37. THY EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD
“After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision,
saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding
great reward.” (Genesis 15:1)
“Almighty Lord God my Creator, please help me to truly make Thee
my ALL. Praise Thy Great Name that Thou, Thine Own Self
art my exceeding great
reward. Pease help me to truly
desire Thee and close fellowship with Thee, far above all
blessings Thou doest bestow, and far, far above any
honour, praise and riches that mankind can possibly bestow upon me. Amen!”
(I am continuing the previous story.) It was a great
marvel to me that, upon occupying myself an entire week daily spending hours
without the camp with Sweet Jesus (exalting Him in front of the devil’s
children), He then graciously (in one fell sweep!) answered 2 most
important prayers of mine. (The 3 sisters coming to church on the bus,
and permission for a 30-day lease on an apartment (tho a minimum 3-month lease
was firm policy.)
“Let us go forth therefore unto him without the
camp, bearing his reproach.” (Hebrews
13:13)
During 5 decades of striving to follow My Lord as closely as possible, I have found nothing else as rewarding as responding to this invitation as wholeheartedly as possible. Time and again, God has answered earnest prayers for me (like in the previous story), by opening doors that no man can shut, miraculously permitting me to use community buildings here in Japan that are officially off limits for religious purposes, providing funds to rent a storefront annually, and to even purchase a good building in a prime location to use for our Lord. My Christian Friend, rest assured that our Lord has great and glorious things in store for you while on this earth, if you will fully respond to His Invitation and personal Guidance to you regarding going unto and abiding with Him without the camp. Doing so, will also lay up much eternal treasure for you in Heaven!
Two days after preaching a few hours at the Flea Market, I held the first children’s service in my rental apartment. About 3 children attended. When I ended that service and those children left, I walked out onto the apartment grounds to announce the services to children playing outside. Two Korean sisters, Chong (about 6 years old) and Sue (8 or 9), were nearby roller-skating on the sidewalk. ‘Each afternoon at 3:30, I have a children’s service in my apartment. I tell Bible stories and we sing songs to Jesus. Please come.’
“Where is it?”
‘Come, and I will show you.”
They both awkwardly followed me on their skates and then sat on the bottom stair of the stairway leading up to my 2nd floor apartment (to “get off their skates”). I pointed up to the apartment door, and they didn’t want to take off their skates now to walk up the stairs. (I had continued to speak of Jesus, Heaven, salvation, and such as we came here.) “If you tell lies, will you go to Hell?” Sue quickly spoke up, asking me that ever so frankly.
The strong church in Korea is a praying church, resulting in God the Holy Ghost working powerfully in unsaved Korean hearts, when Holy Scriptures or scriptural speech reaches those hearts. I was amazed at (and blessed by) Sue’s frank inquiry.
‘Yes, you will.’ That was my entire answer. Brevity is a glorious virtue that speakers (especially preachers) should earnestly seek to cultivate. I could have started with ‘Well, all have sinned and…’ and expounded to Sue important truths regarding her question for an hour. But that would easily become a stumbling block to this child. Oh, how I like Sue’s honest confession regarding my answer.
“Then I think I’m going to Hell, because I tell lies.” No doubt but what the Holy Ghost has regularly been convicting Sue’s for lying since she was 4 years old, or so.
I briefly spoke of asking God to forgive our sins, and of asking Jesus to save us from going to Hell. The very next afternoon, Chong and Sue attended my service, along with a slightly increasing number of kids. When I gave an invitation to trust in Jesus at the end of my Bible lesson, both Chong and Sue immediately raised their hands. I asked them to come up to the front where we 3 knelt together and they followed me in prayer.
Those 2 sisters joyfully attended my services from that day on, for more than 3 years, each time I came to Guam from Japan to be there 6 weeks or so. One time Chong told me the following “marvel” that she remembered doing when she was only 3 years old, when her family lived in South Korea before moving to Guam.
“One day Mother took me to the temple (likely a Buddhist temple), sat me down before that idol and told me to bow down my head to it. I looked at it. It was made of concrete. It was fat and ugly, and it was dirty. So I knew that wasn’t God. And I wouldn’t bow to it. Seeing that, Mother pushed on the back of my head to make it bow. But I stiffened up against her pushing and would not bow to that.” (Reader Friend, that was 3-year-old Chong! Glory!)
It thrilled my soul to hear that! God chose Chong! (John 15:16) His Holy Spirit spoke Truth to her about that false god, and guarded her against bowing before it. Then (3 years or so later), when I spoke God’s Truth to her on Guam, she immediately trusted in the One True God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Chong was born about 1972 and Sue about 1970.)
“Almighty Lord Jehovah
God in Heaven, right now, please bless both Chong and Sue with exceedingly
great and abundant blessings. Save each of their family members to
the utmost, Lord I plead! Please protect them all, from
the wiles of the devil. May each and every family
member be a fervent witness for Thee and a bright
lighthouse shining forth for Thee, I earnestly pray. Amen.”
Richard Yerby (Matsuida,
Japan) www.Christ-is-all.us