To raise a banner...
It has been almost 8 months since I joined Global Challenge and if I look back how my life were in the beginning of the year and if I look at my life now it has been a journey of transformation. For me I always thought life is about working hard and chasing dreams and if you achieve it then you sit back and you think you have something behind your name. At one point in my life rugby was my everything. Playing for all the best teams and scoring tries and being in the best schools, you would think perfect life. Don't get me wrong people do have different callings and if He called you into the sports world go for it, but make sure Jesus Christ is the centre of everything.
But if I look back there was NO eternal value in that, but God came and show me that there is more to life and believe it or not He has bigger plans for my life. God changed my heart so much that for me helping people, building houses, playing with orphans, cleaning gardens, being in the most poor places in the world and even seeing the brokenness of this world is much more worth than chasing fame and chasing destruction. My only desire is to go out into the world and make an impact in peoples' lives.
I am willing to give up everything in my life to be a missionary, to go out and live a life with eternal value and to tell people about a God who is beyond everything, a God where people can find comfort and hope and above all else LOVE. I learned that life is not a journey to a destination but it is a journey of transformation and at the same time transforming others. God called me to yet another year of Global Challenge where I will be part of our new journey Distant Islands. I have so much excitement in my heart and I know that God is going to move and work mightily.
God gave me Isaiah 62:10-12 where He commands us:' Go through, Go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, Build up the highway! Take out the stones, LIFT UP A BANNER FOR THE PEOPLES! Indeed the Lord has proclaimed TO THE END OF THE WORLD: Say to the daughter of Zion, Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him. And they shall call them The Holy People. The Redeemed of the Lord: And you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
I felt that this is my calling and it is also my only desire to go and raise a banner for His people and they will be Redeemed, Sought Out and not Forsaken. It is our duty to go and remove any hindrance that would stop dying sinners from seeing the cross. Paul Washer said:" There is a place where the flag of Zion does not fly." I want to go and plant that flag for His Kingdom and His Glory.
God also told me in Isaiah 43 that I and YOU are His witnesses that He is God and also in Revelation 2:26 He tells us:"And he who OVERCOMES, and KEEPS My works until the END, to him I will give POWER over the NATIONS." God has so much more and bigger plans for us and it has eternal value. God took away my rugby dream and He gave me something I thought I could never do, but the power of the Holy Spirit is the most powerful weapon on planet earth.
I now have purpose in life and my purpose is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. I will also be taking on a huge challenge where I am going to study to become a pastor while I'm going to travel the world. I'm going to give my everything to succeed and I'm going to work real hard. We are busy fighting a war where people stand in their armour without a sword and not fighting. I'm going out to fulfil my purpose and through it all to enjoy life knowing God is for me.
I encourage you to see life as an adventure and that God has HUGE plans for your life, go out and lift up a banner for His people where ever you are. Go out and be the change, make a difference, fight the fight and praise God through it all.
I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to me, 'You are my son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. Psalm 2:7-8