- This made me think of something I read yesterday... Your journey up the mountain to progressively higher viewpoints, your general sense of inadequacy, and your willingness to be stretched spiritually out of your comfort zone. "We have all been brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light. Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven't turned back, but that you have insight and understanding into where you are spiritually. Have you heard God say, "Come up higher," not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character?" My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers Thank you for sharing this experience and giving us a glimpse at the immeasurable power that can come from a willing and obedient heart. 💚
- I needed to hear that today Tammra, thank you so much.
- Jill--wonderful story starting with story for the boys. Boy, at 18 life began quickly in the "giving" away category. They say love isn't love until you give it away. SO glad to read your story--a blessing.
The Master has need of them.
Last night I read my boys a story about a little boy who had a mama donkey and a baby donkey. The little donkey was still young and had not yet been used to carry any loads yet. This little guy was this boy’s pet.
One day, two men came and untied the animals. The boy’s father asked what was happening and the men simply stated “The Master has need of them.”
The man gladly offered the donkeys and the boy had a decision: fight to keep what was his or obey the Master. He chose the hard path and the men walked away with the boy’s pet.
As you could probably guess, this little boy witnesses The Messiah fulfilling yet another prophecy by sitting upon that pet as He rode into Jerusalem that same day. In the story the boy went from feelings of sacrifice and anxiety to overwhelming awe as Jesus Himself was finally given the worship, affection and glory He deserved.
At the end of the story I told my boys that there will be many times in their lives where God will ask something of them, and they will have to chose to surrender, sacrifice, and/or obey God. It sounds hard but if you do this, God will always show you how Good He really is.
"The Master has need of them."
“As Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem, they stopped at Bethphage at the hill called the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers and said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will quickly find a donkey tied there with its colt. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, say that the Master needs them, and he will send them at once.””
Matthew 21:1-3 NCV
There will be times in our lives where it’s clear that God is asking us to obey Him. We always have the choice, obey or not. If we do what God is asking it will require some type of sacrifice. So why would we? The end result of your obedience will always outweigh your sacrifice. Test God in this and see if He is good.
Tell me a story:
When did you simply “know” God was asking something of you?
What happened?
What was the end result?
Here is a story of mine:
I have many, but something came to my mind tonight from 22 years ago.
I was 18, studying to be a “missionary” (I wanted my life to be missional) at YWAM. I had been overseas several times by age 18, but this was my longest and farthest trip yet. I was spending 5 weeks in Madagascar. I packed a big backpack, a little Bible, lots of bottled water, and a way too heavy guitar for hiking miles in the jungle.
I had already made the decision to give up all comforts of home for 5 weeks of no electricity or running water. I had already chosen to learn how to be “a nurse” by taking night classes for several weeks before this trip so I could take vitals, read prescriptions and help with bandages if needed. I had said goodbye to my family hoping I’d make it home in one piece and without any nasty diseases that I did NOT get vaccinated for (because I ran out of money and was too embarrassed to ask my parents for more).
None of this was what I felt God was asking me to obey Him in. It was a bit of a sacrifice but not really, because I was so ready to see the world and to feel like I could make a difference.
We flew into the capitol city, and from there we took a 6 seater plane to the coast, where we landed on grass (and I got to sit in the copilot seat which was a dream of mine being that I don’t have 3D vision and can’t pilot). We got in the back of large cargo trucks and sat on the wood with tropical wind blowing my hair and trucked into the jungle as far as that dirt road would go. Then we walked, all day, into the night. On a path in the middle of the jungle, alone. We arrived at a river we could not cross, but suddenly small canoes arrived on the shore and began paddling 2 of us across at a time (still nighttime without flashlights or electricity). Safely across the river we had arrived at our wooden huts where we would set out our tents to keep out the bugs I could and could not see (but they all seemed to bite). (Also hissing cockroaches are a real thing)
This was our first village. Here I got madly sunburned as I spend days on my knees in front of nearly 1,000 people who needed medical care. Many many prescriptions given for worms, some for more severe illness ofTB and even leprosy. This to me was… awesome. It did take some getting used to the go number 2 in a hole on the ground but, when you gotta go…
Our jungle days were spend educating, treating and building. And at night, we ate weird things like shark, eel and rice, pumpkin and someone gave us a goose. We sang, and giggled and hoped time would slow down.
Village number two was built upon the side of a mountain where a deep valley was filled with rice paddies. We learned to walk on the dark green mounds of earth that separated water from water to go from mountain to mountain. I bathed in the coldest, freshest mountain water you could imagine. I climbed to the top of a mountain that took me a day to reach. I stood in the valley, gazing up to the tops of the hills where glorious tombs were built to honor the dead in the native’s primary religion of ancestral worship. The people LIVED in mud huts built into the rock of the mountain with very little to eat and very little comfort- yet once they died their family was required to offer them beauty, riches and worship. In that valley, I felt the truth of David’s song “as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”. Here I was asked to join in a time of prayer for a family with a terribly ill child. If this child was healed, the people then would believe in the Jesus we outsiders spoke of and join the small Christian church that had been established by a family in this village. If there was no healing, they would continue their traditional worship requiring more than they had to give. Praying for the child was not what The Master had need of me for. But prayed I did, with All my heart. And the child was not miraculously healed that day. But, he did gradually heal until fully recovered by the time we left them for good. The church that had been started in this village had another validation of God’s deep love.
At our third village was the most difficult to get to and the most difficult… period. Although the bus ride through the mountains, up and down the incredibly narrow and severely winding roads would cause the weak stomach to lurch, I loved it. And At this point in our journey, our group had grown into a family. A family that had helped each other find things to replace toilet paper with, and applied medicated ointment to second degree sunburns and held one another as we cried over the overwhelming malnutrition and poverty we had actually witnessed face to face. We had a bond.
Through the mountains we ended at a jungle home to ring tailed lemurs that transitioned into wide open spaces filled with little house on the prairie grass as far as you could see… or walk. We would have little water to filter along this 20 mile hike, so we got to carry our water on our backs (and that dumb guitar). The village was so spread out we could only see one large concrete building. This was used for all community needs and this is where we slept. This is where we tried to catch a very fast chicken and actually cooked an egg on the porch.
This is where God asked me to obey.
This village was, different. They traditionally did not accept foreign white visitors, due to their history. Madagascar was once taken over by white foreigners from France. Many natives who resisted the French colonization where taken from their homes and put on a train. Just outside this village was a burial ground… where the French executed hundreds of Malagasy people who just wanted to stay Malagasy.
There was a deep resentment and pain that lingered here, and sadly it was as though the land was cursed. Very little grew here and the percentage of miscarriages was significantly higher than anywhere in the country. Many of us, including myself got terribly ill while we stayed here. And the heaviness of depression was very real upon my soul.
My team leader was a humble and wonderful man of God. After hearing the stories of depression, disparity and even death, he was moved to action. We invited as many people from the village to join us white people at the burial site. My leader knelt down before them and asked for forgiveness, as a white foreigner, to represent the depravity their ancestors had undeservedly received. He then took off his shirt, took his water bottle and began to wash the feet of the eldest men and woman in our gathering. We then stood together in a circle and held hands, black hands and white hands, joining together. We we prayed, and prayed and begged God to forgive this wrong and heal this land, to heal these people. I opened my eyes to see a beam of sunlight break through the sky filled with clouds. I broke open with tears of adoration for my God’s great mercy and His unmatched power to heal. We sang in English, they sang in Malagasy. And my life has never been the same since this day.
The next day, I was told that many people from the village would be coming to listen to us teach them about Jesus and significant truths from the Bible. I was asked to speak (with help of an interpreter) at several of these sessions. I was asked if I would be willing, but I was afraid. And in my heart I knew God wasn’t asking me. The Master has need of… you. I could sing and get lost in moments of worship- but up until this point in my life, I felt like something was “wrong” with me. I wasn’t normal and I just could not speak to adults. I felt inferior, unadjusted and downright immature (I was). Maybe because I recognized this, I truly believed that all adults thought me to be stupid or simply not worth their time. And God was telling me to let go of my (non)truths and preach the gospel to All, and today it would be African Adults. I could have said, I’m not good at public speaking, or lied and said I don’t feel well… but, I chose to obey.
I looked through the Bible, page after page, what would I teach on?! I found something in the book of John, I made some notes and I prayed. I put on my cleanest skirt (it was far from clean at this point in the trip) and I stood at the front of a room where 30-40 people had gathered! To hear me and my new family teach them about this Bible they did not yet know.
I obeyed.
I’d love to say I was awesome, but thankfully God didn’t let me get a big head. I don’t even remember what I taught. Somehow through my jumbles ideas, the truth of the gospel of Jesus came through my words into places it had not yet been heard.
I have grown from this moment into more and more moments of letting God tell His story through me. That end result is part of the core of my happiness in Life.
A very wise (and my very favorite) Pastor told me many times in my life that “you can never out give God.” Also “you never lose by giving.” I have personally experienced the truth of Those words many times. And if The Master every requires anything of me, I pray every time, I will immediately be willing.