The day is almost here! If you didn't know, I'm leaving for Kenya on Monday. Sorry for the late notice. As a Southeast intern I get the privilege of serving on a foreign mission trip with the churches other interns. Even though I've known of this trip since the start of my internship, I seriously cannot believe that in 4 days I will be in Africa.
While we're in Kenya we'll be working with an organization called Life In Abundance (L.I.A.) and we'll be equipping pastors and lay volunteers to minister to their local communities. L.I.A. works to empowering local churches and congregations to care for the needs of their communities without having to rely on consistent foreign support. This is really an awesome way to do ministry and I'm excited to see how God is using it. Our team will be working with pastors and volunteers and we'll be sharing about the importance of commitment and encouragement in ministry just in case you wanted to know.
An awesome thing that I have the privilege of doing while in Kenya is preaching on Sunday morning at a local church. I am so humbled to have this opportunity and cannot wait to share with my brothers and sisters. I know that I will learn so much from my experience in Kenya and I pray that God will use me in some way for His Spirit to speak a message of Truth. I covet your prayers on Sunday Feb. 21.
Maybe it's because there has been a lot going on in life, but for some reason I know that I have not taken adequate time to prepare spiritually for this trip. I was convicted of this a few days ago and I found myself searching for quiet time to read and pray.
In that time God lead me to a verse in Isaiah that I haven't been able to stop thinking about.
"Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts." - Isaiah 26:8
When I first read this passage I was instantly challenged to look at the condition of my heart and what I truly desired. (I started asking myself the questions on the previous blogpost) I started thinking and realized that there is a big temptation for me to just look at this trip as a great opportunity, a sweet trip, an awesome experience, a chance to see some cool stuff, meet some people, and a stamp on my passport. All of these are selfish and Godless desires, which is exactly what this trip is not about.
So I started praying 3 days ago that my heart would desire Christ, because if that is all my heart desires, his name will be glorified through my life. Now, I know that this will be a daily struggle for me, and that laying aside my selfish desires is one of the most difficult things to do, but I believe that in this struggle, this dying to myself, God is glorified and will use this process itself to bring glory to His name.
In saying all of this, would you pray for and with me for a few things.
Pray that this trip will make me realize even more how everything in this life is not about me and all about Him,
Pray that my heart will break over the things that break the heart of God.
Pray that I view this trip as a means of not only seeing but declaring the glorious name of Christ.
So Isaiah 26:8 has become my theme verse for this trip and I pray that my heart's desire will be to declare the name of Christ and be His hands and feet, not only for a 10 day trip to Kenya, but for the rest of my life. I hope this process that I'm going through will help challenge some of you to think through what your heart desires.
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