During my recent trip to Africa I was invited to preach at the Christian Revival Church in Lesotho. Sharing God’s word is one of my favorite things to do and I was excited to share with these precious people all that the Father has been teaching me from the Revelation 3:8:
“See I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and not have denied my name.”
I opened by sharing how a recent prayer service held on a rainy Saturday in the Los Angles Coliseum attracted thousands of people to gather together to pray for Revival in America. My family and I watched he live-streamed worship, prayers and speakers. Daniel Kolenda, an evangelist and a part of a ministry called Christ for the Nations was one of the keynote speakers. Daniel presented a powerful gospel message and many responded to the call to receive Christ. It was amazing!
The ironic thing about the keynote speaker Daniel Kolenda is that he was discipled by a German evangelist named Reinhard Bonnke, who birthed Christ for the Nations in Lesotho Africa in 1974. Reinhard worked diligently to share the gospel to the people in Lesotho but it was a tough go. At times he struggled with it all, yet in the midst of a difficult season the Lord gave him a reoccurring dream with the words, “Africa will be saved.” As Reinhard pondered the dream and the message he wrestled with how this could unfold as he knew first hand how difficult evangelism seemed to be in this small and relatively unknown country of Lesotho.
Yet, God brought Reinhard Bonnke to the passage from Zech. 4:6, “Not by might nor by power but by the Spirit says the LORD Almighty.” Reinhard began to pray into the dream and the passage knowing he had “little strength.” One Sunday when a special speaker from South Africa was a no-show Bonnke was the one to fill in. This Sunday when he had nothing prepared, and was filled with weakness and fear, this is when the Holy Spirit showed up and many people were saved and healed. This day was the day of the Open Door and because of that day Christ for the Nations was launched. This Sunday a door opened and from it birthed the first fruit of literally millions of people being saved over the enormous continent of Africa.
Out of weakness, in one of the smallest countries in the world, a door was opened by the power of the Holy Spirit to start a fire that would spread over all of Africa then jump the Atlantic Ocean and journey to LA Coliseum where I watched in my living room a young man preach the gospel with passion and power that led many to King Jesus. As I shared this story with the good people of the CRC church there were claps and cheers as they know are a congregation of “little strength” due to poverty, the pandemic of HIV Aids, and a corrupt and unjust political environment.
When “little strength” people surrender to King Jesus in the midst of the impossible, “Guess what?” Sails are raised to catch the powerful wind of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. If you have “little strength” take heart! This is the heart condition that Almighty God loves to use in order to Open Doors for His Kingdom to invade your life with the life giving power of His Holy Spirit! Get Ready!
