God in the Shadows

I Samuel 9

God is always at work around us; even in the mundane, ordinary tasks. We never know where we are in this drama He is writing. Kish had lost his donkeys and sent his son Saul to look for them. Saul obeyed and his life was never the same. 

Saul did not know what he was walking into and neither do we.

Saul was looking for donkeys, but God was looking for a leader of Israel.

God was speaking and Saul did not know.

God was at work and Saul did not see it. 

We do not know what all God is up to as we move forward in obedience.  We do not know what will happen today or tomorrow.  There is never a good time to quit.  There is never a good time to lose heart.  Saul did not know that he and his family was "the focus of all Israel's hope." He had gone out looking for donkeys and found a whole lot more.  What might you find today or this week?

Are you an adulterer?

Jesus rebuked the people of his day for being an adulterous generation.  He not only meant that they were immoral, but that they would not commit to anything.  An adulterous generation is led and controlled by emotions.  "I have the right to feel good, be comfortable, have my way." 

And when things get tough, this generation moves on to something easier or "more exciting."

Our generation is no different. We must deny ourselves, take up the cross of discipleship and do this daily… for a long time... for a life time.  This must be done in our marriages, families, workplace and especially in regard to finishing the Great Commission.   

Let us not be a generation of adulterers.

Do you have a thinking problem?

Our mind is a battlefield.  Many times we have a thinking problem: worry, inferiority, condemnation, thinking as the world thinks, having worldly goals and ambitions.  2 Corinthians 10:5 says that we are to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.

We must put a security guard at the door of our minds and check every thought coming in so that the thoughts can be conformed to the word of God and the will of God.  I must meditate on what the word says about myself, the world, God, and God's will. 

Don't forget... commission permanence

It has now been 2 weeks.  As team members go about the normal routine of their day... the sights, sounds and faces of people race through their minds like a fragmented slide show.  They know they were there. They have the t-shirt and NT/P52 manual to prove it.  But it seems so surreal.  Almost like they never went. 
 
Child psychologists have discovered that infants do not have the ability to understand that something exists when they don’t see it.  Put an object in front of them, and it exists; take it away, and it ceases to exist.  There is no sense of object permanence. 
It has been said that this generation has a lack of compassion permanence.  Dangle a news report about a typhoon in the Philippines before them and they sit transfixed, their hearts “broken.”  Change the channel and in their minds, the typhoon and its victims cease to exist.

Final debrief session

 
On July 31^st, team members were challenged to take personal responsibility for finishing the Great Commission in this generation.  Many of them responded. They made a decision that was life changing for them and for those without Christ. 
 
We are now calling on them to continue on in commission permanence.  That is, staying with their commitment as a World Christian long term.  Keeping All Nations in view after the tearful emotions wear off; living a life of long obedience to His Great Commission.
Don’t forget!

Waray Riverboat team (Philippines)