Friday, November 9, 2012

Remembering the Past to Move on in the Future

When you are about to enter into a new challenge it is good sometimes to look back at past events to see how God showed up and showed off in your precious life.  You want to be like young David who stood before King Saul and said he wanted to slay Goliath.  When King Saul asked him how he could possibly do it, David assured Saul that God was with him, that together they had already killed the lion and the bear (1Samuel 17:33-37). 

So here I sit at my keyboard, I know there are Goliaths in my path and so I remember the times in which God has called me forth, and gone before me.  Here is one example:

I took a group of teens to the Czech Republic on a mission trip.  It was a time in which God was moving  in our little town or Hradec Kralove (sp).  We had been given the keys this formerly communist city where there were a handful of Jesus followers amidst a crowd of atheists.  The mayor of the town gave us the town square to share our skits and songs and to proclaim the gospel. It was an open hand to Jesus. This in itself was miraculous.

 Here I am in this picture standing up to make an announcement that we were going to take all of our American students back to the school where we were building a playground. Instead of the announcement the Spirit of God came upon me and I started sharing the Gospel.  My interpreter stood beside me, sharing God's good news of redemption with the Czechs in the square. It was not something I was expecting to do, I was doing a shift change. God was doing a life change.

You see this picture here?  It was what happened after I spoke.  My interpreters were asked questions and small groups of Czechs gathered to hear more of God's Word.  Certainly I have seen God move powerfully in the nations. 


Here is a happy little guy enjoying the playground my students built for his school.  Before we came they didn't have much.  We brought wood, nails, slides and swings, and mostly we brought what you see below. 



    We brought students who were willing to live their lives for Jesus. They gave God their Spring Break and they gave God their muscles and hearts and said use me.  My students erected this cross on a hill above the playground.  I don't know how long it stayed there but I do know that in the school in which we served there were 80 people who accepted the Gospel.   

Me and my friend Vicki climbing a mountain in Korea, actually we were being silly, we walked up a path to get there, but it does look harrowing. 


Dear friend,  when God is inviting you to climb mountains that seem impossible to ascend, remember that He stands at the top of the mountain, at the base of the mountain, and with you in every step of the way. Take a moment to look back in your own life and sit with God a bit in the memory of His faithfulness.  He has not changed. If He is leading you up a difficult road, He will show Himself strong on your on behalf,  He will show you that He has given you everything you need within Himself and within the Body of Christ.  And when it all seems too difficult and the walls of it seem to be caving in, repent of trying to do it on your own, get on your knees and invite God again into the middle of the journey.  He will inspire and strengthen.  He has promised to finish the good work he started in you (Phil 1:6)





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