I used to hear the word “missionary” and think that those were people who were super Christians. They were the folks that read their Bible for an hour every day and prayed for insanely long periods of time and were nice to everybody and never did anything wrong. (It honestly didn’t sound that appealing)
While some of the above may be true of some missionaries, I’ve learned through our contacts we’ve had in the first 3 months that missionaries are just normal people. They like to have fun like everybody (I would venture to say they actually like to have more fun than most people). They have problems in life, they struggle to pray some days, and they don’t always understand why God does what he does. However, one thing has stuck out that is quite different about the missionaries we’ve worked with:
They say “yes” to God on a consistent basis. When God says “go here” they go. When God says “I want you to be praying about this” they pray. When God says “trust me” they trust. They rely on God so closely because they don’t have a backup plan. Their is no plan B, it’s either God is faithful or he isn’t.
I think that many of us, including me, want be able to say “yes” to God more readily. Here are a few of my suggestions on how that can be possible:
1. We need to know what to say “yes” to. This might be pretty obvious, but it’s difficult to say “yes” to God if we have no idea what he is saying. A good place to start with this is the Bible because he has already revealed a lot to us generally through his word. Ideas from the word:
A: Say yes to being pure in thought and deed. (Philippians 4:8 – Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely…)
B: Say yes to spending time with God and LISTENING to him. So often we talk at him but don’t know how to listen. Just be alone and quiet with him. He likely won’t speak audibly to you but he will give you impressions, thoughts and wisdom.
C: Say yes to being generous. ( Acts 20:35 – In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”)
D: Say yes to prayer. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.)
E: Say yes to discipleship. The last thing Jesus said before he ascended was to make disciples of all nations. This means that one: we need to submit to teaching so we can be better disciples. Two, that we should be discipling others once we are relatively mature in Christ.
2. Develop complete trust and love for the Lord. One thing that prevents people from saying “yes” is that they don’t completely trust God. Learn how secure you are in him and then work from a place of acceptance rather than working to get acceptance. (Ephesians 3:17-18 – …I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…)
3. Be okay not knowing the entire picture. Often God will ask us to do something but it doesn’t make sense in that moment because we can’t see the big picture that God can see. Be okay with decisions not making perfect logical sense to humans (1 Corinthians 1:25 – For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom…) Also, recognize that God has invited us into a bigger goal and a bigger mission that just our lives. We are invited by him to take part in his story. We must recognize that we are eternally significant to God, yet, his mission is greater than us.
4. Don’t set limits on God. God loves you more than any human on this planet. He loves you more than your spouse, best friend, your child, even your dog. We are in a relationship with God and he specifically calls us, meaning the church, his bride. Would any husband desire a bride that set all sorts of limits on love? Would a man want a woman that had a big long list of things that she was unwilling to do? Now the husband could still love that wife perhaps, but it would be awfully hard to romance her if every time he tried to take her somewhere she said “oh no, not this, it’s out of my comfort zone!”. In saying all this, I recognize that we all put limits on God in a sense. Don’t feel bad about those limits, instead just admit them to God and tell God that you do want to change but that you need his help. (1 John 1:8-9 – If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.) When we come to God humbly he is gracious to us and helps us. He can help us break down our limits over time so we can experience more of his love for us.
5. When you do hear from God, say YES! … and don’t overthink it. Sometimes we hear a still small voice or a nudge from the Lord but we are scared to make the move. We question whether the voice is from him. If this is the case it is wise to look at scripture. If the nudge you are getting lines up with scricture, it’s probably from God. If it something that does not line up with scripture like you should cheat to succeed in this or you should shoot your neighbors annoying chihuahua with a BB gun, its probably not from God. (Okay, so God might think its funny to shoot your neighbors chihuahua as long as you don’t kill it).
6. Don’t be afraid if you’re wrong once in a while. I think that God would much rather have people that are overzealous to follow him and occassionally say “yes” too quickly than people whom he has to bend and prod just to get them to do the smallest thing. (Revelation 3:15-16 – I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.)
Well, that’s pretty much the end of my little mini-sermon. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you will say “yes” this coming month and year to what God has for you.
Random fact: 1 US dollars is equal to about 21,000 vietnamese dong (the currency here) so we are in fact all millionares this month.
PS – If anybody emails me at [email protected] with the word “Xin Chao” in the subject line within one week of this being posted I will mail you a postcard! Xin Chai means “hello” here. (yes, I realize it’s not the most amazing gift but it’s pretty much the extent of what I can do here.)
Love you guys!
-Brady
