It has been a while since my journey and my last blog but felt that what God has done has been pressing on my heart to share, the last time i posted i was busy with training the 2012 students, so let retrace a few steps…
I am currently living in the world renown surfing town of Jeffrey’s bay in a house in the ‘coloured community’ of Pellsrus with 3 incredible roomies: Brandon from America, Joy from Worcester and Cornelius from Zambia…I must say that the reactions I get from people when they hear where I live and who I live with still makes me laugh! Man has it been an adventure!
I came to Jeffrey’s at the beginning of the year in obedience, being faithful to the words that the Lord had spoken in India and through Isaiah 28 telling me that He wasn’t going to do it the way I thought that He would. And man is He faithful to His word! So with no other certainty than knowing that I would be involved in training of the 2012 Global teams I packed my backpack and headed to Jbay. And so began the rollercoaster ride that has thus far been 2012. As I look back over the past few months I am blown away at all that has been accomplished in me by my Creator. It is with great conviction that I can say that I am more broken than I could begin to explain BUT I am more filled with Joy and Life than ever before, and more convinced that Jesus is Lord than on the day the Spirit opened my eyes to Him as the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE! And with that bold statement which sounds so extraordinary I can say that it was through VERY ordinary circumstances that He accomplished His purposes in me this year…
Being Faithful to the Lord calling me to submit under Global’s vision and be discipled found me recognizing that God’s Kingdom ALWAYS draws us into community because God’s Kingdom is community, His church, His people are the way that the answer for the nations will be given! So lesson number one: SUBMISSION! Listen to this one from 1Peter 5:
2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,[a] not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;[b] not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
First He begins by exhorting leaders (if you are in a position of influence you are a leader) to lead in such a way that they be an example to the flock because everything they do is not for selfish gain but rather for the flock to prosper, not because they have to but because they want to, not abusing their power but using their power to SERVE! Then comes the whopper… LIKEWISE you are called to be subject! You are called to submit! Even Jesus learned obedience and was given authority because of what He suffered (Hebrews). I have come to recognize that authority is birthed from submission, First to Our God and then to Our Body…there is no such thing as a lone ranger in God’s Kingdom! 1Corinthians 12 is pretty clear about that one…in fact Paul raises the standard and says (paraphrase) that if you are having an identity crisis (and we know that identity comes from intimacy with Jesus and unity in the body) it does not cease to make you apart of the body… IT JUST MAKES YOU A USELESS PART.(thank you for grace that compels me Lord)
And so this has found me doing things that I never thought that I would be doing… from climbing mountains to take bibles to people who had never heard the word of God before in a foreign country to doing admin in a small town in my home country. From collecting debt for a small physio practice on a weekly basis to debarking logs to build a school… TALK about mundane! But really I began to explore this whole romantic picture of “missions” (i could say a world on this topic of missions but lets not get into that now) i began to realize that no such thing exists.
Now this is not me eliminating “Going” because that is our mandate! We are created in Him to bring His Kingdom in world that is ruled by darkness and to be the vessels that Jesus uses to bring life to people who are captive and enslaved to this world. But what I am saying is that God is more concerned about the heart behind what you do, He is more concerned about your character than you ministry because His desire is to walk in intimacy with you. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (john 17:3). His heart is to restore the intended relationship between us and Him that was ruined because of sin! And as that relationship is mended there will be a natural outflow of reaching out, cos it’s apart of His character, it is His heart!
Again I say He is concerned about your motives… because serving Him is about your state of heart. He kept asking: “why are you doing what you are doing?”
And as I submitted to His processes I began to recognize that EVERYTHING needs to be birthed out of relationship, and as it does it brings life and it bring His Kingdom. So whether you are doing admin or whether you are doing something fancy the question remains the same: Are you doing it in response to OUR BEAUTIFUL JESUS and building His Kingdom or are you building your own Kingdom?
Ok so In sharing my heart I realized that there is also so much I have left out: like my trip to Russia, but I think that will be to be continued… because man what follows after that is quite something to explain… SERIOUSLY life with Jesus is an adventure no matter what you are doing if you will allow Him to do what HE WILLS!
Here’s what I’ll leave you with for now: Faith becomes real when the tackie hits the tar… can you apply in an everyday context what God is pouring into you? Can you live the ordinary in an extraordinary way? Because Jesus is just as real in the mundane! And if that is so is there such a thing as mundane when we serve the KING OF THE UNIVERSE…