'The trap you may fall into in Christian work is to rejoice
in successful service— rejoicing in the fact that God has used you. Yet you
will never be able to measure fully what God will do through you if you do not
have a right-standing relationship with Jesus Christ. If you keep your
relationship right with Him, then regardless of your circumstances or whoever
you encounter each day, He will continue to pour “rivers of living water”
through you (John 7:38). […] Our
tendency today is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make
their request for help on the basis of someone’s usefulness. […] For the saint,
direction and guidance come from God Himself, not some measure of that saint’s
usefulness. It is the work that God does
through us that counts, not what we do for Him.' CHAMBERS
What is the measure of effectiveness or success of what you
do in Jesus name? That is something that
I am constantly on guard about. We can’t
see into the future .. we can’t see life change in people’s hearts or the generation
effects of salvation .. the spiritual influence of godly parents versus unsaved
parents. So we count things. We measure
things. Many missionaries have served
their entire time and not seen success as we would measure it. What if God sees faithfulness as
success. What if God chooses to use us
as a stepping stone rather than a super highway for others. Would that be OK with you? What if I could not tell people how many
children are in the schools we support.
How many people have jobs because of it … or how many professions of
faith we have seen. How would the supporters of this work respond?
We used an acronym in the army “DOTS” – depends on the
situation. I would change that for the
purpose of this devotion to – depends on the Spirit. We have not started a business here .. we are
on a mission from God. We have been
called by God through His Spirit. Some
missionary friends of ours .. Ed and Ruth Messerschmitt .. now gone to be with
the Lord .. discipled us and would often
say .. Where God Guides .. He Provides … If God is in it, it will prosper .. it
will bear fruit … but it is not our choice how long that will take .. it
depends upon God. If people won’t support the work … it is because the Spirit
of God has not prompted them or because they have said “no” to the Spirit’s
prompting. In either case, it is not our
problem. Our place is to serve … what
God provides is what he provides. He
knows what we need. We must trust
him. King David wanted the people
counted .. against the advice of Joab … they were counted .. why? King David wanted to know how effective he
was as king. God became angry. Why? Because
David was robbing God of His glory. King
David was taking credit for something that he had not accomplished. The moral to the story … In our desire to know
if we are doing what is right in the right way, we must be careful that we don’t
do the same. It is lack of faith and pride that drives us to it. Zechariah
4:6 “It’s not by might, nor by
power, but by My Spirit says the Lord God of Hosts.” ELGIN
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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