What definition of Success are you operating under?

This Spring and Summer I have concentrated my Bible study time upon striving for a good cohesive and comprehensive grasp of the Old Testament portion of the Bible.  Being that we live in the church age, I think the tendency in much of the church’s teaching and preaching is to focus more on the New Testament.  The Old Testament is a goldmine that covers a lot of ground!  It’s a lot of history.  As someone who has been  following Christ for some time now, I found this expedition back through the Old Testament to be a wonderful refresher course in just how rotten our human nature is, and a great reminder of just how good the good news of the Gospel in the New Testament really is.  In a way, it’s been sort of like those marriage seminars where they teach that the best way to rekindle the romance in your marriage, is to look back and recall what it was about your spouse that made you fall in love with them to begin with.

The Prophet Jeremiah (source)

I just finished my study of the book of Jeremiah.  And the most striking impression I came away with is the fact that our idea of success, not only the worlds idea, but the Christian’s idea, rarely- if- ever, lines up with what God considers success.

The book of Jeremiah is a great lesson in how God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts.  It reminds us the extent and fullness both His Holy and justified wrath, and of His unfathomable love to the end.  It is a book for that time, and also more relevent today than ever before, for nations and individuals to heed.

Jeremiah comes on the Biblical scene around 627 BC when he is called by God to be the final  warning voice to wayward Judah.  Jeremiah 1:4-5 tells us that while Jeremiah was yet in the womb, God sanctified and called him to the prophetic ministry, and he was faithful to that call until his death sometime after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.  His ministry occurred approximately a hundred years after that of Isaiah.  In all of his many years of pleading and warning, he was ignored, ridiculed, tormented, and finally killed.  His record as a prophet would probably be judged, from a human standpoint, to be abysmal.  After all, the scriptures do not indicate a single soul that was saved, nor of anyone at all who heeded or obeyed Jeremiah’s warnings from God.   And yet Jeremiah wept over the apostacy and rebellion in Judah, wept for the tragedy that would befall, and never wavered or faltered in his message ’til the day that he died.  (Tradition says he was stoned to death).

Today, the record of Jeremiah’s warnings have been continuously sounding for a couple thousand years, contained in the Holy Scriptures.  Jeremiah’s success is not measured by God in terms of outcome, but of Jeremiah’s obedience and faithfulness to Him.

How successful are you and I, by God’s measure?

He has given us His Word to help ensure that success-in-Him.  Biblical Prophecy, when you think about it, is pretty amazing.  I mean, think of that one person in your life who invariably and consistently disappoints and hurts you.  Can’t you pretty much always “predict” how they will behave under most given circumstances? Because you have learned their nature the hard way.  Prophecy is merely an omniscient God, Who knows the nature of His children, telling you and me right out front, where we will go wrong, and giving us every opportunity to choose better.  But do we?  How often have you thought or said “if I only had the benefit of knowing then, what I know now, I would have done things differently”?  If we study His Word, we can have that sort of advantage.

If you want the kind of success in life that really counts, listen to old Jeremiah and “ask for the old paths, and walk thee therein”.  Jeremiah 6:16

…………………………………………………….

I recommend Pastor and Mrs. Hestor’s wonderful and affordable program of study of Bible History for anyone who enjoys delving deeper in the scriptures.  For more information on the study courses “Old Testament Bible History” and “New Testament Bible History” with workbooks and DVD lecture series, by Pastor H. Richard Hester, click HERE  It is thorough, yet easy for the layman to understand, and available for individual (audited) study, as well as for college credit in a facilitated group setting.

Missionaries Richard and Kathleen Hester served the Lord in Lebanon from 1959-1976, at which time (during the Lebanon War) the Lord called them to serve in Sydney, Australia, where, as octogenarians and despite challenges of health, they still faithfully serve Him today.

www.missionaryoutpost.com

One “ordinary” miracle!

 

Let me tell you a story about the awesome God I serve.  There is a couple named Don and Lucy.  They are serving the Lord in Argentina.  I am in America.  These missionaries  have been serving the Lord and the people of  Argentina  for about 45 years.   Here in America, I am a somewhat ailing 47-year-old mom, in whom God parked a specific set of characteristics, values, and a handful of abilities for His own use.  My physical impairments have ruled out some things I was once able to do, but I can pray and write.  God made me fairly articulate, and gave me a heart that has a very difficult time turning a blind eye to the pain of another person if there is anything humanly possible that I can do about it.

Yesterday morning I opened the monthly letter  which this missionary couple sends to all of their supporting churches.  And I cried because I felt pain in the heart of another human being, 5000 miles on the other side of the globe, through words on a page. I prayed for them, and asked the Lord to give me words for an e-mail which would give them comfort, and to see to it they received the e-mail.  I wrote down the words God laid on my heart, and I sent it.  But this story is not about me, and it’s not about the Nevels, but about  the God we both serve, and the work God has for every born-again believer to do.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The Word is our Bible, and Jesus is that Word, but did  we ever stop to think of the awesome potential of our words, written or spoken, to convey Jesus, and all the hope that comes with Him, to another human being?   That is the very reason for which Don and Lucy Nevels have given their lives in service to the people of Mendoza.  Because they understand the power of The Word, and the common need of all mankind, for a Savior.

Their letter conveyed a very honest disheartened moment, a tiny slice of their over-all experience there, I am sure, though I imagine that the disheartened moments are much more often than we ever hear about here at home.  The missionary’s letter highlights the hard truth of missionary life, which is the fact that sometimes the harvest is very slow in coming.    I speculate that Don and Lucy were hesitant to send that letter, and indeed did so with a disclaimer.  But I am so very grateful for their honesty, and the courage it took to leave it just as it was and mail it.  Because it drives clean home, the crucial role that we at home have to play, in the work of the missionary, the investment that is needed and sadly is greatly lacking:   that of diligent intercessory prayers.

I have committed to pray for our missionaries,  and correspond with them and have asked the Lord to encourage them through me in any small way that I can be used to do so.  You see, they need support, yes financial, definitely, but prayer, by all means!  They don’t just need a vague mention in the weekly prayer meeting.  They need for us to know what their needs are, to remember them and to pray for them that effectual fervent prayer that availeth much.  And they do need for us to follow through on our promised support of both prayer and giving.  There have been similar indications of such desperate need of prayer from some of the other missionaries that I have heard from.  And I sense that it hurts them a little to have to admit how badly prayer support may seem lacking.  Is it possible some  feel a little abandoned and forgotten?  If so, shame on us!

This is addressed to every born-again believer who has ever made a Faith Promise or a promise to pray for a missionary, as well of those who haven’t but ought to have.  I believe there are some who will read this, and God will deal with your heart, just as He has been with my own.

In Exodus 17, we read of the Israelites doing battle with the Amalekites.   As long as Moses held up his arms, Israel prevailed under Joshua’s leadership, and when Moses’ arms got tired and started to sink low, the Amalekites prevailed.  So Moses’ companions Aaron and Hur, sat him upon a rock, and stood on either side of him, and held his arms up for him so that ”his hands were steady until the going down of the sun”. By doing so, Israel was victorious.

Maybe you have never witnessed to another human being in your life.  Perhaps you feel that God neither called nor equipped you to do that.  But the Great Commission is there in black and white in the Bible and can’t be ignored.  Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel.  I personally believe we will answer for it if we have made no effort at all to give the gospel to others.  That is like the unprofitable servant in the Bible who buried his talents.  Now, I agree, not everyone is a goer.  Many are called, and few are chosen.  So, clearly some of us are stay-ers.  But the stay-ers ought to at least be either ”pray-ers” or payers, if not both!  It does not have to be much. Give of what you have.  Consider the loaves and the fishes.  Little is much if God is in it.  If you can’t give financially, you can pray and encourage, at the very least.

I got an e-mail back from Don and Lucy within only a few hours, actually, and in that awesome way God has of working in the lives of His children, The Lord did encourage and edify this couple with the words He had inspired me to write, which served to bless and encourage me greatly in the process as well.  And that, to me, is an amazing testimony of God’s very personal love and concern for one missionary couple and one ordinary housewife, 5000  miles across the globe from each other.  That He would orchestrate such seemingly inconsequential events as the timing of 2 e-mails, in order to bless and edify both parties in just the way that each of us needed. We serve a loving and personal God.  Let us never forget, though, that He did it all for the sake of the gospel.

I ask that you would pray for the work and ministry of Don and Lucy,  and other missionaries whom you know of.   They get weary and discouraged, just like we do, and if you are “holding their arms up” in prayer today, you might just be part of a miracle like the one that happened yesterday, whether or not you even know about it this side of heaven.

*This ministry is featured in this post by permission of the missionary.

Praying For Missionaries

When a family goes on the mission field, they leave all things familiar behind them.  It takes a lot of faith.  And I imagine that there are days when they are very discouraged.  I have been spending a lot of time praying for missionaries lately.  I am reading the book “More Than A Dozen” by Georgia Luisa Webb, missionary to Mexico for 50 years.  (Available from Tribune Publishers, Springfield, MO).  And it really hit me one day this past week.  I have always tended to think of missionaries as “Super-Christians”.   It is a held-over concept from when I was a kid.  Back when I actually thought that the way Christianity worked was that you get saved, and the longer you are a Christian, the better person you will be.  Like fine aged cheese or something.

The epiphany really was this: They are just like us.  They get cranky.  They get depressed.  They deal with the flesh.  They have personality conflicts, and breakdowns, and sick days and frustrations.  And they do it all, usually, in places without the amenities and conveniences we have here.  They have to navigate through red tape for their building projects, shop in markets that are unfamiliar, with money that is different from ours, and speaking a language other than English, in most cases.

I found online at one of the missionary board’s websites, a paper written by the late Ernest Pickering, Th. D.  The paper was called “How to Pray for Missionaries”.   It talks about how we often in our churches, will briefly and vaguely ask the Lord to “bless our missionaries”, but Doctor Pickering questions just how informed our prayers are, and proceeds to give pointers on specifics we should pray for, which include:

1) The missionary call:  “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38)

2) The missionary’s spiritual life:  Pray that they are strong and still growing in the Lord, and “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto (the missionary) the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. (Ephesians 1:17).

3) The missionary’s’ family life:  He speaks of the strain mission work can put on a missionary family, and says to pray for the marriages, and most of all for the children to have healthy attitudes toward missions so they won’t become inadvertent casualties.  Wouldn’t that be a tragedy?

4). Victory over the Flesh:  Pray for the missionary to be free from pride, racism, prejudice and preconceived notions.  Wow.  Really important when you are a guest in someone else’s culture!

5.) The missionary’s own health.  Some countries don’t even have clean water that is readily available, even in this day in time.

6.) The missionary’s relationships.  Yeah, sort of hard to share the gospel with your neighbor if you’re not a good neighbor first.  Just like here at home.

7. )  Successful evangelism.  I guess that one goes without saying, but it is about networking there, just as it is here.

8. )  Everyday stress: Getting medical care, shopping that takes hours, getting permits for building, lack of internet connection.

9.)  Perseverance:  This one is big.  Did you know that it can take years for the missionary’s work to bear fruit?  That is a lot of pressure when they go home on furlough to report to their supporting churches.  Wow!

And Dr. Pickering doesn’t include this as a separate category, but speaking of furlough, I’d say that should maybe be number 10 on the list.  Furlough is a roller-coaster.  Missionary kids who have been living in a foreign land pretty much their whole lives, feel culture shock coming “home”.  The missionary spends the whole furlough time traveling.  They must report to supporting churches, and surely while they are home, they hope to see loved ones too.  Sleeping in different beds every other night.  Driving back on the right side of the road again.  I mean, my word!

So the next time a missionary comes to your church.  Don’t just shoot up a dim flare of vague intercession.  These guys are fulfilling the part of the Great Commission that we can’t, in taking the gospel on our behalf, to the uttermost parts of the world.   Really pray for them.

I am grateful to the late Dr. Pickering for this document and for Baptist World  Missions for posting it on their website baptistworldmissions.org.   See it for yourself here: http://baptistworldmission.org/get-involved/pray/998-how-to-pray-for-missionaries.html

Please note the various missionaris and ministries linked in my sidebar, and pray for missionaries all over the world.