Dear Justus,
God loves you…
“God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him” 1 John 4:9
We began our week as a squad by spending time in prayer on the 25th of September asking God to show us what He had for us on that day. I prayed this many times over and then went about my day looking for whatever it was God had for me. It wasn’t long before Blake, one of the guys on my team, came up to me saying that he felt like God was calling him to go out and evangelize in the market. He asked me to go with him and immediately I knew that this is what God had for me that day. We gathered our things, grabbed some change to pay for a kombi, public transportation, and off we went to the closest SaveMor market, not knowing what would be waiting for us.
Dear Justus,
God created you to know Him personally…
“And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” John 17:3
When we arrived at the market, Blake and I got the opportunity to talk to about six different people about who God is. The first two people were a couple of older Nsoko locals. One of them didn’t speak any English, while the other translated, but at the same time pretended that he didn’t speak any English. This was a fairly short conversation because it was quite clear that these men wanted absolutely nothing to do with Blake and I. We got up from the table we were sitting at and Saïd a quick prayer for them despite their attitudes toward us.
Dear Justus,
You might not always feel like this is true because we are separated from God by our sin, so we cannot know Him or experience His love…
“For everyone has sinned; we fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:23
When we got up from that place, we saw a Doctors Without Borders truck pull up to the market. Blake and I were both extremely interested in talking with them, so we waited at the truck until they came out of the small corner store. Although it seemed like they were in a hurry, they were just as interested in us as we were in them. We shared a little bit about who we were and what we were doing in the area. We learned that there was a group of them in town working to suppress a TB outbreak and prevent further outbreaks. We knew the had a lot to do, so we let them go, but before we did, we said a quick prayer with them. They were so amazed that someone was willing to pray for them and for the work that they were doing. They drove off with lifted spirits and smiles on their faces.
Dear Justus,
Jesus is God’s solution for our sin. Only through Him can we know God and receive His love and forgiveness…
“Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.'” John 14:6
We caught the eye of a local that was curious about what we were doing in the area if we weren’t shopping. Blake and I shared who we were, what we were doing and some testimonies of our time in Swaziland so far. His face lit up as he listened and began to share his own story. We found out that he was a kombi driver and that he accepted Christ into his life a couple of years back when he was doing time in the local prison. He was so excited about what we were doing and about our willingness to tell others about Christ that he asked us to pray for him so that he could tell people about Jesus on his kombi. Before we could pray with him, he left because his kombi had begun to fill up, so Blake and I prayed for him and his boldness as he drove off to his next stop.
Dear Justus,
We can know God personally by placing our trust in Him as our savior and Lord…
“But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12
We were just about to leave when Blake pointed at someone in the market saying that he wanted to talk to one more person. So we walked over and introduced ourselves to a young Swazi man named Justus. He told us all about his life and how he lives in Swaziland, but works as a picker in South Africa, so he stays with his sister during the week. We learned that he went to church as a kid, but decided that all the church wanted was money, so he stopped going as soon as he could. Learning this about Justus led to an hour and a half of fruitful conversation among the three of us about the truth of who Christ is.
Dear Justus,
It’s not enough just to know this. You have to make a choice, and Justus, the choice is yours…
(Jesus is speaking) “Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears and opens the door I will come in and eat with them.” Revelation 3:20
