Life Goes On...

Our Mid-Term Training Group - Pray for these people as they're on the same journey we are raising support to go over seas to preach the Gospel!

Well, we’ve been back for a week, and like coming back from summer camp excited about what you learned, the training last week gave us the renewed excitement for the ministry ahead. However, real life is still going on. *sigh* We had a busy week with lots of extra hours of work and school and catching up from the weekend we didn’t really have.

I have learned this week (as many of us do after coming back from something that spurs us on to ministry or a call that God has given us) that I cannot rely on excitement alone – when I come back from a conference or training, I am so hyped to do EVERYTHING! I eat, sleep, dream France and missions and presentations and culture, BUT…that excitement goes away. Just as the Bible says our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), I think that relying on pure emotion to follow God’s will is deceitful. I think that’s why the Bible talks on perseverance so much.

2 Thessalonians 3: 1-5 1Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. 2And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. 3But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 4We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

I need to have Christ’s perseverance. Think on Christ’s life and how many things He suffered through after they stopped being “fun” or “exciting” (if they ever were). He knew the will of God for His life, and nothing was going to stop Him until His time was done on earth.

Let me ask to you – is there something in your life that God is spurring you to do, but because the “thrill” of it is gone, you have put it on the back burner? Has your Christian walk become like that? Just because you can’t “feel” God in your life, have you stopped seeking after Him?
Can I just ask you to, right now, rededicate that thing to Him – whether it’s your passions, your service, your money, or your life, give it to Him. The Bible says that if you “commit to the Lord whatever you do…your plans will succeed” (Prov. 16:3).

Lord, please forgive me if I ever try to take the passion You’ve given us into my own hands. Lord, I give this to you. I pray that I will not rely on my emotions, but that I will allow You to give me the strength and perseverance to finish the calling that You gave to me.