II Corinthians 4
Since the beginning of this journey, we have found that there are truths and promises that we have claimed. Through these truths and promises we have seen circumstances come to fruition and have especially seen God's hand lead us. We really wanted God to give us a Bible verse to use to guide us. A friend of ours was the one that mentioned naming our ministry Proclaim Missions. I love it! Proclaim is a Biblical word that ensues action and that very well describes what our mission will be in Portugal. I was really wanting to use a verse that talked about proclaiming the Gospel and just wasn’t finding what I was looking for.
One day my dad needed some help–and being the good son that I am, I went down to help him. It was there in his office I saw a prayer card on the wall. This missionary used the verse II Corinthians 4:6. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” As I read this verse, it spoke to me and I said to myself, “This is exactly what we want to do in Portugal - take the light of Jesus to a dark place.”
As I got back to my office, I began reading and studying more of II Corinthians 4. The more I read the more God spoke to me about what we are to do in Portugal. Truthfully I fell in love with this entire passage, II Corinthians 4:1-6.
Through this circumstance, II Corinthians 4:3-5 really stuck as our mission and has become what we are claiming as our passage. “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.”
This passage fits so well. From the little bit of time we spent in Portugal and have studied Portugal, it did not take long to realize it truly is a dark place and has blinded the minds of the Portuguese people. One of the examples of their true desire to learn truth and how desperate they are for a Heavenly Saviour is a story told of Virgin Mary coming to speak to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. To this day one of the most important pilgrimages in the world is taken to Fatima. Over six million people a year will make this sacrifice to Mary. The tradition is to walk there, although some live many hours away. Once you get there true believers will often crawl, or walk on their knees, from the Basilica of the Holy Trinity to the Chapel of the Apparitions along a 182 meter (597 feet) path through the main square of the sanctuary.
This is just one of the many traditions that fills the spiritual lives of the Portuguese as they seek so desperately to earn a relationship with God. I’ve often told the FBC teens that one reason they have chosen Christ as their Savior is because God chose to place them in a great Christian home in a country that has historically trusted in the true God as our saving grace. I thank God for what He’s done in my life and allowing me to see the light early in life. It is because of His Grace that we long to share the Gospel with the lost in Portugal.