Will We Return?

I can’t help but to think back on 7 years ago. Funny how fast time flies, but emotions and feelings stay in the same place. My brother, Mark, passed away seven years ago, and even though the pain is gone, the void is always there. There are so many things that could have been, but will never be.

I could use his advice right now. I know him though. He would just tell me to do what I know is in the heart of GOD for my family and me. It is obvious that the Lord has many things going on that we are not aware of and much more is happening than we can see. I guess I was looking for some kind of outward, positive response, but thus far there hasn’t been much that we can see. What God has given us to release here seems to be so radical and so different that hardly anyone can receive it. The church rejects it and the world can’t receive it. I guess we have some idea of what Jesus went through while He walked the earth.

The most significant things that have happened have been the things that have happened to us. I came to Harrisburg expecting to open and start a ministry that would begin with a core group of people who would eventually become the leaders of a vibrant and excited community of believers. I thought they would be part of laying a foundation from which we could take new believers through the "Healing Encounters" and see healing and restoration come to hearts and homes.

When Bishop came and laid hands on us and we were set in as the pastors of Fruitful Life Worship Center, I thought that was the signal for growth, but it turned out to be the start of our burial. We found ourselves buried in the will of God. The church aspects of the ministry fell apart as people abandoned us for their own sense of survival. Only three people remained. Then, through another misunderstanding, one more person left also. Her leaving triggered much pain and disappointment in our sons and they were ready to quit, too.

Then, in the midst of all this disappointment, God brought another family to us. Full of their own pain and family tragedy, they came and received and accepted the Word of God through us. They continue to come and we are still amazed at their faithfulness and consistency. They’ve only missed one time and that was to take the son back to college.

Then one our spiritual daughters moved here, to help us. She jumped right in and began to assist us in the ways that she could. We had some neighborhood children attending for a while. She reached out to them and even baked some birthday cupcakes for one the girls. When she took the cupcakes to their house and met their mother and grandmother, the children were not allowed to come back. Thus, the same pattern that we have encountered since we’ve been here, continued. As soon as you reach out to be a blessing, the doors close and the attendance stops.

I heard that R.W. Shambach is from this area and he had to eventually leave because of the hardness here. I heard that one of the leading men in the 20th century revival currently lives here, but his ministry is far more effective outside of this area than within.

So, I stopped and asked the Lord, “Why would You send us to such a barren and difficult community? If some of Your best and greatest cannot stay here, why would You send us here?” I believe the Lord gave me the following scripture. I did not try to make this up and I’m not looking for a reason to quit and leave. The answer just took me back to the words I spoke to Pastor Ray before we moved here. Luke 4 presents it in the best way I’m trying to communicate:

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,but by every word of God.’”

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you, and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.

Could it be that just like Jesus returned to Galilee after the time of temptation in the wilderness, that we will return to the area from which we came?