This week was our final week on our Sports DTS and we had the topic of Vision, Calling, and Destiny. Our speaker was Teveta Coffa and he is originally from Tonga and has lived in Australia and China much of his life carrying out the calling God has put on his life. Tevata was a part of this base here in Newcastle, Australia and also has been a huge part in the rising up of Christians in China. Teveta has a family and they are a part of his vision and calling and they way he interacts with his 3 kids makes it evident the love the God is pouring into his life. He explained that when talking about Vision, Calling, and Destiny we need to take into account four things; beginning, you, world, and convergence.
When we look back to the beginning we have to understand what was on God’s heart when He decided He wanted to create us out of an abundance of His love. The way we were created by God brings up many questions in one’s faith, but if we take each and every one of those questions back to God and ask what was on His heart we will be astonished at the abundance of His love. Some of us in the world today believe that history happens on a timeline and other cultures believe that the timeline is very cyclical. Either way when we look at history we find that events tend to repeat themselves in one way or another. So if you want to see where you are going in the wise, perfect, and best plan of God then you need to know where you come from. Each of our names means so much and within that family each of us has a certain place. This is similar as our last name gives us an identity in our community and for certain people even in the world as someone who carried their last name did something amazing that revolutionized the world that we know today. My last name Lucas means, ‘bringer or light,’ when we look at that I can see how that will fit into my calling of the future.
Calling, what does it mean to be called to do something? God makes it very clear that he has predestined each and every one of us to be like Jesus and bear the image of our heavenly father. However, if we are going to actually hear and take in what God has planned for our lives then we need to hear God in the way He leads us and also we need to respond and take a step out in faith. In doing this we actually go through three stages of development, which takes us into a deeper intimate relationship with Christ. We first come to God as children in a childlike sense confessing our sins and knowing our father with forgive us. We then become young men or young women and overcome through knowing the word of the Lord is in you and being strong because in Christ all things are possible. Then through understanding the Father we know Him who is from the beginning and if we keep our eyes fixed on him then there is no way we will falter. When we think about our calling we can see it as a child first starting to walk and you keep encouraging them and picking them up when they fall down. You know that the child is trying their hardest, yet they just don’t have enough balance and strength to fully go forward so you guide them while still protecting them from getting hurt. Our heavenly father is just like this He is going to pick us up when we fall down and if we keep our eyes fixed on Him then we won’t ever take a tumble that we can’t overcome.
We have the knowledge of where we came from and how we fit into that, but how do w fit that into what is happening in the world and how we go about changing it to glorify the kingdom of God? This is the initiative that is very difficult and requires a lot of faith, but also is the time where you learn the most and develop character. YWAM is doing this and this is what a DTS is all about, building character and letting that character be defined by God and the relationship He has with you. Our world today can be split into seven spheres; family, church, education, arts/entertainment, media, business, and government. Each one of these is very important for us to reach as Christians. YWAM currently is filling the section of the church as a body of Christ ministering to the nations. Each one of these sphere however is interlinked and helps us to know how to reach out to all the children of God in a way that speaks to them and will help them glorify God. For example, China is a huge country that some think may overtake the USA as the national power and the huge area in which they plan to do that is by the business sphere as so much stuff we buy as consumers comes from there. China however has over 400 million Christians in it and is seeing 33,000 people convert each and every day. The blessings of God came upon the USA due to the focus on God, so maybe is it now as more Christians come out of China now that country has blessings from God also? These are just thought and help us to see the magnitude of how each of the seven spheres will impact our world in one way or another.
Once we see how our beginning in history affects us, how we answer the calling of the Lord, and what that means in the seven spheres of the world we then have to know how to fit all that together to do God’s will. That is something that is a huge task, yet really if we wait upon the Lord we will see guidance and blessings pour out. If we continue to sow in to the word of the Lord each and every day and let it live in us then we will see reconciliation among nations and hundreds of millions of people led to the inheritance of God each and every day. It is up to us how much we want to walk in faith with God, but Moses also had that choice at the burning bush and if he wouldn’t have listened to the call of God imagine where we might be at today. These are the great lessons I have learned this week and speak volumes to me as I go on outreach looking into what my calling is while there and then also some of the huge things God has called me to after completing my DTS.
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