Created by a loving God and made in His image. Known by Him before the creation of the world. Loved by Him as we are, even when we were His enemies. God is a loving God!!! How could God possibly demonstrate this in a way any more dramatic than sending Jesus to us?
But take just a minute to imagine that God wasn’t so loving. I wouldn’t ponder that thought for too long (the implications are immensely depressing), but maybe we should think about it long enough to put ourselves in the shoes of so many people around the world. If they don’t know Jesus, they can only imagine what God must be like. How can the miseries of life be explained except by God’s anger? And how can that anger be appeased?
Maybe someone has told them what God is like but didn’t describe Him in the way that God describes Himself. Maybe they have been told that God can be appeased, by human effort of one form or another. And maybe they will spend their lives trying to appease Him.
How amazing blessed we are! First, God is love (1 John 4:8). He has chosen to be a loving God. None of us could do anything to change Him if He was anything else - so we praise Him that He is a God of love. Second, someone(s) in our life told us the truth about Him - that He is a loving God. {If no one has told you that before, I am telling you now and would be very excited to tell you more!} Praise God for whomever that person is (and maybe tell them “Thanks”, too). We know the truth about God and it is good news!
My prayer tonight is that we will not take this blessing for granted. It is easy to forget that our abundant access to the truth is not a universal reality. So many people haven’t heard and aren’t hearing about who God really is. Please pray that God will use you to tell them.
A short and exciting and easy-to-read book about how God continues to spread the Good News in amazing ways is:
Glory in Mongolia (by Rick Leatherwood)
And if you really want to learn more about God’s dedication to the whole world hearing about Him, check out a class called:
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement ( aka “Perspectives”) at
perspectives.org
We said that we would list specific prayer requests so that you will know better how to pray for us. Here goes:
- A growing relationship with God - the better we know Him, the better we can share Him with others
- Strength in the face of challenges and trials (miscarriage, physical illness)
- Opportunities to relate to others in deeper spiritual ways, in spite of a language barrier (we are working on learning Hausa)
- Time in prayer - for the needs here and for you at home!
- That others will faithfully pray for us (we are counting on you!)
- For the many mothers whose children die so young
If you want to read a bit more about praying for missionaries, check out Heartland Community Church’s February Newsletter at:
Grace and Peace in Christ,
Dean, Dianna, and Gracie
Thanks for the list of ways we can pray for you and the people you are working with. I will be more specific in my prayers for you.
ReplyDeleteLove, PaPa Jeff