Why Sub-Saharan Africa?

 

We love Africa. We love the people of Africa. Our ministry is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is the place that God has called us to. A place open to the gospel but where there are ardent forces working against it and us.  

Many assume that in Sub-Saharan Africa, there are whole countries filled with Christians and even Christian-leaning governments. While that may be the perceived reality, the truth is that Sub-Saharan Africa is in trouble. As many predict the rise of Christianity in Africa and label the continent the “new center of Christianity,” we see a continent being fought over by spiritual forces. It is as if Satan is attempting to simply paint over the demonic masks of the past with a thin layer of false Christianity, a Christianity bound to the laws and traditions of culture rather than rooted in the law of grace laid out in Scripture.

While we know dedicated pastors and ministries who are sharing the true gospel and discipling people, there is a considerable concern within those who live and breathe Africa, that a counterfeit Christianity is sweeping the continent. This has been a concern of ours for a long time. Quite a few theologians, pastors, and ministry leaders are now writing books on the subject and are raising the alarm bells (see below for a few of those). 

 It starts with the unfortunate reality that Sub-Saharan Africa was mostly evangelized but not discipled. For us at One Collective, we stand firm on the belief that long-term relationship based discipleship is key in growing up godly, Bible believing, mature disciples who make disciples. 

Understanding the culture, the worldview of individuals, and engaging in authentic relationships within the context of daily life is necessary to uncovering what people believe to be their ultimate reality, their “really real.” Examining how people live out what they believe can shine a light on what they understand “Christianity” to be. In many ways, this is similar to how we might uncover what used to be called “cultural” or “casual” Christians here in the United States: people who identify with Christianity culturally or socially, but whose everyday lives may not necessarily reflect a biblical understanding of faith.

In Zambia specifically, we see the syncretism of African Traditional Religions (ATR), witch-craft, spiritism, ancestor worship, and tribalistic culture all wrapped up into the church. In the same way we must push against our culture here in the states, Africans must stand against the animistic and tribalistic aspects of their culture that has it’s tentacles tightly wound in the church. This is spiritual warfare. 

Low literacy rates, elder/position based unchecked authority, poverty, and vulnerability allow for a continued cultural acceptance of corruption, rampant sexual immorality, and abuse in the church that has become the new “tribe.” When position and title equal power, (think chief/headman culture), it is easy to see how a pastor or church leader can do whatever he (or she) desires. 

There is also a lack of discernment when it comes to understanding spirits, deliverance, healing, and the practices people become involved in when those practices fall outside a biblical worldview. When animism and spiritism have been the long-accepted framework for understanding the spiritual realm, the concept of deliverance can easily become confused with a biblical understanding of demons and angels. 

Unbiblical deliverance services can be rife with people being “unhinged” from spirits, but what spirits? Ancestors? Nature spirits? Or some generic evil spirit believed to be causing someone to commit adultery, requiring them to return for deliverance week after week? If you don’t ask them you will not know. Assumptions are deadly. 

Rather than addressing sin through confession, repentance, personal responsibility, and the accountability necessary to put sin to death in a person’s life, these alternative understandings of the spiritual realm can permeate African church services and true demonic activity is missed. The result is a form of Christianity in which spiritual manifestations may be emphasized while the biblical call to repentance, transformation, and holiness is diminished.

Prayer services (which you might have to pay for) centered around all the unfortunate issues in your life are fueled from the idea that some dead ancestor is messing with your well being and must be dealt with. There is little to no biblical understanding of trials, suffering, sanctification, and plain old consequences for sin or bad choices. You must receive prayer from that “pastor” or “prophet”  with a direct connection to God.  

The Prosperity Gospel and multiple sects of, “name it and claim it”, “health and wealth”, and other false gospels are plowing through Africa. ATR allows for an easy transfer of belief to The Prosperity Gospel and it’s cousins. False prophets and “power people” hold the keys to salvation, healing, anointing, happiness, and prosperity. You, the lay person, have no power. You must have mediation to God. 

This is also why Catholicism works well within the context of African thinking. It is easy to accept that you must need someone, like a priest, with power, or title to access the spirit world or pardon your sins. There is not much difference between a shaman or witch-doctor and a false prophet, pastor, or priest, who demands the same “payment”  in absolute and unbridled power. You must acknowledge your need for mediation to the spirit world through them. 

This is why we work so hard in Zambia (and within our other African communities), to walk alongside people in everyday life. Listening, asking questions, engaging in Bible Study and asking the Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Making sure that we are a biblical filter for all the false representations of what Satan would like to push as some form of Christianity, we push against the darkness that masquerades as light. God is not trying to paint over the African mask of animism but is dismantling the whole belief system for the truth and freedom found in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is crushing the demonic oppression. We GET to be a part of what God is doing in Sub-Saharan Africa and it is amazing! But it comes at a cost. 

Coming up against pastors, prophets, or even the local witch doctor is not without risk. We have had to stand alone against the evils of local pastors and the prophet who comes through town while also warning those around us where that witch doctor gets his power. Why do we do this? First, because God asked us to and we love Him. Second, because of people. The precious people of Africa. 

Sub-Saharan Africa seems to be puttering along and mostly out of sight for the average Western Church goer. Northern Africa is more exciting for those that are watching, but if we do not fight the battles in front of us for Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of syncretistic Christianity, the Northern influence will in no uncertain terms infiltrate all of Africa in an intentional, southern push, which is already happening. But God…Pray for us and others who are pressing into the false, corrupt, and abusive ways Satan is trying to destroy the church in Sub-Saharan Africa and that He would strengthen the true Church faithfully proclaiming the good news and standing firm on the Word of God. 

The Abandoned Gospel: Confronting Neo-Pentecostalism and the Prosperity Gospel in Sub-Saharan Africa by Philip W Barnes

Biblical Christianity in Modern Africa by William Odonovan 

https://africa.thegospelcoalition.org/article/evil-suffering-and-the-gospel-a-biblical-response-to-african-traditional-religion/

TRANSFORMATION

We, as Christians, have talked for centuries about the transformation of lives through Christ—the way the power of the Holy Spirit works within us to sanctify us: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Our designation as new creations is predicated on the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)!

We work for an organization, One Collective, that believes in the transformation of communities by the power of God. We love that premise and that vision. For only God can change people. Only God can change me. We must first know that transformative power in our own lives before we go to others.

One God. One life. One community at a time.

The fact that God includes us in this Great Commission work is altogether staggering and humbling. At its heart, it comes down to the work of discipleship—helping people reconcile their relationships with God, themselves, others, and all of creation.

And it starts with the one.

The one God puts in front of you. The one God is already working in. Because He is the ONE who draws sinners to Himself (John 6:44). We look for those “ones”—the people God highlights to us and brings into our paths from within our communities.

But this requires something: time, energy, focus, and money.

It requires investment—investment in people’s lives.

Are we willing?

Do we have disciples who are making disciples? Are their lives being transformed that are, in turn, transforming other lives?

I have found that one-on-one discipleship is worth the investment.

It reveals a person’s true beliefs, worldview, and the lies they have come to accept. It exposes idols and the footholds of Satan. It allows us to enter into the everyday life of another person and walk alongside them—speaking life and truth into their story.

And when we are willing to be vulnerable, we allow others to plant seeds of hope in the soil of our own stories, stories that have been transformed for the glory of God.

Who is the one God has placed in your life today?

Be that person for someone.

Invest in them. Walk alongside them. Speak truth and life into their story.

Because transformation starts with the one.

LONGING...

 

I sit here this morning, gazing out from the Lake Geneva Library to the lake it is named after. The lush grass and the bright green leaves swaying in the breeze boast of mid-summer in the Mid-West. The farmers market is bustling down the street where I grabbed a cinnamon role to savor. The water is quite calm for a summer morning here and the boats bob in the bay waiting for their owners to take them out. Truly picturesque. 

I told myself that when I got back from my trip to Zambia, I would soak in all that summer has to offer here now that it is already half over. Trying to accept the blessing of living here. It’s hard though. While I love that we get to live here for now, knowing that God has us here for not only recruiting new leaders for ministry but to care for our moms as well, I’m torn. I tried to put it into words last August on my prayer retreat. It came out in a kind of poem. I say, “kinda” as I’m not sure it follows any rules or parameters of a poem but it is words my heart tries to understand. Emotions I give to God to filter. It is the tension of holding two worlds I love in my heart and knowing that neither of them are where I ultimately belong. Here it is- 

The beauty makes me mad

Green and blue clear water against a perfect MidWest sky

The blessing makes it even harder

I can reach out and touch family and friends here, everything is at arms length

I know, God, this is supposed to make it easier

But my soul longs for the dark, muddy, unknown waters of Africa

The dusty atmosphere that creates a blood red sky

Relishing in the sweaty skin that suggest time with a friend in the African afternoon

I long for the dust trail behind my Toyota that signifies a dirt road to someplace magical

Balancing moments that hold eternal significance with my sisters in Christ on the other side of the world, and my sisters here

I am a visitor in the place that should be home and at home where I should be a visitor

But this I know, You God, are creating a place for me that will be so perfect I will not want for anything

So in the here and now, You are enough between earthly worlds that I straddle and the eternal home where I belong 

Tick Tock

Time is a tricky thing. It is said that you can not get back time. Once it is gone it is gone. We all know this but is it evident in how we live? I'm not sure. Time controls us while itself not able to be controlled. We can't stop it, or hold it back, or fast forward it. It is what it is. Our Creator gives it to us as a gift. Allowing us to be a part of His world, stewarding well all things, including time. The time we are given represents our lives. Lives as His children bought and paid for by the blood of His Son. Lives that use the time given to worship God and live with purpose for His Name sake. But at some point our time ends. 

I have watched many people die. Some have died better than others. Death has once again happened near me and is also shadowing two other lives close to me. I have become very aware of the way in which time on this earth ends for us. I notice the focus of the person as they get sicker, or older, or more aware of their mortality. Is it clearly fixed on the Lord or are they distracted by earthly issues?

I can see the face of a woman in Zambia who wanted nothing else but to pray for people and worship the Lord on her death bed. Or the concern of another older woman who just wanted her whole family to know the Lord and for them to be saved. Prayer, singing, gratitude. I remember the sweet story my mom told me of my dad who was up in the middle of the night signing one of his favorite hymns when he only had days to live. 

While none of these lives were lived out perfectly, they knew who God was and who they were in light of that. God's grace shown through. Goals for dying well. 

But let's talk about how we are living. Now, I'm not going to get into a lengthy debate on eschatology, but I do believe that time is of the essence these days. It is not just that I feel myself getting older and that my life is half over (if I live a full life), but I do feel a very real sense of urgency to get busy with the work of God's kingdom. In every sense, am I encouraging the saints, preaching the gospel, discipling those God has put in front of me, and living a life that is poured out for the poor, the lost, and the sick? How am I using the time afforded me to bring LIFE to those dying? 

One of the verses I pray for the community in Zambia is John 10:10- "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Life, full, abundant life. That is what Christ offers. And that is what I want to share with everyone around me. Life-let's live it and give it. 

Who needs to hear this message so that they can not only live fully but die faithfully? I pray that I will finish my race well someday and say with confidence, "for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21. 

How are you living?

HOLD ON LOOSELY

I sit here right now and consider what has been lost in my lack of writing and blogging over the past many years. What fraught moments, miraculous minutes, or meaningful memories have not been recorded. Like the African sunset which slips away like water in your hands, those stories are gone I fear. 

I can not really attest to why I stopped writing, but I did. Maybe ministry overtook my “me” time. Maybe I felt like the relationships were too new or life to raw. There was definitely dry land between my pen and I and there was a sense from God to go ahead and let it be. There is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). 

I have been back in the states for over 2 years now. When I was preparing to return to the states, I was asking God what He had for me here beside our continued ministry in Africa. For those that know, it became obvious that our moms would need us but I knew there was more. I felt a nudge to write again and speak a bit more. The funny thing about God is He doesn’t really reveal His timeline. Here I sit 2 1/2 years in to our stateside chapter and I think this is the 2nd time I have sat down to put pen to paper. 

As I have pondered this desert, I have also seen a pattern of other activities in my life that have ebbed and flowed, things that had been a fruitful part of my days or weeks and then poof, no more. Seasons. Chapters. Transition. Change. 

Seasons remind us different is good. Chapters lead us on to the unfolding story before us. Transition grows us and keeps us on our toes. Change reminds us who is really in charge. Our lives, our routines, our priorities, shift. Africa did and still does remind me to hold things loosely. 

I thought I would blog heavily when we were on the ground in Zambia but what I realize now is that I wrote those moments, miracles, and memories on my heart not on paper. And that is ok. They rest there where I hold them carefully, remembering what made those moments special. They are not lost, they are found inside of me. 

With all that missionary life throws us, what it gives and what it takes, knowing that God is in control and with us makes all the difference. We accept the sunsets; the closing of one chapter to another but in Africa you never know what the new sunrise will bring. Endless hope hangs on the colors of each morning. Maybe my blog will rise again soon. Maybe this is the start. 

What looks like a sunset right now in your life? What might feel like a sunrise? 

FAITHFUL

The text, the news, the shock. Then there was the changing of airline tickets, the packing, the quick goodbyes, and the realization I was leaving my home in Zambia and it would no longer be mine when I came back periodically. I was going back to the states to take care of my mom. This seemed like a dream, a nightmare really. My mom was healthy, spry, worked out, and ate well. This was not the plan…but who are we to think we have things figured out? 

Though the transition of moving back to the states was already in process, this was not. New roles with our organization were taking us stateside and I had not even had the time to really process that yet, let alone having to leave at the drop of a hat. Brief tears trickled down my face as my husband closed the gate and my home disappeared behind the 10 foot tall metal doors as he drove me to the airport. That was all I had time for because we needed to talk about everything we could in the hour plus drive to put me on a plane. There was no time for tears. Not yet.  

I was going back to my mom’s house, not my house, because we didn’t have one. I was leaving the only home I felt like was mine in the past 8 years, at least. Believe it or not Zambia was a place of stability for me. A place that I called home. And now I was going back to uncertainty again, not just with my mom, but for my husband and I. We did not have any idea where we were going to live when we did plan on coming back and now that was a glaring reality. We also did not know how we were going to afford to live back in the states on our support or how God was going to provide a vehicle for us. There were so many questions, so many unknowns. 

I’ll be honest, the thought of dealing with not having a home, financial instability, and the health of my mom was taking a toll. I had done all this before and I felt like I had done my time. I wanted to arrive in the states with a home, a car, health, and security wrapped up in a box with a bow neatly tied on top. 

That did not happen. But in the weeks that followed and in the waiting on God, He showed me once and again, that He is faithful. He is enough. If you are feeling like your whole world is in upheaval, sit at the feet of the Father and be reminded that He loves you more than anything and He will do for you what is best in His eyes for His glory and honor. 

There is much more to this story, and the ending is still being written, but I sit now in a house God has provided for us to rent (with our two dogs!), a vehicle that is going to be given to us in a couple weeks, and my mom who is in good spirits in spite of many challenges. Jehovah-Jireh. 

MY WORD FOR THE SEASON-PEACE

Earlier this month I pulled out my little pathetic pipe cleaner like fake Christmas tree and the few ornaments that would hang on it. As I emptied the small box of ornaments out came a silver ornament that spelled peace. As I hung that on my tree, I knew God was confirming that as my word for the season. But He was confirming so much more. 

I haven’t done a, “word of the season,” for a few years and I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe I was too distracted, or maybe it was because it doesn’t feel like Christmas here as much. There aren't very many opportunities to be reminded that it is even the Christmas season here besides the few Christmas decorations in malls in Lusaka. No one decorates in Chongwe, there are no special programs, or parties, nothing special even at churches. It does force you to be very intentional when it is not all around you. And so it is a blessing. There is not the fuss, or busyness, or the materialism of it here. There is just the nativity in my house and my little fake tree that remind me it is Christmas time. 

Time to reflect on why God sent His Son to earth….to be Peace for us. Not a fake peace  as the world gives but real Peace in the very person of Jesus (John 16:33). Peace is a Person. Peace is only found in Jesus and through His saving work on the cross. It is not found anywhere else. All other appearances of peace are fake, unfounded, or not lasting. The true peace we have in our lives is a direct reflection of our relationship with Christ, because the Spirit in us is the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9,10). 

The reality is though that most of us are searching for peace in all the wrong places or people. We want peace in the world, in our communities, in our relationships, or in our families, but only Christ can bring and be Peace to us in this world filled with trouble. Peace in the Person of Jesus Christ is eternal peace because He is eternal and therefore we can rest in Jesus for all the things that truly matter. 

If you want to figure out if you are trusting in Jesus for your peace ask him to bring the sword into your life (Matt. 10:34). Oswald Chambers states that, “thousands of people in this world profess to be happy without God. But if we could be truly happy and moral without Jesus, then why did He come? He came because that kind of happiness and peace is only superficial. Jesus Christ came to “bring…a sword” through every kind of peace that is not based on a personal relationship with Himself.” 

Trusting God to bring that kind of “peace” (the sword) into your life is to trust in the goodness of God. Let Jesus show you where you are not resting in Him to be your true Peace this Christmas Season. Move toward Peace. Move toward Jesus. 

Merry Christmas! Immanuel-God with us. 

FOR THE ONE...

 

As Easter approaches, we are pondering the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior to humble Himself and die on a cross, shedding His blood for us, for me. I think of the fact that I was on His heart when He went to the cross because He foreknew me. He died for me, for you, for Esther who was just saved by this same work of Jesus last week at our youth Bible study here in Zambia. He died for the world and yet He died for the one. It is that “one” that we are here for. It is the “one” that we all get to celebrate, not only here but for eternity. 

Our heart is for the one that no one else sees. The one that is invisible to the world around them. Join us in praying for all the “ones” who need education, opportunity, business training, encouragement, prayer, a Biblical study, a mentor, a micro loan, agriculture training, a paying job, tutoring, ESL training, marriage help, a good book, or a hug. But most importantly, they need the ONE who stooped low to make a way for us to be reconciled to a holy God. 

Pray with us and for us as we continue to push people toward the ONE true God who’s wrath we deserve but His Son paid the price for. We desire so much for the community of Chibolya and are so grateful for the support and prayer from everyone! We are dreaming big with God for the future and pray you will join us in prayer and financial help to reach the one, like Esther, who happened to come to our house for youth Bible Study, and was able to learn about the true saving power of God through His Son, Jesus. May this amazing Easter truth make it’s way into more hearts here. Thank you for being a part of all the “ones” here in Zambia. 

 The Pilgrims….it conjures up a picture in our minds of those white collared travelers to the New Land. During this time of year we reminisces on the story. The story of those who left one place and journeyed to another. Risking it all for religious freedom. Following God out of their “exile” in Europe. We many times think back on this and yet are so far removed from it that it becomes just the story we celebrate but what if that pilgrim history became our pilgrim identity? 

This pilgrim history goes so much farther back though. Back to Abraham and the call to leave what he had to go to where God was calling him. The journey of Abraham and his descendants end up in exile though, but we can’t stay in Egypt, even though many times it seems safer. 

We must not get comfortable, we must follow that wanderlust with the God who calls us to journey with Him through the wilderness to the promise land. Learning to trust, learning more about Him, learning that He provides, and learning that He is the only God that is worthy of our praise. 

In the book, Wander, by Michelle Van Loon, she reminds us that, “Godly contentment will keep us in a state of discontentment with the world around us. It will help us recognize temporary comforts such as a full stomach and a safe place in which to lay our heads are not the destination in our lives. Godly contentment makes pilgrims out of us.” 

The call begins as it did for us, in a still small voice to follow. A call to set out and trust the same God who called Abraham and Moses. Then there is ultimate journey of our Lord and Savior who left heaven  and came to earth and followed a path to the cross for us. 

Are we willing to identify as a pilgrim? During this Thanksgiving week, let’s ponder our pilgrim identity and our willingness to journey with the God who calls us to this. 

The world outside was so quiet. The sound of the wind going through the pine trees and the birds chirping prepared my heart for the prayer retreat I was about to embark on. I had wondered what I should be focusing on in this time with God and what questions I should be asking. But what came to be so evident is that I just needed to focus on Him. That was it. I did not need any questions answered or dilemmas fixed. He was all I needed in the craziness of what 2020 has become. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of things I wanted answers to, but being captivated by God makes everything else fade away. 

He is God, the starmaker, the soulwaker, the God I can’t take my eyes off of. Does God have that pull for you? That amazing attraction that you can’t stop looking at? What if we never dropped our gaze to the distractions of this earth? The lyrics of this song by Phil Wickham were the starting point for my retreat. This is who I can rest in despite all that is going on. And in this truth, the truth of who God is, I laid down my life again as His servant, surrendered and satisfied, not needing answers or a plan or a path for the future, just Him….

As my mom says, “I am living for an audience of ONE.” Are you living for an audience of ONE? The ONE? Who are you preforming for? Who are you trying to please? Who are you needing? Who or what has pulled your eyes away from the the ONE that is high above, “wrapped in light and crowned in love?” May we, more so now than ever before, keep our eyes on the only ONE who is sovereign, holy, just, merciful, loving, truthful, and holds this earth in His Creator hands. 

Starmaker

Standing high above

Wrapped in light and crowned in love

Dark shaker

It trembles at your name

And here with you we are amazed

[Pre-Chorus]

And I can't look away

I am captivated

What else can I say

But sing in adoration

[Chorus]

You are holy

You are holy

High above the earth

You are holy

You are holy

High above the earth

[Verse 2]

Creator

What mysteries you hold

Your words worth more than wells of gold

Soulwaker

You bring our hearts to life

And here with you we're satisfied

Link to song-  Starmaker

GOODBYE DURING COVID-19

I woke up that morning and could not breathe. I felt like I was totally unprepared for what was happening that day.  I looked at his room scattered with clothes, suitcases, and his backpack ready for international travel. He had done this before, our youngest and only son, the year before. He had travelled by himself back home from Zambia for 6 weeks. The difference then, he had come back. This time he was leaving for adulthood, for his summer home to work before he heads off to college. This was goodbye. 

I think all that had transpired before this is what made it so hard. Covid-19 made it hard. When we had made the concession to let Carter, our son, go home early before we would head home for a summer furlough back in November of 2019, it was a different time. When there was no talk of Covid-19, no flight interruptions, no economies falling apart, and no mass world uncertainty. There were going to be family and friends he was going to stay with, a job at a summer camp that would start in May, and a planned send off to college in the fall.

Our plans were turned sideways. By March we were holding our breath that his April flight would still be ok. We wondered if we should “get him out now.” As so many other expats were doing. But where would he go back to? Everyone was on lock down. Come April our fear was realized as his flight was cancelled. We then had to make the decision of whether or not to wait for that ticket and flight to “come back” (realizing it probably wasn’t) or cancel and book a new ticket, a new ticket at 4 times the cost. The world was acting crazy and we didn’t know what to do. The emails were “get out now” and we knew our son needed to get back regardless of what he was going back to. We prayed and I (notice I didn’t say, "we") wrung my hands for more than a week as we went back and forth on getting him out on the only airline left flying out of Zambia. I finally swallowed hard, and we did it. We then had four days to get him ready to go. Four days that I did not spend preparing myself. I did make his favorite meals and we played games and got his favorite shawarma in town, but I did not think about what this send off truly was.

It all happened so fast and all of a sudden we were sending him off on a lone plane out of our host country to go home to a mass pandemic to live with his sister who had also had her life turned upside down by this. The secure jobs they both had set up for the summer were all but a hopeful dream at this point, and the graduation party we wanted to have for Carter seems like it might be online at this point. The plan of staying till September on furlough was to get him settled at college for his first year and move our daughter back to college as well; seems like wishful thinking right now that anyone will be going back to college in September. What are they/we supposed to do? Leave them to what? To where? 

Sending your youngest off on a plane at the mid-end of his senior year in high school to start his adult life was hard to begin with, but put all this in the mix and this mom was really a mess;) I am not usually like this. I have always been about growing our kids up to be independent. But this was hard. I am so glad that I can cry out to my God who hears me and understands. So glad to have family and friends (and a good member care counselor!!) who I could ask for prayer from. 

All this uncertainty reminds those of us who are in Christ that we are part of an unshakable kingdom. Cared for by a God who is still on his throne. And a clear reminder that this is not our true home. Goodbyes in all forms are happening right now, change is happening right now, the future is not certain, but we serve a God who is worthy of our hello every morning, who is unchanging, and who is certain about where this world is going. Let’s rest in that right now.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28

JOURNEY

A typical road in Zambia

I love it when God seems to be speaking something specific through not only our morning devotions but in church as well. We have been reading through Exodus as we finished Genesis and it has been so neat to read the miraculous journey of the Israelites so far. We also went to a church here in Zambia and the new series is, you guessed it, on Exodus. Then, we listened to a sermon from our home church back in WI, and it was, yup, on Moses and his walk of faith. His journey. 

As God liberated the Israelites from Egypt and the slavery they experienced there, He did not bring them into paradise. He brought them into the wilderness first. The journey they were on was not for their happiness, but for their growth, for God to show them who He was and to draw them unto Himself. In Exodus 19:4-5, it states, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine.” The point of God liberating us from our sin and slavery is not just the liberation or freeing in and of itself, but to draw us to Himself, to bring us into His lap, to adopt us as sons and daughters. That is the true miracle of the Exodus. That He wanted the Hebrew people to come to Him, know Him, experience Him. That God would send His Son to die on a cross to fulfill that covenant brings these verses full circle. 

The journey of the Hebrew people in Exodus clearly defines what our journey of faith also might look like. It is from death to life, but that life is found in the wilderness many times. When it is only our Father God who will uphold us, save us, feed us, rescue us, and love us as His adopted children. So that we can “see” God for who He is. The Hebrew’s were terrified of God’s revelation of Himself on Mt. Sinai. God was descending to speak to them, but they were afraid. How many times does God want to show us more of who He is, but, like the Hebrews, we are afraid. (Unhealthy fear, not the reverence and awe fear that we should have.) We are afraid of where He is asking us to go or what He is asking us to leave. 

The life of the Christian is always one of journey, it is always one of going out. There is no one in the New Testament that was not on a journey. The definition of journey says that it is a progression in going from one place to another. It is not aimless or undirected. In your walk with God, are you moving from immature to mature? Or are you willing to put on the sandals that will never wear out and head into the wilderness like the Hebrew people in Exodus? Would you follow God into the wilderness from slavery in Egypt just so you could experience and see God for who He is and hear from Him clearly and personally? 

We must continue on in the journey. Where are you in your journey with God? I pray if you have taken a detour on the path God has you on, get back on the right one. SO THAT you can receive the “adoption as sons…crying, ‘Abba Father!’” (Galatians 4:4-7) Let the God of the universe draw you unto Himself. May that be the first step of YOUR journey. You never know where it might lead…