I am no longer sure if there is effectiveness in what I am doing? I have been in ministry now for twenty-five years. Over those years, I have seen the hand of God move and touch and heal the people of the Philippines. In the US not so much because there are no opportunities. I work to make opportunities by praying and asking God to open doors but after years there is nothing. It is like the ears of the church are closed and deaf. I have actually had a pastor tell me that they no longer have evangelists come and speak because they are there and then they are gone. My response was, did not God even say in the bible, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;” (Ephesians 4:11), why would he do that if the church is going to say no to God’s word? No response from him other than this is my church and I will make those decisions. There is an amazement on my part that the churches here have closed their doors to those God has called and have in essence deprived their people of the blessings that were coming.
I think that I will limit the ministry to places where Jesus is welcomed and not where some pastors think it is their church. “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet” (Matthew 10:14) will be the accepted policy. I know that God will open doors and I don’t doubt that no matter what he will show the way, but I don’t to deal with unwilling people. There are several social media sites on the internet where ministry is being done. I love when I get the opportunity to minister to someone even though I have never met them and it is over the internet. People are searching for something and though they may not know what, they are searching and they will accept whatever shows itself first. My goal is not to let them see the other side and let them see Jesus. It is amazing to me how you can lead a person to the Lord over the internet and get them connected with a church over that same internet. I have this short story to tell you that will help show you what I am talking about. “A couple of years ago, I was on Facebook chatting with another pastor in the Philippines when suddenly another message came through. That is not funny or strange but I did not know the person at all. He was not a friend at all just a person that had seen my profile and decided to contact me. I told my pastor friend that someone had checked in and said he had a very important question for me, so I will be back to chat in a moment. I responded to the message and the person on the other end told me that he just wanted to talk to someone before he committed suicide and wanted to know if I knew anyone in his area or even myself. I told him that I was in the US and then asked where he was from. He told me that he was from Davao City on the island of Mindanao. I responded and told him that I did have a pastor friend in Davao and if he didn’t mind I would like to have him speak with him. He told me he didn’t know, and I said it wouldn’t hurt if he was so determined to end his life. I said just take a moment and speak with him what harm could it do? He said he would so I asked him for his phone number so I could give it to my friend and have him contact the man. He gave me the number and I got back on the message with my friend and told him the story and gave him the number. After a couple of minutes, the man came back on and asked me if knew the person calling him and I told him that it was my friend. The man said okay and answered the call”. I told my friend to let me know what was going on when he could and he said he would. After about three hours, my friend came back online and told me that it was a miracle of God that the man contacted me and that we were online together chatting. He told me that he and the man were talking and he asked him if he would mind meeting and discussing what was going on in his life. The man agreed and my friend found out that he was only three blocks from where the man was. Long story short, the man received Jesus into his heart and is to this day worshipping and serving God in my friend’s church”. It is those type of things that prompt a person to continue in what God has called them to do. For me, I will continue even though there is doubt in my effectiveness and I will go and do what and where he sends me. I pray constantly for the churches of my country and ask God to give the pastors of those churches discernment that they would know that they know a person is sent by God. There is a message on my heart given by God that I know he wants me to give and I will give it regardless if it is in a church or on the internet. When God called me he said to lay hands on the sick and to prophesy and that I will do until he takes me home to be with him. Thank you for letting me vent and share my heart with you. God bless you and I will be praying for you.
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Have you ever really stopped and looked at your Christian life? Have you ever noticed how there are so many ups and downs there are? That is exactly what I have done. I sat the other day thinking about what God has done in my life and how he has blessed me, but at the same time I thought about how many times it seemed like he wasn’t there at all. That is what I am talking about, how one day your up and the next day you’re down.
I have my answer for how all that seems to take place. First of all, I really have a problem with focus. You might ask what does focus have to do with it? Focus has everything to do with it, if Peter would have kept his focus on Jesus as he got out of the boat he would not have started to sink. That is what happens to each of us. We take our eyes off of Christ (loose our focus) and we begin to sink. I will be the first to tell you that I am more like a yo-yo. My focus goes from here to there in the blink of an eye. I am always wondering why things seem to fall apart when I am doing everything I am supposed to be doing, or am I. If I had to answer that question “Or am I”, I would have to say that I left my focus at the door when I entered and got totally distracted. There you go, I just hit the nail on the head, “I got totally distracted”. There is the answer to the question. The reason we lose our focus is because we get distracted. We get up in the morning and we are sitting on the top of the world and by mid-morning we are asking ourselves, “What happened”? I can’t speak for you, but I sure can speak for me. What happened is the everyday list of things to do got in the way and my focus went from praising God to how in the world could this happen. Sometimes I think we allow the things of this world to influence our thought patterns and then we are off track. Oh you will still have those who are so religious that no matter what you say, they are going to come back with an answer like. “I am always focused on what God has for me”. Oh really? Why I say that is I have a friend that said that very thing only for me to witness a total lack of focus on his part as he was heard telling someone about how he thinks God is abandoning him because he is not speaking to him. Loss of focus! I believe if you have total focus on God then if he thinks you hear it. Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but it could be a fact that we just can’t keep our focus on Jesus at all times. Although we would like to think that is the situation, we allow the things of this world get in our way. We begin to focus on our jobs, our families, our finances and seem to forget that if we were to focus on God all of these things would fall into order. But at the risk of sounding like I don’t know a thing, we are indeed human and we think on human things. Don’t let the fact that you don’t always think about God detour you, keep going as you go and God will take care of all the rest. He knows and he understands and like the bible says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9. Hang in there we are on the right track. |
AuthorAn Evangelist called to preach the gospel all over the world. To lay hands on the sick and to prophecy to everyone. Reaching out to the world that all may be saved. Archives
December 2021
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