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!

Producers not consumers

One of the ideas I want my children to understand is that they are to be producers not consumers. A producer is someone who figures out a way to make something with their time, talents and resources while a consumer just looks for someone else to do the hard work for them.

Since moving out to our 3 acre farm I've helped my daughters think of ways they could generate income for the family without having to leave home. There are always opportunities if we can only see them! I want them to be good stewards of their blessings and that includes coming up with ways to bless others who don't have the resources we have.

In the past they grew organic vegetable starts for missions and called it "Sister Starts". They became the "Granola Girls" at our local farmer's market and bought a goat with the money. For 2 years they have breed Holland Lop rabbits to have money to give to Bible Translation (their blog "Bunnies for Bibles"). All this while they've been collecting chicken eggs, growing huge gardens, and now milking a goat to provide our family with good food. They are learning the skills to run a home business, save money, produce healthy and helpful products, generate income and bless the world! It is really fun to see them at it! Their latest venture is to put their animal knowledge out on the web to help other children care for their animals. Their new website that is in the beginning stages is called HappyBarnyard.com. They are excited about learning how to communicate their passions to others. We learned about LillaRose hair clips and now my girls sell them online to generate more money to give to widows and orphans through Voice of the Martyrs. There's no end to what you can do from home!

What interests or skills do your children have? What could you encourage them in learning and becoming proficient at? What resources do you have that others do not? A greenhouse, a power washer, yarn, sewing machine, axe, musical instruments...put them to use for building a business and blessing others. This Christmas, buy your children tools instead of toys. Become a producing family and experience the satisfaction and joy!

parts of Proverbs 31: 13-27

She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

She gets up while it is still dark;

She sets about her work vigorously;

her arms are strong for her tasks.

She sees that her trading is profitable,

and her lamp does not go out at night.

She opens her arms to the poor

and extends her hands to the needy.

She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

She makes linen garments and sells them

She watches over the affairs of her household and

does not eat the bread of idleness.

Bringing in the Sheaves

Tonight we started to harvest our first crop of wheat! It was a beautiful night with a red sunset too. The girls have decided to make wheat bouquets for harvest decorations for $10 or 2 for $15 with all proceeds going to feed the children at an orphanage in Uganda. So if you'd like to grace your mantel or table with some beautiful grain, let us know!

Book Recommendation

I just finished reading "Bruchko" by Bruce Olsen to the girls and I can't stop thinking about it. It's not a children's book, but a very facinating missionary story that I decided they were old enough to enjoy. WOW. Can I say that again, WOW. It's about the most amazing missions story I've ever heard of. Where has this book been? It was written the year I was born and I've never heard of it until doing this missions curriculum with my girls! It's the kind of story that only God could perform because the odds, the sacrifice, the long-suffering is too intense to have been accomplished without His help. It is inspiring but also sobering. I realize that the path to knowing Jesus is through sharing in his sufferings and quite honestly, I don't want to hear that. Bruce Olsen ,"Bruchko" the savage Columbian indian tribe called him, changed an entire civilization and has received lots of glory but also had to suffer much. I won't give any more away, just read it.

Wonderful Missionary Stories!

I purchased "The Pineapple Story Series" for my family for Christmas from a recommendation by our missionary friends in Zambia. They said they were "life changing" and so I figured $26 was a cheap way to change our lives. They were not joking! It's a set of 15 stories on like 10 CD's from a retired missionary to Papua New Guinea. He is SOOOOO funny and charming to listen to and his stories of how God worked in spite of him will blow you away! Stories of faith, trust, surrender, money, miracles....We love them, my older children love them, so I had to share about it with you. "Mom, can we listen to a pineapple story?" (Age interest: 8+, but most relevant for adults.)
Purchase a set here.

Jesus Stocking

We've stopped doing stockings as a family because they typically are filled with unnecessary small items that drive me crazy (imagine 20x4=80 things to pick up after!). But I've come up with a use for one of them...the Jesus Stocking!
We were going to have the girls keep a Shepherd's Pouch of their money they saved up to give as a birthday gift to Jesus on Christmas Eve, but I've decided to do this instead. The idea is that anyone in the family can slip bills or change into the stocking during advent and it will remain a mystery how much is inside until we empty it on Jesus birthday and decide what He would want us to do with it! The girls have been pouring over the Gospel For Asia Gift Catalog for weeks now imagining what they can buy for the poor. It truly takes their eyes off of what they want for Christmas. All they think about is how they could earn more money to give away. We could buy a sewing machine to give a woman a trade in India, buy a missionary a bicycle, chicks or goats for a starving family...the possibilities are endless. It's what brings us the most joy this time of year!!! Give it a try. I've got extra GFA or World Vision Gift Catalogs or you can request one at their website. www.gfa.org or www.WorldVision.org (We prefer Gospel for Asia since all money goes directly to the need and none to operating expenses and therefore the gifts are less expensive.)

Be Generous and Willing to Share

We had so much fun this afternoon taking blankets the girls and I had made to Pregnancy Resource Center. (Those fleece ones that you cut and tie into knots around the perimeter.) The girls also gave all the money they've been saving from selling chicken eggs this winter. The ladies at PRC were very grateful for our delivery!

Command those who are rich in this present world not to put their hope in wealth but..to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
1 Timothy 6:17-18

We took care of our neighbor Julie's dogs this afternoon. Roxie took the girls for a run around our farm!

Sharing the Good News!

Here are the girls in front of our home preaching the gospel! This was all their idea after seeing a man in Sandy holding up a sign that read "Jesus is God Incarnate". Whenever they have a spare moment they are out there. They get honked at, waves and dirty looks and they love it. I hope they are as much of an inspiration to you as they are to me.

2 Corinthians 5:20-21
"We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin (Jesus) to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."