Nov. 12

God is Not a Secret to be Kept!
For I am not ashamed of the gospel…

No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a washtub or shoves it under the bed. No, you set it up on a lamp stand so those who enter the room can see their way. We’re not keeping secrets; we’re telling them….we’re bringing everything out in the open. So be careful that you don’t become misers of what you hear…” (Ro. 1:16; Lk. 8:16-18; Mt. 5 MSG)

BWHANA ASSEFIWE ! Carly and I have had quite an eventful week and we have so many reasons to PRAISE the LORD! This weekend, Pastor Salito with his wife and four children into the house. Their first full day in the house was Sunday – we had our morning church service and in the whole afternoon the house became an open house in which kids from nearby came in and out, teaching us Swahili, dancing and playing air guitar, and of course receiving meals, love, and Kenyan tea! This week we have added a basketball hoop and a ping-pong table to our house of prayer. Along with the four street boys that come over weekly for Thursday Bible study and Monday prayer, we have started having two of our favorite boys come over weekly for dinner & regular Swahili lessons – we are going to have the best teachers ever! With all these new additions, our home truly is becoming a “church”, filled with the prayers, fellowship, and joy of the people of God!

Carly & I have been spending a lot of time focusing on the Sermon on the Mount as we desire to show the boys the “rules of the highest kingdom.” As we find some of our personal space being taken away or our rooms being filled with the noises of crying kids and basketballs, we remember His words: If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? (Mt. 5:15 MSG) Day by day, as more friends join us, this house (our lives are) is becoming a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Carly and I are learning to have open hands and to shine, being “generous with our lives” (Mt. 5:16 MSG) the way Jesus has been with us.

As we give away things like friendship and food, however, the cry of our hearts still remains – “Lord, let us not withhold the greatest treasure we have-your gospel!” Every day we find more occasions/circumstances that illustrate lessons that Jesus teaches (how to demonstrate that “love is not rude” or how to stay out of fights, for blessed are the “peacemakers,” the real sons of God), and we pray that more and more those we interact with are catching glimpses of Him and His passion. One night, during a storm when our night guard didn’t show up, our friend and day guard, Stanley had to stay over & since we were planning on watching “The Passion” movie that night, this friend got to join us and see very vividly a movie that has given him much to think about.

When we pray that our conversation are always “seasoned with salt”, I often think of times also in America when I felt too tired or unable to share about Jesus with a co-worker…a neighbor…a friend. They’re not ready & don’t care, now’s not the time, or talking about Jesus is irrelevant in the day-to-day. I know in my heart, however, that the minute we become His disciples, we lose all our rights - just as the moment He looked at us and chose to love and save us, He lost everything as well. Because of this, we have no right to withhold not only our personal space, our food, our time, but most importantly – the gospel He died for as well. TRUE LOVE doesn’t only give away food…housing, etc. We’ve been given too great a treasure to withhold for ourselves – life & life to the full! – so as Eugene Peterson says, let us not become “misers” of what we know – the gospel, that many are dying daily without. Jesus says that if we aren’t willing to let him put us up on a stand and shine others can’t “see their way”. They’re falling into depression….addiction…despair…and worst of all hell itself. Let us be faithful stewards of “the mysteries of God”, the great treasure that only we’ve been given (1 Cor. 4:1; Lk. 8:10)!!

The Savior that tells us you can’t even bury your father because “First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God’s kingdom!” (Lk. 9:60), truly wants us to make the MOST of every opportunity – not only to care for the physical or more visible needs of our neighbors but to look to the deep heart needs as well. Pray that we will be ones that DO live without regret, sharing the love of Jesus every chance we get before it’s too late: “No procrastination. No backwards looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.” (Lk. 9:62) God is Not a Secret to be Kept!
Valerie