Hello Supporters,
The first time I genuinely understood the Gospel, just like every other new born believer, I had this dying urge wanting to share the good news to everyone inside my sphere of life. The God-Man Jesus Christ would encourage me after every session of reading the Word to speak with radical boldness having no fear of man. With a growing attitude of chivalry, my immediate reaction was to tell my parents about who Jesus was, what He did, and what He’s giving us. The results were rather disappointing and the feedback was something like “don’t be a Jesus freak, it will ruin ya.” Isn’t it discouraging when your expectations are no where near met? And to add on top of that, you receive a negative response. Like I never even asked for that, what the? that’s exactly how I felt at the moment. Its like the opposite of grace, double portions of death. I guess I learned pretty quick that the world including your family can reject the truth. However, after TEN YEARS of contending with fervent prayer, the Holy Spirit began to infiltrate my parents hearts.
When I first moved out to Kansas City to pursuit the most Holy, I was afraid to leave my parents because I would have thoughts like “God has given me this divine assignment to be a faithful witness to my family, but if I leave, I’m disobeying His task and would be held responsible for their salvation. Lies, I know..but I’m sure some of you felt the same way at times. No? Okay, moving on… while I was at IHOP, my mama would share on the phone about how she enjoyed learning guitar and singing worship songs. This was totally unexpected and startled the heck out of me in a fascinating way. I felt like as if I was lying on the sand on a nice summer day and a beautiful lady was massaging my toes with baby oil while feeding me grapes. Weird analogy, I admit. But the point is, she said the key word “Worship”. Even being miles away from home, the work of the Holy Spirit was fully manifesting in indescribable measures. I knew right there and then that unceasing prayer was worth the while.
During Christmas break, I served at a youth retreat and gained a new knowledge of family. The speaker, Sam Kim, spoke on The Parable of the Lost Sons (Luke 15:11-32). Personally, the main theme for me was asking for forgiveness, forgiving, and ministering with the Father’s heart back to our family and friends. Traditionally, like every good retreat, the last night was the most impacting. The Spirit of conviction traveled down my soul , and I quickly wanted to reconcile with my paps with an apologetic heart. (If you want to hear the back story, ask me in person, and I’ll gladly share with you) The problem with conviction is, if it doesn’t lead us to repentance then we are continuously flirting with our issues. But if we act according to what God convicts us with, He rewards us with reconciliation and an abundance of grace.
In the next couple days, I approached my paps and I asked for his forgiveness. He instantly replied with “I already forgot about it son. Forget about your past and just focus on following God. I know your not going to make a lot of money but if you do what He says, you will succeed.” AND he offered to make me food. My paps being a chef for the past 30+ years, never offered to cook me anything unless my mom forced him too. But he did out of his own will! I was like WHOA, this must be grace? what is happening? where is he getting this from? he knows God? my dad not only forgave me, he ministered to me about God and offered to fix me something delicious. I felt the Holy Spirit blasting me with love with His immeasurable grace. My eyes were finally opened, and I realized my dad loved me all along and that his character was so Jesus-like all these years. He is a great man! I was just blinded. I pray that for those of you who are struggling with this somewhat similar issue, the Holy Spirit will reveal the truth of your parents to you in due time.
Although my parents are not saved, I strongly believe they will be very very soon. They are moving toward the ocean of His grace and soon will enjoy God’s holiness and righteousness. I realized through this experience, 99% of preaching the gospel to our parents is our obedience of honoring them and showing Jesus like compassion and love. The 1% is, if they ask us to speak to them about Jesus. You know that saying “actions speak louder than words”, its not a cliche, its living truth. Jesus exemplified it.
Therefore, I am no longer confident in me instead I’m confident in Him. He is the One that is going to bring salvation, joy and peace into our families. Amen?
Once I get a gist of this semester’s schedule, I will update you all more about it. Right now, I have so much to share but I can’t seem to organize my thoughts in order. For this specific entry, I just wanted to shout praise reports of what God is doing in my life that can hopefully encourage you.
Thank you for those who have prayed for my family continuously throughout the years. Please contend for us, we are almost there! If your family is not saved, please email me. I would love to pray for yours as well.
Love & miss you all,
Francis
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