Passport for a new identity in Christ E-Book

Mikael Reale

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 48

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

I had passed from being a leader of an internationally recognized, successful group of churches, to being an immigrant worker. It was a very testing time, and I found myself sliding into a depression. With the loss of my ministry, I had lost my reason for living. I no longer prayed, nor opened my bible, and only went to church for my children's sake. This situation lasted for three months, until one evening God showed up at the petrol station where I was working. There was nobody about, as a thin icy rain had driven even the bravest souls home early. Boredom gripped me, and I still had two hours before I could close up for the night. Having nothing to do, I started praying, more mechanically than consciously. It was as if my spirit, having been deprived of prayer, had made the most of the apathy of my soul to reconnect with God. It didn't need much for the Lord to come to meet me. The atmosphere in the room changed, and before I could realize what was happening, God spoke to me out loud. Where have you been, Son?

Leseprobe

For all who are searching…

Table of contents

Where have you been, Son?

A God of relationships.

Whom do you say I am?

Abba, Father!

Birth rights!

Who do you believe I am?

Did we ever meet him?

Rediscover our true identity!

Who are we today?

Get off your failures!

Where have you been, Son?

When writing a book, I like to start by describing my own experience. I believe that our experiences lend depth to what could be just dry theory. So, here is an experience that changed my life and my ministry, a few years ago.

To put this anecdote back into context, let me fill you in on the details of the situation.

In 1995, my family and I went to Madagascar to do missionary work. We planted a church over there, with meetings happening in our garage, which rapidly took form. God then gave us development strategies, which quickly bore fruit in abundance.

This brought us to a place whereby we were forming people and building up future leaders. God showed us couples that we were to concentrate on. For three years, we developed the churches, the social and humanitarian aspects, and established strong friendships with those who would one day take over from us. But I will tell you more of that later.

After three years, we had planted 4 churches, a Christian school, an orphanage, and formed a hundred or so leaders of different churches in the country. It was at that moment that, after two serious cases of malaria, we moved to the Reunion Island.

Our settling-in to this French-speaking island was marked by a miracle from God. Once again, we found ourselves starting a house church in our living room. Again, God gave us a strategy and the movement started gaining strength. After a few months, we opened a second, and then a third church on the island. In 18 months we had had over 200 baptisms.

The success of my ministry meant I was invited to help out in Mauritius. I went along every two months to assist young churches and form leaders. I was also regularly invited to France, England, Belgium and Israel.

I was writing my second book at the time, and had lots of projects: to open a missionary training center in the Reunion Island for French-speaking Christians, a Christian school, to make a CD with our worship group, etc. It seemed nothing could stop this outpouring “revival” we were experiencing.

And yet, in the space of a few weeks, following an accidental death of a church member, and due to the undermining work of an ill-intentioned member of the leadership, I was forced to close one of the churches. Another church decided to leave the group of churches under my leadership. Our projects for the Christian School and missionary training had to be canceled. Vicious rumors about us started to circulate. The friends we had made in the ministry started to turn their backs on us, and people whom we had led to the Lord were no longer speaking to us…

Cathy, my wife, and I decided to take a year “out,” a “sabbatical,” and God opened a way for us in England.

With no support anymore, I had to find a job, and so landed up in a service station. I worked evenings from 6 pm ’till 11 pm. I spent the evenings swiping credit cards in the till.

After having had responsibilities in the Indian Ocean islands, this work seemed so degrading. I had passed from being a leader of an internationally recognized, successful group of churches, to being an immigrant worker.

It was a very testing time, and I found myself sliding into a depression. With the loss of my ministry, I had lost my reason for living. I no longer prayed, nor opened my bible, and only went to church for my children’s sake.

This situation lasted for three months, until one evening God showed up at the petrol station where I was working.

There was nobody about, as a thin icy rain had driven even the bravest souls home early. Boredom gripped me, and I still had two hours before I could close up for the night. Having nothing to do, I started praying, more mechanically than consciously. It was as if my spirit, having been deprived of prayer, had made the most of the apathy of my soul to reconnect with God.

It didn’t need much for the Lord to come to meet me. The atmosphere in the room changed, and before I could realize what was happening, God spoke to me out loud. “Where have you been, Son?”

If the fact that God spoke surprised me, the question made me angry. What did he mean “where had I been?” I had spent the last six years in the mission field, I had worn my family out, I nearly lost my life several times, I hadn’t taken more than three weeks’ holiday in six years, and not even one day off a week, and God was asking where I had been.

Even before I got to the end of my list, God’s presence had disappeared.

That said, the fact that I could feel His presence, after months of sulking, made me start praying again.

God came back with the same question, and, alas, my reaction was the same. I couldn’t stand the idea that all that work and the price I had paid, weren’t recognized. I tried to fill my time at the station, tidying the shelves and cleaning my counter, but very soon I realized that I was missing something essential. I started to pray, and God came back, patiently, with the same question, but this time the Holy Spirit pointed out the key word of the question: SON!