Livingstone as a Missionary Reads the Bible to African Natives
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1. Ignore Jesus' request in John 4:35
that we take a long hard look at the fields.
Seeing the needs of people
can be depressing and very unsettling.
It could lead to genuine missionary concern.
2. Focus your energies on
socially legitimate targets.
Go after a bigger salary.
Focus on getting a job promotion, a bigger home,
a more luxurious car, or future financial security.
Along the way, run up some big credit card debts.
3. Get married to somebody who thinks
the Great Commission is what your employer
gives you after you make a big sale.
After marriage, embrace the socially accepted norms of
settling down, establishing a respectable career trajectory
and raising a picture-perfect family.
4. Stay away from missionaries.
Their testimonies can be disturbing.
The situations they describe will distract you from embracing
whole-heartedly the materialistic lifestyle of your home country.
5. If you happen to think about missions,
restrict your attention to countries where it's
impossible to openly do missionary work.
Think only about North Korea,
Saudi Arabia, and other closed countries.
Forget the vast areas of our globe open to missionaries.
6. Think how bad a missionary you would be
based on your own past failures.
It is unreasonable to expect you will ever be any better.
Don't even think about Moses, David, Jonah,
Peter or Mark, all of whom overcame failures.
7. Always imagine missionaries as talented,
super-spiritual people who stand on lofty pedestals.
Maintaining this image of missionaries
will heighten your own sense of inadequacy.
Convincing yourself that God does not use ordinary people
as missionaries will smother any guilt you may feel about
refusing to even listen for a call from God.
8. Agree with the people who tell you
that you are indispensable where you are.
Listen when they tell you that your local church
or home country can't do without you.
9. Worry incessantly about money.
10. If you still feel you must go, go out right away
without any preparation or training.
You'll soon be home again and no one
can ever blame you for not trying!
I found this list in Mom's documents and wanted to share
It was originally shared at Standing in the Gap
It was great timing when the Lord let me read this!
My passion for going to the mission field,
I admit, can sometimes get rather small,
even though I know the Lord's called me
and I've made that commitment.
It's sad how so many times Satan tries to
distract us with our own desires .
Even ones that may not seem, necessarily, 'bad'.
For example, I thought it would be nice
to be a nuclear chemist working with
radioactivity and extensive energy research.
Does that seem bad? No... not really.
However, it's NOT what I know God's called me to do!
It's my own selfish desire!
I know that I need to be constantly on my knees begging
Him to keep my soul on fire and to avoid distractions.
I've heard of too many people (so many)
that know the Lord's called them somewhere,
but they've gotten distracted and never went.
I pray very hard I do not become the part of the 90%
who say God's calling them, but go their own way.
I strongly encourage others to really seek God's will.
Teen years( and even before and after) is a very important
time to be seeking and determining what God is calling us to do.
Who knows, maybe He's calling you to a mission field?
The question is, if He is, am I willing to 'die to myself' and go?
Let's not take the advice of the above 10 points...
I'm sure they'll keep anyone out of the mission field!
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature."
Mark 16:15
"Say not ye, There are yet four months,
and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you,
Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields;
for they are white already to harvest."
Luke 4:35
