Can You Give Your Yes?
This past Sunday we had the opportunity to share with our home church about what we feel God has placed on our hearts. I felt strongly leading up to our talk that this was supposed to be something other than a slideshow and stories from the Amazon. I felt God pressing on my heart that He wanted people to examine their hearts for the areas they haven’t let him in, the ‘dirty closets’ they preferred to keep closed.
The worship left Phil and I undone as it spoke exactly of the message we felt pressed to share with our church family.
Surrender.
I posed the question, ‘If Jesus asked you to say yes before knowing the question could you do it?’ If you couldn’t, why? Is there fear involved? Are there areas of your life that are off limits to Jesus? What are the fears? Fear of loss? Fear of lack?
When we hold back and live in fear we become paralyzed, stop listening to what God wants for us and in turn we choke off the blessings God has for us.
Our yes comes at a cost, sometimes it’s a great one, but it also comes with great reward.
We shared a bit about some of the awesome stuff God has been using us for in Brazil and how we came to the understanding that he is indeed calling us to move on to Joao Pessoa where we will be part of planting a church and beginning new ministries that we are yet to discover.
We also shared our financial situation, where are we four years into this thing?
Reality is the numbers currently don’t add up but we are pressing forward in confidence knowing that God has called us into this and requires our action to activate his provision.
We shared where the majority of our funding comes from, 80% from individuals who give anywhere from $25-$200/month. That maybe Jesus is asking them to say yes to joining our team, to trust that he will provide. We also stressed that although you may think what you can offer is just a bit, it’s all those bits that make up the majority of our funding. Not to mention knowing we have a team of people rooting for us, praying for us and supporting us is invaluable.
I sighted Exodus 14:12-18 when the Israelites are whining that Moses should have left them as slaves, Moses tells them to be still but God responds, ‘“Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to MOVE on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
God wants our yes AND our action. When we do that He gets the glory, people see the impossible become possible.
Sometimes being enslaved by our fear is comfortable because it’s what we know. But that’s only because we haven’t given God a chance to show us what he is capable of. When we do, we taste real freedom and there’s no turning back.
We are so incredibly grateful to the people who have been faithfully supporting us these last four years and to those who have just decided to join the team. We are still recruiting, if you want in send us a message and we’ll get you set up.
We also shared a video highlighting some of the best moments of the last two years.
Here’s the link:
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