Availability...

“God doesn’t care about your ability or your inability; God cares about your availability”

Throughout our ministry life my wife Jenny and I have had “moments of calling” where God has called us to do something that is way beyond our abilities and often involves great sacrifice and disruption to our life. Every time this has happened, before God told us what He wanted us to do, He first asked us to be available.

God wants us to be totally surrendered to Him. When we say to God, “Lord, my life is Yours, do whatever You want with it;” that is when He uses us to do great things for Him; but it is also the time that it costs us the most to serve Him.

Recently I was travelling with our National Director from Mexico, Jose Carlos Gutierrez and his wife Sara. He was speaking at a school assembly in Arizona and shared a message on being available for God. He told the story about how Sara and he had married 12 months ago, had set up their home and were comfortable and content with their life. But God came to them and asked them whether they were “available”—whether they would be prepared to do anything or go anywhere for Him. Without knowing what God had in store for them they said “yes” to Him. Not long after this God clearly told them both that He wanted them to move to Juarez, Mexico to establish the YFC ministry in this city.

Juarez is currently the most dangerous city in Mexico and one of the most dangerous cities in the world. It is controlled by drug cartels and is known as “murder city”. The drug cartels recruit and pay large sums of money to young teenagers to kill people. They have recently started demanding protection money from churches and schools and have killed Pastors and Principals who refuse to pay.

When it was clear that God wanted Jose Carlos and Sara to move to Juarez, Sara cried every night for three weeks. But they were obedient to the Lord and moved to Juarez and for six months now they have been faithfully reaching out to young people who desperately need the love and salvation of Jesus. They have a great vision for the young people of this city and God is using them mightily to reach lost young people who have no hope without Jesus.

God calls us all to be available to Him. Are you prepared to say to the Lord, “I am available; I totally surrender my life to You; do whatever You want with me to grow Your Kingdom”? When we do this God can and will use us to do great things for Him.

Operating in the Truth...

I have a close friend who is an international negotiator. In this role he often ends up in meetings with national leaders brokering agreements and contracts that involve major infrastructure development that have the potential to significantly impact national economies and millions of people. In such situations, with much at stake, it is very hard to navigate through the relational and political complexities to arrive at a mutually acceptable outcome.

Last year my friend was in a meeting with the political and religious leaders of an Islamic African and Middle Eastern nation. Things were not going well as each of the participants tried to work themselves into a better negotiating position. As my friend observed the games being played and lies been told, he became increasingly frustrated. Eventually, seeing no progress being made, he interrupted the meeting, pointed at one of the Presidents, and said “You are lying!” A stunned silence ensued.

My friend quietly explained that unless everyone started to operate in the “truth” he would no longer participate in the meeting. He would only continue if he could get a commitment from each of the participants that they would stop playing games and tell the truth. The silence continued. My friend then did an extraordinary thing. He stated that he was a follower of Jesus, and at difficult moments like these he had found that the best way to get through was to pray to Jesus and ask for His help. He asked if anyone had any objection to him praying to Jesus. All appeared to be OK with this. So my friend simply stood up with all these national leaders and asked Jesus to help them be honest with each other, to conduct the meeting with integrity and truth, and to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

Inviting Jesus – the author of truth - to this meeting was transformational. So many people in this world long for truth, hunger of honesty, and search for integrity. And there is really only one place to find all of these things – in relationship with Jesus – the Way, the Truth and the Life.

The meeting continued with a completely different atmosphere. Honesty and truth prevailed, trust was developed, and resolution was reached. My friend is now in great demand as a negotiator. He gets many calls from business and government leaders. He is getting to be known as someone who can be trusted, as someone who operates in the truth, as someone who follows Jesus.

Wouldn’t we all like to be known as someone who can be trusted, as someone who operates in the truth, as someone who follows Jesus.

The Power of God's Word

Whilst appearing on a Christian TV talk show recently I met a fellow guest named Brian Hardin. I was captivated by Brian’s story and how it demonstrates in a unique way the transformational and miraculous power of God’s Word.

In 2005, Brian was a very successful music producer, graphic artist and photographer with over 150 Christian music albums to his credit. But God had different plans for Brian’s life. Using a financial crisis in his business, God upturned Brian’s world bringing him to a point of brokenness and rededication. Realizing he had strayed a long way from God, Brian told God he was prepared to do anything for Him. Amazingly, all God told Brian to do was “read the Bible”.

At the time Brian had been experimenting with podcasts as a means to expand his business (a podcast is a series of audio or video files that are released and downloaded through web syndication). Brian decided he would record himself reading the Bible every day and invite people to listen to his Bible reading by downloading it as a podcast. It was at this point that God began to miraculously bless Brian’s obedience. Surprisingly, over 200 people downloaded the first podcast. Soon hundreds more people started downloading the podcasts, and then thousands, then tens of thousands, and finally millions! Now, after reading the Bible “on-line” daily for 1,519 consecutive days (as at Feb 20), there have been over 26 million downloads of Brian’s daily Bible reading. Every day thousands more join the Daily Audio Bible community from all over the world.

Brian has numerous stories of peoples’ lives being transformed by hearing the daily reading of the God’s Word. A rapidly growing global community of “Bible listeners” has emerged, populated by people collectively praying for the advance of God’s Kingdom. One third of Daily Audio Bible listeners are from China!

Brian Hardin is impacting the world for Jesus; and all that he is doing is simply reading the Bible to people every day. In the “Bio” on his website Brian concludes, “I want to finish well and have ripples of my life going on for generations to follow. I want it to matter for the Kingdom of God that I was here.”

The power of God’s Word to transform lives is amazing; all we simply need to do is share it with others.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)