Returning what's already His

(NLT) Psalm 24:1 "A psalm of David. The earth is the LORD's, 

and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him."

As I was reading the Word of God devotionally this morning, this verse began to burn in my heart. The thought that kept running through my mind is that Missional Living is all about returning to God that which already belongs to him.

No matter where we travel or how many peoples we see, they all belong to Him. The words of Psalm 139 about God being so involved in my creation is true of them as well. He knit them together in their mother's womb. Like sheep with their heads down grazing in life, they have wandered off away from Him. Our job is to go and find them. It is to take measures to bring them back to Him who created them. They belong to Him.

Just this week I was gently reminded by the Holy Spirit as I drove through my subdivision that God has brought these peoples into our world. Friday we had an awesome opportunity to carry on a lengthy conversation with a man from Sudan. Right down the street is a couple from China. A street over from ours are a few families from India. They belong to Him. It is our desire and duty to find them and return them to the One to whom they belong.

That is why Jesus came to earth that first Christmas. He came to seek and to save those who were lost. The Father sent Him to reconcile them to Himself through Christ. Just before Jesus returned to the Father in heaven he told His disciples that He was sending them just as the Father had sent Him.

This Christmas, take time to reflect upon those around you. Do they need to be returned to their rightful owner? Are you the one the Father has Called Out to return them? Just something to think about. Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas 2011

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the town

People were hurting and life brought a frown

The other night I received an unexpected phone call. Well, I sort of expected a call from this individual. I had called him and left a message for him to call. That evening he called. So, we quickly covered my business and wished he and his wife a very Merry Christmas. Then he said he had a special request for me. I assured him to ask away (inwardly wondering what it would entail).

He began to tell me a story of a phone call he had received from an individual attending where he worshiped. It seemed there was a need in the life of a young lady who was facing some horrible situation. She needed to talk and my friend was not in town. In fact, he was across the state and would not be back.

I immediately knew what was going to happen. He asked. And shortly my wife and I found ourselves getting ready to go out and meet with this young lady. We talked and listened. We shared the hope that is in Christ. She wasn't ready. She was hurting deeply. But past experience with other followers of Jesus had left her with a bad taste in her spirit.

She did allow us to pray with her. She did gladly give my wife and I a hug as we parted that evening. I walked away contemplating how often I have sat in that scenario when someone had told of an experience where meeting other followers of Jesus had turned them off to Christianity.

I thought about Jesus dealing with the woman caught in the very act of adultery. My mind raced to his response to the Rich Young Ruler. Story after story raced through my mind. Not one of them revealed a self-righteous condemning Savior. Each individual was approached carefully and compassionately. Some walked away. Jesus groaned in his spirit in those times. But not once did he condemn.

There is only one way this young lady we met will ever be able to trust Jesus as her personal Savior and Lord. Someone will have to take the time to lovingly enter into relationship with her and gently and respectfully keep sharing Jesus with her without condemning. You see, she is lost. She is blind to the truth. She is dead spiritually according to the Word of God. And she does not even know it.

I wonder whom God will "Call Out" to invest their life in this young lady. Some follower of Christ will have the call of God on their life to do just that. Jesus said to ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into His harvest field.

Jesus, I am doing that right now. Will you send someone into the harvest field of "R's" life this week to begin preparing the soil of her heart to receive the seed or your gospel? Will you give that person the patience of a farmer who weeds the garden and waters it when the drought comes? And, when the time is right to bring in the harvest, will you have that worker in her field at just the right time to bring her to you?

"Faithful is He who has called you...who will also do it." 1 Thess. 5:24

An Unloyal Heart

In 2 Chronicles 25:2, Amaziah is said to have done "what was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a loyal heart".

At first glance it sounds like Amaziah was a great guy. He "did" what was right...and at first glance the English translation paints a great picture of someone really working hard to do what the LORD wanted him to do. But according to the Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words, this word for "right" can mean "straight" or "convenient". It just made me begin to think - a lot - about whether I "do" what is "convenient" in the sight of the Lord. One of the definitions in Strong's for the word "sight" is "outward appearance". That makes me think even more. Am I only doing what is "right" to make an "outward appearance"? It does not sound too good after all. It really begins to be convicting when the rest of the statement is read "...but not with a loyal heart."

As one who is "Called Out" to have a place of influence in the lives of others, does all my "doing" simply wind up as an outward appearance of convenience with the cold reality that my heart is not even loyal to the Lord? The rest of the story in 2 Chronicles 25 portrays that type of life for Amaziah. The result was that he drifted farther and farther from the Lord.

We are told in the Word of God that we are to guard our hearts. We are also told that the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. It asks the question as to who can know it (Jer. 17:9). Because my heart is deceitful and wicked, how can I ever know if it is loyal or not to the Lord? The next verse in Jeremiah gives us the answer, "I, the Lord know the heart."

If God knows my heart (and He does), then I need to continue to go to Him in prayer and ask Him to test or try my heart. I desperately need Him to give me an undivided heart (Psalm 86:11).

I know I have much to consider before my God.

What about you?

Prayer Strategy

Prayer is the foundational strategy for missions. We do not need what we can do for God, but what God is doing for His Kingdom. God is always at work and we are invited by Him to take part in the work He is doing to grow His Kingdom. Yesterday I was reading in Psalm 24 and was not able to shake a drawing sensation to verse 1. This is how it reads in the NKJV. "The earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein." We are not recruiting people for God's Kingdom. They already belong to God. Our task is to help them see the light that He alone is God and that they belong to Him. He created every one of us. We are His by creation. We became separated from God with our sin. Then He bought us back through the blood of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. There are millions in the world who do not know this basic truth. Therefore, they cannot worship Him.

We need to discover where God is working and join Him. (That sounds familiar.) God is constantly at work in His world. We too often jump into the work before we know where He is working. Jesus said that the Father was working, so he was working. Jesus even said in his high priestly prayer in John 17:4 that he had brought the Father glory on earth by completing all the work the Father gave Him to do.

I wonder what the work is God has given you to do? For Calvary of Neosho, one aspect of that work was taking His good news to the Mandyak people of Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. Little did I know when we began the work how involved God had already been. When we as a church voted to pursue reaching the Mandyak for Christ, a long time member of the church came up to me with tears streaming down his face and said that he and his wife had been praying for 11 years that God would give Calvary a vision for reaching His world that would require Him to accomplish it. He said this was that vision.

When I arrived in Senegal and met who would become one of our main interpreters, I learned that he had been praying for 11 years that God would send someone like the missionaries to reach his people for Jesus. God was at work and He was the one who invited us to take the good news of His Kingdom and His love for them to the Mandyak. Calvary continues to do just that as God continues to guide them.

Jesus once said that the harvest was plentiful, but the workers were few. He went on to tell his disciples that they were to pray to the Lord of the Harvest, that He would send out laborers into His harvest fields.

1) Am I obeying by praying that God will send out laborers into His harvest fields?
2) Am I praying for the peoples of the world to hear and come to God?
3) Am I getting ready to go when He speaks to my heart to go?

Just some thoughts! Have a great day!

Never Forget

I was reading in Deuteronomy 8 today. It is a very interesting chapter. This chapter informs the reader of all the things God has done for them and all the things He wants them to do. The chapter begins with a reminder to be careful to observe the commandments He has given us. There seems to be a reason for remembering to observe the commandments. It is so we may live in the land of which He promised us. It is so we may multiply in the land of which He promised us. It is so we may possess the land of which the Lord promised.

These are 3 very good reasons for observing the commandments He gave to us. Let me quickly say that the Great Commission given to the church and all followers of the Lord Jesus tells us to teach disciples to observe all He has commanded. There is no difference in the Nation of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy and the Church in the book of Matthew. God is still God. He still demands that we live by His commands. It is for our blessing and His Kingdom's Growth in the world.

Read the chapter slowly and carefully. In verse 11 we are told to "beware" after we have become full from life's blessings God has given to us. The danger is that we will forget Him and focus on us. Did you really hear what it says? We forget Him and focus on us. Here is how it reads in the NKJV for verse 17, "then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'"

We are always one step away from perishing from the land to which He has sent us. All we need to do is "by any means forget the Lord our God" (verse 19). It has happened before.

Remain humble! Never Forget!

When did God set you apart?

I began reading in Jeremiah again this morning. I was reminded of the process God used in the life of Jeremiah. In chapter 1:5 we find out that it was before he was even conceived in his mother's womb. God told Jeremiah that before He formed Jeremiah in his mother's womb, God knew him and set him apart to be a prophet to the nations. This choice had absolutely nothing to do with a choice by Jeremiah. In fact, as we read further, we find Jeremiah giving excuses why he is not the one God should use.

Surely we have never been in those shoes. I am convinced the call of God on our lives to be involved missionally came at the same time it came for Jeremiah. It was before we were formed in our mother's womb. Perhaps we have wrestled with the official calling as well. But take note, the setting apart by God was done before we ever made a choice of anything in life. Wow!

The Apostle Paul said it this way in Eph. 2:10, "We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which He before ordained that we should walk in them." That is a verse I cannot get away from. God had things for me to do before I ever made my first choice in life. The same is true for you. Your calling may not be the same as mine, but you have a calling just the same.

Don't waste your life. Find out what God's choice is for you and run after it with all your heart. The adventure will be wonderful. You will not regret it.

Having said that, I remind us that Jeremiah did not have a pleasant 40+ years as a prophet to the nations. Still, it was his calling. The thing that brings joy to our hearts is knowing that we were in the place God wanted us to be, doing the things God wanted us to do. Then one day we will hear Him say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant..."

Have a great day!

Missions is no respector of persons

Wow! I can't believe it has been over a month since I last came to this site. I never dreamed how busy life would be as I began "Calling out the Called" for missional living. I am amazed at how many churches and individuals are so hungry for authentic missional living. I have heard some of the greatest stories and met some of the most awesome individuals.

One such person (which shall remain nameless) approached retirement at age 65 by asking God if He had anyone anywhere in the world that He wanted her to tell them about Him. She said He told her yes. So she said she told Him that if He would provide for her to go, she would continue to go and tell.

She is now 85 years active in service for Jesus. She took her first international mission trip at age 65. Now at 85 she looks back on her experiences of a dozen (that is right) international mission trips and around 8 state side mission trips. Her last international trip was in December to Guinea West Africa where she road in a dug out canoe on the ocean and up a river to an unengaged people. When she arrived on the island she was greeted very warmly. The first morning there, she arose to find the men of the village sitting around her porch waiting to hear why she was there. They wanted to hear the story of Jesus. They could listen to her, because she was old. They respect age. So she took out her evangecube and told them the story.

Missions is for everyone! Age is not a factor. Missions is for you as well. Keep living for Him.