God's call to Missions

-


This past week and weekend I was blessed to participate in the Missions Get Together 2024 in Brentwood, Tennessee. About 550 women from all over the state gathered to be encouraged, strengthened, and equipped in our walk with God. Numerous breakouts, corporate worship, updates from missionaries, and our keynote speaker all worked together along with fellowship with ladies from my church and others to make it a special time. 

Our keynote speaker was Brenda Croston and she spoke on 1 Peter 4:7-11 ESV - The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies--in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

At the last talk, Brenda said she wanted us to be careful that when we serve God we are not doing it for God, but from God. At first, that may sound strange, but as I thought about it, and as she explained, it became clear. She was talking about our tendency as Christians to be so busy doing "God's work" for Him, that we forget that we can't accomplish His purposes fully unless the Holy Spirit is working through us.

Ouch! That is a struggle. I am constantly looking for ways to serve God and stay busy with a variety of ministries. It is a challenge to make sure I am not going before Him or without Him, but letting Him lead the way. One of the keys I've found is to cover the work in prayer.

Bathing His work in prayer helps me remember to lay things down and trust God to do the work however He sees fit. It's far too easy to get caught up in my desires and expectations for whatever the work is, and forget that being obedient to His call is what He expects of me and the rest is on Him.

As I share ministry ideas with you, I hope that it will encourage you and stir your mind and heart to look at the great things that God is doing. You may or may not be stirred to participate in the same ministries as you pray and let God lead you to the things He wants to do through you. 1 Peter 4:10 bears repeating: "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another . . . " Each of God's people has been gifted. What are your gifts and how is God leading you?

Keep in mind that through the years God may bring out different gifts or add to your gifts as He has new directions He wants to point you in. Be open to His guidance. For example, though I have always been creative, God didn't guide me into writing until I was almost fifty! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of The Designated Valentine by Drew Taylor

-
Image
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In The Designated Valentine Drew Taylor weaves past and present together to gradually reveal how Karoline and Mason went from long time best friends to enemies to love. This is a sweet, clean romantic comedy that doesn’t overdo the comedy and only contains kissing, though it does discuss the battle with attraction the main characters have and how they want to be careful because of their faith. Drew includes a warning at the beginning of the book that there is also some mention of alcohol as this book deals with a past addiction. Drinking is not promoted. Both Karoline and Mason think they’ve matured since they last spoke three years before, but they still have room to grow and as a reader I enjoyed my front row seat to see that growth. It’s a great representation of the battles we often face in relationships of all kinds — some from our misperceptions of who we are because of things people in our lives have said or done, and some because we struggle to forgive thinking the o
Read more

Bringing Christ to Christmas Gift Giving

-
Image
What better way to put Christ back into Christmas than to give Christ centered gifts! When our first child had his first Christmas we decided to give only 3 gifts as a reminder that Jesus received 3 gifts from the wisemen. Each gift had a category: want, need, and spiritual. As the children have gotten older and are adults, the want and need often overlap.  There have been so many benefits from this. Limiting the gifts has been great at keeping the focus more on Christ. Rather than spending this season figuring out what they want, our children's focus has been freed up for other things. They are actually often at a loss, because gifts for themselves are not their top priority. It has been a benefit for us as parents, not just financially, because we don't have to stress out about getting them the perfect gift.  Another special benefit is getting to search for something to help them in their spiritual walk. Through the years the availability of Christ centered things has grown a
Read more

FOS 1- Fruit of the Spirit Bible Study - Intro

-
Image
My granddaughter recently had her first birthday. The day after her party, my daughter gave her the Bitty Baby doll that my mother-in-law had given my daughter for her first birthday. It was a huge hit! A mixture of joy and seriousness came over my granddaughter as she simultaneously loved on her "new" baby and tried to figure out how to take care of her. My husband and I had given her a doll stroller for Bitty Baby and she put her baby in it and started strolling her around the house like it was her job. She checked in every few minutes with her baby, and, even though it was nap time, she pushed her around for forty-five minutes. I think she would have kept going if we hadn't told her it was nap time. What a blessing to behold the delight and joy of a child! In my recent newsletter, I spoke about  love . Above I mentioned  joy . Those happen to be the first two characteristics listed as the fruit of the Spirit.  Galatians 5:22-23 ESV But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
Read more