Bogota 1-2012 Day 4
Since we didn’t have internet the final 4 days I am catching up on my daily blogs from our trip last week. I hope you enjoy.My devotion today was Mission Motivation. There are two main motivations for me as I follow Jesus on His mission. I’m sure there are others but these stand out in my heart and life.
I.The pain…
I am motivated by the pain in my heart for those who don’t know Jesus, don’t have His peace, don’t have His joy. My heart breaks for the 2 million child sex slaves in the world, for the 800 teens a year that age out of the orphanage in Bogota alone and have nowhere to go and no one to help, for the lonely and sad children in institutions all over the world who need someone to tell them that they love them and that Jesus loves them. I find myself motivated by the pain…
“God break my heart with the things that break your heart.” – Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision and Samaritans purse.
Job 30:25 “Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
“If you are a Christ follower, then you have been drafted into an army of compassion that knows no enemy but those things that break the heart of God. And it’s not okay to not do something about them.” – Mark Batterson
I feel the heart of the Father as He loves the world so much that He sacrifices His only Son. I feel the heart of the Shepherd as He searches for the one lost sheep. I feel the heart of Jesus as He weeps over Jerusalem and I am motivated to do more.
II.The Joy…
I am motivated by the inexpressible joy of being on mission with Jesus. I am driven to be near Him and to feel His heart as He loves these children. For some reason when I am near them I feel Him and His presence and His heart more strongly that when I am at home and so I am motivated to follow Him into the fields of the fatherless.
“One of the reasons that we are often not as happy as we should be and could be is that our vision of what our life is about is too small. We try to find happiness in our work, our family, and our friends. He wants the whole world to be embraced by His saving glory in Jesus Christ and He wants you and me to be involved in this. Our hearts can expand with joy in God as we watch Him triumph in the world. One of the reasons that missions is so advancing to our happiness is because you are engaged in something that not only is God very excited about but that cannot fail… we are linking our lives to something global, something absolutely indomitable, and something absolutely eternal and when you are linked to big things, strong things, sure things like that your joy is deeper, stronger, and bigger.” – John Piper
“We face a humanity that is too precious to neglect. We know a remedy for the ills of the world too wonderful to withhold. We have a Christ too glorious to hide. We have an adventure that is too thrilling to miss.” – Theodore Williams
Mother Teresa who stared out with 3 pennies and a dream at the time of her death had 610 missions in 123 countries
She summed it up as it relates to the joy of following Jesus on mission, “We all long for Heaven where God is, but we have it in our power to be in Heaven with him right now to be happy with him at this very moment. But being happy with him now means:
loving as he loves
helping as he helps;
giving as he gives
serving as he serves
rescuing as he rescues
being with him 24 hours a day
touching him in his distressing disguise, the poor and suffering.”
Will you pursue His presence, including the pain and the immense joy?
Today we invited 40 girls from Santa Maria orphanage who are all available for adoption and/or Padrino to come and spend the day with us at the club where we are staying. There was swimming, games, crafts, and lots of food. We had a wonderful day and grew even closer to many of these beautiful children. I spent part of the afternoon loving on and talking to a girl named Laura. I’ve known her for 3 years but we have never really had a chance to talk. She sat down with me and said, “Let’s talk” I said, “What do you want to talk about?” She said, “God” and so we walked and talked about God for a long time and she shared her heart with me about many things. It was a sweet time.
We were also blessed with a visit from Paul and Melanie and their daughter. Paul found my blog online some time ago and we have been enjoying Skype with them and also they have been spending time with our friends here at Fundacion Mundo Nuevo but today was the first time for Lisa, Brooke, and I to meet them in person. We had a wonderful visit and are looking forward to more work together in the future.
The most amazing part of the day was when we all met together for a time of sharing and testimony. Several of the girls got up and shared what the day had meant to them and how they had seen the love of God in the team. Two girls in particular shared about some terrible things in their past and about how God had brought them through and how blessed they were to have us and our friendship. Our hearts were deeply moved. Bill Byrd came up to me and said, “Let’s have a forgiveness ceremony and give the girls a chance to cast their burdens on the Lord.” So I shared a brief messaged about the hope of forgiveness and love that is in Christ and how that we are not made to carry our own sin, our own burdens, our own pain. I Peter 5:7 says that we are supposed to “cast those burdens on Him” and Isaiah 53 says that He has already carried them for us and by faith we can enter into His rest. So I invited the girls and the team to kneel before the Lord and cast our lives, hurts, and sins upon Him completely. There were many tears and many prayers. It was a very special time.
After, many of the girls said that it was the most special night of their life. Praise be to God. We then went out to a big bonfire and ate s’mores and sang worship songs in Spanish and English late into the night. We said our tearful goodbyes and the girls got on the bus and went home. Thank you Jesus for the pain and the immense pleasure of loving your little lost lambs.
