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Destination:  UGANDA '10

Woo-hoo and Hallelu...I am a blogger now!

Please come along with us as we journey to UGANDA where we will look for God at work and join Him!



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13
March 13, 2010

Setting priorities...putting Christ first!
Decluttering our hearts and minds by simplifying our lives.

(I spoke at our women's group at church, GIRLS NIGHT OUT, on Tuesday, and I thought I would share my heart here with you also.)


My heart is so full...my hope is that I can share a tiny glimpse of it with you while staying with my theme of "Setting priorities and putting Christ first in our lives by decluttering our hearts and minds".

Just coming back from our mission trip to Uganda three weeks ago my heart's desire is to tie the two together by showing you how our Ugandan girlfriends walk in faith making that priority. I had the privilege each afternoon of sharing with the women's group from the churches we worked out of, and Sisters, it most certainly was my privilege. Although they wanted to hear from me, they were the ones that had so much to give.
I spoke each day on my 'Faith Journey' using my testimony of where God has taken me since I was there last, I shared Andrea and Justin’s testimony of faith as they trusted God to give them a child, but we would end our visit each afternoon with them sharing with me about their journey. Their lives are the definition of no clutter, of simplicity of faith, making Jesus Christ first in their walk, as they are the definition of walking by faith and not by sight.

Praying about what I would share with you here, knowing my topic, and that I want to engage it to my time in Uganda, the Holy Spirit lead me to Matthew 6:19-21:
"Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; FOR WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS, THERE YOUR HEART WILL BE ALSO."

We attended the Focus on Marriage Simulcast two weeks ago, and Francis Chan, pastor from Simi Valley, CA, and author of best selling book, CRAZY LOVE, spoke of going to Africa, seeing the lifestyle there, and coming home to free up his life from materialism, from the clutter that ties us down, and perhaps gets in the way of our mission.
Our Ugandan girlfriends do not have 'treasures' here on earth that bogged them down, things that steal their hearts from what their priorities should be. Can you imagine only having one or two dresses, not having to think about what we will wear...if you ask me, that’s freedom! They are the definition of simplicity.

Reading on in Matthew 6, a very familiar passage to most of us, verse 33 says:
"But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you."

The passage is talking about how we become so concerned with our daily needs, our food, and drink, our clothing, that we lose focus on what is priority in our lives.
Then Jesus asks us in this passage, "And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life's span?" Maybe it is worry that is cluttering our minds and keeping Him from being priority in our life.
 
Girlfriends, our “treasures” are so temporal. Our priorities must be on His Kingdom, His work, and then He promises the rest will fall into place. When we are seeking the Kingdom of God our focus will not be on our wants, or even our needs, as we will trust Him for that which He has promised, and our focus will be on looking for God at work in our lives, and around us, and joining Him in His Kingdom work.
 
Our sister's in Uganda walk in this kind of faith, believing day to day for their daily needs. They have every reason to be concerned about what they will feed their children, if it is going to rain so that their crops will be watered, how they will clothe their children, or if they will have the fees to send them to school, but their response as we sat and shared our hearts was all about believing and trusting. They prayed in faith, having set their priorities on the all sufficiency of Jehovah Jirah, our provider.

On my first day in Uganda God gave me a verse from John 11 when Jesus was there with Mary and Martha after Lazarus had died. Jesus asked Martha to remove the stone and she reminded him that her brother had been dead for four days, that he stunk, but Jesus said,
"Did I not tell you that if you BELIEVE you would see the GLORY OF GOD!"

Dustin shared with me one evening that when he was out in the village going hut to hut with one of the national pastors he saw believing faith. He said that when Pastor Anthony prayed, he BELIEVED! Dustin said he prayed with a faith like he had never seen. It wasn't a selfish prayer, he was interceding on behalf of a woman with AIDS. He said Pastor Anthony knew God was going to come down and meet the very need he was crying out to Him about. That kind of BELIEVING is what our Ugandan sisters have! They don't have much, they live a very simple life, but what they do have is huge! (Girlfriends, can I throw in here that one of my greatest blessings from this mission trip was going on it with our son again. 3John 4 says, "I have no greater joy than to know that my children are walking in the truth!" And ain't that the truth!)

I ask myself what distracts me from believing so that I can't see the glory of God? Is my life so cluttered by things of no eternal value, things that are not about the Kingdom and His righteousness, that I cannot see His glory and miss out in what He wants to show me? My question for us is, where does our devotion lie. It is in His Kingdom, or is it in things of this world, things that can tie us down and clutter our lives.
 
In Luke 12, the same story of Jesus speaking about seeking the Kingdom of God, He says in verse 33,
"Sell your possessions and give to charity"; Francis Chan spoke on thi too...can you imagine being married just two weeks and your husband tells you that he feels the Lord is telling him to sell your home and downsize to a trailer! WHOA! "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in Heaven, where no thief comes near or moth destroys."
 
I chuckled here…here is one “accessory” that doesn’t clutter our closet but are treasures in heaven that do not fail. The surest place to put one’s money is in such a belt, in heaven, where it will be safe from thieves and decay.

So what is cluttering our lives? What are our priorities, Girlfriends? Is it things that will further His Kingdom, making our treasures in heaven, or are they things that will clutter our lives and distract from what God wants from us, for us to BELIEVE so that we will see His Glory!
 
Then in verse 32 it says,
"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the Kingdom!"
God wants to bless us huge, not with things here on this earth, things that will cause us to lose focus on His purpose, but with things of eternal value.

Luke 12 ends with,
"FOR WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS, THERE YOUR HEART WILL BE ALSO!"

So I ask, what are our treasures? Are they things that clutter up our mind and heart, things that steal from our time and energies, things of no eternal purpose? The lives of the women in Uganda is simple, decluttered, they walk in faith day by day, setting their priorities on God and His Kingdom. And what that leads to is a life of JOY. If you speak with any Uganda team member they will tell you that the christians there define joy. Biblical joy consists of the deep and abiding confidence that all is well regardless of circumstances or difficulty. We may look at our Ugandan girlfriends and think they have nothing, but in eternal reality, they have it all, they have the JESUS JOY that as our pastor said Sunday, our lives should reflect. Things, clutter, seem to steal our focus and thus steal our joy. Psalm 16: 11 says, “In Thy presence is the fullness of Joy.” No surprise that it is their JOY that gives them the strength that they need to go on day to day. Their affections are on the Lord Jesus and His Kingdom and not on things of this earth that can weigh us down.

In closing I would ask us, where is our treasure and what can we do to declutter and simplify our spiritual life, so that our focus can be all about Him and His Kingdom purpose.
 

1 COMMENT | POST A COMMENT

On Thursday, April 22, 2010, Denise said

Thank you, Terri! This is a great reminder that I needed to hear today! Thank you for taking the time to post this blog to share your trip, but more importantly to share God's work! Blessings to you!

 



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