The Importance of Dying to Self

Reaching children in difficult situations requires us to enter into and face the same challenging conditions. We do believe in glorifying God and in serving the weak but we are often deterred by one barrier; self. Our Lord has a direct solution to our predicament; '...If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me' (Luke 9:23). We are all called to that ongoing process of mortifying self as we seek to follow him daily. We know how far we have come when we are able to seek and embrace God’s will and not ours. His will is to reach the lost for his glory. That is why He sent His son to this world. We follow Christ by reaching the lost; we are saved to do the works of Christ. We are however hard wired to cater to self. The world drives us to seek instant self-gratification, and personal success. Dying to self is therefore increasingly becoming an alien, unacceptable and sometimes an offensive concept in our day. To reach especially the isolated, lost and unchurched children, we have no choice but to die to self. By so doing, we will be truly seeking and embracing God’s will and not our own.  Noah O. Okiror is ordained by Global Christian Ministry Forum Canada and was commissioned an officer in the Canadian Forces chaplain Services in 2001. He is the founding director of Global River Basin Ministries, an organization dedicated to partnering with and supporting local ministries in isolated and disenfranchised communities, to address the vital needs of destitute children. He holds a Grad Dip/MA in theological studies from Regent College in Vancouver, BC and a D.Min in Theology from Life Christian University in Tampa, FL. As a certified fitness Instructor and a former Physical Education/Biology teacher, he is passionate about reaching children and helping them find peace with God, within themselves and with others through sports. To get further grounded in this area, he studied Fitness and Health Promotion at Humber Institute of Advanced Learning in Toronto ON and is currently pursuing Postgraduate studies in Sports ministry. His transition from a destitute boy in a Ugandan village to a teacher in six different countries, a chaplain in the Canadian Forces and to now a Non-resident sports missionary worldwide, is a story of God’s unlimited grace and extravagant love. His only response to that amazing grace is to serve Him among other unchurched and destitute children around the world.