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A Second Chance

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Are you in a spiritual crisis? At some time or another, most people come to a place of crisis in their faith. Maybe you used to be on fire; you were excited about Jesus Christ; you were joyful; you loved talking about the Lord.

Then, like a slow leak in a tire, you began to lose momentum. The joy disappeared; and the fire fizzled out. Now youre settling for a mediocre existence, and the last thing you think about is evangelism!

Does any of that describe what youre going through? If so, dont despair – there is hope for change! The answer is found in Romans 12:1&2. In this passage, Paul urges believers to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy, pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”

What does this look like? It means you come to the Lord. You confess to Christ where youre at. You fall on your face and present yourself as a living sacrifice to God. Its a re-commitment, in a sense, of your life to Christ.

And then, as Romans goes on to tell us, Jesus begins transforming your mind and heart so that you desire what He desires. His passions become your passions. His priorities become your priorities – including Christs heart for the lost.

God’s Grace

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The apostle Paul risked everything for the sake of spreading the Good News. In the book of Acts he says, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of Gods grace.”

Later, in II Corinthians, Paul says that “Christs love compels us.” Thats why he was risking life and limb, reputation and sickness, hunger and discomfort, to spread the message of Jesus Christ all over the world.

Well, thats fine for Paul, you might think. But Im certainly not called like that. It may be true that not all of us are called to travel to the furthest corners of the earth to share the Good News. But each person is called to testify about the grace of God thats changed our lives. Jesus commands it!

Paul was always aware that he was nothing without Christs love and forgiveness. Its what compelled and motivated him to speak of the Savior until his dying breath. Are you and I that overwhelmed with Gods grace?

If not, maybe its time to ask God to remind you how Hes changed your life. That revelation can be a great motivation to speak His truth to your world!

Where and Why Should We Go?

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I truly believe that God talks through mothers. In my youth, I was waiting for my personal call from God, that moment when the Lord would tell me that evangelism would be my lifes work. Finally, my exasperated mother reminded me that “the call” was made 2000 years ago, and that the Lord was just waiting for my answer. She was right as usual.

Dr. Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade, once said that “an effective witness is someone who takes the initiative to present the claims of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit- and leaves the results to God.”

As Christians, were all in the missions field. Some of us will travel to distant, often dangerous lands, but most of us will find people hungering for the Good News much closer to home. Either way, we stand in the gap, living out and proclaiming our faith and leaving the rest up to God.

The Apostle Paul was historys greatest missionary, taking the Gospel to much of the known world before planes, trains and automobiles. As he told the Corinthians, “we are speaking for Christ, as though God Himself were making his appeal through us.” That is our task as missionaries, as Ambassadors for Christ, wherever we are.

Just As We Are

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As believers we know that God expects us to share the Good News of His love and eternal salvation with others. Some people step out on faith and take Gods word to the world as missionaries. Most Christians never take that step, either in the belief that God is sovereign and doesnt need our help, or – more likely – because we feel we lack the gifts of evangelism.

The truth is that God doesnt care about how gifted or talented or good looking we might be – He only cares that we are obedient. In the early 1900s a young, uneducated parlor maid named Gladys Aylward felt called to preach the Gospel in China. Too poor for the ship fare, she traveled overland by train, then bus, then mule, ending up in the city of Yangchen where no one had ever seen a European.

Over the next two decades and through World War II she shared the love of Christ through tireless service to the Chinese people. Her remarkable story is remembered through books and the movie “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.”

Whatever our gifts or status in life, God wants us in the missions field, bringing Good News, just as we are. If you have a story about reaching your world as a missionary we would love to hear it. Please drop me a note at radio@palau.org.

The Harvest Great, the Workers Few

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Our Lord Jesus saw much suffering as he traveled from town to village during his brief time on earth. “The harvest is large,” He told His disciples,”but there are few workers to gather it in.”

David Livingston, one of historys greatest missionaries, decided at the age of six that he would work for the Lords harvest in Africa. A doctor, a scientist, and explorer, he spent his life in Africa in Gods service. “I have seen the smoke of a thousand villages,” he said,”where the word of God has never been.”

The world today remains filled with villages, towns and cities that hunger to hear the Good News. As we Christians grow in our faith, we just cant keep the Good News to ourselves. Jesus gave us the Great Commission in Matthew 28: “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples.”

God doesnt ask us for heroic actions like those of David Livingston – only that we be obedient and find our own place in the world to be ambassadors for Christ.

I once met a Peruvian lady in, of all places, a reception hosted by the Royal Family in England. She told me she was in Great Britain for one reason – to harvest British souls for Christ!

The Lord had led her halfway around the world because the harvest was great and the workers were few.