Don’t you just love it when the Spirit reveals something to you? When you grasp something that you never really understood? When a mystery is revealed to you and you are so shocked with the fact that you have lived your entire life without knowing the secret of that mystery? When you discover something so awesome that it consumes all your thoughts and influences your entire being?
The previous time I wrote was when we just left Guatemala and now it is two months later. I am still awestruck with the grace of God and how it influences everything about our purpose on this earth. It gives us identity, it confirms and establishes us, it gives us total authority because we are in Christ and it gives us hope in the future.
During these two months I have been reading through the Gospels and also the epistles of Paul and I could not neglect the fact that Jesus and the apostles received a lot of resistance from the religious groups. I always knew why but until I started to understand “Christ Crucified” as Paul refers to, I started to understand the craziness of the Gospel and why these groups were so offended with Jesus and Paul. My problem was that I would never have classified myself as a Pharisee. If I believe in Jesus, how can I be a Pharisee? The thing is that we walk away from the simplicity of the Gospel and turn to the performance driven religion now widely known as Christianity. This is also how the rest of the world label us. We burden ourselves with selfish works thinking that it will save us and give us favor with God. That sounds more like a Pharisee to me!! Jesus never said that we should earn our way into heaven, all He asked is that we believe. The rest will follow upon you believing. The revelations will follow, the works will follow, the holiness will follow but we are not the source form which it comes. It is Christ in us that is the source of all these things, we must just believe and live in the freedom that Christ gave us. We must not be ignorant with the fact that we may be blind. As Paul writes, we must examine ourselves to see if we are walking the faith.
We must pray for our eyes to be opened, to understand the mystery of the Gospel. The simple Gospel. The Gospel that sets the captives free and not burden them. The Gospel that seems crazy to the wise of this world. The true gospel of the Kingdom of God. What Gospel are you sharing?
2Co 3:15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
2Co 3:16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2Co 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
We cannot change ourselves, we might think we can but true transformation is the work of the Holy Spirit. We must believe that Christ died for us, that we are in Him and He in us, and that He will systematically do the work in you at the right time. This is truly a mystery and more the you think about it, the less it makes sense, but this mystery will change the way you live, forever. Nothing else would be relevant in your life once you understand the grace of God and the freedom that the Kingdom brings to those who believes.
Mat 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Treasures only get discovered when searched for.
Belize
During these two months, we visited three countries: Belize, Mexico and Cuba.
In Belize we stayed at a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base. The base blessed us abundantly and experienced that they should gives us two weeks of just resting. It was truly an answer to our prayers and we felt completely revitalized after our stay there. We had the opportunity to process some of the things that happened in Guatemala and also to experience an Caribbean Island. It was like a holiday. We met amazing people, shared about the love of Christ and grace and went of to Mexico.
We felt that we should not focus on reaching the multitudes, but rather love every person we meet and spend time with them and really care about them. Not with an hidden agenda, but truly caring about their lives.
Doing this, we will ultimately reach the multitudes, one person at a time.
Mexico
In Mexico we worked with a local church and with the youth of that Church. We were there for 15days and were busy with the following:
- Painting the Church
- Sharing our testimonies on national radio.
- Sharing at prayer meetings
- Prayed for the sick and witnessed miraculous healings on the streets and in different homes.
- Landscaping
Cuba
Our time there were very interesting. Our original plan to join up with a local pastor and serve at his church, did not work out. So we ended up in a strange country that looks like a 1950 movie without any contact whatsoever. Well, God enjoyed it and led us into doing a Luke 10 Journey for 13 days. (Read Luke 10). We took the passage very literally and split in twos, took no money and no extra clothing( not even a toothbrush).
We stored our bags and of we went not knowing what we were letting ourselves into. If you want the extended version, just let me know, but I will just mention a few main points. After sleeping on the street for one night and not eating for a day and a half, we met numerous people with whom we could share the Gospel of the kingdom with. Our and their lives got changed forever. God truly provide for is in many ways. Accommodation, food, money for the bus, amazing divine appointments...We learned so much about the Cubans and how their government oppresses them. We are truly blessed to live in a free and open country.