http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO6qu5fQLHo

I am not someone you would call a “prophet” nor would I suggest you look to me as someone to “prophesy” over you. A few weeks ago, however, I got to partake in a exercise of prophesying with Come Let’s Dance. My friend, Henry Howard, led everyone first by asking us to ask God what He had for us to see, or rather, to ask Him to reveal to us how He sees us. “Even if it’s the first thing that comes in your head, just go with it!” he said.

At that instant, I saw myself in my mind as a “strong” man, someone infused with “Captain America” like steroids, being surrounded by Ugandan orphans, constantly chanting “Mzungu! Mzungu!” Like the namesake of my blog, I saw myself as a “mzungu warrior,” while I ran through a forest and climbed up some walls.

I told all this to Henry’s mother, Mrs. Sally Howard. I felt a little awkward, being so open, until she revealed the message she believed God had for me.

She told me she saw a fortress or grand castle, with a strong wooden door. She then shared that she believed that God had given me a giant log to break down the door, to walk through the castle, and to claim it as my own.

After she told me all these things and after I went home to Fort Collins, I believed I knew what God had revealed to her. I believed He was trying to tell me that it was time for me to bold, to face the adversity and challenges of being in Fort Collins more independently, and to know, that through Him I was and could be stronger than I would ever know.

Yet, in just the short time I have been back in Fort Collins, I have forgotten much of these things. I was turned down for another job I really wanted on Friday. Except for moving to Fort Collins, every other door I have tried to walk through has been slammed in my face. Lately, I have begun to think I am not capable of doing very much at all.

And yet, yesterday, I was reminded that was and is a total lie. I got to help out yesterday at church and woke up at 5:30 in the morning to set up at the UCA at CSU. While I was tired, I enjoyed working more yesterday than I had any other time at church.

One of my duties was helping a middle-aged couple set up banners in classrooms all around the building. One particular banner was in a long canister, of which I carried diagonally up the stairs.

As I was carrying the canister up the stairs, for a moment I stopped and then I laughed. For the canister I was holding reminded me a great deal of the log from Mrs. Sally’s vision. I was walking through the “castle.” I was helping out; I was contributing. I was conquering my “castle” of insecurities and fears, and I did not even know it.

On a “spiritual high,” so to speak, I then went to the morning service, where Pastor Aaron Stern talked about the value of work. He said one particular thing which I truly found significant.

“God is more interested in how we work then where we work.”

Through the remainder of his message, I realized that I was and am capable of living the best life I can for Jesus. I can work, even if I’m not really “working.” I can be clean, be responsible, be healthy, work-out. I can love others, serve others, and I can be there for my friends and family around me. In reality, through Christ, I am and can be truly “more than a conqueror.”

Knowing His voice and the truth of His word, I can be set free, and so can you.

1 Samuel 16:7 New International Version (NIV)

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Until Next Time,

Jacobo