Before I left on the race I had a feeling God had more in store for me in the last half of the race than in the first half. Boy, was that feeling right. God has taught me a lot, especially in these last three months and one of those things is that consistency is key.
I realized He was teaching me this last month in Jamaica and when I looked further back, He began teaching me that in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. I won’t go into too much detail but when we were in Costa Rica our ministry was reaching the community surrounding the church and evangelizing. The whole month was an ATL (Ask The Lord) month. Every morning we took time to worship, pray and ask the Lord where He wanted us to go that day. Well, on our first day, the Lord told me, “Go to the coffee shop. Be consistent and go everyday.” At first I didn’t think it was the Lord telling me to go, I thought it was just my own thoughts but I still followed through and I sure am happy I did. I got to know the owners and their family pretty well during this month. We built a relationship with them and long story short, by being consistent, the Lord blessed the family and especially me more than I could have imagined. Two months later, I am still in contact with them.
Be consistent.
Fast forward a week and a half or so to Jamaica and I realize, God is still teaching me to be consistent. My team was with another team while in Jamaica and we lived in Spanish Town. Our main ministry for the month was evangelism. We partnered up with someone from the other team as well as a local and would go out into the community.
I had the pleasure of being with Mary (my sister from team Oak Grove) and Shamar (my brother, one of the amazing locals). On our second or third day of evangelizing we met Fredrick. God told us after that first conversation with him, to be consistent and go back to him.
Fredrick was the first person we met that day. We walked up to him, started a conversation and eventually sat down in the dirt with him. Mary, Shamar and I sat with Fredrick for most of the morning and it was awesome. You see, when we first asked him what he believed, he said he didn’t. He didn’t believe in God, Jesus or prayer. He told us he grew up Hindu but doesn’t believe that either. He said there are so many religions so how do you know what is right so he chooses not to believe. You know what, that’s okay for now because we can’t change people’s hearts or minds. Only God can. While Mary was talking, I was praying that God would start to soften Fredrick’s heart and make His presence known to him. By the end of our conversation with him, God was already working and here’s how. Towards the beginning of our time with Fredrick, we asked if we could pray for him and he refused. It wasn’t just him saying, “nah, I don’t want to”. It was a straight up refusal. At the end of our time with him, again we asked if we could pray for him. Guess what? He said yes! As we did that, Fredrick started to cry and it was the start of God softening his heart. We said our goodbyes that day, told him we’ll see him soon and gave him a hug (to which he responded that it was his first white person hug).
So, Mary, Shamar and I continued going back and God continued working in Fredrick’s heart. We saw Fredrick almost everyday this month and his transformation was incredible. Each day, we told him a little more about Jesus and each day he started to believe a little more. Multiple times throughout the month, he told us, “I know what you are telling me is truth, I’m just not ready to accept Jesus.” Again, that’s okay because we can’t change people’s hearts, only God can. We just need to be consistent.
Fast forward to our last day with Fredrick, we decided to spend the whole morning with him. One last time, Mary, Shamar and I went to visit him. On this day we actually went into his home to talk. As Mary was talking she felt the Lord say we need to wash Fredrick’s feet. As soon as she said that, I also had the same feeling. In John 13, Jesus washed His disciples feet and that is what we wanted to do for Fredrick. When Jesus did that, it was a way of Him showing His disciples how much He loved them and He wanted to serve them. It was an example we Christians need to follow. When we told Fredrick we wanted to wash his feet, he refused (just like he did with prayer the first day we met him). We said okay and Mary continued to read John 13. Fredrick listened and continued to refuse but we didn’t give up. We put the bucket of water in front of him and shortly after doing so, he lifted his foot above the water without saying anything. Mary and I looked at each other, smiled, and asked him again if we could wash his feet. Guess what? He said yes. We prayed for Fredrick as we were washing his feet and he began to cry. Again, this was evidence of God working in his heart.
After we were done, Mary and I sat on either side of Fredrick and Mary said she felt the Lord telling her we should sing “Amazing Grace”. The cool thing with that is at the beginning of our time that day, the Lord told me we need to sing “Amazing Grace” with Fredrick but to wait a while before we do. So, Mary, Shamar and I began to sing the first verse of the song.
“Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
was blind but now I see…”
When we sang the part, “that saved a wretch like me…” Fredrick cried out, “you’re not the wretch, I am.” We told him we are too and just continued to sing. We ended up changing the lyrics just a little bit and by the end Fredrick was singing (a song he did not know) with us.
“Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I may be lost but one day found,
I now am blind but I will see…”
Fredrick was crying as he sang along with us. Again, this was evidence of God working in Fredrick’s heart and it was beautiful.
Finally, as I was praying before we left I asked God, “Please continue to work in and soften Fredrick’s heart Lord…” As I said that, Fredrick cried out, in the middle of the prayer, “He is, He is. I feel Him in my heart!” Again, this was evidence of God working in Fredrick’s heart.
He started out as the man who refused to let us pray for him to the man crying out to God. Fredrick didn’t accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior while we were there but we saw God clearly working in him and we believe that he will accept Jesus one day soon. All we need to do is be consistent. Since we are not are not there to be consistent in person, we are here to be consistent in prayer. Always.
None of this would have happened if we hadn’t obeyed God’s voice to be consistent. When you obey what God is telling you to do, He is going to do things you didn’t think were possible. So I will finish with a question for you…
Where is God calling you to be consistent?
