How many of you have heard the verse "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine upon us"? Many believers read that and feel a little something special inside, but is that all of that passage? The second half of that verse from Psalm 67:1-2 says, "...that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations." When God made the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12, He did not say that He would only bless Abraham, but that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
When every believer says yes to the call of Christ to follow Him, we are saying that our life and our wants are secondary to God's desires and God's plan. Yet, we so often fall back on that old nature to satisfy our desires and wants. We want God to bless us and make everything great so we can live a happy life. There is nothing wrong with asking for those things, but we must not forget that the reason to ask is not for our blessing alone but so that God's kingdom may be spread to all peoples and nations. Being a follower of Christ is not about only receiving the blessings of God, but it is using those blessings to bring others into His kingdom.
What is keeping you from getting yourself out of the way and letting God move in you? Is it sin, friends, family, the "American dream"? As a believer, we must DAILY die to ourselves and to everything else keeping us in the way of God doing a great work in us and through us. Identify those things in your life that are hindering you and ask God to help free you from them. Get in the Word and spend time with the Father in prayer and He will show you how to get out of the way and then what He wants you to do after that.
John Willis Zumwalt says in his book called Passion for the Heart of God, "Mission agencies can look across the earth and know where these unreached nations and peoples live. Imagine this! We know what we have left to do to get the Good News of Jesus Christ to every nation on planet earth! These are exciting times. We can look at the world and say, 'The Good News hasn't been there yet.' Well, let's go! That is where we are in history."
Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." God has an ultimate plan that ends with someone from "every nation, tribe, people and language" (Revelation 7:9) surrounding His throne worshiping and praising Him. As far as I can see, it is all pretty simple. We know where the people are who have never heard the Good News before, and we know that they must hear before God's plan can be complete.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:1-2
In the 10/40 window there lives:
* 1/3 of the world’s population (2 billion people)
* Over 3,000 people groups that have never even heard of Jesus
* 85% of the world’s poor
* Many in this area have never heard the name of Jesus
The shocking truth is that ONLY 1.25% of all missions’ resources (money, trips, and missionaries) go to this part of the world. (http://mattsetliffe.com/mi
No comments:
Post a Comment