Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he left us with the command to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). That wasn’t just a suggestion for the 12 disciples to attempt, that proclamation was the mission statement for all adopted sons and daughters that would be brought into the Kingdom from that day forward to give their lives to.
Overwhelming when looked at from a logical standpoint, sure. But the first part of that verse states, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” So we know that this isn’t to be done in our own strength; that would be impossible. God gave us the command to spread His name around the world, but He also said that He is going to be with us.
Therefore, my job is to be obedient in stepping out on this. The only reason I was even saved in the first place was because a camp counselor in Virginia was obedient to God in telling people about Him. How could I be okay with doing any less?
So how does my life fit into God’s plan for world evangelism? It’s my entire reason for being here on earth. However, what that looks like specifically will probably change throughout my life. In high school, it was to be a witness for him and to tell the people at my school about His love and salvation. I didn’t do a great job at fulfilling that, but I did help lead my best friend to the Lord. For right now, it means serving in the office of Gospel for Asia and doing anything I can to help bring the Gospel to the most unreached people in the world.
Beyond that though, there is a lot I can be doing. If it is true that I can only help fulfill the Great Commission with the help of the Holy Spirit, which I irrefutably believe is the case, then I must learn what it is like to be led by the Holy Spirit. God isn’t just going to take control of my body and do everything He wants done on earth, although I often think that would be a much easier way to go. No, He is going to always give us the option to follow Him or to follow the world.
Therefore it is absolutely crucial that I develop and maintain time every single day to spend with the Lord, seeking His face and learning His heart. I am naive to think I can even make it through a normal day at the office and be in anyway effective without total dependence on the Lord.
Paul was obedient to the Lord’s direction even when it meant he was walking to his own death. He had no care for himself or his own life, his only concern was to see the lost saved and to glorify the Lord.
I need to have that mindset that I am not my own; not my body, not my time, not even my thoughts or emotions. I have no rights; and this is a wonderful and merciful thing! Living for what I want in the past has ended in confusion and angst and dissatisfaction. Living with no thought to what I want has brought me only peace and contentment and joy because I am no longer looking at myself. I have no reason to be concerned about anything because my life is in God’s hands and if He wants it to be easy then it will be easy, and if he wants it to be hard then it will be hard. The peace comes from knowing that it’s no longer my concern or in my control.
But this is not easy. It’s not even close.
It’s completely unnatural to not try and plan out my future and stress and wonder how things are going to get done. It’s unnatural not to look at myself and see all these issues and wonder how I can fix things and get consumed in creating solutions. Yet that just brings us back again to how crucial it is that this life is not lived on our own strength, but rather through surrender to the Holy Spirit. I can’t even desire to follow the Holy Spirit without His help!
Prayer, fasting, meditation, studying scripture; these spiritual disciplines are now realized as more than something for my own personal benefit. While they do have significant impact on my life, personal improvement is not always enough motivation for me to dutifully practice each one. But it’s so much more than that. Doing each of the things above brings me into a deeper relationship with God which in turn allows me to be more sensitive the Holy Spirit and therefore more able to be used by God to fulfill the Great Commission.
It’s not just working at a computer at Gospel For Asia that helps to plant churches. If I neglect my relationship with the Lord, I won’t make it here. The way I spend my time and guard my thoughts are just as important so that I remain close to the Lord and able to be used by Him to save people from an eternity in Hell.
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