Long-term Missions training camp was awesome this past week!
We were trained by experienced speakers on discipleship, culture, team development, and asset-based missions (meaning mission work which is sustainable in the communities to which we minister.)
We also got to sit in on many of the sessions for the World Race squads which will launch in January. It was amazing to see a group of 300+ people about begin a crazy year which will change their lives.
During one of the first morning worship sessions, I was praying, and God spoke to me with a picture of this pillar of stone in the dessert, and I knew that the pillar was me.
I wasn’t sure how that applied to me so I prayed and googled “dessert pillars.” What I discovered was that these ancient stones found in the the Negev and Sinai desert are dated back from thousands of years ago.
I realized that I have held on to this image of my faith as something like a flag– bright when new, but must be replaced every couple years, glorifying God only when the right wind pushes it that way…
I don’t think I’m alone in this false self-image. Many people my age are told we are a generation of short-attention spans who get excited about an idea until things become difficult.
But for our sake the Lord made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. To say it’s our nature to give up is to call the righteousness of God fragile, which is obviously a lie. The Spirit he gave us perseveres!
So when it seems I’m not moving forward–I’m trying hard to make an impact, but nothing around me is changing–I can remember that God sees his chosen as ancient pillars, standing tall for thousands of years, being shaped by the Holy Spirit and destined to forever compose his holy temple in the new Jerusalem, with his name carved in our hearts (Rev 3). How the Lord changed me is eternal, and my mind and body need only to get on the same page–to acknowledge that though my body is dying, my spirit is being renewed each day. My present troubles are small and won’t last very long, yet they produce for me a glory which vastly outweighs them and will last forever (Paul).
I shared what God taught me during one of the long-term missions training sessions, I walked to a spot underneath the TV screen which displays random scenic images from the internet, and while I was speaking, a photo of a desert pillar came up for the duration of my sharing. God confirmed yet again that he is making me boulder 😉
Reading Rev. 3:12
“All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God–the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from God. And I will also write on them my new name.”
God bless,
-Steph
