Tag Archives: work

“Missionary School”

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Missionaries, Missions, Sacrifice, Uncategorized

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The very principal thing is to put God first in everything; from time to position, etc. Don’t even allow the ministry to take priority before Him! Serving God is not the same as spending time with Him. As my pastor always says,

Don’t get so busy serving God that you forget the God you’re serving.

Jesus said, “…for without me ye can do nothing.” (Jn. 15:5) He’s the source of all our power, and it is folly to not spend time with him. You may not think, in your current situation, that this is a problem, but when you find yourself with as many things to do as a missionary does, you’ll think again.

#1: Prepare to be alone.

At your home church in the States you probably have heaps of friends that you talk to all the time, and of course your family too. This is not always the case in the mission field of life. You may have some friends, but you might not have anyone. Your security must not be found in them.

#2: It’s you and God

You may be privileged to work alongside someone with a common passion, but there will be times when you’re on your own – you and the Lord – or nothing gets done. Often the growth and added fellowship of believers to work along side of comes just when God is about to move you to another solitary place.

On the missions trip I am currently on, I’ve found that the missionary’s church runs a Sunday service, Bible club, nursing home service, a Bible class once a week in the school, breakfast once a week in the school, a kid’s Bible study, an adult Bible study, door knocking and letter-boxing in nearby towns, street preaching in Auckland every other week, and door knocking near Auckland on the other weeks. These all are led by this one missionary with help from his family and occasionally a member of the church. As the missionary, he is responsible for what God has entrusted to him – to see to it that things get done. You may expect to be very busy in the work God calls you to: to get up early and go to bed a little late and still not have time for everything you wish you could do…

This kind of life requires total commitment!

All too often, people don’t fully realize everything they will have to do and deal with. Many give up their God-given callings or return home from the mission field because of lack of preparation and adequate understanding of what God is going to require of them. Yet, despite all of the drawbacks it’s still worth it to give your all to serving the Lord. I want to encourage you to pray for missionaries, knowing just a few of the challenges they face and preparing also to be on the mission field God directs you to, whether that be local or foreign!

Keep seeking and serving God.

Ryan
Ps. 84:10

Pray for the Men & Women of God

23 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in Christian Disciplines, encouragement, Men, Prayer, Women

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An encouragement from the Apostle Paul, for us to keep in effectual, fervent prayer for believers:

In all your petitions pray at all times with every kind of spiritual prayer, keeping alert and persistent as you pray for all Christ’s men and women. And pray for me, too, that I may be able to speak the message here boldly,to make known the secret of that gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains.Pray that I may speak out about it as is my plain and obvious duty.

How many do we pray for? Do you Feel like there is no great work for you to be doing? This is it!

Pray for the ambassadors around you, the ones in your family, in your Church, those overseas. Be persistent in prayer. This is the effectual, fervent work that availeth much! Our access to what duty might compel us to carry out (anyway) here on earth, can only be reached through the windows of heaven through our prayers, putting the Almighty to work. “Not by us, O Lord,  but through thy name…..” I suggest we do not comply selfishly to prayer…but in selfless gratitude compel our hearts in prayer before God.

“In conclusion be strong –not in yourselves but in the Lord, in the power of His boundless strength.”

Stand Fast, unmovable…abound in the work of the Lord through prayer.

~Tiffany Martens

When God Hides You

18 Saturday Feb 2012

Posted by in Abiding, Believe, Direction, Faith, Opportunity, Trusting God, Uncategorized, Waiting, Wallking in the Spirit

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“But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the Lord hid them.” Jeremiah 36:26

 
God had assigned Jeremiah a work to do, and until his work was accomplished, nothing could hinder him from carrying out God’s will: it had been given by the Lord, and God himself would give Jeremiah the means to accomplish this work! Here, there is a powerful truth that applies to us as believers: our days have been numbered, but God has numbered them and nothing, absolutely nothing –when we are submitted to God’s will and work for our lives– can touch us! I believe that this truth in our lives will bring a passion and urgency to do God’s work, burning away fear of destruction, disease, rejection and competing affections. In this place of surrender to God’s will and work for our lives, we have the assurance that God is on our side and we know that we are safe. The arm of the Lord is not shortened. When we need to be hidden, He will hide us.
~Tiffany

…to the wealthy place.

04 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Purification, Refine, Suffering

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“O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard: which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved. For thou, O God, has proved us: thou hast tried us as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction on our loins. Thou has caused men to ride over our heads: we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.” ~Psalm 66:8-12

He alone holds my soul in life: my mind, will, and emotions. They are given grace, hope, joy, but only as I yield beneath the purification of the Refiner himself. The refining of the Christian life brings pain, suffering, loneliness…the list may go on. Yet, the increase is a wealthy place. What wealth? A desperation for God is born in that furnace of affliction and the hunger is satisfied by the very near presence of God…a wealth that is immeasurable, priceless. In loneliness, a dependance on God is brought forth – a need to rely more heavily on the Master. This too yields a rich increase. For we find as the fires burn low, and the chains are broken that we walk free, with a Friend who sticks closer than a brother. And time and space forbid me to list the many others… a dynamic life testimony; a suffering which has produced a gentle humility – one that enables the mighty hand of God to rest upon that sacrificed life and use it to bring glory.

Oh, let us not despise the Refiner, nor his cleansing work. For whom He loves, He seeks to purify. And the hardened heart will still suffer…only in vain. Be yielded, sacrificed, a life given wholly to the Refiner Himself. He will bring you out into a wealthy place!

~h

We cannot benefit the cause of Christ pt.2

21 Wednesday Sep 2011

Posted by in Chambers, Daily Living, Eternal Security, Holy Spirit, Relationships, Salvation, Surrender

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“The go of preparation is to let the Word of God scrutinize. We are full of the sense of heroic sacrifice, and it seems hard to be reminded of things that happened in the past; but the thing that the Holy Spirit is detecting is that disposition in us that will never work in His service. Over and over again people have gone into the work for God in order to evade concentration on God on these lines. The note of false enthusiasm is the condition of the unbelieving. The need is made the call; but it is an artificial enthusiasm. No enthusiasm for humanity will ever stand the strain that Jesus Christ will put on His workers. Only one thing will stand the strain and that is the personal relationship to Jesus of a man or woman who has gone through the mill of God’s spring cleaning until there is one purpose only: “I am here for God to use me as He wills.”  ~Chambers

Be Surrendered,

T&H

Rest in Jesus

30 Tuesday Aug 2011

Posted by in God's Love, Love, Loving God, Music, Music Lyrics, Relationships, Waiting

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Jesus, I am resting, resting,

In the joy of what Thou art:

I am finding out the greatness,

Of Thy loving heart!

Thou hast bid me gaze upon thee,

As Thy beauty fills my soul,

For by Thy transforming power,

Thou hast made me whole!

~

O how great Thy loving kindness,

Vaster, broader than the sea!

O how marvelous Thy goodness,

Lavished all on me!

Yes, I rest in Thee Beloved,

Know what wealth of grace is mine,

Know Thy certainty of promise,

And have made it mine!

~

Simply trusting Thee Lord Jesus,

I behold Thee as Thou art,

And Thy love, so pure, so changeless,

Satisfies my heart!

Satisfies its deepest longings,

Meets, supplies its every need,

Compasseth me round with blessing,

Thine is love indeed!

~

Ever life Thy face upon me,

As I work and wait for Thee!

Resting neath Thy smile Lord Jesus,

Earth’s dark shadows flee!

Brightness of my Father’s glory,

Sunshine of my Father’s face,

Keep me ever trusting, resting,

Fill me with Thy grace!

(Words by Jean Pigott)

In the past two weeks, the words of this song have become precious to my soul. We alone can do nothing. Not by choice, or will, or imagination are we able to bring any good work to pass. It is the act of being. Being still, or rather, resting in the presence of Jesus, which produces the supernatural. It is only then we will experience and find out the greatness of that loving, Fatherly heart. Only then can we truly know the wealth of grace belonging to us – the certainty of promise! What beautiful words! We have certain knowledge that God’s promises are for us, and fulfilled in us! They are our treasures to claim. They allow us to behold the Lamb of God as He truly is. They cause His pure, unchanging love to satisfy completely! My heart even now is so full. So, so overflowing at the assurance of God’s satisfying love. Love no other lord or person can ever match! Love that satisfies deepest longings of the human heart, and meets, supplies abundantly for every – not just some – but every need. Lost in this love, I will lift my face to see His as I work for His glory, and wait for His next calling. Beneath His smile, I am at peace. Dear believer, we have the privilege of seeing the brightness of our Father’s glory, the sunshine of His face, the opportunity to ask Him to keep us abiding in His rest. We do not have to give up that place of rest…it is ours. He will give a continual filling of His grace. What blessedness and peace is ours that we do not hope for, but know assuredly we have the ability to rest in Jesus! Within that rest, His all-transforming power will make us whole. It is not in trying or striving, wrestling or running, that we become complete. Our wholeness comes in the stillness of being with Him – in the resting assuredly in His arms. In the knowledge that He and He alone can satisfy. Jesus, I am resting, resting – in joy – because of who You are! Amazing Love!!!

Be Blessed!

~Hannah

From Oswald Chambers

20 Saturday Aug 2011

Posted by in Daily Living, Loving God, Obedience, Prayer, Uncategorized, Wisdom

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This excerpt is taken from My Utmost for His Highest, October 17th, but good for every day of our lives!

“And greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.” John 14:12

Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer is the greater work. We think of prayer as a common-sense exercise of our higher powers in order to prepare us for God’s work. In the teaching of Jesus Christ prayer is the working of the miracle of Redemption in me which produces the miracle of Redemption in others by the power of God. The way fruit remains is by prayer, but remember, it is prayer based on the agony of Redemption, not on my agony. Only a child gets prayer answered; a wise man does not.

Prayer is the battle; it is a matter of indifference where you are. Whichever way God engineers circumstances, the duty is to pray. Never allow the thought – “I am of no use where I am;” because you certainly can be of no use where you are not. Wherever God has dumped you down in circumstances, pray, ejaculate to Him all the time. “Whatsoever ye ask in My name, that will I do.” We won’t pray unless we get thrills, that is the intensest form of spiritual selfishness. We have to labor along the line of God’s direction, and He says pray. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.”

There is nothing thrilling about a laboring man’s work, but it is the laboring man who makes the conceptions of the genius possible; and it is the laboring saint who makes the conceptions of his Master possible. You labor at prayer and results happen all the time from His standpoint. What an astonishment it will be to find, when the veil is lifted, the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you had been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.

Be Blessed!

T&H

Discipleship – a Believer’s Calling

21 Saturday May 2011

Posted by in Eternity, Loving God, Relationships, Salvation

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photo credit: sarah stelzl

“Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:19-20

The first part of this command that Jesus gave, is to go and share the gospel. Believe it or not, you don’t really have a choice if you are a child of God. You are going to display a public message about Jesus Christ everywhere you go. The extent you go to, and the message you shine is a personal choice that you must make – daily. But I think we seriously overlook The second part of this command. It is easy to forget about the discipleship part that follows salvation. Maybe it is our fear. Maybe it is because we feel inadequate or unable. Maybe we are wrapped up in a hundred other projects in life that are consuming our all. I don’t know every reason…but that doesn’t change the fact that the problem still exists.

About two years ago I prayed and asked my Heavenly Father to provide people…hurting people, needy people, people who wanted lasting answers. And guess what I found out? There are more people in this world that are ready to listen than you would ever imagine!

Something else I discovered right off. Discipleship is not comfortable. It is not easy. While it has lasting rewards, it does not always feel like the fantastic, incredible ministry that it is. There are days when I feel like giving up, when I just have to wonder…why…? Sometimes I feel like I’m just flinging words out there, wasting energy, throwing away perfectly good time, draining myself in every way…and yet there is no greater joy, than to see God’s children walking in the truth! It is definitely a calling that is worth striving for, and it is truly awesome!

photo credit: hannah stelzl

Another thing…I can’t do this job. I can write out questions and say a million inspiring words. I can hand out assignments and hit people over the head with truth. I can gently, lovingly help them by listening and understanding…all in vain! You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve hung up the phone discouraged, or walked away from someone feeling as though nothing happened. But this is where discipleship gets truly awesome. Because GOD IS FAITHFUL! He will complete the work He has begun, and will never fail because that is His promise! He can do this work, beyond any extent of my imagination. He has written the most beautiful stories of healing, redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration. He has done it all! As I look around me at the work of my Father’s hands, I am overwhelmed. He has used this to grow and stretch me. He has tested my faith and taught me truth. He has taught me to pray, to be in fellowship with Him! He has given me a heart to understand and love and serve outside my comfort zone…by His grace.

I share this with you because discipleship is a calling that was meant for you! This is a beautiful work that God wants to do in and through you…if you are willing.

God bless you as you say yes to the calling of discipleship!

~Sarah

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