When I’m waiting for confirmation from God on situations, I like His answers to be big and bold. If it was an option, I’d totally go for the unmistakable “writing in the sky” style of communication.
But sometimes I can find myself using a lack of big and bold signs to hide behind complacency. I justify not talking to someone about God, not taking a step into ministry, or even disengaging from my local church. Thoughts like, “Well, if it was really God’s will, then He would say it clearly. He would say it big. He’s not, so I’m okay where I am,” can prove dangerous and create a lukewarm life of disobedience.
In Matthew 28:19, Jesus speaks to His disciples and lays it out for them, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
He doesn’t add a whole bunch of extra details or information, like “If they sit next to you at lunch talk to them about Me,” or “if this ministry calls you three times, you can partner with them.” He says go and make disciples.
Go and make disciples. That was enough for them. Why, then, am I caught up in this trap of needing more details and more information until I feel secure enough to walk in what He said?
Walking out that command can be stretching sometimes. It will force us out of our comfort zone and make us put aside our selfish tendencies. It can require finances and leaving home.
A couple of years ago I was serving in Europe. I was originally supposed to go home after six weeks of ministry, but 48 hours before my flight left God spoke and told me to stay for another month. My plans changed completely.
My friends who had been serving with me, were leaving to go back to America on the flight that I was originally going to be on. We were saying goodbye and my head was struggling to catch up with everything that had happened in the last two days. My best friend leaned in and shared something God had spoken to her through her own journey of obedience. He had said to her, “Will you leave your family for a period of time so I can be reunited with mine?”
That brought everything into perspective. It might have felt easier to go home when I had planned and spend the rest of the summer the way I wanted, but that’s not what God had called me to. The details I wanted were missing, but I knew He was asking for obedience.
I didn’t know what the next month would look like. I didn’t know why God had asked me to stay longer. But I knew the bottom line of whatever He said, the great command still hung over my life. Go and make disciples.
The plans don’t matter. The details don’t matter. If the confirmation is as big as writing in the sky or as little as a feeling of peace in your heart, what matters is going and being obedient to what He said. To go and make disciples.
You might stay at your home, in your school, or at your job. You might move to a nation that doesn’t speak your language. Geographical location doesn’t matter. What matters is that you go there, and make disciples.
By Brooke Everheart
Port YWAM Kona Communications Staff
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