The Heart of the W.O.W.

[Tiffany Martinez is currently a W.O.W. Ambassador in Memphis, TN.]

The guidelines for W.O.W. are simple: Be awake by 7:00am, be in bed by midnight, witness for eight hours a day, work part time – no less than 20 hours a week and no more than 30. This is the structure, but the heart is only learned by seeing the Word in action. W.O.W. is not just the program(structure). W.O.W. is not even the people. W.O.W. is where you learn to walk with God.
We are talking about you as an individual. W.O.W. is different for everybody because we walk with God as individuals.

Galatians 1:6-12:
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The Word is the only formula we have. When we first came to Memphis, Cassie and I talked about this chapter of Galatians over breakfast with some people one morning. We do not seek to please men over God. Men will let you down and they will fall off the path sometimes or just turn the Word down altogether, but when we do all we do for the glory of God like 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, it makes it so much easier.

1 Corinthians 3:6:
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

It’s so easy to get discouraged because nobody has come or because they don’t care, but that is God’s concern. I think often about my reasoning for doing things and why I believe what I believe, because you have to do that when dealing with new believers. They will ask you why you do or say things. I don’t know where I got the idea that I have failed if somebody doesn’t come to fellowship or believe the Word. The Bible says it right there in Corinthians that it isn’t our job to make them believe and it isn’t our job to worry about whether or not they do. It is our job to hold forth the Word of God with all boldness and surety because we know that God is behind those words all the way. When we walk with God, we are right on.

I was in Panera Bread one day for about 3 hours and I hadn’t really had the chance to talk about the Word to anyone, they didn’t want to hear it. I was just thinking of leaving when three older ladies came in with a little boy. One of the ladies was in a wheelchair and I noticed as she sat there that she had trouble eating because she was shaking so much. Somehow a conversation started between her and me and she told me her name is Angela. We started to talk about what I was going to go to school for and she told me that I should become a neurosurgeon, because she had run out of doctors. I asked how long she had lived with this disease, and she said that she was diagnosed with MS when she was 17 years old. That is such a long time to be in bondage like that. So, naturally, I asked her if she believed that God could heal her. She said yes, and that I could pray for her.

Matthew 9:28, 29:
And when he had come into the house, the blind men came unto him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.

So I prayed for her and ministered healing to her and we parted ways. I did not get her phone number or ask her to come to fellowship. I don’t think it even crossed my mind, but it wasn’t about that. It was about freeing her from the terrible prison she was in because I had the power. I learned a little bit of the kind of compassion Jesus Christ felt for people when he was on earth. To see someone with a need that I could meet was like a yawn or a sneeze. It was unnatural to just turn my head and look away. But I was able not only to minister healing to her body, but settle her heart. I may never see her again, but I know that God worked in that situation and took care of her, and even if I could go back and do it over, knowing that there were 50 hungry people somewhere else, I would still go back for Angela. People become more than just an empty chair or a songbook or a serving of food, you start to see their needs and you can meet them. See the need, meet the need. And then you will find your “Angelas” and meet their needs.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10:
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

 It isn’t easy to live in the world. Sometimes people are so mean. But we trust God to take care of us and not let their grumpiness affect us. After all, if I was without God and without hope in this world I would be grumpy, too. And God will take care of you.

I work at a Jimmy John’s here in Memphis. We make sandwiches for those of you who might not know what that is. One day I was standing at the register and I had only been at work for about 2 or 3 hours and people had been especially grumpy that day, so I was really working hard at holding onto my peace and joy, when a man walked in. Right away I knew there was something different about this character, but I didn’t know what it was. He looked like a normal guy. He was wearing jeans with paint and dirt on them and a flannel shirt. We hardly exchanged any words, but as he walked away all of a sudden I just knew that this guy was born again and he knew his authority.

In I Kings 19, the prophet Elijah said to the Lord God, “I ,even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” The Lord God replied, ” Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed his ring.”

Sometimes you feel alone. Like you’re the only one. Then God shows you a thing just to comfort your heart.

I had never seen this guy in my life, but God showed me that he was born again and it just brightened up my day. I almost started crying right there.  It was wonderful to see him and know that guy is born again. He is one of us even though I don’t know him. That’s just one of the ways God took care of me. He will always take care of you.

Nehemiah 8:10:
Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

It really is a joy to do God’s will. I have such joy in my heart when I do what God wants me to do. I do not know of any power but God that can bring strength to weakness.

Proverbs 3:5-6:
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 25:11
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

God is your sufficiency, and the Word never goes out void. When you walk with God you will say what you need to say. God’s Word is always true.

1 Corinthians 7:22-23:
For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant (doulos), is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free is Christ’s servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

God always has a way of saying things really simple so that we can understand. The world would have us conform. They expect us to do exactly what everybody else is doing. But we do not do God’s will to impress them. Most often they aren’t really impressed anyway. We are not W.O.W.’s for them. They don’t always pay attention, but it should be the same whether or not everybody’s watching. I had a martial arts instructor who once told me that integrity is doing the right thing even when you don’t get caught. Whether that is the textbook definition I don’t know, but that statement holds true for me. It is more important to keep my commitment to God and stick it out all the way until June than it is to appear glorious in the eyes of whoever might be watching. Numbers 30:2 “If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.” And if we stick it out until the commitment is over, we have succeeded.

There is such freedom in serving God. It goes against everything in the world to say that the more committed you are to something, the freer you are. That is true, though. If you are a “doulos” you are free. If you are free you are a “doulos.” There is no other way. Walking with God makes me free. Serving God takes away all the worry about worldly things. God meets all the needs.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18:
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Sometimes things can get difficult, but it is all worth it for the hope of Christ’s return and the true joy of serving God.