What is Your Goal in Life?

Yesterday I translated for a new church, and the pastor asked a very interesting question. He said that many Christians just live their life with no direction, no goals, and no plans. As a result they are no effective in their walk with Jesus. Only rare souls are reached, very few are discipled, and so on. I really thought a lot about that, because even in ministry there are many missionaries who don't really have a goal. They have the right hearts. They want to preach the Gospel and be on fire for our King, but if you really ask them what it is what they want to do there are very few straight answers.

Most missionaries in my generation are like I once was, wandering from one country to the next for a few months without ever really settling down to touch a single nation. If you ask most missionaries what they are called to, the answer you will get quite often is, "I am called to the nations!" Which sounds rather epic, but the problem is that unless their ministry is to be evangelists or apostles they are most likely wandering with no real purpose. That may sound harsh, but that was my life and ministry for my first years of ministry. It took harsh words for the Holy Spirit and more experienced missionaries to finally convince me that being "Called to the nations" was not this heroic and special, epic calling, but it was in fact just a testament that I actually had no idea what I was doing and had no real purpose.

I am grateful to the Lord that he showed me these things, and I hope that younger missionaries will take these words without offense. However if one were to be completely honest, the only reason we once wandered from one place to the other was because we really didn't know what we were supposed to be doing in the first place.

Without vision, we perish, and so those of us without one often fill ourselves with smaller visions that fulfill temporarily. This keeps us going, but it is a grave and ineffective mistake.

So grab hold of a vision for your life, stay away from small temporary things that have no real effect on anything. Paul said in Hebrews 12:1 "let us lay aside every weight..." a lack of vision is a large weight to carry, it weights on the heart and on the mind. If you don't have a vision, a goal, take some time to pray and fast and seek God. I once heard an older missionary say that what you dreamed of as a child (Baby Christian as well) is most likely similar to what you are called to do with your life. When I was a child I dreamed of preaching the Gospel in places that no other man had gone, in villages deep in the jungle. I have made it to the jungle, and to the villages, but I'm still looking for one here that hasn't ever heard the Gospel. I'm getting close now, I know! Let us seek the King and find out vision, and then lay down everything we can get it. Let us light ourselves with the fire of God through prayer and burn for Him.

Are You Ready to Die?

For the past several Sundays I have been invited to preach in a local Church here in Volcan. Every time I go there is a 94 year old man named Manuel who always comes up to talk to me with a big smile on his face; and every time I see him I ask the same question. I always say, "Brother Manuel how are you today?" And he will always answer the same way, "Well, I'm old now and ready to go with Jesus any day now, so I'm doing very well!"

Speaking with Manuel amazes me, because there are so few people in the world who have the kind of peace and joy that he does even though his life here could end at any moment. He is well aware that this night he may not wake up, and yet there is no sadness in his old eyes, only excitement for meeting his King face to face after a lifetime of worship.

Do you have that light in your eyes? If your end were to come today would you be ready to face eternity? I think it is a rather important question, because it is the one thing we will all face in this lifetime, our death. Are you ready to die?

Prayer in Ministry

Leonard Ravenhill, in his book Why Revival Tarries said that (Slight paraphrase) "Any minister who does not pray at least 3 hours a day is useless."

Many Christians today have forgotten the power of prayer, Evan Roberts said on a similar note, "There is great power in prayer." The Welsh Revival is greatly attributed to Roberts crying out for his people for many hours every day. It is said that he prayed 8 hours a day for 3 months before the great revival broke out.

History has shown that every revival has begun with hours and hours of prayer. God moves when we pray, yet the enemy blinds us and makes us so busy, even in ministry that we forget to take the time to pray. This makes us ineffective. Even if we go out and preach every day, and we help the poor and the sick, if it is not bathed in prayer then we will not bear the lasting fruit that we could.

Making a Difference

I've been a missionary here in Panama for a while, getting up to 3 years now. One of the things I have found to be the most difficult is keeping a clear vision and not allowing distractions to get in the way. For example money can be a huge temptation sometimes. When you live month to month like I do, hoping that you have enough support to come in, and then you get certain job offers that would give you financial security but force you to give up your dream can be difficult.

Not too long ago I was offered a position to become a minister with the Church of Christ. They said that they have seen the fruit produced in the ministry we have been doing here and would like me to work with them. They offered me financial security, something I have never had before. The catch though, is that I don't agree with many of the things they believe. They believe that the supernatural gifts of God, like miracles, signs, and wonders passed away with the apostles. I can't agree with that, and if I were to say I did then I would be denying the many miracles that have happened in my life.

I didn't think it would be so tempting though, it's easy to convince yourself that you won't sell out your beliefs for anything until the money is sitting in front of you. Especially if you are going through a very uncertain time financially.

So, I had to make a choice, stay with the vision I have and stay poor, or sell out and have plenty of money. I decided not to sell out, I refuse to be Esau, selling my birthright for food. It's just not going to happen. It doesn't make the choice any easier though. The Name of Jesus be praised always.