To Touch The Nations
This story begins in my childhood, but it truly solidified in 2015 or 2016. At the time, I was a member of a fraternity and was invited to a house church in McKinney, Texas. I have no idea what the church was called and was only there for that single night, on a random Wednesday or Thursday. Two other fraternity guys and I went, and there was a significant amount of prayer time. I remember saying that I gave my life to the Lord while sitting in the chairs setup within the home with music playing in the background. This would not be the first time I said these words to the Lord, and they were not the last.
The atmosphere was so unique from what I grew up thinking church to be. There was an overwhelming peace, comfort amidst the discomfort, and people I had never met before who were so loving. After a while of praying, they asked us if we would like to be prayed over even more and receive an anointing. I will be honest, I had no idea what an anointing was. It was something not talked about around me much, and I was not a reader of the Bible at this point either. But I was in a line of like four people to receive an anointing or calling that God had placed on my life. I was seeing the people in front of me fall to the ground, and to be completely honest, this got my mind going. This was very foreign to me, especially coming from a kid who grew up with a charismatic background who started to pray in tongues before I was even a teenager. I was wondering what I just walked myself into. This is something that I would later learn is called being slain in the Spirit.
It was my turn, and I resolved in my thoughts to fall to the ground. I was not overcome with a push or my legs giving out, as some may experience; I was skeptical, and I just resolved to fall to the ground to see what it was that was going to be said over me. It is very real that I ended up on the ground, and we can have the discussion on whether this was a deception of being slain or an act of surrender, but that is aside from the point for this story. As I laid on the ground, I was told that I was anointed to touch the nations.
I thought this sounded cool, and the next day back home, I told my mom over text. She revealed to me that these very words were spoken over me when I was a child. That was when things actually got serious for me regarding this experience. For years, this phrase "to touch the nations" would echo through my mind. I had no idea what it meant, and in reality, I still don’t. But even through my hardest time in depression, when thoughts would come resounding with questions of suicide, I would remember this calling or anointing that I had in the in between. It was something that was mine that could not be stolen. Something I could look forward to. It was something that I knew the Lord had spoken over me. For years I thought this might be a book, or perhaps martyrdom which I was not very keen on, and I still do not know fully.
There really is no scripture that mentions the exact phrasing of touching the nations exactly. However, there are two verses that I believe this applies closest to in my life, the first being the Great Commission in Matthew 28;19-20: 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” This is the one in which we are all called to do. However, recently I was brought to perhaps the closest one to it, Zechariah 2:8-9:8 For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye— 9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them…” These might not be the prettiest verses in the Bible, but they speak a message of justice and comfort for the afflicted. This is the one in which I believe I was chosen to focus the ministry for my life on. And sadly, one in which I continue to learn hard lessons, with the loss of my little brother to suicide only a little less than two months ago, whose 24th birthday would’ve been two weeks ago today. A believer in Jesus whom I looked up to in many ways.
This verse is a reminder of all the times I was prompted by what I was called to do, even in the thick of depression and being attacked. The nations that came against me have been seen, my struggles were known, and the Lord still considered me the apple of His eye despite my lack of faithfulness. Now, I believe I am called to minister to the plunderers, the plundered, and teach those in Christ who are called to do the same. I might not know everything of what this calling means, but what I do know is that in time, I will know. All I can do is be faithful to what I have been given in walking forward and holding onto it. This ministry and website launched as a preparation ground, a preparation ground that every day seems less like preparation and more like something I am finally stepping into.
