God's Mission

Do you know what God's mission is? Do you know what your purpose is? Shouldn't they inter-relate?
How do you look at the Bible? As an instruction manual full of good advice on life issues? And is missions just one added issue that we have to juggle? No. Missions is THE thing.
God is on mission and you are called to be a part of it.
The Great Commission does not begin at the end of Matthew 28:18-20, it begins in the beginning.
If the Garden of Eden was "perfect", why was Satan there?
Gen 1:28 "Be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth." God is telling a sinless man and woman to leave the garden of delights and subdue the earth. ("subdue" is a warfare term meaning to take it over and occupy.)

Eden was not perfect, it was the first battle field. The first Adam was defeated in the garden. He had all his needs met and yet they disobeyed God "not Your will but MINE be done".
The "second Adam", Jesus, goes into another battle, yet not in a garden, but in a desert where none of his needs are met. In fact, he has fasted for 40 days. But Jesus wins this battle and Satan flees when He obeys! The ultimate battle is in another garden, the Garden of Gethsemane where "not my will, but YOURS be done" and his obedience becomes the victory for all mankind.
We are in a battle with evil.
Are you called to retreat back to the comfort of Eden? No! You can never retreat. God did not create us to live a safe life in this world even though our flesh constantly cries out for it.

Then we see the Great Commission we are all familiar with:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded. I am with you always to the very end of the age." Matt 28:19-20

Once again we see a call to leave our security and go out and obey. We are to be doers of the Word.
Our mission is just the same mission as Adam had (and failed at) and Jesus had (and succeeded at) which is: to push back the forces of evil and darkness by our obedience.
The Christian life is all about pushing back the darkness.

We grow in our relationship with God while we're on this mission. We grow closest to those we go through war with. Churches implode when we forget the call of the believer is to do battle against the enemy, not one another. Jesus stepped into hell so he could pull others out of it. It takes us stepping into the ugly to find what we were created to do. Ultimate joy comes from doing that which seems most absurd; leaving our comfort to bring someone else comfort.

We are in a battle to save souls from the darkness of enemy territory.
This is your mission if you choose to accept it.

So this begs the question: are you living in your own type of Eden thinking it's perfect and safe, thinking you've really got it made and found your purpose. I guarantee you, by the authority of God's Word, that you have not found true joy and satisfaction in a life of comfort and security. We were made to find our ultimate high from rescuing lost people out of the darkness into God's marvelous light!

I was so wonderfully convicted by this evening's message! God loving and tenderly used it to help my blind eyes to see where I have been blind to my own faults. I do not feel any condemnation, only encouragement to get on board with what He is doing!
I'm reflecting on how homeschooling is a great way to raise up straight and righteous arrows to do battle against the enemy, or it can create a stagnant stench of self-righteous security that forgets there is a greater purpose. Without knowing it, we can teach our children to hide for cover instead of looking for opportunities to obey and be like our Lord, who came on the ultimate rescue mission. We need to keep our mission ever before us and we need one another to do this!

Is your home a place that is creating weapons for spiritual warfare or have you gotten off mission?
Is God's mission your mission?
Let's get back to pushing back the darkness and leading the way for our children to follow!

Patience with the Faults of Others

I love this wise advice from Francois Fenelon (1851). It can be applied to marriage or parenting...

"One must accustom one's self to look for little from men; it is the only way to avoid disappointment. One must take that which they are able to give, as we take from a tree the fruit it bears, though indeed some trees bear nothing but leaves and caterpillars. God bears with and waits patiently for imperfect men, and is not even repulsed by their resistance; we ought to imitate this loving patience, this merciful forbearance. It is only imperfection which is intolerant of what is imperfect; the more any one has advanced towards perfection, the more patiently and quietly he will bear with though not foster, the imperfections of others."

"We, who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself..." Romans 15:1-3a

Ouch! That hurts in a good way doesn't it? This really convicted me regarding my lack of patience with the faults and immaturity in my children. I need so much grace in this area! God, help us to be like you: full of merciful forbearance!
(This quote taken from "Dialogues of Fenelon Vol II" by Lamplighter Publishing.)

MY MISSION FIELD

Here's another thought from Nancy Campbell that blessed me, especially now that we aren't going to Africa to be official missionaries.

Matthew 9:37-38, "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest."

Do you sometimes hanker to be doing some great work for God? You feel as though you are wasting your life in your home. You would love to serve the Lord in some harvest field. Yes, it is true, the harvest is great and the laborers are few. But why are they few? Because mothers have not understood God's purpose.

Are you looking for an easy path in life in life or do you have a heart to serve God as a missionary? Dear mother, you are already a missionary. God has chosen your specific mission field for you. It is your home and family. You are employed by God to train laborers for His harvest field. You don't raise children and then send them to Bible College to prepare for service. You train them for God's service from the time they are little. They should be ready to labor in the harvest field when they come forth from your home.

Is a missionary's work easy? No, it takes sacrifice. Is motherhood easy? No, but it will be worthwhile. It takes everything you've got--all your resources of time, energy and strength--but you will influence nations. It takes sacrifice--many mothering days are exhausting and overwhelming--but you will receive the fruit of your labors and an eternal reward. It will take committed prayer and intercession, but your prayers will be answered. Remember, you are not on vacation; you are on the mission field!

Maybe God has only given you one laborer to prepare for Him--that is His plan for you. Maybe he has given you six, or even twelve! Wow, would twelve be too many? Jesus trained twelve disciples who impacted the world. Are you going to train laborers who "turn the world upside down"? (Acts 17:6) You are already in the midst of an important mission... so get to work!

The Life of Faith

Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason- a life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success int he world.
A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountain top experience after another, like soaring on eagles' wings, but a life of day-in, day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting. It is a faith that has been tried and proved and has withstood the test.

From My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, March 19

Blessed Inconveniences

2 Quotes from the book I'm currently reading by Elisabeth Elliot's A Path Through Suffering; Discovering the Relationship Between God's Mercy and Our Pain.

"We are not often called to great sacrifice, but daily we are presented with the chance to make small ones- a chance to make someone cheerful, a chance to do some small thing to make someone comfortable or contented, a chance to lay down our petty preferences or cherished plans. This probably requires us to relinquish something- our own convenience or comfort, our own free evening, our warm fireside, or even our habitual shyness or reserve or pride. My liberty must be curtailed, bound down, ignored (oh how the world hates this sort of thing! how our own sinful natures hate it!)- for the sake of the liberation of others.
'Every day we experience something of the death of Jesus, so that we may also show the power of the life of Jesus in these bodies of ours.' 2 Cor. 4:10"

"There is a subtle snare in self-improvement programs. We cannot make ourselves holy. But when we surrender ourselves to the Lord, learning day by day to treat all that comes to us with peace of soul and firm conviction that His will governs all, He will see to our growth in grace. He will so govern the events in our lives, down to the smallest detail, as to provide us the conditions which may make us fruitful. It is not for our sake but for the sake of others. The beauty of the flower is not for itself. It offers itself to God's sunshine and rain, gives its fragrance to any who pass by, but it must wither and die before the fruit can be produced.
Faith need never ask, "But what good did this do me?" Faith already knows that everything that happens fits into a pattern for good to those who love God. An inconvenience is always, whether we see it or not, a blessed inconvenience. We may rest in the promise that God is fitting together a good many more things than are any of our business. We need never see 'what good it did', or how a given trouble accomplishes anything. It is peace to leave it with Him, ask only that He do with me anything He wants, anywhere, anytime that God may be glorified."

Gotta Love Fenelon

I have a few precious devotional books by Francois Fenelon that I love. He was a spiritual mentor to believers during the reign of Louis the 14th. Here's a sampling of his wisdom for you....

TO PREFER LOVE AND HUMILITY TO LEARNING.

People cannot become perfect by dint of hearing or reading about perfection. The chief thing is not to listen to yourself, but silently to listen to God; to renounce all vanity, and apply yourself to real virtues; to talk little, and to do much, without caring to be seen. God will teach you much more than all the most experienced persons and all the most spiritual books. Do you need to be so learned in order to know how to love God and deny yourself for His love? You know much more of good than you practice. You have much less need of gaining fresh knowledge than of putting in practice that which you have already acquired.

From Dialogues of Fenelon Vol 1, Lamplighter Publishing

My Utmost for His Highest

If I could recommend 1 thing to start doing this year on a daily basis it would be to read "My Utmost for His Highest" during your time with God every day. If you've never read it before, it's a daily devotional that gives you a little page to read every day but it is packed with a PUNCH! It is amazing how just systematically reading through the Scriptures as well as reading a book like this can be a useful tool for God to speak to you personally. For example, here are a few quotes from the past few days that spoke to me....

From January 1:"'My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest- my best for His glory.' To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn't know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point- He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only- my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone."

See what I mean. With the idea of moving to Africa in the forefront our my mind, words like this are pure inspiration! Are you giving your best for His glory? The battle is in the will, once we surrender our will to God it doesn't really matter what He does with us. Here is what spoke to me from January 2:

" One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, 'What do you expect to do?' The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to 'go out' (referring to Abraham) in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don't know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to 'go out', building your confidence in God.
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do- He reveals to you who He is.
Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to 'go out' in dependence upon God."

See what I mean. He packs a punch. I love it.

In the School of the Ordinary

"It requires the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God- but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people- and this is not learned in five minutes."

My Utmost for His Highest, Oct 21, Oswald Chambers

Sometimes it is very tempting to want to do GREAT things for God but it is in the hidden seasons of life that he does a work in my heart. This is the training ground, the training in self-denial, in death of self and the detoxing of idols. Staying home and wiping bottoms, scrubbing floors, making dinner, this is the stuff of which servants are made of. "He who is greatest among you must be the servant of all." Remember that in God's kingdom everything is a paradox. The weak are strong, the poor are rich, the servant is greatest. So be content to be nothing. Be content to be a servant. "He who is faithful in small things I will put in charge of many things." Be content to be a mommy.

Slowing Down the Speed of Life

The Lord has impressed upon me the need to slow down and enjoy it all. Do you ever stop and think "Why am I hurrying to save time? What am I going to do with the time I save that's oh so important?" It's perfectly good to want to accomplish a lot in a day, but not at the expense of losing my temper, or not being thankful for the work I do. Usually I'm trying to get through my housework (like cleaning the kitchen) so that in another hour I can make a mess of it again and have to clean it again. Why don't I just slow down and enjoy cleaning the kitchen? It's my life. Housework is my life. I've got 6 (messy) children and a (messy) husband (who I love) and I had better just embrace the fact that I'm going to be cooking and cleaning till the day I die! I can enjoy it or live in denial, but one way or the other it's what I do.
While I was doing the laundry the other day I was thinking about how God made me to be creative and enjoy beautiful things. He has also given me a home and family to care for. Why don't I put these together and make an art of homemaking to the glory of God? I can clean my children's clothes with a loving heart to the glory of God (instead of saying "Well I cleaned the laundry, the least you could do is fold it!) I can make bread, yogurt, and cheese at home with my children by my side enjoying the fruit of doing it ourselves (remember, we're not in a hurry anymore). I can grow vegetables and flowers and work outside enjoying the hard work and the bounty that we produce as co-laborers with the Creator. I can sit outside in the hammock and read stories to my children under the big walnut tree (if spring ever gets here) and know that I'm investing in what really matters...relationships (which you can't hurry). Do you get the picture? So slow down with me enjoy everything you have to do. It's all a gift.

Living with Purpose

Last night we attended a couples gathering with all the daughter church congregations together under one roof. It was great! Gregg & Sono Harris (our church founders) spoke on "Mission vs. Maintenance". It was very encouraging and I wanted to write down some of my notes from the evening and share them with you.
What is God's purpose for my life?
THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT: "Love God..and love your neighbor"
THE GREAT COMMISSION: "Go and make disciples"
All of my life's goals/mission/purpose should hang from these commandments.

"But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more (in loving one another), and to make it your ambition to live a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody." (1 Thess. 4:10-12)

I need to live a life full of good routines. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Our lifestyles are intended to be beautiful and to provide an alternative to the world's insanity. I should make it my ambition to lead a quiet life. This doesn't mean that my life will always be quiet, but that it is my ambition for it to be so.
Our family life should be full of mission and routine maintenance. As a homeschool mom I need to remember that training and discipling my children is part of the great commission. Don't think that God's work is out reaching the nations and not right in front of me.
If my life has no mission and no maintenance = Rust out
If my life is all maintenance and no mission = Hide out
If my life is all mission and no maintenance = Burn out
But if my life is Great mission & routine maintenance = Work out

I should work out so hard that I can hardly do it. Then back off and rest. It is a rhythm of exertion and rest, exertion and rest. There are times of intense mission that require intense rest to recover as well as seasons of life that are more "action packed" than others.
We were asked what quadrant we are living in. Everyone wants to say "work out" but is that really what's taking place in your own life and your family's life? We were exhorted to take our home's temperature. Are we speaking loving words to each other? Do we perform tasks and acts of service with patience and kindness? Or are we agitated, bickering, fault-finding, critical and harsh with one another? We cannot perform our mission if we first are not filled with God's love flowing from our personal time with Him. Nothing will work right if we are coming to our families and our world as empty vessels. We need to have something to offer and that requires "loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."

The evening made me analyze what we are doing that fits our mission and what needs to go. It's important for us to remember that we are heading into a season of maintenance with a baby coming. We need to back off on a lot of the mission we've been pouring ourselves into in order not to burn out. It's important for us to not only purge our home of the unnecessary items that clutter our lives, but also the unnecessary activities that either do not line up with our life's purpose or with the season we are entering. We are entering into a time of hibernation of sorts when lots of rest and recuperation is taking place and not a lot of activity. But, watch out world, because when our time of maintenance is past we will be hitting the ground running with another Knifong to be a part of the team!

I hope this post has encouraged you to think through what your family is all about. What are you doing to accomplish your mission? What are you doing to stay refreshed and energized? Don't rust out, burn out or hide out...WORK OUT! Life will never be so fulfilling!

Content but not Complacent

Contentment 1. The state of being happy enough with what one has or is; not desiring something more or different; satisfied.

Complacency 1. self-satisfaction; smugness.

Phil. 4:11-14 "I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and i know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

1 Tim. 6:6-7 "There is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."

Is there something about your life you wish were different? Do you wish you had a different house, a different husband, a different child....? If you're human than I'm sure you won't have to think long and hard to find something you wish were different about your life. I'm seeing it very clearly in people around me and I just realized that I've got the same issue....contentment. Being a first born, task-oriented person I never want to become complacent. In fact, it's impossible for me to be complacent. I have this inner drive to always do better and not settle for middle ground. This can be a good quality if you don't run over people in the process. I realize though that I also must experience a restfulness that comes from knowing I'm in the center of where God wants me. Paul encourages us to both strive and strain towards the goal to which God has called us heavenward as well as to be content in every situation. This is a challenging balance to strike without being yoked to Jesus.
This week in Bible Study Fellowship we are studying Matthew Chapter 11 and at the end of it Jesus speaks of taking his yoke upon our necks and learning from him. But his yoke is supposed to be easy and light, not burdensome and heavy. I am to find rest for my soul while I am in the center of God's will. So, if I'm not experiencing rest in my soul or if my life feels very burdensome than I am not yoked to Jesus.
I talked with a friend this week who is struggling to live in a bad neighborhood where she hears her neighbor beating his girlfriend and there are meth houses all around them. She longs to live in the country like me. I, long to live in Africa like my friends the Allens and right now the Allens would love to be back in America and go to Red Robin for dinner and not have poverty always staring them in the face! Maybe we should all play "musical houses" and switch for a few months! (Just kidding.) The answer is not in changing our circumstances, but in loving and trusting Jesus to be all-sufficient for us. I think of Martha who was so busy in the kitchen working to impress Jesus with a great meal that she missed out on being with him!
So, what I think God is trying to tell me through his word, through friends and experiences, is that THIS is where he wants me and THIS is what he wants me doing. It is always going to be tempting to jump over the season of life I'm in to get to a more exciting season "where the action is". But as a wise woman from our church said to me today, "if you skip a season you will spend the next one regretting it". It does take the strength of Christ to be content. Let us lean on him and let him pull the weight until we can walk in a satifying peace knowing he knows best.

Free to Be You and Me

(I apologize for the length of this post, but if you stick with me, I think you will see the value of discussing this topic. Please comment!)
I wanted to post about "choices". If you've read my blog for very long, you will probably have come across choices in lifestyle that are very different from your own. I want you to know that even though it is tempting to think our choices are the "right" way of doing things we truly do not believe that is so. Listen to these fabulous verses from Jeremiah:
"This is what the Lord says:
'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth for in these I delight,' declares the Lord." (9:23-24)

I do not want to boast in anything but what God has done for me by making me his adopted child through the payment of the blood of his very own Son. How you spend your money, your time, where your children go to school, if you eat organic or at McDonald's, whether you drink wine or water, (dare I say) how you vote, or choose to have no children or a brood...It's all a matter of liberty. I will give you the freedom to be you and I hope you will give me the freedom to be me.

Under the Lordship of Christ we all have liberty to live as we believe is most pleasing to Him. "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13). Our liberty is not freedom to serve ourselves only, but to pursue our highest joy in God by loving one another. We have no liberty to do what the Bible defines as sin.

"All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify" (1 Cor. 10:23). When we find that a sister in Christ differs with us on how to best use her liberty, we are not to condemn her. Paul asks, "Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls;" (Rom. 14:5). We must wait to see what the "fruit" will be.

The "Liberty Garden"
Each Christian’s life-style is like a garden which belongs to the Lord. Though God demands good fruit from every garden, He gives each gardener liberty to "plant" and to "weed" as he believes will bear the most fruit. Over time, the cumulative effect of each gardener’s decisions will produce a "harvest" either of glory or of regret. It is this "fruit" that will justly vindicate or indict each gardener’s use of his own liberty.

In this simple analogy, each Christian’s life-style is like a garden which, it must always be remembered, rightfully belongs to the Lord. God demands good fruit from the liberty garden of every Christian life. However, in order to help us grow in maturity and wisdom, He has chosen to give us real liberty and discretion to "plant" and to "weed" as we believe will bear the most fruit for His glory. The goal of every decision as to what we choose to cultivate and what we choose to eliminate must always be to bear a greater harvest of what is pleasing to God.



I have to admit it is a constant struggle for me to let others "love God and do as you please" (Augustine). But I think of these verses to remind myself who the real Judge is and to leave that business to Him.

"There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you- who are you to judge your neighbor?" (James 4:12) "Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgement seat." (Romans 14:10) I encourage you: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139:23-24)Let all of us pray to become more meek and humble towards our fellow men as we follow Jesus.

So let us spur one another on towards love and good deeds and experience the freedom to follow Jesus wherever He may lead us. We need to be in prayer for one another as we follow Him on difficult and different paths. To God be the glory!