“So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.” James 5:16
Because mission work is illegal in Turkey, I can only give vague details of our ministry host and the work we did there. While our punishment for evangelism and proclaiming the Good News would only be exile, our ministry hosts could face more extreme consequences. Therefore, in order to honor our partnership with them and the work they have invested into their communities, I must remain as vague as possible. Thank you for your understanding.
My time in Turkey was spent in the small town of Selçuk (pronounced ‘SELL-chuck’), known as modern day Ephesus. Our host was a beautiful, strong woman of God. She was born into a socially Muslim family and spent most of her life searching for truth. She encountered Jesus at age 40 and began boldly and confidently pursuing a relationship with Him.
Selçuk remains a checkpoint of sorts where the LORD realigned my expectations of the World Race and ministry in general. Thanks to the marvel of social media, I am privy to witness other routes and their glorious seasons of reaping. They are getting to encounter, daily, people confessing their sins and laying down their lives to follow Jesus. HALLELUJAH! They are getting to see, with their eyes, signs and wonders and miracles. All of this is for the glory of the kingdom but I sometimes sit in the spirit of comparison and pray, “LORD, where’s MY portion?” This attitude was quickly checked by the announcement of our host’s expectations for the month. “You must pray.”
Nothing big. Nothing glamorous. Just prayer.
She reminded us frequently of the power of prayer. “Seed can be thrown on any type of soil, but it will only take root on soil that is ready.” This single woman in her 60s who has dedicated the last two decades of her life to advancing the kingdom has done so not through flashy, Instagram “worthy” things. She has spent twenty years tilling the soil. She prays fervently and allows herself to be led and loved by the Holy Spirit in such a way that exemplifies a good and faithful servant.
“But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands. He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:23
That’s the beauty of serving in this particular region to Unreached People groups. A lot of it looks like living an ordinary life. Parts of it feel like a glorified vacation. I am here to assure you that it is not. Every trip to a cafe, walk to a park, smile given to a stranger in the street is preparing the way for revival. This is not small or insignificant. Jesus speaks of the importance of this principle in Matthew 13. In the parable of the sower, we see that there are different outcomes for what is sown. This is not due in fact to different kinds of seeds…the seed is the same…the Truth is the Truth. The difference is in the soil the seed lands on or the heart of the people that receive the Gospel. As we continue to travel to areas of the world that don’t believe in God or have never heard the name of Jesus our job is not to haphazardly share theological depths of Christianity. No. Our call, our mission is to outrageously love and live in such a way that people ask, “What is it that makes you so different?”.
“Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples-if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
As always, thank you for “tuning in” and following along. I am constantly overwhelmed by the support of those of you around the world through your prayers. Now that we are out of a closed country I do PLAN (lol) to share more frequently but God may have other plans and those are the ones I follow. I love you & I’m praying for you daily.
Loving you and praying for you.
CDE
Thank you for the update. Continuing to pray for you and your squad. I love you!
Thank you for your update sweetheart! We are with you in thought, word and prayer. We love you with all our hearts. You are such a blessing to us.
What an inspiration you are! I’m so happy you are experiencing all of these places in the world and growing in your faith through each one of them. I’m so proud of you!! Stay safe my friend! We miss & love you!
This is reality, Claran. Your route is not nearly as “glamorous” as other routes. It is tougher in many ways. It is just as important though. I love this, ” Every trip to a cafe, walk to a park, smile given to a stranger in the street is preparing the way for revival. This is not small or insignificant. Jesus speaks of the importance of this principle in Matthew 13.” I always enjoy reading your blogs, whenever you post them.