50 years, 50 campaigns
Divine partnership
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
Proverbs 16:3
We are standing on the threshold of a new year. For CfaN, this is our 50th year of ministry, and it’s a year of particularly big plans. Not that our plans have ever been small! But in 2024, we are going to hold more Gospel campaigns than any year before. We are joining forces with over 2,300 Evangelism Alliance members to conduct outreaches all over Africa, from Cape Town to Cairo.
At the same time as all of that is happening, we will continue to train hundreds of people in multiple countries through Schools of Evangelism, Fire Camps, and Evangelism Bootcamp. Many of these evangelists will be put to work immediately, helping to bring in the harvest. It’s going to be glorious!
So, this new year brings with it great anticipation and excitement, as well as a powerful awareness of responsibility and accountability. But the good news is that we are not reliant on our own strength to accomplish this vision, we are trusting in our miracle-working God.
Walking by faith
As Christians, we do not make our plans based on our own strength and abilities, we live by faith. We believe that the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is working through us to bring Him glory. A life of faith is one where we listen to His voice and obey whatever He shows us to do – even if it seems impossible. The Bible says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Hebrews 11 goes on to describe great heroes of faith who followed God’s voice into new territory, beyond what they had seen or known. They took big risks not because they trusted their own abilities, but because they had great faith in God.
CfaN was founded on impossible dreams. Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke believed God for much more than he had ever seen or heard about. He listened to God’s voice, and no matter how challenging or massive the vision seemed, he believed. When he saw a blood-washed Africa, he believed that Jesus would save a continent. Each new initiative was a step of faith and obedience. The same is true for us now. We know there is always more with God. We continue to listen and pray for fresh vision from the Lord to have greater impact for the Kingdom of God. As we plan and prepare for fifty campaigns, we do not lean on our own strength. We trust that God will make a way and work through us for His glory.
As people of faith, we don’t base our lives on what we see with our natural eyes or what we can do in our own strength. We ask God for His perspective and dream big dreams with Him!
A Divine partnership for success
After we receive vision from the Lord, we make plans to accomplish the vision. Proverbs 16:3 gives us a simple and powerful key to seeing our plans succeed. The English Amplified version explains the strategy in detail:
Commit your works to the Lord
[submit and trust them to Him],
And your plans will succeed
[if you respond to His will and guidance].
Think about that for a moment… The Creator of the Universe, the Almighty King of kings, actually chooses to work with us weak and limited human beings. Isn’t that mind-blowing? There’s a partnership happening here!
God leads and guides us, and we respond to His leadership. Success comes in our lives when we submit everything to the Lord and live in intimate partnership with Him. Faith doesn’t stop after we make the plans, we need great faith every step of the way. We can’t succeed in our own strength. It’s with His help and guidance that our plans will come to pass.
Action and initiative
Some people get stuck right at the starting point. They are so worried about whether they are following God’s will or not that they never take the first step. They’re frozen, unable to move for fear of messing up somehow. Proverbs 16:3 is a key for them as well.
There is the clear promise that when we commit whatever we are doing to the Lord, it is He who makes our plans succeed! There’s action in that verse. There’s initiative. We first need to break the inertia in ourselves and get moving – and then God establishes our plans. God can’t step in and do what He promised if we don’t do our part by bringing Him our plans in the first place.
If you aren’t sure what God is leading you to do, you can start with the Bible. There are so many promises and plans written for the people of God. Jesus gave all of us the Great Commission. We are called to make disciples of all nations! (See Matt. 28:18-20) He also told us that the greatest commandment is to love God, and next, to love people. (See Matt. 22:37-40.) Those are two great places to begin. From there, dream with the Lord, and don’t be afraid of big dreams!
You and God in 2024 – a recipe for success!
This year, I want to encourage you to take God at His word. What are the plans that have been bubbling up in your heart? What are your plans for your family, your work, your church, your ministry? Bring them all to Jesus. Commit them to the Lord. Then see how the Lord turns those plans into reality.
And please continue to stand with us as we commit our plans to the Lord and push beyond what we have ever done before. We will have teams on the ground in many nations simultaneously. Our crews and our equipment will be stretched to new levels, but we believe that God will give us the grace. He cares about the harvest even more than we do. All our work will be well worth it as we lead millions of people to Jesus. We look forward to sharing many testimonies with you in the year ahead!
Together with you for the Gospel,
Evangelist Daniel Kolenda
(here with the worldwide CfaN team)
