It is not every week that the young adults have the privilege of joining another Home Fellowship – and it is certainly not every week that we are blessed to host someone who has been captured by the Taliban, and lives to tell the story.
By God’s divine orchestration, RT1 and Belimbing had the opportunity last night to hear from Dr Dilip, who worked in medical missions in Afghanistan from 2009-2012. Dr Dilip based his sharing on Luke 4:18-19:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
5 out of the 7 lines in these two verses are about what God has called us to do – proclaim the good news to the poor and freedom for the prisoners, recover sight for the blind, set the oppressed free, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.
Dr Dilip reminded us, however, that the most crucial line in those verses is the first. We do all these things only because the Spirit of the Lord is on us.
Who does God anoint? I don’t think He gives His power arbitrarily. Those who are fully yielded to God are the ones whom God works through most powerfully. Jesus came to earth fully surrendered to the Father, prepared to do His will at any moment. By emptying Himself, He was one with the Father, and therefore moved in great anointing to restore, heal and give life.
Dr Dilip shared that when he was taken captive by the Taliban, he had to hike some 10 hours to the place where he was held hostage. On that hike, he spent the first two hours complaining to God, telling Him how unfair it was that this would happen to him, a medical missionary who was there to make lives better for the poor and the oppressed. He also had a 10 month old baby at that time. Then, Dr Dilip heard the voice of God saying like He did to Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”
He recognised in that moment that he was talking to the great I Am. It was then that his conversation with God shifted: Dr Dilip realised that his life was not the centre of the equation – ultimately, God had a plan and a purpose, beyond his own life or death. Whatever happened, God would be able to work out all things for His glory. He also realised that he would be the only Bible that his kidnappers would ever read. The next few days, he went on to have some of the most life-giving conversations in his 4 years in Afghanistan.
Dr Dilip challenged us to think: what would our own lives look like, if we were fully surrendered? What sort of transformation can be brought to our communities, and even the nations, if we obeyed fully and let Him take the lead?
Surrendering to God is recognising His authority in our lives, and our rightful place in His kingdom. God has always been on the move, putting right a world that has fallen. Far be it from us to think of ministry as what we can do for God, with our qualifications! We may falsely believe that God’s agenda depends on our skills, energy and sacrifice. The truth is, we are simply participating in what God has already been doing for millenia. It is about His mission, not our plans; His glory, not our comfort. It is all about Him and His story.
It comes as a great reminder too that surrender is not a one-time decision for us Christians. I believe this is not a new idea for us as a church: to surrender means to continually give up our own visions of what our lives should look like. It is a daily, even moment-to-moment decision. It is easy to think of surrender as the giving up of big things we know are not healthy for us or displeasing to God, such as sin or unforgiveness. Those are obvious.
It may actually be harder to surrender the small things, such as what we choose to do with our time. Dr Dilip shared that he feels he doesn’t pray enough. I’m sure I don’t speak only for myself when I say that that is so relatable! So, for some of us, the next step in living a wholly surrendered life could be as simple as spending more time consistently in prayer, in talking to the great I Am. We often take this privilege for granted. May we not underestimate the power and importance of prayer — how much more can we accomplish for His purposes, if we diligently sought Him even before doing anything with Him.
What will He choose to reveal to the heart that chooses to seek Him? And what will He do through a life that is fully given to Him? 1 Corinthians 2:9 tells us that “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” Church, may we be willing to find out.
Blessings!
Lycia
on behalf of RT1
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