Where You Lead Me - I Will Follow

In God's perfect timing a door was opened for me to serve in Haiti this summer.  I'm very thankful that God's sovereignty steered me towards this door... a door which I never anticipated to find myself at.  However, as I was on the phone earlier (being told for the first time, 'we want to send you overseas') a song came to mind.  I absent-mindedly doodled the lyrics across a pink sheet of scrap paper, and then I looked down and realized what I had written....

Here's the song that ran through my head:

Where You Lead Me

What is life?

A thousand roads, a thousand ways

Why am I so afraid to move

I crossed the line

I'm stepping out so come what may

I give it all cause I'm drawn to You

As long as my heart is beating...

Where You lead me I will follow

Where You lead me I give my life away

Where You lead me I will follow

Forever and a day

Forever and a day

God closed every other door along my path, because He wanted to bring me to this one.  With my heart racing and soul singing I will follow Jesus to Haiti this summer.

Oh, and my heart has not changed for India and the 10/40 window, but that's what prayer and patience are for :)

Trusting God's heart

::: God broke me to the point of recognizing my own nothingness – where I CRYED OUT “God, I’ll go anywhere for you!”

::: Then he broke my heart for the Muslims and the Hindus in the 10/40 window to know Jesus – and I prayed with fervor that He would prepare me to go to Mumbai this summer. 

::: Then he closed the door… and broke my heart again. Only, now, it’s hardest to understand why.

I find myself better understanding Charles Spurgeon as he said, "When we cannot trace God's hand, we must trust God's heart."  That is all I can do.

The Lie "But I'm not called"

Four months ago, the thought of the 10/40 window filled me with thankfulness for those willing to go, as well as a silent fear of ever being forced or dragged there myself.   I was most comfortable assuming that I was not called to missions.  Brothers and sisters passionate about taking the Good News to the unreached were frightening and awe-inspiring in light of my own fears and hesitations.  I believed that God could use me much more fruitfully and joyfully in America, where it's safe, comfortable, and familiar.

But only a selfish and idolatrous heart could be convinced that it's best to put limits and conditions on serving the Lord.  As a friend reminded me yesterday, Jesus made it explicitly clear to his disciples that the Gospel must be taken to all the nations - not just where we are comfortable taking it.  "And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come"  (Matthew 24:14). 

Keith Green, from The Traveling Team, writes that the most commonly heard excuse for not going into full-time Christian service in a foreign country is: "But I'm not called."  Green continues: 

You don't know how many people I've met who have said to me, I agree that more people need to go to the mission field, but I've never heard God tell me to go." Well, the truth is that God has already told you to go in His Word. In fact, He commands you to "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15) That's right - YOU ARE CALLED! In fact, if you don't go, you need a specific calling from God to stay home. Has God definitely told you not to "go" somewhere outside your country to preach the Gospel? If He hasn't, then you'd better start praying WHERE to go, instead of if you should go-for again, you're already called.

Even if I don't feel like going to the mission field, I am commanded to go!  I am called to go!  Comfort and ease are not valid arguments against God's commands in Scripture.  In Kevin DeYoung's book Just Do Something he expands upon "the will of God" from Scripture, and his writing is most clarifying in such a discussion.  On the first side is God's will of decree.  DeYoung writes, "This refers to what God has ordained.  Everything that comes to pass is according to God's sovereign decree.  And all that He decrees will ultimately come to pass.  God's will of decree cannot be thwarted.  It is immutable and fixed."  God's will of decree is foundation to our faith.  God has ordained that Jesus Christ will return again, and on that day every knee will bow and tongue confess that He is God.  If God's will of decree can be thwarted - than who knows if Jesus will come back again?!  And then we are left to walking by fear instead of by faith!  I love that God's will of decree is immutable and fixed!

DeYoung continues, the other side of the coin is God's will of desire.  "This refers to what God has commanded - what He desires from His creatures.  If the will of decree is how things are, the will of desire is how things ought to be."  This is where Mark 16:15 fits in, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature."  God has commanded that His children go and preach the Gospel through-out the world.  He desires the good news of Jesus Christ to go forth!  I don't have to guess what God's desire is for me in this case, because God made it crystal clear in His Word.

However, most of the time when we are making such decisions, we are really looking for God's will of direction.  What does God want me to do with my life?  When and where should I go?  Who will I go with?  Those are the questions we ask when we are seeking God's will of direction?  We want to know His individual, specific plan for the who, what, when, and how of our lives.  However, DeYoung questions, "Does God have a secret will of direction that He expects us to figure out before we do anything?  And the answer is no... He does not burden us with the task of divining His will of direction for our lives ahead of time."  These questions are not meant to be our focus.  We easily deceive and confuse ourselves when we lose sight of God's will of decree and desire in search of His will of direction for our lives.

I love DeYoung's conclusion:

Trusting is God's will of decree is good.  Following His will of desire is obedient.  Waiting for God's will of direction is a mess... The better way is the biblical way: Seek first the kingdom of God, and then trust that He will take care of our needs, even before we know what they are and where we're going.

What a freeing lens to view missions through!  I don't need to lose sleep over choosing the "right" or "wrong" plan for my life and ministry.  I must "Seek first the kingdom of God" through trusting in God's sovereignty and obediently following His commands - "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," "Go and make disciples of all nations," "Follow me; and allow the dead to bury their own dead," "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel's shall save it."  It's so clear when we surrender our plans to God!  Wisely following his will of desire is our direction!! 

It's wonderful news that in another four short months I'm able to go on a Summer Project as part of my job!  I have an opportunity to live-out the transformation that God worked in my heart towards missions.  I couldn't be more excited and humbled to be going on the Gateway Summer Project.  The 10/40 window - my previous "hell" has now called and captured my heart to joyfully take the Gospel there.  What a privilege to live in obedience to God, the author and perfecter of my faith!

To read Keith Green's full article, The Most Commonly Heard Excuses, click here.
For more on The Traveling Team, click here.

All Nations

Philippians 2

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (v. 2:1-9)

As the body of Christ, our mind is meant to be the same; it is meant to be one.  And our singular, unified mind comes from Christ Jesus who perfectly taught and modeled how we ought to think.  His thinking was grounded in selfless humility.  GOD - was humble.  And this humility in thinking led to humility in action - He "made himself nothing".  Humility is a requirement of service, sacrifice, and obedience to God which Jesus fulfilled to the point of death.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (v. 10-11)

At the name of Jesus Christ every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.  In other words, every one will be humbled before Jesus.  There will be no exception.  However, we will either do it for our eternal joy or our eternal torment, dependent on personal faith in Jesus Christ during this life time.  Either way, every one will be humbled and Jesus Christ will be highly exalted to the glory of God the Father!

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.  Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. without blemish. (v. 12-18)

Just as Jesus' humility of mind led to humility of action (service, sacrifice, and obedience to God) our humility before Him should also lead to obedience.  And this is what our obedience should look like: working out our salvation with fear and trembling, doing all things without grumbling or questioning, shinning as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, rejoicing with gladness.  This obedience is lived out by the "children of God".  This obedience is lived out "in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation" - that is where we shine.  This obedience is lived out at all times.  This obedience is lived out through God's strength, "for it is God who works in you".  And this obedience is "to the glory of God the Father".

I am a child of God, living in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, called to shine as a light to this world, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father.  I have the opportunity (and with God, the ability) to lose my life for Christ's sake and therefore save it.

"GO therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) 

The question isn't "Should I go?" but "Where should I go?"

The 10/40 Window

The 10/40 Window is home to the majority of the world's unevangelized (crooked and twisted) countries.  While it constitutes only 1/3 of earth's total land area, nearly 2/3 of the world's people reside in the 10/40 Window... How could I not go?

"God does not find our requests too big, He finds our dreams too small." -C.S. Lewis

Fear God - not man

Even as I sit in Oxford, Ohio I experience the weight of these dark and demonic words from India:

“[Christianity] is a problem and we will deal with it. We will get all Hindus together, the whole Hindu nation, and whoever stands against the rights of Hindu’s - we will finish them” – Hindu radical

“They want to eradicate the Christians of India. They want to turn this country into a Hindu nation. A goal that extreme Hindu leaders say is worth fighting for…. Hindus have fought for this nation and for their religious rights. India has always been, is, and forever will be a Hindu nation.”

“Conversions and Christianity missionaries are a threat to India” – Hindu radical

Even as I shake, God does not. He knows these men.

Their feet are swift to shed blood;

in their path are ruin and misery,

and the way of peace they have not know.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:15-18)

I am hungrily amazed as our brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer this extreme persecution respond in Gospel-centered perseverance. God, in His grace, preserves them… resulting in praise and glory and honor today and at the revelation of Jesus Christ. They have not seen Him, yet they love Him. “We may have lost everything, but we will never turn our backs on Christ.” They do not now see Him, yet they believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. “I still have joy and I’m thanking God despite my circumstances.”

These brothers and sisters have joined with Esther in saying, “If I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16)

They have joined with Paul, who said, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

So let us say with our Indian brothers and sisters “If we live, we’ll live for Christ. If we die, we’ll die for Christ. Whatever happens, we worship the Lord.” That is their cry, and they are our brothers and sisters. Let us join with them in joyful mourning and fervent prayer as we ask the Lord if we need to do more.