Today we arrived in a town.
I hope that description conveys the lack of information I feel presently. Where I am is not clear (even Google maps hasn’t named the town). Somewhere 4 hours from Darjeeling and 3 from Siliguri – two places I’ve visited in years pervious.
Our plane from Kathmandu to this undefined location was late by about 3 hours and the bumpy/speedy drive to our hotel was about 1.5 hours. The heat is 32 degrees but feels like 35. Our host just informed us the car rental in close to 1000NZD for 4 days.
After a steaming plate of dumplings and chilli sauce, accompanied by a coke, I was ready to nap in our hotel under the fresh winds of an intermittently working A/C unit.
In these situations you either embrace the challenges or you deflate. Under my breath I praised the Lord for his goodness, then prayed in a heavenly language. Within moments my spirit was full of faith and ready.
This is how God gives his messages to me… via a physical manifestation of the spiritual situation he wishes me to address: God was showing me he wanted me to encourage the believers faith levels which were currently low.
Let’s back up a minute…
Missions work isn’t about converting heathens. It’s about receiving a spiritual mandate that God burdens the believer with until it is outworked: to complete the assignment. Sometimes the assignment is to comfort a person, cast out demonic spirits, sometimes its to preach and sometimes to sit in silence and learn.
There is a lightness that comes from the Lord once the burden lifts.
For example: 2 days past I prayed for a lady who was experiencing unusually deep spiritual encounters without anyone to explain what was going on. Having personal experience with such encounters I was able to guide her through this phenomena for which she was very grateful. As I spoke it was as if God was speaking through me giving her what he wanted. That night I interceded for her in my hotel room: “God keep her to yourself”.
When we make ourselves available for the Lord to move through us these encounters happen frequently. This is a spiritually discerned process which the natural man cannot understand (1 Cor 2:13-16).
Each missionary carries a different grace and assignment: Colin, for example, is a practical man with an amazing gift for bringing people together and empowering leadership. On our second day he brought together two pastors in the most wonderful way, which was one of Gods mandate for him to carry out while in Nepal. I had the privilege of witnessing God moving through Colin and seeing the Lords delight at his will being completed.
The missionary is therefor living a dynamic existence, making themselves ready for the burdens of the Lord (some may not describe them as spiritual burdens but I find it a helpful terminology). This is why it’s impossible to please the Lord without FAITH, because FAITH makes us available to carry out the Lords pleasure.
The experienced missionary (I am with two: Colin and Doug) follows the ‘blowing of the wind’ (John 3:8). They ‘go’ with a vague idea of Gods purposes knowing plans will change as ordered by God: obedience is key. It is impossible to know the situations God will send them into in advance, some pleasant and some testing.
As a new missionary (many years ago) I felt the need to plan details so as to be ‘efficient’ and accomplish stuff. I seized control of events with no faith God was there to lead. But after a few attempts (we’ve all been there) I gave up knowing plans will fail and Gods leading will come regardless.
But now I’m getting into the message God has given me for the people of this ‘town’. So I’ll stop and pray you find faith to make yourself a vessel for Gods supernatural work…