There are numerous accounts of passionate and courageous men and women who embark on adventurous journeys to spread the name of Jesus Christ. All of these stories have an underlying foundation that is the source of such action, namely being that God has “called” them to go out into the world and preach the gospel.

I have often sat and wondered what my “calling” was. To be a long-term missionary among the unreached? To remain exactly where God has placed me in the United States, introducing the Living Water to the parched while never letting comfort and prosperity drag me into stagnant religion?

I recently had the opportunity to embark on my own adventure to China through a local Christian university. The three weeks I spent among the unreached Zhuang of China completely shattered my perceptions of what I once considered ordinary in life and gave me new perspective on what “being called” truly meant.

On one particular day, our team came face to face with idol worship as we stepped into a mountainside temple. The temple was glorious, ornate—yet full of darkness. It’s interesting how Satan allures people by beauty. It was in this moment that I truly recognized the spiritual war we were fighting.

In most biblical battles, worshippers are sent beforehand to till the soil before any seed can be planted. So immediately I started prayer-walking, denouncing the evil spirits and proclaiming the name of Jesus. In unison, our team started lifting up praises to God, asserting His rule and reign over the temple. The song “Our God is Greater” rang from our lips, bouncing off the walls in the temple.

We recognized the presence of God within us, yet many of the Zhuang have never heard the name of Jesus. As we lift our hands up high to the Creator, they bow down before false idols. While followers of Jesus have inherited the hope of heaven, many of the Zhuang are deceived by the god of this age, believing the disposition of their culture.

Spiritual strongholds were weakened there because of the power and authority of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us. We prepared the soil by declaring and worshipping God’s name where God’s name had never been exalted before. It was then that Light interrupted the darkness and the assignments of the enemy.

Leaving China, the Zhuang people, and the false idols behind, the importance of action was apparent to me. It is comfortable for us to say, “Well, God hasn’t called me to that…” For some reason we feel like we need an audible voice from God to step out for Him, but the Word of God is living—therefore commanding us to act. It’s been said, “You don’t need an audible voice to go to the movies, so what makes you think you need an audible voice to do something for God?”

May we be doers of the Word, not just hearers—empowered by the Spirit to go into the realms of discomfort and uncertainty, to till the soil for the planting of seeds so that the work of our hands may have a permanent eternal value.