“And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.” Luke 9:1-6
I’ve read this familiar area of scripture many times, Jesus telling the disciples to take nothing with them, but just to trust Him as they set out on a journey to tell the world of who God is. Not going to lie, but this sounds a tad bit crazy to me. Take nothing with you? What if you need food and no one is willing to give? What if you need to get somewhere quickly and no money to pay for transport?
This area of scripture came alive for me one day in Nepal. On one of our last days of ministry, we were assigned to have a “faith day,” which was basically a day where you and your partner were free to go about Kathmandu, but with no money or food for the day. The goal was to ask God what He would have for you that day and trust that He would make things happen. I was honestly pretty excited about parts of it as I do enjoy relational evangelism, but hate being rushed by a schedule and not having time to stop and talk to people. On the flip side, I did expect for it to be a day of fasting and having to walk pretty far as I didn’t expect people to really want to give us things for free. I partnered up with my friend Allison and off we went, ready to see what the day would hold.
The day before “faith day” I had felt led to talk to a guy on the side of the road as we walked home. As him and I were talking, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a shop named “Emmanuel Crafts,” with a cross on the sign. In my head I noted this, hoping for a chance to come back and see what they were all about. So on Faith Day, I suggested to Allison we start by going to check that place out. When we arrived out front, we realized it was an office hidden back in a maze of houses and we didn’t exactly know how to get in there. Before we knew it, here comes the guy I had talked to yesterday,, turns out he is the landlord’s son and more than happy to help us find the office, even going so far as to barge in and tell us to follow him. God wanted us to visit this place, and had worked in advance to build a relationship to help us get there. A lesson I am learning on The Race is that God is always working in the background, getting us ready for things before we even know it. God may be doing something in your life today that He doesn’t intend to use for six months, but how cool to see how intentional He is.
So here Allison and I were, transported from the dusty streets of Kathmandu and into a jewelry showroom with two bewildered Nepali women staring at us. We got the share what we were doing and find out their stories. Emmanuel Crafts was founded by Sarmila, a widow who had grown up Hindu, but converted to Christianity later in life. She started Emmanuel Crafts to provide jobs to women in need and to be a Christ-like example to her employees. She stated that she wants those who work for her who don’t believe in God to learn about Him through how she lives. They invited us to share a cup of tea with them, which we gratefully took due to our lack of funds for the day. We got the chance to pray for them, share the idea of opening an Etsy shop, and encourage them on the mission. It was an hour into Faith Day and I already was amazed and encouraged by how God had used us already.
After awhile, we headed out from the comfortable office of Emmanuel Crafts, back onto the dusty streets of Kathmandu with hours left to our day and no formal plan of what to do. We started walking and asked God to direct our steps and our path to align with what He had planned for the day. As we walked, I made eye contact with a man in front of the butcher shop. I stopped to say hello and we began talking. He invited us to sit for tea (free item number two) and we began to talk. He spoke broken English so it was a bit difficult, but I was able to share about how God used him that day to provide for us, ask him who he thought God was, and share about our lives. We had a long chat and then it was time to move on. God had provided another material need, but also a place to minister.
We then praised God for bringing another person he wanted us to talk to and again asked for what was next. After we walked awhile, leaving the main, dusty road and onto a side street where a large Buddhist temple sat, we spotted school kids out for their afternoon snack. We wandered over to talk to them, and soon ended up in a conversation with a group of girls. The girls offered, without us asking, to share their snacks with us and we began talking. One of my prayers for the day was that God would show us Christians in the community to encourage as we were getting ready to leave, but they would still be there living for The Lord. Anyhow, turns out one of the little girls was a Christian, but none of the rest of her friends were. We got to talk to her, encourage her, and pray for her ministry amongst her friends.
At this point, we had received two free cups of tea and some small snacks, but we were starting to get hungry. We walked for probably half a mile and passed a donut shop. As we walked past, I felt prompted to stop and talk, but didn’t. About halfway down the lane, I decided that I should listen to the prompting, so we went back. Once there, we realized the shop owners spoke almost no English so we looked at the donuts and mimed we had no money. They didn’t mind a bit, giving us a seat and donuts to eat, not charging anything. I wanted to launch into a sermon about what a blessing they were and pray for them, but due to the language barrier, all we could do was smile and pray to God, praising Him for providing and asking for blessings upon the people.
Once we departed, our stomachs full, we ran into another Christian shop owner and prayed for her. We then walked on, feelings prompted to go into a restaurant and there the host was a Christian who we got to encourage as well. God was answering my prayer of showing us how to love the believers in Kathmandu.
As the day wrapped up, Allison and I were excited by what God had done. We left for the day without a formal ministry, food, or money. We came back having sewed seeds with shop owners, school kids, and fellow Christians. We came back full and having been provided for.
The Lord increased our faith that day by showing us we truly have nothing to worry about when we are going first for His Kingdom.
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Further, in Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus also says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in hearts, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We spend a lot of time worrying about how things are going to work out, how we are going to get enough, how we are going to make the most of this life. For years those fears are what kept me from the Race, but on this day when we were sent out with nothing, my burden was not heavy, my heart was not troubled. You see, I am learning to trust God in everything, even down to a free donut. Life isn’t broken up into Faith Days every once in awhile, we are meant to have a FAITH LIFE. If there is something in your life that feels heavy or too much, are you carrying something you shouldn’t be? Are you striving for something that is temporary and not of the Kingdom of God? Jesus promises us His yoke is easy and that we need not worry about stuff, but trust He will provide. There are areas of the bible that don’t come alive until we are finally handing more and more over to God, in a spot where we must rely on Him for the things He promises. Challenge yourself this week to put yourself in a spot, whether in a conversation or helping someone, to where you must trust God will come through for it to work out, you will be amazed at what will happen.
