“Vroom!! Vroom!!” My nephew Jayden pulls back his toy car over and over again and then lets it go. It speeds off on the hardwood floor and then crashes in to the wall on the other side of the room. The more he pulled the car back, the more charged it was and the further it went. I have felt like one of these cars in God’s hands over the past few months.
1 – God pulls me back at Training Camp during a 10 day wilderness excursion and immersion into the God Culture of the World Race
2 – God pulls me back again charging me up from the amazing experience of being able to serve Jesus Burgers along side Isla Vista Church
3 – Upon my return from California, Neal shared the video, “A Call to Anguish” by David Wilkerson. Those 8 minutes changed my life. Yet again, charged up and pulled back by God.
4 – I Watched “War Room” with my best friend, Lea Parker, which again left me pumped and ready to serve the Lord.
I was full. Done. No more. I can’t handle it or keep it in! The Holy Spirit was just overflowing!!! That Thursday night, I went to church at The Bridge. During the teaching, I began to think about the battle we are in. I thought, the enemy has lost. Jesus conquered the grave and one day Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire. He loses. And yet, people still die without knowing Jesus and Satan tries to pull as many down with him as possible. As I thought about the world and the plight it is in, I thought, if this is a battle of numbers, he is winning. I know it is not a battle of numbers, but I couldn’t get that out of my mind. What do I do? How can I fight it? Take as many people with you as possible. Ok, that is all I can do. There is a real battle in front of me and people NEED to know about Jesus. Decision made.
The next morning, I woke up and had to go to the DMV first thing in the morning. As I was standing in line, it grew to about 20 people. The enemy said to me, “These people are mine. I am going to take them with me.” Then God said to me, “These are my people and I want them with me.” There was a real battle going on and it was like I could see the enemies tactics. I said in my head to the enemy, “These people are mine and God’s. You can’t have them!” I stepped out of line and shared the gospel with everyone in line. It was short and sweet, but got the point across. The DMV opened as I was finishing talking and everyone stood there until I was done, saving my spot in line. After I shared, I awkwardly got back in line where two ladies thanked me for sharing and asked what church I went to. Nobody said anything after that and it was awkward. Just awkward. No-one yelled at me or threw anything at me. Nobody screamed at me or threatened my life. What was I scared of before? It is amazing what we can do when we get past those simply “awkward” moments.
I went to work incredibly encouraged. I shared what happened with two of my co-workers. The woman I shared with started tearing up and wanted me to pray for her daughter. My other co-worker told me that he was about to the point of giving up on a lot of things and had been extremely discouraged by negative people in his life. He said, “You know, I have a Christian friend that I have not hung out with in awhile. I think I’m going to hang out with him on Sunday.” It took one conversation to change his whole countenance. I then started thinking about dinner that night. My family goes to dinner every Friday night. I kept seeing my family and I eating at a table in the middle of the restaurant as all of the people around us die not knowing the Lord. They are just lost. That night, sure enough, I went to dinner with my parents. We were in Tokyo Express as I was telling my mom about what happened at the DMV that morning. Then I remembered what I had wanted to do the next time I was in a restaurant. I wiggled and writhed in my seat for about 15 minutes as I thought about getting the attention of everyone in the restaurant in order to share the gospel. I couldn’t do it.
“Get up,” God told me.
“But God, we are in Tokyo Epress!”
“I know. Get up.” He calmly seemed to tell me again.
Finally, after 15 minutes, I got up and got the attention of everyone in the restaurant which was about 4 families at the time. “I’m sure there are people in here who are hurting and maybe even fighting other people you know. The Bible says that we do not fight flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities. There is a battle going on for your life right now. There is an enemy who wants your life, who is using everything he can to get it. He does this through distraction and entertainment sometimes to get you looking at something else instead of your life as things fall apart around you. There is a God out there who loves you and wants a relationship with you. He wants to put a hedge of protection around you, but He can’t do anything if you don’t talk to Him.” As I finished, there was one guy in the corner who clapped. Awkward again, but not so bad. It was worth it to tell them what God wanted me to say.
Later that night, my mom and I went to Food Lion to get some ice cream as we were on our way over to my sister and brother n laws house for ice cream and apple pie. As we walk into Food lion, I was overwhelmed. “God, if I share the gospel with everyone in here tonight, we will never get home!” “Wait for my prompting,” He told me. I waited. We were about to leave the grocery store when I saw two guys and a girl in the vegetable section by the entrance. I started to walk out, but as I walked, it was like my feet knew I had to go over there. I did a U-Turn at the exit and talked to these three people. I got to share the gospel with them and talk about theological questions they had and then I prayed with all three of them plus another friend who walked up in the process.
I didn’t wake up that morning thinking, “I’m going to share the gospel with everyone I come in contact with!” God used a series of different things to pour into me until His Holy Spirit was overflowing in me, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I now understand what the overflowing of the Holy Spirit means.
The lie I believed before training camp was that God was done with America. “People here don’t want to hear about Jesus. They already know.” I would think to myself. “They have made their choice.” I wanted to go somewhere where people hadn’t heard about Jesus and wanted the hope He offered. I wanted to go somewhere where people didn’t know that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and they would be overjoyed from gratitude for what He has done for them, but God had something to show me. He just needs me to get past the awkward moments to tell the people around me that He died for their sins 2,000 years ago and that He wants a relationship with them today. Not yesterday, or tomorrow. He wants them today. God WAS not and IS not done with America.
