to him. No English, but yet we are still able to communicate a little bit and pray for him.
We start walking again. We enter into a huge place filled with fish. Fresh, raw, just caught fish. It feels like they took all the fish out of the sea.
So this scene reminds me of why we are here. To be fishers of men. While there are plenty of fish in the sea, how many are we going to catch?
Jesus really likes puns today.
We continue walking and start to head out of this part of town. I see so many people who have a physical disability.
I see a vision in my mind. One day we are out walking around, pray for a person, the power of Jesus heals them, others are brought, the Holy Spirit comes, and we get to share the Good News.
But today troubled me. Today I felt like my faith was tested.
I’m wrestling with why doesn’t everyone get healed when we pray in Jesus’ name. Every time Jesus prayed, the person is healed, right? And 1 John 5:14-15 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
I feel like I am one of Jesus’ earliest disciples. When they didn’t quite understand yet; when they hadn’t stepped into their full authority yet.
Nonetheless, we’ve decided to do this everyday.
…the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have it’s full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. v. 1:3-4
If my faith is being tested, I want to know what it means to let endurance have it’s full effect.
See Part Two
