The idea of “saving” people has always been a little weird for me. This may sound strange from someone who is a missionary, but nevertheless it is true. I believe that no person can “save” other than the Holy Spirit. We as believers are commissioned to lift up Jesus Christ. After that, it is all in God’s hand. “And I, when I am lifted up from this earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32).
So where do we as believers come into this process? I feel that we have the call to show Christ, to tell the good news of Jesus; and then to set them up with a way of growing once we leave. Knowing that it is not me at all, but God. As you could imagine with this mind set, I do much better work on the discipleship side of ministry. I am not one that just wants to get the marks in my Bible of the number of people I led to Christ. I want to be a disciple that makes other disciples.
Knowing my mind set makes what God did this last week in the DR so much greater! We were getting ready to put in a floor in a house that was just dirt. When we went to house to see what all we needed to bring, our host suggested that we go and talk to the people in the village. I really didn’t want to do this because we had no church partner in the area and therefore no way to follow up. To use a Young Life expression, we had not “earned the right to be heard.” Besides that, there was no follow-up in place if someone did get saved.
We first went to the house of an older woman who had been walking with Jesus for over 30 years. After we started talking, she told us that she moved there and was the only believer in the area. She told how hard that was and how the people made fun of her all the time for what she believed. No one wanted to go to church with her. She had asked a lot of people to come and had prayed to show others Christ. She was feeling down, not seeing anything change. I prayed over her for something so specific that seemed too good to come true now. Maybe in time. Or maybe we serve a God that can do all things and wants us to be bold. Either way this is what I prayed: “God give this woman strength to be a person who changes this part of town. Also give her others to disciple. Give her a community to walk out the faith with.”
This was at the end of our day so we only had about 45 minutes to go and meet people. I thought nothing could really happen in that amount of time. I was like, “God, I know You made the world and everything in it but this was just too big of a task in that time”. (I still have so much to learn). We then walked to the next house and I started talking to a woman who looked so amazed for no reason. I asked if I could come talk to her and she stopped me in order to get everyone in the house out to listen to me. After that I started to tell why we were here and she cut me off again. She said that she had non-stop back pain for years, and that when we walked by it had stopped.
She wanted to know everything about who we are, and why we were there. I saw God give me the opportunity to tell about how great His love for us is and I went for it. All the training and my past experiences were coming up and “I” was killing it.
Soon after that a women sitting near me started breast feeding. I was caught so off guard that I lost my place and couldn’t remember what I was going to say next. It was a mess.
I just told her in the most simple way what Jesus did. That He lived the life we were called to live but did not, and died the death we deserved. That He rose from the grave three days later. That He loves you more than you will ever know. That he has done all that is needed for salvation. It is just a choice if we believe Him and are willing to live in His truth.
She said, “I do believe, so what do I do now?” I walked her through a prayer. Then I remembered what I prayed at the house before that. I pointed out the house and told her to get a mentor and that she needed to take people to church with her. She was so excited that she headed over to the house right then.
In that one street three more people got saved that day. All set up with a church to go to. A lady to ask the questions after we leave. Also I got the chance to make a disciple that makes disciples.
I have a list of things I prayed to happen this year. One was people getting saved. Even though I don’t like to put numbers to this, I felt a call to ask for a specific number of salvations, and I put 11. This would be one in each place I went this year, and that each person would be set up well to bear fruit.
Through that day and the work at the “my first love” I have already gotten to see 10 people go from death to life here in La Vaga. And all 10 of these people are set up well and already plugged in to a local body of believers. God has given me above and beyond what I could have asked for here. Also He has left room for more. I think it is cool that He showed me 10 not 11. It is as if He is telling me there is still more to do. I am not to get comfortable, but to keep telling others about Him.
