Inside Story: Prepare to Meet Thy God
Prepare to Meet Thy God
By Jessica Cebuhar Atwell
My 6-year-old son, Asher, approached me at home in Bangkok, Thailand.
Image © Pacific Press
“Mom, I want to hand out flyers to people,” he said.
After some questioning, I figured out that he wanted to distribute a small Thai-language tract called “A Love Letter From Jesus.” My heart skipped a joyful beat as I realized that my little boy wanted to share his love for Jesus.
Image @ Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
But Friday didn’t seem like a good day. The Covid-19 pandemic was keeping people indoors. In addition, I was preparing for the Sabbath.
During my devotions on Sabbath morning, I remembered Asher’s request and felt impressed to take him out with the tracts. But I didn’t.
That afternoon and evening, I watched Sabbath sermons with a friend. One preacher ended his sermon with an appeal from Ellen White: “As a people who believe in Christ’s soon coming, we have a message to bear, ‘Prepare to meet thy God’ (Amos 4:12).” The passage came from Gospel Workers, page 52. “That’s exactly what I want to tell Thai people!” I thought.
On Sunday morning, I opened the EGW Writings app to read that day’s scheduled devotional message. Guess what I read? A passage that included Amos 4:12: “Prepare to meet thy God.” I was cut to the heart.
At breakfast, Asher gazed at me longingly. I promised that he would hand out flyers no matter what. After he memorized Amos 4:12 in Thai, we left.
My husband, Brian, and I had to make a delivery of fresh bread from a bakery at an urban center of influence that we helped establish after arriving from the U.S. state of Washington in 2014. Usually Asher rides around on his bicycle during deliveries, but he announced that he would be too busy. “I’ll walk and hand all these out,” Asher said, referring to the tracts.
We began the 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) walk to the neighbor who had ordered the bread. Asher chased down everyone he saw. “Prepare to meet thy God!” he exclaimed in Thai, extending tracts to passersby. Despite Covid-19 worries, no one could refuse the earnest boy.
He was ecstatic when we returned home two hours later. He had distributed 100 tracts. “I want to do this every day!” he declared, smiling.
God truly wants the great city of Bangkok — and the people of the other big cities of the world — to be ready. “As a people who believe in Christ’s soon coming, we have a message to bear, ‘Prepare to meet thy God.’”
This story illustrates a key component of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strategic plan: “Increased number of church members participating in both personal and public evangelistic outreach initiatives with a goal of Total Member Involvement”(KPI 1.1). Learn more about the strategic plan at IWillGo2020.org.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org
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I believe preparing to meet our God must, first and foremost, be seen as a self-evaluation exercise. Cause how much can we do for others if we ourselves have deeper needs?
It's a mistake to think that you have to heal yourself first before you can help others.
In reality it is when we help others that Jesus will bless us and heal us too. Because we are obeying Him and putting Him first, not ourselves. I'm saying this as much to me as to the readers
Amen!! What a charge from His word to Prepare a people to meet God. May we all share the Good News of Jesus with those we come in contact with!!
Tracts are great when people read them but when we meet people and we show them the love of Jesus is also great. Those have long lasting memories how people treated us. I can remember as a child and teenager how many people treated me/us with kindness and compassion. I am still thankful to Jesus today for sending those people.
This true and amazing way to reach souls. Let's all put into practice.