Running Towards Spiritual Freedom

 

When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. With a shriek, he screamed, “Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” -Mark 5:6-7

Being in Africa, I’ve had the chance to see many demonized people. The world here is so much more focused on the spiritual. They shake, vomit, run from the service etc… They don’t bow and they certainly don’t run up to the person doing the deliverance! How can we explain this man here?

These verses to me are some of the strongest cases not to focus much on demons or what Satan is doing in your life. Here’s a man with 2000 demons that want to shake and run the other direction, and he still manages to see his opportunity for freedom and run toward it. He still manages to bow, which is what a person would do.

This man fought against 2000 demons to find freedom. He didn’t have the strength in himself, but he saw his opportunity and gave it all he had. I know people who are sidelined by some tiny demon on vacation; forget fight for their lives; they fell into sin because they were bored or it felt better to scream than to forgive.

What things in our lives do we need to fight with all our strength? What things does Jesus want to set us free of but we have become to comfortable with? What have we been living with for so long that we may have forgot the freedom which could be ours if we would just run to Jesus instead of accepting our situation?

God help me be like this man, running to you in all my nakedness and filth, not even letting thousands of demons stand in the way. Surround me with people with the same heart, passion, and desperation.

 

Jesus Asks for Mercy Over Sacrifice

When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” -Matthew 9:12-13

Fascinating verse, particularly because mercy is an after-thought in many US churches. Sacrifice is held in quite high esteem - moving chairs, serving in the sound booth, children’s ministry, tithing, etc. What if we asked all the church volunteers if they showed mercy during the week before they started serving?

Mercy: You are owed something but you either delay getting it back or cancel the debt. Sacrifice: You are giving something of yourself for someone else or for a cause. Interestingly enough, mercy must be applied to other people - you can’t really be merciful to yourself and you can’t be merciful to God because He owes you nothing... However, sacrifice can be for yourself, God or others. It doesn’t even need to involve other people - you can be sacrificing for a cause.

I think this aspect of mercy is fascinating. Why are we so good at sacrifice and so terrible at mercy? So good at giving things up but so bad at giving things up for others? Jesus consistently talks about how we can show love to God through our interactions with others.

God, help me to see with your eyes, and give you want you are looking for, not what I want to give.

 

Ramblings

 

Reading in Exodus 2-4 about the calling of Moses. He had promises in his life and vision. At first he tried to accomplish them without God, killing an Egyptian in defense of his people. Humiliated, he was exiled and forgot about God’s plan for his life. But many years later (he was around 80), God called him from a burning bush. This time, he got in the way again, giving God a giant list of excuses. Both times, Moses’s self got in the way of what God wanted to do...

I woke up at 4:30 because of the baby today, figured I would spend more time in the Word and praying today. The problem is it’s almost time to go to work and I am tired already.

I am praying about how I can move forward and how our ministry can really do what it’s called to do. We are supposed to be equipping Mozambicans of Character to Transform their Country. We, recently, have spent a lot of time just surviving. While life is going on and people are learning, I don’t feel like there is a ton of equipping going on at the moment. We are taking on a number of website and app jobs to pay the bills and while I am grateful for the funding I am hesitant because of the loss of vision it may lead to.

On the other hand, what if we are teaching the Mozambican church a more sustainable method of growth? What if this is exactly where God wants us? I know that in my interactions in the for-profit sector I have made almost as big of an impact as in the non-profit sector - people know who I am and watch me like a hawk. They are surprised and blessed when I treat situations with calmness and strength, not yelling at others or giving blame.

I spend so much time and energy wondering if I’m in the right place, looking for advise and counselors in the secular and religious world, and second-guessing my every decision. What if I just calmed down and said “Yes Lord” - yes to what you have for me today. Even with Moses’s giant mistakes, God used him mightily. I struggle with what Moses fought with at the burning bush - that my actions or my being disqualifies me from service. But if that were true, God wouldn’t have been able to use Moses.

What if the reasons God doesn’t answer sometimes is that I’m not asking the right question? What if I just rest in who the Lord is, trusting Him to guide me if I slip? What if I let the worries and doubts of others fall to the ground unless God picks them up and shows them to me?

 

Jesus and the Crowd of 5,000

In John 6:26-31, after Jesus fed the 5,000, the crowd told Jesus “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” 

From a ministerial perspective, this is a very interesting verse for me and I think it requires 2 qualifying statements:

1.    These are statements from an unbelieving crowd.

2.    "Belief" in John is the exact same word for "faith" used in the other gospels. The only difference is it’s the verb “to faith” so the translation is different because "faith" isn’t a verb in English.

I used to think this was really strange… Here are people who want to do the works of God but Jesus is saying don’t worry about it. However, I have since encountered many, many people who are interested in what you do, interested in your success but don’t want to pay the price. “I want to be a missionary” or “I want to make an app” or “I want to start a ministry” but after talking to them for a while you see it’s a passing interest and it’s not something they are willing to pay the same price you paid. Jesus is dealing with the same kind of people here. “That’s a cool miracle Jesus, how do I do that?”

Jesus’s response expertly does three things:

1.    He gives them the first step. Anyone who takes him seriously would start with the first step. Only then can you progress. I am surprised by how many people I talk to about things and I give them a first step but they don’t take it. I think only 5% of people who come to me for advice actually do even the first, most basic thing I tell them - it’s discouraging but if people saw Christ in the flesh and treated him the same way I should expect nothing less! 

2.    He takes the focus off of works and miracles and onto God. The phrasing moves from “we want” to “what God wants” - this is an important distinction; whose will are we actually doing? Do these people want to join the ministry because they have a call from God or because they think it would be cool to be respected and perform miracles?

3.    He doesn’t tell them it’s impossible but instead brings them back to reality without crushing their dreams: believe in Jesus. He could have just as easily responded with “you won’t; you are children of Satan (John 8:44)” but He gives them an opportunity. We need to do the same thing for anyone that comes asking for advice - show them the way and hide our disbelief because who knows who God will call.

 

Many of the first missionaries we talked to, upon meeting them 5 or 10 years later told us that they thought we wouldn’t last here. We were too idealistic, could have a better life somewhere else, and weren’t the rugged bush type. I am glad they chose to keep their opinions to themselves and give us advice as though we had a chance!