Older people like me have trouble understanding the struggles, frustrations etc… of younger people. At the same time we understand our own troubles pretty well and there is no difference. Below are some things God shared with me to calm my spirit when I was in turmoil. One is a command and the other is a promise. That is the way a lot of God’s promises work. There are things we have to do in order to claim them. Here we simply need to be still and know that HE is God. Only a couple of days before leaving for a trip to Israel a few years ago, I was prayer walking around a hospital as I waited for visitation time to see my father after surgery. I was having an incredible prayer walk and began praying for God to let me know what verse He would like to be my theme verse for the upcoming trip. I already knew from Vision 2005’s RE-Claiming Lost Territory reflections that this trip needed to be more prayer focused than ever. Out of nowhere the verse that He placed on my heart was “Be still and know that I am God.” I thought to myself how that was nice but I was looking for a verse for my trip. I was looking for a doing verse. I wanted my marching orders as I headed out. As clear as the first time, he placed the same verse on my heart, “Be still and know that I am God.” I realize this verse was really challenging me to live up to Vision 2005 and really believe what I had been saying for the past four months. Later as I looked this exact verse up in Psalms 46:10, I also read the rest of the verse, “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in all the earth.” I knew before leaving that God was going to really work on me during this trip to “be still” and watch Him do what only He can do. When we think about joining Him at work we like to think about the productive side of “do, do, do” and fail to focus on the “be, be, be.” I knew this theme verse was going to challenge me in that way as well. But you know as you are preparing to go off on mission, it sure is comfortable to be given the orders, “be still and know that I am God”. That is the kind of marching orders I needed. In 2003 God placed the verse from Philippians 4:7 on my heart as that year’s theme verse. He reminded me that we couldn’t go off and tell these people that Jesus offers the only chance for true peace unless we live out that promise in our own life. I have to confess that that day, two years later, I had a day without much peace and was being challenged once again by the theme verse from that trip. But as I explained in the devotion I led on this trip, missions is as much about changing us as it is changing the people He allows us to share Jesus to. Back to that word “be” again. I hoped that by the time I got through writing my report that I would have shown a fair amount of “be” along with all the “do” and “know”. In divinity school they tried hard to get us to find the proper balance of “be, know and do” in our life. As that man I met on a mission in Thailand said to me once in response to a suggestion we made, “easy to say, difficult to do”. "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10) “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 17:05:02 +0000
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