I often hear of the severe poverty and malnutrition that plagues most of the world, but I seldom hear about the TRUE hunger of these people. This hunger is not for food, but for the gospel!
I have never met such a great amount of people who are starving for the word of God. I was able to see this spiritual starvation in a very real way this week. The team and I visited a remote village and began holding Bible studies in homes. At first they were very shy, but they began to ask questions and we, nervously, began to give answers. They began to beg for studies at their homes and the questions abounded. The people began to realize that we were not bringing them another religion, but we were bringing the truth of Jesus Christ. We brought hope, of which they had never had. We brought the living water and the bread of life, of which they had never tasted. I began to see lives changed and many, many hearts come to Christ.
In total, we witnessed 28 people come to a RELATIONSHIP with Christ and we performed 8 baptisms, one in which I was able to baptize!! Praise God!!!! We did not force baptisms nor did we force commitments. We realized very soon that our words, as elementary as they were, were not our own. We "did not come proclaiming to [them] the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For [we] decided to know nothing among [them] except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor 2:1,2). The holy spirit was our voice and Jesus Christ was our message. Nothing more, nothing less. God moved despite some doubts, he saved despite our inequities, and He revealed Himself to many people despite a great language barrier. Our God is great and the people are starving. The world is waiting for the good news and our job is to proclaim it.
I leave you with a bit of spiritual food to chew on. Luke 10:2,3 says, " And he said to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves'". Are you willing to go?