It’s not about me, it’s all about Him!
It’s been a few months since i’ve wrote the last blog and I think it’s once again time to realize that all Fervent Fire does and points to is Jesus! Our primary goal and reason for existing as a ministry is to shine bright for Him so contagiously that others flee from the darkness and embrace His light, because He is light, and then they too begin to shine for the Gospel and light up this dark and fallen world. So much has been going on the last two months that taking even a few hours to sit down and blog about it has been quite the challenge! However, right now I find myself at the end of a 3 week trip to the U.S. and before heading back to Nicaragua and right into the thick of the harvest again I thought that I would take advantage of the quiet of the late afternoon and my son sleeping to catch you all up.
The pictures below are of the first month after my last blog post and boy was it an amazing month! These are photos of just a few of the ones who got born again in that month and some amazing testimonies can be shared about just a few of those! On the top left of the stack of photos is one of my best buddies here in Nicaragua who after witnessing the transformation in his former roommate’s life, the one in the bottom right photo getting baptized, decided that he wanted more in his life than just the title of Christian and never really experiencing the vibrant life of a disciple of Jesus Christ! It was such a joy to walk with my friend as he drew close to the Lord and humbled himself and didn’t allow what other’s may have thought of him for choosing to be baptized again, even though he had already been baptized at 7 years old (but he felt it wasn’t sincere and with a full understanding of the Gospel), stop him from going after what his heart longed for! Since he got born again he has been on fire for the Lord and truly I can say that I have witnessed a great transformation in him. Hallelujah!
Just one more I’d like to share of the group of photos below is of Josefa in the top right photo. Josefa worked for us at The Isaiah Ministry for a few years and throughout those years we poured into her we did and said all we knew to encourage her to give all to the Lord and not look back, but there just always seemed to be a wall in her that she did not want to allow the Lord to break down. One day as her now-husband Baruc was finishing up a carpentry job at our home and she came by I took advantage of the opportunity to share the Gospel with Josefa and Baruc using the TLR Witness Cards. After the presentation of the Gospel they both were very honest and said they felt that they were far from God at the moment and knew it, but neither were ready to repent of sin and give all to God. A month later or so Josefa came over and this time she was ready! She met with my wife and repented of all sin and wanted to get baptized again (I baptized her some years before but she realized she wasn’t baptized with a sincere and fully repentant heart); so we took her to the laguna and put her old man in the grave and from that moment she began living for Him! But that’s not all! That same day she went home and prayed all afternoon about how she was going to break the news to her now-husband Baruc that she had gotten born again and was now all-in with the Lord; she wasn’t sure how he would respond. But when he came home and they went for a walk and she told him about what she had decided Baruc broke down and said that he had wanted to be the first to go all in with the Lord but Josefa had beaten him to it! He then asked Josefa for forgiveness for how he had treated her so poorly over the years and said that he too wanted to get born again! So the next day Baruc came by the house and repented of sin and we took him to get baptized into Jesus Christ that same night! Now both are born again and have recently gotten married before the Lord and made their union holy and we just couldn’t be more joyful and thankful to have witnessed God do the whole thing!
The last three weeks I have been back in the U.S. because one of my close brothers in the Lord was getting married and I was asked to be in the wedding. Well, as you know right now flying internationally can be quite a challenge and quite expensive but Jessica and I both felt that I needed to be there for that special occasion so I came and also brought my youngest son Sebastian along with me so that my mom could spend some time with him after not seeing him for about 9 months. That journey to the U.S. with Seba alone was quite the faith-journey for me! Haha! If you really wanna know how strong and mature you are in the faith, just travel alone all day with an active year old on various planes during a pandemic scare and you will see how patient and enduring you really are! As for me, I found myself praying for patience, hope, and endurance all day!
As I mentioned in the title of this blog it’s all about Him! If you look at the photos above you see that I don’t appear in any of them! Praise the Lord! Fervent Fire is not about one person or even a few people, its about the fire that burns in all of the sons and daughters of God who are living the disciple-life just as Jesus modeled for us when he walked the earth! I have been so elated and overjoyed to see how the kingdom of God in Nicaragua has continued to expand even while I have been away for 3 weeks! People have continued to get rocked by the awesome power and love of our great God and follow His Son by dying to themselves and beginning to truly live for Him. This is how we know when what we are believing is really the truth or not; it produces fruit! And not only does it produce fruit, but it produces fruit in the lives that we touch with the Gospel!
Its not about a sentimental moment or just an opportunity to take a cool photo to post on social media, its about seeing lives transformed by the Gospel! This is what we wanted when the Lord told us to put the brakes on the ministry back at the end of 2019 and eventually lead us to put to bed The Isaiah Ministry because He had greater things for us to walk into. Even as I write this there is another Kickstart beginning which our ministry and others are participating in and I am sure from the likes of which more lives will never be the same!
I know its not the greatest quality image, because it comes from our security camera on the front porch of our home, but this is a look into our meeting of born-again disciples that we host on Wednesday nights. It has grown to around 40 people over the last few months! Wow! Now I know its not about the numbers, of course, but it just astounds me how fast the fellowship has grown and its all done by and through Him! I most definitely could not do that and up to this year had not had meetings so large, but not just large gatherings, gatherings filled with people who are living the Gospel and sincere about their faith. Not just showing up to fill a chair and fulfill the expectation of someone else that might be watching. We will soon, very soon actually, begin to see smaller groups split off from our larger gathering to keep it more intimate and easier to manage, and to spread the love and light of Christ to other areas of Managua! Isn’t God amazing?!
Thank you for praying with us and for us! God is doing so much and we are genuinely blown away by all that has gone on over the past few months! Remember, this is not just for us or for Nicaragua! The Lord wants to do this where you live, in your life, in your family! I encourage you to check out our “resources” page on the website which I have updated somewhat recently to provide you with some videos and books that have really challenged and encouraged me in my walk of faith. Bless you and may God bring revival to your life and astound you with His ways just as He is doing with us this year!
