Oct 6, 2011
Words are powerful. We have the power to use our words to be used to speak boldy about the Truth of God. We can yell, sing, whisper, scream and worship the Lord through our voices. For others they have no voice, they cannot speak, or scream but they can communicate just the same as people who can speak. They are Deaf.
I’ve been signing for many years now. It started with my hunger to know different languages in my Sophomore year in high school. I took a class and didn’t learn how to sign but I learned the alphabet and about the deaf culture. What intrigued me about sign was how expressive you could be. At my school there was a deaf girl who was in the marching band and played the cymbals. This girl amazed me how she pushed herself to not let her being deaf stop her. Little did I know that God was going to use her to be a big and important part of my Life in Him. I had a class with her and was eager to learn her language. Often I would pass notes to her and ask her questions. I found out that she was a believer! I then started to hang out with her and through fellowshipping with her I started to learn sign language very quickly and started to hang out with a lot of the deaf community. I then expanded my education of sign language and took ASL classes and kept going on to the next level. I was a little fustrated because I thought that I was waisiting my time taking so many ASL classes and I didn’t know what I really wanted to do in college.
God lead me to join Gospel for Asia- School of Discipleship for this year and He has shown me that everything that we have learned, skills he uses for HIS Glory! When our class goes evangelizing I have had oppurtunities to share with them Jesus and the Gospel in sign language. One of the times are class went out there were two ladies sitting together and the Spirit urged and tugged my heart to go pass out tracts to these two ladies. I walked up to them and started to speak and they signed to me ” We are deaf.” I smiled at signed to them “Good,because I know how to sign.” The ladies were so happy that I could communicate to them. Then, the Spirit started to move through me and I sharing my testimony on how the Lord changed my life and how He has redeemed from darkness. One of the ladies eye lit up and she was saying how weird it was that I was telling her that because she wanted to change her life but didn’tknow how. I told her how only Jesus Christ could only bring true change because of what He did for us on the cross and gave her a tract. After she was telling me that her bus came suddenly and she waved bye and left on her bus. I was awestruck that the Lord used me as a vessel through my hands and ASL to be able to touch her heart with what He wanted me to communicate to her.
And I thought I was never going to use my sign language here at Gospel for Asia. Please pray for those ladies. They are in my heart as I type this. And you may never know when your skills may be used for the Lord. He let us learn it for a reason.
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Aug 17, 2011
“While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jarius, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” Over hearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid just believe.” Mark 5:21-43
This summer I went into my three month internship with some expectations. Some of them were met, others were not. Having been at Gospel for Asia for a month last year, I did not expect to be out of my comfort zone as much as some of the other interns. Boy, was I wrong.
Everything was going well until one day we went to Celebrate Freedom. There we were to pass out the new No Longer a Slumdog books. To be honest, I was scared and I told another intern straight out, “I don’t think I can do this.” Now, I’ve been at multiple events in the past representing Gospel for Asia but this time I was intimidated because I actually had to STOP people who wouldn’t normally stop at this kind of booth. I was really insecure about this. After our group prayed to God though, it was almost as if He was strengthening all of us to go on and I noticed as my time went on, I became more and more excited about passing out the books.
Once I was in the airport over the July 4th weekend, and I saw this man sitting by himself on the other side of the terminal. God kept on pushing me to go and talk to Him, and each time I said “no” the conviction I needed to go over there got stronger and stronger. Eventually it go so strong, I knew I had to go and talk to him. So I went over and sat with Him and started asking Him some questions. I knew God wanted me to give Him a gospel tract, but I went away before being able to give him a Gospel tract. I was too afraid.
God, as He always does used my failure as a time of teaching. He comforted me saying, saying, “Even though you fail, I still love you.” That really boggled my mind a lot.
Also during this time, I came to the place in Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll where it talked abouat not fearing being the most common command of Jesus. This greatly encouraged me during this time.
I’m still not perfect. God will continue to challenge me to get out my comfort zone, as he challenges all of us in our weaknesses. Yet, one thing I do know, God will work through us as we turn to Him whether through our weakness our strengths.
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Mar 18, 2011
“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.” – Deuteronomy 11:18-21
This world is broken. The heart of man is dark, not seeking after God. To change a man, you must change his heart. The word of God is the only thing that will break down the barriers, destroy the sin, change the heart, cleanse the abrasion, heal the wounds, and lead the humbled healed man to the arms of the One who heals.
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him…” – Hebrews 11:6
Where does faith come from?
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” – Romans 10:17
Where will this broken world hear the word of God? There are a few places, but above all, it will be from us.
“As you walk along the way…” We need to be speaking the word of God in the same way that we breathe. Jesus said, “…for out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” – Luke 6:45 If His word is in our heart, it will overflow to all who we meet.
To say that the word of God should overflow out of us does not mean we have to quote a verse every hour. Rather our lives and speech should be shaped by the words that He has spoken, and as a result we will be reflections of Him to those around us.
God is not silent. Once a word of God is spoken, it continues on for eternity. All other words are recorded and then looked at as history. They are in the past, read by a reader in the present. But God’s words are current, “living and active.” – Hebrews 4:12 Man’s words are a frozen river. Some of them true, some of them not. They can be examined and learned from. God’s word is a flowing river that you can jump into and swim in. Splashing, drinking, diving deeper and ultimately being drawn in the right direction. The sea, which is the goal and the source of the river.
2.7 billion people, almost half of this world’s population, lives in the proverbial desert. They have not heard of the river. They seek healing in the rivers of their own country, asking, “can we not wash in our own rivers and be clean?”
Millions bathe in the Ganges, believing that it will cleanse them of their sins. Egyptians would worship the Nile, believing it to be the source of all their wealth. And yet all the while, their souls are dying of thirst.
Jesus said, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:14
What this world needs is to be brought to Jesus that their old self would be drowned the river, that in the rushing waters of baptism their sins would be washed away into the ocean of forgetfulness. And that they would be raised as a new creation, reborn to a new life.
This is good news! And the world is literally dying to hear it. We must bring them news of this river, by the speaking of God’s word. One of the ways that His word is living is that it is constantly shared by those who receive it. As we walk along the way, and further than that, purposefully directing our steps and our lives so that our path would be among those who have never heard.
“When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.”
– Isaiah 41:17-20
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Dec 26, 2010
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Christmas season has always been an interesting time of year for me. One of the two most special times of year for many. An interesting time to watch people as they go Christmas shopping. The warm feeling you get as you gather together with family. And the celebrating of Christ’s birth and all that He has done for us. Sometimes Christmas is the only time people will step foot in a church besides Easter.
I don’t think I’ve ever understood why people would make a point to go to church on Christmas, but then every other Sunday of the year, they just keep going on with their lives. Almost like God is a toy that should only be taken out of the box on very special occasions. For me, God is the like the velveteen rabbit. He is my very favorite, and I want to never part with Him. Although unlike the velveteen rabbit, because of what Jesus did on the cross, I never do have to part with Him!
Not only has He radically transformed my life, but He has forgiven me, He gave me a manual for life so that I never have to question what to do, He promises never to leave nor forsake me, He gave me a life that will last for all eternity, He has healed me, and much more.
But then there is the vast amount of people that don’t even know what Christmas is. They don’t know about this Jesus that put on human flesh to be born of a virgin almost 2000 years ago. They don’t know of the hope that He provides so that they never have to worry about anything ever again. For some, they will never know. Why? Because no one has ever told them.
We are in a battle, brothers and sisters. Now is not the time to be caught up in the materialism that is our culture. We need to stand in the gap for the many thousands who have never heard of Jesus’ name; who don’t know what Christmas is and the reason behind why we celebrate it. What better time of year do we have the opportunity to give someone the hope of Jesus for Christmas?
For example, Gospel for Asia has a Christmas Catalog, why not buy something from there to bless someone over in Asia with the hope that’s found in Jesus? Let them experience the CHRISTmas for the first time in their lives. How amazing would that be?
Or, taking a step closer to home, why not bless those around us that are less fortunate? I know that there are many homeless people in Philly, why not invite them over for Christmas dinner, or go visit them and share with them the love of Jesus?
Thanks for standing in the gap with me for the lost in Asia! I know that together we are making an eternal difference.
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