Our God is an amazing God, Amen?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word "impudent" as 1) Wanting in shame or modesty; shameless, unblushing, immodest; indelicate 2) Possessed of unblushing presumption, effrontery, or assurance; shamelessly forward, insolently disrespectful.
I've been dwelling on boldness and impudence for the past few weeks. As I shared at open mic night at Nav Nite, my dad gave me Luke 11:1-13 to read through and meditate on as soon as he heard that I'd been accepted into EDGE. He said, "Begin to ask now...[and] He will answer the impudent prayer." (*impudences is the ESV translation in verse 8 of what appears as "boldness" in the NIV or "persistence" in the NASB)
How can one be impudent with God? How can I present requests to God the same way the man in the parable asked his neighbor for food for his guest at midnight?
By not waiting to ask. By having full assurance that God will take care of EVERYTHING that I need. By taking God's promises at face value and seeing him as Yahweh-yireh, the Lord who sees and provides.
In light of this I've been praying for things in ways that I might not have dared to before. Among other things, I'm already praying (impudently) for God to provide for my fundraising and housing situation next year.
This is where the story gets good and God shows his lovingkindness :D
This past Sunday Zack and I went with Don to a church in Burbank to help him-it was Missions week at the church and so they had a few of the missionaries they were supporting come and share about what they were doing. This church has supported Don and his family for decades now and Don wanted to bring a few "living examples" of what the Navigator ministry at Long Beach was doing. At the two services Zack and I spoke to the people there for about two minutes each during Don's allotted time, answering two simple questions: how the Nav ministry at Long Beach had impacted us and what our plans for the future were.
In answer to the first question I talked about how Navs provided the soil for my faith to germinate, using 1 Cor 3:5-7 and equating my parents, upbringing, and education with Paul and the Navs with Apollos. For the second question I talked a bit about EDGE and going onto staff with the Navigators. I was honest with everyone in attendance and shared that fundraising is a bit of a daunting thing. But I also shared that God's answer to Paul's prayers about his "thorn in the flesh" is the same answer to my needs for next year: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9) I said that that's what next year is all about for me: being weak so that Christ can be exalted through me.
After the first service Zack and I got to talk to a few people from the church but after the second service we had to leave immediately after we were done speaking. Fast forward to tonight at Navs: without saying too much Don came up to me and gave me an envelope with my name on it. I figured it was a thank you note from Don and set it aside for the night. After Don was done speaking I picked it up and opened it.
I was half-right. Along with a thank you from Don was a card with the contact info for one of the missionaries from the church. The last line from Don's note says "This missionary gave this card to me because she wants to support you!"
I have my first donor! And I haven't done anything other than pray for God to provide!
Let me rephrase that, because that's my old view on prayer sneaking through: I've asked impudently and God has accepted the challenge implicit in my prayers, providing before I've even had time to do something that I could claim as my own efforts! I haven't contacted her yet and so nothing is set in stone, but as far as I'm concerned she could tell me that she could only contribute 10 cents a YEAR and the message from God wouldn't change a bit:
"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened." Luke 11: 9-10
Here I am knocking, God. Impudently, I expect nothing else than for you to answer.
