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This week I have given an interview for the Good News Radio from the city Kathmandu, Nepal. After I spoke about the ministry where God had placed me and the results in Moldova and in Eurasian countries, the moderator asked me how I succeed in doing all things that I and other persons who I had told him about do. In fact, this is a frequent question that I am asked and I found useful to answer it on this portal. Here are some secrets that are not hidden for anybody, being well presented on the pages of the Holy Scriptures, where they can be read, known and applied by everyone.
1. Lord’s mercy
I wouldn’t be able to do any of these things, if there were not God’s mercy for me to make me reach His salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the One who gave me spiritual gifts to be useful in His church and to minister to others. He gave me the desire to do something and power to accomplish it, as it is written in the Epistle of Paul to Philippians:
For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)(NASB)
And if God works in me and He gives me the will to do something, then I try to do my part, to do what is written in the next verse:
Do all things without grumbling or disputing. (Philippians 2:14)(NASB)
If God puts a thing that I want to do into my heart, then I try to do it and not to argue with me or with God or with others, looking for reasons not to do it.
2. The contribution and the example of my teachers
Because of God’s mercy, He directed all things to meeting Mia and Costel Oglice shortly after I repented. They are a married couple and exceptional teachers of God’s Word. They saw a potential in me in a time when no one saw this and they tried to develop this potential teaching me the Scriptures, but they also entrusted me responsibilities in God’s ministry. My teachers taught me and teach me not only by the knowledge from the Word of God, but they show me a beautiful example of dedication and in this way, they became models for me. They work a lot for the Gospel and I want to follow their example. I had and have the privilege to follow the ministry and dedication of this people of God, as once Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:
Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! (2 Timothy 3:10–11)(NASB)
3. The help from my wife
I couldn’t accomplish any of all things I am doing, if God didn’t bless me with Nastica – my special wife. She is a great gift from God for me, as the Scripture says:
House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD. (Proverbs of Solomon 19:14)(NASB)
My wife was the one who inspired me with trust, courage and dedication in the most difficult situations from life, in situations that bring disappointment, when some turned their back on me, or acted cowardly. Some people even condemn me that I spend more time on the mission field that with my family. They talk so, as Christianity is a “hobby” and not the meaning and the calling of our life. My wife has another way of understanding the Gospel, a correct, biblical one. She knows that we have to pay a big price because the price that was paid for us is much greater, it’s the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Looking at her example of dedication to the Gospel and the care that she shows for all of us, our children grow with fear for God and with a desire to work on the mission field. I pray continually that He may grow up their desire and vision. Nastica is my wife and also the friend of my life, my fellow bond-servant and minister, as the Holy Scripture say.
4. The priority of studying God’s Word
Since I came to God, I understood that if I want to be a real disciple, if I want to live righteously before God and men, and if I want to succeed in my ministry on this earth, I have to dedicate myself to studying the Holy Scriptures, as God said to Joshua, when He entrusted him to lead the people of Israel, when He told him”
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. (Joshua 1:8)(NASB)
And God also says in the first Psalm:
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. (Pslams 1:1–4)(NASB)
The study of God’s Word for my personal growth, for fostering my relationship with God is my pleasure, but I had and still have to maintain a discipline to make this activity primordial. As the time passes by, all the activities I have initiated or other new ones solicit a lot of time from me, that’s why, I have to have the discipline to maintain this priority of studying the Holy Scriptures.
5. Making disciples
None of us can do all things by ourselves, because we are limited by possibilities and forces. If we want to succeed in many things, then we do not have any other way than making disciples. The Lord Jesus had 12 disciples in which He invested His time and efforts for three years. After His death, resurrection and ascension, these disciples brought the Gospel to the whole world that was at that moment and they made other disciples, so they fulfilled the great commitment given to us, to all Christians, by the Savior Himself and that says:
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (The Gospel of Matthew 28:19–20)(NASB)
Today it is spoken a lot about discipleship, but there is a tendency in the world Christianity to choose great events. What do I mean? Christians, churches, missions, concentrate most of their efforts and resources to organize a great evangelistical event, where hundred or even thousand people will come to listen to a sermon, a program, etc. After this, they need another period of time to prepare another program,those who will administer that future event made a lot of efforts to gather other resources, etc., and again many people will be invited. But, there is no one to teach these people the word of God from an event to another one. In this case, the Great Commitment of the Lord Jesus Christ, that I have cited above, is no longer fulfilled. And if we don’t fulfill His command, all other things are in vain. We have to make disciples.
In my understanding, to make disciples means to teach people the Word of God deeply and to teach them do what I do in the Gospel, and if it is possible much more. You can not make discipleship with thousand of people at the same time, because discipleship implies individual work with each person, knowing each disciple.
6. Remaining at the purpose
Each of us pass through different crises in our lives, when we are about to deviate from the purpose God has called us. I myself had enough similar crises. I thank God a lot that He stopped me then through my teachers, through my wife and through His Word.
Then, people come to me for many times to propose and to invite me to things that seem good in the beginning, but, in fact, to accept them means to deviate from the purpose. That’s why, I have to weigh well every time and to ask myself if this is for me and if God wants me in such projects, works, etc.
As God had a certain purpose for Joshua to lead the people of Israel to the promise land and to rule it, I think that God has a certain purpose for each of His children. You can know this purpose only when you study the Holy Scripture and you are totally lead by the Holy Spirit, without looking at your personal interests. That’s why, I want to follow the purpose God has called me for.
If you are deviated from the purpose, then you look like a tree that is very often moved and that’s why, it can never have firm foundation to bear fruit.
7. Using the opportunities
All over the history God gave very many opportunities to His children to bring the message of the Gospel to those who haven’t known it yet. We have to be sensible to these opportunities and to profit from them to enlarge the Kingdom of God. This is what I always looked for. And I have never had the purpose to be the initiator and the author of many evangelical methods, but I just wanted to do what was possible when God gave me an opportunity.
If God allowed me to practice Taekwon-Do and to be an international instructor, I tried to use this, as my Taekwon-Do teacher, Ion Cheptene, the person that led me to God in 1991, did it. So, I founded a club and I trained other disciples that minister in the same way in our country and in other countries.
When I began to study the computer and I wanted to learn typing with Romanian characters, I discovered that there was no Romanian typing program at that time. I saw that this was an opportunity and I created Scripta, that is based on the Gospel of Mark and that now is not only in Romanian, but also in English and Russian.
When I was learning to use Microsoft Word, I saw that all examples were used from a candy factory. I thought that if I learnt this program, God gives me a possibility to make a better course with examples from the Gospel of John. In such way, other 18 courses appeared and together with other disciples who had the same vision, we created ScripTehInfo Computer School.
In the same way, all other projects appear, such as English School, journalism school, this portal, etc.
I thank God for the gift of eternal life and the grace to be a minister of the Gospel. I thank my teachers who taught me and gave me a living example of a life with Christ. I thank my wife, who has always been a helper and a special friend to me. I thank all my friends and disciples who were and are ready to work together to spread the Gospel. God bless you all!
Translated by Felicia Djugostran