It Is Worth It!

It has been such a wonderful day in prayer, praise and worship, and opening God's Word for wisdom and encouragement.  Brad and I are attending a conference in Chicago with the elders and wives from our church.  Several years ago we attended a conference similar to this at the Brooklyn Tabernacle and God really challenged us as a couple with a few very specific and personal things that "rocked our world"....one was giving us both personally a green light to start the adoption process.  This time, we are so privileged to have other ministry partners with us and I am so excited to have them experience the teaching and power of prayer as I witnessed when we attended a prayer meeting the first time at the Brooklyn Tabernacle.  Today was incredibly powerful...we heard from three speakers with anointed messages.  This blog will be really long if I mention everything that God brought to my mind as I listened and tried to take to heart their words, but the first message was, "It is worth it!"

The message for this was so inspiring and I have never heard it presented in this way.  It was the account of Jesus taking his disciples to Decapolis....this was "the other side" to the disciples...the people across the Sea of Galilee...an area settled by seven pagan nations that created 10 cities.  The disciples did NOT want to go there for many reasons.  The first time Jesus took them across the Sea of Galilee to this place was the time when they encountered the horrible storm and Jesus had to rebuke the wind and waves.  Then, they reached the shore and a demon-possessed man ran at Jesus.  The demon spoke to Jesus and He cast them into pigs and restored the man to a sound mind.  You would think the people in Decapolis would have seen this and marveled at the miracle for this man, but they sent Jesus and the disciples packing.  The man He healed even asked if he could come with them, but Jesus told him to go home and share the story of God's mercy to him.  Two years later, Jesus took a second trip to Decapolis with his disciples and then there were crowds...even throngs of people coming to see Jesus and begging for healing.  They followed Him for days as He spoke and healed until He realized He needed to feed them because they may faint if they tried to return home after not eating for so long, so He fed 4000 in this account....and had 7 baskets of food left over.

Here's an interesting bit of Bible awesomeness....When Jesus fed 5000, there were 12 baskets of food left over.  That account took place on the Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee and he was speaking to the 12 tribes of Israel.  When Jesus fed 4000, there were 7 baskets of food left over and he was speaking to people of 7 pagan nations who had settled in that area.  I always love the deeper meanings and I think it was important to know how much was left over.  Why?  I am not entirely sure, but it speaks some truth....like Jesus is the Bread of Life for all men.....and He is more than enough!  I just thought that was so cool!

Anyway, the takeaways from that lesson for me were.....All our work for Christ and in His name is WORTH IT....even if we think all our efforts are only ministering to ONE person.  If we are faithful, God is responsible for the results.  Who knows what GOD will do with that ONE person.  Obviously, that man's testimony in the area of Decapolis spread throughout the region over the course of two years to change the whole perception of who Jesus was among that people group and make them hungry and thirsty for Him the second time He visited....that is pretty amazing.  And, TRUST Him

....GO where He leads...and PRAY to have eyes to see the world as Jesus sees it.

Too much, I know....but there really was SO MUCH MORE.....my personal basket of leftovers, right? :)  AWESOME!