Monday, October 26, 2009

Devotional 261009

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Praise God for an exciting weekend to witness God’s work in many people’s lives. God’s message had been preached and calling was issued. We will see how the Lord continues to work in His children’s lives to make a difference in the world. Our Lord is relentless until the gospel is preached to all peoples and all nations. A revival is happening in many Christian lives and in many churches across the land. We will see how the Lord may lead each one of us.

"As My Father has sent Me, even so send I you" (John 20:21) A missionary is one sent by Jesus Christ as He was sent by God. The great dominant note is not the needs of men, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in work for God is behind, not before. The tendency to-day is to put the inspiration ahead, to sweep everything in front of us and bring it all out to our conception of success. In the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, the Lord Jesus. The ideal is to be true to Him, to carry out His enterprises.

Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and His point of view is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary enterprise the great danger is that God's call is replaced by the needs of the people until human sympathy absolutely overwhelms the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, the conditions so perplexing, that every power of mind fades and fails. We forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary enterprise is not first the elevation of the people, nor the education of the people, nor their needs; but first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ - "Go you therefore, and teach all nations."

When looking back on the lives of men and women of God the tendency is to say - What wonderfully perceptive wisdom they had! How perfectly they understood all God wanted! The perceptive mind behind is the Mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the Divine guidance of God through childlike people who were foolish enough to trust God's wisdom and the supernatural equipment of God.

Indeed we need to take note from this reminder. We don’t preach the gospel because people need the Lord. People don’t know they need the Lord. As a matter of fact, people rebel against God. They attack the message and the messengers. It is us who impose the needs to them. It is not their felt needs. Good news for most people today is that they can find a job that pays well, or opportunity to make a lot of money. If we preach the gospel out of people’s need, we may never need to do so. We do it out of our obedience to Christ. We preach the gospel because our Creator God knows what man really need.

Sometimes, we are moved by the needs of mankind to give and to serve just like our Lord Jesus. When our Lord Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field" (Matt 9:36-38). But most of the time, we don’t necessarily moved by other people’s need; we do it out of obedience because it is a command from our loving Heavenly Father.

Have mercy on us O Lord! Help us draw close to you and feel your heartbeat for the lost. The time will come when opportunity to preach the gospel is over. Our Lord returns to judge the living and the dead. Seize the moment and do what you are commanded to do.

Love you in Christ,
Lawrence

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