"Wherever God builds, the enemy builds next door."
Now that our team has come together and good things are starting to build, you can expect some things to start happening next door to try to defeat them. Like what?
Fear. Maybe you've wondered, "Whoa, what the heck am I doing? What if I get sick? What if people don't like me? What if it's not safe? What if ..." Fear is one of the biggest things the enemy likes to try to build. But, the Bible tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear. The enemy gets lots of people to back off from making a difference by planting fear.
Doubt. The enemy likes to erode trust! Maybe you've had some doubts. "How will I pay for college? Can I afford it? What difference will one week make? Maybe I won't make the team if I miss the camp." Trust God to provide and then get ready to get your socks knocked off.
Selfishness. This is one of his favorites too. He says, "Do you really want to spend a week sweating like crazy? You could be hanging out at the beach! You don't have much summer as it is. You deserve to relax. You're going to miss out on a lot of fun."
Undermining. The enemy can use other people, even Christians, to suck the wind out of your sails. People will say things like, "Why go there when there is so much to do here? It's too long, how are you going to take that summer course? It's all younger kids (or older kids) going, isn't it? Do you really think you should go? You never do any work around here, what makes you think you can do anything down there?" It's tough to take when God calls us to serve and then other, well-meaning people undermine it and erode our confidence and get us to second-guess.
Questioning the Call. This is also a favorite of the enemy. It seems today that we have reduced the gospel to our own personal "calling" for this or that. Basically, we decide, "Because I feel like doing it and want to, God is calling me." I challenge you to find that rationale in the Bible when it comes to serving the poor, the homeless and the oppressed. Could God be asking you to do the very difficult and uncomfortable thing or does He only call you to do what you are excited about and all your friends are doing?
One thing that most of us who went last summer learned was that followers of Christ who lay their desires down and serve end up growing in amazing ways. Look at what some of them wrote:
I don't want to be a Christian who gets so wrapped up in my own self-centeredness that I miss the people in my own life who need to see Jesus. Heather E.
This is what Jesus would be doing, and that's what we should do. We got up, and actually put our faith into action. - Jesse C.
Leaving N.O. I was heartbroken, I wanted to do more, I wanted to stay longer and make a bigger impact. I feel that I probably gained more from this missions trip than any of the people I helped. - Shara L.
Writing this entry, searching last year's blog for the quotes above I was surprised at the emotions that welled up within me again. My eyes filled with tears.
When the enemy starts building next door in your life over the next few months, would you commit to keeping your eyes on what God is building instead? God has assembled our team and He has some amazing things in store for us. He is going to change lives through us.
When you see the importance of what He will accomplish, you will know that the costs of missing fun at home, missing out on work or missing that sports tournament will not even compare to what He is going to to do with you and through you.
Last year, after a hot, humid week in awful conditions doing the hardest work we had ever done, not a single one of us was sorry we had come. But even more amazing than that was the fact that none of us wanted to leave NOLA while there was so much still to be done. We all would have stayed longer if we could have.
Stay focused on what God is building.
