Go Into all the World

by Jan 5, 2018Missions

In Mark,16:15-18 the bible says “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe. In My name they will cast out demons  they will speak with new tongues: they will take up serpents and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them, they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” 

We who go to the nations have been doing these things for many years. But, I find myself with a need to have a new consecration in this year of 2018. I don’t know about you, but the call has become less urgent and less compelling as I contemplate the new year. Perhaps it is a time to come to the Lord for a new fire. Perhaps it is a time to spend in the “secret place”. Maybe I (or you if that is the case) need to just come to the Lord and confess everything that has gone wrong in the past and put that all behind to move on into something new He has for me. There is a song I learned in Ghana, Africa. “Lord, Do Something New in Me Today.” I know that for me some of the same things spoken over and over again may prove to be redundant after listening to it for 50 or so years.

So, what is the solution? I believe it is to take the first step and see what the Lord will do in us. I myself am doing some things that I have never done before. It makes for challenging fascinating, and exhilarating life moments. But, the one thing that I remember from years of molding from the Lord is that it is not about me at all. So when I think of others first, when I get out there and do the things I am called to do and deliberately become other minded instead of me minded, then I am content. God begins to do exciting things in my life.

I must decide to get up out of my chair, out of my comfort zone, out of myself and live the life God has for me. That could mean being content where I am at the time and making the most of every situation and turning each one into a God situation. You have heard the term “If life hands you lemons, make lemonade”. I can decide that it will be a productive year or I can decide to just wait and see what the Lord will do. Oh, it is not a bad thing to wait upon the Lord, but I know of some who have been waiting all of their lives when God is waiting for us.  He has already given us the commission. What does that mean for you? What does that mean for me?

In Phil. 3:13 it says “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

What is that upward call in your life? The great commission gives us some hints. Who needs you today? Who does the Lord want you to encourage today? Who is dying, who is crying?  Who is needing what you have to give? If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have everything that He is and does and says inside of you. You are the Jesus that the world is waiting to see. I am the Jesus that the world is waiting to see. I say, let 2018 be a great year of harvest for the Kingdom of God, and let it begin in me!

Written by: Joyce Euren

Published on 1/5/2018

 

 

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