Complete in Thee: Service... Today!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Service... Today!

I'm aware that I have been posting a lot of quotes lately, but sometimes the Lord brings along little things that others have written that truly minister to my heart and speak in a way that I couldn't if I tried, at least, not at this point. The following quotation from Mountain Rain by Eileen Fraser Crossman really hit home in an area that I have been struggling with and becoming very discouraged under-- the monotony of daily life and the burning desire to move on, to do something else, something exciting, something great. Even now, I still need to chew down the following truths and allow them to encourage my heart. Please pray as I battle discouragement-- satan knows I'm very prone to it and tries to pile all sorts of things up to bring it about. But God is more powerful than satan, and He has the power to uplift our downtrodden hearts. :-)

Enjoy these words of wisdom from one of God's humble servants: J.O. Fraser, missionary to China.

"It has come home to me very forcibly of late that it matters little what the work is in which we are engaged so long as God has put it into our hands...

"The temptation I have often had to contend with is persistent under many forms: 'If only I were in such and such a position' for example, 'shouldn't I be able to do a great work! Yes, I am only studying engineering at present, but when I am in training for missionary work things will be different and more helpful.' Or, 'I am just in preparation at present, taking Bibles courses and so on, but when get out to China my work will begin.' 'Yes, I have left home now, but I am only on the voyage, you know; when I am really in China, I shall have a splendid chance of serve.' Or, 'Well, here in the Training Home, all my time must be given to language study-- how can I do missionary work? But when I am settled down in my station and able to speak freely, opportunities will be unlimited!' etc., etc.

"It is all if and when. I believe the devil is fond of those conjunctions... The plain truth is that the Scriptures never teach us to wait for opportunities of service, but to serve in just the things that lie next to our hands . . . The Lord bids us work, watch, and pray; but satan suggests, wait until a good opportunity for working, watching, and praying presents itself-- and needless to say, this opportunity is always in the future...

"Since the things that lie in our immediate path have been ordered of God, who shall say that one kind of work is more important and sacred than another?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

"I am no more doing the Lord's work in giving the Word of God to the Chinese than you are, for example, in wrapping up a parcel to send to the tailor. It is not for us . . . to choose our work. And if God has chosen it for us, hadn't we better go straight ahead and do it, without waiting for anything great, better, or 'nobler'?"

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why should I, in the hot, close, rainy season at Tengyueh, long for the dry months when things are more pleasant all around? Didn't God intend me to put up with the discomfort of heat and mildew? Why should I look forward to the time when I shall be able to speak Chinese more freely? Didn't God intend me to serve an apprenticeship in learning the language? Why should I look forward to a little more time for myself, for reading, etc.? Though it is the most natural thing in the world to have such thoughts, I feel they are not at all Scriptural. There is more of the flesh about them than the spirit. And they seem to be inconsistent with the peace of God, which, it is promised, shall guard our hearts and our thoughts through Jesus Christ . . .

"The apostle Paul said that he had 'learned', in whatsoever state he was, 'therein to be content,' implying that he had reached that attitude through discipline. And I suppose it must be so with all of us; the ntaural tendency is to be always straining after something in the future."

-All quotations above by J. O. Fraser, recorded in the book Mountain Rain, by Eileen Fraser Crossman, pages 28-30

:-) !!!!And a bonus quote!!!! :-)

"A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing is a great thing."

-J. Hudson Taylor

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PRAYER REQUESTS

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18)

PLEASE PRAY...

* That I would draw nearer to God every day and never allow my relationship to become stagnant ritual; particularly that I would grow in the area of submission, patience, 1 Corinthians 13 love, and wholehearted devotion

* That I might have wisdom as I edit "The Marquis' Daughter"; that the Lord would bless and work through it; and that I might find just the right publisher for it.

* That I would submit to the Lord's work in my life, whatever it may be; that I would take each opportunity He brings me (even the seemingly hard ones) to draw closer to Him and point others to Him

*That our Etsy shop might be successful and that it would be a means by which we can glorify God and share the Gospel

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

"The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?"

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

"Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty."

"Victory over all the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions. Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them."

"And shall I pray, Oh, change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
Ah no, Lord, no, that never could be, rather
I pray Thee, Blend my human will with Thine."

"A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked."

"And as we rest our hearts upon what we know (the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good), leaving what we do not know to the Love that has led us all our life long, the peace of God enters into us and abides. And then we see our light."

[A Practicing Christian]...it means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying, "How would he wish me to deal with this?"

Christ says: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you."

"I was not born to be free. I was born to adore and to obey."

"What is saving but taking us out of the dark into the light? There is no salvation but to know God and grow like Him."

"I will not try to convince you of anything about God. I cannot. You must know Him. I only tell you I believe in Him with all my heart. You must ask Him to explain Himself to you, and not take it for granted that He has done you a wrong because He has done what you do not like. Whether you seek Him or not, He will do you justice. But He cannot explain Himself unless you seek Him."

"Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and it's response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, it's spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophies never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches."