Our God is Able!
“Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.”
-Jeremiah 14:22 ESV
God is the only One with power. He IS the One true God! May we never limit His power as we wonder if He can really do something or save someone we think is too far gone. Pray it up! Our God is able!
Freedom is Here
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”
-Isaiah 59:1-2 ESV
Two things to take from this particular verse. One is that God is ABLE to save us. The other is that our sin separates us from Him. But that isn’t the end of the story! We are saved because God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. We are redeemed because Jesus rose again on the third day! Freedom is here!!
Purpose
It’s not easy to just know what you’ve been put on earth for. But it is easy to find those things that so burden your heart. I’ve found mine in human trafficking.
I visited my graduate advisor during her office hours. After discussing the organizations I’d researched and the books and documentaries I’d bought, she offered other resources that I should look into. I diligently wrote down everything as sources of further study or research.
And just before I left, she told me she was very impressed with me and with my focus. She told me that I had made her day. Then, she asked if I’d come speak to her senior seminar class, and I agreed. She said, “In that case, you made my whole week!”
I don’t think she knows, but she totally made my week too. I’m feeling inspired and totally ready to tackle my studies head-on so I can make a difference in the world!
The Least of These
In the past few months, I’ve come to realize just how lucky blessed I am. Luck has nothing to do with it. Belief in God erases the possibility of luck.
It’s through a ministry called Breakthrough that I’ve met incredible people who have strong hearts for God. I remember the first night out there. By “out there,” I mean the streets of San Jose. Now, I’ve lived here for four years, going on my fifth. And I’ve fed a few homeless people here and there as I come across them at McDonald’s; I always wrote “Jesus loves you” on the bag, mostly because I wasn’t in the right company to be able to do much else. And because, quite frankly, I was always afraid they’d yell at me or something. I was living with fear.
So it’s natural, then, that my first night “out there” was spent with a little extra adrenaline and worship songs coming from my lips. It’s no surprise that I was a little terrified when we essentially rescued a girl from ridicule, harm, and potential jail time. And I admitted more than once that I was scared. But singing worship songs and swaying back and forth was my antidote. It fixed the fear. And after all of that, I realized there’s no other way I’d like to spend my Thursday nights.
It’s been almost two months since that first time I ever loved on people in the name of Jesus. And I’m still going strong. Breakthrough is my favorite. I look forward to it all week.
The stories you hear and the people you meet are amazing. I’ve met a woman with four dogs, with two long braids who is called “Mama” by other people on the street because of her motherly heart — both in the loving and the scolding ways. This same woman danced every time she repeated my name. She did a sort of wiggle. I haven’t been able to find her again, but I’ve since talked to her on the phone. She calls us the “burrito people” because we gave her a burrito. ONCE.
I’ve met a man who was huffing paint when we arrived, whose mind was eventually cleared. He accepted a Bible that we offered. Then, he asked if we knew Isaiah 40:31, which says, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” That night, instead of turning back to the paint can when we moved along, he came with us. He came alongside us. The presence of God gave him a better high than that paint can.
I’ve met a man who had been praying for people like us to come along. A man whose heart was touched by music. He asked me multiple times if I had a church where he could feel God in the worship, where it was loud like a concert, and where he could lift up his hands and cry. I gave him the information about the church I attend and he told me that he was looking forward to hearing our “badass worship.” He stopped drinking the very next day, and as far as I know, he’s still clean, almost a month later.
I’ve met a man who had everything handed to him on a silver platter. Clothes, videogames, everything. He sleeps downtown because he made choices that brought him there. And he’s very realistic in that he sees that he made those choices. “I made my bed and now I have to sleep in it” is his life story in a nutshell. And he repeats that over and over, defeated and deflated. He wants to change, but the temptation of the streets entices, so he lingers. But he always stops by to talk with us if he hears us or sees us while we’re out.
And there are plenty of other people whom I’ve met on the street. Of course, I don’t go out alone. While I believe in the protection of God, going alone, especially as a smaller female, is just not wise. The group that goes is awesome because we grow together as we spread the love of Jesus. It’s easy to build community among believers when you’re all serving Him.
I am passionate about this ministry. So passionate, in fact, that I drove by the park where we meet today. TWICE. My heart has been very soft lately, specifically for those who don’t have their own warm bed and air conditioning when it’s ridiculously hot, as it has been lately. They don’t have a laptop to type out their feelings. They don’t have the chance to use their own private bathroom to clean themselves up or even to relieve themselves.
I’m reading a book called Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski, who gave up his comforts to live on the street with his friend Sam. One quote that I thought summed up this whole post is this:
“If we as believers choose to forget that everyone - even the shrunken soul lying in the doorway - is made in the image of God, can we say we know our Creator? If we respond to others based on their outward appearance, haven’t we entirely missed the point of the gospel?”
God calls us to GO and make disciples. May we never let fear or crazy misconceptions keep us from working as the body of Christ.
Surprisingly, studying anxiety disorders makes me feel less anxious. I love psychology!
“Brother, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”
-Romans 10:1 ESV
May this be our heart’s desire as we walk through this world full of people who don’t know Him. Let us walk in compassion and passion to share His Word!
To all who think Jesus is his/her “homeboy”
Would your “homeboy” bear a cross for you? Would your “homeboy” take all of the bad things that you’ve ever done upon himself? Would your “homeboy” endure intense beatings and shaming for your sake? Would your “homeboy” die on the cross and rise again on the third day for you?
You may be close with Jesus, but don’t cheapen Him. Don’t ignore the fact that He was fully God and fully man. He ain’t your homeboy, bro. He’s your Savior.
God does not choose us because we believe, but that we may believe.
—Augustine
Condemning Evangelists
I’m fairly sure that everyone has come across the man preaching to people as they walk by. He’s usually the one flailing his arms this way and that, yelling intensely, spitting in anger, waving his Bible around, his face red with frustration, telling people they’ll go to hell if they don’t choose Jesus.
I have to pause and pray for him and for the people who hear him whenever I see someone like that.
Jesus didn’t preach that way in His time on earth. What gives us the right to do that? Why do we feel so entitled to judge and condemn? We’re seriously overstepping our bounds when we condemn people like that.
Jesus loves you. Please forgive the man who never learned to speak in love to nonbelievers.
