Jun 17, 2010
In class today with Troy, we were going through chapters 5 and 6 of True Discipleship by William MacDonald, I was reminded of what I wrote about in a previous post. We were in chapter 6 where William writes about faith, and how it’s based on promises from God’s Word. Here’s the section that really stuck out to me:
“Now true faith is always based on some promise of God, some portion of His Word. This is important. The believer first reads or hears some promise of the Lord. The Holy Spirit takes that promise and applies it to his heart and conscience in a very personal way. The Christian becomes aware that God has spoken to him directly. With utter confidence in the trustworthiness of the One who has promised, he rekons the promise as sure as if it were already fulfilled, even though, humanly speaking, it is impossible. Or perhaps it is a commandment rather than a promise. To faith, there is no difference. If God commands, He enables.”
How awesome is that?! It seems like every message that I hear, and every time I read from the Word, this message sticks out to me. Last Saturday, I led a house devotion in James chapter 2 where it talks about “Faith without works is dead.” How true is that? If God tells us to do something, and we trust and believe that He will enable us to do what He’s asked, then it’d be almost like slapping God in the face if we don’t do it.
I’m not saying that I don’t do this every day, because I do, I’m just asking…. why? Why do we let our flesh get in the way of acting on our faith in God? Is it because we don’t have enough faith in God and don’t trust Him? Do we find what He’s asking us to do foolish? I hate how I usually fall into that trap of not trusting or putting my faith in God, but more on my own human understanding and perspective of situations.
God knows all, sees all, loves all, and has the most perfect plan for us if only we would believe and follow without question. I’m glad that God is convicting me of this personality defect of mine, and I pray and know that He will continue to drive it out of me. I’m just glad He doesn’t give up on me when I say “I know that you’ll be with me God, and I know that with You here I can do this, but I just don’t feel like it right now, how about later?”
God is good, patient, gracious, and merciful, and I love Him so much for that. He is awesome!
Anyway… thanks for letting me rant for a bit 🙂
Please like and share this post:
Jun 15, 2010
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” – 2 Timothy1:7
Recently, I have been reading through the book of Joshua in my quiet times. I really like Joshua because it seems as though God is always telling him not to be afraid, be strong and courageous, or I am with you whereever you go. Which really hits home for me. I can’t count how many times I will be in a situation that I have NO clue what I’m doing, or how I’m going to get through. So, while reading the book of Joshua, and having 2 Timothy 1:7 memorized, God always reminds me that He is with me. He will provide the wisdom and guidance and words to say in any situation if I ask it of Him in faith.
I don’t have to be afraid of ANYTHING because God is looking out for me every moment of every day. I don’t have to worry about the future, because God had a plan for me before I was even formed in my mother’s womb. I don’t have to focus on the negative, becuase I am a child of God, and I have Romans 8:28 to fall back on with the promise that ALL things work for the good of those who love God.
God is so good! He has provided promises for us to fall back on when things seem like they are getting worse, when in reality, God has it under control, and all we have to do is trust Him and go along for the ride.
Please like and share this post:
Jun 6, 2010
Like one of my fellow students posted about earlier, we had the opportunity to go evangelizing in a park not too long ago. We went two by two, and trusting in the Lord to direct our paths. This time, I decided to take my guitar along with me so that I could play it and draw people over towards me and my partner, and then we could engage them in conversations. Anyway, we got dropped off at this park, I was partnered with another fellow student, and we decided to go walk down the path to see if there were any people there. First, we see this older gentleman with a dog. He rejected the tract. So, our number one attempt was a fail, but hey, at least he knows we cared enough about him to try. So I’ll take it as a win in my book.
After that we decided to go by the entrance to the park to sit on the bench and I’d try my guitar tactic. It didn’t work…and it was a little awkward to be playing my guitar when there was a tennis court right behind us. So I packed up and we went walking again. The next three opportunities were a success, the people took the tracts! Praise God! Now that we had some successes, we decided to walk through the neighborhood to see if there was anyone outside their houses in the Texas heat.
We got a tad lost…so we headed in the general direction we thought the park was after no success with the neighborhood. When we were nearing the park, we saw a group of teens hanging out with a video camera. So we went up to them and started talking to them. It was a great conversation. After a while we got the chance to share about the School of Discipleship with them, and about India, and about Gospel for Asia. At the end, we gave them two free books and headed back to our rendezvous point so that we could go home.
This whole experience was exhilerating though! I was so excited that I got the chance to share with people about Jesus, and that for the most part, they listened! I was afraid at first that my fear of people would get in the way of me actually having a conversation with people, but God is good and gave me just enough courage and boldness to step out in faith and share. Praise God!
I love evangelizing now! When I go home, after I graduate in July, I plan on taking my brother with me to evangelize around my hometown in Pennsylvania. If God is with me here in Texas, I’m 100% positive He will be with me in PA.
God is good!
Please like and share this post:
Jun 6, 2010
One of my favorite things about Gospel For Asia is the prayer meetings. We have a prayer meeting every Tuesday night after work, every morning before work on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, Department prayer (The Volunteer department prayer is on Thursday mornings after morning prayer), and then my favorite…once a month we have a Friday all night prayer that goes from 6:30PM till 2:00AM.
It is so encouraging to pray for things that seem totally impossible from the world’s perspective, but when you pray in faith, believing that God has already answered it, and then later on hear about those very prayers being answered…man…it’s so awesome! God is good! So…my encouragement to you is: Keep praying! If you ask in faith, then believe that God will do it! Nothing is too hard or impossible for Him, just think about it. He created EVERYTHING, so how could it even be possible for Him not to do something else?
Please like and share this post:
Jun 4, 2010
In an earlier post I mentioned that I was initiated into the Volunteer Department via flying monkey attack. So I decided I’d share a bit more about what the Volunteer department is and what it does, and give a little bit more of an idea to you all about the opportunities we get wile working in the office. (this is off my very first newsletter, but I like what it says)
What the volunteer department does is work with all the different volunteers all throughout the country and finds events that those volunteers can set up a booth to share about the amazing opportunities Gospel For Asia has for them to be personally involved with reaching the lost in Asia. My job in the department is event manager for the Western and Central regions of the country.
So I find and register as a vendor for the different events, and then I work with the region managers for those regions to find the volunteers that can go to the events. I also make orders, so that the volunteers will have the materials they need from the free book, Revolution in World Missions, to ordering profiles, by shooting an email to the Fulfillment department, so people can sponsor the Bridge of Hope kids or a National Missionary.
When I first got to this department, I wasn’t quite sure why God placed me there. Why wasn’t He placing me somewhere that I actually knew what to do, like the video department, or the graphics department? Why the Volunteer department? But now I can plainly see why.
God is using the volunteer department to take me out of my comfort Zone, like He so frequently does, and is growing me in areas that I desperately needed growth and stretching. One example is getting me to not be afraid of the phone. He has made me realize that it’s not about me and what I’m not comfortable with. When I have to use the phone, I don’t think of how I am not comfortable with it. I think of how much of an impact that one phone call will have in reaching the lost in Asia. So I am very glad I am in the Volunteer department.
Please like and share this post:
Page 9 of 11« First«...891011»
Recent Comments