Why?
Why?
What will you be doing?
These two questions have been asked of me a lot recently. The answer is a long one.
Deuteronomy 30:10 New Living Translation (NLT)
[10] The LORD your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.
Notice the passage doesn’t say to hear His voice, or to listen to His voice, … it says obey his voice. Well, He has said to, “Go,” so I’m going.
In 2004 a pastor was preaching about missionary work. He said people are always waiting for the big neon sign to blink in front of us telling us to ‘go,’ but there isn’t a neon sign. God has already told us over and over again in the Bible. At that moment I knew I was being told to ‘go’ and so I signed Becky and I up to go to Africa for 18 days even though we had an infant and a toddler. At that time the plan was we would be helping open a new Baby Center for abandoned babies. Our plans were not God’s plans. We ended up doing a lot of hard labor, some for the baby center and some not.
Jesus was a servant. He served his Father even though it caused him much suffering and He served us by extending His mercy to us.
I thought God was going to use me to do something great for the kingdom of heaven. Nothing happened. Not until recently did I realize God used me to help Becky work for Him. Becky had always wanted to do more missionary work, but needed a push to help her confidence. This trip gave her the boost she needed and has participated on many missionary trips since… all without me.
God told Moses to “go.”
Exodus 3:10 New Living Translation (NLT)
[10] Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.
In the spring of 2015, God told me to ‘go’ again. This time quietly. There was a notice in the bulletin that a group of college students were going to Arizona to work with Native Americans for a week in July 2015. The male college students weren’t able to go with the group and so they needed some men to take their place. Even over my logical objections, (these were college kids, there wasn’t enough time to raise the funding, Arizona in the summer, ugh!) God told me that I was to participate and I listened. God provided everything I needed through others and I went. Somehow, this old guy participated in a camp with 10, 11, and 12 year olds, having fun with them, and telling them all I could about Jesus. What I didn’t know, was these kids would get their hooks into my heart.
Both missionary experiences took me out of my comfort zone, yet I was comfortable. God was at work. It made me realize that maybe I could do some missionary work with Becky once I retire. But again, my plans and God’s plans are different. I started listening to and hearing God in everything… what I read, what I watched, what I heard in sermons and Bible studies. Over and over and over… “Hear”, “Obey”, “GO.” The children from the American Indian Field kept tugging at my heart, and I knew I was supposed to do more to help the children of the world. I decide to stop seeking my will with my plans and do what God was asking.
Trying to be both logical and obedient, our family signed up to be Missionary Volunteer Partners through World Gospel Mission for 1 month this summer. Our goal is to follow God’s will for us, to help out and serve any way we can with the full-time missionaries, to learn what it is like to be a full-time missionary, and to see if our family can handle it.
So, what are we going to do? … We are going to serve and obey. We are going to learn and reflect. We are going to do what God asks us to do.
Why are we doing it? … Because HE said so.
Genesis 12 New Living Translation (NLT)
[12] The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, [Leave] your relatives, and [Leave] your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.”
Matthew 28:19-20 New Living Translation (NLT)
[19] Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,[a] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. [20] Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.