First, sorry that I haven’t been able to post pictures. The internet is so slow here in Tanzania, I get to access it once a week and can barely blog. When I get better internet I will post pictures I promise! I have some great ones you will enjoy!!
Recently, I have been processing some thoughts that were
given to me by God: Why, when asked to give a sermon, do we respond by saying:
I can’t preach because there isn’t a message on my heart to share yet. Why is
that often our/my response? What I want my response to be is: Yes, I will
preach. I will ask God what he wants me to share and he will prepare me.
Yes, sometimes it is scary to get up and preach because I
feel incompetent. It is nerve wracking to have a congregation looking at me as
though I am a Bible scholar yet really I am only a mere vessel for God to use.
But, I am beginning to realize it’s not about me. It is all
about God. I could work on writing a sermon for a week yet if God wants to say
something he will give it to me in seconds. So, I challenged myself to stop
saying no and start saying yes to whatever God wants to do through me.
Little did I know, God would start practicing that in me
that night. Two nights ago, we had church service. I was not supposed to preach
and like I have said many times before, I didn’t have a sermon prepared. But,
God did. My teammate was supposed to be speaking that night but she didn’t feel
well at all. She is not one to admit she is not feeling well, or to not follow
through with her commitments. But, I could tell she was in a world of pain and
discomfort. She has such a servant heart. I knew she would get up on stage and
preach her heart out with a loving heart for our team. God spoke to me and told
me to preach. He told me to let her rest and to trust Him that he would speak
through me. I asked my teammate to let me read over her sermon that she was
going to preach. I though, maybe I could just preach her sermon for her?! But,
God did something even better. Within 5 minutes of knowing I was going to
preach and getting up on stage, God crafted a sermon out of my teammates sermon
and what God was teaching me about that weak and He even tied it into the last
sermon I spoke on. I laughed my way through the sermon (not out loud) because
this was the most powerful sermon I had ever preached and I DIDN’T PREPARE
ANYTHING FOR IT! It was all of God and none of me. Soon enough, God even
prompted me to stand up on a chair and preach showing that at times we stand up
so high that we look down at God expecting him to answer our prayers and
petitions. But, we were never created to look down at God. We were created to
look up to him in submission and reverence. In order for us to look up at him,
we need to go lower. We constantly need to be on our knees before our Father in
Heaven, trusting that he has everything under control. It’s not about us – it’s
about God. Next, God had myself and the whole congregation get on our knees and
face before God and repent for selfishness, control, etc and asked God to teach
us how to daily go even lower. We asked him to teach us to be servants ready
for anything God wants us to do.
The sermon ended, I prayed, and walked away laughing. I
looked at my teammate who was supposed to preach, and she just laughed too. We
laughed because we had no words to express what God just did. We both knew I
had nothing prepared to preach that night. But, out of love our Father in
Heaven spoke. He always wants to speak. We are learning that very quickly.
Glory to God in the Highest! He has so much to say, if only
we are willing to speak on behalf of Him…Amen!?
