Excerpt from newest book "Missionary in the 21st Century"

I'm in the process of writing a new book called "Missionary in the 21st century." Here is an excerpt from the section on Burundi. It is still in developmental stages as I'm only about 30% complete with the writing. I would like to ask for your prayer support in helping me write this book as I feel that there are many lessons that I have learned in ministry that are valuable for the larger Body of Christ that can be shared in story form through my life experience.

"I quickly discovered that Olivier was a fiery man of God. He had standing invitations to preach in multiple congregations across the city. He was dynamic and funny. He became one of my best friends in Burundi and frequently served as my translator when he wasn't ministering on the weekends. 

One story will illustrate the kind of relationship we enjoyed. A friend of mine traveled to Burundi to minister. I asked Olivier if he would be willing to serve as the translator. He agreed.

I set up a speaking engagement in Musaga, one of the poorer neighborhoods in Bujumbura. As my friend gave the altar call a crippled lady came hobbling to the front along with several others. We prayed for healing for everyone. Nothing noticeable happened externally. My friend started praying with people who wanted to receive Christ. The crippled lady intrigued Olivier. He continued praying for her. After some time, he announced to the woman that she was already healed, but that she was refusing to receive her healing.

My friend continued praying for other people. I watched in amazement what transpired. Olivier took her by the hand without her crutch and forced her to take a step. She shrieked horribly for the whole church to hear. I winced my teeth thinking that he was hurting her. My friend tried to keep the other people’s attention, but it was difficult as Olivier forced her to take another step. More protests and hollers. I considered intervening. Surely, this couldn’t be the Lord.

After a few more steps he got her out the back door of the church so that the interaction wouldn’t be as distracting inside the building to everyone else. I was relieved because it was so painful to watch. Some fifteen minutes later he reappeared with the woman walking as normally as any other human being. The place erupted with shouts of praise and many more responded to Christ. It was awesome!

I was amazed. “What happened?” I finally managed to ask after the service.

Olivier just smiled.

“No really! What happened? Please tell me.” I almost pleaded wishing I had followed him outside.

“She just had to keep taking another step until all the pain was gone. Jesus already healed her.” He replied confidently.

“How did you know?” I asked again.

“I sensed it as we were praying and I almost gave up because she was making so much noise in the church.”

I chucked because I was sure that he must have noticed everyone else staring at him.

“However, I knew that if I could just get her walking that she would soon see for herself that Jesus had healed her.”

To me it has been an active part of my spiritual journey. Many times I have had to just keep taking another step—despite the pain, despite the tears, though the questions linger, I keep taking another step confident that He has promised to come through for me."

Evangelism and You. Yes You.

Before continuing any further I must make the reader aware that parts 2 and 3 of this series, "Kingdom Evangelism" were published last year as follows:

Part 1 published March 2013

Part 2 published in April of 2014

Why the reason for the delay in Part 3? Life. We have lived in 3 different cities in two countries since I published Part 2 due to circumstances beyond our control. My wife, Bailey, has been insistent that I must continue with this series. I’m thankful for her encouragement. As I mentioned previously, most of the thoughts communicated in this series developed from a message I shared with Oral Roberts University students headed to the nations for summer missions trips.  The thoughts that follow develop from John chapter 1 and the life of one particular disciple, Andrew.

Andrew isn’t referenced often in Scripture individually. He is normally only identified in the context of the other disciples. However, there are a few references that mention him outside of the group context. Of note is that most of these occur in John’s Gospel. The three verses in John are as follows:

“Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what Jesus said and then followed Jesus. Andrew went to his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”). John 1:40-41

“Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. ‘There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” John 6:8

“Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration paid a visit to Phillip, who from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.’ Phillip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus.” John 12:20-22

Nowhere else in Scripture is Andrew mentioned in isolation. It seems clear that John wanted future generations of believers to know information about this disciple that no other Bible writer highlighted.

The main point to take away here seems to be simply this: Andrew was always brining people to Jesus. It didn't matter what city he was in, what situation he faced, or what group of people was around him.  He wanted others to encounter Christ. Sometimes he was the principal character involved in the action; at other times he cooperated with other disciples in the action.

So what’s the lesson here?

Andrew accepted personal responsibility for other people’s spiritual journey.

He accepted personal responsibility for Peter.

He accepted personal responsibility for the little boy with 5 loaves and 5 fishes.

He accepted personal responsibility for the Greeks desiring to see Jesus.

Let this sink in. Responsibility. Personal. Others. These words alone send shivers through a 21^st century audience accustomed to self-gratification, self-indulgence, self-exaltation, and self-ambition. Personal responsibility? Doesn’t that involve commitment and involvement towards someone else? Isn't Christianity all about me? My plans? My dreams? My life? 

Additionally, aren’t others responsible for their own spiritual trajectory? After all, this is the post-modern world right? “Your truth is good for you.  My truth is good for me. I won’t judge you. You don’t judge me.” Pluralism rules the day.  Religion is a personal matter isn't it? How dare I be so arrogant as to assume that I know what is best for someone else spiritually speaking? Surely, God doesn't expect us to be involved in evangelism does He? This is the 21st century! 

Beyond the cultural taboo of Andrew’s responsibility, there is the delusion that a distorted view of God’s Sovereignty dictates the subject. If God wanted people saved wouldn’t He save them? Surely, He doesn’t expect personal participation in this Global mandate called the Great Commission? It reminds me of the William Carey story, the father of modern missions, when he first challenged fellow ministers with the question of whether it was the duty of Christians to spread the Gospel. He was met with fierce opposition in the now famous quote, “Young man, sit down, when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid and mine.”

Fortunately, Carey refused to listen to such thinking. Andrew did as well. 

Culture wouldn’t mitigate his personal responsibility. A Jew associating with Greeks? Unorthodox. Evangelism always is. A twisted sense of divine sovereignty wouldn’t placate his personal conviction. Peter needed an encounter—little matter that he was already a practicing Jew or that the Greeks were probably pagans. 

In our day, the impetus must again be placed on the individual believer for the cause of evangelism. We have become quite gifted at placing the responsibility on the church at large without realizing that we are the church. As one great man of God has well noted, “The Evangelization of this generation can only be accomplished by this generation—one person reaching out to another one.”

When I preach I like to use the following illustration:

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done in the Kingdom of God and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.

Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done in the Kingdom. 

Andrew’s acceptance of personal responsibility demanded action. Namely, how to best facilitate encounters with Christ. His was a simple strategy. One that we must never lose sight of: he brought people to Jesus.

John 1  involved his family—his brother Peter needed to know Christ.

John 6 involved the next generation—the boy with his fish and loaves needed an encounter he would never forget.

John 12, the nations—the Greeks. Here we see one of the first glimpses of Christ’s plan for global missions.

These three areas form the foundation for any kind of sustainable evangelistic effort—families, youth/kids, and the nations.

Let me reiterate my main observation: Andrew made sure those around him had a personal interaction with Jesus. The important thing to Andrew wasn’t when or even how. Rather, it was that others had the opportunity to encounter Christ. Our responsibility is no less and no more. We have a personal engagement as followers of Christ to ensure that others encounter Christ. This is really Kingdom Evangelism 101.

Day 9: Baptizing 87 in the River from African Missionary Devotional Stories 2

Day 9: Baptizing 87 in the River

Quote of the Day: “God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply” -Hudson Taylor

Verse of the Day: “Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day of danger, and, having done all the crisis demands, to stand firmly in your place.” Ephesians 6: 13

            The invitation arrived from my dear friend Jerome Ndayisaba. He wanted me to accompany him on a scouting trip. I prayed and felt that this was God’s will for my Saturday even though it involved quite a drive. I jumped into my Toyota Hilux pick-up paid for by the youth of Oklahoma and headed into the hills of Burundi.

We sped off down a bumpy road into the heart of Africa. Our destination was the little town of Nyabihanga situated in the literal middle of nowhere. After driving down a dirt track for about an hour we arrived at an outcropping of random buildings.

We found a rented mud building comprising two rooms—the roof was corrugated iron sheeting with tarps stretched taunt as an awning. The two rooms could accommodate about 40 people. As we pulled in, I was surprised to see over a hundred people sitting patiently on the ground awaiting our arrival. I assumed we had come to investigate the possibility of assisting with a new building project. Clearly, the church building was in trouble; by contrast, the congregation seemed alive.

It was a Saturday and I wasn’t expecting anyone but the pastor and a few key leaders in the congregation to turn out. As we approached, they began to sing and dance. Pastor Daniel greeted us: “Welcome! We are now ready to start the evangelistic meeting.”

I looked at Jerome, “Evangelistic meeting?”

“Missionary Steve we want you to preach.”

“Preach?”

“Then we will have the baptismal service.”

“Baptismal service?” I asked out loud.

“Then we will eat a meal together and go look at new properties for the church.”

“New properties?”

Things had clearly evolved significantly—this was going to be an all day event and maybe then some. Praise and worship started. People danced and sang with great enthusiasm under the tarps. News had spread throughout the area of our arrival. People started coming from everywhere. I knew that I would soon need to preach the word.

I felt the Lord whisper to my heart, “Speak on the Second Coming.”

It would be the first time in my life I had preached on the Second Coming. I launched into the Word God had placed in my heart from I Thessalonians chapter 4. I spoke in Swahili; Jerome translated into Kirundi. The message was very short, lasting less than 25 minutes.

It was so cool to see God work. I had never really spoken much in a mass evangelism context. This was my first time. It was so amazing to feel the Spirit of God sweep through the crowd. As we closed in prayer and gave the invitation, Pastor Jerome made it clear, “We are going to baptize those of you who are responding.”

Less than five minutes later we were headed towards the nearby river. Hundreds stood on the riverbanks to watch as Jerome and I divided those desiring to be baptized. He took half and I took half. We stood in the frigid mountain stream up to our waists. After a prayer of instruction, people waded into the river one after the other.

“Muri zina ya Data. Muri muzina ya Mwana. Muri zina ya Mpwemu.” In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Down they went one after the other. For at least 45 minutes it continued unabated. Jerome handled one side of the river as I baptized the other side. After all was said and done 87 people had made a public declaration of their faith in Christ. I have no idea how many were already members of the church and how many had responded in the evangelistic meeting.

All I know is that it was awesome: one of the most rewarding afternoons of my entire life.  I felt so energized—doing God’s will that Saturday had fired me up. We changed clothes in the bushes underneath a little tarp and headed back into Nyabigina to look for pieces of land for the church.

We never found anything. To my knowledge no missionary ever went back. It wasn’t too much after this that I had to leave the country. I never saw Pastor Daniel again and I think that the church is still meeting in the two little rooms. Someday I want to go back and facilitate the construction of a permanent structure.

Obviously, God’s will that day wasn’t to build a church; it was to build the Church!

Question of the Day: What is God’s will for your life? Does this thought scare you or excite you?  How do you search out God’s will for you?  

Musings: “What is the will of God for my life?” Have you ever asked that question? From an early age I constantly thought about it. Growing up the enemy tried everything possible to convince me that the will of God for my life was something heavy, difficult, dull, and dreadful. 

Have you ever felt that way? Once I started doubting God’s intentions towards me the enemy would capitalize on my insecurity. He threw every lie in the book my way—trying to get me off track with God’s purpose for my life.

Thank God I never explored these options very far simply because Holy Spirit was so faithful to show me the lies and the danger awaiting me on the other side of them. They were nothing but a scam to steal and destroy my God given purpose.  One day the light came on for me as I was reading Romans 12:2.  “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” 

Sounds good, but why do I need to have my mind renewed? The answer hit me between the eyes, “then you will be able to discern what is the good, pleasing, and acceptable will of the Lord.” Since that moment I have never doubted that His intentions and plans for my life are for my good! His will, when accepted with a renewed heart and mind, is pleasing and acceptable! God has good things in store for you. Don’t fall for the enemy’s scams and lies. Let your heart, mind, and spirit be renewed in His Word and Presence and soon you will be able to see clearly again.  

Militia on the Runway

Here is another entry from my forthcoming devotional "African Missionary Devotional Stories Part 2". This is one of my favorite stories from my Madagascar experiences.  

Day 20: Militia on the Runway

Quote of the Day: "I never prayed sincerely and earnestly for anything but it came at some time; no matter at how distant a day, somehow, in some shape, probably the least I would have devised, it came” -Adoniram Judson

Verse of the Day: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.  And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14

            Our helicopter had been parked overnight at the Manakara airport. It was a small mold ridden building a few hundred feet from Madagascar’s Eastern coastline. It had once been fully operational with direct flights to Antanarivo a couple of times a week for French tourists desiring to get a little R&R. Economic sanctions coupled with political instability changed this drastically. The airport saw only a few chartered flights a year now.

When we had landed the day before, a well-dressed man had come running out of the airport to see the strange sight of several white people disembarking from the iron bird. His tone and attitude were both hostile as well as combative.

“Who gave you permission to land here?”

The pilot of the helicopter was a former French military Special Forces who had seen action in some hairy corners of the world. He had already regaled us with stories of the Kosovo War back in 1999. As such he didn’t take kindly to the cold reception.

“We filed papers in Antanarivo. They called ahead to tell the airport that we were coming.” He retorted.

“I wasn’t alerted of your coming. They never called.”

“I was in the air traffic control office when they called,” he shot back.

Since he had no official uniform, badge, or identification of any kind we brushed past him to meet our contacts waiting for us on the ground. 

We had planned an evangelism, fact-finding, medical trip to several small villages in the surrounding forested areas of Manakara. The plan was to spend the night in Manakara so we could pick up three additional passengers for the mission. It would require two trips to each village as the helicopter could handle 5 people including the pilot and we now had a team of 8 people. 

Since the villages were so close to Manakara it wouldn’t be difficult to use the airport as a central hub to ferry people back and forth throughout the following couple of days.

Early the next morning we all assembled at the airport.  There wasn’t a person to be seen anywhere except an elderly watchman whose sole responsibility in life was to clear the runway for the few flights that visited Manakara. He used a whistle to chase people and sometimes goats off the landing strip. It was pretty funny to watch, but I digress.

As the helicopter warmed up and the first part of our group was whisked away to the interiors of Madagascar’s rain forest, I noticed this man on his cell phone.  He seemed rather excited in his communication.

A few minutes later the helicopter roared back into sight and myself, my friend Aaron, and a Malagasy medical doctor known as Dr. Fils jumped on board the waiting chopper. Our pilot had to find a restroom before taking off and went into the airport building for a few minutes. As we waited the chopper blades screamed above us in full rotation. Suddenly, I noticed a several jeeps speeding down the airport road.

It looked like military personnel. As they neared, the turret of a mounted M-60 became evident. Several heavily armed Malagasy soldiers jumped off the back of one of the jeeps. All weapons were pointed in our direction as the helicopter pilot emerged from his potty break. It looked like big trouble.

Aaron and Dr. Fils jumped off the helicopter and headed in that direction. I could see soldiers yelling as gun barrels pointed directly at my team members. The gentleman from the day before emerged from one of the jeeps now clothed in full military regalia. The insignia on his uniform indicated he was a colonel in the Malagasy army.

“You are spies!” He yelled.

“We are not spies.” Our French pilot yelled back.

“You have no clearance to be here and you are under arrest.”

“We filed paper work yesterday!”

“That’s not true. I’m impounding the helicopter and taking you all to jail.”

It was a heated argument to say the least. I started praying at the top of my lungs in the Spirit. The helicopter rotors screamed so loud that no one could hear me, except hopefully the Lord.

Our pilot reached into his pocket. “I’m going to call the General of the Malagasy Armed Forces.”

The colonel scoffed in total disbelief.

Both men were at tipping point. The tension was so thick that I feared what would happen if he was bluffing.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I prayed more fervently hoping that this wasn’t some paramilitary stall tactic. I yearned for the General to actually pick up.

No response.

“I told you that you are under arrest.” The colonel lost no time in capitalizing on the change in momentum to take advantage in the argument.

I sighed. This wouldn’t be pretty.

The cell phone started to ring.

“Yes? Hello? General? Yes, this is Jean-Christophe. We are in Manakara and we need your help. I’m talking to one of your men that is out of order in full violation of Malagasy domestic air travel code.”

“He wants to talk to you.” The pilot smugly handed the phone to the colonel.

I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Yes? Sir? What?”

The phone hung up. Within moments all weapons were withdrawn and official apologies were issuing forth. We were promised full protection while in the area and that no one would be allowed so much as to get within a kilometer of the helicopter while it was parked on the runway. 

“You really know the General that well?” I later asked my new friend.

“Oh yes. This kind of stuff happens all the time here in Madagascar and he gave me his personal cell phone number in case there is ever any trouble.”

I was impressed to say the least.

“How do you know him?” I asked one final question.

“We go to church together.”

Question of the Day: What does prayer look like to you? How do see your interactions with God in this area?

Musings: Besides missions and spiritual awakening, prayer is probably my favorite subject to talk about. I think the three go together. If we pray we will have spiritual awakening and develop a heart for missions. If we are connected to missions we recognize the need for spiritual awakening and so cry out in prayer. These three pursuits are essential for the work of God to go forward with any kind of effectiveness in our generation. 

Prayer is a deep subject that many authors have written on very extensively. My thought on prayer for today is that we must have awareness that we are not wasting our time. In other words, prayer is a productive endeavor.

This is basically what faith entails in this area. We believe that God wants to hear us. We believe that He has the power and authority to do something about what we are asking. And we believe that He will release His power and authority on our behalf, both in us and around us. Without these three convictions prayer becomes a meaningless religious activity.

Truthfully, I think this is part of the reason why so many Christians have so little time to seek Jesus. They simply don’t believe that there are any results from their praying. We could talk about motivation, perseverance, holiness, etc… as factors of prayer. At the end of the day though the bedrock condition for prayer is faith—a confidence that when we get on the phone to the General of the Armies of Heaven and Earth there will be a response. It may not be immediate, but at the right time there will be a corresponding intervention from heaven as a result of our prayers.

Hidden Treasure

I'm finishing my fifth book, "African Missionary Devotional Stories Part 2." It has been a very rich and rewarding experience as I relive some incredible moments of my life as a missionary and then connect them to quotes, scriptures, and life lessons. I want to share of few of the entries here on the blog over the course of the next week to give others a feel for what is in the book.  

Day 16: Hidden Treasure

Quote of the Day: Christ wants not nibblers of the possible, but grabbers of the impossible.” — C.T. Studd

Verse of the Day: Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk and live in Your truth; direct and unite my heart [solely, reverently] to fear and honor Your name (Psalm 86:11)

It was one of those things that I felt I had to do before I left Burundi. There was a little wildlife reserve just outside of Bujumbura, the capital city. When I say little I mean little. You could easily walk across this piece of land in 20 to 25 minutes. It had once boasted quite an array of wildlife species: all different kinds of antelopes, primates, birds, hippos, crocs, as well as other plains animals such as zebra. I was there to find treasure of the animal variety. 

Rumor had it that the world's largest crocodile once lived there. From the only video footage ever captured of the legendary Gustav by a Belgian herpetologist, Patrice Faye, this monster croc is said to be between 25 and 30 feet long. Throughout the city of Bujumbura people say that he has eaten hundreds of people and even taken direct flank machine gun fire as he skirts the banks of Lake Tanganyika. 

Is it just urban legend?  Hard to say.  I once met Patrice Faye high in the mountains of Burundi in a pygmy village. I think he was as surprised to see me as I was him. We were distributing clothes and sharing the message of the cross in a pygmy village. I'm not quite sure what he was doing, but he was convinced that Gustav was a very real crocodile, very much alive, at least as of 2008.  After watching the video of this massive croc, I wanted to see him. I expressed my desire to see the giant reptile to some friends. 

They suggested I visit Gatumba Nature Reserve the last place he had been seen.  So just months before I moved out of Burundi I jumped into my vehicle and drove to the front gate. It was no more than a twenty minute drive from where I used to live. There I found the entrance fee quite reasonable because hardly anyone visited the park anymore.

Most of the animals had been wiped out during the war. People needed food and anything that moved was served on the menu. It was still standard policy that a guide accompanies the car, not so much for the African wildlife as for the human wildlife hiding with guns in the bushes. 

Having grown up in Kenya, where the animal varieties are endless, I was reluctant to have a guide. Especially a drunk one who reeked of the local brew, but rules are rules, and maybe this was the right man to help me find Gustav. 

We started the drive down the sandy trail.  Ironically enough, my guide's name was Stephen.  I found out that he was a Congolese refugee who had been living in Burundi for several years to escape the pillaging rebels in his home area. He lived in Gatumba the little town on the Congolese Burundian border.

We talked about Congo, his family, and why he had turned to the local brew. He was hurting deeply from wounds of the past, poverty of the present, and hopelessness for the future. He saw no way out. As he shared his sob story I suddenly remembered my mission for the day: Find Gustav. Remembering my real quest I shared my desire to see the legendary monster. 

He laughed. The croc hadn't been seen in years and he speculated he either had died from old age or was on a circuit around the longest lake in the world and might reappear in the future. 

Disheartened, I asked what other animals there might be to see. His prognosis wasn't too optimistic. There were egrets and hippos. I laughed to myself. In Kenya, we had egrets in our backyard and hippos in almost every river and lake in the country. Not to mention that just a few months earlier a hippo had interrupted our volleyball game right there on a beach in Bujumbura (another story for another day). 

I turned the vehicle around to exit the park.  Nearing the gate, I felt as though I had wasted a day chasing after imaginary crocodiles in the heart of Central Africa. Then it happened, very slowly, but surely. My heart became aware of a greater purpose in my visit. My steps had been orchestrated of the Lord, not to find a crocodile but a prodigal. 

I asked my new friend if he knew anything of Christ and His great love. He had heard the message years before, but it had never really made much sense. I shared about my own battles with hopelessness and feeling bound by sin until Jesus intervened.

Just moments later heaven came near and Stephen began to cry. We prayed together. Before parting company I told him about a little church we had just planted in Gatumba pastored by my dear friend from Congo Doctor Gerard Cizungu. He promised to check it out.

A couple of weeks later I called Cizungu. We talked about several different matters. 

"A strange thing happened recently missionary."

"What was that Cizungu?" I asked politely.

"A man that we have been praying for the past several months came to church this past Sunday and said that he met a muzungu (white man) who told him about Jesus."

"What do you mean you had been praying for him?" I asked rather surprised. 

"His wife comes to church here and we have been praying for him to find Christ."

My heart leapt inside of me. I had been searching for a hidden treasure: Gustav. Heaven had been searching for a different treasure: Stephen the animal guide who had a handful of faithful believers praying for him.

Question of the Day: Is there a besetting sin in your life that you haven’t been able to overcome? How has it affected your relationship with the Lord?

Musings: I had fallen into the same sin yet again. I kept promising the Lord that I wouldn’t do it.  I had fasted, I had prayed, I had wept, I had sought godly counsel, and I had memorized scripture—over and over again. Yet, I kept returning to the same place. Why couldn’t I overcome this area?

As I meditated on the issue, I finally realized that part of me, somewhere deep down inside just didn’t want to let to go. Most of me wanted to live for Jesus and keep His word, but there was still a dissident movement lurking beneath the surface. I had a divided heart.

I had no clue, though, on how to move forward. I felt like a hypocrite even though I loved the Lord and desired to serve Him. As I read Psalm 86:11 the light bulb went on. For the first time in my life I saw the connection between a whole heart and the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the reverential honor and respect of God’s holiness that makes us hate anything that would keep us from Him.

Only when we reverence a Holy God and fear being separated from His glorious presence more than we love our sinful secrets can we experience freedom. I saw David’s cry in a new light. He is praying for a whole heart so that he can experience the fear of the Lord.

I have become convinced that the most important element in our personal relationship with Christ after salvation and the power of the Holy Spirit is the fear of the Lord. Exodus 20:20 tells us not be afraid as the Lord places His fear on our lives. Sound contradictory? The verse continues by saying that His fear enables us not to sin. Did you know it’s possible to live free from sin? Jesus didn’t save us to leave us enslaved in bondage. He saved us for glorious freedom. He saved us to triumph over compromise. He saved us to overcome and know the sweetness of victory. 

I will never forget the day the Lord broke the power of the sin that had controlled me for so many years. He placed His fear on my life and since that day by God’s grace I haven’t gone back! He gave me a whole heart so I could fear Him. And His fear keeps my heart whole. I would invite you to do a study on the fear of the Lord.  It is one of the most wonderfully enriching Word studies in Scripture. Check out the many references in Proverbs and Psalms that list the promises connected to it.

Yes, you can be free! Yes, you can know victory. And yes, once you are free there is a whole new dimension of authority and intimacy waiting for you.  

An Answered Prayer

It happened at the most unusual moment and from the most unlikely of people. I needed some encouragement. To say that the past several months have been difficult would be an understatement. The challenges of this season have sapped my spiritual vitality and left me unsure about many things- especially prayer. So many of my prayers seemingly haven't been answered. I needed something to bolster my confidence and reassure my heart that Jesus was still aware of where we are and what we have been going through. Have you ever been there?

I pulled into the gas station to fill up after lunch. As the attendant, a guy named David, pumped the diesel fuel we exchanged pleasantries. Then came the question, "Do you remember how we met?"

"Yes." I asked unsure of where he was going with it.

I had filled up at the gas station after preaching in the college service at a church on the other side of town. Two services, close to 600 young people had packed the building. The message was called, "On the way to pray." (The notes are on my fb wall in early June).  God moved powerfully that morning. Over 15 had surrendered their lives to Christ, many were healed, and several felt a sense of calling into full time ministry. I had challenged the group that day to make themselves available for God to use them, particularly in the area of healing.

Bailey had been too ill to accompany me due to the post procedure recovery and ongoing typhoid challenges.  I had stopped into the gas station on the way home to fill up and get her a small snack at the nearby coffee house.

The gas attendant was particularly friendly and the first thing I had noticed about him was his puffy red eye with an opaque cataract. He was in his 20s and clearly something was wrong. I asked him about it: a basketball injury from 3 years previous that left him without sight in his right eye. The doctors had been unable to correct the problem.

I asked to pray with him and he had accepted. My prayer was a simple one- healing for his eye to demonstrate Gods love for him. Nothing had happened that day. I saw him on and off several times over the course of the next several weeks- and David even invited me for a visit to his house to meet his wife and two kids (a huge step of friendship in Kenyan culture.)

The eye had pretty much stayed the same and I resigned myself to just not bringing up the subject again.

"Do you remember what you prayed the first time we met?" He continued.

"Yes, we prayed for your eye to be healed." Some 8 weeks had passed since that moment and I hadn't seen him for a while.

"God healed my eye," he beamed with enthusiasm.

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"I can see again."

"What happened?" I asked.

"I heard about a free medical camp on the side of town. I went and an eye specialist was there who told me to come back the next day for a surgery to remove the cataract and replace the lens. It was a $600 surgery, money that I don't have, but they did it for free!"

"It's a miracle! Praise God. My eye is restored."

He was beaming; I was stunned.

"Thank you for praying for me! And praise God He answered." His countenance had changed and his eyes beamed. I had completely overlooked the change.

Bailey quickly asked him, "How do you feel now?"

"I have so much more confidence now."

What David didn't realize is that my heart was surging with new confidence as well! I had prayed believing for a miracle. 8 weeks had passed. God had come through- not at all how I had thought it would happen. Yet, the end result standing in front of me was an exact answer to prayer.

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14, 15 ESV)

The Joy of a Bath

This AM I sat in the little garden in front of our house reading.  A bright red bird darted through the air near me to eagerly splash in the little bird bath.  We haven't had rain for over a month now so things are starting to dry up.  He, apparently, needed to cool off- he splashed and chirped joyfully as I sat quietly watching.  A few moments later, he was gone ready to face the dryness of the Malagasy day.

I turned in my Bible to I Timothy 1.  A verse leaped off the page at me, "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."  Paul is talking about his conversion experience.  A few verses later he says that he was the worst of sinners.  Then just to make sure everyone is clear he states it again.  He was a blasphemer and a persecutor of Christians.  How does the worst sinner of his day become an apostle, missionary, church planter, and author of 13 books in the New Testament?   One day on the road to Damascus he had an encounter with God's mercy.

What did God's mercy look like practically speaking? He bathed with abundant grace, abundant faith, and abundant love.   When a sinner, which according to Romans includes everyone born on planet earth, has their first encounter with Christ three glorious divine virtues are lavished on us.  Grace speaks of God's strength to accomplish God's plan for our lives.  Love speaks of God's kindness and limitless and tender compassion exhibited in the sacrificial death of His Son.  Faith speaks of an inner lift of expectation and anticipation that life has much greater significance than the daily grind of routine and human monotony.

I thought back to my own conversion experience.  I remember praying with my mom to invite Christ to enter my life, forgive my sins, transform my heart, and give me the assurance of eternal salvation.  While my experience wasn't nearly as dramatic externally as Paul's, I believe it was just as glorious internally.  At that moment, grace, love, and faith were poured out on me abundantly. I remember getting up from the bed where I had been kneeling with tears pouring down my face as joy and hope swept over me like nothing I had ever experienced.

It was from the inside out,  something that lasted and produced a radical shift in how I saw my life.  I had a new love for my brother, my parents, and the precious people of Kenya.  I felt alive both physically and spiritually.  My heart felt clean and free.  God's presence was very near.  I had a desire to talk and sing to Jesus almost immediately.  I was alive by the mercy of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

I was a dangerous person to the Kingdom of Darkness.  It may seem ridiculous to you, but I can remember just a few months later witnessing to a professed British atheist in our driveway.  At 6 years old it was hard for him to argue with me.  Why?  I was just so full of grace, love and faith.

So if these 3 components are the basis of a genuine salvation experience, then it only makes sense that these will be the three primary areas that our enemy, the devil, will attempt to erode at all possible costs.

He assaults the grace on our life by luring us to attempt life in our own strength and human striving.  We base decisions on our own logic and emotions.  We do it our own way.  Soon grace is a distant memory.  We are striving, and there is nothing quite so draining in life as striving in your own efforts.  Our walk with Jesus becomes a heavy burden, a ball-and-chain to pull around.  How so?  Simply because we are carrying the weight of our salvation instead of allowing Christ to do so.

The enemy also assaults the love of God deposited in our lives by tempting us to pursue our own selfish interests.  The world begins to revolve around "me".  We no longer pursue His will and His purpose.  We pursue our goals, our ambitions, our selfish desires.  We turn deaf ears to the needs of others around us or worse we meet other peoples needs in order to personally profit from their need.  Even though its prevalent and acceptable in the 21st century, it will still destroy God's glorious deposit in our lives- every time!  

Finally, I believe he undermines our faith.  He diverts our focus from God to our troubles and problems. Instead of seeing God's capacity to remove every mountain, we focus on our mountains capacity to swallow us alive.  Faith quickly diminishes.  As faith diminishes God seems distant and almost impotent.  Worse we focus on people around us allowing our hearts to become drunk on their failures, duplicity, and hypocrisy.  Soon God's greatness is a distant thought as we become consumed with offense.

End result?  Christianity becomes a dry, empty, lifeless experience full of religious activities and professions that lack any kind of authentic expression.  It's rote and ritual.  It's draining and life-sucking.  We feel dead and dry.  We teeter on the verge of total hypocrisy.  Why?  Religion always kills the internal life of the Spirit.  

So what's the remedy?

 I think it's the joy of a bath.  The dynamic Christians that I personally know and whose lives I have studied all possess one consistent principle: they take spiritual baths frequently and intentionally.  They asked for a fresh out-pouring of grace, love, and faith over their lives and hearts.  They cooperate with God's deposit of mercy.  They defend their hearts against hell's schemes.  They repent where they have strayed.  They get back to the basics: love, grace and faith.

I can promise you this:  a 1 Timothy 1:14 experience in your life will change everything!  Whether you have never invited Christ into your life or you have fallen prey to the enemy's strategy, heaven has limitless resources to fill your life with God's mercy again.  Grace! Love! Faith!