Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28: 18-20
We decided a while back that we would be going to World Mandate this year. We were going to be attending our church's discipleship training school. That is on a pause this year, but we never really second-guessed going to Mandate even though we didn't purchase tickets until after we were aware of the pause for training school.
So we left Emilynn with the great Obaa and Ojii and headed to Waco with Averly. They last time we went to Mandate was two years ago and Emilynn was Averly's exact same age. I remember very, very little about that Mandate. I did not hear one complete person speak and I'm pretty sure the worship I sang was in some kind of new mom fog. I remember I bought the t-shirts. That's pretty much all I got from that year.
Considering that we were doing the same thing just with a different child, I really didn't know what to expect. Though, like most things with the second child, you reason with yourself, you calm yourself down, you take deep breaths and you just do it. And for whatever reason, either the fact that the temperaments of your children (and yourself) are completely different or because your attitude has changed completely, it always seems to go better.
Thankfully, it did go better this time. I took it all in. I worshipped my heart out. I heard the Lord. Now we are back on Saturday night before the last Saturday session. Because with kids, you pick and choose and after a 10:15pm bedtime at the Motel 6 with your 6 month old who woke up at 6:30pm and has only had 2 45 minute naps all day, you choose the kid over any more time of worship or preaching.
But Mandate was huge for me this year. First thing during worship last night the Lord asked me, "What is your world mandate, Ashley? Do you know what I want it to be for you, right now?" (Cause at the depths of my heart, I always want the Lord to call us to Japan and I secretly pray every year that He magically puts that on Ross' heart, too.)
And as I worshipped watching all of the young college kids who were desperately wanting to GO with my very happy baby and her deep brown eyes and smiles and my husband by my side, the Lord clearly spoke.
"Right now, the girls are your world mandate. Your girls are your audience for the Great Commission. If you teach the Kingdom, they will be the Kingdom. They will change the world and I will do more in them than you can imagine!"
YES, LORD! I will teach it!
And as the weekend has gone on and as I have thought of the nations that need Jesus and all the young men and women that need freedom from sex trafficking, I am reminded that I can teach my girls RIGHT NOW how to change the world. I can teach them intercession. I can teach them how to pray for all the missionaries in all the nations we support. I can teach them to obey and follow Jesus and that he is the ONLY TRUE GOD. I can equip them and their hearts for the incredible, unimagninable things that their generation will war against. I can teach them that Jesus is enough and that He in them for the glory of Himself by his grace has conquered and defeated all evil. I can teach them how to stand in the gap and believe. I can help them to become the world changers that the world desperately needs.
Next year or tomorrow, the Lord could change His mandate to me. But this weekend, He clearly spoke to me who my most important audience is right now. And He gave me vision for His Kingdom coming through my obedience to His mandate. And I left with the same heavy, excited, overwhelmed, and needy heart that I would have if He had asked up to pack up and leave it all for an unknown land.
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