What a trip! Yesterday was wild with the national media and the CSPAN taping. That show does air tonight for those who want to see it. It’s called Close-up and will air on CSPAN – 1 at 7:00 Eastern time, 4:00 Pacific. I was pleased with how it all came out, but I have no idea if it will make sense to others. That’s not my favorite kind of venue. But the story of that press conference was told in nearly 100 newspapers today around the world through a story in the Associated Press. Google ‘first amendment framework’ in their news section and read the first story and the others related to it.
But for the last 24 hours I’ve been talking with some wonderful people. I met a man this morning that has been involved behind the scenes in helping build relationships between the divided factions and tribes in Africa. What a story! We’ll share it in a future God Journey podcast, because I was able to tape part of that conversation. It is amazing what God does in the simple power of relationships when hearts are willing to do what he asks even if we don’t have all the expertise or knowledge we think it would require. God is really good at what he does. It’s an amazing I can’t wait to share with all of you. It will give you such hope about his work in Africa in spite of all the great challenges and need that pervades that country.
Then I got an email this afternoon that told an incredible story about how God has been sorting himself out in this brother’s life. He had been in some incredible places learning how to ‘do’ the stuff of ministry, but all without really knowing the depth of the Father’s love for him. Listen to his words:
I went to a home church group run by the apostle who taught me to hear God’s voice and I ministered alongside him for a while, for a year, before the Lord told me to leave that group. The group was wonderful, and I was hungry, but the only focus was learning to hear God’s voice and the gifts — what I knew I desperately needed was to learn how to love others, and how to allow God to show His love for me (I guess I should reverse the order on that).
So for the last year I have been *alone* with the Lord, as He has stripped me of the remaining barriers until just last week He broke through my insecurities enough to show me how secure I truly am with Him. Funny, isn’t it? How we can work miracles and give great prophetic words and have great wisdom and still not know the love that is God. It truly is a mystery. I would have done anything for Him, if He had asked me, except let Him love me.
I love that last sentence, because it was true of my life for a long time, not because I didn’t want him to love me, but because I wanted that love to come my way. It is funny how much ‘incredible things’ we can do ‘for’ God, and do it out of the desperate search for his love, rather than out of its reality. This is the most important ‘get’ for us all. For while God is gracious to still work good out of our miserable attempts to earn his love, it still diminishes something in us and only feeds our frustration and anger.
This journey truly begins when we discover just how secure we are in this Father’s love and that by simply following he will do all he wants to do in us and through us. He’s not looking for people to ‘use’, he’s looking for people who will let him love them to the very tips of their toes–now and forever!
I love that sentence too. It’s been very true in my life as well. I pray that I will ‘get’ his love one day.
I love that sentence too. It’s been very true in my life as well. I pray that I will ‘get’ his love one day.