"We Are ALL On A Mission From God"

BibleFood "classic" Devotional [slightly updated] 

"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and YE SHALL BE WITNESSES unto ME both in JERUSALEM, and in all JUDAEA, and in SAMARIA, and unto the UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH." - Acts 1:8 



Over the years I have ministered to the lost and hurting through various means. Some periods in my life were more full of sharing Christ, other times just seemed as dry as could be.  I have cried out to God to help me get back to sharing the Gospel with the lost and hurting more.

I believe God led me into a form of evangelism that I had not used often enough or effectively in the past. That is what I'll call "Lifestyle Evangelism." What I mean by that [which is different than some people's definition] is that we don't just share Christ on our weekly "witnessing outreach," where maybe every Friday night we flood the streets and pass out tracts, or every Saturday we go door to door witnessing, etc. [don't even see this much anymore in 2014]. In NO way are we not to do those things if God has put us in such an outreach, but don't think that's your only time to witness. There are still all the other days of the week to witness for God. We are truly ALL on a mission from God to be available 24 hours a day to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I don't consider myself an evangelist - I really don't. But I do believe I am on a mission from God to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. About 10 years ago I took a job that was not easy for me. ALL I would hear in my heart was "You are a missionary to your fellow employees." As long as I kept my focus on that I was fine, but when I started to just think of my job as a job, that is when I ran into problems (just being honest)!  Also, the LORD was moving me on to a new mission field [billiard industry, see my site at: www.christianpoolplayers.com], which involved what I consider a mission trip to work with a billiards/pool ministry (www.gospeltrickshot.com). It was a glorious time of taking an INTEREST in the lost and hurting people around me, and it was a great time of ministry. But that was only for a week! So, did I come home and just stop sharing about the lost and hurting? Absolutely not! I was called on a mission from God BEFORE I went to Las Vegas, while I was there, and now back in my homeland (Atlanta, Georgia)! THE MISSION STAYS THE SAME!!!

Acts 1:8 says, "...YE SHALL BE WITNESSES unto ME both in JERUSALEM, and in all JUDAEA, and in SAMARIA, and unto the UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH."

We are to be God's WITNESS of the Good News of Jesus Christ in our Jerusalem, then in whatever may be our Judaea, and our Samaria, and then to end all debates, God says, "...UNTO THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH." I guess that leaves NO place for us to not be His witnesses!!! Does that mean we have to run up to everyone we meet and ask them do they know Jesus?  Personally, I don't think so. But let me tell you when you look at EVERY place you go as your MISSION FIELD, i.e., your job, going to the grocery store, coaching kids in sports, filling up the car at the gas station, and where ever else your day brings you - I'll tell you it's exciting. Do I share Christ everywhere I go? No! But I try to stay alert to God opening a door to minister with Christ to someone. I believe the more alert we are in Christ and available. the more opportunities the LORD will put us in. I'm sure I have missed many opportunities to share Christ, but Praise God I'm learning to be alert and available as His minister (servant) on a 24/7 basis.

This devotion is NOT to get you into a guilt trip or bondage. I've known some who would try to put you in that state. Just be available to God 24/7 and believe for opportunities. I'm telling you they'll happen!!!

I also want to close with what I'll call "Friendship Evangelism," which is what God has used me most often in for the last year or so. Without EVER compromising, I have built relationships with family, neighbors, coworkers, and strangers to give me opportunity to sow seeds (big or small) into people's lives over a period of time. In Las Vegas it was over a few days or a week. Here in Atlanta, GA, and on the Internet (in some cases) it is brief, and in other cases it has been over a year or more. But they are being built, and in God's timetable He will open opportunities to share Christ with them more and more. In some cases they will be even coming to YOU to have you tell them more about Jesus. This is NOT loving the WORLD (I John 2:15-17). But loving THOSE IN THE WORLD, until we see them come from this dark world to being a citizen of heaven (Phil. 3:20).

Take this devotion as an encouragement, and allow God to open the opportunities, just be alert and available :-)

God's Pruning Process!

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. John 15:1, 2

As we look into the pruning process I must share my wife's pruning ability. When I first saw the pruning work of my wife, Joyce, I thought she killed the plant or at least stunted its growth forever.  Boy, was I wrong! It grew back and looked great!  Now, if my wife does a heavy duty pruning I trust her, as I have seen that her pruning is helping the plant.  Also, after my wife first prunes a plant it is rather ugly, but given time it turns beautiful. 

Most of you know that trees need pruning in order to grow properly and bear fruit. Pruning involves cutting off the dead branches and cutting back the living branches, both to shape the tree or vine and to stimulate growth.  So much more with our heavenly Father, as He is the perfect pruner, when He prunes us we know that He knows what He's doing and the end result is you will be more beautiful in God's vineyard. According to this verse, pruning sounds to me like a painful process! However, as painful as it can be to go through this “process,” it is necessary and worthwhile. Think about it, the branch that bears NO FRUIT is history, but it is the fruit bearing branch that he PRUNES so that it will bear MORE FRUIT.  As Christians you are pruned NOT because you have no fruit, but so you'll have even more.

Here’s why:
1. God's pruning is to get rid of stuff in our life that is not healthy.
Often we allow sin (always wrong and bad) or even weights (not necessarily bad/sin, but not beneficial, something that holds us back) into our lives, and it hinders us from bearing fruit or much fruit. 
Heb. 12:11 states: " For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Heb. 12:1 states: "...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..."

2. God’s pruning redirects our spiritual growth.
Each branch that is cut stops the plant's growth in one direction and redirects it in another. Sometimes God shuts a door in one area because He wants to refocus our efforts, energy and gifting in another – often one where He knows we’ll be more effective. If we exist to bring God glory and build His kingdom, it’s not so much about where I want to go and what I want to do, but where He can use me the most.

3. God’s pruning improves the quantity and quality of fruit in our lives.
Pruning at the right time and in the right place can actually increase the number of shoots produced by a plant, thus, increasing its yield. A temporary decrease in an area of your life will actually bring the increase! Don’t give up on the vision God has given you, but press on. Your breakthrough could be right around the next corner.

Jesus desires for us to bear fruit for him, we start with fruit, then MORE fruit and then MUCH fruit.  
I like what I have heard stated that we find ourselves in one of three states right now.

Either we are:
1. Being pruned
2. Healing/recovering after being pruned or
3. We are in full bloom. (But don’t get too excited if you are in full bloom, because you are about to be pruned again.)

If you are a Christian, you are going to be pruned. Count on it. None of us are immune to it. You may not be in the pruning process right now…you may be in full bloom, enjoying a relatively easy life. Praise God! Enjoy it! But don’t get too comfortable…the scissors are going to come your way again!

Divine Appointments

 

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD
and he delighteth in his way. - Psalm 37:23
(This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible)

"Our Steps are Ordered by the LORD" or "Divine Appointments" wherein God places us in situations for our benefit and/or the benefit of others.

As Oswald Chambers (Author of "My Utmost for His Highest) put it, "God is the Great Engineer, creating circumstances to bring about moments in our lives of divine importance, leading us to divine appointments."

Remember, Jesus at the well ministering to a woman who had been married many times (See John 4:5-42). This is a good example of a "Divine Appointments ."

Another good example of this is found with Philip joining the chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch who just happened to be reading Isaiah 53:7, 8 and didn't understand it. Think about it, at EXACTLY that moment Philip shows up by the LORD's leading and explains the passage in Isaiah to him and thus about Christ (see Acts 8:26-39).

I know a minister who always seems to be running into opportunities to minister to others – because he is expectant and available. Personally, I know that when I'm expecting and available, God uses me and it seems like I have many more of these divine appointments.

What I want to deal with in this short devotion is that there are many opportunities that are orchestrated by God for us to minister in some way to others, but some-times we are not willing, or we are not paying attention, or we are not looking and expecting these opportunities - these "Divine Appointments." 

An example of this happened to a friend of mine and myself on a trip we took together a few years ago.  He is a pro pool (billiards) player, and I run a pool/billiards ministry nationwide (www.christianpoolplayers.com). He picked me up in Atlanta, GA (my home at the time), and we drove to the event in Valley Forge, PA (approx. 800 miles).  This event was a pro event and also a pool expo with lots of people.  I ministered to individuals at the event (primarily amateur players), and my friend played in the pro event and ministered to people, too.  When the event ends we head back for Atlanta, GA. About a few hours into our trip (approximately 2:30 in the morning) we both find we need a bathroom break (God ordained as you'll see).  So we stop and go to the men's room. On the way out we both briefly share how the young girl running the store has been put on both of our hearts and that we are to share Jesus with her.  Long story short, we both end up telling her God sent us there to tell her "Jesus love you".  She opened her heart and shared how her family are born again and that her brother is a minister.  We didn't really get any more details than that, but I'm sure her family was praying for her, and unknown to us, God was going to use us to let her know that God knows her and cares about her.  All I can say is it was an awesome experience.

Now, I want to encourage you in your everyday life to ask God to help you to not miss His hand moving in so many of your life situations. Tell God you are AVAILABLE to be used by Him in this way.  I PROMISE you that as you seek His face with a pure heart, and as you ask Him to use you, He will give you many opportunities. What a blessing it is when you see God line you up with people! There will be other occasions God will move, and you didn't see it, but eternity will reveal it – Hallelujah!  

As I said previously, I know a minister who constantly has stories to tell about God using him. He is not bragging on himself, he is just sharing. It is because he is available, and he is expecting God to use him.


No matter what I'm doing or where I go, I ask God to use me with the people I meet everyday, to make "My Steps to be Ordered by the LORD."

May this devotion encourage you that God's many divine appointments out there for all of us if we would just believe Him and be willing, ready vessels.

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 4:2 "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season." Also, in I Peter 3:15 "...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you." This is what we should be doing. We should always be ready; we should always be looking for opportunities, and if you are a vessel like that, God will use you.

I believe this is a great lesson for all of us. If we all start looking for those "Divine Appointments."

If we all start being AVAILABLE to be used of the LORD, we will see things happen that we would have never expected to see happen previously.

If we were to multiply that by the MANY in the Body of Christ, what
a change that would make in the world we live in! Thank you, Jesus.

Jim

E-mail: Jim@BibleFood.org

Website: www.biblefood.ORG