“What is the goal of the Christian life? It is godliness born of obedience to Christ. Obedience unlocks the riches of the Christian experience. Prayer prompts and nurtures obedience, putting the heart into the proper “frame of mind” to desire obedience.” – Sproul, R. C. (2009). Does Prayer Change Things? (Vol. 3, p. 1). Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing.
I don’t believe there is a more accurate quote than this to explain how I came to be on the World Race, why I am still on it, and what the past month on the field has looked like for me. Let me explain…
The desire for Godliness:
I have grown up in an amazing Christian home and have always known the Lord. At age 13 I began my own with Christ when I accepted Him into my life. For the past 6 years as I have been walking alongside the Lord I have gradually but purposefully grown closer to Him. I now know the Lord as my comforter, a way that my 13-year-old self didn’t understand Jesus to be. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s the question you undoubtably were asked and thought about as a child. As a child you probably also played dress up, dreaming and pretending to be someone older. When you’re a kid, all you want is to grow up. You desire the privileges and freedoms that come with being an adult. There’s something in each of us that inherently has the desire to grow. We aren’t satisfied with less when we know that more is available to us. 1st Corinthians 13:11 says,” When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned like a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things…” This is the same way it is to be in our Christian lives. But unlike growing up in the physical since, growing in spiritual maturity doesn’t happen involuntarily. It isn’t enough to just desire growth, there is a garden in side of you that must be weeded and watered before fruit can be produced. As we grow in Christ, which is the goal of the Christian life, the Lord will ask more of us. We may be asked to weed our heart more thoroughly or even help garden someone else’s heart. Our obedience to the Lord in these calls will determine our growth. If we really desire to grow as all children do, we must be willing to put away childish things and commit to obedience. This is why right now I am laying on a bunk bed in a Guatemalan dorm room. Because 13 months ago I said yes to growing in Godliness by walking in obedience.
Obedience, the key to riches:
Although I have only been on the field for 5 weeks, I am already ready to go home. Not because of anything bad here, just because this isn’t what I want. I would much prefer to be sitting in my living room with my family recounting the days stories than laying here waiting for my turn in the shower #community. But because I have committed my obedience to Lord through finishing the race, He has been drawing closer to me as I draw near to Him. If there is one thing I have learned from the race so far it is that the Lord honors obedience. In trading my family of 8 people for the Lord’s will, I have been given 46 brothers and sisters that provide encouragement and love me like Jesus. In the 37 days we have been on the race, my squad has witnessed numerous healings and families inviting the Holy spirit into their homes, as being as well as being physically healed myself. I could still be walking with the Lord if I had said no to the race and was at home right now, but through my obedience I have seen the riches that come only you are fully surrendered and willing to be used by the Lord.
Desiring Obedience:
I have prayed many times for God to grow me, to make me who He wants me to be and to use me in big ways. From personal experience, I know it is much easier to pray these things than to obey when God begins giving you opportunities to grow. Obeying requires surrendering personal will, something many people believe they know best for themselves. Obedience to the Lord is our first and only step in living a life of radical faith. If the majority of believer’s desire to experience radical God things, then why aren’t we seeing a rapid movement throughout the Lord of lives being wrecked by the gospel? Why, in 2018 are there still nations that have never heard the name of Jesus? They’re asking God to use them radically, but we don’t see the masses going? Is it because the Lord’s not calling people? No, it is because when God calls us the call is often not what we thought it would be. Rather than the call being lined with jewels and dripped in promises, the call is to “take up your cross and follow me”. Did you know that crosses are heavy? They’re dirty and you’ll probably get a splinter from the wood. We expect the call to look more like Billy Gram then a martyr. So here we are, you’ve asked God to do more with your life than you thought possible and now He’s asking you to give up your most cherished possessions and relationships in life. You don’t understand because this isn’t what you thought it would look like and you had a very different more adventurous but safe call picked out. This is where most people stop, but life without obedience is a life without the riches God has for you. So, what do you do? How do you decide your next step? The world is so quick to step in and offer you advice such as “God wouldn’t call you to suffering so that can’t be the Lords will” or “Maybe that was your own voice instead of the Lords.” I’d like to offer alternative advice: Ask the Lord. Ask the Lord to interpret the call you are feeling, along with the emotions and physical response you are having to it. The Lord already knows your thoughts, but He wants to hear you tell them to Him anyway. Psalms 27:4 says “My heart has heard you say, ‘Come and talk to me’ and my heart responds, ‘Lord, I am coming.’ “ We were designed to be in communication with our Father, bring your requests, messy and distraught, to the Lord. “Do not worry about anything, but instead with prayer and supplication tell God about everything.” Philippians 4:6 God is a big God. He’s ready for you when you disagree with His plan and you’re a month and a half into the World Race and think that it would be better for you to just go home. He can handle your anger but be prepared not to stay there. He won’t leave you where you are and as we discussed above, you don’t want to stay there either. A heart that truly desires obedience is a heart that is willing for the Lord to do what it takes to change our hearts “mind”. This means that you’re willing to stay where the Lord has you despite your discomfort, but that you are open to a heart change. This right here, a heart change through prayer, is why I am still on the field today. Because I desire Godliness, dislike my circumstances, but am willing to walk in obedience by staying where I am. This does not mean I get to keep a bad attitude and through a pity party for myself. It means that daily through prayer I am asking the Lord to ready my heart to desire obedience. Right now, I am willing obedience, but I want to desire it. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Lord, give me a heart that longs to walk in suffering for your name’s sake.
