Over winter break I went with some other really cool people to Tijuana Mexico. It was an awesome trip! It was the first mission trip I'd ever been on but I found it exhilarating and learned a lot about God and how to minister to people. In the morning my group and I ran a VBS at a local church for the kids. In the afternoon we either worked on a house for a family or went around the neighborhood painting over graffiti. One day since we had a slightly different color of paint then what we'd been using on a school wall, we went around asking different people who's houses had been graffitied whether they wanted us to cover it up. We also got to pray for many of them. An older lady came out crying and thanking us and saying how beautiful it was. We prayed with her and she thanked God for our blessing and said he'd bless us for what we'd done. It was very awesome to be able to pray for people like this (though I never was the one actually praying). It is something that I would love to do again if God allows it.
Below is the first session they gave us and one of the ones that impacted me the most. Enjoy!
What are you filled of? Are you filled up with worldly pleasures or God? What is the center of your life? Take for example a pipe. It is a vessel for water or other substances to travel down. What is inside this pipe can make a difference in the water that comes from the source and the water that comes out. A dirty pipe will contaminate the water. A clogged pipe will hold the water back and only allow a trickle if any to come through.
Like a pipe, we are a vessel of God's love to the world. Just like a dirty pipe will contaminate the water; thoughts, actions, and priorities of ours that have been contaminated by the world can contaminate God's love. No wonder most non christians today see Christians as liars and fake! Not only does it ruin our witness and make us lukewarm, it also dilutes God's love with hypocrisy and weakens its true strength. Because of this we need to carefully examine our lives. Are we living wholeheartedly for God?
On this trip we were encouraged to hold nothing back and also do this for the rest of our lives; to hold nothing back from God but submit wholeheartedly our entire lives to Christ. I for one continue to struggle with this.
Since I have no time before work to have a time with God, I need to have it when I get back. By then I'm usually tired and just want to do nothing (aka sit and waste time doing who knows what). What I need to get through my thick head is that God wants to use this time to allow me to rest not just physically but also spiritually in him. To unload and talk to him about my day. Pray for me as I try to build a relationship with him by reading his word, praying, and just talking candidly to him. Isn't that how you get to know your friends? It's the same with Christ. I asked Jay (one of our groups awesome leaders) how I'd know I had whole surrendered my life to Christ. He said (and I kinda added here) I wouldn't stop were I usually did in whatever situation I was presented with, but would step out of my comfort zone and follow God's leading, trusting him to give me the courage that I needed.
Another problem what can happen in a Christians life is that they stuff there lives full of activities, not allowing themselves a time to get away and be alone with God. These activities may be godly things (church band, AWANA, Sunday school, tech team etc) but if we don't take the time to recharge spiritually, we will soon run ourselves into the ground. Also those around us and those we are ministering to won't be getting the waterfall of God's love that should be emitting from us but instead a mere dripping from a garden hose that wasn't quite turned off. Those of us in this situation need to pray and ask God whether there should be an activity that should be cut from our schedules so that we can stay close to him and full of his love.
I apologize if I've missed something. That's what your comments are for. ;) In closing, I think the "Declaration of a World Changer" (what each of us through God's strength can be) sums it up pretty well.
May God bless you as you pursue a closer relationship with him!.......The Declaration of a World Changer.......
Today, I will live honorable through my thoughts, actions, and speech. I choose to be full of faith; I will not only be a hearer but a doer of the Word of God. I will serve before I demand, I will Love and not hate, and I will give before I take. Today, I choose to dedicate my life to prayer and ask God for His miraculous power and the
courage to do the impossible. I will make Godly Relationships a priority in my
life as I esteem others higher than myself. Today, I will live my life in such a
way that I will change the world.
Your brother in Christ,
Corey <><
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