Fire in Kabunga

We are now in Kabunga, Rwanda, a small town that has the only hotel for miles. The place is clean and tidy and fairly comfortable except for the water. You have to be ready to catch it when its running, which apparently is only for a short while around 6 am. After that, it’s a slow dribble into a plastic tub from which you then scoop it out to pour over yourself for a shower. I guess you might say that it’s part of the adventure …
I preached at the church that we are having services this evening last year, but the pastor had been out of the country. He has been waiting for me to come back ever since. The Lord had energized his congregation after I had been here and had turned it into a soul-winning church. They have taken the message to the streets, the hospitals, and anywhere they could to witness to the lost and his church has grown significantly. And this pastor wants more.
Lately, the Lord has been trying to teach me the lesson of unreserved trust. I got this strong feeling not to prepare my message for this afternoon. While I never prepare my messages in a typical sense, I do like to have an idea of which direction I am going. But not this time. It is difficult to sit there and not allow your mind to search out different passages that I might use or different subjects to follow. But it was like trying to grasp a mist.
Just before I get up to go to the pulpit, I burst out with, “You lead, Lord, and I will follow”. And the scripture about Abraham in Hebrews 11 flashed through my head. Another message about revival that I had never before considered! I wasn’t sure where we were going with this, but we were going somewhere! I jumped up with a renewed exuberance and headed for the pulpit.
Fire ran up and down that church tonight as the message poured out of me. I’m sure glad I didn’t try to figure out what I was going to say because I’d have never figured this one out. I watched as God began to move amongst the congregation and break through to their hearts. Even the pastor, who normally is a very sedate, composed person, was jumping up and down in excitement on top of his chair, and as the services were ending, he was dancing along with everyone else in a Spirit-led celebration. And this was a message of challenge and repentance, not of blessing and false promises! Go figure.
Another 20 souls got saved at the end of the service. That makes well over 400 souls since we began two weeks ago. These souls see the fire of God running in services and they want to be part of it.
Victory comes when you surrender to God. And learning how to let go and trust Him is part of that surrender. When you do that, you untie the hands of God so He can take over and do the miraculous.
My friend Barry put it well: it is like driving a stage coach at breakneck speed down a winding mountain road at night in the rain with a sheer drop off just inches to your side … and you throw the reins to the horses!
It takes courage to trust the Lord to that degree. It also takes a hope that is birthed out of desperation for something more than “church as usual”.
We had a taste of that tonight.