When do you ever get four hours of uninterrupted time to yourself? If you are reading this thinking “I want that” then all you have to do is announce to your family you’re going to paint a room in the house. They will disappear so quickly your hair will blow in the breeze.
Yesterday, I turned on some worship music and began painting my office. I spent a lot of time just reflecting on all God has done to bring me to the point of needing an office and talking through it with Him. I also spent time thanking Him for what He is going to do in and through the ministry. One of the exciting things we talked about is the trip this fall to minister to the women of Ghana.
I’ve been to Ghana three times before, but always with teams from my church and two of those times with my husband and children on the team. All of the ladies going with me this time have never been to Ghana and some of them have never been on a mission trip. It is going to be an exciting trip. In preparation, I am trying to make sure I remember to tell them everything a first timer will need to know.
One of the biggest things to remember when going to Ghana on a mission trip is how to lead someone to Christ. The basics are the same, however, when you lead someone in the sinner’s prayer, you must add “and by accepting You, Jesus, as my Lord and Savior, I am saying ‘No!’ to all other gods.” You must add this line because otherwise, the Ghanaians would add Jesus to the pile of other gods they believe in and serve.
As I thought through this yesterday, I realized we aren’t any different than the Ghanaians….even when it comes to the way we should lead someone in the sinner’s prayer. We all have other gods we serve. The ones in Ghana are gods of formal religions and ours are a little more discreet, but they exist. There is the god of money. He gets a lot of attention and he brings his friend worry along for the ride. Then there is the god of the television. He tends to get more of our attention than any other god. Hours are spent before him in one day. When was the last time you spent hours before the Lord in a day? There are too many other gods to list them all, but you get the picture.
Our God is a jealous god and He refuses to share glory with another [Exodus 20:5]. He tells us in Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” We could put any other god in the place of money and the result would be the same.
The choice is yours. Avoiding the choice doesn’t make it go away. It only makes you like the Ghanaians, willing to throw Jesus in the pack with all the other gods out there. Joshua 24:15 says it best: “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Ask the Lord to reveal any gods you may have in your life competing against Him for your attention. Once He reveals them, then the choice is yours. You must “choose this day whom you will serve.”