For the second time in my life, I have just returned from a mission to Fiji. This was considerably larger than the first mission I went on (about 57 of us rather than last times 20), and we went expecting to bless the Fijian people, but in fact they blessed us far more.
We in the west seem to have it all together, with our money, cars, and happy lifestyles, and yet the Fijians, who have nothing, are forced to rely on God so much more.
The group we took over was made up of a number of smaller groups just working together, and in our group of 16, we had one evening during a prayer meeting when God showed up and worked a miracle in our midst. One of the girls we had taken over wore glasses, and because of the bad weather, hadn't been able to wear them for a few days. When she finally put them back on, she realised her eyes had changed and she couldn't see out of them anymore. This meant she was starting to get headaches etc. We had been receiving a lot of spiritual attack, and took this as another one, so we prayed: "Lord, we need her to be able to see, otherwise she can't serve here. If she can't use her glasses, then please heal her." After praying this, the girl picked up a book and began reading without glasses for the first time in 9 years: healed!
The bible says that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. It also says that it is often your faith that makes you well in terms of miracles. Our faith grew by being out of our comfort zone, and serving God, but what really got me is that the Fijians have more faith than that even in their home town. Yet they don't really do anything with their faith.
The bible is quite harsh on this: "Faith without works is dead" warns James, and the Fijians do work out their faith in some ways, but I wonder what could happen if these people, who are not tied down by a desire for stuff, but who have such a contentment in having nothing, could do if they began to use their faith more. To ask for God to more, and to seek His will. To knock and see the doors opened. I believe they could change the world.
Maybe that is one reason I also like the work that Gospel for Asia do. They are a missionary organisation that specialises in training up native missionaries to reach their fellow countrymen, with incredible results. I believe that the faith of these 3rd world Christians is stronger because they have less distractions and more persecution! There is no way for them to be half-hearted with their faith.
It is a real challenge for us in the West. We have everything in worldly terms, but where is our faith? Even though we may be tempted to 'reach out a helping hand' to other countries, we need to not overlook what they can give us in terms of spiritual growth.
Click here to read a post about my first Fiji mission
Click here for the Gospel for Asia Website
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment