Change Me and Missionary Series – Part 1

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Words of Encouragement

Change me Lord

Whenever I feel that first notion of being offended, irritated, or the need to be right…“Lord, change me.”

Whenever I feel like I want to choose the worst instead of the best…“Lord, change me.”

Whenever I feel like I want to worry and not trust…“Lord, change me.”

One of our brothers brought this word amidst all what he was dealing with his wife and her family. This brother  realised that asking God to change the situation was well and good but what he really needed to focus on, was asking God to change him so that he could deal with the situation. How true is that!

We often say that your journey  is the “wilderness experience” thanks to our brothers in Brazil calling it this. Moses was in the wilderness, Elijah was in the wilderness, Jesus was in the wilderness and now you find yourself in the wilderness. The wilderness is your spiritual gym.

Amidst all the chaos, God is going to do amazing things with you. This journey is about changing you to be more like him so that you can live  out the plan that he has for you. Instead of crying to God to change others so much, to change what is going on so much, ask him to keep changing you, to keep moulding you, to make you more like Him so that you can deal with what you're going through [your wilderness experience] in a Holy Way.

We spend far too much time praying, "God, change my circumstances... change my coworkers... change my family situation... change the conditions in my life..." Yet we seldom pray this most important prayer: "Change me, Lord. The real trouble isn't others,  I'm the one who stands in need of prayer." God orchestrates the steps and lives of all of his children. He doesn't allow anything to happen to us merely by happenstance or fate. And that means he has allowed your crisis. What is he trying to tell you through it? He's saying you need to change.

Like it or not, we're all in the process of changing, in one way or another. In the spiritual realm, there is no such thing as mere existence; we're continually being changed, either for good or for bad. We're either becoming more like our Lord or more like the world, either growing in Christ or backsliding.

Our brother brought this from the book of Corinthians. Paul describes one change that must take place before any other change is possible:

2 Corinthians 3:12-18

"Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: but their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.

"Nevertheless when he shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord".

Romans 9:21

Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?

Jeremiah 18:5-6

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,  “O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

Brother this year let the Lord put you back on the Potters wheel. Amen.

~ Tad in Australia

 

RMI Missionary series

William Carey (1761-1834)

William Carey is known as the father of modern missions. Carey was an English missionary to India who was a skilled linguist, writer and printer. He translated portions of the Bible in many languages.

Carey grew up in the Church of England but was saved while an apprentice to a shoemaker. He eventually joined the Baptist church and went to India as a Baptist missionary. As a self motivated learner he taught himself Latin, Hebrew and Greek. He founded the Baptist Missionary Society five years later in 1792, preaching a message during which he said one of his most famous quotes: "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God".

The next year, he travelled to India with his family. The Careys experienced multiple difficulties during their first few years in India. Money was constantly a problem in their household. Apart from working as a missionary, he also had to look for more work to supplement his income. He had to move his family again and again so he could work and support them.

He saw no conversions for seven years, his son Peter died of dysentery and his wife's mental health deteriorated rapidly. "This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me," Carey wrote at the time. "But I rejoice that I am here notwithstanding; and God is here."

But in 1800, he baptised his first convert to Christianity, and over more than 20 years went on to translate the Bible into dozens of major Indian languages and dialects. He also founded Serampore College to train local ministers. His work in India founding schools for impoverished children and writing is responsible for the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society, whose reach covers forty countries.