JUST DO IT…

Living in Zambia for the past three weeks has been an adventure. The Journey began from Jacksonville, FL with the lengthy flight with our four kiddos and then having to adjust to the time zones…has been quite the adventure! Little did we know, that a few days after our arrival to Rapid 14 base, (where Overland Missions resides on the gorge of the Zambezi river). We would be packing up into smaller bags and off onto a six day expedition the village of Mafuta. There we were given a good taste of what ministry would look like. Our large team of AMT students had the privilege to minister to the locals from house to house. Walking short to long distances to reach those who have never heard of this man Jesus we all love so much. We saw hundreds of people give their lives to the Lord, get baptized, healed, delivered from satanic oppression, filled with the Holy Spirit and begin speaking in tongues! It was a long/challenging week at that, but we managed to pull through. 

Andrey and I had a slightly bigger tent than the rest of the students since their were six of us. I never truly appreciated organization as much as I did on that return home after lol. I felt a bit overwhelmed with all the clothes, shoes, jackets, toiletries,hair brushes, oh you name it…I was constantly in there organizing and looking for the next thing I needed. Tip #1 when packing for expeditions, think accessible, compact, and pockets! 

So, a quick personal testimony from the “bush”. A few of us AMT students came to a small village by foot and began to minister to the 20 people there. Turns out, that one of the men we were ministering to was the local witch doctor. After we shared the creation of the world and explained who God was and the purpose that He has placed on our lives, the man said that he was ready to receive Jesus Christ into his life. When we led the group in prayer, we had to explain to him again that he must do these things to accept Jesus as his Lord and break the covenant that he had made with satan right now. He allowed us to remove the charms off of his children and took the charms off of his arm as well. Leila, and Ella with the help of a few other girls took the charms and threw them in the fire. After we discipled them for a little while on the importance of reading the Bible and praying to God as a NOW child of God, we then told them about the Holy Spirit. They wanted it, all of it! So we laid our hands on them and they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and began speaking in new languages! As we had our hands on their shoulders, I saw that this man who was previously a witch doctor was a pastor and was ushering the people of this village out of darkness and into the light. They were so grateful for everything, that we were given fresh honey in the comb WITH the bee’s still inside lol. That blessed us so much because we knew what a value that was for them.   

So as we walked back to out camp base, we were tired, but we didn’t care. We just witnessed so many lives encounter Jesus for the first time in their lives. That was worth every flight, every sleepless night, and every penny invested. People like to call this the dream job…and you know what? It truly is. 

Im so encouraged by these people of Zambia. It has nothing to do with the color of their skin, the clothes they wear, or the living conditions they have. It has everything to do with the size of their faith and the hunger they have for something bigger. Knowing that something is out there that is larger than life and they want to know what or who it is. 

See, we were created for worship. To fellowship and to have intimacy with Him. When God created Adam, He created him in His likeness. God didn’t lack anything, yet He desired fellowship from man. After man choose to fall into disobedience, sin became his nature. That fellowship with God was broken. God can not dwell where sin dwells, because He is Holy, He is Light and He is Life. But we all know the the good news right? God brought redemption to man with the Last Adam who is known as Jesus. Jesus came and restored which was lost. He brought reconciliation back to man kind. What the requirement for that was, Jesus had to come and take upon Himself all sin, sickness, and death so that man would not have to. He paid the price for us, took our place on that cursed tree and died in our place! What a God we serve! That is why I will spend the rest of my life sharing this great GOSPEL of REDEMPTION! 

Can I ask you to do something? It requires you stepping out of your comfort zone and sharing your testimony of how you encountered Jesus in your life. Will you come up to someone new today and share your story? JUST DO IT!! People don’t know who Jesus is, and those who know, they don’t know who they are…the identity of a born again christian is so important. Born again christians walk around thinking they are unworthy, but Jesus say’s YOU ARE, because I laid my life down for you, so now you are viewed perfect, righteous, and acceptable to God My Father. ( I’ll attempt to share the importance of IDENTITY in my next post). I hope this post has blessed you. My desire is to encourage, equip, and enable you to be messengers of the Gospel. To understand the importance of that as a follower of Jesus Christ. We love you, bless you, and pray for you all. Share this with your friends and family! May the Joy of the Lord be your strength in Jesus name!

Till next time, 

Yana Gorlachev