“Heal the sick, raise
the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you
have received!�
John 10:8
I’ve needed a reminder this month because I wanted to quit.
I wanted to give up. I’ve needed God to
show up in new ways and show me how He’s actually using me. I finally asked God
to show me, to remind me of why I’m here, and guess what…He blew me away…
We did evangelism in a village about 15/20 minutes outside
of Mwanza for 4 days, and God showed up in ways that I’ve never seen before. This has been a month of firsts for me. Let me put it in a nutshell for you. The past
week and half the Lord has used me to help cast out demons, share the gospel
and actually lead people to salvation. Yes, you read that first one
correctly. 🙂
Okay God, maybe this isn’t about my comfort. Maybe it’s
about Your glory. Maybe it’s about bringing Your Kingdom to the nations.
Somewhere over the past month or two I’d lost sight of the
gospel. I let ME take the main stage and the gospel slip behind the scenes.
Where did my joy go? Where did my love for Jesus and the cross go? You can’t
serve two masters. The Bible makes that very clear:
“No man can serve two
masters; for either he will hate one, and love the other; or else he will hold
to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God AND mammon.â€� – Matthew
6:24 (KJV)
I cannot look at myself AND be focused wholly on my Savior.
God forgive me for forgetting! May the
cross be my obsession! May I be fiercely
in love with the One who gave it all for me! May the petty things of this world
always pale in comparison to the riches of the gospel.
Elizabeth and I had the honor of leading the woman on the left to Jesus!
I have to give a shout-out to Keith Wilson, my
pastor/friend/brother, for always bringing me back to the foot of the
cross. You are legit!
Today, as I’m writing this, I’ve already had the opportunity
to see my teammate lead a woman who
is married to a Muslim man to salvation, pray
for a Christian woman whose husband isn’t a believer and is having an affair, encourage a young man that claims to
know Jesus to step up and be a powerful man of God in his community, share Jesus with a Muslim lady and lead a young woman in a prayer for
salvation. All of that took place before lunch today and those are only the
stories from 2 of us of my team of 7.
A cute little kid in school and a lovely woman we led to Christ reading the Word as a new believer!
Every day is not like this. There are many mundane, boring
moments and days just like back in the States.
But then there are THOSE
moments when God shows up and shakes your world. The trick is remembering those
when you’re hot, sweaty, tired and jam packed into a dala dala. We must
remember what the Lord has done and hold fast to His promises. We must be
remembers.
“But I will remember the
years of the right hand of the most High. I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.�
Psalm 77:10b-11
PS
If
you’d like a more in-depth story of some things that the Lord has been
doing, I can email you a copy of an intense story from my time in
Tanzania. Just shoot me an email, and I’ll get back to you ASAP!
