Devotions. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 5:16

Transcription

1 While the Servanthood Bible study that is provided for each team member is the primary study for your short-term mission preparation, you may have a chance to do other devotions with your team at your special Team Building day or weekend retreat, at a fundraiser or other special meeting. Here are a few samples for you to use. DEVOTION 1: LIGHT OF THE STORAGE CLOSET? By Max Lucado from God Came Near Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 5:16 A few nights ago a peculiar thing happened. An electrical storm caused a blackout in our neighborhood. When the lights went out, I felt my way through the darkness into the storage closet where we keep the candles for nights like this. Through the glow of a lit match, I looked up on the shelf where the candles are stored. There they were, already positioned in their stands, melted to various degrees by previous missions. I took my match and lit four of them. How they illuminated the storage room! What had been a veil of blackness suddenly radiated with soft, golden light! I could see the freezer I had just bumped with my knee. And I could see my tools that needed to be straightened. How great it is to have light! I said out loud, and then spoke to the candles. If you do such a good job here in the storage closet, just wait till I get you out where you re really needed! I ll put one of you on the table so we can eat. I ll put one of you on my desk so I can read. I ll give one of you to Denalyn so she can cross-stitch. And I ll set you, I took down the largest one in the living room where you can light up the whole area. I was turning to leave with the large candle in my hand when I heard a voice, Now, hold it right there. I stopped. Somebody s in here! I thought. Then I relaxed. It s just Denalyn, teasing me for talking to the candles. OK, honey, cut the kidding, I said in the semi-darkness. No answer. Hmm, maybe it was the wind. I took another step. Hold it, I said! There was that voice again. My hands began to sweat. Who said that? I did. The voice was near my hand. Who are you? What are you? I m a candle. I looked at the candle I was holding. It was burning a strong, golden flame, It was red and sat on a heavy wooden candle holder that had a firm handle. I looked around once more to see if the voice could be coming from another source. There s no one here but you, me, and the rest of us candles, the voice informed me. I lifted up the candle to take a closer look. You won t believe what I saw. There was a tiny face in the wax. Not just a wax face that someone had carved, but a moving, functioning, flesh like face full of expression. Don t take me out of here! What? I said, Don t take me out of this room. What do you mean? I have to take you out. You re a candle. Your job is to give light. It s dark out there. People are stubbing their toes and walking into walls. You have to come out and light up the place! But you can t take m e out. I m not ready, the candle explained with pleading eyes. I need more preparation. I couldn t believe my ears. More preparation? Yeah, I ve decided I need to research this job of light-giving, so I won t go out and make a bunch of mistakes. You d be surprised how distorted the glow of an untrained candle can be. So, I m doing some studying. I just finished a book on wind resistance. I m in the middle of a great series of tapes on wick build-up and conservation and I m reading the new best-seller on flame display. Have you heart of it? No, I answered. You might like it. It s called Waxing Eloquently. That really sounds interesting. I caught myself. What am I doing I m in here conversing with a candle while my wife and daughters are out there in the darkness. 1

2 All right then, I said. You re not the only candle on the shelf. I ll blow you out and take the others! But just I got my cheeks full of air, I heard other voices. We aren t going either! It was a conspiracy. I turned around and looked at the three other candles; each with flames dancing above a miniature face. I was beyond feeling awkward about talking to candles. I was getting miffed. You are candles and your job is to light dark places! Well, that may be what you think, said the candle on the far left a long, thin fellow with a goatee an a British accent. You may think we have to go, but I m busy Busy? Yes, I m meditating. What? A candle that meditates? Yes. I m meditating on the importance of light. It s really enlightening. I decided to reason with them. Listen, I appreciate what you guys are doing. I m all for meditation time. And everyone needs to study and research; but for goodness sake, you guys have been in here for weeks! Haven t you had enough time to get your wick straight? And you other two, I asked, are you going to stay in here as well? A short, fat, purple candle with plump cheeks that reminded me of Santa Clause spoke up. I m waiting to get my life together. I m not stable enough. I lose my temper easily. I guess you could say that I m a hot head with a short wick. The last candle had a female voice, very pleasant to the ear. I d like to help, she explained, but lighting the darkness is not my gift. all this was sounding too familiar. Not your gift? What do you mean? Well, I m a singer. I sing to other candles to encourage them to burn more brightly. Without asking permission, she began a rendition of This Little Gospel Light of Mine. The other three joined in, filling the storage room with singing. Hey, I shouted above the music, I don t mind if you sing while you work! In fact, we could use a little music out there! They didn t hear me. They were singing too loudly. I yelled louder. Come on, you guys. There s plenty of time for this later. We ve got a crisis on our hands. They wouldn t stop. I put the big candle on the shelf and took a step back and considered the absurdity of it all. Four perfectly healthy candles singing to each other about the light but refusing to come out of the closet. I had all I could take. One by one I blew them out. They kept singing to the end. The last one to flicker was the female. I snuffed her out right in the puff part of Won t let Satan puff me out. I stuck my hands in my pockets and walked back out into the darkness. I bumped my knee on the same freezer. Then I bumped into my wife. Where are the candles? she asked. They don t they won t work. Where did you buy those candles anyway? Oh, they re church candles. Remember that church that closed down across town? I bought them there. I understood. DEVOTION 2: HERE I AM By Millie Stamm from Meditation Moments Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. ~Isaiah 6:8 Isaiah had a vision of the Lord. In the light of the holiness of God, he had a vision of his own self, in his sin and unworthiness. There were four C s in Isaiah s life as a result of his vision of the Lord. 1. Conviction: I am a man of unclean lips. 2. Cleansing: This has touched your lips, your iniquity is taken away.

3 3. Consecration: Here I am, send me. 4. Commission: Go and tell. After he had seen the Lord and experienced His cleansing, he was ready to be called and commissioned for service. Time in God s presence makes you ready to become His messenger. Isaiah gave a simple five word response. He didn t mention to God anything about his ability or lack of it, whether he had training, what connections he had, how much money he had, or who his family was. All he said was, Here I am, send me. He didn t know God s complete purpose for him at first, but he answered God s call by faith. Later, God gave him his marching orders. He said, Go and tell the people. Isaiah was called to preach to a generation of unbelieving and rebellious people who would hear and refuse to heed God s warning. Yet Isaiah fulfilled his responsibility by going. The late J.H. Jowett told of seeing seventy Salvation Army men receive their commission for foreign service. No one knew where they were to go. But each one received his commission with a salute. As Christians we must be ready to answer God s call for service. God is still saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for me? What is your answer? DEVOTION 3: STRETCHING YOUR FAITH By Paul Borthwick Warning! Short-term missions can be hazardous to your assumptions. An opportunity awaits you that could turn your world upside down. It could challenge your concept of what it means to follow Christ. It could blow away your beliefs about what brings true joy. You could end up ding things you never thought possible. You could encounter situations in which you re forced to rely on God s strength, not your own. We re all instinctively ethnocentric, believing that the world revolves around our country or culture. As a result, we re prone to worship a God who looks like us, speaks our language, and appreciates the worship styles that we appreciate. When we leave home, we confront people whose God speaks another language. Their worship services might be two or three times longer and louder than we are accustomed to. Hearing the testimony of a Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and other secular converts has given me a fresh view of the universal application of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Cross-cultural worship services have made me marvel that God really is Lord of the Nations. So if you want to be comfortable where you are, don t even think about going on a short-term mission trip. Because if you go, one of the following is almost certain to happen. Your View of God Will Explode A Ugandan Christian leader who hosted a short-term mission team from our church told me: Without our cross-cultural fellowship, we both stay fixed in our own cultural views of God. When we meet and share our lives, we discover that God is greater than either of our cultures. He is not a tribal god or an ethnic god or a national god. He is the transcendent God of the universe! 3

4 You ll View Your Possessions Differently We know that many parts of the world are much poorer than where we live, but staying at home keeps such knowledge at an emotional distance. When we go to a poor barrio, inner city, orphanage, or refugee camp, we re confronted with the challenge of 1 John 3:17: If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Confronting our materialism helps us recognize what really matters. A team of young couples went to serve in a church in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. They saw incredibly poor Christians singing at the top of their lungs, with a depth of joy that challenged the visitors faith. Is our faith simply a nice topping on our materialistic lifestyle? they wondered. Although they possessed much more, their faith was not nearly as deep as that of the Haitians. One couple returned home, moved to a smaller apartment, sold some stuff, and taught a Sunday school class on Living More Simply That Other May Simply Live. They stopped subscribing to cable TV and used the money they saved (about $30 per month) to support a child through World Vision. Their direct encounter with poor brothers and sisters forced them to re-evaluate their faith and their lifestyle. Your Perspective on Hardship Will Change Most of us think that our life is tough. An obstinate boss, an over-priced house, monthly car payments, and too many credit-card bills presents us with sufficiently significant challenges, or so we think. A mission trip into the poorest parts of the world or among those who have suffered under totalitarian regimes changes our perceptions. One couple went to serve among a poor congregation in an Eastern European country. They stayed in the pastor s unheated apartment. They listened as he recounted experiences of being followed, harassed, and detained by the Communist government on multiple occasions. He challenged the couple s perspective on joy as he told them of the Bible study he started in the re-education camp and the efforts he made to reach out to secret police. When they returned home, the couple decided they would try to stop complaining. They taped the phrase No more whining on their kitchen bulletin board. Their lives no longer seemed so hard now that they d encountered the joy and courage of persecuted believers. You ll Gain a New View of Heaven Serving on a short-term, cross-cultural mission trip foreshadows the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic church depicted in Revelation 7:9, in which people from every nation, tribe, people, group, and language worship Jesus in heaven. Cross-cultural worship helps us experience the reality of Galatians 3:28 that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek. It enlarges our understanding of the creative diversity of God. Worshiping with Koreans has challenged my fervor in prayer. Singing with the Haitians has enabled me to experience true anticipation of heaven. Listening to testimonies from new believers in Nepal has helped me understand the awesome grace of God s forgiveness. Being with these believers intensifies my anticipation of heavenly worship. Your Faith Will Stretch Serving cross-culturally puts us into a must trust environment where we realize that we re no longer in control. Our prayers intensify whether for finances, safety, health or communication because we cannot resolve these issues without God s deliverance.

5 Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission more than a 100 years ago, said, Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith. Cross-cultural service provides plenty of faith-stretching risk. Go For the Growth Do you really want to do this? It might be uncomfortable. It might be challenging. Some say it s fanatical. But maybe cross-cultural service is just the kind of challenge you need to jump-start your growth. Maybe you re ready for a broader view of God and a deeper understanding of the Body of Christ. Maybe it s time to deepen your faith. If so, then begin exploring opportunities for cross-cultural service. But be sure you re ready, because it will change your life! DEVOTION 4: SCRIPTURE VERSES FOR SHORT TERM MISSIONS Isaiah 6:8 Matthew 20:20-28 Matthew 23:1-12 Galatians 5:13 Philippians 2:3-7 Proverbs 3:5-6 John 14:1 Psalm 37:3-6 Isaiah 26:3-4 Deuteronomy 31:6 Psalm 25:12 Psalm 31:3 Psalm 32:8 Psalm 48:14 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant. Whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. But through love be servants of one another. Count others as better than yourself. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interests of others. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your ways straight. Jesus said, Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in Me. Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the Lord and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. You will keep in perfect peace Him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Who then, is the man that fears the Lord. He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. For this God is our God forever and ever, He will be our guide even to the end. 5

6 Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. DEVOTION 5: THE ROAD For your reading: Zechariah 9:9-10 His rule will extend from sea to sea. Zechariah 9:10 To travel down a road in another country is a remarkable experience. A missionary friend observes: During our previous term in India, we often became irritated while driving through laboriously slow road traffic. However, soon after our return, our attitude changed. Why? During our first drive, we finally recognized what is really happening on, or beside, an Indian road. Everyday Life! On that one short trip, we saw: women walking four abreast on the road in bright silk saris; people sleeping, eating and repairing shoes on the sidewalk; a man bathing at the public faucet (with his sarong on); worshipers overflowing a Hindu temple in the center of a busy intersection; two motorcyclists riding side by side, carrying on a conversation; heavy road equipment, and piles of gravel and sand; a loose cow nibbling banana peels at a dumpster; a bus barreling down the center of the road, with a car passing it on the right and a motorcycle being passed on the left (the oncoming traffic was on the shoulder of the road waiting behind the cow for their turn to proceed); and lining the edge of the road: a nursery selling beautiful roses, a fruit stand, a taxi stand, a fast food cart, a housewares shop, and customers, of course! Obviously, transportation is the least of what happens on an Indian road! Pray that this new perspective will accompany us on all our travels. Along the road of life, you and I meet many people with their minds fixed on their daily, mundane activities and their hearts set on false gods. Often, our fellow travelers appear disinterested in the Good News we proclaim. Rather than give up, let us draw encouragement from the Palm Sunday event, most of which occurred on a road. Jesus had traveled to Jerusalem many times without much commotion, but on celebration on the road assures us that some of the people on the mission road you and I travel will finally Is this mere wishful thinking? No, our mission hope is based on God s promise. Right after Zechariah s prophecy that Jerusalem s King would arrive riding on a donkey s colt, the Lord promises, He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth. (Zechariah 9:10) May this promise accompany you on all your mission travels. GOING DEEPER 1. What people and things may Jesus have passed along the road to Jerusalem?

7 (See Matthew 21:1-11 and John 12:12-16.) 2. How will Jesus reign attain global proportions? (See John 12:32.) 3. Open your eyes and observe the highways you frequent most often. How are people experiencing everyday life along the road? What signs are there of other lifestyles and beliefs? MOVING INTO ACTION What mission prayers and initiatives are suggested by what you see along the roads in your community? 7