After just a week of sending out my prayer letter, the Lord has provided 1/4 of the total amount that I am hoping to raise for my trip! He is SO SO good! I know most people who have to raise support to do ministry overseas dread having to do it, and I definitely understand that raising support for short-term ministry as opposed to long-term ministry is a totally different ball game (it can be alot easier to ask someone for a one-time contribution than for a recurring one), but I am enjoying this time of seeing the Lord provide financially in incredible ways for the work He wants to accomplish in and through me this summer! Thank you to all those who have sensed the Lord leading you to give, and have done so generously and sacrificially! It is serving to increase my faith and affirm me in what the Lord has called me to. I hope and pray it has encouraged those who have given and those who are reading this post as well:)
I have always loved the book of Ephesians because it reveals the mystery of God made known in Jesus Christ and tells of the glorious riches of God's grace that have been lavished upon us as believers. Specifically, Ephesians 1:3 tells us that we have be blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places! Wow! I also love Paul's prayer at the end of chapter 3:
"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (vs 20-21).
Thank goodness that I serve a God who is far bigger than I am! I have definitely been convicted in the past of having too small a view of God, hesitating to ask Him for big things or to move in big ways. In fact, at times I have felt like the father of the boy with the unclean spirit in Mark 9:24 who cries out to Jesus, "I believe; help my unbelief!" I want to believe that God can answer this prayer or meet that need, but for some reason I feel bad asking Him and might not even do so, thereby implying that He doesn't want to hear my request, and maybe even doubting deep down His ability to answer. If He has already blessed me in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, how can He not then also meet in abundance my earthly needs?!
I am convinced that He wants us to ask Him specifically for what we need! This reminds me of the story of Jesus and the blind beggar in Luke 18:35-43. The blind beggar is crying out to Jesus, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" as Jesus is passing by on his way to Jericho, surrounded by a crowd. Jesus stopped and commanded that the man be brought to him, and he asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind beggar responded, "Lord, let me recover my sight." Jesus then said to him, "Recover your sight; your faith has made you well." And immediately he recovered his sight and followed Jesus, glorifying God, and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. What I take away from this passage is that the blind beggar called out to Jesus, then asked Jesus specifically to meet the need that he had in faith, believing that Jesus could do it. Jesus' words make it sound like the beggar's faith activated Jesus' healing work, and his faith was tied up in his asking--so asking was crucial! The other really beautiful thing I take away from this story is that in response to what Jesus had done for him, the healed beggar couldn't stop praising God, and all those around him, when they saw what Jesus had done for him, and saw him praising God, couldn't help but praise God too!
This is my prayer for my whole Namibia journey--that as I ask the Lord specifically for what I need in faith, He will provide, and I will be able to give Him, and only Him, all the glory and honor and praise, and in turn lead others to praise and thank Him too. So right now I am asking Him to bring in the rest of what I need for my trip in ways and in a time frame that could only point back to Him and His supernatural provision!
He's my king, and I love Him.
