[Dailydevo] Daily Devotion Thursday August 18, 2005

[Barry Ludwig]

Daily Devotion Thursday August 18, 2005

This week's devotions are written by members of our Tanzanian Mission team
(plus a few supporters) which is currently in Tanzania and will return on
August 22nd.  We pray for their safety as they do God's work in a new and
exciting place! Today's devotions are written by missionary supporter, Marie
Lee.

 

I John 4:19        

Let us love because God loved us first.  

 

LOVE and BE LOVED.

    Maybe you haven't thought about going away to minister, or that God has
called each of you AND all of you to GO, to BE and to DO together with
others - even if only for a short time?  God calls in ways that we often
think are our own ways, like deciding to travel to Tanzania and then making
arrangements for the trip. Always remember - God m-o-v-e-s to perform His
wonders!!  

    You may have thought you were just gonna be "cruising" to see a
missionary doctor, his work and his family, and to see extraordinarily
beautiful country with exotic animals, and experience travel without roads,
etc.  Right?   Well, that may be part of it, but God's children don't do
vacations.  You are on a special mission to LOVE neighbors, whoever they are
and wherever they are, as you love yourselves.  Love - agape - is a verb, an
action word - a giving and receiving word, just as in God's moving with
great action to perform His wonders. 

    God never sends us out alone; we are sent in pairs as were the
disciples, 

 (Mark 6:7) because we cannot bring good news to others on our own.  We are
called to proclaim the Gospel together in community.  "Where two or three
gather in my name, I am there among them", Jesus says  (Matt. 18: 19-20),
having already said "if two of you on earth agree about any request you have
to make, that request will be granted by my Heavenly Father" because Jesus
is present with us. 

    We need brothers and sisters to pray with us and for us, to speak openly
about spiritual tasks at hand, and to challenge us to stay pure in mind,
heart, and body.  Whenever we minister together in Jesus' name, it is easier
for people to recognize that we have not come on our own in our own name; we
have come because we are sent.

    Your presence will be felt where you are going.  Do not doubt this.  You
are the "strange-looking people over there".  But stop, look, and listen:
see the indigenous people as a blessed people:  they know silence - they can
listen; they will persevere - they know work.  Bring to us and share what
you learn from them. Use the opportunity to show them God's agape love.  

    Listen to them, pray with them, let their concerns and thanksgivings be
yours, as you accept God's love shown or given to you through them.  Where
something is given, something is gotten.  Where someone serves, someone else
is being served.  Let this trip be your opportunity, your response to God's
call, to learn all you can about God's love in your life and the lives of
all of His children.   

    Heavenly Father, 

Be with our brothers and sisters in Christ wherever they are, as they GO, BE
present, and DO your love as you direct them, remembering we all are loved
by you. 

    Forgive us for things wrongfully done, and those left undone.   May we
never forget we are chosen.  May we be renewed with a special sense of your
presence.  May we be given a new sense of vision to notice things we've
overlooked before.  May we come together after this trip to share the many
ways your love has touched our lives and the lives of others.

    Be with the Friberg family and with our Tanzanian brothers and sisters
that they may remain faithful to your Word and appreciate your blessings.  

    We ask the Holy Spirit to guide us always in whatever we think and do
and say, in Jesus' name.  Amen.  

 

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