I
am constantly blown away by just how far out of any limits of human
understanding God works. We woke up morning five in Malawi and found
out we were going to go out to a community to do some door-to-door
evangelism. Oftentimes we cringe in the states when we hear of any
type of door-to-door evangelism. It has such a negative connotation
to all of us, in the church and outside of it. In fact, our team sat
down over breakfast talking about how uncomfortable it made us feel.
Can the gospel of the incarnational Christ really be expressed and
understood to people in just minutes of meeting them? Can you show
the unconditional, un-leaving love of the Father over twenty minutes
of conversation? We didn’t come to any major conclusions, but walked
out open-hearted to the truth that God is capable of anything.
After
getting to the community, I broke away with one of the translators
and we started walking up to a house that was a pretty rundown place
with chickens and children all over the place. And there on the
porch, cooking and chatting away, is where I met them. Salome and
Diana.
I
loved them the minute I started talking to them. I loved they didn’t
care that I was there or wanted to talk. I loved that they wanted
nothing to do with church or Jesus or anything christian-like. These
girls were exactly the kind of girls Jesus came to love and change.
And so with a silent prayer for the Holy Spirit to fall and change
the atmosphere, I began to share my story of transformation.
That’s
when something changed. The minute I started sharing, they stopped
talking and started listening. I mean really listening. Every word
I said they were holding on to. The entire environment changed
drastically from a simple prayer for the Holy Spirit to come.
sharing about what Christ had done in my life, Diana and Salome
quickly spoke up and said they wanted Christ in their lives. They
both admited they had a lot of troubles with marriage and kids and
they need Christ to come in and work through it all. I couldn’t
believe what I was hearing. It was beautiful.
told them I wasn’t going to give them some routine prayer to pray. I
said that they needed to pray from their hearts to Jesus because
that’s all He cares about – their hearts. So these beautiful
daughters of His knelt down on the ground right there, with hands
outstretched and began weeping as they asked for Jesus to come into
their lives and change them.
I
kid you not. These girls got it. They were changed. And as I
watched them cry out for Jesus with tears in my own eyes, hearing the
delight and rejoice of their Heavenly Father, I heard Him whipser to
me, “Baptize my daughters.” I had never heard Him say that
before to me, but there was no mistaking His voice. So the minute
they got done praying, I told them we needed some water. I told them
I was going to baptize them right there as an outward symbol of the
change that had happened inwardly. I explained to them what it all
meant and they just became more excited. And so with a small bowl of
dirty village water and with their hands raised to the sky, still on
their knees, I baptized them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit.
It
was beautiful. It was raw.
It was real. It. was.
simple. Sometimes I think we miss it in the states. We can
over-complicate everything, over-think it all, and way over-analyze
it. This was none of that. Honestly, I just felt honored to even be
welcomed into such an intimate moment of these daughters walking into
new life and intimacy with their Heavenly Father.
When
it was all said and done, the joy of the Lord radiated
from their faces. There was newness and freshness dripping down
them. And they were changed – forever.
My
intention was never to “convert” them to add to the list of those
that have made some decision. The last thing I ever want to do is
convince someone by my own human words that it would be a ‘wise’ or
‘good’ decision for them. That’s not how the Kingdom of God works.
The Kingdom is about life and death, not right and wrong. And so I
came with the prayer they would experience the life and freedom of
Christ, never the pressure or constraints of religion. When we
realize it’s not about us, but all about Him, it frees us to walk in
fullness of His transforming power believing that by His spirit the
captives will be set free and the dead brought back to life.
No matter how long or short we have with someone, it is only by the
Holy Spirit that change will ever happen. And so despite my doubts,
I saw in the course of 45 minutes two children brought from death
into everlasting life.
And
so I pray we may be people who walk in the truth of who He is inside
of us, that by that Spirit pulsing from every inch of us, people
cannot help but cry out for the very thing that brings the abundant
life every human is journeying to unlock.
