The Saints: Abounding in Love
When love simply becomes a way of life
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G’day Everyone!
Welcome back to another edition of “The Holy Go!” My prayer is that these newsletters helps teach, equip and empower you to make disciples.
Last week we looked at the second of three A’s: Abiding in Love and looked at a great model for where to go in prayer. I hope it helped you enjoy the presence of God more this week!
This week we look at "Abounding in Love” by looking back at one of the most profound miracles I have been involved in.
Equip
Victoria Falls
Back in 2012 we visited Victoria Falls.
We had been in a missionary school for three months and had travelled to Zimbabwe for the next part of our missions trip. But this day was all about fun. We were simply here as tourists.
Victoria Falls is one of the largest and most spectacular waterfalls in the world, where the Zambezi River plunges more than 100 metres into a massive basalt gorge.
As we walked through the rainforest that was created by the mist from the massive waterfall, we paused and watched… we were awestruck at God’s creation. A profound sense of love washed over us and we totally forgot about any sense of being on “mission.”
As soon as we stepped into the carpark to leave, a deaf-mute man approached us. He had a sign up sheet for something, but not able to understand what it was for I asked a different question,
“Do you want us to pray for you?” I motioned with my hands so he could understand.
He gave a simple nod and we began praying for him.
A group of local guys were watching us and laughing. They began mocking us by laying hands on one another and pretending God was touching them.
Suddenly the man we were praying for pointed to his ear. He was very excited. He was beginning to hear! A friend of his rushed over to see what was happening.
“Has he always been able to hear a little bit, or is this new?” I enquired of the friend.
His friend, with a shocked look on his face replied,
“No! He’s never heard anything before!”
Buoyed by the improvement in his hearing we kept praying. Soon his ears opened up and he could hear everything we were saying. We turned our attention to his speech now.
“Say Jesus!” We encouraged him. “Jesus is healing you! Say His name!”
“Juh… Juh… Juhs… Jesus!”
The crowd that had gathered around us went wild as they saw this man they knew was deaf and mute now completely healed!
The young men who were mocking us moments ago now grabbed us and attempted to pull us away from the man. They figured that if God can heal a deaf mute, then maybe we could bless their shop!
We shared the gospel with them then quickly got on our bus that was already late to leave.
As I sat in my seat and looked out the window I pondered what had just happened.
Here we were on a tourist day,
with no missionary agenda,
with no prepared ministry,
just a day of enjoying creation,
basking in the love of God,
And God performs one of the greatest miracles I have ever seen.
Abounding in Love
What if the above story was how life was meant to be lived?
What if mission,
sharing the gospel,
and making disciples,
simply came from the overflow of our hearts?
If we had nothing good in our hearts nothing good would overflow.
But what if our hearts were so full of love that an outrageous love would overflow everywhere we went? A love that was so gracious, so generous and so free that people were both drawn to you and confused by you wherever you went.
The reality is that when we Awaken to love and Abide in love, we cannot help but Abound in love!
That’s how Jesus lived.
And that’s the invitation for you and I.
You see, when we abound in love, nothing is mission AND everything is mission at the same time. Love simply becomes a way of life… and boy is it exciting!
Activate
This weeks activation is to go for a walk and as you pass people ask God for a strategy to love them. Start by asking this question, “What would love look like to them?”
Perhaps love would look like:
Stopping and having a chat with them
Offering to pray with someone
Sharing your faith story
Telling them something about Jesus
Giving them some money or something you own
Buying their groceries
Whatever it is, allow the love of God to bubble up and out of you this week.
Let’s Go!