In the last two years, I had the privilege of hearing a man of God share amazing stories (via Zoom) of how God was opening up doors for him to disciple people around the world. It was evident that the Spirit of God was working mightily through this man of God in a remarkable way, as revivals were taking place in so many places where he went to preach. As I heard him sharing, the burning question in my heart was, What is your secret?
God Answers My Prayer Quickly!
I’m involved in a prayer ministry. It is a blessing to see people experiencing revival, but my ministry partners and I are not satisfied. We want to see a HUGE revival. We want to see a worldwide revival. So I wanted to know why it was that God was using this man so mightily. I decided to pray about and make known to God the desire of my heart. I said, “Lord, I would like to travel with this man and be discipled by him. I would really like to know why it is that Your hand is upon this individual in such a remarkable way.” I was thrilled to see the prayer answered so quickly. Within two and a half weeks, a number of things fell into place so that I could travel with the man of God to South Africa and Zambia for three whole weeks.
A few days before we boarded our flight for South Africa, Omicron began making news headlines. What should we do? The command is to GO! (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19). We knew that COVID is a small thing for the Lord, and we could not let it get in the way. Unless the Lord told us to stay, we knew that we needed to go. We believed that the God who parted the Red Sea could make a way, and sure enough, He did. We were thrilled to find out that Delta and United were not canceling their flights to and from South Africa. We had booked flights on Delta!
In South Africa we spent five days with one Christian church, and then six days with another Christian church, focusing on discipleship. The day finally came for us to travel to Zambia. As we were traveling to the airport, we received our COVID test results. We were rejoicing that the test results came just in time before we reached the airport.
Positive COVID Test Leads to Divine Appointments
The rejoicing continued, but not for long. The man of God tested negative, but I tested positive. What were we to do? Well, we knew that if God wanted me to go to Zambia, He could certainly work a miracle. Long story short, the man of God flew to Zambia, and I ended up quarantining in a hotel. The Lord kept me longer in South Africa for some reason, and I spent the next few days in quarantine trying to figure out why.
On the fifth day of my quarantine, Pastor Samuel Mmadi, who gave us a ride to the airport, calls to check up on me, and he says, “I read the magazine you gave to me.” Five days earlier, on the day we were heading to the airport to go to Zambia, I had given Pastor Samuel a magazine called, “America in Bible Prophecy: The Future of Earth’s Last Superpower Revealed.” This magazine talks about the two beasts of Revelation 13 and explains why people started worshiping on Sunday instead of on Sabbath.
As I was quarantining, I had been praying that God would open the eyes of Pastor Samuel as he read the magazine. He tells me, “I have read the magazine, and I have some questions about the Sabbath.” We ended up having a Bible study for about half an hour over the phone regarding the Sabbath. Two days later on Tuesday, he sends me this e-mail, lightly edited for clarity:
Pastor,
Thank you again. I believe the seventh-day Sabbath is the Bible Sabbath, not Sunday. Now, I just want to pray for God to help reveal the Sabbath day to the whole church. I believe that if the whole church can get a revelation about Sabbath, all will be well. Pastor, let us pray that the truth be revealed and that we get a smooth transition from the current culture of doing things to the right way. How do we suggest that we change our worship day to Saturday, whereas the church tradition has been Sunday for a long time?
Please assist in praying for God's intervention. Thank you.
Be blessed.
Regards,
Pastor Samuel Mmadi
Praying for God to Open the Way
After reading the e-mail, I started praying and thinking, I would love to go back to the church and spend time teaching their church leaders and members about the Sabbath. I’m also thinking, If this church begins keeping the Sabbath, the story of my trip to South Africa would have a beautiful ending and I could say, “Satan meant COVID for evil, but God meant it for good.” And the story of my trip to Africa could also encourage and inspire others to go overseas even in the face of COVID. COVID might be with us for a long time or it could be with us till the end of time. We certainly can’t let COVID stop our work.
I called Pastor Samuel the next day and told him that I would still be in South Africa until the following week. I asked, “What do you think of the idea of me coming back to your church to share with your church leaders and members?” He said, “I think it’s a great idea. Let me run it by our church leaders.” He got back to me later that night saying, “Please come.” The Lord miraculously provided a ride for me, and I traveled the next day back to the village, a four-hour drive.
I spent Christmas weekend with the people at the Emanuel Community Church.
I met with them on Friday morning for two hours, on Sabbath morning for two hours, and on Sunday morning. That Sunday morning service was their very last Sunday worship service. This church is now worshipping every Sabbath day. I praise God for this very beautiful experience. He turned what looked like a travel nightmare into the most precious and memorable ministry experience of my life. It was the best Christmas present I could have asked for.
The Secret of the Man of God
I thank God for opening the doors for me to travel to South Africa with this man of God who has taught me so much. You may be wondering, Why was God able to use him so mightily? What was his secret? It boils down to one word: SURRENDER. Would you like to be more surrendered so that you can be filled with a larger measure of the Holy Spirit? Would you like to be more surrendered so that God can do a greater work in you and through you? Would you like to be more surrendered so you can hear God’s voice more clearly? If you are answering YES to all of these questions, I invite you to try the following:
- Before going to sleep each night, pray that God will wake you up so that you can spend unrushed time with the Lord before you begin your day. How often do we get up an hour or so before we begin the day to have our personal devotions, and how often do we rush through our Bible reading and prayer time as we think of all that we have to do during the day? Claim Isaiah 50:4 (NASB) which says, "The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples, so that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple." Claim this promise and believe that God will wake you up just as He did for Jesus when He was on this Earth.
- When the Lord wakes you up (and it could be in the middle of the night), go to your knees and begin with a prayer of surrender. Say, “Lord, I want to surrender all that I am, all that I have, including my attitude.” All that you have would include your time, possessions, and plans.
- After spending quality time in God’s Word and any other devotional material you regularly go through, spend time in prayer. Besides presenting to God your needs, problems, wants, and desires, take time to find out what’s important to God. Ask the Lord, “What’s on Your heart?” Ask this question and take time to wait. The Bible says, "The Lord is good to those who await Him, to the person who seeks Him" (Lamentations 3:25 NASB). Seek to know what is most important to Him, and wait on Him.
- Live your life by this question: “Lord, what would bring You the greatest glory?” As you eat, drink, or whatever you do, ask the question, “What would bring You the greatest glory?’ Ellen White says, “‘Father, glorify Thy name' (John 12:28), was the keynote of Christ's life, and if we follow Him, this will be the keynote of our life.”1
Call to Action
Will you join me in praying that the keynote of our lives would be: “Father, glorify Thy name”?
Imagine what God could do through men and women who live their lives by the question, “What would bring You the greatest glory?” Let’s seek to live fully surrendered lives so that God can work in us and through us to take the everlasting Gospel to the ends of the Earth, and thus hasten His soon return.
- Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1983), 409.
