The Lord is so good! Can I please tell you just a couple of the things He’s been showing me just in the past couple of days? Ok.
*1 Corinthians 16:13-14, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.” Should be my life verse, especially while I’m here.
*1 Corinthians 2:9, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” The God of this universe has prepared things for us, not only here on earth, but He has prepared Heaven and the things of Heaven for us! We cannot even begin to fathom the things the Lord has prepared for us, because He loves us, and all He asks is that we love Him.
Ephesians 3:17-20 and Romans 8:38-39- God. Loves. Us. Nothing can separate us from that. Nothing. He wants us to know He loves us and He wants us to understand the depth of His love for us. Will we? Probably not. But, He wants us to know and that’s what’s important. I like to think of it like this: you know how when you’ve made something really special for someone, and you’ve spent hours upon hours making it for them, because you love them and you know that it’s going to bring such a joy to their lives? You just want to bless them and show them how much you care about them and that you were thinking about them. That’s how it is with God! Only like 50 bazillion times more, because He loves us more, blesses us on a regular basis, and has spent so much time preparing not only Heaven for us, but everything that happens everyday for us! God is thinking about us all the time, and even though we hurt Him, He does not withhold blessings from us. His love is unconditional, whereas ours can be, and is many times, conditional. He blesses when we don’t deserve it. We bless, most of the time, when it’s convenient or feels good to bless. But God is always good, so He always blesses.
*In doing my studies over Philippians, I have been looking at the suffering that Paul went through. In Acts he talks about how he’s ready to die for Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 4 and 2 Corinthians 11 we see the way Paul was treated; the persecution, (being beaten and stoned) facing hunger and thirst, being despised and defamed, to truly suffer for Christ’s sake. And in all this, he says, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” (Phil. 4:11) Let us learn what it means to be content; to be truly satisfied in the Lord. To lack everything this world has to offer and be ok, because we still have the Lord. Paul knew his suffering was for the gospel’s sake, and he endured. He knew the Lord had a plan in it. Even though Paul faced all this persecution he stayed bold in sharing his faith. Would there be nothing greater than to be persecuted and suffer for Christ? For the gospel’s sake? John 15:13- “The greatest love is to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Is Jesus not our friend? He is our best friend! Let us be willing to lay down our lives for Him, to absolutely surrender to Him everything in our lives, our whole being.
*1 Corinthians 8:29-31- The time is short and the form of this world is passing away.
*1 Corinthians 9:16, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” Jeremiah 20:9, “But His Word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.”
*Wilderness experiences, according to Chuck Smith. The purpose of our legitimate wilderness experiences is that God uses them to prepare us to enter into the blessings He has for us and get us where we are going with Him. But is we resist His work in our lives and allow the wilderness experiences to make us bitter, and we don’t trust Him, but rebel against Him, we will find ourselves spending much more time in the wilderness than was necessary and than what He intended, which will be an illegitimate wilderness experience. Legitimate wilderness experiences are important parts of our growth as children of God. Illegitimate wilderness experiences are a complete waste of time.
On Monday I spent some time at the orphanage holding the sweetest babies ever. These children are so happy and so lovable. You just want to squeeze them! :) You would never know half the things these children have already been through by looking at their faces. They are so precious. I fed some of the 1-5 month olds and rocked them to sleep. It was amazing!
On Tuesday I taught a Bible Study with the girls at Bambejja, and they helped teach me more Luganda. Next week there will be a new group of girls coming in, so I’ll be teaching a Bible study as well as English, which I’m excited about.
Wednesday I had a Frontline meeting to go to. We’re going to a different slum next Wednesday, one where most of the boys who come on Saturdays live, and this is the slum where most of them get high. I guess there’s a lot of pretty crazy stuff that goes on there. I’m excited to finally be able to go. After the meeting I went to church, and got to pray with two girls to rededicate their lives to the Lord! Praise Him!
Thursday I taught my first Bible Study with the women of Jordan House (this is the widows and childrens ministry that’s located in the slums). I was expecting 10 women to show up and 34 women came! Praise the Lord! These women are so hungry for the Word and they are so excited about the Lord! I wish that I had the faith of some of them. Even though their situations look heartbreaking from an outside perspective, their faith doesn’t waiver. If anything it’s made stronger. It’s incredible! They love the Lord so much! Their hearts are filled with so much gratitude for any sort of teaching. We have so much teaching available pretty much anytime we want, and sometimes we don’t even go to church; we take it for granted. These women are starving for one or two teachings a week. Their hearts are so open to what the Lord wants to speak to them and they are so encouraged. He is going to do a mighty work in their lives. I just know it. They are so willing to allow Him work and to speak. It was such a blessing to be there and be a part of it.
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