Who Will Tell Them

Carol Purves Carol's Blog

I was saddened to read that there are still 4,490 unreached people groups in the world today not having heard the gospel. I remember hearing a similar statement when I was a teenager. I wonder how different the number is today than it was some seventy years ago.

I have not been called to share the gospel in a distant land, my calling is to share the ‘good news’ with my neighbours and people I meet every day. People so often tell me that they used to go to Sunday School as a child but attending a place of worship as a child doesn’t make them Christians!

As Hudson Taylor said, ‘The Great Commission is not an option to be considered, it is a command to be obeyed. ‘ So where do we go, who do we tell? We can’t just scatter the gospel anywhere, we must go where God wants us. He knows the situations where He can use us. He tells us in Matthew 28:20 ‘I am with you.’ He is the special ingredient, He will be with us. But where? It reminds me of the beginning part of my car registration DKA – Don’t Know Anything. I don’t know anything but He knows everything. Our job is to be obedient.

Nesting Birds

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‘God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.’ 1 Corinthains 10:13

Resentment and unforgiveness can fester in our souls. There are times when we just can’t let go of an injustice. We continue to re-play it in our minds, as if that will put us in the right.. Our lives will be affected if we do not get rid of resentment for if we do not forgive it is us who will suffer. We can be infected by jealousy and envy., both unchristian attitudes which will negatively impact our own lives.

Martin Luther gave a useful quote, ‘you cannot keep the birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building in your hair. ‘ We need to let go but we can’t do it in our own strength, God needs to help us. Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians ‘When you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand under it.’

God is our answer in the time of temptation, He will show us a way out. So when the birds of jealousy, envy, resentment and unforgiveness are flying above our heads, we can make sure they fly away and have no reason to return and nest.

The Language of God

Carol Purves Carol's Blog

‘There before me was a great multitude, that no-one could count. from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.’ Revelation 7:9

A local vicar advertised that he was giving classes to anyone where he would teach Hebrew and Greek. A number of people in the town applied for the classes. Among them them were applicants who were older men who already had a good grasp of the Bible but were obviously keen to learn more. There was a sprinkling of younger men, anxious to further their careers in the church. None of these applicants were surprising.

Among their number was a little old lady who seemed very keen. The vicar couldn’t help being curious. He doubted she would be able to grasp these complex languages and felt he had to ask. Her reply stunned him. ‘I want to be able to speak to God in His language when I get to heaven..’

What a misunderstanding! God speaks in every language as He is the author of them. Not only does understand every word spoken in whatever tongue, He understands every intention of our hearts, without a word being spoken. God recognses the words of the down-trodden, the weary or the arrogant. No whispered word or arrow prayer ever goes unheard by Him. He understands, really understands.

To the End

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‘He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.‘ Phil 1:6

In a period of my usual worrying about everything, God directed me to this verse. Paul was writing to the believers at Philippi. Maybe they too had been worrying about petty unnecessary matters. Sadly, we all seem to be plagued by worry from the beginning of time until now.

As we read through the Bible there are so many times we come across the words ‘Do not worry,’ ‘Do not fear.’ I ask myself a few questions, ‘

Do I believe God has begun a good work in me?’

‘Do I believe He is able to keep me to the end?’

‘Do I want to be held by God all the days of my life?’

The answer to every question is a resounding ‘Yes.’

In spite of my ‘yeses’ I still try to take matters into my own hands and struggle on my own. I need to keep my eyes on Jesus, it is He who holds me, not just me trying to hang on to Him. His grip is steadfast and sure. He will not let me go. My fingers are only weak. He will keep me to the end, not just till near the end. Let us relax in His love and care.

Practice

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‘He is like one who comes to Me and hears my words and puts them into practice.’ Luke 6:47

A famous pianist was giving an interview after one of his concerts. The interviewer gave him much praise and then said, ‘You are such a great pianist now that I expect you don’t have to practice much.’ With a wry smile the pianist replied, ‘If I don’t practice for one day I know, if I don’t practice for two days my wife knows and if I don’t practice for three days, the world knows.’

How like the Christian life. If we don’t pray and study the Bible for one day God knows, if we don’t speak to God and read His word for two days, we know and our closeness to Him is lessened. If we don’t study the Bible and pray to God for three days our lives will reflect this and our witness for Him will be less effective.

The word ‘perseverance’ is much used in the Bible with good reason. God knows how easily we can be drawn away from Him. The world is close, pressing in it’s demands. Good daily habits are necessary to keep this world at bay.

No Laughing Matter

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The wait for Sarah, the wife of Abraham, to get pregnant was long and stressful. Abraham had received various promises from God that he would have a son and that he would be the head of many nations, but Sarah knew ‘she was old and well advanced in years and past the age of child-bearing.‘ Genesis 18:11. So when she heard the visitors announce ‘about this time next year your wife Sarah will have a son,‘ Genesis18:10, she laughed quietly to herself. Nothing was going to happen. But God had heard the silent laugh and said to Abraham ‘Why did Sarah laugh?’ verse 13. This knowledge of God made her afraid and then she lied to make matters worse. ‘I did not laugh,’ verse 15.

There is a question we can ask ourselves. Do we believe there is a limit to God’s power. that there are some things He cannot do? When we think of someone we know, do we think it is impossible that they could ever make a confession of faith? Such thinking will restrict our prayers and petitions on behalf of this person. We ask, why spend our prayers and petitions on behalf of this person, who is too stubborn to yield to God? We must not restrict God’s powers and abilities. In Jeremiah 32:27 we hear God ask, ‘Is anything too hard foi me?’

The Difference of the Cross

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May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

We are again in the season of our national elections and are bombarded with literature urging us to vote in a particular way. Every party makes promises which, should they be elected, they would find difficult to keep. Each candidates wants us to put a cross against their name.

It can be confusing especially when we feel our cross will make little difference. Thousands of people will be voting and their cross can cancel out ours. Surely we can feel that our cross is insignificant.

But a cross which is not insignificant is the cross of Jesus Christ which brings salvation and newness of life. It is unique and momentous, bringing life where there was only death. Every soul since the time of Christ’s death has been affected by that one single cross.

So as we place our election cross, we hope to improve the lot of fellow mankind, all the while remembering the most important cross of all, the cross which saves our souls and has the power to save the whole world.

Watering the Soul

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‘He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields it’s fruit in season. And whose leaf does not wither.’ Psalm 1:3

In England we don’t really know what true drought is like but sometimes we do long for more rain. I’ve just ordered another water butt for my garden. Even in April my existing one does not seem enough as it is becoming empty so early in the year. What a gift from God rain is! As dry days follow rainless ones, God’s plants become stressed and slowly die.

When the rain does come, plants slowly revive as they drink in the life-giving moisture, flowers lift up their heads, bushes look heathier and all nature seems to sparkle. Birds join in the joy as they sing their hearts out. We need the rain to survive.

Our souls can become spiritually dry without attention. Slowly things can start to fall apart in our lives. We lose direction and make the wrong choices which leads further down dangerous routes. Then by God’s grace, times of refreshing come. We are able to drink deeper. Our lives get back on track as we learn more of God’s will for us. Like the plants we can shine for Him. We need to be more like the person who said he never prayed for more than fifteen minutes but he never went for more than fifteen minutes without praying. What a high standard!

Hospitality

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‘If Jesus came to my house and knocked upon the door, I’m sure I’d be more happy than I’ve ever been before.’ In this delightful little book written in rhyme by Joan Gale Thomas, the small boy dreams about a visit from the boy Jesus. If Jesus visited him in his home the small boy would share his toys, his fears and make Him a cup of tea.

He realises that Jesus cannot visit him but he can help others, by taking flowers from his garden to the old or sick. He can share his toys with other boys and girls.

I love inviting people into my home, giving them a drink and maybe sitting in my sunny garden. I want the walls of my home to become drenched in prayer as with my visitors we can pray together.

But many of my friends are not now fit enough to visit me, I live on a slight incline. That is when I can visit them. I may be able to go to their homes and offer to do a small job for them. Sometimes I can visit them in hospital, hospitals can be very lonely and frightening places.

Occasionally my hospitality can only be a smile to a person in the street. Daily I pray for more opportunities to practice hospitality. The last verse of Joan’s book says ‘But I can go to His home and kneel and say a prayer, and I can sing and worship Him and talk with Him in there.’

Doubt

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‘Are You the one who is coming or do we look for another. Matthew 11:3

John the Baptist had baptised Jesus, seen the dove and heard the words of the angel. After this baptism John had stepped out of the limelight. Jesus was now centre-stage. Now that John is in prison, he is fearing rightly for his life. Largely forgotten by the world, John was beginning to have his doubts.

‘Are you the one who is to coming,’ he asks, ‘or do we look for another. ‘ Matthew 11:3. No wonder he was now beginning to doubt.

And there are times when we too doubt. Maybe we have lost our job and finances are difficult, our friends are dying and our own lives are in danger through persecution. The worry and doubt floods our minds. Our hearts cry out, Is it true, does God care for us? When we doubt we can turn to the psalms, David often cried out to God. He suffered more than we, but by putting has trust in God he was able to say ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.’ Psalm 23:1. In fact he left a whole host of psalms to give us comfort.