Drawing Near

Throughout this semester, The Lord has been doing remarkable things in my life. This could possibly be the biggest understatement I have ever made, but to alleviate time and space of writing for now I will just leave it at that. 

Among these things, I have been opportunities to "Go and Do." In Matthew 28, Jesus tells his disciples in Galilee to "go and make disciples of all nations." Jesus commands his disciples to go and create more disciples for the sake of Jesus Christ the Son of God. This calling I feel has been placed on all believers to go and create disciples to portray outwardly and inwardly the light of Christ and goodness of God. For the sake of the Gospel of Jesus, and his death on the cross, and what that stands for today is the encouragement and hope that for the sake of every human that believes in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins as fallen man, that we will live eternally in Heaven with the Lord, our Father. 

My opportunity to begin my journey to "go and do", will be in Istanbul, Turkey with six other people. We leave for Turkey on January 2, from Houston. We will be in Turkey for two weeks, until the 16th when we will head back to Texas. My hope and prayer on this trip, from the beginning, is that I carry the marks of Jesus to live outwardly and inwardly to the people in Turkey. If the Lord does not will for his name to be spoken verbally towards any Turkish person, I pray that the very being of Christ could be revealed to those people through my being as a vessel of God. So that the light of the Lord could be shone to those people, and the darkness of the country of Turkey could be made new by the testament of Jesus lived selflessly out by my group in these few weeks to follow.

This is going to be a very challenging and humbling experience that will take place starting at the end of next week. I pray that no idol or evil thing would come into the way of the Lord moving mountains in that country. I would ask that if you are reading this, if you could pray for my team and I, through our travels and the people we come in contact before we even leave the United States be honoring to the Lord. Also, that we "flush" the pride, and selfish desires out of our hearts before we embark on this journey. 

"I therefore a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all the humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4. 1-3

"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4.8