Does Faith in Jesus Work?8/20/2017 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise. Proverbs 27:21 This last month has been one of the greatest tests of my life. It seems like since my Facebook post went viral and all the other transitions I discussed in my last post went down I found myself really struggling to hold onto my faith and my patience. I’m a firm believer and recipient of the power of the gospel of Jesus but what happens when that gospel stops working in our lives? In 2008 before I left Cambodia this was my experience. The joy and peace I once felt and attributed to the work of God in my life was no longer evident and I struggled to hold tight to my faith. Eventually my desperation for relief led me to again turn to drinking and other things to just to take the edge off which only furthered the perceived distance I felt from my creator. This all ended with me walking away from my calling, my friends, Cambodia, and worst of all my pursuit of God. For years I pursued success, money, and a variety of lesser pleasures to fill the void where God had once been and had kept so well inhabited. The shallow, short lived, and fleeting pleasures were never enough and it was some time before in frustration I again turned back to God to see if there was still mercy left for me. I was amazed as I watched God restore me slowly at first but more quickly as I went along. Bit by bit giving me back dignity, sobriety, vision and purpose. I was baffled by His grace and it led me to worship in spite of any obstacle real or perceived for His kindness towards me. However, I’m ashamed to say that after a while I began to forget all His goodness towards me and found myself awfully proud of all that “I” had done in the last few years. Self Righteousness is as deceptive as it deadly and suddenly where there was once only gratitude and awe I began to feel entitled and frustrated. Don’t get me wrong. Ministry is going great! Our relationships with leaders in the spheres of business, education, church, government, all going great! Our new training center is fully running with over 100 students and our home has systems in place and is beginning to run smoothly. However, what I wanted to write about this month is the problem of my heart. Apparent external success in my opinion is never as important as the deep internal success of a heart positioned in grateful worship towards God. Awareness of His grace, blessings, and presence are the primary pursuits of my life and when I begin to find too much satisfaction in outside sources I know all too well how things end. Luckily I happen to have great friends and leaders around me. As God reminded me of the importance of placing Him first I reached out to them and communicated honestly with where I was at, seeking guidance and help in restoring me to a healthy perspective. I’m blown away by the response I’ve received. As I’ve humbled myself it was like God opened up heaven to reach out and help make it happen. The love and support have been nothing short of miraculous and now find myself again in a position of humble gratitude and hope for continued grace. The gospel of Jesus truly is powerful and effective if applied regularly and generously to one’s life. Neglecting consistent cultivation of it usually ends poorly and can lead one to believe that they were never saved in the first place. So that’s an update of my heart this month. I’ll include more ministry details in the next one but for now let me ask for your prayers regarding my heart. I want to always stand in awe and worship towards our God and never forget what He’s done and is doing. Pray I’ll hold onto that and always be ready to give an answer to others who ask what my source of hope is. Sharing that hope with the people here is my purpose behind all we do so experiencing that hope in an evident way is necessary for anyone engaged in what I’m doing. Love you guys. Also I’m turning 32 in a week and am still doing a terrible job of fundraising so if you want to give me an awesome birthday present I still need 10 $50 a month supporters and am raising money to go and teach in a DTS in Myanmar next month as well. Gifts of any amount are greatly appreciated as I quite literally couldn’t do this without you! Much Love
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AuthorMy name's Uriah Lyford and I'm a volunteer with YWAM. My dream is to see the spiritual solution of a restored relationship with God through Jesus be made available to every person on earth. I do this through the mentoring and training of young people to build and become the Church Jesus died for. Archives
June 2018
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