The Challenges and Assurance of Serving the Lord

When the Lord calls one to His service, one can be sure that there will be challenges and obstacles that will test their faith. There are times that one will feel like quitting or even question the purpose of their mission.

Few, if any, though ever quit because they realize that they are living their destiny. Although they cannot always understand why the calling is laced with so much turmoil they know that they are not alone and understand that they have the Lord’s covering. Scriptures shows of so many of the Lord’s servants who reached a point in their ministry that they felt they could not bear it anymore.

Many even questioned the purpose or value of their mission. Isaiah writes of the dilemma of the servant of the Lord caught up in doubt, “ I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain” Isaiah 49: 4. Yet this servant acknowledges that his worth and value lies with the Lord. He says, “Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, and my work with my God” Isaiah 49: 4.

Moses also became weary of serving the Lord after constantly being chided by those he was leading. He asked the Lord, “ Why have you afflicted your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them that you should say to me, ’carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which you swore to their fathers? Numbers 11: 11-13. Clearly Moses was exhausted and was finding it hard to fulfill his mission. This can happen to any servant of the Lord when you start looking at yourself and your ability than on the Lord.

Jeremiah too cried out to the Lord due to the pain he suffered as a result of his ministry. He said “ O Lord, you induced me and I was persuaded ; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; Everyone mocks me. For when I spoke , I cried out: I shouted , “violence and plunder !” Because the word of the Lords was made to me a reproach and a derision daily” Jeremiah 20: 7-8. In fact at one point Jeremiah wishes he was never born and says, “cursed be the day in which I was born!---why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my day should be consumed with shame?” Jeremiah 20: 14,18.

None of these servants quit because the hand of God was on them and they had a conviction of their calling and knew they could not get away from it. In the case of Jeremiah he says, “ Then I said, I will not mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name. But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not” Jeremiah 20: 9.

The Lord knows our limit and will not allow us to be tested beyond what we can endure. He always gives His servants a way out of the immediate suffering. In so doing He also assures them of His presence and defense. To the servant that Isaiah talks about he says, “ --- it is too small a thing that you should be My servant--- in an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you” Isaiah 49: 5,6,8.

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/431147_the-challenges-and-assurance-of-serving-the-lord#ixzz1JNDeg2RN

How to conduct effective ministry to people not of your cultural heritage

" In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him ---He is Lord of all" Acts 10:34,36.

The worship of God throughout the world is so diverse and is most of the time connected with a people’s culture. Many religions exist worldwide to sooth human’s deepest need for connection with the spiritual.  Christianity has been adopted and accepted as the true worship of God in many societies and ethnicities as it should because before ascension Jesus commissioned His disciples to go “and make disciples of all nations” Mathew 28:19.

Many missionaries have been faithful to this commission and have travelled to many lands to introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many have however taken their culture as opposed to the gospel and have caused more harm than good to the communities they have gone to. This is because they have gone with an attitude of superiority instead of humility. The missionary in this kind of scenario has belittled the culture of his hosts and has aimed at changing this culture to what the missionary perceive to be right based on the missionary’s own culture as opposed to preaching the gospel.

Read more at  http://www.bukisa.com/articles/263951_how-to-conduct-effective-ministry-to-people-not-of-your-cultural-heritage

Four Steps to personal success

The secret of getting what you want and wanting what you have is first learning how to be happy, loving, confident and peaceful regardless of your outer conditioning. Personal success comes from within and is achieved when you are able not only to be yourself but also to love yourself. It is feeling confident, happy and powerful in the process of doing what you want to do.  

If you are already happy and you know that you are not dependent on more money to be happy, greater wealth can make you happier but is not the condition for your happiness. The more you think that money is capable of making you happy the more you give away your power to be happy without it. In his book “How to get what you want and want what you have”, John Gray suggests the following four steps in achieving personal success;

Step one: Set your intention- Recognize where you are now and clearly see where you need to go to achieve the right balance of inner and outer success for you. In other words “be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” Romans 12:2. Ask God for the direction of your life.

http://socyberty.com/advice/four-steps-to-personal-success/ for full article.

What is your vision for the New Year?

Enlarge your house with glue

At the beginning of each year many of us have high hopes and dream of how things will be better. We make resolutions and set goals with the hope that they will come to pass. But many of the so called resolutions and goals are not met because while we are quick to make the resolution or goals we do not provide for the ways or means of achieving them. We do not set time frames and neither do we consider the challenges that we may encounter. If we did all these we would be better prepared to meet the challenges ahead and give our dreams the opportunity to come to pass.

Between your dream and its fulfillment you will be tested. Sometimes you might be the only one who believes on the dream and therefore find that you will need faith to sustain you. The story of Joseph and how he sustained his dream is worthy considering. He had to maintain his faith in a hostile environment, and believe in a dream nobody else believed in. He had no dreamer’s support network cheering him on, he had to stand alone. All he had was his faith based on his knowledge of God. God rewarded Joseph’s zeal for Him for scripture says that “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” Hebrews
 Full article at  http://socyberty.com/advice/what-is-your-vision-for-the-new-year

Don't lose your Dream: You are on your way.

” The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all” Ecclesiastes 9: 11.

Have you found yourself in a place in life and wondered how you got there or what you are doing there? Sometimes life just does not seem to add up. Perhaps you were raised up in a nice family, had a good education and expected that everything would work out well for you according to the standards of the world. Today you look at your life and wonder what went wrong or why things are not what you anticipated. You wonder whether it is worthwhile to keep on striving when nothing seemingly seems to work. Well do not give up on yourself or life yet. The most important thing when examining your life is to first establish what your purpose is. You may just be surprised to find that things as they are actually make sense. This will help you persevere in the journey you are in.
For further reading go to http://relijournal.com/christianity/dont-lose-your-dream-you-are-on-your-way/