I Don’t Need You…
I will admit that I am not very prophetic. I have apostolic and evangelistic gifts, but I don’t have a sufficient prophetic gift to predict what my family will have for dinner, even if I’m making it. Yet two of the most life shaping moments of my life came when God gave me a word and a dream.
A Word
I was in college and God began to lift my eyes off the United States and grip my heart for the nations. I felt called to the most unreached areas of the world. I started to pray desperate, God, where do you want me to go? prayers. Finally, at a mission’s conference I got down on my knees and surrendered my life to God’s call, whatever it was. I prayed, God, I don’t care where I’m at or what I’m doing. I don’t care if I’m in Haiti for 50 years or if I’m in a gas station for 5 minutes. I just want to be used by you.
I didn’t expect God to respond.
He did.
What God said broke my heart and changed my life. God said, “Josh, I don’t need you.”
I was confused. What do you mean you don’t need me? You called me to missions. I just laid down my life for you. What do you mean you don’t need me?
I had this idea that God had this huge task and needed me to help fulfill it. But that day I realized he doesn’t. God is God. He will raise up rocks to praise his name if we don’t. He didn’t need me.
But God followed up that statement with another that rocked my world. I pray it might change your life the way it did mine. God said, “Josh, I don’t need you. But I need you to know that I want you.”
Wow.
For some of us, pride and ego have taken over and we believe we are God’s solution for the problems in the world. That our church is the answer. But no, Jesus is the answer. Not us. Not our churches. And when we stop believing we’re needed and start responding to being wanted, everything will change as we follow Jesus into the harvest.
A Word
I moved to India because I knew God wanted me. As I worked as a missionary and sought to start a church planting movement, I kept praying, asking God to give me more of Jesus. I just wanted more of Jesus.
Then one night, a few years ago, I went to bed and had my first prophetic dream. Correction: My only prophetic dream.
I was standing on one side of the road. On the other side was the biggest wheat harvest field I’d ever seen. The wheat was tall, brown, and ready to be harvested. It went as far as the eye could see. In the middle of the harvest, I saw Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
They were… dancing. And… singing. I’ve never seen so much joy. That’s when Jesus looked up and, with the greatest smile ever, called me to come. I’m only slightly embarrassed to tell you I ran across that road like a little schoolgirl. I was skipping and jumping. I grabbed Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s hands, and we begin to dance in the harvest fields. I’ve never felt so much joy.
I looked around and saw people coming into the harvest who I knew needed to put their faith in Jesus. I looked at Jesus and asked, “Jesus, are you gonna baptize all these people?”
The thought filled me with excitement. Jesus didn’t say a word. He shook his head no and pointed to my chest.
I woke up.
And God spoke to me. He said, “If you want to find Jesus, if you want to encounter Jesus, he’s in the harvest. That’s where you’ll find him. When you follow the footsteps of Jesus, they will always lead to the lost, and to the broken, and to a cross where you have to give up everything. So, if you want to find Jesus he’s going to be in the harvest amongst the lost, amongst the broken, sacrificing everything to save them. That’s where you’ll find him. And if you want joy in your life and ministry, you’ll find no greater joy than in the harvest field with Jesus.”
I thought of Jesus’ promise to be with us always (Matthew 28:20) and how it came in the context of his commissioning us to go out into the harvest and make disciples. It made so much sense. If I wanted to be with Jesus I needed to go, and Jesus is always going out into the harvest field to seek and save his Father’s lost children.
I’ve spent the last seventeen years in the middle of India, out in the harvest with Jesus, and it’s given me more of him and more joy. And Jesus is calling you out into the harvest field. He has a great commission for you, and he will be with you as you engage in it. And, as you go, be sure, he doesn’t need you. But he does want you.