As Unto the Lord...

An excellent devotional this morning....it really speaks as to my own heart for serving the Lord.  But not only "serving the Lord" in the sense of being a missionary or working at a church, but in everything that we do, our jobs, our interactions with family and friends. Surprisingly one of my favorite verses is not included in the devo below, and it really should be!


Colossians 3:23-24 says,
"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ"
 
My mom really ingrained this verse into my life as I was growing up.  Everything was done "as unto the Lord", she would always remind me of this, whether I was doing my chores, homework or when I started working.  She has never stopped reminding me of this verse actually, even now, at 36 years old she still reminds me of this verse when my focus is removed from the Lord and put on myself.

We need to remember that in everything that we do, we are do it as unto the Lord because it is Jesus that we are serving.  This really can transform your life.  It takes you from dwelling on yourself and others, and puts your focus where it belongs - on Jesus Christ.  

Are you bitter and upset and feeling cheated because you spend all day cleaning and cooking and your spouse never says thank you?  Are you doing all that for your spouse?  Do it as unto the Lord. 

Are you frustrated because your boss is not noticing the good job you are doing?  Are you only doing a good job for recognition?  Is it really all about you?  Do it as unto the Lord, do it in a way that will bring praise and glory to Him. 

When you do things as unto the Lord you do them the best that you can because you are doing them for the Creator of the universe.  The One who has given you salvation.  The One who knows your name.  Who loves you.  Of course we should want to do our best for HIM!

We get disappointed, bitter, hurt and can feel cheated and unappreciated when our focus is off.  When we are doing things for man or ourselves and not for the Lord.  Man will disappoint.  God will not.  When we remove the focus and goal of our work from man to God we can never be disappointed.  So what if that person didn't thank you for the work you are doing, you are not doing it for them anyway, you are doing it for the Lord.  Remove the expectations off of man and put them on God.  Do your best, do it as an offering and sacrifice to the Lord.  Do it to point to Him not to yourself.  Your world will be transformed once this has sunk in and you really believe and live a life as unto Him.

Can you really do homework, housework, your job, and how you interact with people "as unto the Lord"?  YES.  Our actions can be a sacrifice and an offering to the Lord.  We can worship Him in how we do our jobs, in how we interact with others.  And we can bring glory and point to HIM, when we are doing these things as UNTO Him, FOR Him.

I challenge you to take a moment and think about why you are doing what you are doing...are you doing it to impress someone else?  Are you doing it to earn favor with another person?  Are you doing it to get yourself noticed and recognized?  Where is your focus?  

Here is the devo from Piper that I read this morning...I  hope it will also bless you as it did me and it will challenge your way of thinking....


What Does It Mean to Serve God?
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). What does that mean?

• It means to do what he says in a way that makes him look supremely valuable in himself.
• It means to submit to him in a way that makes him look thrilling.

There are ways to submit to God that only make him look threatening, not thrilling. There are ways to do what he says that only call attention to the fact that he is an authority not a treasure.

That kind of service is not the service God commands.

What’s the difference?

The difference is that God has told us not to serve him as though he needed anything.

“He is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

Both these texts put all the emphasis on God’s giving to us when we serve.

So the kind of service that makes God look valuable and thrilling is the kind that serves God by constantly receiving from God. The key text to describe this is 1 Peter 4:11 —

“Whoever serves, [let it be] as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

God is seen as glorious when all our serving is moment-by-moment receiving from God’s supply.

We receive this supply by faith. That is, we trust moment-by-moment that what we need, in serving him, he will supply (“life, breath, and everything”). This is the opposite of being anxious. Such serving is happy. And it makes God look no less authoritative, but infinitely more desirable. This is the glory he means to have. The giver gets the glory.

Therefore, “serve the Lord with gladness” (Psalm 100:2).
-John Piper

Psalm 135 and the Pleasure of God in All He Does

The psalm begins by calling us to praise the Lord: Praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Then, starting in verse 3 the psalmist gives us reasons for why we should feel praise rising in our hearts toward God. It says, for example (verse 3), "Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good." The list of reasons for praise goes on until it comes to verse 6, and this is the verse I want to focus on:

Whatever the Lord pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

Psalm 115:3 says the same thing:

Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.

Always Free, Never Constrained

This verse teaches that whenever God acts, he acts in a way that pleases him. God is never constrained to do a thing that he despises. He is never backed into a corner where his only recourse is to do something he hates to do. He does whatever he pleases. And therefore, in some sense, he has pleasure in all that he does.

These texts and many others should lead us to bow before God and praise his sovereign freedom — that in some sense at least he always acts in freedom, according to his own "good pleasure," following the dictates of his own delights.

God never becomes the victim of circumstance. He is never forced into a situation where he must do something in which he cannot rejoice. He is not mocked. He is not trapped or cornered or coerced.

A Fragrant Offering

Even at the one point in history where he did what in one sense was the hardest thing for God to do, "not spare his own Son" (Romans 8:32), God was free and doing what pleased him. Paul says that the self-sacrifice of Jesus in death was "a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2). The greatest sin and the greatest death and the hardest act of God was pleasing to the Father.

And on his way to Calvary Jesus himself had legions at his disposal. ""No one takes my life from me; I lay it down of my own accord"" — of his own good pleasure, for the joy that is set before him. At the one point in the history of the universe where Jesus looked trapped, he was totally in charge doing precisely what he pleased — dying to justify the ungodly like you and me.

So let us stand in awe and wonder. And let us tremble that not only our praises of God's sovereignty but also our salvation through the death of Christ for us, hang on this: "Our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases."

- John Piper

Will I Believe?

Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the Lord…" —Joshua 24:19

Do you have even the slightest reliance on anything or anyone other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural quality within you, or on any particular set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any manner whatsoever regarding this new proposal or plan which God has placed before you? Will you examine yourself by asking these probing questions? It really is true to say, “I cannot live a holy life,” but you can decide to let Jesus Christ make you holy. “You cannot serve the Lord…”— but you can place yourself in the proper position where God’s almighty power will flow through you. Is your relationship with God sufficient for you to expect Him to exhibit His wonderful life in you?

“The people said to Joshua, ‘No, but we will serve the Lord!’ ” (Joshua 24:21). This is not an impulsive action, but a deliberate commitment. We tend to say, “But God could never have called me to this. I’m too unworthy. It can’t mean me.” It does mean you, and the more weak and feeble you are, the better. The person who is still relying and trusting in anything within himself is the last person to even come close to saying, “I will serve the Lord.”

We say, “Oh, if only I really could believe!” The question is, “Will I believe?” No wonder Jesus Christ placed such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. “He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). If we really believed that God meant what He said, just imagine what we would be like! Do I really dare to let God be to me all that He says He will be?
-My Utmost For His Highest

Food for your soul...

GREAT devo on reading your bible everyday by John Piper

"Don’t rest on past reading. Read your Bible more and more every year. Read it whether you feel like reading it or not. And pray without ceasing that the joy return and pleasures increase.

Three reasons this is not legalism:

1. You are confessing your lack of desire as sin, and pleading as a helpless child for the desire you long to have. Legalists don’t cry like that. They strut.

2. You are reading out of desperation for the effects of this heavenly medicine. Bible-reading is not a cure for a bad conscience; it’s chemo for your cancer. Legalists feel better because the box is checked. Saints feel better when their blindness lifts, and they see Jesus in the word. Let’s get real. We are desperately sick with worldliness, and only the Holy Spirit, by the word of God, can cure this terminal disease.

3. It is not legalism because only justified people can see the preciousness and power of the Word of God. Legalists trudge with their Bibles on the path toward justification. Saints sit down in the shade of the cross and plead for the blood-bought pleasures.

So lets give heed to Mr. Ryle and never grow weary of the slow, steady, growth that comes from the daily, disciplined, increasing, love affair with reading the Bible.

"Do not think you are getting no good from the Bible, merely because you do not see that good day by day. The greatest effects are by no means those which make the most noise, and are most easily observed. The greatest effects are often silent, quiet, and hard to detect at the time they are being produced.

"Think of the influence of the moon upon the earth, and of the air upon the human lungs. Remember how silently the dew falls, and how imperceptibly the grass grows. There may be far more doing than you think in your soul by your Bible-reading." (J. C. Ryle, Practical Religion, 136)

Waiting Here For You: An Advent Journey of Hope | Day 2

Waiting Here For You: An Advent Journey of Hope | Day 2

{ December 1 }

SEEK AND YOU WILL FIND

Psalm 27:7–14 (NIV)

Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, “Seek His face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. Teach me your way, LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

REFLECTION

God is not hiding from you. Yet to find Him you must patiently seek Him out. Just like you, God wants to be pursued. He wants to know that you believe He is worth searching for. Many say they can’t find God; that they can’t hear His voice. But if you want to be near God you must create space to seek Him. If you want to know Him, you must start by telling Him. Open His Word and set your gaze on Him. You’ll discover that He is worth far more than whatever you invest in the search.

his content was excerpted from Waiting Here For You: An Advent Journey of Hope. 

The Method of Missions

Wow my devo has been so right on lately!  LOVE how the Lord speaks to us!

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . —Matthew 28:19

Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go . . . make disciples of all the nations . . . .” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.

The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, but foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world, to trust in what Jesus Christ has said? Or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of limitless confidence in Christ Jesus, which is really God’s only call for a missionary? If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord— “All authority has been given to Me . . . . Gotherefore. . .” (Matthew 28:18-19).

What is a Missionary?

Jesus said to them again, ’. . . As the Father has sent Me, I also send you’ —John 20:21

A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.

Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . .” (Matthew 28:19).

When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.

One MONTH!!!

"Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert."
Isaiah 43:19

Well I absolutely cannot believe it.  I fly out for Romania one month from today!

This has really been a completely different journey than the last time I was preparing to move to Romania.  Maybe it is because I have less time to prepare, or maybe it is just because my life is in such a different spot than where I was in 2007.  Along with the excitement of moving back to a place I love, comes a lot more sadness than what I was expecting.  Sadness for leaving behind my job at Casa Teresa and the women there that I love, and sadness for saying good bye to friends and family out here.  I find so much comfort in knowing that I am going where the Lord is sending me!  And that I am blessed to be going to a country that I love.

I feel like I am stepping out in faith this time much more than I ever have before.  It has been an interesting road that the Lord is leading me down.  I constantly am reminded of the devotional that the Lord gave me in the beginning when He confirmed that it was His will for me to move… 

“We say – ‘If I really could believe!’
The point is – If I really will believe…
If we really believed that God meant what He said –
what should we be like!
Dare I really let God be to me
all that He says He will be?”
(Oswald Chambers)

With every doubt or feeling of uncertainty, I keep asking myself, “do I really believe that God is who He says He is?”  Isn’t that the ultimate bottom line of a life lived in faith?

I know my journey of faith will never end, and I am thankful for all that the Lord has allowed me to go through to strengthen my faith in Him.  Each instance has been an opportunity for Him to show Himself faithful.

Please keep me in your prayers as I am on countdown now for so many things, and yet there is so much to be done.  I only have 11 working days left at Casa.  I have a ton of doctor and dentist appointments left.  I also have my packing left and I am still in the process of looking for an apartment.  I know everything will fall into place, but I still want to be sure to include the Lord in all that I am doing.

Please also keep my parents in your prayers, as I know that it is not easy on them to have me moving to the other side of the world.

I hope to talk to 2 of my colleagues for the After School Program via Skype sometime before I leave.  Their names are Juliana and Carmen, please keep these ladies in your prayers as well.  I have not met either of them before, so please pray that the Lord will bless our working relationship and that He will use us to make a huge impact in the lives of the kids we will be working with!

If you are interested in financially supporting me with a one-time donation or on a monthly basis you can do so by clicking HERE for more information.  There are currently 4 different ways you can do so!

Also I have printed up some little Missionary Cards to remind you to pray for me, they are business card size.  If you would like one, please email me your mailing address and I will be more than happy to send you one!

Thank you all for your prayers and support and encouragement!  I am so excited to see what all the Lord will be doing in the weeks and months to come!

Grace and peace,
Rachel

I Am Persuaded

My sweet little mama shared this very encouraging devotional with me today...so I thought I would pass it on.  

 

For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

- Romans 8:38-39

And this is why I am suffering as I do. Still I am not ashamed, 

for I know (perceive, have knowledge of, and am acquainted with) Him Whom I have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on), and I am [positively] persuaded that He is able to guard 

and keep that which has been entrusted to me and which

I have committed [to Him] until that day. 

- 2 Timothy 1:12

Are you persuaded? What about? Not wishing about, not wondering about, not hoping for the best about, but persuaded about?

There are certain things we can be completely confident about and be fully persuaded are the truth. They are the things that become our foundations and what we can build our life upon.

Here are a few things you can be persuaded about…

• God’s plans are greater than man’s plans and man’s plans cannot frustrate, cancel or hinder God’s plans for my life.
• God knows the plans He has for me and He asks me to trust in Him with all my heart to fulfill those plans.
• God never makes a bad decision and He never makes a mistake.
• Every decision God makes for my life is a wise decision because God is wisdom.
• Every decision God makes for my life is a loving decision because God is love.
• Every decision God makes for my life is a good decision because God is good.
• God will never leave me nor forsake me. Therefore, I do not need to be afraid or worry about where God’s decisions will take me.

- Roy Lessin