Mexico First Post

The last few weeks of Mexico preparation meetings have had a very interesting feel to them.  We have spent a great amount of time in spiritual preparation for the trip, and a larger-than-usual amount of time in language/cultural preparation.

I am very excited for how illuminating the spiritual preparation has been for me, and I think for all involved.   For those of you who are interested, I want to go ahead and post a bit about the spiritual preparations so that you may join with us in them, if you wish.

The first week we went through the following scriptures:

Matthew 10:35-39

Matthew 16:21-28

Luke 9:23-27

Luke 17:26-35

John 12:23-28

In each rendition of the surrender theme, we looked at the context both before and after each section.  I would STRONGLY encourage you to read each of them and pray about them to see what God shows.  We also read Romans 12:1-2 and discussed how surrender leads to transformation (by the renewing of our minds by the Holy Spirit) and true life.

It was very difficult for me to read that those who cling to their lives are not worthy of being Jesus’s…  That is a true statement and is literal (we can’t have both things Biblically or practically in our life—they are exclusive).  It is very difficult for me to daily surrender my life, however, and to trust God enough that He does give true life—even after He shows me again and again that He does give me a richer and a truer life than I could have obtained living for myself.  Thank God for His faithfulness.

We had several other good discussions from these verses, so I would again encourage you to read them, explore the surrounding ideas, and pray to see what God may show you.  This was the theme for the first meeting’s spiritual preparation.