QotRTP

"Lord, if it be most for Thy glory, let me proceed in it; but if Thou seest that it will in any wise hinder my usefulness in Thy cause, oh prevent my proceeding; for all I want, respecting this world, is such circumstances as may best capacitate me to do service for God in the world."

David Brainerd

Nursing Homes, Muslims, and Having a Missionary Heart

Many times, we don't have any idea how much of a difference we can make. Here in Texas, the pastor I'm interning for does a Bible study at a local nursing home. We were there this morning, and I was talking to one of the old ladies, and this is what she said: "I was praying, and I said, God, I really don't want to be here anymore. I want to just go home to be with you. But God hasn't taken me yet, so maybe there's still something He wants me to do. I don't do much, but many days I'll go around to the other people here and just talk to them and pat them on the shoulder. Earlier this week I did that and someone said that I'm the only one who ever treats them like that. So maybe that's what I'm supposed to be doing."
I think she's on to something. She's starting to catch a missionary heart -- serving God and loving people where she is at right now. Having a missionary heart isn't really about wanting to go to another country or people group. It's about being ready now, to show the love of Jesus in simple and profound ways to people around you.
On the other end of the spectrum is a young person like me. Sometimes I go into a situation like that nursing home and think, what do I have to offer? What can I do? And God reminds me that He justs wants me to be there, to talk to the people, to treat them like people. To touch them or hug them and encourage them.
I think we overestimate what it might take to impact people. As well, sometimes we don't realize just how many people we come in contact with on a daily and weekly basis.
When I was at Bible College, I had a really cool professor who is a converted Iranian muslim. For one of my classes, he gave us an assignment to come listen to him guest speak at some kind of special Wednesday night service at a nearby church. I guess the church talked it up as learn how to witness to Muslims or something (there are a lot of Muslims in Los Angeles, as well as other places in the country), because my professor was speaking and telling a bunch of funny stories. All of the 300-some suburban American churchgoers were sitting on the edge of their seats, I guess expecting to hear the "secret," the "key," to witness to their Muslim neighbors. This is what my professor said: Just love them. Talk to them when you see them working in their yard, get to know them, invite them over to your house for dinner.
A lot of times, we expect it to be complicated and involved, and it's really not. Sharing the gospel, spreading the love of Jesus, is simple. Now we just have to do it. You may not think of nursing homes and schools and front yards as mission fields, but until you do, you won't grasp or fulfill Jesus' mandate to his disciples: "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" (Mark 16:15).

Motives, Surrendering Rights, and the Decision-Making Process

A lot of us rarely consider the process that we go through in making decisions. There are more factors than we might think at first. We may ask ourselves, is this good for me, and do I want to do this? But do we ask about timing and motive? These are two important factors present in most decisions (if not all) that we may not think about.
It would be nice to have formulas in making decisions. However, this usually doesn't work. I would like to suggest a formula, but it's not a quick fix formula. It's one that takes some thought and consideration, and to get past our own selfish perspective.
I've heard it said that the right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing. I would say, more accurately, that the right thing at the wrong time is the wrong decision, but I would have to add another factor: Motive. So now we have three factors, and all of them have to be good and positive for the decision to be right. If we carry this out, these are the possibilities:

Wrong thing, wrong time, wrong motive = obviously wrong decision
Wrong thing, right time, wrong motive = definitely wrong decision
Wrong thing, wrong time, right motive = still wrong decision
Wrong thing, right time, right motive = right attitude, wrong decision
Right thing, wrong time, wrong motive = getting better, but still wrong decision
Right thing, right time, wrong motive = most likely right decision, but motive needs to be examined
Right thing, wrong time, right motive = most likely right decision, but patience needed
Right thing, right time, right motive = most likely right decision (pending other unforeseen factors, like effect on other people)

No wonder we have so much trouble making good decisions! It's not as simple as it looks. All three of these factors should be right before we move forward.
If you're still with me after all that, this is what I want to say:
We need to lay down our rights in decision-making, including our right to be right, our right to know what's best for ourselves, our right to move now, and our right to not consider anyone else's feedback. In short, we don't know how to make great decisions; we need God's help. We need to turn to Him, especially in examining our motives, because it's our motives that are the key to glorifying God in everything we do. This doesn't mean we can absolve ourselves of responsibility; God won't make our decisions for us. It's good to plan and make decisions, but we must look to Him and allow His opinion to be more important than ours. Like James says: "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that" (4:15).

QotRTP

"You must unlearn what you have learned."

Yoda, in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars, Gold Bars, and the Prayer of Faith

In reflecting about prayer recently, I was again reminded of a truth about having faith that I would like to illustrate to you.
In the movie Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Jedi Master Yoda is training Luke Skywalker to be a Jedi and use the Force. If you have watched any of the Star Wars movies, you'll remember that the Force is the impersonal, omnipresent life force that ties the universe together, and those who are Jedi (whether light or dark) have learned to connect with the Force and use it for good or evil. Now, please understand me: I do not wish to compare or liken God to the Force; God is not impersonal or neutral, but a personal, living being who loves us and desires to be in relationship with us; God is completely good, and all evil opposes Him, and evil is not equal to good, but good always triumphs over evil in the end (unlike the Light Side and Dark Side of the Force, which mirror each other and both always exist).
I do think, however, that using the Force as it is portrayed in the movies has some interesting parallels to praying in faith. When Yoda is training Luke, he keeps giving Luke what Luke thinks are more difficult Force tasks, like moving small objects and even several at a time. Then as Luke is nearing the end of his training, his X-Wing Fighter sinks even deeper into the swamp where it crash landed. Luke sees it sinking and bemoans that he'll never be able to get it out. Yoda challenges Luke's belief that it can't be done, and Luke says it's not the same as moving stones. He says that he'll try, to which Yoda says, "Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try." Luke "tries" and budges the ship a little, but it sinks back down again, and Luke resigns by saying that he can't, it's too big. Yoda exhorts Luke on the power of the Force, then proceeds to, with relative ease, levitate the ship out of the swamp onto dry ground. Luke says that he doesn't believe it, and Yoda responds, "That is why you fail."
Yoda is really talking about faith. Like Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Yoda was certain that the Force was bigger than any physical object. How much more, then, should we believe in God's ability to affect every part of our world, both physical and otherwise? Just like Yoda was of dimunitive stature, it is not our stature that determines how much God will use us or whether our prayers will be answered. Instead, it is our willingness to pray and believe God. There is no trying with prayer. You either pray about something, or you don't. If we understand God's power and ability just a little bit, we have no business believing that He can do some things and not others. You may say that He is able to do all things, but do you really pray like He is? Faith for God to do the "little things" is still faith. For example, believing that God can heal a head cold, but not cancer, if kind of like saying He can pick up a penny, but not a bar of gold. All things are small to Him.
I don't mean to diminish the fact that we have psychological barriers, things that make it difficult to believe God can do "big things." Perhaps you have never experienced or heard firsthand of someone being healed. Don't let that stop you from praying. Start with the "small things." Like James says, "The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise Him up" (5:15). Pray for head colds, headaches, insomnia, and whatever else afflicts people. Then when "bigger" things come along to be prayed for, don't shy away from them. It is true that there are reasons God doesn't always heal people and answer prayer the way they would like, reasons that I'm not going to get into right now. But I'd much rather pray and believe God, and see Him do more things, than to not pray at all.

Metaphors, Masters, and Total Surrender

When we commit our lives and hearts to Jesus Christ, sometimes we do not grasp at the time that we are laying down our rights. In asking Christ to be our Savior, we are also acknowledging Him to be our Lord. Lordship means surrender, and the only true surrender is total surrender.
Often it is helpful for us to have some kind of metaphor or picture of what this new life in Christ is like. Unfortunately, in modern America, we have so many rights that are so important to us that we really have no relationships where we give up all our rights.
In biblical times, the best picture for this relationship was that of a slave to his master. Paul says in Romans, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life" (6:22); and in I Corinthians, when instructing them to flee from sexual immorality: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price" (6:19-20). While the idea of slavery in ancient times was the same at it was in the early history of America, the social reality of slavery was often much different. In the first-century Greco-Roman world of the New Testament, slavery was an universally accepted and a socially functional institution. Many slaves were born into slavery, but some people sold themselves into slavery if they were poor, or if they needed to get out of debt. Many masters treated their slaves well; slaves were the working force of society. If a slave was owned by a wealthy and kind master, their life was probably much better than the average freedman. It was even possible for slaves in some situations to earn their freedom.
The question for us spiritually is not whether we are slaves or not, but who our master is. If you are not a slave to the Master, then you are either a slave to the devil, the world, or yourself.
The important thing to understand is that the gospel call is a call to an entirely different life. Paul also says in I Corinthians: "He who was a slave [literally] when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men" (7:22-23).
If we have given our lives to Christ, then we must realize the totality of our commitment. We have no rights; we were bought with the blood of Christ. We must do what He says, and go where He tells us. We may not realize at first what we are getting ourselves into, and exactly how many rights that we claim for ourselves that we must lay down. But if we compare our new life to our former one, there is no doubt which is better. It is far better to be owned by God and have true freedom, than to heed the empty promises of the other masters. Jesus Christ is the best Master there is.