Crashing the Gates of Hell – Cross-Feet

I’m back in the beautiful Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho Africa. Every time I take the long hop over the Atlantic Ocean and huge jump down most the continent of Africa I ponder how I got here. Through marriage, ministry and moving I have held dreams, goals, and objectives in my heart and mind and Africa was never part any of it. Yet for the last several years Africa has been a dominant focus. Africa has taught me much but perhaps the greatest life lesson has been developing within me an obedient trust in following the hard promptings of the Spirit.

I use the word “hard” because often the ways of God don’t always make logical sense-at least according to the ways of the world. Obedience usually demands some sort of cost and offers little in the way of comfort and security. I hate to think about what my life would be like today without taking that first step to this glorious land way back in the spring of 2003.

In Matthew 16 Jesus suggests breaking the strongholds of hell by using broken followers who seek to build their lives on the Rock of Jesus Christ. He calls this radical group of followers the “church” and He hands them the “keys of His Kingdom,” a powerful Gospel message to live and shout out to the nations.

Jesus keeps His strategic plan to build His Kingdom simple. In fact, it would do us well as the “church” today to scrap many of our strategic plans with our goals and our objectives for His. Read on in Matthew 16 to discover this transforming gem:

Anyone who wants to be apart of this Gate Crashing Crew needs to take up the cross daily and follow Him. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life for His namesake will find it…(vs.24,25).

Did you catch that? Jesus is suggesting for us to daily die to self and find real life by following in His radical steps. These steps demand a daily trust to move when He moves and to wait when He waits. In other words, we exchange our feet of self-will for CROSS-FEET that daily climb to Calvary and die to our control so that we can live out the heart of Christ.

The land and people of Africa continue to display this simple message of Christ to my heart. “Tim, follow Me into the great unknown, knowing that I am all you need!” I guess that’s why I need to continue to travel to Africa-it’s not an easy message to live into. Yet, whenever I have followed Him, no matter the cost, He has brought me into a Kingdom life that offers so much more than my ego-controlled existence.

Try walking in the dust of Rabbi Jesus today. Yes, it will demand cross-feet, and there will be times where it hurts as you fight your self-will. But you will taste Heaven’s life and be part of a movement that will storm the gates of hell with the glory of the Father’s love and you will not want to go back.