I apologize ahead of time guys…this one’s a long one.
“Go west” and “the coast” were the words that God gave our team countless times until he highlighted Canoa to us. Upon arriving here we were unsure of what we were sent here to do but we did learn the people of Canoa are still enduring a lot of pain while rebuilding their lives after an earthquake that devastated this village less than 2 years ago. So naturally, we were intentional about building friendships with locals and their families as we looked for opportunities to share the love of Christ with anyone and everyone.
It was approximately a week later when I was walking and hearing from the lord after asking him what he was looking to do in the lives of the people here more specifically. He spoke to me about the identity of women in Canoa. Also, he revealed three spirits in this land…the spirit of distraction, spirit of numbness and the spirit of confusion. As a team we shared/discussed this and that was the extent of it.
It was all so subtle at first.. it seemed to begin with the comfort of routine. Sunset volleyball games, flattery with the occasional run ins with persistent locals who are just barely adult men trying so diligently to host us as guests to their fiesta at night. (Side note: there was more happening at Thursday night bingo in the nursing homes back in Florida than weekend “fiesta” on the Main Street of Canoa). There seemed to be this idea proven by a handful of the more mature adult men in their life that they could romance an American woman with hopes of finding an open door to his chance at the American dream.
It wasn’t long after some downtime in a beach village who’s words to live by was “tranquilla” (relax) that our team was very much embracing it. So much so that I eventually found myself frustrated. I felt like I was ready to run but not everyone was. It felt like from one day to the next we as a team and as individuals were either unmotivated, distracted and sometimes even paralyzed by our own issues, offenses and/or resistance to what the lord was trying to do in our lives and as a result, we were robbing the people of Canoa of their blessing. Inside I was angry at what I perceived as selfishness, stubbornness and weakness.
It wasn’t until the reaction of our team leader concerned of the risk of fellow sisters becoming a POW that I realized we were all, myself included, walking carelessly on a field of land mines. We were in the middle of spiritual warfare and only one of us, our team leader, seen it coming. I was so concerned and caught up in my own frustration about what I thought we should have been doing that I didn’t catch it until it was directly in front of me.
As a result, this forced some of us to look to the lord to reaffirm our identity, remind ourselves who holds our affirmation, evaluate our hearts, come to terms with our poor communication as a church of our personal struggles so that we can fight alongside one other.
As for myself, this highlighted significant character flaws such as self-righteousness, pride and impatience. As much as I wanted to run into Canoa, share the gospel to invite people to find freedom in surrendering their lives to Christ, the church wasn’t ready. I didn’t see it in advance. I wasn’t looking after and loving my sisters as well as I could have. I wasn’t discerning offensively.
Even in ministry to other parts of the world, God is doing a work in the individuals he has sent. There are times that may not seem as effective as we would have hoped because thousands weren’t added to the body of Christ as in the early church of Acts. But another desire of our bridegroom is that we would be a healthy church and a sanctified bride.(Ephesians 5:27)
In order to have this it requires ministry, truth and sometimes even healthy conflict within the church. I wish I could’ve told you we were all on fire the whole time, preaching the gospel with boldness, healing the sick, raising the dead (I really have a vision for this!) but that just wasn’t the case in Canoa.
Long story still long, we were given this forewarning and rather than using the information to vigilantly guard ourselves and each other from it offensively, we let our guards down due to comfort and fell victim to the spiritual authorities in this land. The lord allowed this situation to bring awareness to the posture of our hearts, awareness of the spiritual battle and discerning spiritual oppressions vs. entertaining fleshly desires, the need for growth in discerning and growing accustomed to using the weapons he has already fully equipped us with. (Ephesians 6:12)
What I learned in these moments was that the body of Christ is just as important as the lost souls of the world… As a sister in Christ, I should be watching out for and discerning not only what’s around me but what is coming ahead. The only way to do that is with an even higher perspective that only oneness with the Jesus and the leading of the Holy Spirit can give. Absolutely, the Lord intends to pursue and bring salvation to the lost but it doesn’t stop there. He is passionately healing, sanctifying, restoring, growing His children, His bride, the church-Team Selah.
P.S.
The beauty in all of this is that we serve a sovereign God that knew well in advance what this month would look like as well as what we and the people of Canoa need. There were many awesome things that happened that I know he worked through such as sharing the gospel in Spanish for the first time, listened and encouraged believers blinded by legalism who felt distant from Abba Father, listened to, spent time with and encouraged families rebuilding their lives since the earthquake, being part of photo shoot to show people the beauty they have yet to see in themselves, held an Olympic Games beach party that was AWESOME!!
(Team Selah)
(Olympic Games party invitations)
(Photo shoot prep)
