He knows no fear, and He expects you to fear nothing while He is with you.
I have now been a missionary in Southern Africa for six months and the biggest thing that I have learned over this incredible experience is that God loves me and He wants all of me. He pursues me, He watches over me, and He keeps me safe. I have never been so loved by him. I have never felt the Holy Spirit take care of me in the ways that it has taken care of me. The whisper of the Holy Spirit goes with me and before me. It guides me and it comforts me.
I know that I have been called by Christ to be here and on that call I stand firmly and confidently. I can stare into the deepest darkness of sin, call it by what it is, and with confidence stand my ground because I know that the Holy Spirit is behind me. I will not walk in fear of Satan and what he can do. I will go boldly, unshakable, and trusting in my heavenly father.
“If you don't want the Devil to hit you, hit him first, and hit him with all your might, so that he may be too crippled to hit back.”
When you have the confidence of your call and you know that it is rooted in the will of God and not in the emotions of man; you can endure all things because the same God that created this earth also put you exactly where you are in the exact moment that you are there. God does not make mistakes and He is never out of control. Your circumstances are not beyond what He can manage, and there is nothing that you can do that will surprise Him. If you are called, then you are called to be a conquerer. The victory is not in the battle, because God has gone before you and prepared a way. The victory is simply in answering the call and being available to go anywhere and do anything He asks.
“Christ wants not nibblers of the possible but grabbers of the impossible.”
God is looking for the willing. He wants to find the person who can say “yes Lord, I will give you my all and follow you.” God can and will do wonders with a person like that.
I want to be that person. I pray for it every day. I surrender my will and my way every day so that I may be used by Him in any way he sees fit. I have learned over the last six months that I can never give God my all because there is always something more to give him. I can never be satisfied with what I have surrendered, and the second I stop giving to him I begin to grow stale. I am learning about the continual, never-ending, call to pursue being like Christ.
We can always give more, love harder, love better, trust more fully, spend more time with him…When you think about it, it can become a little overwhelming. Will I ever be good enough for God if there is always something inside me that I need to give Him? It is important to remember that God knows our hearts and His grace is abundant and free. When we fall we are not scolded, rather, we are picked up, dusted off, and reminded that we are ok. That we are loved. That it is ok to fall and get back up and try again.
God knows that we are sinners and that in our pursuit of Him we will fall and sin. There is nothing that we can do to surprise Him with our sin. Because He knew this about us He offered us His son who would be our saving grace. His death paid the price for us. It bought us our freedom and it closed the gap that our sin would open keeping us from our heavenly father. It is through the death of Jesus that we have the Grace to fall flat on our faces and pick our selves back up and continue running to His feet.
God has hidden his love in the deep dark corners of my heart and as I search the cracks and dark places, where my sin hides, I find his Love already there. It has bought and paid for my sin. It sits waiting to not wash me clean but to recreate me in his image. To bring freedom, joy, love, and hope into all areas of my life. The more I surrender of myself the more I find a God who loves me so intimately that he hid himself with in me so that when I searched I would be met with the surprise and comfort of His love.
I do not want to waste the freedom that He has given me through His love. I do not want to play it safe with my life. I want to recklessly pursue Him. I want to know how to Love harder, and love those that are the hardest. I want to discover more of the joy that God has made available. I want to see the world through His eyes and hear the whisper of the Holy Spirit as it guides me in ministry and in the mundane. God has been challenging me on the deepest level to understand that I am only here on this earth for a short period of time. I cannot pass up any more opportunities to love those that he puts in my path. I will pursue the abundant life, with my joy fully wrapped in the Him and Him alone.
I know that I have only been here for the short time of six months. In some ways it feels like a flash in the pan and in other ways it feels like its been an eternity. There has been an urgency placed in my heart to love harder and fuller and for the next six months I will not shy away from that.
I pray that you can be encouraged to examine your life. To see that you have a calling put on your life and no one can take that away from you. You are the only one that can stop God’s will for your life. Don't make excuses, and don't wish you could live a different life. Cry out to God for him to reveal to you your purpose and the plan He has for you and then pursue that plan with everything you are made of. Let nothing stand in your way. Stand firm with unshakable faith and remember that when you are called you are already made a conquerer, designed to stand in victory!
Life is just too short to not love as hard as we can, be as honest as possible, and pursue Him as our source of joy.
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