God is stirring my heart for the world. Being here and
knowing that everyday I have an opportunity and an obligation to share hope and
Jesus with people who do not know Him is an opportunity not to be wasted. Even
since being here, I’ve had to adjust my box of how I normally think of knowing
God. It was always such a personal thing to me before. It is now becoming much
more communal. It is wonderful spending time alone with the Lord, but what good
does it do if you never learn how to know God in the real world or how to show
others the transformation that happens through knowing Him. Sharing Him is
another part of knowing Him. I have known the power of community before, but I
really want to experience God in community, and in every part of my life I want
to be seeking to know Him.
Already, I have had an
overwhelming feeling of inadequacy in reaching people with the gospel. I think
God wants to teach me a lot about the power of the Holy Spirit this year. So
many people here have no clue that they can really know God! At first it was
very discouraging, and so many times I’m thinking, how can I make a difference
here? Sometimes while sharing, I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall. But God
is faithful and He is at work! I am confident He wants Slovenia to know Him because
of what He says in His Word and I will have hope in that!
“II Corinthians 2:14-17 says, 14 But thank God! He has made us His captives and continues to
lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now He uses us to spread the
knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising
up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being
saved and by those who are perishing. 16 To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of
death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume.
And who is adequate for such a task as this?
17 You see, we are not like the many frauds who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with
sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us.”
I want to be merely the fragrance of Christ, and people will
respond to that according to what God wills. I pray that for those I meet in Slovenia, it will be a fragrance of life
and not death! And I am not adequate, but I ask God to give me boldness to
speak with sincerity, and only by the authority of Christ! In Luke 9 Jesus says
that He gives all power and authority to heal and cast out demons! Do I really
believe that? Do I really believe that He is life-giving and am I prepared to deal
with the response of those who reject me in rejecting Him? I pray that I would
keep my fixed on knowing Christ and in turn only being concerned about His fame
and glory. By knowing Him may I be filled with His love and compassion! May I
be like Paul who was able to patiently and gently reason and persuade people to
believe the truth of Jesus and His resurrection. No matter the opposition I
will face, may I find disciples to build into who will embrace Jesus Christ!
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be
reconciled to God! For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him.” II Corinthians 5:20-21