WHOLEHEARTEDLY - Louis Gervais
WHOLEHEARTEDLY
Hello and greetings in the Name of the One Son of Him Whom we must serve Wholeheartedly, Jesus Christ! Contained in the rebuke of King Asa by Hanani the seer we find this jewel: “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” –2 Chronicles 16:9a Despite his errors (namely, making alliances with ungodly kings of Israel) Jehoshaphat King of Judah was a good example of someone who served the LORD with his whole heart. “The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the example of his father David’s earlier days and did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father, followed His commandments, and did not act as Israel did.” –2 Chronicles 17:3-4
Although the LORD answered Jehoshaphat’s cry for help by saving his life (2 Chronicles 18:31) the king was also rebuked for acting outside of God’s will: “Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, ‘Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD and so bring wrath on yourself from the LORD? But there is some good in you, for you have removed the Asheroth from the land and you have set your heart to seek God.’” –Chronicles 19:2-3 Jehoshaphat worked to turn the hearts of his people back to the LORD (2 Chronicles 19:4) and in 2 Chronicles 19:9 he commanded the newly appointed judges by saying, “Thus you shall do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully and wholeheartedly.” And in 2 Chronicles 22:9 , the king is remembered as “Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart.” As born-again Christians, we retain no right to our own plans for our lives; all must be surrendered to Him Who loves us. Unreserved devotion to Christ must be our identifying attribute. “Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.” –Proverbs 23:26 . We too must serve the Lord wholeheartedly! The persecuted family asks for specific prayer for their health, especially for the lady of the house and the daughter. They don’t ask unless it’s serious.
If you’d like to pray for him, my brother Johan drove to South Carolina to lend a hand with the campaign of the candidate whom he found to be biblically aligned and preserving of the constitution, Ted Cruz. Mrs. Kussman told me a week ago that she can understand why young people who reckon that they have their whole lives ahead of them don’t want Jesus (as if He’s a hindrance!) but she just can’t understand why old people who are close to eternity refuse to accept Christ. She was speaking of her husband and others like him. My own grandmother and Mr. Van Niekerk also need a change of heart. We had a truly blessed week in Reddersburg. In fact, the town was named after Jesus Christ; it was founded by a church and “Redder” is Afrikaans for “Saver” or “Savior.” Many South African schools have dormitories to accommodate children whose parents live on farms and so the kids go to school and sleep there too during the weekdays. Daniël and I also stayed at this complex and focused our evangelical efforts on these 68+ children and youth. However, the Lord additionally provided opportunities to share the Gospel at the school itself, at the nearby pre-primary school and with a first grade class. Every night, one of us would lead the children’s service for the primary school kids at the dorm (1st-7th grade) and afterwards the other would preach to the high schoolers (8th-12th grade). How’d you like 15 minutes to preach the Gospel of Christ to a captive audience of over 50 teenagers? It was quite special actually, because we also ate with them and spoke to them during recess at school and played volleyball with them and so we got to know them (which is a stark contrast to the work we do the rest of the year, with the notable exceptions of Vacations Bible Schools and youth camps). And we could see that some of them weighed the Word that came to them, so please pray with us this week that they will choose to serve the Lord wholeheartedly. After a lesson, one boy came to us and told us that he had previously held something back from the Lord, but after that night’s message he decided he was going to give the Lord his whole heart. Praise the Lord! He had asked for a Bible, and we were able to give him and about 30 of the others pocket New Testaments and some took Gospel tracts too. “May God add His blessing to the reading of His Word!”
Lord-willing, Daniël and I will now make our second trip through Mpumalanga on our 2nd Firebreak Tour/2de Voorbrand Toer. We can pray that the Lord may provide the right opportunities for the planned invasion with the Gospel during April and May and that we experience journey mercies during the hundreds of miles ahead of us this week. It is truly a privilege to be in His service! –Louis Gervais “I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever.” –Psalm 86:12