2009 – Day 316.Nov 13 – Disappointing Results

Passage for Study: Acts 14: 1 - 20 … Linked for your study …

My Journal for Today: As we read in this Acts 14 passage as well as other accounts in the mission/ministry of the Paul, the converted Apostle didn’t experience missionary success everywhere he went. Certainly in this account, Paul was stoned and left for death because of his preaching. Rejection was often his close companion.

Swindoll also recounts the life of a dedicated missionary, James Gilmore, who is quoted by Pastor Chuck after years of missionary work to tribal peoples of Mongolia to have no converts. He came to Mongolia with great hope and enthusiasm; but by all worldly standards of ministry (i.e., the number of converts), after YEARS, there were none. And Swindoll uses the Acts 14 account, as well as the story about Brother Gilmore, to illustrate that missionary or ministry work should not be for the faint of heart.

When a couple of days ago I wrote, “God’s calling is God’s enablement,” I wasn’t saying that God will call you to the mission field or into a personal ministry and then make your success the head-count of souls or the numbers of people who flock into your ministry. Head counts are often the world’s way of measuring the success of His calling. When Pastors gather, one of the oft asked questions is “How big is your church?” But those sorts of data gathering methods are man’s way of seeing success … NOT GOD’S.

Take it from someone who, about 15 years ago, was called to found and build a ministry to help Christians walk free from habitual sexual sin. And at that time – as it is now – the field of ministry was “white unto harvest.” With over 50% of Christian men and over 25% of Full-time Ministers deeply hooked on porn, damaging their ability to be a husband or a father, or to have any power in personal ministry, I thought God would see hundreds, if not thousands, of men convicted and redirected to fruitfulness as Christians by coming into and through BattlePlan Ministries. >>> Well, after those 15+ years, there have been a number whose lives have been brought from sexual addiction to an abiding and productive relationship with Christ. However, the ministry of Satan in this area seems to be growing so, so much faster than the lives which Battle Plan Ministry touches – or all the ministries like ours in the country for that matter. Sometimes, I feel like God has led me to the task of trying to empty an ocean with a tea spoon.

But I’m not called to save the world. That’s God’s job. I’m not called to convict and redirect the lives of all sinners. I’m just called to be available, vulnerable, accountable, and ready to serve any Christian who comes to Battle Plan Ministry for help. And if I get discouraged or disheartened by encountering and being turned back by Satan’s super-weapons of sexual warfare, I would become no use to God in going up against Satan’s best or the world’s warfare.

My friend, … if you have a calling from God, the task may seem overwhelming. But rather than becoming discouraged by numbers or the lack of same, be like Abraham or Moses or Gideon or Nehemiah and just go, following God’s calling to do God’s work. Go with God and for God; and let God be God, remembering (and here it comes again), YOU ARE NOT! God is the One Who produces the “head count.” We do what we’re called to do, doing, to the best of our ability, what HE has called us to do, … no more, … no less. And we, who are called, if we are truly doing all we can do, must accept the harvest to be God’s.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me not to be into counting; but rather into commitment. Amen

2009 – Day 310.Nov 07 – Press On

Passage for Study: Acts 12: 25, 13:5, 13: 13 - 15 … Acts 12 – 13 Linked for study …

My Journal for Today: Though we’re studying Paul’s ministry and movements in the Book of Acts, it was Paul’s words in Phil. 3: 14 which succinctly summarize what today’s message is all about. To the church at Philippi, Paul wrote, ”I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

In today’s passages, there was a point in their travels in Asia Minor, in what we now know as Turkey, that the companion assistant, John Mark, for whatever reason, decided to go back to Jerusalem. But Paul and Barnabas didn’t let that deter them from their called missionary journey. They pressed on!

Today, Chuck Swindoll points to a reality that we all face in our upward calling to/for Christ (see Acts 1: 8 and Matt. 28: 19-20); and that is we often face Satan’s weapon of discouragement. Here were Barnabas and Paul in a strange land; and historians tell us that somewhere, about this time, Paul came down with a severe illness, likely malaria or some semi-tropical disease. And then there was John Mark taking a hike on them. But what did they do? They pressed on just as Paul wrote about later in Phil. 3: 14.

It’s easy when we’re out there in the world, trying our best to live and witness our faith. In case you haven’t noticed, the world is becoming ever more hostile to any who stand for Christ. I know you’re probably saying sarcastically, “Duh, Bill, really?” And then there’s the discouragement of people, maybe even dear friends, who backslide or even abandon their previously declared faith. Satan has a way of buffeting us with circumstances which can bring us down into discouragement or even situational depression. And it is often tempting to just cut and run; but then the truth from Paul, quoted above, rings with conviction in our hearts. We simply must “press on toward the goal,” having been given the calling to stand for our Lord, to shine His light through our good and Godly works so that our Father in Heaven will be glorified. [I’ll bet some of you are already quoting Matt. 5: 16 here right, aren’t you? ;) ].

My Prayer for Today: Lord, we all, as your called ones, need Your strength to bolster us when Satan comes against us with discouragement. Help us to press on for Your calling. Amen