You Are the Container

Just a few days ago I was sharing a few prayer requests with our dedicated team of intercessors.

In the process I mentioned a prayer need for the nation because of the trauma that has been experienced over the past four or five decades. This trauma still has a grip and is being passed on to the next generation. In response, Kim Zeola, our friend and SoZo mentor, mentioned a few tools available for ministering to people who have experienced trauma. I commented that many of my resources and tools are still on the shipping container filled with our supplies in Pittsburgh (which has since been shipped), but Mark Geppert made a very direct and powerful statement. He said “Dan, you are the container.”

This is a statement that each of us, as sons and daughters of God, should be chewing on and digesting daily. It lines up with what God has been teaching me for many years. It is what you carry of the kingdom of God inside. What we carry is Jesus, our living hope. He is enough to bring God\’s kingdom and His goodness into any situation in which we may find ourselves. It does not matter if it is within a household, a community, or a nation—we are called to have an impact on every place and circumstance we touch.

What God has placed in you is enough to bring divine change. Christ is in you and He is the hope of glory. Jesus is enough. He calls us ambassadors of reconciliation. We are ambassadors in walking embassies. This gives us the ability to have sustained, strategic impact.

This is more than just bringing our natural talents and gifting to a task. It is giving the God of the impossible an opportunity to do what He does. I saw this in a very profound, yet simple way when ZoeAnna and I were preparing to host a group of high school students. I was looking for six bunk beds so the girls did not have to sleep on mats on the floor. I asked several people who all gave me the same answer: there are none in Sisophon. The nearest place to find bunk beds is more than two hours away. I told Zoe that it looked like I would need to make them. I could make them out of metal but I am not the best welder so I decided to make them out of wood. Woodworking has been a part of my life for 4 decades. I purchased and had the wood delivered and began looking for the equipment I needed. I was immediately met with a mountain of obstacles. Every person I asked and every place I went to told me the same thing: “Can’t get in Cambodia”.

But I felt that God wanted this thing done. He wanted these girls blessed and me to bless them just as if they were my own daughters. Our co-worker, Veha, and I tried to make what we had work, but it just was not coming together. So one morning I told ZoeAnna that this was an obstacle that only God can move and it had to be moved. So when Veha arrived we prayed that God would remove the obstacle and guide us to the equipment we needed. We prayed that He would show that even if ‘we’ can not get it in Cambodia, He can.

After our brief prayer, we jumped into the van and I said, “Veha take me to the first place that comes to your mind to buy equipment.” He drove to a place that repaired fans and small power tools. We walked into the building and immediately saw a bandsaw and surface planner sitting side by side on the floor. Veha and I rejoiced in our great God. When the girls saw their bunk beds they told me that no one had ever made anything for them before. They were touched by the Heart of the Father.

So we are the container. When we are undoing the works of the enemy such as the spirit of trauma or the orphan mindset, we are the container.